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On a night where a certain man scored a certain 40+ points for a certain fourth game in a row, it was actually…
Line of the Night: Nicolas Batum (3.26) who got a rare 42 minutes off the Blazers’ bench (thanks to a little OT) and scored a season-high 29 points on 9-15 from the field, adding 6 threes, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks on the night. Batum is immensely talented and we at GMTR were expecting good things from him this season (ranking him at #78 going into the season). While his minutes have been all over the place so far this year, the recent Marcus Camby injury may actually open up some run for Batum going forward as the Blazers are forced to shift to a smaller lineup. He probably won’t be getting 40 minutes a game, but it will be interesting to see if he can get 30 while Camby is out.
Honorable Mentions: Kyle Lowry (2.18) jumped to the top of the GMTR player rater (over LeBron) with a 33 point, 8 rebound, 9 assist performance in that overtime game against the Blazers. Whether you consider him a sell high candidate or not, Lowry has clearly taken a step (or five) forward this year after his already huge 2010-11 season.
In the battle for the hearts of Los Angeles, Chris Paul (3.05) helped the Clippers put away the Lakers with 33 points, 3 threes, 6 assists and 3 steals. I believe the mercy rule had to be invoked on Derek Fisher’s defense in this one. Blake Griffin (0.86) also added 22 points, 14 boards and 5 assists in this game.
Kobe Bryant (2.83) did his part for the Lakers, scoring 42 points pretty efficiently (on 14-28 shooting), and adding 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Excluding Gasol and Bynum, the rest of the team scored a total of 26 points. If you own Kobe and didn’t win the points category this week, you may want to reevaluate your fantasy team.
After yesterday’s embarrassing game, JaVale McGee (2.66) bounced back with 23 points on 11-13 from the field, adding a very McGee-like 18 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. McGee has now taken the upper hand in the intense battle with DeAndre Jordan to lead the league in blocked shots.
Washington still lost the game big to the hot Sixers, who were led by Louis Williams (2.20) 24 points and 4 threes as well as Andre Iguodala (2.05), who had 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. All these blowouts are not good news for Spencer Hawes owners. He is seeing his minutes greatly reduced recently because of that back injury and because the team isn’t playing many close games.
If Kemba Walker (2.25) happens to be available in your league, you may want to run out and grab him now that he’s starting for the Bobcats. Walker scored a career-high 23 points and added 5 assists in nearly 40 minutes on the court. Paul Silas was apparently unhappy with the lack of effort expended by Boris Diaw during the team’s recent losing streak (I know, I’m shocked too), so Diaw has been moved to the bench and Walker has been inserted at SG as the team has gone smaller. Walker is only about 6 feet tall, so we’ll see if the Bobcats can roll with both the undersized Augustin and Walker at both guard positions, but hey, it worked last night so expect to see this lineup for a while.
The Ricky Rubio (2.23) – 18 points, 12 assists and 5 steals – and Kevin Love (2.10) – 30 points and 13 rebounds – connection is full speed ahead. Count us as one of the many places who underestimated Ricky Rubio coming into the season. It’s just that his Euroleague stats were soooo underwhelming. And his shooting, which was supposed to be his big weakness, is actually above average for a guard so far (he’s at 46% from the field this season).
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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Gustavo Ayon (1.43). GUSTAVO! I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m an encyclopedia of NBA knowledge, but I do write about the NBA everyday, and I had not heard of Gustavo before. When you Google him, the big story that comes up is about the Mexican Ayon waiting for a work visa so he could join the New Orleans Hornets this season. Well, that visa must have come through, because Ayon has now played 6 games for the Hornets, including last night’s 9 points 7 rebound, 5 assist, 2 block game in 20 minutes off the bench. I wouldn’t run out and add Ayon, but his minutes are slowly creeping up and his competition at PF is the underwhelming and injury prone Chris Kaman. Do me a favor and keep him on your watch lists to see if his minutes continue to grow.
Gustavo wants YOU!
Pick Up Lines: I should have mentioned that Kaman was benched after bringing the weak sauce against the Grizzlies (and Emeka Okafor got fewer minutes than normal as well), giving both Ayon and PF/C Jason Smith (1.24) time to shine in an almost comeback against the Grizzlies. Smith had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in 27 minutes off the bench. The minutes were a season high for him, so as with Ayon, I would not grab him right now. Shockingly, the Hornets are actually too deep at the position for these guys to get consistent minutes.
With all this Zaza Pachulia talk, could it be the 27-year old rookie PF Ivan Johnson (1.16) who really benefits from the Al Horford injury? Johnson got 26 minutes of run off the bench for the Hawks and double-doubled with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 2 steals. Johnson is the mirror opposite of Pachulia and gives the team some much needed toughness. In fact, during his many journeys around the world before making it to the NBA, Johnson was “benched a game in the D-League last year for receiving too many technical fouls and has a lifetime ban being held against him in Korea for flipping off an official”. I wouldn’t want to own him over Zaza (yet), but if you have the roster spot, speculation grab him for now to see if he can keep it up, especially if you are an owner who just lost Horford.
Quick Hits: Wayne Ellington (1.18) scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting in 30 minutes off the bench for Minnesota. It’s only the third time he’s scored more than 11 points all season, which is not good if you’re a “shooting” guard. Leave him on waivers.
Byron Mullens (1.02) continues to impress with 20 points and 7 rebounds against the Warriors. Technically, he’s still available in 60% of Yahoo leagues, but probably not if you read this blog.
Josh Harrellson (0.96) had 12 points and 3 steals in 20 minutes off the bench for the Knicks. He’s doing just enough to be look a look in huge 16+ team leagues, but any real value won’t come unless Amare were to get hurt.
Taj Gibson (0.69) had 11 points and 12 boards off the bench for the Bulls in a win over the Raptors. He’s always been a per-36 minute stat beast, but his minutes off the bench are too inconsistent to be worth a pickup.
Jermaine O’Neal (0.54) finished with 12 boards and 3 blocks in 26 minutes for the Celtics. He’s only worth a look if you need to add some blocks to your team. Or happen to own a time machine that can take him back to the early 2000′s.
Biggest Loser: In the battle of teams playing their fourth game in five nights, the Kings got blown out for the fifth time this season, losing to the Mavs 99-60. Tyreke Evans (-1.17) was one of the many, many reasons why. He was 1-8 from the field and finished with 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 turnovers in 31 minutes on the court. At least he had been playing well leading up to this game.
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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They 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.
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Tags: Chris Paul, Gustavo Ayon, Ivan Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kyle Lowry, Nicolas Batum, Tyreke Evans
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