Line of the Night: This is going to be a short post, I think, because honestly, when Chauncey Billups (1.38) has the Line of the Night with 24 points, 14 assists, and 5 threes, I mean, it’s a good line, but the ones that follow can’t be any better. I’m not trying to put Chauncey down here, I’m just saying that when that’s the best that 163 players have to offer, it’s just not one of those nights in the NBA that you’ll remember forever (or even for a day).

Honorable Mentions: I know there’s some fans out there, so props to Chris Duhon (1.07) for his 23 point, 13 assist performance. He and Chauncey only had one turnover apiece, so I guess that’s somewhat noteworthy.

Deuce’s Wild: Dirk Nowitzki (0.99) had 29 and 10 with 2 threes, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

Nene Hilario (0.94) had 19 and 11 with 2 blocks. Chris Bosh (0.87) had 24 and 12 with 5 assists. Way to pass the ball, big man! Troy Murphy (0.82) had 16 and 17 with 2 threes.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Tyrus Thomas (0.62) had his every once in a while game with 14 points, 13 boards, and 3 blocks. He only shot 44% from the field, though, which is not something you usually want from someone with those previously stated numbers.

Dee Brown (0.54), who evidently is of so little import that Basketball Monster has him labeled as Marcus Vinicius, had the 19th best line of the night (I’m gonna keep saying it, last night: not impressive) with 8 points, 7 assists, 2 threes and 2 steals.

I’m going to recommend you stay away from both those guys, though. Maybe look for a trade today instead of scanning the wire?

The Biggest Loser: Jason Thompson (-0.58), while not the statistically worst performance of the night, came up with a truly Basketbawful line: 1 turnover, and 1 missed shot in 11 minutes. He was looking like he might be a decent free agent pick up there for a few games. Not so much any more.

All Eyez On Me: New York at Cleveland should be an interesting matchup of an East contender and a team that seemed doomed, but now might be able to squeeze into the playoffs (granted, there are another 134 days left).

Another one to watch is Phoenix, with a 7-2 record on the road, at New Orleans, who are only 4-3 at home.

Dont miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock  right now.

Line of the Night: Nels predicted that Dwyane Wade would walk home with the line of the night today in large part due to the fact that Miami was matched up against Golden State. He picked the right team, just the wrong player. Yes, it’s Shawn Marion (1.02) with his first LotN of the year. His game wasn’t one for the ages, just classic Shawn Marion – 21 points, 15 boards, 3 steals and a block – as Miami beat Golden State 130-129 in overtime.

Wade (0.36), in case you were wondering, had 37 points and 13 assists and probably would have topped Marion if he could have kept his turnovers (7 last night) under control. Yes, we count turnovers in our game scores.

Honorable Mentions: Emeka Okafor (0.87) blocked a season high 5 shots while adding 24 and 10; Jamal Crawford (0.77) appears to be fitting in with his new team about as well as Zach Randolph and Al Harrington – which is to say - like a glove. Not THE Glove… who doesn’t actually fit like a glove, but… ok, I’ll stop. Crawford scored 40 points and remembered to pass the ball too (7 assists); Mike Miller (0.7) bounced back from a biggest loser performance with 19 points, 10 boards and 5 threes; and Raymond Felton (0.62) went for 14 points and 14 assists.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: As the following scores would indicate, there were no Anthony Morrow-like free agent explosions yesterday. Just some solid play from a couple of Warriors. CJ Watson (0.32) has been dropped from an awful lot of teams since the Jamal Crawford trade. But Stephen Jackson or no Stephen Jackson, Watson continues to get some play off the bench. Yesterday, he had 4 steals in 27 minutes; and Brandan Wright (0.17) got his sixth start of the season thanks to a Kelenna Azubuike injury. He had 15 points and 2 blocks in 31 minutes. Of course, Wright got 6 minutes in the Warriors previous game against the Knicks, so buyer beware.

Biggest Loser: After a quick glance, I didn’t see any horrendous performances truly worthy of the biggest loser, so we’ll give this one to Don Nelson’s motivational skills: Says Nelson after the game:

“I like the team for the future. I’ve got a lot of guys that aren’t ready yet, we have some deficiencies as a team. One of them is passing. We’re not a good passing team. Our trade helps that, gives us another passer. We’re not strong defenders.”

All Eyez on Me: Portland (12-6) @ New York (8-8) – I’m not one to go predicting lines of the night, but this game will likely have some strong fantasy performances. I refuse to believe, however, that Al Harrington will be one of them. Al Harrington does not play 4 good games in a row.

Toronto (8-8) @ Denver (12-6) – Jermaine O’Neal looks ready to return to the Raptors, but probably won’t, because he’s soft like cream cheese. Or cheese Whiz. Or some other delicious cheese flavored spread.

Utah (11-7) @ Sacramento (5-14) – Give me the injuries: Andrei Kirilenko received a cortisone shot yesterday and will likely miss today’s game. Boozer is still out. John Salmons is questionable with a groin strain. And of course, Brevin Knight is doubtful. For life. But Kevin Martin might return after practicing with the team on Monday.

Remember when that trade almost didn’t happen because of some big mouths and stubborn role players? I’m thinking Mark Cuban is wishing he’d read those signs for what any decent fortune teller could have told him they were.

Image by ~jjjohn~ via Flickr

Line of the Night: Devin Harris (1.50) dropped 47 points on 56% from the field, and a startling 17/17 from the line. He also had 7 rebounds and 8 assists to drop the hammer on the Suns. The Nets may have a losing record, but they’ve got some talent on that team.

Honorable Mentions: Chauncey Billups (0.94) had 28/4/10 with 4 threes and 2 steals. LaMarcus Aldridge (0.84) had 27/4/2 with 2 steals and a block as Portland knocked off Detroit on the road. Are we going to be back to the early 90’s with the Blazers and Lakers battling it out in the Western Conference now? That would be awesome (except I don’t think anyone in the West is going to stop the Lakers). Ben Gordon (0.80) had 26/6/4 with 3 threes, a steal, and a block. Steve Nash (0.75) had 26/1/9 with 3 threes and 2 steals and shot 55% from the floor. He only took 1 free throw, though.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jamario Moon (0.67) might have been dropped seeing as how things have been going for him this season. He had a decent game yesterday, though, going for 11/1/3 with 2 threes, 3 steals and a block.

JR Smith (0.44) is back on the charts with 19/5/4 including 5 threes. He only shot 43% from the field, though, and after playing 7 minutes in the previous game, who knows what is going to happen with him. He’s probably a quick drop and hot pickup kind of guy until he gets some consistent minutes. Worth it if you’ve got daily lineup changes and aren’t worried about winning FG%.

The other possible WW options look pretty awful, so there’s your list.

The Biggest Loser: Andre Iguodala (-0.54) continued his anemic play with 8/3/6, shooting only 33% from the field, and 66% from the line.

A lot of people’s favorite sleeper: Rudy Fernandez (-0.43) had an off night making only a three-pointer out of 4 total shots, while getting only 1 assist and a single steal.

Carmelo Anthony (-0.35) was bothered by a sore elbow and played only 14 minutes, going for 2/3/3 with a block. According to Yahoo he is insisting that he’ll play tomorrow against Toronto. You can’t really afford to leave him out of your lineup since he’s a threat for double-digit points and boards every game, but it’s going to be hard for weekly managers to stomach of week of injury-plagued games from him.

All Eyez On Me: Only 3 games today, so I’m going with Dwyane Wade for Line of the Night based on his last performance combined with the fact that he’s playing Golden State.

If I were to watch a game, the Miami/GSW one would probably be the most entertaining, but Boston v. Orlando is a matchup of two East powerhouses, even though Orlando is playing without two key role players: Jameer Nelson and Mickael Pietrus.

Dont 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.

Line of the Night: It’s just time to accept the fact that the New York Knicks are the fantasy version of King Midas – everything they touch turns to gold, including Stephon Marbury’s brain. And with Golden State coming to town, everyone is a winner, especially Al Harrington (1.16). Harrington scored 36 points, with 12 rebounds and 5 threes as the Knicks beat down the Warriors, 138-125.

Honorable Mentions: Chauncey Billups (1.06) only played 25 minutes, but managed to score a season-high 27 points while going 12-12 from the line and hitting 3 threes; a career-high 37 points and 21 rebounds for David Lee (1.06) who has been on fire the past week and looks to be rewarding everyone who spent a high draft pick on him; Antawn Jamison (1.04) went for 26/13/5 in a Wizards’ loss; and 32 and 21 for Dwight Howard (0.90). He’s no David Lee, but who is, really.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: With Tracy McGrady out of the lineup with a sore knee, Luther Head (0.96) started and scored 21 points, adding 5 boards and 4 assists. Head is a decent start as long as McGrady is out (as he likely will today) and completely useless once McGrady is back in the lineup.

Matt Bonner (0.84) scored 17 points, was 3-4 from behind the arc and grabbed 5 boards in 22 minutes off the bench for the Spurs. However, his playing time is too inconsistent to warrant a pickup; Kevin Love (0.79) was recently dropped in a couple of the leagues I’m playing in. Last night he notched his first career triple-double with 18 and 12 in 29 minutes off the bench.

The Biggest Loser: Mike Miller’s (-0.57) shot wasn’t falling last night and the results were 2-10 from the field (0-6 from three) as he finished with 4 points and no rebounds in 29+ minutes.

All Eyez on Me: Portland (11-6) @ Detroit (10-5) – Expect Iverson to return to the starting lineup for Detroit, so if you were an idiot like me and took him out of your lineup on Friday, make sure to get him back in there. Also, to anyone who spot started Rodney Stuckey, thank him for his work and get him out of your lineup. Greg Oden – who has struggled since returning to the starting lineup – has got the prescription he needs for a good game: Kwame Brown.

New Jersey (8-7) @ Phoenix (11-6) – Expect Nash to return from a right thigh contusion in this game.

Houston (11-6) @ Denver (11-6) - Tracy McGrady will miss his third straight game tonight (as will Brent Barry), so ride Luther Head if you need help at shooting guard.

HoopsAvenue is going to be running a contest from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 in our fantasy basketball league. They are giving away a copy of NBA 2K9 to the winner of that week in the league. The player only needs to play that week to win.

I haven’t really fully scouted this out, but from the FAQs it looks like a salary cap game, i.e., easy to join at any time. Set up a team and see if you can win a free video game! What’s there to lose, right? Here’s the post on their site about it. Looks like you have to have your roster set by Nov. 30th at Noon EST. Sorry for the late notice…

Image by Tonyç via Flickr

Line of the Night: Dwyane Wade (1.40) comes through with that I believe is his first Line of the Night, and all he had to do was score 43 points while shooting 62.5% from the field, and 11/12 (91.7%) from the stripe to go along with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 three-pointers, a steal, a block.

Honorable Mentions: Our second favorite fantasy man-crush Danny Granger (1.30) was the second best fantasy player last night. I’m not sure how a line of 35/6/2 with 6 threes and 2 blocks on 66% from the floor doesn’t beat Wade’s line, but Granger only shot (and made) 1 free throw, so I guess that must be it. Of course, I’m sure we’d all be happy with either one.

LeBron James (1.14) took 4 free throws, but only made two of them. He did shoot 69% from field thought en route to 23/7/8 with 3 threes, 3 steals, and a block.

Mehmet Okur (1.07) took advantage of Carlos Boozer’s continued absence by going 8/10 from the floor to end up with 20 points (3 threes) and 12 rebounds. He also had 3 steals a block.

Raymond Felton (1.04) played 48 minutes in an overtime game, scoring 31 points on 52.4% shooting (pretty awesome considering he’s only shooting about 42% on the season) with 3 threes and 7 assists.

Jason Kidd, Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, and OJ Mayo all had great games too. I the odds are high that you’ll have some good performances when 22 teams are involved in action.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: I can’t guarantee that Jeff Green (0.82) is still available, but he’s been inconsistent enough that he might have been dropped recently. Last Night, he played 40 minutes and had 22/4/4 with 4 threes, 3 steals and a block. If you have an extra spot to stash him, and wait a month or two, I think you could have some breakout games. If you have daily lineup changes, he’s worth a look as well.

If Green is already languishing on someone else’s bench, then Mario Chalmers (0.86) would be the next guy to look for. He had a higher score than Green, but I think he’s less likely to be available at this point.

So, next option: Jason Maxiell (0.73) must have done something right to end up at #15 of 200+ players yesterday. What he did was score 13 points on an efficient 62.5% while grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking 6 shots. No matter what, just remember Player Rater’s love the defense.

The Biggest Loser: Paul Pierce (-0.51) took the night off as Boston pounded Philadelphia 102-78. Pierce shot 1/6 from the field and 4/5 from the line to end up with 6 points. Quick math tells you he did not make a three-pointer. He also only had 2 rebounds and 2 assists to go with 2 turnovers.

All Eyez On Me: Golden State at NY should be an AWESOME game. The two most runningest teams (I speculate a little, they both have 98 possessions per game) going against each other should yield a lot of points if nothing else.

Miami at LA Clippers: Game 2 of the Zach Randolph era. What will D-Wade be able to pull out after his 43 point performance last night? Will Eric Gordon continue to be the hottest SG pickup in recent memory?

San Antonio plays at Houston. Is it just me, or do the Texas teams have a distinct advantage by getting to play 10% of their games within 4 hours of their home town? Okay, I guess it’s not that big of an advantage compared to the California teams… It just seems like they’re playing each other an awful lot.

Dont 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.

Image by harold.lloyd (subsumed. beautifully subsumed) via Flickr

Line of the Night: JR Smith is apparently the retailer who waits until Thanksgiving to turn a profit. After only playing 20 minutes against the Bulls, and then being benched against the Clippers for being late to practice, JR Smith (1.01) thought it was time for him to make his impression felt. Hopefully everyone was sitting back, relaxed, and had on their seatbelts. Smith had 32/5/4 off of 5 three pointers and 62% shooting. Of course, the Nuggets still lost to the Hornets. And as Mr. Number-Two-Last-Night will tell you (I’m sure) being second on the player rater is fine if it comes with the W. Chris Paul (0.98) had 22/4/10 to lead the Hornets to victory.

Other Honorable Mentions: Rasual Butler (0.84) had 19/2/2 with 15 of those points coming off of three-pointers. He shot 87.5% from the field, thus excluding himself from Waiver Wire Line of the Night consideration.

Dwight Howard (0.68) beastified things once again with 26/14/2 with a steal and 3 blocks to take out the Wizards. Out of only 4 teams playing last night, the Wizards don’t have a top performer until Caron Butler (0.34) checks in at number 8.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Anthony Johnson (0.28) came in at number 10 with 7/4/12 in 38 minutes. Jameer Nelson is supposed to be out for another week, so if Johnson is available and you’ve got someone expendable on your roster, you could do worse.

The Biggest Loser: Besides the Washinton Wizards a team, Nene Hilario (-0.37) had a relatively weak game compared to what he’d been putting up recently: 9/2/1, no blocks, no steals. This seems like just an off game for Hilario, so you should be safe leaving him in your lineup.

Chauncey Billups (-0.06) also had an off game - which obviously factored heavily in the Nuggets loss -
shooting only 33% from the field, to end up with 12 points, 5 assists and a steal. Again, he’s been very solid since joining the Nuggets (and was always a rock even before that), so he should be fine to leave in your lineup.

All Eyez On Me: New Orleans v. Portland tonight should be a battle for the future of the league. Chris Paul is a LotN threat every game, and while Brandon Roy doesn’t have the kind of efficiency that makes top fantasy players, he is the kind of player who wins games for his team.

Dallas v. LA Lakers should be an interesting examination of the physics of rising and falling fortunes.

Atlanta v. Toronto should be a good fantasy matchup in addition to being pretty fun to watch.

LotN might come from LeBron James, though, since Cleveland is playing against the Warriors, who seem to force their opponents into fast-paced, high-scoring, fantasy-friendly box scores.

Dont 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.