All we needed is a royal event! Unfurl the red carpet, roll it out in the The Colonies’ biggest city, and The Duchess will grace over his royal territory! Wow, I just made a Brooklyn Mess game sound like a big event. FOOL YOU!
As we continue to see Khris Middleton get his minutes ramped up, this was maybe the most encouraging game of the night for me yesterday, as he gets the ASB to rest up and looks ready for a big second half. Even though it’s more like a big final 1/3, but ya know, NBA… 20/3/7/3/0 for The Duchess K Middleton, with only 1 TO and shooting 7-13 with a trey. His most minutes thus far (played 26 off the bench) and I just loved this little glimpse of chemistry with Giannis Antetokounmpo with the big highlight from this game:
Guys are looking N’Sync! I would totally watch The Duchess and Greek Freak lead a boy band… Through his 4 games back, Middleton hasn’t looked like he’s lost anything, with a stellar 18:4 AST:TO, is shooting 47%, and has two 3 steal games. With Jabari Parker out and a line-up that will need a playmaker next to Greek, this could be a really fun upcoming stretch. Kudos if you were able to stash him all season on your IL, and get ready for a royal finish! Here’s what else went down on the last busy slate of action before the All-Star Weekend:
Glenn Robinson III – Got his second straight start in a line-up change, and after a dud Monday, 19/6/2 with 3 treys against the Cavs last night. Maybe on your deep league radar, for The Big Puppy, but that’s about it.
Monta Ellis – Continuing to be a decent deeper-league contributor again, going 14/2/7 in 31 minutes on 6-8 shooting, while the rest of your Pacers regulars didn’t fare too well in this one.
Kyle Korver – Frat boy had another big ThrAGNOF outing, hitting 6 treys on his way to a 22/5/2/1/2/1 line. He’s actually gotten some D stats lately, but I don’t buy those, or his value beyond maybe a streaming flier.
Channing Frye – Yeahhhhhh, I wasn’t really going after him too hard after the Kevin Love news… I expect him to be better than what he did last night most outings (1-8 FG, 4/8/2/0/0), but he’s also in the streaming class – too many up-and-downs beyond the Big 2 right now on the Cavs. Well, Tristan Thompson is pretty locked into what he is…
LaMarcus Aldridge – The Spurs just waltzed through this game, at one point Tony Parker grabbed Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard heading into a timeout and appeared to just tell a funny joke as then all 3 laughed – but were led by a hugely efficient LA outing of 23/3/3/2/1 on 10-13 shooting.
Dewayne Dedmon – Another dubdub! Big man streamer! 10/11/1/0/1 on 5-6 shooting for the big Double-D.
Jeff Green – Moved into the starting line-up, going 11/3/2/1/1 in 35 minutes. Vogel said he’ll want the team to play small once Terrence Ross is ready (didn’t make his debut yet this game) and play Aaron Gordon more at the 4, which could only help a rough Gordon season…
Robert Covington – Was having a great game (18/9/2/3/1 on 7-12 shooting, 4 treys, and no TO), but had to exit in the 4th after trying to save a ball and hitting his head hard in the stands. All we got right now is “head contusion”, but if there ever was a “good” time to go through the concussion protocol, it would be over the All-Star Break. Let’s just be happy it wasn’t EMBIIIIIIIID with the head contusion!
Dario Saric – Man, this hot run just isn’t slowing down! 20/11/0/1/1 with a trey on 9-18 shooting. Super Dario!
Marcus Smart – Wait, can you get a steal if you steal it from yourself?! Had 6 turnovers, but 8 MF steals!!!! Hah! 21/5/5/8/1 with 3 treys in a pretty epic line, but did have those TO and 4-7 FT…
Kelly Olynyk – Olynyk of Nazaerth continues to wander the desert of a bench role, but making miracles happen with another nice line (16/7/3/1/0), hitting 6-8 from the field and 2 treys.
Dirk Nowitzki – Tried to lead Das Mavs in ein comeback, but it was caput! 24/10/3/1/1 with 4 treys from The Germinator in a losing effort at Detroit.
Yogi Ferrell – Hopefully you feel a little better if I pushed you to drop him, getting only 20 minutes off the bench with starter Deron Williams getting his 30. Cold Yogi for only 5/5/3/2/0 on 2-8 shooting.
Reggie Jackson – Breaking out of his funk! Needed it BADLY right before this trade deadline too… 22/0/4/2/0 with 3 treys.
Jon Leuer – Who the F is hacking Leuer this hard?! He’s usually a shooter! 20/8/0/0/1 on 5-7 shooting, but 10-10 FT.
Michael Beasley – Another usable outing, going 14/3/0/1/1 on 7-9 shooting, but in only 22 minutes… Gotta wonder if they phase him out rather than Tony Snell as Duchess gets the minutes up and up.
Greg Monroe – Moose is loose! 25/8/3/2/0 on 12-16 shooting, ending the first half mad hot. Sure, it was against an awful Mess interior D, but they all count!
Brook Lopez – Drops 36 points and 8 blocks! What a way to go into the trade deadline! SOMEONE wants a change of scenery! 36/4/1/1/8 with no TO and 6 treys in a pretty epic line for Ol’ Clownfoot’s owners.
Spencer Dinwiddie – Well, I clowned him from going from 0 points and 8 assists to 17 points and 1 assist the two games prior, but then blended the two last night! 19/5/8/2/0 with no TO in a pretty shocking game. While it’s intriguing, Jeremy Lin is going to be back after the break. Now, I don’t think Lin gets very many 30+ minute starts, but it’ll be enough to make neither useful in standards.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Rainbow alert! 6/14/2/2/2, but in one of the worst losses I can remember for a team this season…
Frank Kaminsky – 27/5/3/1/1 in another huge game as the starting 5. Hit 11-18 and 3 treys, but the ice cold fourth quarter put a damper on anything to feel nice about for these Hornets! They were up big, and then got outscored 32-10 (!!!!!!!!) and lose by 5. Wow.
DeMar DeRozan – Was a big reason the Raps got down so big, with an abysmal 5-19 shooting night. We need some Serge Ibaka floor spacing, stat!
Dion Waiters – The Heat are back at it! Shocking win at Houston to shrug off the couple losses after their big win streak, led by Waiters and his tripdub flirt 23/9/7 line. Hit 4 treys and only committed 1 TO. D’Antoni effect!
James Johnson – Dude, NBA falling asleep at the wheel, this didn’t even make their top 10! Not only that, but it didn’t even get a mother F replay on the broadcast!!!!
Just ho-hum dribbling, them BLAM! Welcome to my poster, Mr. Dekker! Yeah, I might have some REL bias loving that drive that much, but I don’t care!
James Harden – No flirting, hit his tripdub, but 38/12/12 wasn’t enough.
Patrick Beverley – Didn’t help Houston lost their perimeter stopper, with PBev pulling a groin and only lasting 13 minutes. Damn he gets hurt so much… Hopefully the ASB layoff will heal him up.
Solomon Hill – Ugh, really?! Decides to be good at basketball when I play him in the REL, going 23/5/1/2/0 with no TO on 8-11 shooting with 4 treys. Not much to take away from this though…
Alexis Ajinca – Might be in a little bit of a showcase, but hey! Pels won in Memphis last night, and Ajinca has a nice 12/10/0/3/2 outing in 35 minutes as the starter.
Marc Gasol – The Grizz were just COLD AS ICE! shooting 27% from the field and 18% from downtown. 6-17 FG for Marcy Marc, but he still fills it up for 15/12/9/1/1. I blame Mike Conley and his 5-16 shooting for this loss…
Andrew Wiggins – Finally playing assertive?!
Gave Jokic some rough jock itch right there! Although if someone posterized me and yelled in my face like that, I dunno if I would be able to ignore it haha. 40/4/2/2/0 on 15-26 shooting… Maybe taking Zach LaVine out of the equation and replacing him with the anemic USG of Brandon Rush is helping things…
Mason Plumlee – Sheesh, Nuggets playing dem big boys! Well, with a lot of their bigs out, I guess it makes sense… Surprising 34 minutes in his Nugs debut, going 11/9/3/0/1. 3-6 FT though, and likely isn’t going to get this much run next to Nikola Jokic that often.
Jameer Nelson – Keeps playing like a must-own! The NBA’s muscle hamster for 16/7/11 in 35 minutes.
Juancho Hernangomez – Probably the biggest thing to monitor in this game was how Juancho would play off his breakout, andddddddd, poopypants. 3/1/3/1/0 on 1-6 shooting… Still got 33 minutes though! But feels very Marquese Chriss-ish…
Marquese Chriss – Speaking of! 15/8/0/2/2 in only 25 minutes. In the battle of awful teams out West, Suns beat the Lakers by 36. Hah!
Eric Bledsoe – Tripdub alert! 25/10/13/2/0, and you gotta think he was given 36 minutes just so he could get it haha.
D’Angelo Russell – At least D Barksdale showed up, going 21/4/4/1/1 in 28 minutes. 7-20 shooting though….
Ivica Zubac – Bummer. Losing by 36 you’d think would be a perfect opp to play Zubac 25 minutes, but he only gets 14. I’m still holding in a few RCLs, but it’s annoying.
Jusuf Nurkic – The Jamba Jus is loose! Who is more loose: The Goose, The Moose, or The Jamba Jus?! 13/7/1/3/1 in his Blazers debut in only 21 minutes, hitting 5-5 from the field. Did have 4 TO, which remains a problem, but +15 +/- in a game the Blazers lose by 23 at Utah! Kinda exciting…
Willy Hernangomez – This version of Hernangomez is looking a little more reliable, I am loving the Willy! Free Willy! 32 minutes at starting C for 8/10/1/2/3.
Jerami Grant – I keep seeing potential here, but can’t ever catch the lightning in the bottle… 13/5/2/1/2 with no TO and 2 treys on 3-3 FG, and he has these games every once in a while, just not consistently enough.
Victor Oladipo – After a travesty of a game to kick off the week, just needed a little Poppycockers love, and went 21/4/2/1/0 with 3 treys last night.
Matt Barnes – Hitting the glass as hard as he hits the Dom Perignon at the club! 15/14/3/1/0 last night with a trey, as he’s getting pretty consistent minutes with all the Kings injuries…
Klay Thompson – Coming off the sore heel, goes 35/5/4/2/0 with no TO and 7 treys. After a sluggish start, the Dubs put the Kings away on an unreal 42-15 3rd quarter… But I’m mostly sad it means no more McCAWWWWWWW!!!!
Blake Griffin – Man, it’s like he ate Chris Paul to absorb some of his facilitating! Kinda like The Neon Demon… Oops, spoiler alert! 17/5/9/1/2 as the Clip had no issue dispensing of the Hawks last night.
I hope everyone had a good final big slate of action as we head into the All-Star Break! We’ll be around talking the All-Star game and the Trade Deadline through the next week, so drop by when you can and of course hit me up any time in the comments. Happy end of the first half (well, minus the two games tonight) Razzball Nation!
