For a while there, it looked like the makeshift Memphis Zombies might sneak by a crazy victory in Toronto over the Raps. But just like in World War Z, the Zeds tried to follow the humans north, but eventually froze up.
In his first start in the non-Mike Conley-era, Andrew Harrison was surprisingly capable with the added onus of driving the offense, going 21/2/4/3/0 on 7-12 FG (4-5 3PTM 3-4 FT) with only 2 TO in 35 minutes. Looked good in transition, hit contested, fadeaway treys… I didn’t expect this to get off to such a good start, and against the Raps no less!
It’s obviously only one game, and he’s not gonna shoot 80% from deep while filling in for Conley, but this was mad encouraging and you’re certainly grabbing him in most leagues off this showing. He has already proven he can handle big NBA minutes – albeit in a more complimentary role – so I think this can work as a PG 3 or 4 on your fantasy roster. On the flip side, Wade Baldwin played 24 minutes and went only 2/3/2/0/0 with 3 TO and 4 fouls, shooting 1-6 FG, bringing his sexy-efficient FG% back down to 31.5%. There might not be a Wade Baldwin V, with accuracy like that! Gus Ayonin’! Here’s what else went down last night in Fantasy Basketball action:
Andre Drummond – Was dominating the Celtics paint all night, because they put Amir Johnson on him!? Dude, get Horford on the big guy! 20/17/2/2/1, and the C’s tried a few “Bang the Drummond, Slowly“s, but ol’ Shoulder Hair made 4-7 from the stripe.
Ish Smith – The Pistons played mad efficient, with Ish flirting with a tripdub, going 19/8/8 with no TO on 9-12 shooting.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Sniffffffffffffffff! Snort snort, sniffffffffff! 25/5/4/1/1 on 10-17 shooting with 2 treys. My addiction paying dividends! If only drug addictions really worked that way…
Marcus Morris – Had a lull a while back, but just puts his head down and maintains his role as a back-end fantasy contributor in all leagues. 20/4/3/1/3 with a pair of treys is pretty close to the apex, but he’s been solid!
Kelly Olynyk – Because of course he would go off after I made the decision never to stream him again in RCLs and facing him in REL… 19/3/2 with 3 treys on 7-9 shooting. Not much to trust beyond streaming…
Isaiah Thomas – What, no continuation?!
JaMychal Green – Also helped pick up the Grizzlies slack, going 16/5/1/5/1 after coming off one of his worst games on the season. Super Green!
Troy Williams – Actually got outshined by Troy Daniels. The Williams version of Troy played only 28 minutes at the starting 2, going 10/0/2/3/0 with 0-4 treys. He’s gonna get his steals, but I still worry about his offensive aptitudes more than Slim does. The Daniels version of Troy got hot off the bench, going ThrAGNOFfy 19/1/1/1/0 with 4 treys. While I’m not investing in any sort of 12er or even 14/16er, Daniels is someone I talked about in the Memphis Team Preview, and after shooting 48.4% from deep last year, is only at 24% this year. He might have some hot ThrAGNOF value with positive-regression in the deepest of leagues, getting some consistent run with all the injuries.
Cory Joseph – Playing some great second unit ball right now, going 16/8/3/0/0 with a trey and 7-8 FT. Might be usable as a streamer in 12ers or a short-term play while hot in anything deeper.
Patrick Patterson – Pit Pat, I love you! 14/13/0/1/0 with 4 treys, giving him multi-treys in 5 of 6, and 3+ treys in 4 of 6. Actually has 10 steals in the last 6 as well. 3-n-D ThrAGNOF stream you can play at PF!
Julius Randle – Teach me how to Dougie?! Teach the Bulls how to box out! 13/20/2/2/0, but still turning it over too frequently with 5 giveaways. After coming off a minor injury, he’s still maintaining his semi-breakout status.
Larry Nance – Playing as a must-hold in 12ers. 12/11/1/3/0. Gotta love those PF steals!
Lou Williams – The Lou is so, so sweet! I always talk about his tough-to-find mix of 3PTM and FT volume as a guy who is always available in too many leagues, and in the first game without Nick Young, 28 minutes of 18/5/5/1/1 with a trey and 9-11 FT. Although he is 75% owned right now, so it’s not like I’m having to defend him like in years’ past…
Robin Lopez – Sideshow Bob become Main Attraction Bob! 8 swats last night! Timofey Mozgov is like, “I thought this Razzball site said Robin Lopez was the worst player in basketball!” Well, turns it you’re EVEN WORSE, Mozzy Bear! 10/9/1/1/8, and if you held strong through a meh start, you’re feeling all caramelly inside with Rolo.
Karl-Anthony Towns – More like Karl-Anthony Cities! Bringing it against the biggest city! Monster game for 47/18/2/1/3 on 15-22 shooting and 17-20 FT. The 47 was a career-high, and not calling anyone out, but I had a few comments/tweets at me asking if KAT is a bust and they should sell early in the season. Nothing busty about this! Just lean, non-manboob. Poor Irishman Kyle O’Quinn getting torn apart, with Joakim Noah sitting out… Then to make things worse, they had to put Willy Hernangomez on him. Then just to make things unbearable, they had to put Marshall Plumlee on him.
#Mismatch! KAT started 10-10 from the field and has a block in 25 straight games. YOU LIKE THAT?!
Ricky Rubio – Still not quite the slicky Ricky I was hoping for, but back up to 38 minutes last night on a 8/2/6/3/0 line.
Kristaps Porzingis – Well for fantasy, we certainly like that the Knicks avoided putting the Poison Goose on KAT, don’t need him expending energy trying to stop that! 29/8/4/0/2 with 3 treys for the Goose in the battle of the bigs. This round went to the Poppycockers.
Bradley Beal – Scotty Brooks got a standing O from the OKC fans, but I think it was mostly because they knew he was bringing in a vastly inferior team… 31/5/1/2/0 for Beal though, but not enough!
Markieff Morris – Nice bounce back after an extended lull, going 19/7/2/1/1. I still kinda think I’d want the consistency of Marcus…
Kelly Oubre – Looks to have taken over the 6th man role, and actually got some burn with the starters for one stretch, playing the 3 with Otto Porter up to the 4. Back-to-back deep-league usable games from Oubre, going 12/6/1/1/0 with 2 treys last night.
Russell Westbrook – Just gets an obligatory shout out because he got another triple double. It’s just mundane for him at this point…
Victor Oladipo – Had a nice game as the Westbrook side-kick, going 25/6/6/1/0 with 5 treys. The elite OKC backcourt bested the elite WAS backcourt! V.O. was off a pure B.O., awful last game, so this is still tough to trust as elite production, night-in, night-out. It was nice to see him get a team-high 46 minutes though (OT-fueled).
Andre Roberson – 2 steals, 2 blocks. I’m looking at Steven Adams over there with 0/0 and 6-10 FT. Regression fairies, swarm!
Kawhi Leonard – Did what elite fantasy players do, grind his way through an off night to a good fantasy performance. 21/7/2/2/0 on 5-16 shooting. Was 3-6 at the FT line at one point which made me want to pull my hair out, but then went 6 for his last 6 for 9-12 FT. Like I mentioned in the comments yesterday, it was another game of tough layups he missed in traffic not going down which didn’t help his cause. He’ll get out of it.
Patty Mills – The Spurs looked AWFUL in this game, luckily Patty Mills was the difference and they were able to hang on against the Mavs. They were sitting Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, but dayum their starting line-up with Dewayne Dedmon and Nicolas Laprovittola (?!) looked putrid. Anyway, Patty stayed in his 6th man role, going 23/3/4/1/0 with 5 treys. If you see DNPs coming for the guards, Mills is def worth a stream!
Wesley Matthews – Made some shots, hitting 5 treys and falling into a 26/2/1/2/1 line. Really not too much else to talk about with the Mavs, they look awful as always this year. Age is their Achilles heel!
Wayne Ellington – Took advantage of some run without Josh Richardson (kankle that flared up worse during warm ups), going 22/2/2/4/0 with 5 treys in a whopping 32 minutes. Hot Wayne! Could be worth a ThrAGNOF look if J-Rich is out for extended time.
James Johnson – Has been the most consistent Heat PF all year, and got rewarded with 33 minutes last night, going a rainbow 10/7/5/3/2. I keep streaming him in RCLs and no one bothers to pick him up in between. Maybe I hold for a bit this time…
Rodney McGruder – Not MacGruber like I confused him with on the Podcast, but McGruDer with a D played some nice D last night! 3/7/0/3/0 is a pretty lowly line in 25 minutes, but with all the injuries, could be a 3-n-D stream.
Denver Nuggets – So weird, 4 guys tie for a team-high 17 points. This team just has no alpha. Wilson Chandler is playing consistent ball and got his 17 in an empty-ish line, Jameer Nelson proved me right though! 17/5/8 from him with 3 treys and no TO, you like that! Danilo Gallinari got his 17 in a pretty empty line. But the big surprise/sigh of relief if you’re still stashing was Nikola Jokic! Jock Itch got some tough actin’ Tinactin going on that rash for 17/14/3/1/0 in only 24 minutes off the bench on 7-11 shooting. On the flip side, pouty McPoutface got only 17 minutes for 4/6/1/0/0 and 5 TO. Yeesh. And the Nugs ended up losing at home to the Heat… You can drop Jusuf Nurkic in 12ers I think now… It’s just gonna take too long to happen, and if he’s gonna hurt more than help some games in the meantime, it ain’t worth it.
Dennis Schroder – Das hoop ist en fuego! Did I get that right? Paul?! 31/4/9/0/1 with 2 treys as he tried to put the Hawks on his back with Paul Millsap sitting (hip – it don’t lie!). The 5 TO are annoying, but we knew that would be part of his game, and while no steals sadly, at least got a swat!
Kent Bazemore – Also stepped up, albeit in a tough loss, going 22/5/3/3/1 with 4 treys.
Tim Hardaway – ThrAGNOF poster child! 21/1/3/1/0 with 2 treys. Hasn’t gotten enough burn or treys to be consistently streamable, but against the faster-paced matchups, can be used.
Brandon Knight – Big game from the BK Burger King, with a team-high 23 points and a close Suns win. 31 minutes of 23/5/2/2/0, that said, 6-18 shooting with 3 TO. Coulda been more efficient!
P.J. Tucker – Followed up his Super breakout against the Nugs last Sunday night with a 17/3/2 line with a pair of treys. If I had an open roster spot in an RCL and needed some rebounding/all-around play, I might take a stab.
Eric Bledsoe/Devin Booker – Combine to shoot 10-30 and score only 25 points, yet the Suns still get a W. Basketball… Sometimes man, it’s weird!
Rip City – Used the Pacers’ pace against em, putting up 131 points last night on 54.3% team shooting with only 6 TO. Can’t stop em! Really everyone was efficient without doing anything that atypical, but I should be starting to love on Maurice Harkless a little more. 23/2/0/2/0 is still pretty empty, but 9-14 shooting with 3 treys and not hurting your FT (2-2) is pretty nice. Maybe big minutes in a consistent role around good playmaking guards is making him take this drastic step forward? I dunno, but my bad for not liking this guy too much for a while; he was a bad FT and 3PT shooter with inconsistent defense! Apparently Stotts saw in him what I didn’t…
Jeff Teague – After not getting over 11 points his last 4 games (and shooting only 3-3 combined FT) 25/5/8/0/1 last night with 10-12 FT. Finally some aggression! He had been getting dimes and steals though, so not like he was a disappearing act.
Glenn Robinson III – The Big Puppy had a usable line of 15/4/1/1/0 with 2 treys and no TO, filling in yet again for Paul George. PG13 has a sore kankle and back and might return this weekend. Pacers don’t play again until Sunday at the Clip which George might be back for, so feel free to drop G-Rob III in all but the deepest of leagues.
I hope everyone had a big night on the heavy-slate Wednesday! Shoot your thoughts below, and happy hooping, Razzball Nation!
