Another night, another round of injuries to thwart title-contenders hopes and dreams…
Dwyane Wade is sorta a given though… Pick any player for any given night to go down, and Wade is numero uno on that list. Slipped on a banana peel last night, and hit his knee hard on the floor. Couldn’t get to 13 minutes, and made the big time national TNT game even more a disappointment. Plus Wade was scoring early, and shoulda gotten to 30! Later in his game, Chandler Parsons left early with a “sore right knee” limping off into the locker room. Ugh, with no specific impact causing the injury and the Mavs gearing up for the postseason, Parsons can go in H2H leagues and might even be a cut candidate in Roto if you’re not against a starts limit. The Mavs go again tonight (Chandler is almost certainly out) then are off until next Wednesday. Wade on the other hand has an extra day, and has said he’s “hopeful” to play tomorrow. I’m “hopeful” to play 1-on-1 against an NBA player before I get to age 30 and lose the 1 or 2 iotas of athleticism I have left, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen! I could give Scalabrine some size, ya never know! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy hoops action:
Hassan Whiteside – No blocks and only 1-3 FT, but given he’s actually playing with his hand all taped up, pretty solid outing! 17/8/1/1/0 on 8-11 FG. Get that mummy hand up there a little more for some swattage, Imhotep!
Mario Chalmers/Tyler Johnson – Neither did anything too exciting last night with Wade down – maybe Chalmers’ 7 dimes raises an eyebrow a millimeter – but both will look at some extra run tomorrow if Wade is out. Desperate owners needing dimes could maybe give Mario a spin, ala a Mario Kart banana string.
Luol Deng – Led the Heat in shots with 15 FGA for 17/8/2/1/0 and a trey. He’s too widely owned for a stream call, but if no Wade, I think he’s a DFS target tomorrow.
Kyrie Irving – Hey, at least he played (cough, Kevin Love, cough!). I jest, 23/1/5/4/0 is more than fine, with 3 treys and 4-4 FT. Still crazy to me he’s having a career year (or at least on par with 12-13) with the suction of talent Cleveland brought in. Good thing it’s working now, or else the Cavs Mega Maid would’ve gone from suck to blow!
LeBron James – Yogurt! I hate yogurt! You know with strawberries! And I hate inefficiency after suffering through MCW this year, so it was good to see a 9-16 FG (1-2 3PTM 4-5 FT) 23/8/7/1/3 game from LeBron with “only” 3 TO. He’s been fine this year, but over 4 TO a game is unacceptable and shooting under 50% this year dropped him out of the elite zone.
Tristan Thompson – Got some good run off the bench, playing 29 minutes for 8/15/0/1/1 as Healthcare.Mozgov continues to be limited. Only 23 minutes from Timofey Mozgov, who did look like he tweaked a foot or leg or something early on. I haven’t seen an update and he kept playing, but with the Cavs seed all but locked up, might be worth keeping an eye on if you’ve held Mozzy Bear to this point. Then again, they’re off until Sunday, so there’s some ample healing time.
Trevor Ariza – It’s been a mostly disappointing year for Ariza, but was rock solid last night for 19/6/6/2/0 with no TO on 6-12 FG (3-7 3PTM 4-4 FT). He’s at 3+ treys in 5 of 6 and 2+ in 6 straight, albeit with a spike of TO until last night. Shocking that his Post-ASB shooting of 45% still hasn’t gotten him over 40% on the year yet… Ouch.
Terrence Jones – Well, after the 7 block comeback, was poopy last night. 7/5/2/1/0 with 3 TO in only 22 minutes, ceding time to Josh Smith who had the best game of his career. OK, maybe it wasn’t that good, but an absurd rainbow line (15/12/3/2/2) given he didn’t hurt you anywhere! 4-11 FG, 3-5 3PTM, crazysauce 5-5 FT given he’s sub-50% the past two years, and only 2 TO. Both these PF now scare me, either one could be the 20 minute guy and kill ya… They like Freaky Friday-ed last night! Ugh.
Dwight Howard – Remember when we said to avoid him as he was returning? 18 minutes of bluuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Al-Farouq Aminu – Everyone’s favorite AA with another 4 blocks! 7/8/2/0/4, he can’t shoot a basketball to save his life (2-7), but should get good run tonight… Oops! I’ve said too much! More below…
Brandan Wright – Another solid showing with Alex Len‘s beak broken, putting up 16/12/0/2/2 in only 28 minutes last night. The Warriors played a lot of small ball, but the Suns shoulda kept the Wright Stuff rollin’!
T.J. Warren – Ugh, my B, I thought Marcus Morris was a much better stream. Morris 2 for only 10/4/1/0/0 while Warren lit it up for 8-12 FG 17/5/2/0/0. Warren is now at 13+ Pts in 3 straight while shooting 67%+, but the steals and blocks he had the couple games before last night seem flukey. A bit of a Pts-only stream to me.
David Lee – What a disgrace! 21 minutes of only 7/6/1/0/0 even with Draymond Green (shin) still out. David Lee can join Green and #OccupyTheBench!
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Al-Farouq Aminu (5% owned) – As I mentioned above, Parsons going down really hamstrings the Mavs up front, and even though he’s only started at PF, I think against a big-ish Warriors team he should get a nod at SF. Even if he doesn’t, will get 30ish minutes of run and accrue some nice D stats.
Jusuf Nurkic (14% owned) – I know, I know, the game log for Jamba Jus has been putrid, but he looked good two games ago and got into foul trouble against the juggernaut Jazz D last time out. Plus I wanted one last H2H season stream call of “play your fringey bigs against the Spurs”! If he’s out there at all it indicates he’s healthy-ish as I don’t think the Nugs would push him at this point, and I think he gets some junk time in a blowout.
Wishing everyone in Razzball Nation a strong finish in their H2H championships! We’ll still be posting through the end of the year for Roto players and general amusement. For someone at least, I hope! See you Monday, Razzball Nation!
