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Line of the Night: Gerald Wallace (1.55) is currently sitting at 10th on the GMTR player rater after being drafted in the third or fourth rounds of your average fantasy league. Wallace has not only stayed healthy this season – playing in 39 or Charlotte’s 40 games – he’s currently fifth in the league in rebounding at an amazing 11.3 a game. So last night’s game against the Heat was actually a bit of a downer for Wallace, as he only pulled down 10 rebounds to go with 20 points, 5 blocks and 2 steals. Can Wallace keep up his pace for the rest of the season? Well, he’s averaging a career-high 42 minutes a game, which is part of the reason for the increase in his numbers. Those extra minutes could also affect his ability to stay healthy, especially given his ugly track record of missing 10 or more games every season. But with Emeka Okafor sent away to greener pastures, Wallace will continue to hit the boards with Dwight Howard-esque frequency this year.
Honorable Mentions: It came against the Warriors in an overtime game, but that shouldn’t make Chauncey Billups (1.48) and his 37 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 threes any less sweet for his owners; Chris Bosh (1.27) dropped a career-high 44 points on the Bucks and the Raptors still lost the game (does Bosh already have his bags packed now, or is he at least waiting until the end of the season?); Andrei Kirilenko (0.98) exploded for a season-high 26 points on 11-15 shooting (he also saw 37 minutes of burn compared to the 25ish he had averaged in the 4 games prior to that) as the Jazz rode their starters to a win in San Antonio; and Kevin Durant (0.97) continues to rain points on his opponents with a 31 point, 10 assists game.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I think we’ve devoted more words in this spot to Corey Brewer (1.14) than any other player so far this year. What more can you say (and if I read one more “the kid is growing up” article about him, I will actually throw up). The kid is obviously talented, as witnessed by his 25 point, 5 rebound, 6 assist, 5 steal game against the Thunder. And he’s put together 4 good games out his last five, so last week would have been a great time to grab him off free agency (our timeliness is our greatest strength at GMTR). Eventually he’s going to stop shooting 50-60% on a nightly basis and I have a feeling things are going to get ugly fast for him again, but there is a chance the kid has actually taken a step towards adulthood.
It may be time for me to buy a Carlos Delfino (0.94) jersey based on the amount of time I’ve been mentioning him recently. Last night, he scored 22 points, with 8 rebounds and 4 threes for the Raptors.
Going Deep: Amir Johnson (0.21) had some sleeper status going into the year until he was traded to the Raptors and slotted behind Chris Bosh. Well, he is still slotted behind Chris Bosh, but has carved out a nice niche for himself recently, getting 20 or so minutes off the bench to bring some energy to the court. Johnson had 10 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes yesterday and is worth a look in 14+ team leagues.
Welcome Back: Mike Miller (0.26) is back and coming off the bench for the Wizards. He only scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting yesterday and will see his time limited until he works himself back into shape, but he’ll find his way back into the starting lineup eventually.
The Biggest Loser: Dwyane Wade (-0.72). 16 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist is a fine enough game if your name is say, Wwyane Dade, but not if you’re a superstar who gets to hang out with Charles Barkley all day and talk about cell phones. Wade also added 4 turnovers and was 6-16 shooting on the night.
Another bad game for Ray Allen (-0.56), who couldn’t get his shot going against the Pistons. Ray finished 3-10 from the floor with 0 threes and 5 turnovers in 34 minutes on the court. You have to worry a bit about Allen – who is 34 years old – showing down as the year goes on.
All Eyez on Me: Only two games tonight: the Los Angeles Lakers (32-9) at Cleveland (32-11) and the Los Angeles Clippers (19-22) at Denver (27-14). Lakers guard Shannon Brown not only got an invite to the NBA dunk contest, but also dropped 22 points in 22 minutes in the Lakers last game. And the Clippers might be in for some more bad news as Eric Gordon sprained his toe last night and is questionable for this game. I’d suspect he sits, which means more minutes and shots for Rasual Butler and Ricky Davis of all people.
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