Welcome to the semis! If you’ve survived this long in your standard H2H formats, then you’re merely 2 wins away from a title. Hard to believe after the marathon! Just think of how many more games the NCAA title hopefuls have to win to get a National Title!
With a mere two weeks left, there’s only 14 more days of streaming on the docket, making every add/drop count. So now’s the time (if you haven’t yet, whaaaaaaaaaaa?!) to check out The Stocktonator! Check out or new short-shorts robotics to help with your streaming decisions for each and every day this upcoming week.
And well, I have one RCL team that WON’T need The Stocktonator, due to The Omen getting absolutely possessed last week! Damian Lillard is now my least favorite player, after going 49/1/5/0/1 with 9 treys last night on 14-21 shooting. He scored 141 points last week, hitting 19 treys, and shot 55% from the field while doing so. Cost me the playoffs with narrow wins in FG% and points for my opp in a 4-5 loss. I’m done with you, Omen! Doesn’t help he shot 36-36 from the FT line either. What a preposterous week. Not to mention that after their bad loss to the Pels last Tuesday, he held a players-only meeting which led to a huge win at San Antonio Wednesday, followed by two big wins against the East besting Hotlanta and HotMiami over the weekend. Why is Atlanta hot, but Miami isn’t?! Whoever named it Hotlanta hasn’t been to many other cities! Portland is the hot city right now though! Here’s what else went down over the hot weekend in fantasy basketball action:
Richaun Holmes – After the Sixers straight embarrassed the Mavs Friday (wasn’t Dallas supposed to be going for the playoffs?!), in a game where Sherlock went 17/7/2/2/0 in under 20 minutes, Holmes kept it up for a rainbow 8/7/5/2/4 yesterday against the Celtics with nary a TO. Hopefully the D stats didn’t Moriarty your playoff run!
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot – Don’t go chasing TheAGNOFs! TLC for 12/4/2/1/0 then 13/2/1 with 5 treys over the weekend. In deeper leagues you can chase some TLC though for low-end ThrAGNOFfin’!
Justin Anderson – Mr. Anderson! Had a nice revenge game Friday for 19/8/3/1/0, but had to sit out yesterday afternoon with the sniffies. I think he was just sad since he picked Virginia to go all the way. Suck it, Justin, UNCW shoulda beat you guys in the first round!
Robin Lopez – Weird, Rolo going ham on the Wizards! And they have two good centers too! 25/12/2/0/1 outta nowhere Friday, then 14/5/2/0/2 against Monsieur Elbow and the Jazz Saturday. I’m sure a lot of people got tired of the Sideshow, so he might be available if you need a big for the semis.
Nikola Mirotic – What an emotional roller coaster! DNP before All-Star Break, plays well after the break, gets DNPs again, gets back into the rotation and looks great, then actually gets a start Saturday and lays a turdmuffin. 5/4/0/0/0 on 2-7 shooting in only 17 minutes, but that said, it was against the Jazz who can lock dat ish up. He’s a risky asset, but might be worth playing at least to kick off this week. Bulls have a Tue/Wed back-to-back, so might be in consideration for streaming.
Bobby Portis – Equally annoying, Portis comes off the bench this time, then has a career game. Well, in scoring… 22/5/0/0/0. Bleh, not showing the promise in treys or D stats to get too excited and his points the prior 3 games were 3, 8, 5.
Denzel Valentine – Whoa, mad consistency! I’d bet $1 he scores 11 points again tomorrow, and that he can sell my frozen orange juice futures! 11/12/4/1/0 with no TO against the Jazz Saturday for his 4th straight 11 point game. Weird. But he probably won’t be getting a valentine from Kelly Oubre, that’s for sure!
John Wall – Double dimebag Friday! Hah, I miss college… We’ve been carrying the Wall torch for years now at Razzball, and while you haven’t gotten a home run with picking him at the turn (you have gotten a solid asset every year though), this time you got a 4 bagger! The bags keep adding up here!
Ian Mahinmi – Continues to steal minutes from The Ten Foot Pole as they ease off Marcin Gortat for the playoffs. Big game Friday for 16/3/1/0/2, then blah 7/7/1/0/0 Saturday. That said, in my bye week teams, I have Mahinmi as a streamer, then likely moving on depending on how tonight goes.
Jason Smith – A weekend of illness for Markieff Morris means his Witness Protection fill-in Jason Smith got two starts, and was actually semi-decent. Rainbowed Friday for 17/7/2/2/2 then went 8/4/2/0/3 against the Whore-nets. God Charlotte sucked this year, with virtually the same team!
Jae Crowder – Had a great Friday against Brooklyn while IT2/3 rested his knee bruise, going 24/12/1/1/0 with 4 treys. Celtics only beat them by 3 though! Then they LOST to Philly yesterday, with The Boston Clam Crowder going a lukewarm 15/7/4/1/0. If IT2/3 or Russell Westbrook doesn’t win MVP, something is wrong. Because those two teams are horrific without them.
Solomon Hill – King Solomon?! 30/6/7/2/0 out of absolutely nowhere Friday, hitting 6 treys and 8-9 FT. It was against the Rockets, so I guess D’Antoni effect?! 13/5/5/3/0 yesterday was still pretty useful too. Maybe you take a streaming flier, but meh.
Tyler Johnson – Nothing too out of the ordinary with Dion Waiters hurt, going 23/2/3/0/2 then 14/3/3/1/0 over the weekend. I guess the bigger story would be the duds Josh Richardson put up, going 5/3/0/0/3 then 10/1/2/1/1 in 32 and 33 minute starts. Yuck. That knee injury at the beginning of camp really messed up his season, told ya!
James Johnson – Maybe the Waiters injury is helping JJ a little, who had a mammoth weekend of 17/2/6/2/1 then 24/7/5/2/2 with 2 treys and 0 TO last night. Year of the neck tat!
T.J. Warren – Went 26/5/1/2/2 for a big Friday, then 15/6/1/3/2 to keep the multi-cat rolling last night. The latter was in 45 minutes AND without Devin Booker, who is nursing a sore ankle. Warren might be a giant X-factor for the semis, especially if Booker misses more time.
Alex Len – After going rainbow against the Magic (sounds like a 7-yr-old girl’s birthday party!) for 9/10/2/3/2, got into foul trouble yet again yesterday on a 11/7/1/0/0 line. Len there, done that.
Tyler Ulis – Taking over the state of Arizona! 19/4/8/1/0 then 17/3/11/3/0 over the weekend. Now, both were losses, so let’s not get too excited in dynasty, but he’s been a huge find in the redraft playoff run. Only shot 7-24 yesterday though as the FG% has been bleh lately, but you’re probably thrilled with what ya got.
Khris Middleton – Dropped a 30 burger in a tough win against the Lakers, but struggled with the rest of the Bucks in Oakland when they got blown out by the Dubs. I wish The Duchess brought a little more than scoring this weekend too – where’s the beef?!
Georgios Papagiannis – Better porn star, or better NBA career?! Jury is obviously still out, but had his first dubdub over the weekend going 14/11/1/1/1 then 6/10/0/1/1 yesterday against the Spurs. Deeper leagues that need a big Greek should take a look. There’s two Giannis’s around!
Ersan Ilyasova – The Six Foot Turkey put up 23/4/1/2/1 in a spot start for Paul Millsap who had knee tightness. Hopefully Trillsap isn’t missing any games in a pivotal 4-game Hotlanta week.
Jusuf Nurkic – Jamba Jus keeps crankin’ em out! 12/9/6/2/5 then 21/12/0/0/3 in a fantastic weekend. Well, minus the 3-8 FT yesterday. His stroke is so smooth though! I bet he becomes a 75%+ FT shooter in his peak years…
Jameer Nelson – Hrmph. That’s annoying. After fading into obscurity for most leagues, goes 16/1/5 then 15/7/11 over the weekend. In 34 then 39 minutes too. Jamal Murray still got mid-20 minute run, but man it’s tough to feel great with him in redraft, especially with the Nuggets the current 8 seed. Yes. Nuggets in the playoffs. Weird…
Mason Plumlee – …Almost as weird as Plumlee playing as a starter, AND gelling with Nikola Jokic a lot better than Nurk did. 10/10/6 on Thursday then a rainbow 9/9/3/2/3 against Houston on Saturday.
James Harden – I don’t usually mention the guys at their status quo, but two straight 40-point tripdubs is pretty redonkulous. Finish strong with The Beard!
J.J. Barea – Only got 17 minutes against Philly in that blowout, but got 27 minutes and destroyed Brooklyn for 20/1/7/2/0 and a trey. Pretty close to must own, as he’s close to being the true starting PG now. That said, only 3 games this week. Although in daily moves leagues, you could own him for Tue/Thur/Sat and stream Sunday.
Jeremy Lin – Yet another injury, picking up a kankle last night. I feel pretty vindicated about my Lin avoidance advice this year! Well, after all the injuries… Spencer Dinwiddie got the added run, going 18/2/7/1/0 with 2 treys in 30 very solid minutes. If you’re strapped for PG, Dinwiddie might be interesting, as the Nets play on Tuesday/Thursday early this week.
Reggie Jackson – Nice bounce back weekend, going 20/0/6 then 14/2/4 in 28 then 25 minutes. Still not what we wanted to see from what we thought would be a bedrock starter, but he still needs to be owned.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Much needed big game Sunday after being ice cold last week, going 23/3/8 with 5 treys. Pistons were really falling apart, hopefully a win against the Suns rights the sip.
Aron Baynes – The Suns scored 95 points last night – on 99 shots! 35.4% from the field and 63.3% from the FT line, which I bring up because Andre Drummond went 18/18 and Baynes went 13/17 too! So many rebounds! Career-high boards for Bayne in 18 minutes, which has him saying, “YESSSSSSSSSHHHHH!”
Shabazz Muhammad/Jordan Crawford – Two of the NBA’s hotter, bench scoring-only guys went to town against each other last night, with the Wizard of Shabazz going 20/6/1/1/0 with a trey and J Crawf going 22/2/0/0/0 with 4 treys. POINTSnof!
Ivica Zubac – After that dud last Wednesday, I know a lot of people were skeptical, but he’s a goddamn savior! 18/8/1 then 10/6/2/0/1 over the weekend, with no TO, 2-2 FT, and 13-22 from the field.
Jordan Clarkson – Starting role doing wonders! 21/5/2/1/1 then 19/3/6 over the weekend with 6 treys, but it was D’Angelo Russell who stole the show against the Cas last night! Career-high 40 burger on a 40/2/6/2/0 line, with 7 treys and only 1 TO. WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL YEAR?! Although I had a commenter ask if they could put D Barksdale on The Wire, and I said NO! At least there’s that…
Kyrie Irving – Breaking news! Is better that D’Angelo Russell… 46/2/3 with 6 treys and 10-10 FT in a game the Cavs starters actually had to try…
Kevin Love – Back to vintage Love! 21/15 with 3 treys in a revenge game. Well, not really, he did play at UCLA though, and they have similar colors! So revenge-ish… Speaking of, I have one bracket doing awesome with UCLA going all the way, so let’s do this Lonzo Ball!
Hopefully everyone is still alive in their title runs, and their brackets haven’t been completely busted! We’ll be here all week to help you through the semis, and good luck this week Razzball Nation!
