Early this morning in Shanghai, the Clippers welcomed Chris Paul back to their lineup and evened the two-game series with the Heat. Both teams will benefit from the unique experience and it was great for Chinese basketball fans. Fantasy-wise, it was a waste of time. Miami played “small” and had no answer for DeAndre Jordan, who was 8-8 from the floor with nine rebounds and a block. The Clippers are still using Willie Green (5 PTS in 16 minutes) as
Fantasy gurus can’t be fans. We can cheer for a team, but never take that loyalty into a draft room. One exception is permitted this year: if you’re a Denver Nuggets fan, draft as many of “your guys” as possible. Last night, Danilo Gallinari had 19 points in 35 minutes and Corey Brewer caught fire off the bench with 24 to spark a road win. JaVale McGee started at C; both Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos came off the bench.
A loyal reader from Singapore asked about Harrison Barnes yesterday. Almost simultaneously, Bruce Wrigley’s weekly column examined the battle between Barnes and Brandon Rush for minutes at SF. Then the rookie started last night and scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Is he suddenly a hot fantasy commodity? Not exactly. The Warriors were playing at home against Maccabi Haifa, which is hardly the best team in Israel, which is not the strongest foreign league. They do have a wealthy owner
An NBA game in Fargo? You’re darn tootin’! The Timberwolves played like a home team, even in North Dakota. J.J. Barea started at PG; Luke Ridnour has been battling back spasms and of course, the return date of Ricky Rubio (knee) is indefinite. The Russian Connection of Andrei Kirilenko and rookie Alexey Shved contributed very little but the big news was Brandon Roy playing 23:40 and scoring 13 points in his first game in 18 months. That wasn’t really the
It was not a good day for the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki was scratched with “swelling and soreness” in his knee and the team lost by 14 to FC Barcelona Regal in Spain. OJ Mayo missed all seven of his shots, Brandan Wright went 1-7 and Vince Carter 2-7; Elton Brand played 32 minutes as the emergency starter, for a modest 10 points and 3 rebounds. Chris Kaman was their best player, with a solid double-double. Stay tuned for updates on Nowitzki.
$1,000 Fantasy Hoops Contest Our friends at FanDuel have created a one day tournament for Sheridan Hoops readers. There’s $1,000 in prize money! It’s on October 31, limited to 555 teams. There’s a $2 entry fee per team, but each owner can enter up to five teams. The top 61 finishers win a cash prize; first place earns $200, second $125, third $100 on down to $4 (double your investment) for 61st place. For FanDuel members or anyone ready to deposit a minimum
Sunday Games GSW @ LAL: Way past my bedtime, the Warriors poured it on in the second half to trounce the Lakers. Festus Ezeli got the starting C assignment for Andrew Bogut, who is being brought along slowly. The Nigerian, by way of Vanderbilt, played 22:25 and while he didn’t fill the stat sheet, appears to be ahead of Jeremy Tyler (13:17) and Andris Biedrins (11:24) in the pecking order. Round 1 in the SF “battle” went as expected. Brandon Rush started,
At last, we have “real” basketball games to recap and preview. All the material we’ve published so far — the Depth Chart, six Division Previews, rankings of players at each position by tiers, a series on strategy — has been designed to help you prepare for your draft. Over the next three weeks, our opinions will change according to what happens on the court. In particular, we’re looking at probable rotations and trying to refine our playing-time estimates. Saturday Results DEN @ LAC: