Ugh.
Three letters to sum it up right there (and I wrote the beginning of this open before seeing Rotoworld’s update! Groupthink.)
In only a light slate of two games last night, we had a very solid and steady fantasy contributor in Wesley Matthews go down with a torn Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. I haven’t been this mad at Achilleses (multiple Achilles?) since Brad Pitt in Troy! Man was Orlando Bloom a pansy too… Rough, rough injury and owners will have to scramble to find replacements for his 2.9 3PTM and 16.1 points a game with only 1.3 TO. Tagline of Taken baby! “Good luck.” And well, probably the guy filling in for Matthews is as good as any replacement, as Arron Afflalo should immediately step in the role and be Afflalo of old. I was shocked that late last night he was already owned in 66% of leagues, but that was probably spiking harder than a Charlie Sheen punchbowl with the devastating news last night. While Matthews was great for what he did, threes are a-plenty on the wire, and veterans of ThrAGNOF should be able to get their stream gloves dirty! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Russell Westbrook – With all this Achilles talk, we need a god name for Westbrook. He’s a deity right now! Although didn’t get a triple-double… I recant that opening sentence, he’s a mere mortal! 43/8/7/2/0 in just a really disappointing game… I mean, it’s his worst in weeks!
Serge Ibaka – After a down game against Philly, bounced back with a huge 25/9/3/1/3 line on 12-19 shooting. Strokin’ the mid-range like it’s no one’s bidness! Man, remember like 4 or 5 years ago when everyone thought he’d have no offensive refinement?
D.J. Augustin – Well, other than those big 2, DJ was your best Thunder (doesn’t seem to work as a singular…) for 10/1/3/1/0 on 4-7 shooting hitting a couple of treys. Definitely not useless for the deeper leagues, even with Westbrook going full ham.
Enes Kanter – Ewwww. 30 minutes of 6/6/0/1/1 ball. Ibaka was like, “the big man mid-range is my game!” Single digit scoring and rebounding the past two games after a really solid run when getting to OKC. And it won’t get any better if Kevin Durant‘s footsies can get going.
Nikola Mirotic – Remember when Slim and I said Miro was the better add over Tony Snell with the Jimmy Butler news?! Razzball = game, set, match! 26/8/1/0/2, and of course no Taj Gibson is a big reason as well. But with Butler’s minutes and scoring gone, the Bulls are going to be forced to play the Eurobeard. I mean, minus the dimes, shot 5-15 (2-9 3PTM), but that huge 14-16 FT. He’s like a foward version of the beard! ForwardBeard! I like Eurobeard…
E’Twaun Moore – What in the world?! 22 bench minutes of NBA Jam “he’s on fire!” for 9-10 FG 19/4/0/2/1. Tony Snell is like, “hey, that’s my line!” Brought some great energy and made some plays, but there’s not much we can do with this.
Aaron Brooks – Sticking by my Brooks over Isaiah Canaan call, even with the playoff scheds favoring the Sixers and Brooks only going 6/3/7 last night. Only played 24 minutes, but trying to guard Westbrook it probably felt like 400! And good to see the decent dimes alongside Joakim Noah‘s 9, which he’s gonna do while Derrick Rose is wilted.
Rajon Rondo – Tripdub alert! 10/7/9 as the benching last week is finally reaping the motivational awards! That said, no 3s, only 1 steal and 4 TO. It’s like an Evan Turner game! Burn!
Dirk Nowitzki – Mannnn, he’s been really bad this year, particularly since the break. Father time! Or should I say, Vater time! 10/4/0/1/0 last night with no 3s. The Germinator is shooting blanks!
Monta Ellis – Speaking of shooting blanks, Ellis shot 5-20. That’s not even a good average in baseball! The Mavs have some of the worst fantasy lines from a 40-23 team in NBA history.
Devin Harris – A popular light-slate streamer for me, Harris hurt his hand late and had to get X-rays. I imagine that’s already happened, but no update as of yet. Probably out tonight.
Nicolas Batum – Back-to-back monsters! After being a real escargot so far this year… About all the French I got! 15/12/6/0/1 with a couple of treys. Maybe the wrist is feeling better, and more shots should be coming his way.
Robin Lopez – What has this world come to?! I feel like I had to defend Rolo in comments a few times! Me! Rolo! Ahhhhh! Nice 13/7/1/1/3 last night, and continues to provide steady reliability at C. I mean, uhhhh, only ownable in 20-team Western Conference only leagues!
Damian Lillard – Well, at least he can make a shot or two! 4-10 FG (2-5 3PTM 4-4 FT) 14/6/5/2/0 in a nice return to more Lillard-esque numbers after Wednesday’s anomaly.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
J.J. Barea (3% owned) – Sticking with my Mavs streamer PGs! And it’s really been a solid percentage going with these guys… Harris has that hand injury mentioned above, and I expect Rondo to be awful against the Warriors tonight in a blowout loss. Barea me some junk time!
Dewayne Dedmon (0% owned) – Got the start over Channing Frye on Wednesday, and got into a little bit of foul trouble plus it wasn’t the right team to play dual 7-footers against either vs. the Suns. That said, 8/8/0/1/1 in 21 minutes in that game, and against the Kings with a bigger front line, I think Dedmon gets a little extra run.
I hope everyone had a fantastic week in their penultimate standard H2H matchups, and we’ll catch you next Monday!
