Day 85 of 170: Half Court

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, Miami Heat
Posted on: January 19th, 2011

Only two games on the night on which this NBA season reaches its half birthday. Both of them were low scoring affairs, the Hawks and Heat only getting to a 93-89 final with the help of overtime.

Line of the Night: Usually overtime boosts the fantasy lines, and LeBron James (1.61) used it to get to the kind of line that he usually posts in regulation games: 34 points (10-11 from the line), 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. Not a bad line for a first game back from injury. Too bad he had to take a couple shots at the end of regulation and overtime that lowered his FG%.

I’m glad I’m not playing Derrick Rose (1.28) this week as he’s put together very nice back-to-back games, this time with 33 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Gerald Wallace (1.26) held off Rose’s Bulls with 13 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists. Josh Smith (1.04) led the Hawks (fantasy-wise) with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 steals.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah out, anyone with Taj Gibson (1.47) would have been mental not to start him. Taj had 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 blocks, and if you’re in a daily league, see if he’s still available (only 36% owned), since Boozer is still expected to be questionable for Thursday.

Pick Up Lines: Joel Anthony (1.27; 3% owned) had maybe the most efficient line ever, since he did not attempt a field goal nor a free throw, so while he ended up with 0 points, he did have 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks. I think Chris Bosh is still questionable for Thursday, so Anthony might have another shot then, but I wouldn’t pick him up just for that unless you’re not scared to go that deep…

Eddie House (0.95; 3% owned) made 2 more threes en route to 12 points (including 4-4 from the line) and is now averaging 3 threes per game for the last 3 games. Definitely someone to look at if you need to add more of that to your lineup.

Biggest Loser: In addition to LeBron’s 11-30 from the field there were a few bad shooting performances, but Stephen Jackson (-0.12) was the worst (at least of guys who are owned in a majority of leagues). Jackson had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists while going 5-14 from the field. That’s decent for a waiver wire pick up.

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

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Tags: Derrick Rose, Joel Anthony, LeBron James, Taj Gibson