Day 1 of 124: A Christmas Miracle

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: December 26th, 2011

Welcome back NBA! Now that Kevin Garnett is back choking people, all feels right in the world. And GMTR is back with a new post everyday that summarizes the fantasy night that was.

Line of the Night: Carmelo Anthony (2.57 wins/week*) picked up right where he left off last year on the Knicks with 37 points (4 threes), 8 rebounds and 2 steals in a 106-104 win over a Paul Pierce-less Celtics team. Rajon Rondo (2.27) had a huge game for the C’s with 31 points, 5 rebounds, 13 assists and 5 steals. Expect more of the same from Rondo as along as Pierce remains out (he’s day-to-day). Brandon Bass (1.16) also played well in his Boston debut and finished with 20 points and 11 boards in 28 minutes.

Honorable Mentions: Ryan Anderson (2.10) is no longer waiver wire material since he’s currently owned in over 75% of Yahoo leagues, but you definitely want to run out and grab him if he happens to be available in your league after a 25 point, 6 three and 10 rebound performance against the Thunder. Yes Glen Davis got in some early foul trouble which allowed Anderson to play 34 minutes, but Glen Davis kind of sucks, and Anderson is going to start and get a lot of minutes for the Magic going forward.

Derrick Rose (1.13) may have had a Christmas miracle of his own with a game winner against the Lakers, but it was Luol Deng (1.83) who had the Bulls best fantasy game overall with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals and two great plays to stop Kobe Bryant at the very end of the game.

Chris Paul’s (1.47) Clipper debut was a success. He finished with 20 points, 9 assists and 2 steals as the Clips pulled away from the Warriors in the 4th and won 105-86. Andris Biedrins (1.02) of all people fantasy led the Warriors with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Let’s just say it was not a great night for the Warriors…

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: It’s actually Biedrins, who according to Golden State of Mind, was playing with energy on the court and out hustling his opponent. What? That’s not the Andris Biedrins I know. There is no guarantee that this type of performance continues, but maybe the Warriors bringing in Kwame Brown this offseason finally lit a fire under his ass. Grab him as a speculative add for now if you need a center.

Pick Up Lines: Not too much out there with only 5 games. Brandon Rush (0.88) got 28 minutes for the Warriors, hit a couple threes, blocked a couple shots and scored 12 points. Not a game that would make me rush out and add him, but he would be in line for big minutes if Stephen Curry eventually takes some time off for his injured ankle.

And, um, Mario Chalmers (0.41) had 4 steals in 24 minutes as the Heat’s starting “point guard”. And that’s about all he did on the court.

With Andrew Bynum serving a suspension for the Lakers, Troy Murphy (0.12) got 23 minutes of run and had 7 points, 8 rebounds and a block off the bench. Murphy has the potential to be a fantasy beast when healthy, so he’s at least worth keeping an eye on.

Biggest Loser: All Jason Richardson (-1.29) got in his stocking for Christmas were a whole bunch of bricks. Out of 101 players he had the worst fantasy line of last night, shooting 1-10 from the field and finishing with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers. Way to go J-Rich, at least I only have you on one of my teams.

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* Daily rankings and stats are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player. These stats will be provided on the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version) shortly.

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Tags: Andris Biedrins, Carmelo Anthony, Chicago Bulls, Jason Richardson, Rajon Rondo, Ryan Anderson, Troy Murphy