Rajon Rondo might have tweaked his ankle yesterday. I mean, he definitely tweaked it, but this is the Celtics we’re talking about and I’m not entirely sure he didn’t TV tweak it. When he was taken to the locker room in the second quarter, Paul Pierce could be overheard shouting, “that’s my boy. Taught him everything he knows.” Anyway, if Rondo tweaked it bad enough that it gets all puffy, purple and forces him to miss a day, it’s okay because he just piled two solid performances into one game. His 18/17/20 triple-double was the only time in NBA history a player has hit all three of those levels in one game. Magic Johnson came the closest in April of ’89, when he went 24/17/17. I remain un-budged on Rondo being one of the 20 best fantasy options, but I’ll listen to top 25. … And then the rest of NBA Sunday happened. Read about it below.
Chris Wilcox – Wilcox will suck up Jermaine O’Neal‘s minutes in the few weeks that he’s out. The problem is, Brandon Bass and Kevin Garnett are sucking up Wilcox’s minutes when the going get tough. And when the goin’ get tough, the tough get 17 minutes and goes 6/3.
Steve Novak – Averaged 3.2 threes in 13 February games. In his first March game, he’s averaging four. He gave up moderate three-production for Lent.
J.R. Smith – Scored two points on 1-for-6 shooting. He’s shooting .375 as a Knick and ranks at the end of the Shumpert-Davis-Novak-Smith reserve quartet.
Jeremy Lin – 14/4/5, with 6 tov. It’s worth noting that of the 14 games Lin has played since his sonic boom, six of them have come against teams with winning records and the Knicks are 4-2 in those games. His two best games happened against two of those winning teams (LAL and DAL).
Udonis Haslem – With Bosh still out because of personal issues, Haslem saw 19 minutes and ended with the powerhouse 0-for-5 performance with a pair of rebounds. This is how Bosh performs every night in my mind.
Stephen Curry – The Justin Morneau of fantasy basketball, in the sense that he’s fantastic when he’s healthy, but one can never count on him to ever be healthy. Or perhaps he’s the Al Gore of fantasy basketball in that he does a lot of great things, but he’s not the guy I want to give my top pick to. Maybe he’s the Lt. Dan of fantasy basketball in that he’s a warrior who just ain’t got no damn feet. At any rate, if you’re desperate, Dominic McGuire (4/5/3 in 37 minutes yesterday) is as worthwhile a last-minute grab as any girl you’ve ever settled for at last call.
Andrea Bargnani – Didn’t play last night and won’t likely play tonight. That’s Monday news for you. Betcha by Friday, we’ll have happier, more weekend-y news.
Amir Johnson – Seventh double-double of the season. And now that he’s conquered the NBA, it’s become clear to me that this man needs other outlets. Johnson for Toronto comptroller!
Deron Williams – Twenty-one of his 57 points came from being perfect at the line. Leave it to Paul Silas to play “Whack-a-Williams” and not stop after he was 10-for-10 or 15-for-15. “Maybe he’ll miss this time.”
Kris Humphries – 11/13 despite rumors of injury, or rumours if you’re reading this in England.
Gerald Green – 2/2/0 in 18 minutes in his third game as a Net. I was all prepared to tell you to see how many times you could get this pebble to skip on its was back into the pool, but then I looked at Mar$hon and Anthony Morrow‘s lines last night (a combined 11/3/3, 5-for-12 in 53 minutes) and opted to wait another game or two before Green is totally dead to me.
Bismack Biyombo – DNP-inactive. He’s a Charlotte Bobcat, so I assume this stands for inactive: do not pity.
Thaddeus Young – 17/9/1 last night and is ranked 37th on ESPN’s player rater, making him the second highest-ranked Sixer on the team. Jrue story (sorry Jrue).
Spencer Hawes – Looks like March 14 is the earliest you’ll see him play. Yet you’ve been thinking about him for weeks and weeks. Why? The Kobe System. You’re welcome.
Luol Deng – Shot .398 in February and .273 last night. He does all sorts of things awesomely, but pooping in your kitchen probably doesn’t count as one of ’em.
Channing Frye – 11/13 double-double, but shot 3-for-12 in 29 minutes. This is what I thought Frye’s season was going to look like every game. If you have a buyer for Frye, go be a seller. He isn’t as good as you want to believe he is.
Randy Foye – Drained three threes on his way to 15 points. Give him an extra heaping of apple compote for dessert as a reward.
Samuel Dalembert – The Haitian Sensaitian double-doubled (17/12) for the first time since January 25. He also blocked three shots last night. That’s nine in his last four games. That’s an average of more than two per game. Or one per half. Or half a block per quarter. What’s half a block? That’s about the farthest distance any two Starbucks are from one another. So, yeah – a ton of blocks for Sam.
Danilo Gallinari – To return Monday most likely. I’ll grab the sparklers, you grab the plastic party hats.
