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Line of the Night: An all around great performance from Andre Iguodala (1.55) as the Sixers beat the Spurs 106-94. Iggy scored 20 points in this one, adding 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks.
Honorable Mentions: Fantasy owners just can’t quit Andrei Kirilenko (1.45), who mixes in crappy single-digit scoring performances on some nights with lines like this: 22 points, 5 steals and 3 blocks (The Jazz were playing the Warriors, surprise, surprise); Danny Granger (1.31) dropped a 29 and 6 with a couple steals and blocks in a Pacers’ loss to the Hornets; the Magic got shut down in the second half against Dallas, but the positive fantasy spin on that is Dwight Howard (1.05) was there to rebound some of those missed shots. He finished with 29 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks; finally Devin Harris (0.93) dropped a double-double of 19 points and 11 assists in a loss to Toronto. He tweaked his knee in the third quarter of the game when Josh Boone fell on his foot, but said he expects to play on Sunday.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Al Thornton (0.78). After much debate on GMTR yesterday over the relative crapitude of one Mr. Thornton, he explodes for 21 points and 4 blocks in 32 minutes off the bench in his first game for Washington, helping the Wizards to a win over Denver and helping to hold Carmelo Anthony to a 7-20 shooting night.
Now, I’ll wait while you go pick up Thornton.
Ok, done?
Now give me a chance to go all Debbie Downer on this. While Thornton is definitely worth an add in all formats, I doubt this one game is an accurate representation of his fantasy line going forward anymore than you’d expect Antawn Jamison to never to make another shot as long as he plays for the Cavs. First, the game was against Denver, notable pace pushers. Thornton was 7-12 from the field, an above average shooting night for him. He also got to the line 9 times, more than double you’d expect from his career averages (minutes adjusted of course). While he has shown in the past to be a decent shot blocker for stretches of games, the 4 blocks ties his career high. One per game is his ceiling as a shot blocker. And there is still the issue of his rebounding. Despite grabbing 5 rebounds, 3 were offensive boards. While that’s great for this one game yesterday, it is 1) not going to be sustainable, 2) means he only grabbed a measly 2 defensive rebounds.
Alright, rant over. Thornton will be decent… I’m just saying.
Moving on, Ersan Ilyasova (0.78) scored 16 points and grabbed 12 boards in 33 minutes off the bench in the Bucks win over the Pistons. I thought the departure of Hakim Warrick, Joe Alexander, and Jodie Meeks may have opened up a few more minutes for Ilyasova. But no, none of those guys were actually in the rotation anyway. Rather, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute only played 16 minutes in this game and may be in danger of losing his starting job to Ilyasova.
Catching Up:
The Biggest Loser: Carmelo Anthony (-0.57). You may have expected to see another big name player in here who had trouble shooting last night. But no, 23 points or not, Basketball Monster did not approve of Melo’s game. First there was the 7-20 shooting and the 9-14 from the line. No threes, steals or blocks. And 5 turnovers. Basically, Carmelo helped owners in 2 categories, while killing them in the rest.
All Eyez on Me: Well, this post is already way too long (I don’t want to give Nels post length envy), but as a fantasy geek, how could you not want to see Sacramento (18-36) at Los Angeles Clippers (21-33)? The Kings are without Kevin Martin but add Carl Landry and the Clippers look like they are going to keep Drew Gooden, which means you want to add him immediately if he’s available.
Oklahoma City (31-21) at New York (19-34) – the debut of new Knick Tracy McGrady. Keep those expectations low, which will let you pee your pants in excitement when he explodes for 30 points. Just kidding. Or am I? Well see tomorrow.
Indiana (18-36) at Houston (28-25) – And how can we forget about Kevin Martin’s first game with the Rockets. You’ll also want to pay attention to what Houston does with its frontcourt now that Carl Landry is gone. There are minutes to be filled and not much to fill them with. We might get to see a lot more of Luis Scola.
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Tags: Al Thornton, Andre Iguodala, Andrei Kirilenko, Antawn Jamison, Carmelo Anthony, Drew Gooden, Ersan Ilyasova
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