(H/T: Michael Gluckstadt)

In case you haven’t heard, it looks like Mike D’Antoni is likely going to go with Jeremy Lin as the team’s starting PG against the Utah Jazz tonight. D’Antoni is apparently impressed with the way Lin attacked the basket and ran the Knicks’ offense during Saturday’s game against the Nets (and equally unimpressed with the pathetic job Toney Douglas has done). Can Lin repeat his 25 point and 7 assist performance against the Jazz? I highly doubt it, but Lin is an absolute must grab in any league he’s available in just to see if he can.

Also, because David Sterns requires by penalty of death that it is mentioned in any post about Lin, he graduated from Harvard.

Carry on.

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oh wait, wrong sport.

Line of the Night: There was no way that the NBA was going to compete head-to-head with the Super Bowl, so yesterday’s slate consisted of only two early games. That means Rudy Gay’s (1.64) relatively modest 21 points and 7 rebounds in a 98-80 lost to the Celtics was the best fantasy line of the day. It’s four straight 20+ point games for Gay after that disastrous 1 point game on Jan 30.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Garnett (1.63) channeled young KG yesterday and led the Celtics with 24 points (on 9-12 from the field) and 9 rebounds. He also hit a three for his third game in a row and is shooting 100% from behind the arc this season. Who needs Ray Allen when you’ve got KG? Paul Pierce (1.61) also chipped in 21 points (going 10-10 from the line), with 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

In the day’s other game, Mario Chalmers (1.19) actually had the Heat’s best fantasy line with a boxscore filling 11 points, 3 threes, 4 assists, and 2 steals as Miami held off a Raptors’ fourth quarter comeback to win 95-89. Although right behind him on today’s list are LeBron James (1.02) with 30 points and 9 rebounds, and Dwyane Wade (1.00) with 25 points and a couple blocks. For the Raptors, DeMar DeRozan (0.97) bounced back from three horrible shooting games to score 25 points, adding 2 steals.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jerryd Bayless (1.50) got his fourth start in the Raptors’ last five games and made the most of it, scoring 17 points, with 4 threes and 2 steals. Even coming off the bench, Bayless is getting over 25 minutes a game and should be own in most league formats at this point, especially given the 23-year old’s upside.

Pick Up Lines: Ed Davis (1.07) is owned in 39% of leagues, but he’s a decent short-term play if still hanging out on free agency if you need boards and blocks as long as Bargnani is out. Against the Heat, Davis chipped in 8 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks off the bench.

With the Celtics’ Brandon Bass out with a swelling in his knee, Chris Wilcox (0.80) somehow managed to score 12 points and grab 5 rebounds in 11 minutes, while rookie PF JaJuan Johnson (0.73) got 22 minutes off the bench and chipped in 10 points with 2 blocks . Both I’d consider for deeeeep leagues only as Bass’ injury doesn’t sound serious.

Jermaine O’Neal (0.15) is also someone to take a look at in deep leagues if you need blocks – his 4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks against the Grizzlies is about the best you can expect from him these days.

I’m not the biggest fan of inefficient scorers on my fantasy teams, but Linas Kleiza (0.02) has been getting some decent run lately, including 24 minutes off the bench against the Heat. Kleiza finished with 17 points and 5 boards, although he was also 5-13 from the floor. He’s inconsistent and inefficient, but he will score, hit threes and grab some boards.

Biggest Loser: Gay may have had the line of the night, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates. This included Marc Gasol (-1.91), who was 3-14 from the floor against Boston and finished with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 7 turnovers in 34 minutes on the court. Consider it a one-off bad game for Gasol who must have had his mind on other things.

In addition, Mike Conley (-0.53) had a quiet 4 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 2-8 from the field against the Celtics.

Finally, the usually non-error prone Jose Calderon (-0.92) had 5 turnovers to only three assists against the Heat and was thoroughly outplayed by both his opponent and his backcourt mate Bayless.

***

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.

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!

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Line of the Night: Nicolas Batum (2.94) was a game time decision against Denver with a bruised knee that had already kept him out two games. Well, the knee is apparently fine as Batum hit a franchise record 9 threes on his way to a career-high 33 points and adding 3 steals for good measure. If you had stashed Batum on your bench until you were sure he was back on the court (like me), then it’s time to get Batum back in your lineup without getting too pissed you missed this game from him.

Honorable Mentions: Tony Parker (2.90) loses out on the line of night by the smallest margin thanks to a season-high 42 points, with 9 assists and 2 steals in a win over the Thunder. Enjoy the run if you own Parker, the numbers won’t be so gaudy once Manu returns in a couple weeks.

The Bulls cruised to an easy win over the Bucks thanks to Derrick Rose’s (2.64) 26 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists. Luol Deng (1.26) also came back from a wrist injury which kept him out seven games to score 21 points with 3 threes. Time to get him back in your lineup. Drew Gooden had the Bucks’ best fantasy line with a season-high 24 points, but he only grabbed 3 boards on the night. Wah-waah.

Someone who did grab a bunch of rebounds was Kris Humphries (2.57), who scored 20 points, filing up the box score with 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks in a loss to the Knicks. Deron Williams (2.12) chipped in 21 points, 11 assists and 3 steals. Ten guesses on which Knick had the team’s best performance?

From the doghouse to a deluxe apartment in the sky: A game after Trevor Ariza (2.32) played so badly he was biggest loser material, Ariza bounced back against the Pistons to score 26 points on 9-12 shooting, adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Got to love Ariza’s consistency. The NBA’s hottest waiver wire pickup, Greivis Vasquez (1.23), added 14 points, 6 boards and 9 assists in another start for the injured Jarrett Jack. Vasquez makes a very good add if he’s available in your league, even after Jack returns to the lineup.

Greg Monroe (1.24) led the Pistons with 24 and 16 for his 13th double-double of the year.

Batum may have stolen the spotlight in the Blazers game, but LaMarcus Aldridge (2.23) put up a strong 29 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, while Marcus Camby (1.37) grabbed 20 boards. Camby now has three 20 rebound games and three 5 block games with big patches of nothing in between.

Sacramento and Golden State went into overtime, which of course meant some nice stat lines for Tyreke Evans (2.23) – with 26 points and 9 assists – DeMarcus Cousins (1.51) – with 21 points and 20 boards – and Marcus Thornton (1.40) with 28 points and 4 threes. The shots weren’t falling for either Monta Ellis or Stephen Curry in the game, so Dorell Wright (2.02) actually had the best fantasy line for the Warriors with 24 points and 4 threes.

After a bad run of games, Kyle Lowry (1.85) owners must be happy to see this line: 24 points, 11 assists and a couple steals, even if it did come against the porous Wolves’ defense. Also a good sign: Lowry shot 50% from the field in this game. For Minnesota, Kevin Love (1.24) had 25 and 18, but also turned the ball over 6 times.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Interested in another run with Kawhi Leonard (2.18)? No? After losing his starting job to Gary Neal for one game, Leonard was back in the starting lineup against the Thunder and finished with 15 points, 3 threes, 6 rebounds, 5 assists. His minutes and production have been all over the map lately (as Popovich also has Neal and Danny Green to throw at that spot depending on how the winds blow that day). With Manu expected back in a few weeks, leave Leonard on waivers for now.

Pick Up Lines: Reggie Williams (1.78) is back for the Bobcats after missing the first 21 games of the season with a knee injury. And his arrival couldn’t have come soon enough for the hurting Bobcats. In his third game back, Williams was inserted into the starting lineup and finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in 39 minutes. Williams gives the team a legitimate scoring option and three point threat in addition to Kemba Walker and he should make a great add while Gerald Henderson is sidelined with a hamstring injury. We’ll see if he can maintain fantasy value longer term, but he could easily become the team’s sixth man and get decent minutes off the bench.

There was a brief time when John Salmons (1.69) was a top-50 fantasy player. This season he’s barely been a top-50 player on the Kings. But Salmons is still starting for Sactown, has put together two good games in a row, including yesterday’s 14 points, 3 threes, 6 assists, and 5 steals, and is available in two-thirds of leagues. Salmons is a career 44% shooter, so he should be able to improve on his 38% shooting from the field so far this season. Consider him an ever so mild recommendation.

Jeremy Lin (1.40) came off the bench for the Knicks and scored a career-high 25 points, adding 5 boards and 7 assists in nearly 36 minutes on the court. Lin is averaging 9 minutes a game so far this season, so don’t expect this type of game to happen with any type of regularity. His extra playing time came as the result of the Knicks being on the third game of a back-to-back-to-back. Still, with Baron Davis stuck in practice purgatory, it could be worth taking a flyer on Lin in deeper leagues to see if he can carve out some more consistent minutes off the bench for New York. I just wouldn’t count on it.

Quick Hits: Klay Thompson (1.67) was 4-5 from three for the Warriors and finished with 16 points in an overtime game against the Kings. He’s minutes bounce all over the place from game-to-game and isn’t consistent enough to be worth picking up.

The Jazz backup PG, Earl Watson (1.49) finished with 8 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals in 26 minutes off the bench. For reasons that we’ll get into shortly, I think he makes a great add in deeper leagues.

Kosta Koufos (1.16) got the start for Denver because Timofey Mozgov is out with a sprained left ankle and responded with easily his best game of the season – 16 points and 12 rebounds in 34 minutes. Considering that Mozgov had to be helped off the court on Friday because he couldn’t put weight on his foot, I’d guess that he’s going to be out for at least a couple weeks, making Koufos a nice short-term add in the meantime. If he can carve out 25 minutes, Koufos will be a double-double threat with good percentages (although he won’t do much else).

With Richard Hamilton constantly injuring and reinjuring himself, it’s finally time I give due respect to Kyle Korver (1.38), who is playing well for the Bulls whether he’s been asked to start or now come off the bench with Deng back. Korver was 4-8 from three against the Bucks and finished with 18 points. If you’re on the hunt for threes, Korver is one of the best out there.

Jordan Farmar (1.08) had another nice game off the bench for the Nets with 19 points and 3 threes. Take a look at him if you need some scoring and assists.

Biggest Loser: At this point, we’re going to have to stage an intervention for everyone who still owns Devin Harris (-1.13) (and he’s still owned in 56% of Yahoo leagues). Harris returned to the court after missing one game with a hamstring injury and scored 1 point on 0-6 shooting, with no rebounds and 3 assists. He’s ranked 176 on the GMTR player rater for the season and despite the hopes of many a Devin Harris owner out there, he’s not been getting any better in recent games.

***

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.

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!

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• Day 39 of 124: Where Brandon Jennings Defies the Odds (24)

Line of the Night: In a year where just about all PGs are struggling (especially with their shots), Brandon Jennings (2.96 WARP) has somehow found a way to improve his FG% from 39% last season to 44% so far this season. Of course, maybe none of that really matters, as Jennings shot just 9-25 from the floor against the Heat, and yet led all fantasy lines last night thanks to 31 points (going 7-14 from three), with 8 assists and 4 steals. Jennings is going to continue to score in bunches in a Bogut-less Bucks’ rotation, just prepare for the inevitable Kyle Lowry-like 25% shooting run that is eventually going to come. I still consider him a sell high candidate.

Honorable Mentions: The Heat lost to Milwaukee, but don’t blame LeBron James (2.21) (ok, blame him a little) who scored a season high 40 points, hitting 4 threes, with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Dwyane Wade (1.34) chipped in 23, 8 and 6.

Another PG who has been defying the odds (and father time) is Steve Nash (2.81), who scored 30 points on an incredible 13-16 from the field, with 10 assists against the Hornets. And he did all that in only 29 minutes on the court! Nash is now shooting 55% from the floor this season, which is not just tops among PGs, but is actually fifth in the league overall behind 3 centers and LeBron.

The tandem of Chris Paul (2.68) – 34 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals – and Blake Griffin (2.47) – 31 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks – was so huge against the Jazz that the rest of the Clippers’ starting lineup scored a combined 16 points and they still won. Al Jefferson (1.31) was back in the lineup for the Jazz after missing a game with some ankle swelling and had 27 and 12 in this game.

***

The Pacers beat the Wolves thanks to Danny Granger’s (2.15) first 30+ point game this season. He finished with 36 points, 5 threes and 7 rebounds and was 13-15 from the line. The scoring has definitely come around for Granger after a bit of a slow start to the season and those who were able to buy low on Granger seem to have been rewarded. Darren Collison (2.00) added 20 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists in the game, while on the other side of the ball Kevin Love (1.03) finished with 21 and 17, but also shot 6-16 from the field.

Kevin Martin’s (2.07) 29 points, 6 threes and 9 rebounds weren’t enough to hold off Tim Duncan (0.83) and the Spurs from a comeback win. Duncan had 25 and 7 boards in the game, while Tony Parker (1.06) chipped in 24 points.

The Blazers dismantled the Bobcats 112-68 and their best fantasy performance actually came from Jamal Crawford (1.98), who scored 24 points and hit 4 threes in 21 minutes off the bench. Gerald Wallace (1.92) and LaMarcus Aldridge (0.73) also had nice games scoring 23 and 22 points, respectively. The Bobcats leading scorer in this game was Gerald Henderson (-0.50) who finished with 16 points and was ranked 173 out of 230 players in terms of his fantasy WARP score. Whoooo, Bobcats basketball!

Dwight Howard (1.62) had 23 and 18 as the Magic hung on for a win against the Wizards. Ryan Anderson (1.81) was 6-9 from three, while J.J. Redick (1.31) scored 21 points and hit 3 threes. More on the Wizards’ best performances below.

And OKC beat the Mavs 95-86; Russell Westbrook (1.64) handed the offense with 33 points and Serge Ibaka (1.87) was all over the D. Ibaka was only 2 of 8 from the floor, but his owners’ will gladly take it as Ibaka blocked 10 shots on the night. Thanks in part to that performance, Ibaka is now blocking 2.8 shots a game and his only behind Jordan and McGee in terms of blocks per game this year.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Greivis Vasquez (2.12), yes the Greivis Vasquez, had a career high 20 points and 12 assists for the Hornets coming off the bench behind Jarrett Jack and DaJuan Summers (yes, the DaJuan Summers). Vasquez is both a) not going have this type of game again this season, and b) still looking like a sneaky good pickup while Eric Gordon is out if you need assists in a deep league. He’s gotten 25+ minutes in each of the Hornets last four games and has 28 assists over that span. Add him while he’s hot.

Pick Up Lines: On the opposite end of the spectrum from Vasquez is Rashard Lewis (1.52), who scored a season-high 20 points, adding 3 threes, 8 rebounds and a couple steals in the Wizards’ loss to the Magic. When Lewis’ shot is falling, he can still put up a pretty decent looking line., Unfortunately, like a full moon, his shot only makes an appearance once a month for so. The last thing any fantasy team needs is a shooter who can’t shoot. All you Jason Richardson owners know what I’m talking about.

The Bulls got some smack handed to them by the Sixers, and as a result C.J. Watson (1.30) got a little extra run, scoring 20 points (to D-Rose’s 18) and hitting 4 threes in 27 minutes. Watson makes a nice handcuff for any Rose owners, but otherwise on most nights he’s only going to see 10-20 minutes on the court.

Ahoy, Lavoy!!! Lavoy Allen (0.90) – a 6-9 PF for the Sixers – has played himself into some minutes for the Sixers off the bench recently. Last’s night blowout of the Bulls gave him some extra run and he finished with 15 points (on 7-10 from the field), with 6 rebounds. I love hustle guys as much as the next person, but this gives me the opportunity to break out one of my general guidelines for waiver wire pickups. If a guy comes out of nowhere and shoots 70%+ from the field on any given night, don’t pick him up off waivers because he’s not going to shoot that well again. Plus, Allen is currently the 9th guy deep for the Sixers, making his minutes going forward really spotty.

Ten starts in a row for the Hornets’ Jason Smith (0.89) at PF, three half-decent lines during that time. Ok, make that four. Against the Suns, Smith saw a season high 34 minutes, shot 8-9 from the field and finished with 16 points and 3 blocks. See my 70% rule above and apply that to Smith.

Trevor Booker (0.89) remains a low upside option (not that there is anything wrong with that) with Andray Blatche is out for the next few weeks. Booker finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in 21 minutes off the bench against the Magic. He’s behind Jan Vesely on the depth chart, but makes a much better fantasy play than Vesely as a guy who can board and put up some decent defensive numbers.

Booker’s teammate Jordan Crawford (0.89) scored 19 points with 3 threes and 6 assists off the bench. If you could care less about your team’s FG% and need a scorer, Crawford just might be your guy.

Quick Hits: Ersan Ilyasova (0.32) continues to do nothing but grab rebounds for the Bucks, and I mean that in both a good and bad way. Despite Darko being back in the lineup and starting for the Wolves, backup Nikola Pekovic (-0.41) saw more minutes off the bench and double-doubled 13 points and 12 rebounds. Don’t be surprised if he takes over the starting job eventually, so keep him on your watch lists. Ed Davis (0.23) also double-doubled against Boston with 10 points and 12 boards and is worth owning in most leagues while Andrea Bargnani is out.

And thanks to a crazy number of injuries for the Nets, Jordan Farmar (0.68) got the start alongside Deron Williams in the Nets backcourt. He scored 15 points in 31 minutes and makes a good short term play while MarShon Brooks is out and Anthony Morrow remains sidelined with a sore left ankle. Shawne Williams (0.89) also got the start at SF for the Nets and scored 11 points and grabbed 5 boards in 38 minutes. Given the choice between the two, I’d rather own Farmar, who has shown he can put up consistent numbers when getting minutes in the past.

Biggest Loser: The Raptors lost to the Celtics 100-64, so it’s really not a surprise that DeMar DeRozan (-1.98) had the 230th best fantasy line out of 230 players who stepped on the court last night. The Celtics’ did what they do and basically assaulted DeRozan every time he touched the ball. The result was 8 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists and a 3-12 shooting performance.

You’ve just been Scoled! After what looked like a semi-promising run last week of games where Luis Scola (-1.46) was actually grabbing more than 5 boards a game, the bad Scola is back and killing your fantasy team by not doing much of anything. Scola scored 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in 24 minutes against the Spurs, adding 5 turnovers for good measure. Hey, at least last night was an improvement over his 1 rebound game on Monday.

And in case you wondering about Dirk Nowitzki (0.20) and his very un-Dirk-like 2-15 shooting performance against the Thunder. His 8 boards, 2 steals and 4-4 from the line were at least enough to make his WARP score not an embarrassment. Not that’s going to make Dirk owners feel any better about this game.

***

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.

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!

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Honorable Mentions: Add one part Chris Paul (2.65) and one part ego-destroying rim destruction by Blake Griffin (1.07) and you’ve got the recipe for the how to stop the Thunder’s four game winning streak. Paul had 26 points (on 12-16 from the field), adding 14 assists, while Griffin did this to Kendrick Perkins:

Griffin finished with 22 and 7, but doubt anyone is talking about his stat line today. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant (2.49) scored 36 points, with 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, while Russell Westbrook (1.67) dropped 31 and added 5 steals. Kendrick Perkins finished with the need for a lifetime of therapy.

One reason I hate owning Michael Beasley (2.39) is because of the occasional 30+ point games he puts up, which teases you just enough to keep him around through all the bad times. Last night was one of those nights for the Beas who helped spark a huge third quarter run for the Wolves and finished the game 34 points on 10-14 from the floor and 12-12 from the line in a win over the Rockets. If you’ve never had the pleasure of owning Beasley before, you will get these 30 point games from time to time spread out over the year. It is not the start of something special.

The Wolves – who scored 120 points on the night – were far from a one man show. Kevin Love (2.23) chipped in 29 points (on 10-15 from the field), with a measly 7 rebounds; while Ricky Rubio (2.12) nearly triple-doubled with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists.

The Rockets’ best line actually came from Kevin Martin (1.46), who was back in the lineup after missing two games. Martin hit 4-6 from three and finished with 29 points in the game. This meant that Courtney Lee was pushed back to the bench (and didn’t do much in 22 minutes), while Chase Budinger managed to still score 13 points in 21 minutes. Both take a hit in their fantasy value with Martin back. And just a note to all Kyle Lowry (0.51) owners – he continues to slide down the GMTR player rater thanks to recent games like this one last night – 11 points and 3 assists. You may want to quickly sell high on him if you still can.

Big men of the world unite! Paul Millsap (1.73) continues to play like a first round fantasy draft pick with 19 points and 15 rebounds in a win over the Blazers. Al Jefferson missed the game with an ankle injury – and the injury sounds pretty bad despite Jefferson’s insistence that he’s going to be back on the court soon – so keep an eye on that situation Jefferson owners.

Ryan Anderson (0.58) may be known more for his three point prowess than his boarding, but thanks to a truly horrific shooting game between the Magic and Sixers (more on that below) he grabbed 20 boards on the night. The downside is that he was 0-4 from three.

And Joakim Noah (1.43) – who was in a funk at the start of the season – nearly had a triple-double against the Wizards with 14 points, 13 boards and 7 assists. With 5 double-doubles in a row now, I think it’s safe to say that Noah is back.

The Suns got destroyed by the Mavs 122-99, but Marcin Gortat (1.85) had the best fantasy line in the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks against one of the more invisible 7-footers in the league, Brendan Haywood. And with all the talk about Rodrigue Beaubois (0.77) – who finished with 8 points and 7 assists in the start – the Mavs’ best line actually came from…

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Delonte West (2.60). West may have lost his starting job to Beaubois, but with Kidd out he got 28 minutes off the Dallas’ bench and scored 25 points on 9-12 shooting, adding 5 threes and 6 assists. Whether he is starting or coming off the bench, West will get minutes with Kidd out of the lineup and makes an ok add in deeper leagues, but his scoring in this game is a total aberration. He’s much more likely to be around the 10-12 point mark in most games. I’d guess that West’s big fantasy contribution will most likely be as spoil to any breakout potential that Beaubois has currently.

Pick Up Lines: Yesterday’s waiver wire guy, Vince Carter (2.41), chipped in another 21 points and was 5-7 from three in 29 minutes. I echo Erik’s comments from yesterday – I can’t say that I’m running out to grab Carter in any leagues – but as long as his shot is falling like it has been recently, he should get a small bump in minutes and value while Kidd is out.

Earl Watson (2.05) – our deep league special from two podcasts ago – filled up the box score with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks in 25 minutes for the Jazz. He’s still coming off the bench behind Devin Harris, so he only really makes sense in deep leagues at the moment or maybe as a handcuff if you happen to still be a Harris owner (again, probably in a deep league).

With Andray Blatche out of the Wizards’ lineup for a month or so (more on that below) Trevor Booker (2.03) got extra run off the bench against the Bulls (Jan Vesely started at PF and did absolutely nothing). Meanwhile, Brooker and had his best game of the season – 14 points (7-9 from the field), 9 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. His line as a starter earlier in the year when Blatche was out – 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.6 blocks – doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but if you’re desperate for a big or are a Blatche owner, you may want to take a chance on Booker.

Mike Dunleavy (1.68) wants some love, dammit. Lately, we’ve been dismissing Dunleavy on GMTR (as well as the entire Bucks SG through PF positions), but he continues to put up nice scoring numbers off the bench for Milwaukee. And against the Pistons, Dunleavy scored 20 points and hit 2 threes in 26 minutes. It’s his fourth double-digit scoring game out of his last 5 games and he’s finally wore me down enough that I’ll say he is worth a look if you need a scorer as long as he’s getting a consistent 25+ minutes off the bench.

If you love Ryan Anderson but can’t afford his price tag, check out Matt Bonner (1.40), PF/C for the Spurs who is basically a 6-foot 10-inch three-point specialist. Bonner scored 15 points on 5-9 from three against the Grizzlies and has now hit 15 threes in the Spurs last 4 games.

Speaking of three point specialists, Kyle Korver (1.20) got the start, played 44 minutes and hit 5 threes of his own on the way to 17 points and 5 rebounds for the Bulls. The absence of both Luol Deng and Richard Hamilton helped Korver get that burn. He makes a good short-term play while those two guys are out, although both Deng and Hamilton are day-to-day and will probably be back sometime this week.

And with Thabo Sefolosha out with a right foot injury, Daequan Cook (0.90) saw 32 minutes off the bench for the Thunder and had a pretty empty 12 points. But he’s currently available in 99% of leagues, so if you happen to play in a 16+ team league and need some scoring for the week, he could be worth a play while Sefolosha is out.

Injury of the Night: The Wizards announced yesterday that Andray Blatche is expected to miss the next 3-5 weeks with a strained calf muscle. According to interim head coach Randy Wittman:

“He’s probably looking at, after the doctors looked at an MRI, maybe 3-5 weeks with a strain,” Wittman said. “He tweaked it pretty good in Charlotte, and obviously there’s a lot of bleeding in there, which leads to the inflammation in the calf. We’ve got to get that out of there first, and then we’ll have a better idea what we’re looking at.”

As mentioned above, Jan Vesely (-0.45) got the start in Blatche’s place last night, but only played 15 minutes. Trevor Booker is the guy to look at picking up, especially if you’re a Blatche owner. I’ve already dropped Blatche in the one daily changes league I had him in.

Possible Injury Rumor of the Night: So in an article about Rudy Gay, Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears just casually threw out that Coach Lionel Hollins doesn’t think that Zach Randolph will be back on the court this season. What? How about a little elaboration please? Spears seems to be making a habit out of burying these gossipy tidbits in articles about other stuff (I noticed he did a similar thing earlier this year, although I forget about what at the moment). If you’ve held on to Z-Bo for this long, wait for confirmation from some other source before dropping Randolph.

[UPDATE: Thanks to a little detective work by Nels (check out the comments), it looks like Spears misquoted Hollins about Z-Bo in his article. Everything is still on track for Z-Bo.]

Biggest Loser: The Magic appear to be doing everything in their power to actually drive Dwight Howard away from the team. In their latest 74-69 loss to the Sixers, Hedo Turkoglu (-1.32) finished with 3 points and 3 rebounds while shooting 1-9 from the field. Hedo has shot 12-48 over his last six games and appears to have already run out of steam on the season. Don’t be surprised if he pulls a Dirk or Melo sometime soon and takes some time off to get right.

And has Brandon Knight (-1.16) already hit the rookie wall? It’s a little early to proclaim that after two bad games, but Knight didn’t score on the night, finishing with 1 rebound, 2 assists and 4 turnovers in 24 minutes.

***

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.

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:

• Day 113 of 170: We Pay You To Make Shots (1)
• Day 39 of 124: Where Brandon Jennings Defies the Odds (24)
• Day 36 of 124: Kobe Bryant Passes Kareem (37)
• Day 34 of 124: Friday Night Basketball is like Monday Night Football (19)
• 132 of 170: Chris Paul Scares Owners With Concussion (4)
• Day 100 of 170: ReDurantulous (3)
• Day 98 of 170: Roy Hibbert is Rejuvenated (7)

Note: There are some small sound quality issues on Erik’s end during a few parts of the podcast as his internet connection was giving him a little trouble. It happens very sporadically and all it does is make his silky smooth voice a little tougher to understand at certain parts.

Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the GMTR podcast feed for iTunes.

Podcast Links:

Update on Rajon Rondo’s status
Baron Davis may miss 1-2 more weeks
First Month Report Card: Top Point Guards in Fantasy Basketball
First Month Report Card: Top Shooting Guards in Fantasy Basketball
First Month Report Card: Top Small Forwards in Fantasy Basketball
First Month Report Card: Top Power Forwards in Fantasy Basketball
First Month Report Card: Top Centers in Fantasy Basketball

Spoiler Alert Ahead!

***

If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are our waiver wire recommendations.

• Courtney Lee
• Jerryd Bayless
• C.J. Miles
• Rodrigue Beaubois

Deep League Specials:

• Kirk Hinrich
• Ed Davis

Other Stuff Like This:

• Day 142 of 170: I’m C.J. Miles, Bitch (5)
• GMTR Podcast: Delayed (4)
• Day 43 of 124: A Not So Super Sunday for the NBA (7)
• Day 40 of 124: Sleeping Giants (24)
• Day 37 of 124: Where Blake Griffin Tears a Hole in the Space-Time Continuum (42)
• Day 36 of 124: Kobe Bryant Passes Kareem (37)
• Day 35 of 124: Where Kemba Walker Joins Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw (26)

Honorable Mentions: Memphis lost to the hot mess known as the Phoenix Suns, but Marc Gasol (2.18) had the second best fantasy line of the night with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks in the game. Thanks Phoenix and your 36% shooting as a team. Or more specifically, thanks Channing Frye (more on that below).

The Suns finally (finally!) got a good performance out of Jared Dudley (1.82), who scored 20 points, adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the game. The good news is that Dudley is now back in the starting lineup after the Sun scored a season low 71 points on Friday. Dudley has been dropped a ton in leagues and is available in nearly 50% of Yahoo leagues right now, but he is a notoriously streaky player, so don’t assume it’s going to be all roses for him the rest of the season. Still, if you’ve got a spot on your team and Dudley is available, he’s worth one more chance. Come on, he’s sorry, now take him back.

Kobe Bryant (1.87) nearly triple-doubled against the Bucks with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. But the Lakers’ lost thanks to a strong performance by Drew Gooden (1.45). Gooden still could qualify as a waiver wire pickup in many leagues (he is currently only 43% owned in Yahoo leagues). His second start was almost as good as his first – Gooden had 23 points and 8 rebounds against the Lakers. With Andrew Bogut out for the next 8-12 weeks with a fracture ankle, grab Gooden ASAP if he happens to be available in your league.

But Kobe was outdone by Kemba Walker (1.86), who actually triple-doubled with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, adding 2 block against the Wizards for good measure. 10 boards and 2 blocks for the 6-1 Walker? I was going to chastise the Wizards, but he actually is a very good rebounder and shot blocker for his size. It is the first triple-double by a rookie this season and he becomes the third player to have a triple-double in Bobcats’ franchise history. The other two? That’s right, Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw.

Despite giving up that triple-double, the Wizards beat the Bobcats behind JaVale McGee’s (1.82) 22 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. John Wall (1.51) also finished with 13 points and 10 assists in the game.

Andre Iguodala (1.54) triple-doubled himself, barely crossing the threshold with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a blowout win over Detroit. Louis Williams (1.42) chipped in 17 points and was 3-4 from three.

Without Carmelo Anthony for the second straight game, Amare Stoudemire (1.77) finished with a big 23 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks in a 97-84 loss to the Rockets, while Tyson Chandler (1.47) scored 14 points (5-7 from the field), 11 rebounds and 2 steals.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Starting his second game in a row in place of the injured Kevin Martin, Courtney Lee (1.37) scored 14 points and racked up 4 steals in about 30 minutes. Lee is one of those low upside guys who is not going to bust out in a starting role (a la C.J. Watson), but is good for about 10 points, a three and 1-2 steals a game whether he is starting or coming off the bench. Martin is currently day-to-day with plantar fasciitis in his right foot and may or may not be available for the Rockets’ game on Monday (got to love NBA injury reports).

Pick Up Lines: A quiet night overall considering there were six games.

Luc Mbah a Moute (1.33) scored 10 points, adding 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 38 minutes against the Lakers. So why did Mbah a Moute see so much run when he was getting less than 20 minutes a game prior to that? One, Stephen Jackson was suspended for this game for “verbal abuse of an official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner”. That’s not the Stephen Jackson I know. Second, the team used him defensively to guard both Gasol and Bryant at times and he was moderately effective, at least against Gasol. Keep an eye on Mbah a Moute for now, but the Bucks’ rotation is a mess and he is a defensive first guy whose stats barely translate into fantasy basketball even when he’s getting a consistent 30+ minutes a night.

Gordon Hayward (1.25) busted out with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a couple steals in a win over the Kings. I liked Gordon as a mild sleeper going into the year simply because the SF spot on the Jazz was wide open for him with the departure of Andrei Kirilenko. Hayward has effectively crapped all over that opportunity – this was his first double-digit scoring game out of the Jazz’s past 6 – but the minutes will continue to be there and he could be worth a pickup if he can get his shot to start falling with consistency.

Chase Budinger (1.13) is back on the court for the Rockets thanks to the Kevin Martin injury. After racking up a few DNPs, Budinger followed up a 21 point game on Friday with a 19 point game against the Knicks. Budinger makes a decent spot start as long as Martin is out if you need a scorer, but don’t get too optimistic about him, he’s likely to return to the abyss when Martin returns from injury.

Biggest Loser: Tayshaun Prince (-0.93) returned to the court last night for the Pistons after missing two games for personal reasons. He should have taken an extra day off, as his 6 points on 3-9 from the field was the least impressive line among guys actually owned in some leagues.

Right behind him was Channing Frye (-0.89), who scored 2 points on 1-9 shooting in only 14 minutes on the court. On the positive side, Frye and Dudley are now back in the starting lineup for the Suns. So Frye bombed in the start, but all he has to do to turn things around is hold onto the starting job, actually get some minutes and start playing much, much better. Easy, right?

And Andray Blatche (-0.67) had 4 points, 1 rebounds and 0 assists in only 8 minutes off the bench for the Wizards before leaving the game with tightness in his left calf. Blatche had been replaced in the starting lineup by Jan Vesely anyway and is currently in Randy Wittman’s doghouse, so I’d have a short leach with Blatche if he were to miss time with that injury.

***

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.

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:

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• Day 21 of 124: Battle: Los Angeles (19)
• Day 10 of 124: Point Guards, Threes (43)
• Cold As Ice: Seven Players Off to Slow Starts (10)
• Day 6 of 124: Five More Years! (16)

And now I can almost guarantee he sprains his ankle in the Warriors’ next game.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin Love (3.17), the number one fantasy PF over the first month of the season, continues to shine with his own specific brand of basketball – 31 points, 4 threes, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a win over the Mavs. Ricky Rubio (1.07) added 17 points, 12 assists, 4 steals (and 7 turnovers…) in the win. He’s given the team a 1-2 punch that Wolves’ fans will be able to enjoy for at least the next three years after the team signed Love to an unusual contract extension.

The Thunder beat the Hornets in spite of Russell Westbrook’s worst efforts (more on that below) thanks to Kevin Durant (2.36) who scored a very efficient 25 points, adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. James Harden (1.18) managed to score 18 points by only taking 5 shots, mostly by going 9-10 from the line.

Still Wade-less (but getting close), the Miami Heat are getting mad contributions from Chris Bosh (2.21) – 27 points (on 12-15 from the field) – and LeBron James (1.86) – 32 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Even Mario Chalmers (1.34) had another good game with 16 points, going 3-5 from three. The Pistons’ big contribution came from… well, we’ll get to that.

Danilo Gallinari (2.21) is currently ranked number 7 on our player rater for the year thanks to games like this – 23 points on 8-12 shooting from the field, with 5 assists and 3 blocks against the Kings. Andre Miller (1.48) continues to be a nice surprise off the Nuggets bench. He had 15 points and 10 assists last night. DeMarcus Cousins (0.71) led Sacramento with 17 and 15. He is now averaging 11 rebounds a game this year (and 4.6 on the offensive glass) no doubt “helped” by the fact that the Kings are shooting less than 40% from the field as a team.

On a night where Kyle Lowry (0.13) almost had a triple double with 8-8-10 and yet shot 2-16 from the floor, Kevin Martin (1.80) was a much more palatable 5-12 from three on his way to 29 points for the Rockets, while Samuel Dalembert (0,74) added 18 boards.

And Deron Williams’ (1.48) owners have to be happy not only that he had 34 points and 11 assists in a win over the Sixers, but that he actually shot 50% from the field doing it. Kris Humphries (0.76) added 13 points and 19 boards in the game, while MarShon Brooks sat out again for the team with a sore Achilles tendon.

Finally, I don’t think there was a baby hook without Roy Hibbert’s (1.75) name on it last night against the Bulls on his way to 20 points (on 9-14 shooting), adding 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in a win over the Bulls. If you missed the game, Brian Scalabrine was trusted with the biggest shot of the game for the Bulls, which doesn’t even happen in Brian Scalabrine’s own dreams.

***

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Oh, Tyrus Thomas (2.77)! The Greek Siren of fantasy basketball. He lures you in with his enchanting potential and then destroys you once you actually pick him up. Well, Thomas is calling for you again – against the Wizards he blocked what I can only assume is a career high 9 shots, adding 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals in 33 minutes on the court. If you were starting Thomas last night despite all the horrible games leading up to this one, congratulations! If he is currently available in your league, Thomas is starting for a Bobcats team without much else, is going to get plenty of run the rest of the season, does have tons of upside, and is blocking a lot of shots right now… just don’t ask me to come save you when he shipwrecks your boat next week.

Pick Up Lines: What the hell was going on last night? With Tayshaun Prince missing last night’s Pistons’ game with a personal matter, Austin Daye (2.08) got 30 minutes of run and scored a career high 28 points, hitting 4 threes and grabbing 6 rebounds (Daye had hit only 1 three all year prior to this game). Not to rain on the parade today, but with Prince likely back for the Pistons next game on Friday, leave Daye on waivers for now unless you happen to play in a really deep league. Check out his game log from last season, Daye has had games like this in the past, only to come right back down to earth in his next game.

Linas Kleiza (1.74) saw a season high 33 minutes for the Raptors thanks to a double-OT game and scored a season-high 25 points, hitting 4 threes and grabbing 5 boards. Double-OT games aside, Kleiza isn’t seeing consistent enough minutes to warrant a pick-up, but I would watch him to see how his minutes shake out in that ever changing Toronto rotation.

Ronnie Brewer (1.53) was supposed to be a sleeper LAST season after the Bulls signed him to be their starting SG. However, with the Luol Deng injury, Brewer got the starting nod and scored 20 points, adding 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals against Danny Granger and the Pacers. Brewer makes a nice pickup while Deng is out as long as you’re not expecting anymore 20/10 double-doubles. But according to Adrian Wojnarowski, Deng is apparently going to play through his injury (torn ligaments in his left wrist… ouch) and could be back on the court by next week, making Brewer a potential short-term play only.

Chandler Parsons (1.61), who was in a bit of a funk recently, bounced back with a nice 16 point, 7 rebound, 5 assist, 2 steal, 2 block game against the Bucks. He has sneaky high fantasy value as long as he’s filling the box score like that.

Not to be outdone by Tyrus Thomas, Darko Milicic (1.48) blocked 7 shots of his own against the Mavs, adding 8 points and 7 rebounds. Do you know what I love about Darko? Absolutely nothing.

With Marcus Thornton day-to-day with a thigh bruise that just won’t quit, Jimmer Fredette (1.42) got the start and hit 5 threes on his way to 19 points in 36 minutes. Jimmer is already owned in 37% of Yahoo leagues, which is crazy high considering the little he’s been doing this year, but if he’s available he makes a good spot start as long as Thornton is out. Backup PG Isaiah Thomas (0.85) – 16 points and 6 assists – also makes a decent play in deeper leagues.

With Luke Ridnour out with a sore left knee, Wayne Ellington (1.07) got the start at SG, played 38 minutes and scored 16 points while blocking a couple shots. Ellington is a very low end fantasy option even getting big minutes and could only be worth a pickup in deep leagues if Ridnour were to miss time.

Tiago Splitter (0.93) – with 16 and 8 – continues to put up solid lines off the Spurs’ bench in limited minutes. The Spurs’ second unit seems to be working well together lately, but I’m still hesitant to believe that Splitter can continue to put up double-double type lines getting only 20 minutes a game.

Al Jefferson was a late scratch from the Jazz game with a swollen right ankle, so Derrick Favors (0.69) got the starting nod and exploded for 16 and 12 in 42 minutes. Favors has shown he can be a fantasy beast when getting the minutes, but ironically, he’s stuck in the same position Paul Millsap was a few years ago behind two very good starters. Jefferson is day-to-day with the injury, but it doesn’t sound serious, so I wouldn’t go all in on Favors.

On last week’s podcast, Erik and I threw out that the Augustin injury might set a series of events in motion that would catapult Boris Diaw back into the starting lineup. Much more anti-climatically, journeyman Matt Carroll (0.37) got the start for the Bobcats and scored 17 points on 7-10 shooting. He makes a very, very low end spot starter while Augustin is out. And hey, I actually drafted him in my 30-team league.

With Andrew Bogut leaving last night’s game with a sprained ankle, Drew Gooden (0.89) took over and played 28 minutes, scoring 11 points with 3 steals (and grabbed an incredibly weak 2 boards). Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times (no more credible source than the Racine Times in my book) tweeted that Bogut is expected to miss at least the next few games with the injury, likely giving Gooden the starting nod over that span. Ride the double-doubles for now.

Non-Pick Up Lines: I’d avoid picking up anyone else on the Bucks other than Gooden, including Mike Dunleavy (1.20) who hit 3 threes on his way to 18 points in 28 minutes off the bench and Ersan Ilyasova (0,21) who grabbed an insane 19 boards in 28 minutes off the bench for the Bucks. Scott Skiles went 13 deep in his rotation last night – giving all his starters other than Brandon Jennings less than 20 minutes of run. To quote my father-in-law, the Bucks don’t know whether they’re coming or going right now.

Danny Green (1.10) continues to do just enough off the Spurs bench to ruin any value that Kawhi Leonard might have in the starting role with Manu is out. He did have 10-5-5 last night, but it was his first fantasy worth game in over a week.

GUSTAVO! We have another Gustavo Ayon (1.15) sighting. Ayon put up 16 points in 17 minutes off the Hornets bench, shooting 8-10 from the field and adding 3 steals. While I’d love to see Ayon get more time, he’s third on the team’s depth chart right now and is not going to be fantasy viable averaging less than 10 minutes a game.

Biggest Loser (aka, opportunity does not equal success): Two players with the opportunity to get more run this week thanks to injuries completely fell on their faces last night. Lamar Odom (-1.56), who is starting in place of the injured Dirk Nowitzki, shot 2-14 from the floor (in only 17 minutes!) and finished with 5 points against the Wolves. Get well soon Dirk!

Meanwhile, Kemba Walker (-0.75) was able to take the reigns of the Charlotte offense thanks to the D.J. Augustin injury, but made the least of the opportunity by shooting 4-19 from the field in a 92-75 loss to the Wizards. The Wizards! He did have some decent peripheral stats though, finishing with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

As efficient as Durant and Harden were for the Thunder, Russell Westbrook (-0.94) nearly pissed it all away with a 5-to-7 assist to turnover ratio and 4-14 shooting performance against the Hornets. Got to hand it to Westbrook, he doesn’t half-ass anything; when he flames out, he flames out hard.

Word on the street is that teams have figured out that Byron Mullens (-0.77) is a one-dimensional mid-range jump shooter who Paul Silas described as soft as the hair on a baby’s ass (that last part may not be true). What is true is that teams are starting to shut him down and he’s losing out on minutes to shot blocking savant Bismack Biyombo (not soft!). Mullens played only 18 minutes last night, scoring 5 points on 1-6 shooting. It was a brief, but fun ride for Mullens. Now go ahead and drop him until he learns how to do something other than take jump shots.

***

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.

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!

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Honorable Mentions: In that Wolves game, Ricky Rubio (0.23) dished out 12 assists (including a few sweet no look/behind the back passes), but he also turned the ball over 5 times and shot 2-10 from the field. I followed some of that game on Twitter (big mistake) and it sounded like God had come down from the heavens to play point for Minnesota. Luke Ridnour (1.08) continues to impress in a more human-like way as Rubio’s backcourt mate; he had 17 points and 8 assists. Oh, and how about the team that won? Kevin Martin (1.49) led the Rockets with 31 points and hit 4 threes on the night, while Kyle Lowry (1.47) had his second career triple-double (just two?) with 16 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

Josh Smith (2.47) went into boss mode against the Bucks and finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in 40 minutes. Joe Johnson (1.16) also scored 28 in the game. Not many of the Bucks’ showed show up to play in this game, the exception being Brandon Jennings (2.19), who scored 21 points, adding 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. That’s now four straight 20+ scoring games from Jennings, who has really stepped up his game this season and is actually shooting half-decently. Mike Dunleavy (-0.22) scored 17 points in 31 minutes off the bench for Milwaukee and is only owned in 4% of leagues night now, but I’m not mentioning him in the pick-up lines below because a) the Bucks’ rotation is a mess right now and b) he’s Mike Dunleavy.

***

James Harden (2.25) helped lead the Thunder to a 20-point win over the Pistons with 24 points, 5 threes, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. As I’ve mentioned in the comments on a number of posts this year, I was big on Harden coming into the year and he’s a great guard to own if you’re playing the percentages. Overall, it really was a team effort for OKC last night. Russell Westbrook (1.17) had a 24, 5 and 6 and even Serge Iblocka (1.09) chipped in 10 boards and 5 blocks.

A rejuvenated Kevin Garnett (2.06) somehow helped the short-handed Celtics hold the Magic to a franchise-low 56 points and 25% shooting on the night (tip – it involved a lot of fouling that wasn’t called by the refs), and hold Dwight Howard (-0.56) to 4-15 shooting. Garnett chipped in his own 14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals (!) and 2 blocks in the game. As much as the Celtics’ fan in me would love to see this type of Garnett show up for every game the rest of the season, I doubt very much he has enough gas in the tank to put up these type of numbers consistently.

The Spurs beat the Hornets and were led by Tony Parker (1.04), who scored 20 points but more importantly dished out a career-high 17 assists. A lot of those assists went to Tim Duncan (1.16), who scored 28 in the game, including the game winning running hook with 1.4 seconds left. For the Hornets, Trevor Ariza (1.91) has proven to be a nice pickup for anyone who grabbed him after he returned from injury. He had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in the game and even shot the ball well (7-13) which has always been the big problem for Ariza. Jarrett Jack (1.71) also chipped in 26 points and 9 assists.

A Dirk-less Dallas team beat the Suns 93-87, but Marcin Gortat (2.06) was the best fantasy player on the court in this game with 19 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks. Gortat is now ranked 22 on our rater for the season and is at least in the discussion for the top-5 fantasy centers in the league. For the Mavs, it looks like Shawn Marion (1.68) is going to be the fantasy winner while Dirk sits out this week. Marion led Dallas with 29 points and hit 4 threes in the game.

Jamal Crawford (1.30) scored 26 points in 32 minutes off the bench for Portland. I was going to mention him in the pickup lines section, but then I saw he’s already owned in 66% of leagues. Carry on.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With Luol Deng out with a mysterious wrist injury that may or may not require surgery, Richard Hamilton (1.61) took over some of that scoring slack for the Bulls with 22 points on 10-16 shooting, adding 10 assists in a team high 42 minutes on the court. If Hamilton is still hanging out in your waiver wire, stop reading this and grab him immediately. The double-digit assists are a fluky thing, but he is going to score a bunch for the team – especially while Deng is out – and gives the Bulls a much needed Ray Allen type to play off Rose and Boozer.

Pick Up Lines: Jordan Farmar (1.17) played 32 minutes off the bench for the Nets in that Bulls game and finished with 22 points and 3 threes. While 32 minutes was a season-high for Farmar (he’s averaging 20-23 a game recently), he has become the team’s primary guard off the bench and is definitely worth a look in deeper leagues if you need scoring, assists and threes.

When we discussed Dirk on the podcast, Erik talked about picking up the entire Mavs rotation, including (I think) Ian Mahinmi (1.10). Mahinmi saw a season high 29 minutes off the bench against Phoenix and finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Lamar Odom (-0.19) had another pedestrian game with 11 points and 5 assists. There are no guarantees that Mahinmi is going to see this much run again (he only got 18 minutes in the Mavs first game without Dirk) but he’s worth a look in deeper leagues while Dirk is sidelined if you need a big.

Goran Dragic (1.10) is starting to see more run for the Rockets, which includes getting some time at SG alongside Lowry. Against the Wolves, Dragic scored 14 points and added 3 steals in 23 minutes. We’ve seen Dragic’s ability to put up huge double-double numbers when he’s gotten the chance to start in the past, so definitely keep an eye on him and his minutes.

Jodie Meeks (1.10) was probably dropped in your league after his ridiculously slow start to the season. While he hasn’t quite entered flame thrower mode yet this season, yesterday’s 15 points, 3 threes and 5 rebounds at least got our player rater’s attention. Checking his game log, as long as you only play him every 4th game, you should get a nice double-digit scoring performance.

Kings’ backup PG Isaiah Thomas (0.67) got 28 minutes of run and finished with 11 points and 8 assists. Thomas has been part energy injection, part mop up guy for the Kings (and there is a lot of mop of duty to be had with the Kings), but his extended run also had something to do with John Salmons, who played only 18 minutes after recovering from the flu this weekend.

Has it been a while since you’ve taken a ride with Grant Hill (0.42)? Maybe it’s time for one more run together for old time’s sake. Hill had one of his best games of the season provided you don’t play in a league that counts turnovers with 19 points and 8 boards (and 8 TOs) against Dallas. Hill has now strung together three decent games in a row and is seeing well over 30 minutes a game recently.

One category beasts: Zaza Pachulia (0.81) grabbed 14 boards against a Bucks team that shot 40% on the night and Avery Bradley (0.85) had 3 steals against Jameer Nelson and the Magic.

Biggest Loser: Round up all the bad performances we’ve had this year and I don’t think you’ll find anything quite as bad as Ryan Anderson’s (-1.29) 0 points, 0 rebounds and 2 assists on 0-8 shooting against the Celtics. Playing with half a team, the Celtics’ somehow held the Magic to historic scoring and shooting lows. Anderson was only one of 13 bad players who stepped on the court for the Magic yesterday, he just happens to be the one owned in 92% of leagues.

With Jamal Crawford’s nice game off the bench for the Blazers, Nicolas Batum (-0.85) only saw 18 minutes off the bench and didn’t do much. He didn’t score and only grabbed 2 boards in the game. I wouldn’t worry too much about Crawford yet if you own Batum. Remember, this game came against the Kings.

***

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.

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:

• First Month Report Card: Top 20 Power Forwards in Fantasy Basketball (2)
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Click to play or Download here (Right-click and Save As)
Or rock the GMTR podcast feed for iTunes.

(H/T: The Dirk Nowitzki hat-stravaganza @ The Basketball Jones)

Spoiler Alert Ahead!

***

If you can’t listen to the podcast, here are our waiver wire recommendations.

• Tayshaun Prince
• James Johnson
• Lamar Odom
• Kirk Hinrich
• Deep League Special: Earl Watson (2% ownership)

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