The Pacers scored 54 points in the third quarter after going 20-for-21 from the floor. They were 20-for-20 until Josh McRoberts heaved a lazy three with four seconds remaining (why was Doc McRoberts shooting a three? Oy!). I mention McRoberts’ heave because his 2/10/4 line isn’t enough to get him mentioned otherwise. Not after Mike Dunleavy Jr. jacked up six threes on his way to 31 points or Darren Collison improved his season totals to 16.7/4.7, or Brandon Rush came off a five-game suspension like a puppy arriving at his new home. Excited run, excited run, excited run … poop on the floor. Rush’s 16/7/2 line in 30 minutes was mostly caused by his excited energy bumping up against a lethargic Nuggets team that has played four times in the last five days. Granger, Hibbert and Collison all did their thing, but this was Dunleavy Jr. and Rush’s show. And just like the old adage states, ‘shows involving role-playing Hoosiers must not go on.’ Or something. Anyway, deep leagues jump on it. Shallower leagues, be like Tonto and yell ‘Whoa!’
Here are some other players that either had a hand in blowing out their opponents or were, themselves, blown out last night:
Gary Forbes – Right after completing his PowerPoint presentation on increasing your company’s business process management efficiencies, he suited up and scored 16 points in 21 minutes. Do what you want, but there’s no way I’m owning a player named Gary Forbes.
Chauncey Billups – 9/0/3 in just over 24 minutes. I know this was a blow-out, but Billups is looking run-over a tenth of the way through his season. He’s averaging 14.5/4.4 on .351 from the floor in 31+ mpg, his worst averages since his pre-Pistons days. I know it’s two days early, but you need to get a jump on selling Billups fast.
Andre Iguodala – After playing the most games of anyone over the last three seasons, Igloo-dollar has played the fewest number of games of anyone over the last five days. He’ll sit out tonight’s game and return Friday.
Caron Butler – Out of tonight’s game with what were called mild back spasms. Spasms that force you to skip a game are about as mild as the Mango Habanero sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Paul Millsap – Sank a career-high 46 points including three threes. Dude was 2-for-20 from beyond the arc before last night, what in the Hell made him think to try it thrice in the final 30 seconds of regulation? Skillsap!
Al Jefferson – Played just 28 stone cold minutes in the Jazz’s overtime win over the Heat. None of those 28 minutes came in the second half fourth quarter. He might be hurt. He looked it.
LeBron James – “LeBron James is the best player on [the Heat]! He needs four or five shots in overtime. Quit all this trying to be cool and compensate mentally and ‘we’re just gonna overtake them.’ No, you’re not smarter. You’re better. Physically stronger; grab the rebound and go. There’s no way [the Heat] should only have four fast breaks! Come on!” – Chris Webber, who couldn’t be more frustrated with the triple-doubling LeBron than if he’d compared him to Darko again.
Eric Gordon – Missed Tuesday’s game with shoulder soreness. Should return the next time out. Rasual Butler is your handcuff, mostly because Rasual Butler plays like he’s wearing handcuffs.
Chris Kaman – Sprained an ankle, which freaked out his owners. Buck up, Kaman owners. You think you’re freaked out now, imagine if he gained an ankle! Word ’round the campfire is Kaman will miss at least two weeks. DeAndre Jordan stands to gain the minutes. Grab him quick.
Eric Bledsoe – 6/6/8 with five turnovers in 38+ minutes. There’s a lot of potential with Bledsoe, but you got to figure he’s going to have a ton of uneven games like this. Maybe things’ll even out if he plays 48+ minutes a game. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Blake Griffin – He had 10 points and six boards and nothing else. He never has anything else. I just can’t get excited over a guy who’s only strengths are scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Call me when he steals a couple.
Al-Farouq Aminu – After averaging 3/2/0 in 9 mpg, Aminu Panda dropped 20/8/2 on the Hornets in 30 minutes. Ease off that waiver wire, bucko. This was with both Gordon, Kaman and Baron Davis playing fewer than 18 minutes of basketball combined.
Jerryd Bayless – NOLA gave Jerryd 20 minutes and he got carryd away with it, doling out nine dimes and even buryd 15 points.
Terrence Williams – Williams’ 8.7/4.8/3.8 line sat out with a strained abdominal in order to let Anthony Morrow earn a similar 10/2/3 line in 32 minutes. We’ve got a full-scale rejectsplosion on our hands in Jersey, man. Not only with the SG/SF situation, but with the entire team in general. Something’s rotten in New Jersey, and I’m not talking about all the lame jokes about how the state of New Jersey smells bad.
Mo Williams – Keeping with the Williams theme, Mo shot 1-for-12 from the floor, downgrading his FG% to .362 after four games. Either grit your teeth or bury him on your bench, he’ll come around. Once Nike stops running that infernal LeBron commercial reminding him of the good times, Mo will come around.
Jamario Moon – Speaking of coming around once LeBron goes away, Moon hasn’t. He’s averaging 5/5/2 in 25 mpg. You deep leaguers, go ahead and drop Jamario and see if Jaluigi is still available.
Antawn Jamison – 15/8/3 as the rumors of Jamison’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. You’ll note, however, those rumors were not spread on this site.
Kevin Love – 23 points and a career-high 24 rebas in 38 minutes. See!?! All you need is Love, Minnesota. Love is all you need. … What’s that? … I’m sorry, I’ve just been told Love is all you have, Minnesota,. You actually need significantly more than Love.
Sebastian Telfair – Distributed nine dimes in the absence of both Luke Ridnour and Jonny Flynn. For those of you who missed out on Bledsoe and Lowry, here’s a short-term assist bump all up in your face.
Austin Daye – 15/8 in 23 minutes. I won’t get excited until he has two or three more games that could even challenge this line as his season’s best.
Brandon Roy – Left the game to ice his leg and played fewer than 21 minutes. Keep your fingers crossed. Unless you are a member of the Frailblazers, in which case, don’t cross any part of your body because you will horribly injure it somehow.
Anthony Randolph – Nothing good happened in New York except that Randolph played 28 minutes and earned an 8/9/2/2/2 line. Don’t act like this isn’t progress, especially considering Ronny Turiaf hurt his ankle and may yield some time to Anty. If I’m anything, I’m a glass half-full kind of fella. That glass, by the way, if full of Turiaf tears.
