A chance to win a 12th consecutive game was not as important to the Spurs as getting a night of scheduled rest for Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. With rookies Cory Joseph at PG and Kawhi Leonard at PF, they lost to the Blazers by 40 points. Even D-League callup Eric Dawson played 31 minutes off the bench for San Antonio in one of those games that should be completely ignored by astute fantasy owners. It did mark the first
Derrick Rose scored 23 points in his return as the Bulls handled Atlanta. It was a makeshift lineup for the Hawks, with Marvin Williams (personal) replaced in the starting five by Willie Green. Then Joe Johnson left early with a sore knee, though it doesn’t sound too serious. Neither Jeff Teague nor Kirk Hinrich had a great afternoon; seldom-used Jannero Pargo outplayed them both. After complaining in public about his playing time, Tracy McGrady got almost 22 minutes. Around the League Deron
Wow, was Kevin Durant in a zone. KD had 51 points, a new career high, plus 8 REB, 5 3PTM, 3 AST, 4 STL and great shooting percentages. Russell Westbrook scored 40 (yes, that’s 91 for two guys!) with nine assists, and Serge Ibaka notched a triple-double the hard way: 14 PTS, 15 REB and 11 BLK. Somehow, the Nuggets took the game to overtime before losing. Arron Afflalo led Denver with 27 and Andre Miller chipped in 21 &
Ouch! I’d been touting Manu Ginobili as a buy-low trade target, anticipating that his minutes and production would improve as his left hand got stronger. Now he’s strained his oblique. There’s no official diagnosis yet, or an accurate prediction of how much time he’ll miss, but this is bad news for the Spurs, Manu and his fantasy owners. Hope you didn’t cut Danny Green or Gary Neal, whose value won’t be fading after all. Neal had 17 points yesterday, going
You knew the Knicks weren’t going to go unbeaten forever with Jeremy Lin, right? If you knew they would lose at home to the Hornets, you should be wealthy. Lin poured in another 26 points, added 5 AST and 4 STL, but 9 TO is a problem. Let’s hope that one weak spot in his fantasy game improves when Carmelo Anthony returns, probably tomorrow. For New Orleans, Jarrett Jack made a quiet return, coming off the bench behind Greivis Vasquez,
Before we look at last night’s games, you might want to add J.R. Smith to your team. It’s being reported that he will sign with the Knicks, and play on Sunday. It’s a great fit; instead of trying to guess between Bill Walker, Steve Novak and Iman Shumpert, you can be fairly confident that Smith will soon be the primary bench scorer. In addition to threes, he’s a decent source of STL and REB. Don’t go overboard dropping a productive
The return of Kyrie Irving (22 points) is great for his fantasy owners and the Cavs. The probable Rookie of the Year showed no ill effects from his recent mild concussion, and made his teammates much better. Semih Erden is suddenly a hot fantasy pickup in many leagues. The big Turk had 18 PTS on 7-8 shooting and grabbed 8 REB, cementing his role as the starting center while Anderson Varejao is out. Coming off the bench didn’t hurt Ramon
Tuesday’s Lin-tangibles I loved seeing the latest episode of the Jeremy Lin show in person. The phenom was outplayed by red-hot Jose Calderon (25 PTS, 7 REB, 9 AST) until Mike D’Antoni made a defensive switch. In the fourth quarter, with Iman Shumpert on Calderon, Lin took over, as you already know. His fantasy value (like his real value to the Knicks and the NBA) rocketed off the charts the last two weeks. The deeper the league, the more he’s an outlier.