Day 19 of 170: Nazr Mohammed Owns Al Jefferson

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: November 14th, 2010

Line of the Night: Nazr Mohammed (1.23). Yes, we’re talking about the 33-year old Bobcats’ center, not some under-the-radar rookie who happens to go by the same name. Mohammed put up one of the least likely LotNs of all time, scoring 22 points and adding 20 rebounds and 4 blocked shots against… wait for it… not the Warriors, or the Knicks, or the Heat (zing), but the Utah Jazz. Shame on you, Al Jefferson.

In case you were thinking about picking Mohammed up, there is actually precedent for this: last season, he put up a 21 and 20 against the Wolves in February. He followed that game up with 4 points and 3 rebounds. The common denominator in both 20-20 games: Al Jefferson.

Al Jefferson forgets that defense is usually played in front of your man.

Honorable Mentions: The Bobcats had the fantasy gods working in their favor as Stephen Jackson (1.07) was 5-13 from three on his way to 24 points. DJ Augustin (0.05) also had a 12 point, 10 assist double-double.

Danny Granger (0.96) said he was feeling it, and his season-high 34 points (while going 5-8 from three) bears that out. Roy Hibbert (0.63) had a 16 point, 13 rebound double-double and has worked his way into the discussion top-5 fantasy centers in the league right now.

Tony Parker (0.93) led the Spurs to a blowout victory over the Sixers with 24 points and 7 assists in only 28 minutes on the court. Who is the 9th best fantasy point guard so far this year? That’s right, TP is.

Chris Paul (0.88) only scored 11 points on 33% shooting, but made up for it against the Blazers with 3 assists and 5 steals. The Hornets are now the NBA’s last undefeated team this season.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Well, there is Mohammed, whose ownership is hovering around 4% because – even including last night’s game – he is only averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds a game. Maybe in deep leagues you can justify the pickup, but last night’s game was his first double-double of the year.

Travis Outlaw’s (0.86) ownership is down to 19% in Yahoo leagues because his game-to-game performances resemble the stock market circa 2007. Yesterday’s game was one of the highs for Outlaw as he scored 20 points, with 7 points and 4 threes. However, he’s way too inconsistent to deserve a pickup right now.

Marcus Thornton got a DNP last night (trade anyone?), so Marco Belinelli (0.64) got 30 minutes of run and scored 18 points while going 4-8 from three. Keep an eye on the Hornets situation with Thornton.

DeJuan Blair (0.54) has been starting at center for the Spurs. He finally put up his first double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 boards. He had demonstrated the ability to be a double-double machine in short bursts last season, so watch to see if he can build on that performance, especially as the Spurs continue to limit Tim Duncan’s minutes.

Injury of the Night: Brandon Roy (-0.42) limped off the court in the third quarter of last night’s game and was in significant pain in the locker room. If Roy were to miss any time (and boy does that seem likely), Wesley Matthews and Rudy Fernandez would be in line for more minutes.

The Biggest Loser: Other than Brandon Roy’s knees? Andray Blatche (-0.55) scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting as the Wizards lost to the Bulls 103-96. Just an off night after he’d strung together 4 great shooting games in a row.

On Tap:

Minnesota (3-7) at Atlanta (6-4) – Kevin Love returns to the court for an encore performance after his 31 point, 31 rebound game. Meanwhile, Mike Bibby returns to the court after a 2 point, 3 assist game against the Jazz on Friday.

Houston (2-6) at New York (3-6) – Yao Ming is out, Brad Miller is in. Aaron Brooks is out, Kyle Lowry is back in. Lowry put up 13 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists off the bench in the Rockets last game and he’s a strong short term add while Brooks remains out.

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Tags: Andray Blatche, Brandon Roy, DeJuan Blair, Marco Belinelli, Marcus Thornton, Nazr Mohammed, Travis Outlaw