Well, so much for the prime time matchup last night! Yesterday afternoon LeBron James‘ knee flared up, and after a mid-afternoon report that the Cavs weren’t worried but would be cautious, they ended up holding him out. I think LeBron was mostly worried about another Serge Ibaka wrister.
How you can finish that play after breaking your nose…?! Legit. Anyway, for the Cavs it didn’t mean much to the Big Two, but somehow Tristan Thompson is playing his way into relevance again. Yes, Slim and I’s oft-discussed, Pts/Reb only Tristan Thompson – except these days he’s hitting some other cats! 14/13/1/0/2 last night, shooting 4-8 FG and 6-8 FT in 30 minutes. He’s finally making shots at an acceptable rate this year, with his FG% at 53.6% before last night and got the blocks back up to nearly 1 a game after being at 0.4 last year in almost 6 more minutes per. The big catalyst here is getting back that big run with the second unit. After only topping 30 minutes one time through the first 14 games, is over 30 four of the past seven culminating in dubdubs three of the past four. I’m frankly surprised he’s owned in 38% of Yahoo leagues already, but for the streamers/DraftKings players out there, LeBron might sit one more and assure another big workload for TT. I don’t think he plays this much long-term, but you can get some big man stats on the cheap. It’s no conundrum! Here’s what else went down in the two games last night:
James Harden – Winner of the James Beard award! I watch Top Chef, sue me. 44/4/8/3/1 on an absurd 14-32 shooting with 13-15 FT. And all-a-dat with only 2 TO! McHale lost his voice yelling “iso, Harden!” every Rockets possession in the OT win.
Donatas Motiejunas – D-Mo with too many no-nos! Fouled out in 30 minutes, but a productive 14/3/1/1/1 night. Still should be owned in more leagues.
Patrick Beverley – Needs to be owned in ALL leagues! 15/10/5/1/0 hitting four treys. No, this wasn’t accidentally Kevin Love‘s line!
Joey Dorsey – The thin Rockets gave the Dorse Horse a ton of run, playing 35 minutes over the 16 for Tarik Black. The War Horse couldn’t score though! 0-2 FG and 0-4 FT, but it’s hard to blame him, tough to make any shots with hoofs. 0/9/2/5/1 and offers a little sumthin sumthin if you need REB & BLK only. He’s 4-19 at the FT stripe this season. Buzz’s girlfriend, woof!
Darren Collison – You’ve been PBevved! 24/3/7/3/0 is awesome and all, but 6 TO. That’s out of character! Kinda like Dane Cook in Mr. Brooks… But it worked!
Ben McLemore – Right when it looked like Nik Stauskas was pushing his head into the crack of the door (weird metaphor…), McLemore goes for 21/2/2 in 46 minutes. Sure OT helped play a part, but suffice to say, Stauskas’ little blip there of usage seems to have been popped like a tag.
Reggie Evans – Went to the Joey Dorsey FT-shooting academy. 1-6. Held to 18 minutes and didn’t give me any effing boards! Well gave 4, but whatever.
Jason Thompson – JT Brought sexy back with a 13/15 dubdub on only 2-4 FG. But makes his freebies! 9-11. Before you make your FutureSex/LoveSounds on the waiver wire, this was against a thinner-than-thin Rockets front line. You can afford to be slow picking him up, take a little Nap…ster.
Rudy Gay – Shot wasn’t fallin’, but still was ballin’! Near tripdub for 13/8/8 with three steals. The 4-18 FG and 4 TO indicate a little Boogie would help him Woogie.
Kevin Lovie – Meh. Gets a LeBron-less game and goes 18/16/2/1/1 shooting 5-13 FG (2-5 3PTM 6-8 FT). That’s probably a DOWN game for him last year on the Wolves. If BronBron sits one more and Love has a line a tad better than this, sell high!
Matthew Dellavedova – Started at F they listed…? After playing some PG last year… Anyway, 14/5/4 hitting four treys. Deep league ThrAGNOF! Or Depp league ThrAGNOF, if you play with Johnny.
Dion Waiters – Waiting for me points! I’m waiting! 14/1/4 with two treys was fine and all, but with the King out, I was greedily hoping for me. I was Jabba the Hutt and wanted another one of those weird, live, alien, amphibian thingies. “Yabba ma dookee Mahs tah, icht boong cheekoh pahn na green nahp meet’noh toh pohnkee dohkoh lah choya!”
Kyrie Irving – Dammit, you’re supposed to score 30 with no LeBron! 20/3/6/2/0 shooting only 7-21. As if anyone didn’t know before, but we all know who is the biggest of the 3. Worth noting Uncle Drew had a little knee buckle in this game, but is expecting to play tonight. Be sure to always buckle up, kids!
Kevin Durant – Rainbow alert! 19/6/5/2/2 shooting 6-14 with a trey and 6-6 FT. No time lost!
Russell Westbrook – No time lost here either! 26/7/8 in a near tripdub, hitting 12-24. Christmas has come early for OKC fans!
Serge Ibaka – Fouled out before getting to 26 minutes. At least got ya two swats, but no rebounds?!?! Tough with that Tristan Thompson out there!
Jodie Meeks – “Sing a sad song, Mr. KCP man!” That’s me singing… Coming back tonight, and will presumably get eased in off the bench. I love that Stan Van is like, “[Meeks has] no expectations, but we’ll run him out there.” Pretty much his thoughts on the Pistons as a whole right now.
Kawhi Leonard – Sounds like he could be back from his hand bruise, after rubbing a little Jergens on it. That’s what she said!
Streamers/Cheap DraftKings Picks:
Jeff Adrien (1% owned) – Spoiler alert! He’s going to be on my DraftKings roster in today’s DK-Friday. Off a 8/11/2/0/2 line against the Blazers – an upset win at that – I don’t see how Flip can not run him out there another high-20 mins. Even though he previously had only maxed out at 16:07 in a game, has multi-blocks in three of five with the Wolves.
Marcus Morris (11% owned) – Another guy right off the coals of a hot game, I think Morris twinzo numero deux can stay hot at home against the woeful Pistons. Detroit will be messing with what little bit of cohesiveness they have with Meeks thrust in there, and most of Marcus’ big games have gone in blowouts. He’s hit 8 of his last 11 treys the past two, and should have another game to pull the trigger, presumably in some junk time.
Be sure to set all your line-ups tonight and through Sunday, and have a great weekend! Really appreciate everyone stopping by, and we’ll see ya on Monday morning!
