Line of the Night: Brandon Roy (6.2) didn’t let a hard fall on his tailbone that limited his mobility keep him from putting up the line of the night. Roy finished the Blazers/Bulls double overtime game with 25 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists with a couple steals and a block. The Blazers also won the game 115 to 109. And because I like to talk about meaningless streaks, the Blazers have now won 15 out of 16 games, or something like that.
Who says the regular season doesn’t matter?
Honorable Mentions: Steve Nash (5.4) and Amare Stoudemire (5.3) didn’t need a double overtime to put up a couple good lines. Nash shot 7 for 11 and finished with 17 and 10 assists, while Amare had 34 and 11; Ben Gordon (4.8) went for 32/5/3 in 46 minutes; and Tim Duncan (3.9) scored 20 and added 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Proven Veteran Joe Smith (5.7) used the double overtime to score a season high 31 points. He also had 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in 45 minutes of play. Meanwhile, Tyrus Thomas saw 3 minutes on the court. Since interim coach Jim Boylan took over, Thomas has played a total of 13 minutes in 5 games. Talk about a wicked buzzkill.
Jarrett Jack (4.4) also made good use of the double overtime, going for 17/4/5 and shooting 7-13 from the floor. He also drove for the go-ahead basket with 19 seconds left in the second overtime to ultimately win the game for the Blazers. No extra fantasy points for that, it’s just good form.
Goat of the Night: We’ll leave Luol Deng (2.1) out of the discussion as he left the game in the second quarter with an injury. And while Boris Diaw (1.9) could only manage 4 points last night, he’s been sucking wind all season. No, today we’ll give Wally Szczerbiak (1.5) his due. It was a useless 8 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist night for Wally, who no doubt tricked some fantasy owners with a brief run of mediocrity in late December. It’s time to save face Wally. I think an ankle injury at this point might be wise.