Stephen Curry returned to the court Monday, dropping 12 points and a pair of treys in just nine minutes off the bench. Why is this significant? Well first off, it is just over 180 times longer than his three-second appearance on Wednesday. But more importantly, it is a sign that the boy with the wooden ankles is about to return for real real. Now one of two things will happen; Curry’s minutes will gradually increase and he will return to his top-10 point guard form, or his minutes will gradually increase and then an errant Andris Biedrins free-throw will hit his ankle and he will miss another couple weeks. Now which of these scenarios would you put your money on? If you said the former, then I would like to invite you over for poker Friday night. Remember that the streetball term “man, you just got yo’ ankles broken!” was actually a reference to Curry’s ankles. The man just can’t stay on the court, and it’s a shame given how talented he is. Now if the Warriors medical staff discovered a food that would help develop cankles, then I may change my outlook. But until that day comes, I would suggest letting Curry heat up for a few games, then trying to flip him for a more reliable player down the stretch. Now let’s take a look at what else went down on Monday:
Dominic McGuire – Once Curry returns to the starting lineup, McGuire won’t be able to average two points in 30+ starter’s minutes anymore, aw shucks!
Ekpe Udoh – Will be the Warriors second starting power forward, I mean, starting center for the rest of the season. While he is starting he will be a good source of blocks and boards (see Biyombo, Bismack). Tonight he had 17/6/1/1, but I don’t see him scoring teens on a nightly basis, he would go to jail if he did.
Jordan Crawford – Shot just 2-of-13 from the field and 1-of-6 from downtown. Thanks a lot Crawford, I wasn’t planning on winning FG% this week anyways.
Nick Young – Dropped 25 points off the bench, then had to clean up all those spilled points. Just a quick observation, have Young and Crawford ever been hot at the same time? I swear, when one heats up, the other turns cold as ice.
Dwight Howard – This was Howard’s face when he found out Aaron Gray was in the Raptor’s starting lineup. He then proceeded to post a 36-point, 12-rebound dub-dub.
Gordon Hayward – Had a line of 23/5/4/2/1 after it was announced that he would be removed from the starting lineup in place of Raja Bell. I would get fired up too if I were benched for Raja Bell.
Rip Hamilton – Well that didn’t last long. Rip injured his shoulder running into what he thought was a lamp post, but turned out to be Roy Hibbert. Ronnie Brewer is the pickup as he had 12/7/2/1 in 39 minutes after Rip left the game.
Darren Collison – DarCo managed to score zero points Monday. You: “But he must have had a bunch of assists if he wasn’t scoring, right?” Wrong! Three dimes. I got three dimes in my freakin’ pocket! I didn’t think a stat line like this was possible if you played over 30 minutes in a game. You know when people say, “I could have done better than that,” but you really know that they would fall on their faces if they tried. Well I literally could have produced a better line if you gave me 30 minutes. I would just sit on Roy Hibbert’s shoulders and I would score at least one bucket, lock it up.
Elton Brand – Is averaging 11/12.3/1.8 over his last four. That is all I am going to say, do with it what you will. I just can’t stand actually saying positive things about the guy.
Jrue Holiday – Scored just eight points on 4-of-13 shooting in 34 minutes. Hey, at least he was better than Darren Collison.
Ersan Ilyasova – 11 points, 18 boards, four helpers, a pair of blocks, and a trey on top. Ersane in the membrane!
Carlos Delfino – Started and scored just two points. He’s now averaging just 6.9 points over his last seven games. Delfino must mean “sucks” in Spanish. You can go ahead and drop him if you haven’t already. In slightly more, but not really that exciting news, Mike Dunleavy scored 10 points off the bench. He will likely be inserted into the starting lineup if Delfino continues to Delfino, making him a decent add in deeper leagues.
Serge Ibaka – Mr. Iblocka had eight points, seven boards, and swatted six balls as he was trying to catch up with Rondo in triple-doubles.
Blake Griffin – Griffin was his usual beastly-self Monday, dropping a 26/12 dub-dub. Unfortunately, he was also his usual poor-free-throw-shooting self, hitting just 6-of-13 from the line. They should change the rule so that you can dunk a free throw as long as you take off from the line.
Derrick Williams – Hasn’t been as good as the 27-point Williams we saw last week. But hasn’t been as bad as the 5-point Williams he was prior to that game. He has been more like purgatory Williams. If you could use some short-term points, boards, and threes I wouldn’t stop ya from picking him up.
Isaiah Thomas – He’s cooled off a bit recently as the league is starting to catch up to him. And to think, Zeke was about to adopt him and make him his real son, how sad.
Kenneth Faried – Had his best game as a professional b-baller, putting together 20/12/2/1/1 in 34 starter’s minutes. Unfortunately, Nene and Danilla Wafers both returned from injury and will likely eat into Faried’s minutes. Fortunately, Faried has played so well that he will probably continue to log enough minutes to be fantasy relevant. Semi-fortunately, Al Harrington will likely continue to jack up threes and not play defense.
