Day 76 of 170: New King in Town

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Fantasy Basketball, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns
Posted on: January 10th, 2011

Line of the Night: They may share the court, the locker room, top billing, whatever, but when it comes to lines of the night, LeBron James (2.27) has the edge over Dwyane Wade (1.83) when it comes to dropping the awesome fantasy lines (for now). James led the Miami with 44 points (3 threes, 17-26 from the field, ), 13 rebounds, 6 assists,  and 2 steals; while Wade chipped in 34 points (15-22 from the field, ), 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Both of them combined for 78 of Miami’s 107-point total in its overtime win over the Portland Trailblazers. Who’s “the man” in Miami?  On the surface, neither of theses blokes give a hoot… well as long as Chris Bosh makes sure their Gatorade has its ice cubes.

Honorable Mentions:
On the losing end of the Miami-Portland battle, LaMarcus Aldridge (2.22) had a valiant yet futile attempt at leading his Roy-less Blazers to a home victory. In the fantasy world, however, we don’t discriminate. Whether a player’s team wins or loses, we don’t really mind. What we’re after is seeing lines that look something like: 31 points , 14 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. If you happen to be a Blazers fan, we’re sorry for your loss. Slightly. If you’re an Aldridge owner, Booyah!

Coach Alvin Gentry of the Phoenix Suns decided to punish impatient fantasy owners who dropped Channing Frye (2.22), by declaring that Frye will return to the starting lineup, at least for the next 10 games. In his return, Frye filled up the stat sheet with  16 points (4 threes, ), 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. My guess is this return is more likely permanent, than not. Frye is simply this more productive as a starter. What he generally lacks in rebounding and defensive intensity are (hopefully) made up for by his ability to spread out the defense with his outside shooting capabilities.

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Pau Gasol (2.22) took advantage of Andrew Bynum’s ejection (for arguing) and posted 20 points (10-11 from the line), 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks as the Lakers easily showed the New York Knicks that they’ve got a ways to go before they can dream of challenging the defending champs. Defense still trumps offense.

Steve Nash (2.04)  had an impressive night for the Suns as he delivered an “almost 20-20 game”, with 20 points (7-7 from the line), 7 rebounds, 17 assists, and 3 steals.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Painfully, very painfully this has to go to Jason Thompson (1.74), who uncharacteristically came up with a big game, delivering 19 points , 11 rebounds, and 2 steals. He’s not very consistent and there aren’t any current signs that he’s developing into regular, reliable fantasy contributor. If JT can manage to produce a string of three or four solid games, then consider him. Until then, he and Carl Landry will continue to eat at each other’s fantasy values.

Biggest Loser:

Our biggest loser is Grant Hill (-0.98) who left the Phoenix game against Cleveland with a sprained knee after playing only four minutes. He was able to produce 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 0 assists in that span. He’s supposedly going to miss Monday’s practice, but may return against Denver. He’s been solid so far, an iron man, diametrically opposite to his injury-ridden past-self.

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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version).

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• Day 12 of 170: LeBron James Will Do That in Your House (5)
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Tags: Carl Landry, Channing Frye, Dwyane Wade, Grant Hill, Jason Thompson, LaMarcus Aldridge, LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash