Line of the Night: The Blazers could not pull out a win in Houston, but Brandon Roy (1.44) did everything within his power, scoring 42 points, with 5 threes, 6 boards and 4 assists. He was also a perfect 13-13 from the line. Now if the rest of his teammates could just give him a little help…
Honorable Mentions: Louis Williams (1.06) had a 27/10/7 off 10-12 shooting as the Sixers destroyed the Knicks in overtime (yes, a blowout overtime win); Danilo Gallinari (0.97) is currently owned in 57% of Yahoo leagues, but that should be closer to 90% after he went 8-16 from three and scored 30 points in his first start; Gilbert Arenas (0.94) scored 32 points with 7 assists and 3 threes in only 29 minutes on the court; and with Blake Griffin out for a while, Chris Kaman (0.88) is starting and getting big minutes. He put up a 27 and 11 against the Mavs.
But Can He Do It With Chop Sticks: While the rest of his on the court performance wasn’t much to talk about, Manu Ginobili (0.04) swatted a bat out of midair after it entered the AT&T Center on Halloween. Does that count as a steal or a block? I need a ruling on that.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Larry Hughes (0.87) anyone? Hughes scored 18 points and had 6 assists and 4 steals. However, his performance came in the Knicks’ insane 127-141 overtime loss to the Sixers, so it certainly feels like you’d be buying high on Hughes (if that is even possible).
So a better free agent pick-up would include Marreese Speights (0.53) who followed up a horrible second game with 20/10 in 30 minutes. A lot of that had to do with Samuel Dalembert (-0.11) being in foul trouble all game, but when is Dalembert NOT going to be in foul trouble? Rafer Alston (0.44) also makes a nice short term PG add because Devin Harris is expected to be out at least the next 7-10 days with a sore man region. And Andray Blatche (0.86) is owned in 49% of Yahoo leagues, so technically he can slide in here. Pick him up if he’s available in your league, although his showboating and Agent-Zero like attitude burns my puritan sensibilities.
Barely Legal Edition: If you didn’t draft him, you probably already missed the window to own Brandon Jennings (0.58). In only his second start for the Bucks, Jennings scored 24 points, adding 3 assists and 3 steals and 3 threes in a win over the Pistons.
The Biggest Loser: Raymond Felton (-0.76). A lackluster 10 points and 3 assists will not necessarily kill someone’s fantasy night. But 8 turnovers certainly will. Charlotte seems like a team that has the drive and ability to put up 68 points on any given night. Is Larry Brown the most overrated coach in the game today, or does the blame fall primarily on Michael Jordan?
All Eyez on Me: Seven more games from the NBA today, including:
New Orleans (1-1) at Boston (3-0) – Can the Celtics’ strong defense shut down Chris Paul? The C’s opponents have shot 38% from the field on the year and while the Hornets have not looked great in their two games to start the season, it’s still Chris f**king Paul out there.
Portland (1-2) at Oklahoma City (2-0) – Battle of the first round draft picks. OKC looks to go a franchise first 3-0 on the year against a defensively challenged Blazers team. BlazersEdge likes the possibility of Oden having a big game because the Thunder don’t have a strong presence down low.
Atlanta (2-0) at Los Angeles Lakers (1-1) – How’s that Ron Artest/Trevor Ariza swap looking so far? Pau Gasol is questionable for this game. If he doesn’t play, look for continued strong outings from Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum.
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