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Line of the Night: Just another night at the office for Chris Paul (1.52). The man scored 24 points with 12 assists and 5 steals and capped it off with a game winning jumper with 3.8 seconds left to give the Hornets a win over Portland. CP3 is no longer numero uno on our player rater, he was taken over on a per game basis by LeBron James a couple weeks ago (and on a game-adjusted basis by a number of players). Interestingly, the second best PG in the league this season has been… Chauncey Billups.
Honorable Mentions: The Jazz/Suns game was filled with fantasy goodness, led by the beloved Carlos Boozer (1.44) who pulled down a 21 and 20 in the Jazz 124-115 win; 27 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocks for Dwight Howard (1.3), who was even 9-11 from the free throw line in Orlando’s loss to Memphis; and the second-best-fantasy-PG-in-the-league Chauncey Billups (1.02) led the Carmelo Anthony-less Nuggets to a win over Charlotte with 27 points, 11 assist and 6 rebounds. Anthony is day-to-day with a sprain while Billups hasn’t missed a beat since returning from his injury at the beginning of January.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Arron Afflalo (1.29) also took advantage of Melo’s absence to turn up his game about 5 notches. He scored 24 points on 9-11 shooting from the field and 6-7 from three. Typically, we warn against picking up a free agent based on a game where he shot above 70% from the field (cause it’s not going to happen again in the near future), but Afflalo has really been scoring more in the month of January and averaging about 2 threes a game. He’s worth a look in deeper leagues if you are in desperate need of a shooting guard.
A game after scoring a career high 20 points for the Suns, Goran Dragic (1.01) set a new career high against the Jazz with 32 points while going 6-7 from three. The Slovenian guard will continue to get minutes over the next month while Leandro Barbosa is out after getting surgery. Like Afflalo, Dragic is worth the add if you are in need of some threes.
It’s a Blockbuster: The Bulls and Hornets worked out a trade that will send Aaron Gray to New Orleans in exchange for Devin Brown. The Bulls are “excited to add Devin” because, ah, as Blog-a-Bull puts it: “…Bulls need anyone to take (making said shots is a secondary goal) shots off the bench.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Gray should side into the Hornets thin frontcourt rotation, but the better add from a fantasy perspective is Marcus Thornton, who take over the starting SG spot now that Brown is gone.
The Biggest Loser: We counting Richard Jefferson (-0.7) in this spot anymore? Well, as long as he’s still owned in 73% of fantasy leagues we are. Jefferson was 1-8 from the floor in this one, scoring 2 points with 2 rebounds and 0 assists in 26 minutes. In my humble opinion, it is time to mercifully let him go if you own Jefferson in anything less than a 14 team league.
All Eyez on Me: Want good fantasy games tonight? Well, the NBA has them:
Golden State (13-29) at Sacramento (15-28) – The Kings have lost 7 straight, led by Kevin Martin who has shot 34% from the field since his return. A visit with the Warriors should be the tonic he needs to get back on track. But let’s not forget about Jason Thompson, who could also use a little of what the Warriors typically offer. Thompson has failed to score more than 20 points in a game in January after doing it 8 times to start the year.
Minnesota (9-36) at New York (17-26) – The player to watch in this one: Jonny Flynn. Flynn has been playing well recently, scoring 20+ points in 3 of the Wolves last 4 games. He should be able to keep that up against Chris Duhon, who has for better or worse (ok worse), been the Knicks catalyst this season.
Charlotte (21-22) at Phoenix (26-20) – Bright Side of the Sun has a contest going right now. All you have to do to win a signed Amare Stoudemire jersey is predict the exact details of the trade that he will be part of in the near future.
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Tags: Aaron Gray, Arron Afflalo, Chris Paul, Devin Brown, Richard Jefferson
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