Day 131 of 170: London is the New Phoenix

Categorized as: Author: Patrick
Posted on: March 6th, 2011

Line of the Night: The Nets and Raptors went to places I thought neither team was capable of yesterday in London thanks to a triple-overtime game that the Nets won 137-136. Before fouling out in the second overtime, Brook Lopez (2.48) finished with 34 points, and a season-high 14 rebounds and 8 blocked shots. If London ever gets a permanent NBA team, Lopez is going to have to pull a Carmelo Anthony and demand to be traded there.

Honorable Mentions: Other players that benefited from that triple-OT were Deron Williams’ (1.47), who scored 21 points, adding 18 assists in 53 minutes on the court; and Andrea Bargnani (1.69) had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 3 threes in that game. Wow. Lopez and Bargnani combining for 26 rebounds? Kevin Love is still not impressed.

Blake Griffin (1.47) nearly had a triple-double against the Nuggets finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists. For all the attention that Griffin’s dunks get, he’s quietly averaging about 5 assist per game over the last three weeks. That’s one reason why he’s probably a first round pick next season. For Denver, Nene Hilario (1.38) led the way with 25 points on 11-14 shooting, with 14 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Al Jefferson (1.19) continues to be the Jazz’ most dominating player post-Deron Williams. His latest of a series of strong lines included 27 points, 7 rebounds and a couple blocks

Without Stephen Jackson (who sat with a sore left hamstring), Charlotte had no chance against the Blazers and ended up on the wrong side of a 93-69 blow out. But it wasn’t Gerald Wallace who incepted revenge (he only had 7 points on 1-7 shooting off the bench). Instead, LaMarcus Aldridge (1.16) scored 26 points on 11-18 shooting, adding 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

DeMarcus Cousins had an 18 and 18 with 3 blocks for the Kings, but of course that came along with a 6-18 shooting game from the field and 6-11 from the line. That’s one reason why he’s definitely not a first round pick next season.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Eric Bledsoe (1.65). It’s tough to talk about Bledsoe without mentioning Eric Gordon, who left the Clippers’ game in the second quarter after aggravating the wrist injury that caused him to miss 18 games in January and February. Gordon’s injury gave some extra minutes to Randy Foye and Bledsoe, who scored a career high 20 points with 7 steals in less than 23 minutes on the court.

Gordon is expected to miss some more time with the injury, so I hope those of you who had Foye held onto him even after his return to the bench. Foye is the big winner out of all of this, and as long as Gordon is out he should return to his scoring ways for the team. Bledsoe is still behind Mo Williams on the depth chart, so leave him as a free agent for now.

Pick Up Lines: Francisco Garcia (1.21) is back for the Kings. In his first game in a month and a half, Garcia played 24 minutes, scoring 18 points, with 4 threes, 2 steals. He’s available in over 80% of leagues and makes a nice add if you’re looking to bolster your threes, steals and blocks over the stretch run.

It looks like DeAndre Jordan (0.83) is back to blocking shots, which is very good for fantasy owners since he doesn’t do much else. Jordan had 10 points and 4 blocks against the Nuggets and has blocked 16 shots over his last 5 games. The Clippers seem content to have Chris Kaman coming off the bench for now, so ride Jordan if you need blocks while he’s still starting.

Deep leaguers keep an eye on D.J. White (0.46), PF for the Charlotte Bobcats. With Gerald Wallace gone, Stephen Jackson both injured and unhappy, and Boris Diaw offending people with the way he’s been playing, new addition White has been getting 20 minutes a game over the last few games. Granted last night was a blowout for the Bobcats, but White played 26 minutes and had 12 points and 9 boards in the loss. A lot of things would have to go his way to have long-term value, but with the Bobcats going nowhere right now, he could see an increased role in the rotation.

Beware of triple overtime games when it comes to free agent pickups: Sasha Vujacic (1.49) dropped 25 points on 6-9 from three in a triple-overtime assisted game. Maybe he’s out of his month-long shooting slump, but I’m not sure I’d want to find out while he’s in my lineup; Leandro Barbosa (1.03) scored 22 points and hit 3 threes in the game. It was also his best game in about two months; Jordan Farmar (0.74) scored 12 points, adding 5 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Nets. It was the most minutes he’s seen on the court in a month. Ed Davis (0.48) had a season high 15 rebounds in the game. I think you get the picture.

Biggest Loser: If we were handing out an award for PG most likely to put up a line that would make you throw up in your mouth Darren Collison (-1.31) would definitely be in the running. Collison scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting, adding 3 rebounds, NO assists and 4 turnovers against the Rockets. If I wanted that type of performance from a PG, I would have plugged Shaun Livingston in my lineup (no offense Shaun).

J.R. Smith (-0.99) was a pathetic 2-11 from the field against the Clippers. Neither of those 2 baskets was a three, which means he didn’t even help in the one category owners have him in their lineups for. Loser.

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

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Tags: Blake Griffin, Brook Lopez, D.J. White, Darren Collison, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, eric gordon, Francisco Garcia