TOR @ CHA: Break up the the Bobcats! Kemba Walker (19 PTS, 7 AST) held his own against Kyle Lowry (21 PTS, 8 AST, 3 BLK) and some strong bench play moved Charlotte to a shocking 6-4 record on the season. Bismack Biyombo (11 PTS, 8 REB, 2 BLK) had his best night of the year by far; Byron Mullens (10 PTS, 8 REB) was a spectator down the stretch. Andrea Bargnani led all scorers with 25 while avoiding rebounds (2) like they are radioactive. Toronto lost two heartbreakers in 24 hours and SF is a gigantic problem; starter Dominic McGuire was scoreless in 25 minutes and backup Linas Kleiza was useless. Jose Calderon missed 6-of-8 shots, but his 24 minutes off the bench is an indicator that he retains some value even with Lowry back.
PHI @ CLE: My sincere apologies to Jeremy Pargo for calling him ‘Jannero’ yesterday. When you write 15,000 words a week, you get a few wrong, and that was a brain cramp. Everyone knows Jeremy’s name today, after he went off for a career-high 28 points to lead a surprising Cavs win. Kyrie Irving (finger) will be missed for the next month, but his teammates stepped up last night. Daniel Gibson (elbow) didn’t play, so C.J. Miles (13) was sharp off the bench. The Sixers, perhaps tired from the previous night’s battle, scored just 35 in the first half and had no standout fantasy lines.
DET @ ORL: A new starting lineup for the Magic, with rookie Moe Harkless (7 PTS in 21 minutes) at SF and Arron Afflalo (12 PTS, 7 REB) back to SG, made J.J. Redick (11 PTS, 7 AST) the sixth man again. It worked, against a lethargic Pistons team that scored only eight points in the entire third quarter. As we advised yesterday, sixth man Rodney Stuckey (13 PTS, 7 REB) remains better to own than rookie Kyle Singler, who scored just two points on 1-6 shooting in his 31 minutes. Oddly enough, Orlando’s leading scorer was rookie PF Andrew Nicholson, who hit 7-of-9 for 15 points in less than 21 minutes off the bench.
NOH @ IND: If you saw this coming from Robin Lopez, congratulations! Sideshow Rob’s 21 PTS, 13 REB and 4 BLK were all season highs and helped the undermanned Hornets force overtime. However, Roy Hibbert had a triple-double with ELEVEN blocks, 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul George had an amazing NINE 3-pointers among his career-high 37, of which 33 came in the second half. We said George Hill was due to make a few shots; his 16 PTS, 6 REB, 7 AST line was a big improvement. For the Hornets it was a great team effort to make up for the absence of Anthony Davis (ankle) — Al-Farouq Aminu had 14 PTS and 10 REB in 46 minutes and Jason Smith (18 PTS, 7 REB) looked good off the bench.
MIL @ MIA: It should be no contest, I said yesterday. Wrong again, as Bucks rookie John Henson exploded onto the fantasy scene with 17 points and an astonishing 18 rebounds in 27 minutes. Given that Ersan Ilyasova (4 PTS in 16:43) is mired in a mysterious, season-long slump, Henson is suddenly a speculative add in many formats. The Heat needed OT to prevail, with Dwyane Wade (28 points) a key contributor and a big double double (24 PTS, 18 REB) from Chris Bosh, plus a near triple-double (28 points, 10 boards, 8 helpers) by LeBron James.