Day 18 of 170: Thirty-Thirty Vision

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, Oklahoma City Thunder
Posted on: November 13th, 2010

Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

If you predicted Big things for Kevin Love this season, then you may qualify as a very good prognosticator. However, if you predicted that Kevin Love had the best stat line as it pertains to fantasy basketball last night, well, you’re close. If you predicted that I would say “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”, now that’s impressive, because I haven’t said that in a long time. But it’s still true. (And if you want to make a fun Reader Contest out of it, go ahead and leave a comment with anything else you can think of where Close Counts)

Line of the Night: Russell Westbrook (1.46) stole Kevin Love’s thunder with 36 points (1 three), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, while shooting 54% on 22 attempts and making 91.7% of his 12 free throws (pun intended). I don’t know the Oklahoma City fans that well, so does anyone if the Thundercats thing is played out already? I could only find two attempts to even make it work on Google Images. This is one of them…

The Dean’s List: Kevin Love (1.11) deserves his moment in the sun. He put up the first 30-30 game in 28 years (would have been even more awesome to have been the first in 30 years, but whatever). Along with his 31 points and 31 rebounds, he had 5 assists, a block, and only 2 turnovers.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Mickael Pietrus (1.15) was also actually ahead of Kevin Love according to Basketball Monster (though the Give Me The Rock Player Rater Beta would beg to differ). Either way, though, Pietrus came through on a night when Rashard Lewis (-0.06) failed – for the first time with Orlando – to take a three point shot. Well, he almost came through – the Magic still lost to the Raptors. But Pietrus gave it his all with 8 three pointers for 24 points, not even bothering to take a shot that was inside the arc. Leave those to Dwight Howard, I’m sure he was thinking. That was about it for Pietrus, stat-wise, and while he did shoot 73% from the field, technically disqualifying him from consideration for WWLotN, I think, like Kevin he deserves his moment in the sun. Or at least in the shadow cast by Kevin Love in his moment in the sun.

Pickup Lines: A more realistic pickup than Mickael Pietrus is Brad Miller who is now the Center for the Houston Rockets (Yao Ming has a strained tendon in his leg). Miller is owned in 23% of leagues, and we all know that Ming doesn’t really suffer from the kind of injuries you can play through. Last night, B-Rad played 34 minutes, going for 23 points (3 threes), 8 rebounds, and – ever the great passing big man – 5 assists.

The Biggest Loser: I’m tempted to go with Al Thornton (-0.63) who dropped to 21 minutes last night as he starts to cool off from his hot start… but fellow Wizard Gilbert Arenas (-0.30) boasts a much higher ownership percentage and would have been good with his base of 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block had he not managed just 2-14 from the field. That 14% is terrible even by Gilbert Arenas standards. It also marks the second consecutive game where Arenas has shot 14% (though in the last one, he was kind enough to only take 7 shots instead of 14). Perhaps he just needs to share his pain, like Taylor Momsen did, in an attempt to stop this train before it becomes a total wreck. I mean, there Unstoppable like Phenomenal Swag, and then there’s the other Unstoppable.

On Tap with {Your Beer Company Here}: Who is not psyched to see if the Jazz can finish out one of the most brutal 4-games-in-5-nights series ever. Comeback wins against Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta leave them with just the Bobcats to take out. Even if they lose this one, 3-1 on that trip is pretty freakin fantastic.

Portland continues their road trip against the Hornets and we get to see how long Brandon Roy’s knee holds up. He played 35 minutes against the Thunder, but the Blazers still lost.

The Golden Rule: Golden State is in Milwaukee and while David Lee says he’ll play, I don’t think that will stop Scott Skiles from breaking out the 4-guard lineup to keep up with the Warriors running and gunning.

In The Bonus: Risers and Fallers | Damn Lies Podcast | CBS Week 4 Planner

Here’s hoping week 4 ends up for you like the girl on the left and not the one on the right. Unless you want it the other way around.

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Tags: Brad Miller, Gilbert arenas, Kevin Love, Mickael Pietrus, Russell Westbrook