Day 49 of 170: A Very Granger Christmas

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: December 16th, 2008

Line of the Night: 27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals for Danny Granger (1.3) as he led the Pacers past the Wizards 118 – 98. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Honorable Mentions: Orlando played Golden State last night, which can only mean one thing… Jameer Nelson (1.09) finishing with a career-high 32 points (going 5-9 from three); Joe Johnson (1.05) went for 28/5/8 while shooting an efficient 11-18 from the field; Mighty Nate Robinson (0.96) scored 27 points and added 9 boards and 3 steals off the bench for the Knicks. His three point shooting, however, looked as good as me in a speedo (wait, let that sink in); Kevin Garnett (0.94) had 19 and 10 against the Jazz with 3 steals and a couple blocks; and my boy Paul Millsap (0.84) was working the floor last night as he scored a career-high 32 points with 10 boards. Who needs Carlos Boozer?

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Courtney Lee (0.78) scored 16 points in 26 minutes off the bench for Orlando as Keith Bogans did absolutely nothing in his starting role. I’d say more, but this game came against Golden State, so technically it doesn’t count.

What’s a Marcin Gortat and how did he come up with 16 points and 13 rebounds after scoring 12 points ALL SEASON up to yesterday’s game? Oh right, the Magic were playing Golden State. Gortat’s moment will probably be short lived as Dwight Howard is expected to return on Thursday from a knee injury that has kept him out the Magic’s last couple games.

And don’t talk about it too loudly, but Marco Belinelli (0.53) is starting to get some play for the Warriors with Corey Maggette out. Coming off the bench for 30 minutes yesterday, he scored a career-high 19 points and added 6 assists and a couple threes. With Maggette out indefinitely with a torn right hamstring, Belinelli is a nice short-term (or longer) add.

Biggest Loser: Milwakee rolled past Miami 98-83, but Luke Ridnour (-0.5) wasn’t helping the cause. Ridnour scored 4 points off 2-5 shooting and had 2 assists in 30 minutes. I was ready to make some kind of quip about Ramon Sessions not starting, but he wasn’t any better yesterday, scoring 4 points and dishing 2 assists.

All Eyez on Me: Chicago (11-12) at Charlotte (7-18) – Someone has to score for the Bobcats, right? Why not Boris Diaw? In his second game with Charlotte, he scored 25 points off 11-25 shooting. Time to see if he has an encore performance lined up (my guess would be no).

New York (11-13) at Los Angeles (20-3) – Contrasting coaching styles. Phil Jackson to his team after they beat Minnesota: “Our offense was pretty stagnant tonight… Right now, it doesn’t seem like our quickness or our execution speed that I like is there. Sometimes the ball stays on one side of the court too long or we’re just not executing.”

Mike D’Antoni after the Knicks lost to the Suns: “I love the way we played.”

New Orleans (13-7) at Memphis (9-15) – Its Rudy Gay time bitches! Between OJ Mayo, Chris Paul, Gay, etc, this is a game guaranteed to have a LotN type performance in it. Also, watch for the return of Tyson Chandler, who has missed the last two games with a “stiff neck.”

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Tags: Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Joe Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Marco Belinelli, Phil Jackson, Tyson Chandler