Day 20 of 170: Suns Scorch Lakers

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: November 15th, 2010

Line of the Night: Al Horford (1.43) got to take advantage of a Darko Milicic defensive match-up and proceeded to go to town on the Minnesota Timberwolves. For years now, Al has been steadily rising up the draft boards as projections have him growing closer and closer to a 20-10 model of efficiency at center. Last night’s line was an example of such visions. He rewarded his owners with a sweet 28/10/3 with a steal and three blocks with NO (ZERO) turnovers. 9-14 from the field and 10-10 from the line cap off his awesome night.

Honorable Mentions: All of our honorable mentions come from an unexpected source. Well at least the ones on the opposite end of the Laker match-up. The Phoenix Suns and their hot shooting from downtown scored them a W against the defending champs. Their long bombing bonanza was lead by none other than Jason Richardson (1.33) who went 7-10 from beyond the arc to finish with 35 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Good game? Yeah. Almost equally impressive, well on some level and in alternate Universes even more impressive, is Steve Nash (1.01) and his ZERO turnover game. 21 points, 13 dimes, two treys, and a steal are the rest of what comprise the rest of what a good “Nash line” is like. I suppose Kobe, Fish, and Ron-Ron didn’t get to do much hampering on D. Duh.

It wasn’t all about Phoenix. The Lakers got repped by their best player in fantasy basketball, Pau Gasol (0.75), who once again brought the goods. Big time. 28-17 kind of big time. Kevin-Love-esque, if you will. Pau added a steal and a block to the line which was only tainted by his four turnovers.

On a negative note, for the Suns at least, Robin Lopez sprained his knee and did not return after only five minutes of play.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Ben Wallace (o.59), who’s owned in only 21% of Yahoo leagues, showed up with a respectable 10 rebound, two steal, two block night. He’s not the Ben we’ve all known and loved in fantasy anymore, but if you’re in need, desperate enough need to add a guy who rarely scores any points, Ben is still currently good for 8.1 RPG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.1 BPG.

The Biggest Loser: DeMarcus Cousins (-0.57) had a bad “rookie night” as his six points and eight rebounds were not enough to mitigate his six turnovers. Things aren’t looking too good for Cousins ever since Samuel Dalembert took the starting center gig. While he’s still getting the minutes, his fantasy production has definitely taken a step backwards.  Considering all the pre-season hype and expectations that surrounded him, his efforts as of late have not been too encouraging. For now, sit him and get ready to wait a long wait if you really intend on making him a project.

All Eyez on Me: There’s nothing like an “Old School vs. New School” match-up as Chris Paul and the unbeaten Hornets attempt to keep their untarnished record as they take on the Jason Kidd and the Mavericks. It’s going to be an “assist orgy,” if there was actually such a thing.

Denver at Phoenix should be slobberknocker of a shot-fest as well. Channing Frye should be primed for an explosion, in case Ro-Lo has to miss a few games.

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Tags: Al Horford, Ben Wallace, Channing Frye, DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Richardson, Pau Gasol, Robin Lopez, Steve Nash