Woooo, Jimmy Buckets is back! And Tom Thibodeau does what Tom Thibodeau does… Runs his guys to death.
After missing exactly 3 weeks with his elbow injury, Jimmy Butler returned last night and played a ridiculous 39-and-a-half minutes for 19/9/1/0/0. Almost 40 minutes?! And he shot 6-20!? Sure he’s taken a ton of shots the past week to be sure the elbow is healthy, but the aggression in that 7-10 FT really solidifies he should be 100% the rest of the way. That is, until Tibs plays him 63 minutes in a 3-OT game! Sheesh, I gotta wonder if I’ll ever be huge on Bulls again… Derrick Rose and all-a-dat, Joakim Noah goes through injury spells… And Tibs refuses to run his starters on any sort of minutes limits. I’m more posing the thought than really setting any personal beliefs in my fantasy bedrock, but Rose for sure I could never draft. You can call that Fred Flintstone because it’ll make my Fantasy Bedrock! I don’t think I’m using that lyric right… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
James Harden – Mmmmmmmmm, Beard #1 next year. Kinda sexy sounding, isn’t it? Nutso rainbow for 44/4/7/2/2 hitting 10-21 from the field with 3 treys and 21-22 FT. I mean, he is a category killer in FT%, elite scorer and near-elite dimer. I’d get lost in that beard…
C.J. Watson – Stepped up since his older brother C.J. Miles couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn shooting 3-16. Watson off the bench for 7-10 FG (4-5 3PTM 5-6 FT) 23/2/5/3/0. If only I knew to stream him after single-digits in 4 straight and not scoring at all last time out!
George Hill – Whoa, monster rainbow! That PBev D is starting to fall a bit too… But Patrick Beverley did suffer a wrist sprain and played only 20 minutes last night… 20/6/3/3/3 for a 1.5 rainbow from Hill, although of course the blocks are a mad fluke. Regardless, his second half has been unreal. Going to be really hard to rank with Paul George back in 15-16. Speaking of George, remember when we recommended steering clear? Still in a melodrama regarding his return with no timetable.
Marcus Smart – Ew. Gave fantasy owners a quick hit to the nards, that’s for sure! Only 23 minutes of 2/1/0/2/0 shooting 1-3. Isaiah Thomas sounds like he’ll be back tomorrow (I thought it’d be longer, go ahead and pick him up commenters!), so Smart can likely go in several leagues.
Evan Turner – Another tripdub from Mrs. Turner! 19/10/12 on 9-13 shooting – the FG% helps the line, but still mostly just the 3 cats. But if those 3 are needs, gotta keep holding even with IT2/3 coming back to likely steal some touches. To sap roughly 2/3 of his usage!
Kelly Olynyk – The kankle issues from chronic sandal wearing seems to have subsided! 18/5/2/1/1 last night in only 17 minutes with trey treys. Full multi-cat! Man, but dat 17 minutes doe! And off two terrible games… Tough to trust.
Brook Lopez – I imagine his feet look like the T-1000 after he falls in the liquid nitrogen… They’re just shattering away… 35 minutes last night for 31/4/0/1/2. Four rebounds in 35 minutes from a 7 footer?! “Nice job on the boards, Brolo!” said no one, ever.
Deron Williams – Whoa, near tripdub! Always nice to see your starting PG pull down 9 boards and your 7 footer get 4… 10/9/10/2/1 from D-Will last night, and sulking on the bench was “Wahhhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack! Remember when I used to start and was worth owning?!?!?!”
Bojan Bogdanovic – It’s like the curse of the SI Cover! Curse of the Razzball Basketball lead! 3-14 FG last night in a laughably bad 6/6/1/0/0 line with no 3s. Apparently you Don’t Mess with the Bojan, as in, don’t mess with picking him up!
Tony Allen – Wooooo! Nice stream call here for a mighty solid 9/7/3/2/1 game shooting 4-5 from the field with a trey. He’s awful as a FT shooter (0-2 last night), but if you have a FT punt team and Allen is available, he should be on your squad no question.
Lance Thomas – Woooo! 2-for-2 on streams last night. 15/2/1/2/0 with a trey, although did hurt you with the 5 TO. I said he was a stream in 8-cat only, right?! Don’t fact check that… Remember we don’t fact check… Eh, tough to depend on much in anything shallower than 16.
Langston Galloway – Alexey Shved ended up sitting with a bad rib, so bring on The Harlem Renaissance! 19/7/5/1/0 with 2 treys, and has been more-or-less must-own in 4 of the past 5. Like Thomas though, tough to trust, but we’ll bump it to anything shallower than 14.
Kemba Walker – He kneeded to be healthy and he kneeded to produce for fantasy owners! The knee indeed seems healthy, with a solid 29/2/2/0/1 on 11-24 FG (2-7 3PTM 5-5 FT). But as I foretold…
Mo Williams – …seems to be your primary facilitator even off the bench for 15/6/5/1/0 with 3 treys and the 5 dimes leading the Bugs. Eesh, Charlotte had only 11 team assists last night?! Buzz’s girlfriend, woof!
Al Jefferson – Left early with a sore knee. Big Al has been a Big Disappointment, that’s for sure. His career is heading towards The Twilight Zone.
Nikola Mirotic – No Minutes Mirotic getting the op! Noah sat with General Sorness (commanded the troops to victory in WWII) opening up Miro for another 32 minutes of 28/8/2/0/1. Another trey and 7-10 FT?! Not great FT% this time, but dat volume doe! I gotta slow my roll on using those… Miro really is a PF Beard… But he’ll be so hard to rank high next year with all dat depth doe! Ugh, I did it again!
Zach LaVine – Whoa, look at the Wolves winning a game! And it was all LaVine, hitting two spot up triples late to bring them back in regulation. 27/3/4/0/0 with 5 treys and 8-10 FT. But those ugly, ugly 7 TO. When the Wolves can only play 7 guys, Flip is hard pressed for options!
Lorenzo Brown – Out of sheer necessity, the Wolves started a backcourt of LaVine and Brown with Kevin Martin out with hamstring issues. The Kmart news came suddenly before tip last night, and the way the year has gone, it certainly wouldn’t be a shock if they shut him down. Anyway, Brown for 10/7/6/2/0 and might get decent run down the stretch for deepers.
Trey Burke – Labradoodle alert! 4-22 from the field including an atrocious final shot in regulation that went off the side of the backboard as a potential game-winner. Seriously, Burke took the shot?! I guess with no Gordon Hayward (shoulder), there isn’t much of a better shot creator, but sheesh.
Rudy Gobert – I mean, camon, give him the defensive player of the year award already! 18/17/1/1/6. That said, they did just lose to the Wolves…
Klay Thompson – Returned from his kankle, and certainly showed the rust for 8/1/3/1/0 on 3-9 shooting with no treys in 18 minutes. Hey, at least he was better than the no show Wizards!
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Anthony Morrow (41% owned) – I know, I know, his ownership has gone up precipitously and he’s more widely owned than my usual streamer picks, but I’m hesitant on him as a must own even with Andre Roberson out 2-3 weeks with a kankle. Yet this is a perfect matchup against the lowly Lakers for Morrow to get a lot of O.
Isaiah Canaan (15% owned) – Ya know, sometimes you have to have no logic, and for me tonight it’s that Canaan has been cold and I think he gets it going again tonight against the iffy D of the Kings PGs. If you need treys or are looking for a contrarian daily play, I think Canaan could be a surprise.
I hope everyone had a solid showing in the first night of their semi-final playoff matchups, and we’ll catch you tomorrow Razzball Nation!
