Give Me The Rock » Boston Celtics

Day 135 of 170: I win for me! FOR ME!

Patrick — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:08:24 +0000

Line of the Night: Jason Kidd (1.31). Playing his former team in the Nets, Kidd finished with 20 points, 9 assists and 4 steals in 44 minutes on the court. He was also 5-8 from three in the game as the Mavs won 96-87. This brings up the interesting question, after being left for dead in a lot of drafts this season, where do you think Kidd gets drafted next year?

Dear Jason Kidd, try not to look so old…

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Honorable Mentions: Rasheed Wallace (1.01) is owned in an insane 76% of leagues. Really, that’s crazy based on his 9 points and 4 rebounds this year. Wallace didn’t exactly help the Celtics offensively last night as they got embarrassed against the Grizzlies – he only scored 11 points in 22 minutes on the court – but he did boost his fantasy line with 6 steals and 3 blocks. Believe it or not, that is good enough for the third best line of the night; Dwyane Wade (0.95) had 27 points and 8 assists and he was also 15-17 from the line; and Rudy Gay (0.92) scored 28 points with 8 rebounds in a win over the Celtics, but more importantly, he turned the Boston crowd against the C’s like Rocky against Ivan Drago.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Rasual Butler (1.21) has been starting for the Clippers for most of the season and is still only owned in 45% of leagues, which is an indication of just how mediocre a player he has been this season. But Butler has been known to bust out every once in a while and last night he was 12-19 from the field to finish with 31 points and 6 threes against the Heat. He’s a decent addition in deep leagues, but a little too inconsistent for the average fantasy league.

Carlos Arroyo (-0.32) still started for the Heat last night, but Mario Chalmers (0.65) got the bulk of the minutes, finishing with 12 points, 6 assists and 4 threes. Keep an eye on the playing time situation there.

The Biggest Loser: As tempted as I am to nominate Kendrick Perkins (-0.54) for the second straight day (or the Celtics in general), I’ve got to go with Dirk Nowitzki (-0.51) and his 3-16 shooting night. Dirk did power his way to 12 points, 5 boards and 4 assists, but also turned the ball over 5 times. Bad shooting + turnovers is a quick recipe for failure when you’re talking fantasy basketball.

The Weekly GMTR FreeRoll (where Roger Mason can suck it): Congrats to long-time GMTR friend doneycat for his win in this week’s GMTR fantasy game on 365 Fantasy Sports. It was a close one this week as only 7 points separated first from fourth. In a week where there was slim pickings at a lot of positions, doneycat had solid picks from start to finish, especially at the very tough flex spots, where both Kris Humphries (13 points, 8 boards) and Wes Matthews (14 points) came through for him.

All Eyez on Me:

Three games tonight and all are fairly decent fantasy ones. Portland (38-28) at Golden State (17-46) is your golden ticket game. In case you are still holding onto him, Andris Biedrins is mercifully done for the year after getting abdominal surgery earlier this week. That means Anthony Tolliver and Chris Hunter are guys who are going to get a lot of play the rest of the season. And some rookie named Reggie Williams got 34 minutes off the bench in the Warriors last game.

Chicago (31-32) at Orlando (45-20) – Means great things for the Magic’s offense, but especially Dwight Howard.

Atlanta (40-23) at Washington (21-40) – Something we like to call a leading indicator… Andray Blatche has been playing like a beast since the trade deadline, but there are some troubling signs to his game. First, he’s turning the ball over at an insane rate; he’s had games of 5, 4, 6, and 8 turnovers in the past couple weeks. Second, because of the turnovers, coach Flip Saunders can’t actually trust Blatche to be on the court when it matters. Blatche was on the bench at the end of the Wizards/Rockets game on the 9th because he had been a turnover machine in the game prior to that.

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Day 76 of 170: Rasheed is the new KG

Nels — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:59:19 +0000

Line of the Night: Rasheed Wallace (1.54) is thriving in Kevin Garnett’s injury-induced absence. Sheed’s season ranking is 69, compared to his rank for the last month of 30, and his rank for the last week of 6. I am going to hereby declare a new fantasy basketball rule: Always pick Kevin Garnett’s backup. I guess it says more about Patrick’s candidate for Player of the Decade than it does about whoever is backing him up. But when that backup is Rasheed Wallace, a former Top 20 player (last decade), and potential Top 50 player given starter’s minutes, it’s an easy decision to make on draft day.

Oh, last night, Sheed had 5 threes en route to 29 points, along with 8 rebounds, a steal, and 2 blocks. His shooting numbers were: 8-12 and 6-6.

Honorable Mentions: Ho Hum. LeBron James (1.22) had 41 points (3 threes), 10 rebounds and 8 assists. No blocks or steals? Come on, LeBron!

You thought Yi Jianlian’s return would crush Brook Lopez’s (1.05) fantasy productivity like a Death Star garbage compactor. Well, The Productive Twin must be using the force, because last night he 28 and 11 with 3 blocks. He made all 8 of his free throws, just in case anyone forgot that he’s a big man who can sink them from the stripe.

Rajon Rondo (1.04) tripled up on double with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists. He also had 3 steals.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: If you had told me that Marcus Thornton (0.58) was a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association, I would have said, “You mean Al Thornton?” But, no. Lo, and behold. There is a Marcus Thornton, and last night he made 3 threes, and ended up with 15 points, in addition to 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Thornton did shoot 75% from the field with no free throws, so he doesn’t get in under the 70% rule, but I think this is worth mentioning because Thornton had a good stretch while Chris Paul was out where he averaged double-digit points for 8 games straight. During that stretch he also had 2+ threes per game. Also somewhat important is the fact that, while he’s a 2nd round draft pick, he’s from Baton Rough, Louisiana, and is playing for the Hornets, so he’s probably got some semi-hometown backing behind him. Conclusion: Any time Chris Paul misses time, Thornton is an automatic add. He is also someone to keep an eye on in the future.

The Biggest Loser: Is Michael Redd (-0.65) even relevant to fantasy basketball anymore? I realize he can put up numbers, but at this point, his kneed are so bad, there’s no way I think anyone should draft him. It’s just too risky. Last night, Redd had to leave the game after 11 minutes in which he missed 4 shots, turned the ball over once, and did nothing else. I don’t know – should we feel sorry for him? Even if so, it’s time for Michael to row his boat ashore.

All Eyez On Me: Atlanta (23-13) beat up on Boston (26-9) at home, but now they head into Beantown to face Rasheed and Rajon on their turf.

Miami is only 18-17, but they seem like a team that could be elite if they could somehow put things together. Tonight will be a test against a team that is kind of playing the same way in Utah (20-17).

The Golden Ticket: New York @ Oklahoma, where the winds come sweeping down the plain.

Cleveland (now with the best record in the East) plays Golden State, so let’s see what LeBron can do against the hard-charging Warriors.

Bonus Links: FanNation: Are the Magic relegating Vince Carter to a 6th man role?

SFGate: Anthony Randolph did not fracture his ankle

FanNation: Bynum for Bosh? The entire Bulls management plan goes out the window if that happens.

Fantasy Hoopster: Week 12 pickups

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Day 36 of 170: Ray Allen Has Five On It

Nels — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:53:15 +0000

Line of the Night: I’m sure Patrick was happy with Boston’s 18-point beat down on Charlotte last night, led by Ray Allen’s (1.40) 5 threes, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. (I know, I’m kind of pushing the 5 thing here, but it’s all I got. My alternate title was: Daniloooooooooooooooo. Okay, yeah, maybe that was better.)

Honorable Mentions: Danilo Gallinari (1.22) had 6 threes (take that, Ray Allen!) along with 10 boards and 2 blocks. Both he and Allen scored 27 points, but (as would be expected) Allen was more efficient.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Quentin Richardson (0.94) was #3 on the night with 20 points, 4 threes, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block. His Miami Heat (okay, I know they’re not his) beat the Blazers, who should start panicking and make some dramatic changes. Those changes don’t involve anything with Greg Oden (0.66) though, because he a pretty monster game with 13 points, 20 rebounds, and 4 blocks. There were some other big men double-doubles ahead of him, but nothing that stood out to me like that one.

The Biggest Loser: Corey Maggette (-0.50) managed 14 points and 7 rebounds, but shot only 31% from the field, and his usually high-volume-high-percentage free throw shooting came out to only 75% (yeah, he only missed 2 free throws, but 6-8 = 75%, what can I say?)

All Eyez On Me: Phoenix (14-4) @ Cleveland (12-5). MVP vs. MVP. Can’t ask for more than that, right?

Of course, I’ll be at the Bulls game watching the return of Ben Gordon to the Madhouse on Madison (even though he was never technically in the Madhouse on Madison).

The Golden Ticket: The Phoenix-Cleveland game is a good bet for fantasy golden-ness, since the Knickerbockers are in Orlando, and the Magic (very wisely) play a slow game.

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Day 27 of 170: All Apologies

Nels — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:38:57 +0000

Line of the Night: Paul Pierce (1.61) had a what they refer to in Track and Field as “wind-aided” game – using not just a game against the Knicks, but going to overtime to drop 6 threes while grabbing 9 boards, dropping 6 dimes, and block 2 shots. Some good percentages in there too. And as a reward for his performance to your, dear reader, I’ve included not just one, but two (!) cheerleader pictures today. (This is actually a reward for putting up with the 48 hours of down time we had last week while we upgraded to a new server. And yes, those up there do get bigger. I mean, the picture gets bigger.)

Honorable Mentions: Al Harrington (1.00) had the wind at his back as well last night, leading him to 30 points (5 threes) and 9 rebounds.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Jason Williams (0.70) – yes, that J-Will, he’s still around – had 16, 5, and 3 last night. And good thing, too, cause if you look down at the Biggest Loser, Dwight Howard wasn’t really going to get the Magic to win by himself.

The Biggest Loser: Dwight Howard (-0.49) managed a double-double with 17 and 12, but he did it the hard way, shooting 31% from the field (4-13) and 64% from the line (9-14). Those are big attempt numbers and small percentages.

All Eyez On Me: Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be watching the Bulls in the City of Roses (aka Portland, OR). It’s on WGN for those of you in Chicago who don’t have cable (if there’s anyone besides me, that is). I wouldn’t really dare to watch any of the other games tonight, unless you want to see if Brandon Jennings can defeat the Spurs by himself.

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Day 4 of 170: The Celtics are Frighteningly Good

Patrick — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:38:10 +0000

Bill Simmons told me so…

Line of the Night: At halftime of the Bulls/Celtics game, if you had told me that Paul Pierce (0.91) was going to end up with the best fantasy line of last night, I would have slapped you across the face with a fish. But when the third quarter started, Pierce came out firing from three (thanks in part to Rondo setting him up Misty May) and when the dust settled Pierce had 22 points (going 5-7 from three and 8-12 overall) with 8 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals as the Celtics dominated the Bulls in every way possible, 118-90.

The Pierce/Rondo connection, translated into women’s beach volleyball

Honorable Mentions: I’m not sure what else Chris Bosh (0.78) had to do to impress Basketball Monster*, but his 37 points, 12 boards and 2 blocks look like a winner to me. He even chipped in a three; Steve Nash (0.74) dropped 20 assists on the hapless, zombie-like GSW (it was the 6th 20 assist game of his career, so please don’t call him old); Paul Millsap’s (0.74) return to being a bench player extraordinaire has been successful so far, mostly because Millsap is some sort of machine. He had 23 points (off 9-12 shooting) and 9 boards in 25 minutes off the bench for the Jazz.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: This just in: The Suns like to run. And against the Golden State Warriors, the Suns predictably ran up the score in a 123-101 rout. Nash is mentioned above and Suns “center” Channing Frye (0.90) had the second best game score of last night by putting up a line almost identical to Pierce. Frye was 6-7 from three, adding 22 points, 8 boards and 3 steals. Frye is currently owned in 39% of Yahoo leagues and should be a necessary add for any team looking to get a bunch of threes out of their center.

If anyone in your league dropped Boris Diaw (0.46) after his piss-poor first game, I you might want to snatch him up after a 17/11/6 (admittedly double-overtime enhanced) line from the Frenchman. Diaw certainly lacks consistency, but don’t forget he averaged a 15/6/5 for Charlotte last season; and for those of you in super deep leagues, Eddie House (0.36) exploded last night for the Celtics, scoring 22 points and hitting 4 threes in their win. With Marquis Daniels joining the team this season, House can do less dribbling and more shooting, which plays to his one strength as a basketball player and will likely lead to more lines like last night.

The Biggest Loser: In a night lacking that one truly scary performance, let’s take the opportunity to point out that Jose Calderon (-0.31) has as many turnovers as assists yesterday (3). He still scored 15 points with good percentages, but Calderon owners can’t be happy with 3 assists.

Correction (I need to learn how to correctly query information from a database): Three of the five Bulls’ starters. Luol Deng (-0.50) and John Salmons (-0.32) had horrible shooting nights and Derrick Rose (-0.36) was Rondoed. On the plus side for the Bulls, Joakim Noah looked pretty good.

Injury of the Night: We’ll break this category out once in a while when a notable player goes down with an injury. And yesterday we had two. Vince Carter (0.22) rolled his left ankle on Devin Harris’ foot in the first half of his return to New Jersey. He limped off the court and did not return, although the good news is that the swelling was minimal and he’s optimistic about a quick return (no, really); and Caron Butler (-0.28) bruised his knee and sat out the second half of the Wizards’ game against the Hawks. Like Carter, he’s also day-to-day.

All Eyez on Me: Seven games today, including:

Portland (1-1) at Houston (1-1) – The Blazers look to recover from their epic loss to the Nuggets, by traveling to Houston, a place where they’ve lost the last seven games. While the verdict is still out on Oden, who has been in foul trouble in both of his games, it’s clear that the Blazers need to do a better job of getting him involved in the offense.

Dallas (1-1) at Los Angeles Clippers (0-3) – The Kidd/Marion connection looks like a big winner so far. You’re a better man than me if you took a chance on Marion going into the year.

Detroit (1-1) at Milwaukee (0-1) – Time to see if Brandon Jennings has an encore act in him. The 20-year old fell 1 board and 1 assist short of a triple-double in the Bucks’ first game against the Wolves. Regardless, I think this is the last we’ve seen of Luke Ridnour.

* Thanks to Basketball Monster for letting us grab these daily stat lines and scores. “Gratitiute is often a better payment than money”, is a phrase my grandmother never said, but sounds like something she might say.

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MVN NBA Outsider Team Previews

Patrick — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:58:29 +0000

It’s that time of year again – you can smell it in the air – NBA training camps are opening up around this beautiful county. And the start of training camp means the start of unabashed optimism and hope about our favorite NBA teams. To help kick the love-fest off, you can read my Boston Celtics team preview on MVN NBA Outsider. It’s 500 sweet words on what we can expect from the Celtics this season and I even managed to limit myself to only one Teen Wolf reference in the entire post.

Over the next few weeks, MVN NBA Outsider will be running previews for all 30 NBA teams, which I would highly recommend reading, especially because they will be written by people smarter than myself. One of the best things you can do for yourself fantasy-wise is to get up to speed on every team in the league. Why? Sleepers and breakout players are born out of opportunity and necessity. Most every team has a Paul Millsap hiding on their bench, a player who would explode fantasy-wise if given the playing time or if a starter gets hurt. And while it’s easy just to print off the “experts’” lists of these sleeper guys, that is exactly what every other owner in your league does. No, if you really want an edge in your league, you’ve got to do some damn legwork and see for yourself which players might get a shot at big minutes this year.

And, if you’re just plain lazy, it’s always good fun to see which teams’ fans are the most unrealistically optimistic.

Check It: Why the Boston Celtics are Going to Rock Your Socks Off This Season

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Rasheed Wallace Joins the Celtics

Patrick — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:41:26 +0000

In a move that’s been mentioned just about everywhere, Rasheed Wallace officially signed with the Celtics at the start of the NBA’s free agent period today. It’s two-year deal for the mid-level exception, which means that the Celtics have officially gassed up and loaded the “win now or bust” van.

Celtics fans, of course, have already talked themselves into the Rasheed Wallace experience. It does certainly fit in with the persona they’ve displayed since acquiring KG. And as much as I like Glen Davis and Mikki More, they desperately need somebody coming off the bench who can provide something at least resembling defense.

Fantasy-wise, it’s not great for the soon to be 35-year-old Wallace, who will likely come off the bench and barring a KG injury, will asked to do a lot less than in Detroit. Last season, in 32 minutes a game, Wallace finished 67 on our 8-cat rater and an amazing 26 on our 9-cat rater (thanks to an insanely good 0.9 turnovers a game). Optimistically, if he gets 28 minutes off the bench for the Celtics, he’d be in the 110 range in 8 cat leagues and 55ish in 9 cat leagues. I see Wallace as a low reward guy next year with some moderate risk of just not getting enough minutes to be worth owning in all but deeper leagues that count turnovers.

The trade also kills any fantasy value that Glen Davis had going into the year. Davis was deceivingly decent over the second half of the year and really blew it out during the playoffs filling in for KG, averaging close to 16 points and 5.6 rebounds in 14 playoff games. But with KG’s return and Wallace mopping up any leftover minutes off the bench, Davis’ role will return to what it should have been all along, a nice 8th-9th guy off the bench. That is, unless the Celtics decide to trade Big Baby.

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Day 109 of 170: Michael Beasley for ROY

Nels — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:36:49 +0000

Or at least, for LotN, okay?

Line of the Night: Michael Beasley top the night with a 0.79. Vin, you were wondering what the highest LotN score has been? I can guarantee you that is NOT it. In fact, that maybe actually be the LOWEST Line of the Night score I’ve seen in 109 days so far. Beez (what’s his real nickname anyway?) had 21 and 7 with a steal and 2 blocks. He shot 9-10 from the field and 2-2 from the line.

Honorable Mentions: I’m not sure how Rajon Rondo (0.52) didn’t get line of the night for this Trip-Dub of 19/15/14, but I guess he had 6 turnovers… Other honorable mentions? When that line doesn’t get Line of the Night? Nah. Let’s just call it a day.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: The Block Machine Ronny Turiaf (0.56) only had 1 block last night, but he also had 14 points and 11 rebounds on 57% from the field and 6-6 from the stripe.

The Biggest Loser: Luol Deng (-0.24) takes this one with his 33% shooting, netting 6 points in 28 minutes. He’s totally worth holding back from a trade for Amare.

All Eyez On Me: Can Beasley repeat his LotN performance in the Rookie-Sophomore game tonight? I have to say, looking at the Rookie roster versus the Sophomores, I definitely think that the class of 2008 has much higher upside potential than 2007. The Sophomores have won 7 straight games, though, so we’ll see.

Bonus Links:

RotoRob has a fantasy analysis of the Phoenix Suns. Perhaps a little premature since they’ll almost certainly have a different look before (or just after) the trade deadline.

2nd Round Reach and GMTR join Points in the Paint to discuss the impact of Trade Rumors in fantasy basketball.

Happy All Star Break!

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Day 94 of 170: Eddie House has a plus/minus of +29

Nels — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:22:55 +0000

Image by [ Zenat El3ain ]™ via Flickr

Line of the Night: Rasheed Wallace (1.31) was actually the player of the night with 25 oints (2 threes, 56%, 83%), 10 rebounds, and 5 steals. But, his +/- was only +11.

Honorable Mentions: Eddie House (1.25) made 8 three pointers (and it wasn’t even that much of a blowout!), en route to 28 points, and a +/- of +29.

Kevin Durant (1.19) had 35/10/6 with 4 blocks. Marvin Williams (1.12) had 28 points (3 threes) and 7 rebounds. Vince Carter (1.11) had 27/10/5 with 5 threes.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Eddie House is still only owned in 9% of Yahoo leagues, despite having 2 straight games near the top of the night. Maybe a good pickup for owners in Roto leagues who need a boost in threes.

The Biggest Loser: With 244 players seeing court time last night, there were actually quite a few names to go through… and with our requirement of majority ownership in Yahoo leagues, I had to go up to 220 before finding 92% owned Jamal Crawford (-0.47). Now, granted, J-Craw missed two games with an injury, and played only 23 minutes in his return, but he also shot 1-6 from the field, and had 4 turnovers to go with his 4 rebounds, single three-pointer, and single steal.

All Eyez On Me: I get Patrick’s easy Thursday night today, but we’ve got 2 good ones. Cleveland @ Orlando features not just two top teams in the league, but the LeBron James/Mo Williams combo going against Dwight Howard and the rest of the Magic ensemble.

San Antonio @ Phoenix are also two of the better teams, and seeing the resurgent Shaquille O’Neal (and his partner-in-crime Amare Stoudemire) go against Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner should be fun times.

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Day 91 of 170: Boston Drops Dallas Like A Cheating Girlfriend

Nels — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Line of the Night: Ray Allen (1.22) was part of the barrage that put Dallas up by 40 at one point (I stopped watching, so I don’t know if they were up by more than that). Allen made 4 three-pointers in going for 23 points, adding 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

Honorable Mentions: Eddie House (0.96) was 4th on the night after making 7 three-pointers for the Celtics. Joakim Noah (1.20) had 14 and 10 with 7 blocks, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulls to beat the Timberwolves. Nene Hilario (1.06) had 28 points on 100% shooting from the field as Denver dropped Utah in a manner not all that dissimilar to Boston v. Dallas.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Eddie House (see above) is obviously the first in line, and if you need three-pointers and can sacrifice pretty much everything else, then he’ll do okay.

Shane Battier (0.75) was 7th on the night and is only owned in 41% of Yahoo leagues. Last night he had 14 points (4 three-pointers), 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

The Biggest Loser: Kirk Hinrich (-0.79) is only owned in 45% of Yahoo leagues, but since he bottomed the list last night with his 0-7 from the field and 3 turnovers, I think he deserves the title.

Runner-up Loser is clearly Dirk Nowitzki (-0.53), who got shut down by the Boston defense, shooting 23.5% from the field. He ended with 18 points thanks to good free throw shooting, but that and his 7 rebounds were not enough to undo the poor shooting and 5 turnovers.

All Eyez On Me: Elton Brand will play his second game back against New Orleans, and they’ll need him. He only played 13 minutes in that first game, so don’t expect too much, even though Philly will need him against the Hornets.

The Golden Ticket Houston is at New York today… more Shane Battier?