That was quite an opening night. Two games were in line with expectations, while another produced a mild shock. The balls will be flying in arenas across the continent tonight, as 28 of 30 teams are in action. As such, get ready for a longish read.
Lakers stun Clippers, Bulls Ice Cold in First Half
In the league opener, Orlando kept things interesting in the first half in Indiana, led by Andrew Nicholson’s/ORL 18 points off the bench on 8 of 10 shooting including 2 threes in 19 total minutes. Nicola Vucevic/ORL had 10 boards in an otherwise quiet 8-point performance. Rookie Victor Oladipo/ORL was given the keys to the offense at times and looked better than his stat line (23 minutes, 4 for 11, 3 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 12 points).
The Pacers dominated inside with Roy Hibbert/IND grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking 7 shots leading the way. Paul George/IND was at his all-court best with a game-leading 24 points, adding 6 boards and 5 assists, as Indiana pulled away in the second half. Lance Stephenson/IND played over 35 minutes (8 for 12, 19 points,5 assists, 7 rebounds) and was almost as impressive as Hibbert and George.
In Miami, the Bulls were buried in the first half by their own atrocious shooting, during which Derrick Rose/CHI (34 minutes, 4 for 15 shooting, 12 points, 4 assists, 5 turnovers) and Joakim Noah/CHI (20 minutes, 1 for 4 from the field, 0 for 2 from the lines, 11 rebounds) showed their rust. A more creditable second half showing, led by Carlos Boozer/CHI (32 min, 13 for 18 shooting 5 for 5 from the line, 7 boards, 31 points) and Jimmy Butler/CHI (30 min, 20 points, 5 steals) made things interesting, but the Heat’s balanced play was too much to overcome.
LeBron James/MIA was his typical omnivorous self when it came to filling the scoresheet, although his scoring prowess wasn’t needed. LeBron played 38 minutes and scored 17, including 7 of 9 from the line, chipping in 6 boards and 8 assists. Six other Heat players reached double-digit points.
In the nightcap, the Lakers displayed superior depth and blitzed the Clippers in the fourth quarter with Jordan Farmar/LAL (27 minutes, 6 for 10, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, 4 boards, 16 points) and Xavier Henry/LAL (26 minutes, 8 for 13,6 rebounds, 22 points) leading the way. Jordan Hill/LAL and Chris Kaman/LAL contributed with 8 rebounds each. While Lakers starters were a cumulative -16, the bench was +81, led by Jodie Meeks‘/LAL +19.
J.J. Redick/LAC started on fire but was shut down after the first quarter, finishing with 13 points on 5 of 13 from the field. Chris Paul/LAC’s made only 5 of 13 field goals, but filled the stat sheet with 11 assists, 6 boards and 5 steals, turning the ball over only once. DeAndre Jordan/LAC was the Clippers’ best player as he dominated inside (8 of 10, 17 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks). Blake Griffin/LAC drew workhorse minutes but was a horrid 3 of 10 on free throws, finishing with 19 points and 7 rebounds.
It is common practice for me to enter multiple leagues at DraftStreet with an assortment of lineups. In practice, this will decrease variance: Your great days won’t be as great, but your bad ones won’t crush your soul. Last night I entered 7 contests, with buy-ins ranging from $2 to $11. I had great success in three of them, finishing 2nd of 110, 8th of 1100 and 15th of 220 for a win total of $138.33 on $32 invested. A good day.
As for my recommended lineup in Tuesday’s Fantasy Spin, I had mixed results. I recommend each serious fantasy player review their lineups; a simple method of doing that is the rank them by ascending order of salary per DraftStreet point earned ($/PT):
Andrew Nicholson/ORL $6.180, 23.00 points, $269/PT
Roy Hibbert/IND $13,315, 38.50 points, $346/PT
Shawne Williams/LAL $3,880, 9.25 points, $419/PT
Chris Paul/LAC $18,895, 44.00 points, $429/PT
LeBron James/MIA, $22,490, 32.50 points, $692/PT
Blake Griffin/LAC, $16,600, 23.25 points, $714/PT
Victor Oladipo/ORL $9,850, 13.25 points, $743/PT
Nick Young/LAL, $7,860, 9.75 points, $806/PT
Total DraftStreet points = 193.50
Nick Young was in the starting lineup, but the Lakers’ complex rotation resulted in three bench players getting more playing time. Shawne Williams’ numbers look bad but were actually decent given the cost. That money saved can be spent on stud players. Chris Paul came through with a typically good game, but LeBron James and Blake Griffin were a disappointment from a fantasy perspective. In retrospect, my expectations of Victor Oladipo were too high.
The silver lining is that I had the likes of Carlos Boozer/CHI, Lance Stephenson/IND and DeAndre Jordan/LAC peppered though out my other lineups. It usually pays to diversify.
DraftStreet has a number of guaranteed prize pool contests on offer for a packed night of NBA action. The largest field contest on offer is the $2, with room for 1650 entries: it pays out $360 for first with a total pool of $3,000. But my eyes will be focused on the mammoth $20,000 GPP. It’ll cost you $22 per entry, but with $4,000 up for grabs for the top team it’s worth taking a shot or two. Those two leagues allow multi-entry, but if single-entry contests are your thing, consider the many “Double-Up” leagues on offer, some with guaranteed prize pools and others that are almost certain to fill, ranging from $2 to $420 to enter.