Line of the Night: Chauncey Billups (1.38). Wait, isn’t this day supposed to be about the return of Iverson? Well, in a way. Billups and the Nuggets strolled into Philadelphia to face the new-look Sixers. The result was great for Billups, who played a team-high 42 minutes, scoring 31 points with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 threes. He was also 11-11 from the line.

Honorable Mentions: Allen Iverson’s return was also good for Andre Iguodala (0.89), who scored 31 points while hitting 4 threes for the Sixers; considering he was playing against Golden State, Kevin Durant’s (0.74) 28 points on 9-24 shooting seems a little pedestrian, but I guess he did add 9 boards and 3 steals; and good to see that Ronnie Brewer (0.73) is still alive. The Jazz small forward got 43 minutes for the injury-plagued team and produced with a double-double of 17 points and 10 boards.
All About Iverson: The fans lapped it up, but in the end Allen Iverson’s (0.04) return was about what you’d expect from a guy who is still talented but hasn’t played much recently. His shooting touch (4-11 from the floor for 11 points) was off, but he compensated for that with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Most encouraging for Iverson owners is that he saw 38 minutes on the court in his first game back.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: 26 points in 30 minutes off the bench for James Harden (0.98), propelled by a 13-14 free throw shooting performance. Kevin Durant chalks up Harden’s good performance to him being more aggressive (and the career-high number of free throws shows that); I think it might have something to do with the fact they were facing the Warriors. Still, Harden’s minutes have been creeping up lately and he makes an interesting guy to keep watch on deeper leagues.
Matt Bonner (0.87) saw 32 minutes on the court compared to starter Antonio McDyess’ 15. And boy did he use that extra time well, scoring a career-high 28 points against the Jazz. Bonner was also 4-7 from three and grabbed 8 rebounds. He’s officially in the let-me-see-it-again-before-I-trust-you camp; and speaking of let me see it again, how about Samuel Dalembert (0.76). A big, fat disappointment so far this season, Dalembert still only scored 8 points, but grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked 6 shots for the Sixers. Maybe he just really, really missed Allen Iverson all those years like everyone else.
The Biggest Loser: Carmelo Anthony (-0.55) was on a mission. He was going to score 14 points against the Sixers no matter what it took. If he had to go 5-21 from the field and ignore the defensive end of the floor, so be it. But that 14 points is the sweet smell of success.
All Eyez on Me:
Phoenix (15-6) at Dallas (14-7) – A couple teams struggling with their offense despite having good records at the moment. Mavs Moneyball looks at the problem from Dallas’ perspective and points the finger at one very deserving player: JJ Barea. The answer might be rookie Rodrigue Beaubois, or considering his 8 seconds on the court on Saturday, maybe the Mavs have to suck it up and wait for Josh Howard to return.
Milwaukee (9-10) at Boston (16-4) – Who would you rather have on your team in a keeper league, Brandon Jennings or Rajon Rondo? CelticsBlog poises that question today (in a non-fantasy related manner, of course).
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Tags: Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, James Harden