No Super Bowl hangover in the NBA, that’s for sure! A full helping of action with 11 games on the slate, starting with a phenomenal national game on TNT to kick off the next 2 months, where there’s nothing but NBA going on. Well, hockey too, sorry Viz! And college basketball! Dammit, well, basketball isn’t competing with NFL or MLB for a bit, and the face of the NBA let everyone know, with a preposterous buzzer-beater to get the Cavs in OT and eventually beat the Wiz (snapping their 17-game home winning streak):
That Wizards fan says it all! Who says LeBron James is old?! 32/7/17/2/2 in an unreal performance on national TV, in a game the NBA couldn’t have scripted to go any better the night after the NFL got their best game ever played. Well, maybe a little hyperbole, but it was OK… Along with that line, he hit 6 treys and 12-18 from the field, but only 2-5 FT!? Wouldn’t have needed that buzzer beater if he could just hit his damned FT!!! He actually fouled out early in OT too, but Kyrie Irving then took over as the alpha, scoring 11 of his 23 in OT in an otherwise disappointing game. Then there’s of course Kevin Love, who went OFF for 39/12/3/3/0 with 6 treys and 11-11 FT. Needed every bit outta the big 3 to beat a hot Wizards team on the road! During the game, Frank Isola (who you may know from Around the Horn and ish) reported LeBron is pushing the Cavs management to trade Love for Carmelo Anthony. LeBron then went all Trump on his ass in postgame. “Fake News!” But ya know, fighting the rumors off in a less dictatory-way, even as The King… Here’s what else went down last night in a busy Monday of hoops action:
Russell Westbrook – Was like, “C’mon, Dipo, lay off my boards this time!” 27/18/9/1/2 with Victor Oladipo only getting 5 rebounds. “Stay off my glass!”
Andre Roberson – Back to back nice games now, going 11/11/1/2/2 on 5-8 shooting. If only posterizations counted as a stat cat, he’d have a big ol’ point for this one!
Lavoy Allen – Got another start for Thaddeus Young (who I think might be a while with the wrist issue), but was pretty bleh in the follow up, going 2/5/3/0/2 on 1-4 shooting and 0-2 FT. But I did like to see the 30 minutes.
Brandon Ingram – Turning the page is starting to happen! Started at the 3 with Luol Deng coming off the bench, with Ingram going 14/7/2/1/0 with 2 treys.
Ivica Zubac – The savior of the world! Nay, the galaxy! THE UNIVERSE! 10/7/0/1/4 on 5-9 shooting with no TO in 17 orgasmic minutes. Maybe after Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Baby Groot can be grown up and be recast with Zubac… I’d let him guard my galaxy, if ya know what I mean!
Larry Nance Jr. – Another nice outing, getting 31 minutes of 10/10/2/3/0. That said, Julius Randle was back, although somehow managed to foul out in 17 minutes.
Willy Hernangomez – One of the hottest adds over the past week, he out-minutesed the starter Kyle O’Quinn 24 to 16. KOQ was a little flaccid – eh, maybe I’ll give him half-mast – but Willy came out to play! 8/13/1/2/1 and looks like he could be a ROS option, even when Joakim Noah comes back (if ever).
Brandon Jennings – Back off the bench with Derrick Rose returning, but D Rose was terrible (5/4/3 with 3 TO) and Jennings made the most of 28 minutes, going 16/3/5/1/0 with a trey. Need to switch these two, Hornacek! Super fast!
Bradley Beal – Not to be overlooked in the tough loss, 41/5/8 with no TO and 6 treys on 16-28 shooting. Had a chance to tie this up on the last possession in OT, but came up just short off the front rim. Still, great outing.
Derrick Favors – He’s back, baby! 20/10/1/3/2 on 10-12 shooting in only 26 minutes. Vintage Favors! After a terrible 10 minutes the game before, hopefully you were able to sneak in a buy low.
Tim Hardaway Jr. – Really not much doin’ for the Dirty Birds, losing by 25 at home. Not a fun stretch for Hotlanta! Coldlanta! 14/3/3/1/0 for Timmay J though, who continues to be consistent enough for a ThrGANOF hold.
Jahlil Okafor – Another start with Joel Embiid trusting the healing process of his knee, going 16/4/0/1/0. Which is fine, but 2-7 FT ain’t! Apparently Oke is getting some offers from CHI and NO, but it’s into rumor mill season. Just be careful when you talk Cavs trade rumors, Frank Isola!
Reggie Jackson – Oop, whooooops!
I think T.J. McConnell might have slipped on some Dapper Dan right there… “Is that… Is that, hair gel?!” 14/2/6 in an otherwise ho-hum game for RJax.
Blake Griffin – Gets his first tripdub of the season. Better late than never! 26/11/11/1/0 with 2 treys, but the Clip still dropped this one in Toronto… Better a good line than not….?
Austin Rivers – Off an awful game where a lot of people mighta dropped him, 22/2/0/0/1 with 4 treys. But meh, 4-7 FT, it’s pretty empty… Bleh, you’re probably not regretting it that much if you lost him.
DeMar DeRozan – What kankle?! 31/5/2/1/0 on 11-22 shooting with no TO. Seems to me that kankle might be good to go now!
Cory Joseph – Back into the rotation, with the brief shimmer of Fred VanVleet going back to DNP-land. 8/6/1/3/0 – not huge, but in the deepest of leagues, he mighta been cut.
Jonas Valanciunas – Damn, way to step it up against one of the tougher matchups! I had to be sure DeAndre Jordan actually played in this one! 21/12/2/0/1 on 9-13 shooting for the Luminescent Lithuanian.
T.J. Warren – Had one of his sporadic scoring outbursts, but also brought some multi-cat! 20/4/1/2/3 in a near rainbow, but he’s scored 20+ in 3 of the last 7 games, then 10 or fewer in the other 7, with the D stats usually missing. Mannnn, I was putting all my chips in here before that head injury…
Anthony Davis/Jrue Holiday – Your two-headed Pelicans monster (sounds horrifying!) had it going last night, with Brow for 34/9/1/2/5 and Jrue for 30/9/7/1/3. Hopefully humpty dumpty can keep it together for these two! If that made any sense…
Goran Dragic – The Heat can’t lose right now! 33/2/9/1/0 for the Dragon, leading the Heat to a hard-fought, 2-point win at Minny. 13-17 from the field, with 7-9 from deep… Someone get the fire extinguisher!
Dion Waiters – Ugh, well this sucks though… Left the arena in Das Boot after picking up a kankle at some point. Still played 33 minutes so this could be more precautionary, but you never wanna see a hot player in Das Boot…
Brandon Rush – Man they miss LaVine… 33 minutes with 5 points, yeesh.
Karl-Anthony Towns – Did his best to carry the torch for 35/8/0/2/1, but twasn’t enough. Do we think the Wolves blow this up a little? Or carry their bets the young team will be even better in 17-18?
Yogi Ferrell – Yeah, this seems a little closer to what we can expect, going 15/2/5/2/1 with 2 treys. Which is still pretty damn good! Deron Williams was a game-time decision a day before the game, so his aching body is looming… If you’re in a mad active league, you might wanna try a sell Hot Yogi high if you can.
Dwight Powell – Rainbow alert! 14/4/2/2/2 with no TO on 6-8 shooting. This was a blowout, and he got 26 minutes though… Last 5 games – 10 minutes, 29, 10, 8, 26… Ugh.
Will Barton – William the Thrilliam! 31/8/5/0/2 with 5 treys in an absolute monster of a game, finally shaking off the rust of injuries and stepping up with Danilo Gallinari out with a groin. Do Roosters have groins?! Gallo is gonna be out another week+, so be sure Barton is owned in your league if you have a spot open.
Gary Harris – Hey look, a pretty good game! 20/5/1/2/0. 4 treys and 6-6 FT make it pretty damn good, I concede that. What’d Courtney Lee do last night?!??!?!
LaMarcus Aldridge – 4-19 from the field, as the Spurs had their lowest points (74) in a long while. I’m not gonna fact check how long it was, I’m kinda pissy with the Spurs right now. Kawhi Leonard a late scratch I barely missed before line-ups locked?! Very love/hate with me and the Spurs…
Marc Gasol – Yeah, this:
Dear lord he’s awesome… Glad that iffy foot thing ended up healing up nice, would be a shame to not have this talent be fully realized again.
Vince Carter – 4 blocks. Spurs keep getting blocked outta the gym! I know he used to be Vinsanity and all, but his trademark Nike shoes are made outta concrete these days!
Dwyane Wade – Seeing LeBron with the big game probably amped him up, and he helped the Bulls stave off a furious Kings comeback, going 31/6/3/1/2 with no TO.
Michael Carter-Williams – Wow, back to back good games, right after falling out of the rotation! Feels like Hoiberg is still kinda throwing spaghetti on the wall… 21/6/4/2/1 with a trey and 4-4 FT, also with no TO…
Robin Lopez – More like BloPez! Wait, that’s the brother… Anywho, 17/6/2/1/0 as he’s actually on a nice little run the past 4 games, with the Bulls 3-1 in that span. Maybe they’re figuring something out. Rolo was probably dropped in a ton of leagues, so I’d see if he was on your wire.
DeMarcus Cousins – It wouldn’t be the Kings without some drama! 18/14/5/1/1, but picked up his 15th+16th techs (already), and will be suspended for a game.
Ty Lawson – Combo guards still rollin’! 22/4/7/0/1 for Lawson in 35 minutes, with Darren Collison playing 36 yawwwwwwwwwwwn minutes of 14/1/5/2/0. 2 treys and no TO though… So yeah, both usable.
Matt Barnes – On a nice little run, going 19/9/5 on 7-10 shooting with 3 treys, including a big one late to almost swing this game. Although be careful when you start using the word “swing” around Matt Barnes! With Boogie out their next game, he might be able to keep this going if you wanna do some streaming. I said streaming, not swinging!
I hope everyone had a great start to their week 16 in this big slate of games! Drop by in the comments with your thoughts and preguntas, and hope to chat with ya there!
