Day 104 of 170: Say Cheese!

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: February 7th, 2011

It was Super Bowl Sunday last night. So the NBA wisely defended the “prime time paint” as valiantly as Jason Kapono is known to do so, and promptly vacated the time slot and held their games much earlier (to avoid contact and unnecessary roughness). While the underdog Green Bay Packers came up big to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, our beloved NBA was not short of its own statistical wonders.

Line of the Night: The New York Knicks have a lot to smile about lately. Not only did they defeat the erratic Philadelphia 76ers to the the tune of a 117-103 victory, but some time soon (or at least before the Feb 24 trade deadline) Carmelo Anthony might just be joining the team as a new trade acquisition. Finally, hopefully, all of this Melo-drama will find its just resolution. Until then, it’s still going to be all Amar’e Stoudemire (2.97), who just went berserk against Philly, as he exploded for 41 points (17-21 from the field, 7-7 from the line), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks.

Honorable Mentions:
While Blake Griffin is getting ready to be this upcoming All-Star weekend’s studmuffin, it wasDwyane Wade (2.47) who showed him how to get things done in the regular season and translate fantastic performances into Ws. Wade led the Heat with an almost-triple-double as he schooled Randy Foye and pretty much anyone and everyone the Clippers tried to throw at him. He was unstoppable and finished with 28 points (3 threes, 9-10 from the line), 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocks.

One of the best things about the looming, potential Melo move to NYC is that the Knicks end up getting him, well, cheap. Losing Wilson Chandler will sting a little, but they get to keep Danilo Gallinari and Landry Fields (2.04), both of whom have been reliable role-players for the team. Just as an example, Fields had a big game against the Sixers. While he had the luxury of being guarded by Jodie Meeks for most of the afternoon, 25 points (5 threes, 10-13 from the field), 10 rebounds, and 2 steals are nothing to sneeze at.

Meanwhile, in the Boston-Orlando game it seemed that Dwight Howard (1.62) was the only one who was able to get any kind of groove going as he managed to finish with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 steals. I own D12 in a couple of leagues this season, and I’d like to gripe that it really burns me that he’s not blocked a single shot over the last couple of games.

It was all fugly for the Sixers. Old man, Elton Brand (1.53) showed a glimpse of a fraction of his Clipper-form with 28 points (10-14 from the field), 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you are in a very deep league and desperate for three-point shooting and that alone, then perhaps Eddie House (1.01) who is 5% owned might be worth a look. Maybe a glance. Or you can just ignore him altogether. However his 15 points (3 threes), might just be enough to consider him as a candidate for cat-boosting come the all-star week.

Pick Up Lines:
Kendrick Perkins (0.67) is still recovering slowly. But since, neither O’Neal appears close to a solid return to action any time soon, KP is a must-add in most leagues at least as a third-string big man. While it wasn’t cool that he didn’t score anything, the 13 rebounds and 2 blocks are encouraging that his recovery and return to pre-injury form is on the right track.  He owned in 28% of leagues at the moment, and that should steadily rise soon enough.

Biggest Loser:

While the “cheeseheads” are happy that their Packers brought back the Lombardi to Wisconsin, Jrue Holiday (-0.45) has been stinking it up in fantasy like a pound of Limburger over the last couple of games. Andre Iguodala and his recent assignment to play more point-forward duties has hit Holiday’s value in the nuts. Last night was another smelly example of FAIL as Jrue only managed to serve up 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, while committing  4 turnovers and shooting only 1-8 from the field.

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

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Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Andre Iguodala, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Eddie House, Elton Brand, Jrue Holiday, Kendrick Perkins, Landry Fields, Wilson Chandler