Well, this is the peril you get playing in other countries… After a generator next to the stadium in Mexico City failed, last night’s Spurs at [hah] Timberwolves got postponed after the stadium filled with smoke. It looked like Mexico City’s skyline of smog in there! Man, so many people are going to get fired over this. “Who let their 5 year olds with squirt guns play next to the exposed wires?!” All the sudden the NBA is looking like the MLB… I haven’t seen a PPD since September! Brutal break for Spurs and Wolves owners in H2H formats as the reschedule is sure to be a while down the road. Usually I like H2H for hoops because you don’t get rocked when your team has bad weather (vs. H2H Fantasy Baseball which I loathe), but now you have to think about generator fires when playing in other countries! Well, I guess except Canada… They better have their shizz in order! Breaking News! The Raptors stadium has a Rob Ford crack den hidden within the locker room that caught fire, and they’re relocating to become the Reno Lt. Dangles. Go Reno! Here’s what else happened last night across fantasy hoops:
Al-Farouq Aminu – In one of the more preposterous lines last night, neared a Goromotaro with a 16/21 night. What the hey?! Mini-Dwight Howard! The Mavericks front line just did nothing rebounding wise, with DeJuan Blair and Shawn Marion combining for 9 boards in 65 minutes. The Mavs had 38 boards AS A TEAM! I still chalk it up to a little fluke-ish and he’s just not a polished scorer, so I’m not ready to anoint him the Goromotaro threat he looked last night. Will get you steals though with 3 last night averaging 1.4 a game this year. I like 8/8 2 stl and a block every other game while Anthony Davis is out, but not gonna go higher. I know El Burro is gonna want to pull a Creed on him though. “You can take me high-ahhhh!”
LaMarcus Aldridge – 38/13/5 while shooting 17-28. Dammit REL! He got put on the block and I tried to pay handsomely but it wasn’t enough. He wanted Brad Pitt, I gave… Ummm, Breckin Meyer? Hah that’s obscure. Road Trip! Not like I threw a Mr. Bean at him! Just on fire, the Blazers are killin’ it, any threat of trade movement in his future is easily quelled.
Paul Millsap – Banged knees on a screen. Seemed like it was only a bone bruise, but that can knock ya out of some games. Worth keeping an eye on.
DeMarre Carroll – Would get a little boost if Millsap is out. In 33 minutes last night, 12/7/1 with two threes. Not huge, but he’ll be a big help to teams in deeper leagues if for some reason he’s available.
Dennis Schroder – Sent to the D-League. That’s like being sent to the 3. Liga! SV Sandhausen welcomes you! Shelvin Mack has clearly won the backup PG minutes and the notion Jeff Teague was gonna be pushed for his job by Schroder I never bought. I love Teague! Had kinda a scheiße game last night though…
Wilson Chandler – Willlllsssooonnnnn! Good to see ya ol’ buddy ol’ pal! 13/8/1/1/2 with two threes in 33 minutes. Nice multi-cat performance and still has big scoring upside.
Ty Lawson – Does NOT have high-scoring upside. Hah, of course he does I was kidding, but was brutal going 1-13 from the field last night. Still got very close to a rainbow with 4/2/11/3/1. You’ll take that errant block! His third of the year… Someone on the Cavs is gonna get shamed in the film room!
Nate Robinson – A night after banging his wrist went 7-15 in 27 minutes for a boring 14/2/2. Well-established my thoughts on Nate Dawg… Moving on…
Kenneth Faried – Only 19 minutes and got a little banged up two nights ago and I think must still be hurting now. If you have a solid team with a full line-up & benchers going on Friday, he may be a bench for you.
Timofey Mozgov – The curse of the Razzball lead! I’m like Sports Illustrated now… Or the Madden jynx! 8/3 with a block in 17 minutes, and on top of that 3 TOs while getting into foul trouble with 4. Why I still liked…
J.J. Hickson – …Hickson more, who got 26 minutes and posted another dub-dub of 15/11/2 ball. Although…
Darrell Arthur – … The Denver DA got a lot of minutes with 26, flirting with a rainbow of 8/8/3/1/1. I’ve always liked Arthur and this is turning into a fantasy nightmare. Hickson is still the guy to own, Mozgov for the board/block upside, but Arthur as a stretch center is doing them no favors.
Derrick Favors – Speaking of Favors! 22/13 last night. He’s been quietly really good, which I think goes under the radar since everyone thought he’d be 2+ blks a game and he’s only at 1.2. Everything else is exceeding expectation.
Gordon Hayward – “Owwwwww! My knee!!! Owww!!!!” Brutal 3-14. Will blame it on an injury. Still produces well with 12/4/6/2/0, but these brutal shooting nights are unreal for him.
Marvin Williams – Sat out with a sore heel. I don’t know why he just didn’t rub tar on it…
Enes Kanter – Got the start and looked great going 8-18 20/10. Played hard against a way bigger Roy Hibbert. Took a lot of jumpers, obviously given that matchup, but played tough on D. Worth a look if he was dropped in deeper 12-teamers and beyond.
Trey Burke – Do I mask my true thoughts since a lot of people reading are in the leagues I’m in? Why not! He’s terrible! I’m only giving you trade offers to smite him! He looks awful out there! But seriously, the 13/2/9 game (shooting 5-12 2-2 3PTM) did no justice to just how good he looked. I remember one drive late in the 4th where he blew past 4 defenders, sucked them all in, made a disgusting behind the back pass, and Kanter missed a wide open layup. He was too open! As the Jazz commentators exclaimed, “the Jazz have their PG!” And so should fantasy owners. Remember when I had him ranked in the 50s pre-injury? Because I wish he didn’t get hurt! Things are just going to gel better and better around him as he gets more time on the court. I’m willing to overpay while the production isn’t ridiculous. He’s about to take off. Just you watch.
Paul George – Very respectable 19/6/4 2 stl game with one three shooting 7-20. But not uber-elite, the next coming of God, etc. out there. Still a little inconsistent in the elite realm. He’s no question top 10 with a few injuries, but I think my 11 rank is still fine. Pete are you mad he’s in the middle this time? Are ya?!
Ryan Anderson – Only 1-5 from deep, but made up for it with a season-high 13 boards. He only had more than 8 once this year. I don’t think it was a coincidence he had a ridiculous boarding game in the same one as Aminu’s career-high. Mavs just didn’t hit the glass.
Jason Smith – Continues to be useful with 12/9/1/1/1 on 6-10 shooting. Nice fringe big for depth.
Chandler Parsons – Sat out with a bad back. Bringin’ sexy back! Or something like that… I figured some DNPs were coming his way; I think they should give him prolonged rest to get through the whole year.
Omri Casspi – Free Casspi! Viva Casspi! 31 minutes 14/7/1/1/0. Hit two threes. Not huge, but considering he was 1-6 to start the game makes you feel a little better. Did have a whopping 5 TOs though. I wonder if Casspi confuses turnovers with passover…
Patrick Beverley – The official Razzball “stick with me bro!” PG. 12/8/2/2/0 with two threes. Daddy like! Mommy like! Whole family like!
Terrence Jones – McHale giveth and McHale taketh away. Only 24 minutes of 8/7 ball with a block. Only one block in the last three and now 2/4 and 8/7 in the past two in 42 combined minutes. Now both games were against some smaller line-ups, so I’m not throwing him overboard of every ship yet.
Miles Plumlee – Man, the Plumlee love was ridic back in the day! Man, I sound like a grandpa… “Back in my day, Miles Plumlee used to play basketball in a peach barrel!” 4/9 with 2 blocks, which is still fine, but his first blocks in the past three and doing nada. Why my stance has more or less been avoid all Suns bigs. They’re more white dwarfs than gas giants.
Brandon Knight – I know what you’re thinking… “JB wtf mate! You liked him a lot and he was a poop-stick out there last night!” 12/1/3 is indeed no bueno, but if you’re a Knight owner this was about to be bruuuutal. Was only at 12 minutes before midway through the 4th with like 2/0/1 or something horrific. Stepped up late after Larry Drew blew a halftime lead by stretching out his scrubs too long. All you can do is blame Larry Drew, who is right there with Brad Stevens as the more infuriating coaches out there.
Zaza Pachulia – Sprained his foot and left early. He could not be getting himself more out of the mix…
Ekpe Udoh – Also got hurt, spraining his ankle. Was beasting the blocks with 6 before missing most of the 2nd half. Looking like Larry Sanders out there except minus all the bouncers whalin’ on him.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Hah, so last night the guy making highlights for the Bucks game was getting sooooo mad having to type his name. Hahaha, so funny. Anyway, Drew stretched out Ante K with the hurt bigs for a season-high 28 minutes for 6/6/4/1/3 ball with no TOs shooting 3-5. Starting to climb slowly by slowly, sort of like his height which doctors said will get to 7 feet. The Bucks are going to be lankier than one of those air-floaty people in front of car dealerships…
John Henson – Fairly close to PBev as being the official “stick with me bro!” big man. Rainbow line alert! 12/9/2/2/3 but by looking at the stat sheet, got a little beat around by the Pistons bigs. I mean, Henson weighs what, like 230? He’s like a little gingerbread man out there!
Khris Middleton – Quietly keeps being uber-efficient and racking up stats. 21 minutes, shot 5-6 (4-5 3PTM) for 14/4/2. I love the dutchess of Milwaukee!
Andre Drummond – Man. I think I was the one who has personally revved him up. He was gonna come into the season all awkward and all un-beastly, but instead he was like, “That JB from Razzball is a real dick!” 24/19/0/2/3, shot 8-13, 8-14 from the stripe for an improvement, and looking like a pretty bad rank on my part. I don’t even want to look where it was.
Greg Monroe – Now I like Monroe! I feel like his rank was fine and above a few places. 18/17/3/0/2. If anyone has any extra Monroe and wants to sell me some, I’m game.
Robin Lopez – Double-double with 4 blocks. In his past 3 double-doubles he had one total block. He just can’t get it all to go together. He can’t be a Bagel Bite. Because when pizza is on a bagel, you can have pizza anytime!
Jimmy Butler – Still badly bothered with the turf toe. There have been a lot of questions on Butler, and my stance as soon as the injury popped up was droppable in almost all leagues. I got some flack, but knew it would be a while. And when Tom Thibodeau comes out last night and says he “isn’t close”, you know it’s no bueno. Although with Thibodeua’s scratchy voice, it sounded like he said Butler “isn’t a toad.” Frog fans worldwide can breathe a sigh of relief.
Michael Carter-Williams – His knee is very sore. Us fantasy fans are very sore. Dude just can’t stay healthy. Has these go nuts games then these aww shucks injuries. Deeper leaguers should give Tony Wroten a stream look over the weekend as MCW will be brought along very cautiously.
Omer Asik – Missing a week with a calf injury. This final news bit has absolutely no fantasy relevance.
Next Game: TNT Overtime baby! Be sure to go to the TNT OT site, if only just for a minute, to see my highlights on there! Because you’re going to be bored senseless watching the Knicks play the Nets. This game has no winners. Then got MIA @ CHI. Pretty light load of games tonight, but be sure to set your line-up!
