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Line of the Night: Lebron James (1.66). Who did you think it was going to be? LeBron dropped 40 in a Cavs win over the Pistons, adding 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 3 threes and 2 blocks. And in last night’s game, LeBron already became the Cavs franchise leader in minutes played, passing Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Honorable Mentions: Mike Bibby (1.2) is still owned in a surprising 72% of leagues out there considering he’s averaging a Luke Ridnour-esque 9 points and 4 assists on the season. But last night his shot was falling as he was 8-10 from the floor and 7-9 from three to finish with 23 points. Do yourself a favor and don’t expect him to do that again (this game came against Golden State and Joe Johnson was a non-factor in the game due to everyone’s favorite condition – flu-like symptoms)
The Pacers might be a punching bag of a team, but Danny Granger (1.19) is the lone Pacer with some fight left in him as he dropped 32 points, hitting 4 threes and blocking a couple shots against the Nuggets. Of course, the Pacers still got wailed on by Denver, but that’s a story for a different blog.
David West (1.19) finished with a 22, 9, and 7 with 4 steals and 2 blocks in a loss to the Spurs; Dirk Nowitzki (1.03) scored 31 points with 12 boards against the Kings; and unlike most rookies who have hit the wall by now, Stephen Curry (1.1) seems to be getting better as the season moves on. He scored 31 points with 11 assists and 5 threes against the Hawks. The only thing that kept him down were 7 turnovers. But 7 Golden State turnovers are more like 4 regular turnovers when you factor in the exchange rate.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: James Harden (0.84). It’s been a while since the best player for OKC in a game hasn’t been Kevin Durant (0.95). And that’s still not going to happen as Durant finished with a team-high 32 and 9 against the Clippers. But Harden was a strong second banana in this one, coming off the bench to score 17 points, with 3 threes and a couple blocks in 28 minutes. Harden has been getting a solid 25+ minutes off the bench for the Thunder and is playing much better recently than paper starter Thabo Sefolosha (-0.19), who had no points in 20 minutes yesterday.
To show you exactly how much the average person cares about fantasy basketball this time of year, Anthony Tolliver (0.81), a C eligible player who is currently starting for the Golden State Warriors, is only owned in 13% of Yahoo leagues. Tolliver finished with a 20 and 7, adding a season high 4 threes in 44 minutes of run. Grab him if he’s available.
Unfortunately Injury of the Night: Rodney Stuckey collapsed in the third quarter of the Pistons/Cavs game last night and had to be brought to the hospital. I’ve heard conflicting reports abut whether it was a seizure or not, but a similar thing happened to Stuckey last season as well. Regardless, likely be out for a while as they attempt to diagnose and treat whatever happened.
Copyright REUTERS 2010 (Photo by Aaron Josefczyk via REUTERS)
The Biggest Loser: Despite the BM player rater hating Tracy McGrady’s (-0.63) performance, I’m willing to give his 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists a pass, even if it did come with 6 turnovers. Rather, Baron Davis (-0.58) chucked his way to a 2-11 shooting performance, scoring 6 points. He did have 6 assists, but that was the only other redeeming part of his game. In fact, the Clippers as a team shot 37% against the Thunder, “led” by Davis, Eric Gordon (-0.48) who was 3-11, and Steve Blake (-0.28), who was 1-6.
All Eyez on Me:
Atlanta (40-21) at Miami (31-31) – Joe Johnson takes his flu-like symptoms to a place that has produced flu-like symptoms for many an NBA player. And speaking of that, Michael Beasley might as well be playing with the flu. Since the all-star break, he’s shot 38% from the floor, averaging only 12.6 points and 5.4 rebounds a game during that span. The sophomore wall?
New Jersey (6-55) at New York (21-40) – The battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of New Yorkers everywhere. Ok, maybe not so much. Chris Douglas-Roberts will likely get the start as Courtney Lee is expected to miss his 4th straight game with an injury.
The Golden Ticket: Golden State (17-44) at Charlotte (29-31) – Golden State heads to Charlotte to face off against their former leader in Stephen Jackson. Corey Maggette returned for the Warriors last night after missing 6 straight games with a strained hamstring, so get him back in your lineups asap.
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Tags: Anthony Tolliver, Baron Davis, James Harden, LeBron James, Mike Bibby, Rodney Stuckey
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March 6th, 2010 at 6:48 am
On the road in the ATL to visit family and a friend's new baby, we took in 3+ quarters of the Hawks/Warriors game before we had to get back to Mama. Man, that was fun to watch, even with no Monta and an invisible Joe Johnson. Josh Smith had two awesome dunks that rocked the 54% attendance. I mean, there was nobody there. 3rd best record in the East and no one wants to watch some run-n-gun on a Friday night? This town has always had a “fair-weather fan” rep, but it doesn't get much fairer than this.