Line of the Night: It’s just time to accept the fact that the New York Knicks are the fantasy version of King Midas – everything they touch turns to gold, including Stephon Marbury’s brain. And with Golden State coming to town, everyone is a winner, especially Al Harrington (1.16). Harrington scored 36 points, with 12 rebounds and 5 threes as the Knicks beat down the Warriors, 138-125.
Honorable Mentions: Chauncey Billups (1.06) only played 25 minutes, but managed to score a season-high 27 points while going 12-12 from the line and hitting 3 threes; a career-high 37 points and 21 rebounds for David Lee (1.06) who has been on fire the past week and looks to be rewarding everyone who spent a high draft pick on him; Antawn Jamison (1.04) went for 26/13/5 in a Wizards’ loss; and 32 and 21 for Dwight Howard (0.90). He’s no David Lee, but who is, really.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With Tracy McGrady out of the lineup with a sore knee, Luther Head (0.96) started and scored 21 points, adding 5 boards and 4 assists. Head is a decent start as long as McGrady is out (as he likely will today) and completely useless once McGrady is back in the lineup.
Matt Bonner (0.84) scored 17 points, was 3-4 from behind the arc and grabbed 5 boards in 22 minutes off the bench for the Spurs. However, his playing time is too inconsistent to warrant a pickup; Kevin Love (0.79) was recently dropped in a couple of the leagues I’m playing in. Last night he notched his first career triple-double with 18 and 12 in 29 minutes off the bench.
The Biggest Loser: Mike Miller’s (-0.57) shot wasn’t falling last night and the results were 2-10 from the field (0-6 from three) as he finished with 4 points and no rebounds in 29+ minutes.
All Eyez on Me: Portland (11-6) @ Detroit (10-5) – Expect Iverson to return to the starting lineup for Detroit, so if you were an idiot like me and took him out of your lineup on Friday, make sure to get him back in there. Also, to anyone who spot started Rodney Stuckey, thank him for his work and get him out of your lineup. Greg Oden – who has struggled since returning to the starting lineup – has got the prescription he needs for a good game: Kwame Brown.
New Jersey (8-7) @ Phoenix (11-6) – Expect Nash to return from a right thigh contusion in this game.
Houston (11-6) @ Denver (11-6) - Tracy McGrady will miss his third straight game tonight (as will Brent Barry), so ride Luther Head if you need help at shooting guard.
HoopsAvenue is going to be running a contest from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 in our fantasy basketball league. They are giving away a copy of NBA 2K9 to the winner of that week in the league. The player only needs to play that week to win.
I haven’t really fully scouted this out, but from the FAQs it looks like a salary cap game, i.e., easy to join at any time. Set up a team and see if you can win a free video game! What’s there to lose, right? Here’s the post on their site about it. Looks like you have to have your roster set by Nov. 30th at Noon EST. Sorry for the late notice…
Line of the Night: Dwyane Wade (1.40) comes through with that I believe is his first Line of the Night, and all he had to do was score 43 points while shooting 62.5% from the field, and 11/12 (91.7%) from the stripe to go along with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 three-pointers, a steal, a block.
Honorable Mentions: Our second favorite fantasy man-crush Danny Granger (1.30) was the second best fantasy player last night. I’m not sure how a line of 35/6/2 with 6 threes and 2 blocks on 66% from the floor doesn’t beat Wade’s line, but Granger only shot (and made) 1 free throw, so I guess that must be it. Of course, I’m sure we’d all be happy with either one.
LeBron James (1.14) took 4 free throws, but only made two of them. He did shoot 69% from field thought en route to 23/7/8 with 3 threes, 3 steals, and a block.
Mehmet Okur (1.07) took advantage of Carlos Boozer’s continued absence by going 8/10 from the floor to end up with 20 points (3 threes) and 12 rebounds. He also had 3 steals a block.
Raymond Felton (1.04) played 48 minutes in an overtime game, scoring 31 points on 52.4% shooting (pretty awesome considering he’s only shooting about 42% on the season) with 3 threes and 7 assists.
Jason Kidd, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, and OJ Mayo all had great games too. I the odds are high that you’ll have some good performances when 22 teams are involved in action.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I can’t guarantee that Jeff Green (0.82) is still available, but he’s been inconsistent enough that he might have been dropped recently. Last Night, he played 40 minutes and had 22/4/4 with 4 threes, 3 steals and a block. If you have an extra spot to stash him, and wait a month or two, I think you could have some breakout games. If you have daily lineup changes, he’s worth a look as well.
If Green is already languishing on someone else’s bench, then Mario Chalmers (0.86) would be the next guy to look for. He had a higher score than Green, but I think he’s less likely to be available at this point.
So, next option: Jason Maxiell (0.73) must have done something right to end up at #15 of 200+ players yesterday. What he did was score 13 points on an efficient 62.5% while grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. No matter what, just remember Player Rater’s love the defense.
The Biggest Loser: Paul Pierce (-0.51) took the night off as Boston pounded Philadelphia 102-78. Pierce shot 1/6 from the field and 4/5 from the line to end up with 6 points. Quick math tells you he did not make a three-pointer. He also only had 2 rebounds and 2 assists to go with 2 turnovers.
All Eyez On Me: Golden State at NY should be an AWESOME game. The two most runningest teams (I speculate a little, they both have 98 possessions per game) going against each other should yield a lot of points if nothing else.
Miami at LA Clippers: Game 2 of the Zach Randolph era. What will D-Wade be able to pull out after his 43 point performance last night? Will Eric Gordon continue to be the hottest SG pickup in recent memory?
San Antonio plays at Houston. Is it just me, or do the Texas teams have a distinct advantage by getting to play 10% of their games within 4 hours of their home town? Okay, I guess it’s not that big of an advantage compared to the California teams… It just seems like they’re playing each other an awful lot.
Line of the Night: JR Smith is apparently the retailer who waits until Thanksgiving to turn a profit. After only playing 20 minutes against the Bulls, and then being benched against the Clippers for being late to practice, JR Smith (1.01) thought it was time for him to make his impression felt. Hopefully everyone was sitting back, relaxed, and had on their seatbelts. Smith had 32/5/4 off of 5 three pointers and 62% shooting. Of course, the Nuggets still lost to the Hornets. And as Mr. Number-Two-Last-Night will tell you (I’m sure) being second on the player rater is fine if it comes with the W. Chris Paul (0.98) had 22/4/10 to lead the Hornets to victory.
Other Honorable Mentions: Rasual Butler (0.84) had 19/2/2 with 15 of those points coming off of three-pointers. He shot 87.5% from the field, thus excluding himself from Waiver Wire Line of the Night consideration.
Dwight Howard (0.68) beastified things once again with 26/14/2 with a steal and 3 blocks to take out the Wizards. Out of only 4 teams playing last night, the Wizards don’t have a top performer until Caron Butler (0.34) checks in at number 8.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Anthony Johnson (0.28) came in at number 10 with 7/4/12 in 38 minutes. Jameer Nelson is supposed to be out for another week, so if Johnson is available and you’ve got someone expendable on your roster, you could do worse.
The Biggest Loser: Besides the Washinton Wizards a team, Nene Hilario (-0.37) had a relatively weak game compared to what he’d been putting up recently: 9/2/1, no blocks, no steals. This seems like just an off game for Hilario, so you should be safe leaving him in your lineup.
Chauncey Billups (-0.06) also had an off game - which obviously factored heavily in the Nuggets loss -
shooting only 33% from the field, to end up with 12 points, 5 assists and a steal. Again, he’s been very solid since joining the Nuggets (and was always a rock even before that), so he should be fine to leave in your lineup.
All Eyez On Me: New Orleans v. Portland tonight should be a battle for the future of the league. Chris Paul is a LotN threat every game, and while Brandon Roy doesn’t have the kind of efficiency that makes top fantasy players, he is the kind of player who wins games for his team.
Dallas v. LA Lakers should be an interesting examination of the physics of rising and falling fortunes.
Atlanta v. Toronto should be a good fantasy matchup in addition to being pretty fun to watch.
LotN might come from LeBron James, though, since Cleveland is playing against the Warriors, who seem to force their opponents into fast-paced, high-scoring, fantasy-friendly box scores.
A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating the holiday today. Now stop reading this and spend a few minutes with your god damn family for once.
Line of the Night/ Waiver Wire Line of the Night/The John Madden I’m Going to Give This Guy 8 Turkey Legs Line of the Night: Eric Gordon (1.37). At last glance, Gordon is owned in 21% of Yahoo leagues, but you’d better move fast because that number is going to go up faster than my cholesterol level today. Gordon, who was starting in his second straight game thanks to the departure of Cuttino Mobley and disappearance of Rickey Davis, scored 24 points with 5 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 4 threes in the Clippers loss to Denver.
Other Performances to Give Thanks For: Chris Bosh (1.34) threw down 39 off 15-20 shooting and added 11 boards; Stephen Jackson (1.16) scored 30 with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 3 threes; Troy Murphy (1.06) with his second straight game of 21 and 14, although last night he added 4 threes; Rajon Rondo (0.96) went for 22/8/7 with 2 steals as the Warriors showed they can make any team play at their pace (though the Celtics won 119-111); and a career-high 38 points for John Salmons (0.81).
Pass me that Bowl of Free Agents: Amir Johnson (0.67) anyone? Johnson notched his first double-double of the year with 12 points and 13 boards against the Knicks. He’s in some kind of “flex” starting role with Kwame “the succubus” Brown, which means he’s probably going to be wildly inconsistent from game to game. But if you’re in a daily changes league, Johnson will be starting against smaller lineups. Keyon Dooling (0.71) got 31 minutes for the Nets and scored 17 points with 3 threes and 2 steals. Unfortunately, over a third of his points came in overtime, so unless the Nets run off an amazing string of consecutive overtime games, you can leave him off your team;
The Biggest Loser: In the spirit of the holiday, the biggest loser takes a day off. It’s already on its fourth Pabst Blue Ribbon anyway. It’s best to avoid all conversations with it for the rest of the day.
All Eyez on Me: Two games on this Thanksgiving Day for those of you not watching football/in a food-induced coma/passed out on your coach:
Orlando (11-4) @ Washington (2-10) - Its Ed Tapscott’s second game as head coach of the Wizards. His first saw big games from mainstays Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, but Andray Blatche got some big play off the bench (along with 25 points and 12 boards) at the expense of Etan Thomas. I promise you this: there is no way that Blatche comes close to repeating that performance. But that doesn’t mean he can’t get good minutes and be a solid fantasy guy under Tapscott.
New Orleans (8-5) at Denver (10-5) – Did you know that Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler lead the league in alley-oops with 16 this season? In fact, I think that’s the only way Chandler has scored this year. Paul also tries for his 3rd straight triple-double, a feat that has not been accomplished since… Jason Kidd did it last year!
Brendan has another Fantasy Top 10, this time: Power Forwards. These are definitely harder to argue than the PGs, but I’m disappointed to see that my favorite going into the season (Elton Brand) has only earned an Honorable Mention thus far. I’m looking for him to take out Kenyon Martin right quick.
DroppingDimes has something called Exchange Center: Week 5, which I assumed is like when you try to take back your Christmas presents after 5 weeks. Really though, it’s an Add/Drop report for 3 leagues that Alvin Lai and Ron Chow are in.
Fantasy Sports Matrix has their 4th installment of WWW which I believe means Working the Waiver Wire.
If you couldn’t tell, my new favorite thing is to pull random photos from Zemanta before I start writing anything that could disturb the tranquility of a blank slate.
Line of the Night: Nothing disturbs that tranquility like Andray Blatche (1.54) blocking 5 shots in addition to scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He also had 5 assists and 2 steals, and even made a three! Hello New Shawn Marion!
Honorable Mentions: Caron Butler (1.43) decided to live up to his average draft pick with 35/8/6 with 3 threes, and 3 steals.
Kevin Durant (0.96) is already benefiting from the move to SF by getting 29/4/1 with 3 threes, a steal, and a block. Who knew that benefiting was spelled with only one t. It looks totally wrong.
Dirk Nowitzki (0.87) came close to Blatche’s line with 24 and 12, but only blocked 2 shots and made 1 three. He also only shot 40% from the field. Good effort, Dirk, but you are not America’s Next Top Shawn Marion.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I’m going to start off with Yi Jianlian, Matt Barnes, and Brook Lopez since one of those guys might still be available depending on your league’s size and competitiveness. If they’re gone, then let’s move on to:
Wally Szczerbiak (0.40) who should have changed his name long ago if for no other reason that I bet Wally World would be a lot easier to sign when doing autographs. Where’s Waldo had 15 points, boosted by 3 three-pointers.
Okay, sorry, the real pick-ups here are: Russell Westbrook (0.40) who played 31 minutes, scoring 15 points to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. He also had 3 steals while shooting 54.5% from the floor.
I hate to say it, but Tim Thomas (0.38) is probably a good fit for New York. He had 16/6/4 with 4 threes for the Knickergunners. He was only 4/9 from the field, though, so if that shot’s not falling, watch out.
The Biggest Loser: Well, I have to throw this out there since everybody was swooning over the tiny little guy so recently: Nate Robinson (-0.51) started, but only played 18 minutes to end up with 4/3/1 and 2 turnovers, shooting 2/5 from the field.
Anthony Morrow (-0.43) also started, but returned to Earth, ending up with only 6/6/1 with 1 three, and a dismal FG% of 28.6.
Not really a Biggest Loser since he ended at number 52 of 102 on the day, Jamal Crawford (-0.02) had 9/0/7 for the Warriors. He did get 29 minutes, though, while Kelenna Azubuike got almost 33 off the bench.
All Eyez On Me: Chicago v. San Antonio: Tim Duncan LotN anyone?
Portland v. Miami should be a good one. Not sure if I’ve said this line before, but the Blazers are the team that I think the Bulls should have been. I had an IM discussion yesterday about that very fact with a friend from Portland who agreed that Paxson should be in charge of the draft picks, but someone else needs to be in charge of actually setting the direction for the team, making trades, etc. Paxson (this is what I said) is like a fantasy owner who just picks the best available player regardless of what his team’s strengths are and/or what positions need to be filled.
Golden State v. Boston should be interesting as well, if for no other reason that to get more data on Jamal Crawford.
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