Day 137 of 170: Gah. Gasol Goes Down.

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball, Injuries
Posted on: March 15th, 2008

Line of the Night: When a game recap leads off with small talk about the weather, that’s a pretty clear indication of the level excitement generated by a game. Joe Johnson (5.7) had a pretty low key LotN, scoring 21 of his 28 points in the third quarter as the Hawks routed the Clippers 117 to 93. Johnson also had 6 boards, 5 assists, a steal and a block in only 35 minutes of play. And how about that weather? Crazy, huh?

Honorable Mentions: 27 points, 17 assists and 4 steals for Chris Paul (5.3). Going 7-12 from the line probably cost him the LotN; Deron Williams (5.1) went for 35/5/8 against the Celtics and was 17-18 from the line (cough::hackjobbytherefs::cough); Jason Williams (4.8) turned into some kind of cybernetic scoring machine and went off for 34 points on 5-12 from three and added 6 boards and 7 assists (Shawn Marion was a DNP); and Kobe Bryant (4.7) scored 39 (12-13 from the line) with 9 boards.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Assuming that Jason Williams is gone in every league starting… now, Ryan Gomes (4.2) played as well as his running mate, Al Jefferson (4.2), by scoring 23 points and grabbing 15 boards in only 29 minutes of play (granted, it came against the Sonics). Gomes minutes have been fairly steady around 30, but his production has been all over the map this season. If he could become a little more consistent, he’d be worth a pickup.

Julian Wright’s (2.5) game wasn’t anything special, but the first year forward may be getting another opportunity to play as it looks like David West re-sprained his ankle in yesterday’s Hornets/Lakers game (who didn’t?). Wright played decently during the three game stretch that West sat out earlier in March.

Big Fantasy Injury of the Day: As you may have heard by now, Eddy Curry decided he’s going to have season-ending knee surgery. Wait… what I meant to say was that Pau Gasol sprained his left ankle in yesterday’s game after stepping on Vlad Rad’s foot in the first quarter of the game. According to the AP:

“[Gasol] needed help getting to the locker room. He was on crutches after the game, saying he didn’t want to put any weight on it in hopes of keeping the swelling down. ‘It swelled up pretty good. We’ll know more tomorrow,” Gasol said. “We’re going to make sure there’s no damage to the ligaments, at least not too bad. I hate sitting out … I want to be back as soon as I can.’”

Worst case scenario as predicted by NBA Roto. But we’ll know more about the injury today.

The Biggest Loser: In some ways, you’ve got to respect Raymond Felton (1.8). Just because his shot ain’t falling, doesn’t mean he’s got to stop shooting. Felton was 2-14 from the floor, finishing with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, in 40 minutes as he and the Bobcats pretty much handed Houston their 21st straight victory.

Dishonorable Mentions: Unlike Felton, who was at least trying, I’m not sure what Matt Carroll (1.7) spent his 40 minutes on the floor doing. Maybe it was a little bit of basketball (he finished with a line of 3/1/3) and a lot of working on his Dikembe Mutombo impersonation; Andres Nocioni (1.9) was 2-10 from the floor and had 2 boards and an assist; and don’t ever, EVER let Mark Blount (1.8) fool you into thinking he’s a real basketball player. The Heat trotted out an 8-man rotation last night, including some dude by the name of Joel Anthony, who had played a total of 35 minutes so far THIS SEASON, and somehow Blount finished with 9 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes. As a comparison, Joel Anthony got 39 minutes in the game.

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