The Pacers pulled away from the Bulls in the closing minutes. Both teams had their defensive mindsets locked in and so fantasy points were hard to come by. The Thunder offense has been rejuvenated with the return of Russell Westbrook/OKC; they coasted to victory over the Mavericks. The Magic pulled off the most impressive win of the night, executing well in the final minutes to hold off the Clippers. Here is today’s Fantasy Spin. Top Fantasy Performers 1) Nikola Vucevic/ORL. Vucevic has
The Pacers continued their winning ways, beating the Pistons in Detroit on the strength of Paul George’s/IND brilliant all-around play, and Roy Hibbard’s/IND creditable performance against the Pistons’ Greg Monroe/DET and Andre Drummond/DET. LeBron/MIA was let loose on the Raptors, and the absence of Chris Bosh/MIA allowed Dwayne Wade/MIA more opportunities to stuff the statsheet. The Suns and Spurs rallied from first half deficits to earn road wins, while the Knicks lost big man Tyson Chandler/NYK and fell to the
The Sixers came crashing down to earth as a talented and motivated bunch of Warriors dismantled them piece by piece. Minnesota suffered its first defeat after a frenzied comeback came up a bucket short. Chris Paul/LAC and J.J. Redick/LAC led the way in a 137-118 win over the Rockets. The Grizzlies had enough in the tank to top a surprisingly competitive Celtics team. Here is today’s Fantasy Spin. Top Fantasy Performers 1) Stephen Curry/GSW. The lone negative was Curry’s 3-point shooting (2
The Lakers held off the Hawks in the most exciting finish of the night. Reserve Jordan Hill/LAL secured key offensive rebounds down the stretch and Pau Gasol/LAL made the winning free throws and blocked Kyle Korver’s/ATL attempt to tie the game in the closing seconds. Gasol kept pace (16 points, 13 rebounds) with Al Horford/ATL (12 points 16 rebounds). Promoted to the starting lineup, Xavier Henry/LAL led the Lakers with 18 points but had little other fantasy production. Korver made
The big story of the night was yet another comeback win by the upstarts from Philadelphia, this time taking out big-time Eastern Conference contenders, the Chicago Bulls. I will skip a review of the other action last night to delve deeper into the Sixers-Bulls game. High Tempo Makes up for Deficiencies Once again, Philadelphia came from far behind with a second half spurt to leave their opponents bewildered and on the losing end of the scoreboard. This time they owned the third
Dwayne Wade/MIA was back in the lineup for the Heat, but it wasn’t enough. The Nets held the lead throughout and a furious rally led by LeBron James/MIA ultimately fell a point short. John Wall/WAS was unstoppable in the first half as the Wizards built a sizable lead over the youthful Sixers, only to have Philly storm back in the fourth quarter and take a 109-102 victory. Anthony Davis/NOP was dominant, but his Pelicans were trounced by the Magic 110-90.
Everyone knew the Knicks would be in tough territory, traveling to Chicago to take on a Bulls team determined to put the thumping they received in Miami behind them. To their credit, the Knicks stayed in it all the way, even taking a one-point lead in the last minute. But it was not to be. The only other game featured a West Coast battle royale between the two finest point guards in the league. Rose Hits Winning Bucket in Chicago Return The
The frenzied second evening of the young NBA season produced a shock for the ages. The neophyte Philadelphia 76ers built a 22-point lead in the first quarter over the Miami Heat, lost most of it by half-time, fell behind by double digits, then stormed back to defeat the champs. Incredible! Sixers shock the world, Lakers are blown out There was so much action last night that a full review would eat up too much space in this column, so instead I offer