Day 167 of 170: Lobby Bird and Tragic Johnson

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Ballin Outta Control
Posted on: April 10th, 2011

Line of the Night: If the tail end of the NBA season is good for one thing, it’s crazy-ass lines that seemingly come out of nowhere. For example Ty Lawson (3.04), who is averaging 0.9 threes a game this season, hit 10 threes against the Wolves last night on his way to a career high 37 points, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Said Lawson about the game, “Every time I threw it, it went in…”. Amen to that.

Honorable Mentions: The NBA had a relatively modest five games yesterday, so I’ll try and keep his short.

Milwaukee played against the Cavs, so it’s no surprise that John Salmons (1.65) had the second best line of the night with 32 points on 14-18 shooting. Drew Gooden (1.11) – aka Tragic Johnson – had an insane triple-double with 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists, 2 blocks. Brandon Jennings (1.12) also chipped in 14 points, with 9 assists and 3 steals. The Cavs were led by… ah… Baron Davis (0.42) I guess, who had 19 points and 6 assists in the 108-101 loss.

Compared to Lawson, J.R. Smith’s (1.26) 18 points on 6-13 from three (with 8 boards) looks downright anemic. With an injury to Danilo Gallinari (more on that below) Smith is in line to get some big minutes over the last few days of the season.

The Rockets may have nothing left to play for, but that didn’t stop Chuck Hayes (1.15) from having a very Chuck Hayes-on-steroids type game for the Rockets with 12 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. He also helped contain Blake Griffin on the other side of the ball, holding him to 13 points on 6-18 shooting. I have yet to crunch any numbers, but Hayes has got to be in the running for most underrated fantasy player of the year.

John Wall’s (1.12) rookie season hasn’t been an unqualified success the way Blake Griffin’s has, but when Wall is on he’s the best rook in the league. Yesterday against the Hawks Wall was definitely on, as he finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and a couple of steals in a blowout win (yes, win) for the the Wiz.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Brad Miller (1.68) scored 16 points, with 4 threes, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 26 minutes off the bench for Houston. If the NBA season were a party, Brad Miller (1.68) would be the guy who basically blew it off, showed up right at the end, ate all your food, drank all your beer and then left without saying a word. Thanks but no thanks, Brad.

Pick Up Lines: Goran Dragic (1.32) got the start at PG for the Rockets with Kyle Lowry out with a sore foot. He was more than solid, scoring 14 points, with 10 rebounds and 7 assists in 38 minutes on the court. Sounds like Lowry is done for the year, so add Dragic for the Rockets’ last two games if you’ve still got something to play for.

Wesley Johnson (1.21) could eventually turn into a nice fantasy guy who can play multiple positions (G/F) and can do a little bit of everything from hit the three to block some shots. Last night against the Nuggets was a good example of Johnson’s potential as he scored 13 points, hit 3 threes, grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked a couple shots.

My man Othyus Jeffers (1.07) had a big double-double off the bench for the Wizards, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes. The Wizards blew out the Hawks in this game, so I would not expect a repeat performance this season.

Biggest Loser: Technically, Danilo Gallinari (-1.01) put up the worst line among guys owned in a majority of leagues. But he sprained his ankle 10 minutes into the Nuggets/Wolves game (call it the curse of the Jersey Shore) and ended with 3 points on 1-6 shooting from the field. Gallo says he’s going to “aggressively rehab” his ankle to be ready for Monday’s game, but more likely he misses the remainder of the regular season.

C.J. Miles (-0.87) had been a nice pickup for a lot of owners this season. But he’s been downright atrocious over the Jazz last 4 games, shooting a combined 9-37 over that span. Yesterday against the Spurs, Miles continued the trend by scoring 2 points while shooting 1-5 from the field. He needs a little of whatever Ty Lawson has been drinking.

***

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

Do not miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or become a fan of GMTR on Facebook! We are so social!

Other Stuff Like This:

• Fantasy Trade Implications: Everyone Wants this Cap Space Guy (17)
• Day 119 of 124: Where the Miami Heat Declare the Regular Season to be Over (4)
• Day 109 of 124: Waiver Wire Team Assemble! (19)
• Day 107 of 124: The Manimal Attacks (20)
• Day 100 of 124: You Stay Classy Sacramento (20)
• Day 99 of 124: It’s Time To Win. Make It Count! (19)
• Day 90 of 124: Sorry Love, OKC Wins at Fantasy Basketball Too (9)

Tags: Brad Miller, C.J. Miles, Drew Gooden, Goran Dragic, Ty Lawson