Before we take our daily Spin around the NBA, let me invite you to another Friday Freeroll at Draft Street. It’s a one-day-only (Dec. 21) fantasy contest, free to enter, with $300 in cash prizes to the top 15 finishers, $100 for the winner. Just pick an 8-man team — you can make unlimited changes until 7:00 EST on Friday — then hope for the best. Click here to join, and good luck!
December 18 Games
ATL @ WAS: The underdog Wizards forced overtime, thanks to a triple-double from Jordan Crawford (27 PTS, 11 AST, 11 REB) and good work by Nene (18 PTS, 6 AST, 4 REB, 3 STL) in 24 minutes off the bench. However, Josh Smith (17 PTS, 13 REB, 5 BLK, 3 STL) had a ‘that’s more like it’ game and sixth man Louis Williams scored 24 after starting SG Devin Harris left with a foot injury. Al Horford (5 PTS, 11 REB, 6 AST) shot an uncharacteristic 2-of-11 or the Hawks might have won in regulation.
TOR @ CLE: The Raptors now have twice as many road wins and their first 3-game streak of the season. It would be oversimplifying to say it’s addition-by-subtraction and they are better without Andrea Bargnani (elbow) or conclude that Jose Calderon (23 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB) is ‘better’ than Kyle Lowry (triceps), but the Spaniard has been superb and the team’s attitude has changed. The return of Alan Anderson (18 PTS, 5-of-7 from deep) has helped way more than expected; drop Mickael Pietrus for him without hesitation. Amir Johnson (17 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST) helped the Totonto bench outscore the Cavs’ reserves 59-21.Kyrie Irving (23 PTS, 7 AST, 3 STL) and Anderson Varejao (22 PTS, 10 REB) were solid, but Dion Waiters scored just eight points after missing eight games with an ankle injury. C.J. Miles (13 PTS, 4 REB) is now the sixth man but still played 30 minutes.
UTA @ BRK: Not usually the greatest road team, the Jazz surprized the Nets in Brooklyn. Mo Williams (19 PTS, 6 AST) led the way, with Al Jefferson (16 PTS, 11 REB) and Marvin Williams (11 PTS, 10 REB) notching double-doubles. Brook Lopez (16 PTS, 5 REB, 3 BLK, 2 STL) held his own against Big Al and is up to 30 minutes, all but ending the nice run of Andray Blatche (8 PTS, 4 REB in 16 minutes). Joe Johnson scored a game-high 21 in defeat and PF Kris Humphries (8 PTS, 11 REB) returned to the starting lineup ahead of Reggie Evans.