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I hate to be so quick to dismiss someone like Chris Webber, but this is a fantasy basketball blog, and if you really want to read people opining on the career that was, well, there’s plenty of other places where that’s happening.
Line of the Night: If you filled in yesterday’s madlibs with anything along the lines of Mike Dunleavy (5.18), You Are Win!! That’s right, Dunleavy (Jr.) continues to mindfuck everyone and their grandmothers, this time with 9/16, 10/10, 5 threes for 33 points. He added 6 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal, a block, and no turnovers! Dunzo!
Honorable Mentions: Usually when the NBA.com numbers drop below 5 after one player, it’s not a good sign. Let’s see if that holds up… J-Rich (4.81) had 34 points, 4 threes, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. If it wasn’t for the 13/28 from the field, the 4/7 from the line, and the 3 turnovers, I’d say that was just as good a line as Dunzo’s. Ricky Davis (4.72) was 9/15, seven of which were three-pointers, for 28 points. He also had 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Anyone playing 45 minutes for Miami is a fantasy goldmine right now! Zydrunas Ilgauskas (4.62) had 29 and 15 with 2 blocks on 13/19 from the field. Kevin Garnett (4.50) must have been tired from scoring his 30 points, since he only had 3 rebounds. He did manage 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, though, and didn’t turn the ball over. Not even once.
Okay, apparently the low scores are not due to poor performances, but more due to a parity situation. Evidence: Devin Harris only pulls a 4.49 with 22 points, 3 threes, 15 assists, and 2 steals. And if you’re counting on Brad Miller for your playoff run, now was a great time to make that gamble. Miller (4.48) had 15/17/8 with 2 steals and 2 blocks. This is good because now people will probably overvalue Miller going into draft’s for next season, and that means you (or I) can avoid his every-other-season-is-good ass and get some overlooked player with Tremendous Upside Potential.
Okay, there’s bunch of other good games, but I’ll stop just short of actually having to mention Andrew Bogut (4.43) and Gerald Wallace (4.38).
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I can’t see Ricky Davis being available at this point, so let’s look a little deeper… Okay, Louis Williams (4.11) had a pretty good game last night, with 23 points on 5 threes, along with 4 rebounds and 5 assists. He’s really streaky, though, so he’s only really the WWLotN in absolute terms. If you’re in the Championship Bracket of your league, you probably don’t need someone like Williams increasing the risk of your lineup.
To give you an idea of the state of Waiver Wire players, Thabo Sefolosha (3.75) had 20/5/5 on 8/11 and 4 threes. Of course that was in an tremendously efficient 28 minutes, 2 games after he played 7 minutes. This is good for the Championship Bracket owners because it probably means the All Star type players who got your there are performing like they should.
The Biggest Loser: In absolute terms, I’d suggest that Spencer Hawes (1.28) has taken the biggest fall… 2 games after playing 38 minutes and getting 19/12 and 3 blocks, he played only 9 minutes going 0/1 with 1 rebound.
Leandro Barbosa (1.42) is at number 57 on the player rater right now, but last night, as the Suns got blown out by the Celtics, L-Barb played 23 minutes going 0/4 from the field, scoring 2 points on free throws, and only adding 1 assist and 1 steal versus 2 turnovers. Short bus!