Oklahoma City and San Antonio continued their winning ways with road wins over weaker opponents. The Bucks were blasted so thoroughly by the Spurs in the first half that their starters were benched en masse in the second half. The Pelicans beat the Pistons in overtime and the Celtics fell to the Clippers. The Knicks built a large lead and held on for a win over the Bulls. The Timberwolves’ first half defense was abysmal: they fell behind early but
The Clippers handled the Sixers as expected, but instead of an up tempo game we saw a more pedestrian effort as far as scoring was concerned. The Magic continued to scuffle as they lost to Memphis. Portland put in a solid road effort to beat Utah, while the Mavericks suffered a disappointing defeat to the new look Kings. Monday illustrated the importance of selecting players from games you think will be high scoring. The Wizards lost to the Nuggets by
Kobe Bryant’s/LAL return was spoiled by a superb performance by Amir Johnson/TOR and solid games from Kyle Lowry/TOR and DeMar DeRozan/TOR. Bryant is obviously not in game shape yet so it is too early to draw any conclusion about his effectiveness. LeBron James/MIA and Chris Bosh/MIA were solid and the Heat defeated the Pistons. The Knicks ended a string of very good games by getting thrashed on Sunday afternoon by the youthful Celtics. The Thunder took advantage of favorable circumstances
Friday night saw an inordinate number of blowouts, but that changed last night. Most of the games stayed close well into the fourth quarter. The Pacers held a 22-point lead over the Spurs entering the final frame and held on for the win. LeBron James/MIA dominated all aspects of the Heat-Wolves game and Golden State’s shooters got hot and the Grizzlies couldn’t keep up. Detroit took advantage of Luol Deng’s/CHI injury and outmuscled the Bulls to earn a precious road
The Wizards thought they had an easy game ahead of them, but the Bucks are starting to sort out their talent and they showed grit in downing Washington in overtime. Tony Wroten/PHI took the wheel of the 76ers offense, but the defense was Swiss cheese and the Bobcats pulled away for an easy win. Portland demolished the Jazz, with LaMarcus Aldridge/POR leading the way in limited minutes. Chandler Parsons/HOU returned for the Rockets and they had no trouble with the
No Dwayne Wade/MIA and no Chris Andersen/MIA spelled trouble for the Heat. Yesterday I wrote that the Bulls roster was constructed similarly to the Pistons, a team that had just handed the Heat a home loss. I called the Heat-Bulls prime time game a coin toss, but it turned out to be an easy win for Chicago. Miami could not handle the Bulls’ big men and the Chicago defense limited LeBron James‘/MIA effectiveness. In other games, Memphis’s offense sputtered against
One of the great things about fantasy basketball is that you don’t have to worry about the weather. in baseball, rainout can wreak havoc on your lineups; in football, bad weather can limit scoring. But in basketball, the weather is not a factor; we don’t have to worry about games being cancelled… whoops. That rarest of events, an NBA game cancelled right as it was scheduled to start, threw a wrench into the works. Anyone who had Spurs or Timberwolves
The Raptors had more than a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter and somehow managed to lose the game by nine points to the Golden State Warriors. The Thunder were all set to blow the Kings out, but Isaiah Thomas/SAC ignited a comeback and Oklahoma had to bring in the regulars to hold on to a 97-95 win. Orlando and Philadelphia battled into a second overtime before the Sixers emerged with a 126-125 victory. The stat lines for Glen