Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
Good morning Weekend Readers! I’m here to fill in for Patrick like one of those weekend news anchors that you don’t really recognize until they’re on the evening news and you’re like: I’ve seen that dude before. Patrick’s house is without power, so please, keep him in your thoughts as he attempts to drink all the beer that is quickly defrosting in his basement beer fridge.
And, just like that weekend anchor, I’m trying way too hard to make an impression. Sorry… and on with the show!
Line of the Night: Let’s see, did Cleveland play last night? Yes? Okay, then there’s a pretty good chance LeBron James (1.33) had the Line of the Night. What’s that you say? They went into overtime because the Cavs without Shaq are only as good as the Raptors with Chris Bosh? Cavs – Shaq + OT = LeBron James LOTN! James scored another 36 points (10-17 and 15-16) to go with a pedestrian 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals. He was clearly focused more on scoring with Shaq out of the lineup and didn’t have time to work his magic on the other categories (although that 15-16 from the line is gonna help owners out in that category).
Honorable Mentions: The only reason that Jason Kidd’s Most Ridiculous Line of the Season didn’t get LotN is because he only shot 39% from the field (taking 18 shots in the process). But check out this line, which garnered him only a 1.14: 19 points, 4 threes, 16 rebounds, 17 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers. Whoozahwhatnow? That’s like a Dwight Nash line! Or a Steve Howard line! I just now realized that Dwight Howard has two first names!
Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, where Dwight “Two First Names” Howard (0.60) only had 26 and 10, David “Mr. Quiet” West (1.13) put up 40 points with 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. And the Hornets beat the Magic. And since the Magic beat the Cavs, we can extrapolate that the Hornets could beat the Cavs. Can someone find me some similar logic that will allow the Hornets to beat the Lakers and thus become the NBA Champions? I mean, how awesome would it be for them to win the Super Bowl and then the NBA Championship? I know Pittsburgh already did the Super Bowl / NHL Championship thing, but really, who cares aboot hockey if it’s not two North American countries battling for the right to say their health care system is better, eh?
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Coming in just a skosh over Dwight Howard’s daily score was Arron Afflalo (0.63). Afflalo got this one mostly because he didn’t make any mistakes. He was out on the floor for 38 minutes, yet scored only 14 points (12 of which came from his 4 three-pointers), managed to be in the right place for only 4 rebounds, and unselfishly passed the ball on 2 times. He did block 2 shots, which I guess for a guy who’s 6′ 5″ is okay. Afflalo was Aflawless from the free throw line: 0-0, and also perfect in turnovers with 0. Looking at his game log, it looks like you’ll have to wait another 3-4 games to get another good one of him, though.
That said, there weren’t a lot of good performances from players that you might actually be able to pick up.
The Biggest Loser: Clearly Vince Carter (-0.64) didn’t think it was worth turning on the Magic (pun intended) against the Hornets like he did against the Cavs last weekend. Or maybe he felt his 48 points against the Hornets in their last meeting was enough that he didn’t need to do as much this time. Either way, Carter was 3-10 and 1-3 to end up with 8 points (he had 3, in case the math wasn’t working out for you), 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 turnovers. It’s not like Courtney Lee has been tearing things up in NJ, but seeing as he’s almost 9 years younger than Vince, you have to wonder if the Magic made the right decision there…
All Eyez On Me: Well, since the NBA is saving the premiere match-up for Sunday during the Gold Medal hockey game, there’s not much better than Houston @ Utah tonight.
The Golden Ticket: We do, however, still get Memphis @ New York and Detroit @ Golden State, so there’s the opportunity for some good fantasy lines in there somewhere.
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Tags: Arron Afflalo, David West, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Vince Carter
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