Day 122 of 124: Chris Paul Makes a Run At Fantasy MVP

Categorized as: Author: Nels, Fantasy Basketball, LA Clippers
Posted on April, 25 at 2:37 am

or: The Heat hand over home court advantage to the Bulls and Celtics

Line of the Night: Chris Paul (2.87) is trailing LeBron and Kevin Durant by a lot in the race for Fantasy MVP – according to the Give Me The Rock Player Rater, but his 34 points (4 threes, 10-11 from the line), 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals solidify his Bronze Medal spot ahead of that fresh-faced kid from Minnesota.

Honorable Mentions: Of course, Kevin Durant (2.28) held Paul and LeBron with his 32 points (3 threes, 15-16 from the line), 9 rebounds, and 2 steals. Of course (x2), LeBron sat out the Heat’s second-to-last game along with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, so he had no chance to get 30+ points, 3-4 threes, above average (for him) free throw shooting, nor 2 steals. DeMarcus Cousins (1.33), going against Durant and the Thunder, showed that he wanted a place in last night’s 30 Points and 2 Steals Club with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Al Jefferson (1.87), meanwhile, shored up his 5th place finish with a nice double-double of 18 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. I’m pretty sure I can see the Top 5 draft picks for next year… Paul Millsap (1.64) isn’t one of them, but his Top 10 finish (most likely) after another 26 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals makes him an intriguing candidate for next year… Will he be first round material again? Hard to say…

Joe Johnson (1.66) had 28 points (6 threes), and 7 rebounds while teammate Jeff Teague (1.58) scored 21 points (6-6 from the line) with 2 blocks. Blake Griffin (1.42) (and the aforementiond Paul) fought hard against the Hawks with 36 points (17-23 from the field) and 8 rebounds, but with Miami laying down for the Celtics (the Heat scored 66 points without their Big 3), the Hawks had little chance of gaining on Boston for home court advantage in the first round. The Clippers remain tied with Memphis for the 4 and 5 spots, and I’d certainly want home court against a dangerous team like the Grizzlies.

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Day 121 of 124: When Danny Granger is Away, Paul George Will Play

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Indiana Pacers, Injuries, Philadelphia 76ers
Posted on April, 24 at 3:22 am

Line of the Night: With Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and George Hill all sitting last night for the Pacers (the team is locked into the three seed in the East) Paul George (2.32) got to run wild over the Pistons and finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals on the night. Granger is expected to sit again for the Pacers last game on Wednesday, so expect another huge game from Paul to finish out the season.

Honorable Mentions: Tony Allen (2.10) has been horrible since coming back from injury in mid-April (I know, because he’s on my roto team and I’m capped with moves for the year, so I haven’t been able to dump him), but last night with a little help from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense, he set a Grizzlies’ franchise record with 8 steals to go along with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Says Allen about his performance, “I was alert and felt good in the passing lanes.” No kidding.

Wesley Matthews (2.01) continued to burn hot over the last month of the season, scoring 24 points, with 3 threes, 6 rebounds and 4 steals as Portland got blown out by the Spurs. Matthews got 45 minutes in this game because Jamal Crawford sat with knee tendonitis and Nicolas Batum was out again due to his quad injury. Raymond Felton (0.25) made a surprise return after missing 3 games and finished with 13 points and 7 assists. I guess that means he’s good to go for the team’s last game on Thursday, but who knows with this season.

The Spurs were led by the unexpected duo of Stephen Jackson (1.83), who had 12 points, 4 assists and 5 steals, and Tim Duncan (1.53) with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. Duncan saw a team high 26 minutes in the game as Gregg Popovich worked his magic to seemingly make minutes disappear from the game. Duncan and Jackson, I’d watch a buddy cop movie starring those two.

Elton Brand (1.49) had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks as the Sixers locked up a playoff spot with a win over the Nets. Andre Iguodala (1.28) finished with a 14, 7 and 9 while getting a team high 41 minutes, but strained his Achilles late in the game. With a playoff spot locked up, Doug Collins said after the game he plans to rest Iguodala and Brand and probably Lou Williams over the team’s final two games. This means we’ll get a heavy dose of Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks, Evan Turner, Lavoy Allen and Thaddeus Young on Wednesday and Thursday, so plan your lineups accordingly.

Ersan Ilyasova (1.42) was huge yet again for the Bucks, finishing with 19 points and 15 rebounds against the Raptors. Brandon Jennings (1.09) added 25 points, 3 threes and 5 assists in the game.

The Wizards handed the Bobcats their 21st straight loss (and kept them on the trajectory to become the worst NBA team of all time). They were led by John Wall (1.01) who finished with 16 points and 14 assists. Nene Hilario (0.75) had 18 and 6 in just 21 minutes and they also got a surprise performance out of Jan Vesely, but more on that below.

Charlotte was “led” by D.J. Augustin (0.48) with the 42nd best fantasy line of the night thanks to 15 points and 6 assists. Augustin had sat out the Bobcats previous four games, and his return pushed Kemba Walker (-0.52) back to the bench for only 14 minutes. The Bobcats can’t even do garbage time right this season.

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GMTR Podcast #37: All About Fantasy Basketball Leagues

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Strategy, Podcast
Posted on April, 23 at 8:56 am

Erik and Patrick are back to break down everything we like and dislike about fantasy basketball in general. We talk about head-to-head versus rotisserie leagues, category based versus points based leagues, salary cap and other types of nightly draft leagues, potential improvements to the way free agency and waivers work, money leagues, fantasy basketball and gambling, as well as ways to make H2H playoffs better. Looking for an hour plus rant about fantasy basketball leagues? This is the podcast for you.

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Podcast Links
Damn Lies Fantasy Hoops Show

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Day 120 of 124: A Peaceful Elbow To The Head

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on April, 23 at 5:22 am

It was as a foul that was heard across the NBA and the fantasy basketball universe, which unfortunately echoed and reverberated in my last remaining, ongoing fantasy basketball championship matchup. James Harden suffered a concussion as he was elbowed in the head by the Lakers’ Metta World Peace after Peace completed slam on the fast break, in LA’s double overtime victory over the OKC Thunder. It now makes it uncertain as to whether or not Harden will be able to play in Oklahoma City’s last two games of the regular season. I own Harden, and the double-stinger of the situation is that I also own the not-so-peaceful Mr. World Peace. But my rant does not end there, my finals match extends up to the very end of the season and I don’t have any moves left. Talk about “two birds with one stone…” I just got nailed with a “two players with one elbow” as Metta is in for a definite suspension by the league and it’s just a matter of how many games they will penalize him with. Ugh. Here see for yourself and decide how much malice was actually involved in the act.

Line of the Night: Now onto a more positive note for the night. Chris Paul (3.40) destroyed his former team by going two steals shy of a rare kind of triple-double. He schooled Greivis Vasquez big time as he poured on 33 points, while dishing out 13 assists. His eight steals were an obvious huge plus factor for our player rater to give him such a sweet rating for the night. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about Eric Gordon (-1.10) who was one of the night’s bigger fantasy losers. He did score 17 points against his former team, but his six turnovers and shooting only 4-13 from the field really pulled down his rating. Needless to say, the Clippers took this one easily under Paul’s lead.

Honorable Mentions:

Serge Ibaka (2.14) benefited from being able to play forty six minutes on the floor and exploded (as can be expected of Ibaka when blessed with playing time) for an impressive 18-14 points-rebounds double-double performance that was wonderfully complemented by what Ibaka does best… SEVEN blocked shots.

Carmelo Anthony (2.13) and the Knicks had a high-scoring outing against the Hawks as they defeated Atlanta 113 to 112. Melo scored a third of the team’s total with 39 points which included three triples from behind the arc. He also added 10 boards and two steals to round out his line.

With Dwight Howard gone for the season, it can be expected for a guy like Ryan Anderson (1.89) to step up and deliver the fantasy goods. His line wasn’t impressive enough to generate many oohs and ahs, but was nonetheless respectable with 24 points and 9 rebounds, including three treys.

The Miami Heat were not only without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh last night, but they also missed (well kind of) the services of Mario Chalmers who was out with flu-like symptoms. That situation left LeBron James (1.89) to handle and defeat the Houston Rockets (mostly) by himself. He scored 32 points (9-10 from the line), grabbed 8 rebounds, dished out five assists, and blocked two shots.

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Day 119 of 124: Where the Miami Heat Declare the Regular Season to be Over

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on April, 22 at 6:26 am

Line of the Night: Ty Lawson (2.93 WARP). 29 points (on 10-16 from the field), with 5 threes and 10 assists for Lawson as he helped Denver to a 118-107 win over Phoenix. Lawson has now scored 20+ points in four straight games and is ranked #8 on the GMTR player rater over the last week. Unlike a lot of players this season, Lawson is one guy who is finishing the year strong.

Honorable Mentions: Brandon Jennings (2.20) is at least in the discussion of most improved fantasy player this season – he’s current #14 on the GMTR player rater YTD thanks to games like this – 30 points, 3 threes, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in a 106-95 win over the Nets. Jennings has now scored 20+ points in 5 of his last 6 games. However, he and Monta Ellis (-0.33) with 12 points on 5-14 shooting, are still a work in progress in terms of their ability to co-exist together.

After missing a game with a thigh bruise, Ersan Ilyasova (2.18) returned to the lineup and went right into beast mode with 17 points, 17 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks for the Bucks. The big question for next season: is Ilyasova worth a second round draft pick, which is what he’s played like over the past month of the season?

David West’s (2.10) 32 points and 12 rebounds was not enough to prevent the Pacers from losing to the Sixers in OT. It’s West’s third double-double in four games, but it’s too little too late to turn around a disappointing year in which West is averaging a weak 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

The Utah/Orlando game was full of fantasy goodness. Paul Millsap (1.81) had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals in a 117-107 OT win over the Magic. Al Jefferson (1.49) added 21 and 10 with 3 blocks and Devin Harris made it a party with 21 points and 7 assists.

For the Magic, Jason Richardson (1.33), Jameer Nelson (1.32) and Ryan Anderson (1.28) combined for 65 points and shot 13-29 from three. Glen Davis (1.09) double-doubled with 17 points and 13 rebounds and has made a more than adequate Dwight Howard replacement over the past couple of weeks (well, at least for fantasy purposes).

Derrick Rose (0.40) returned for the Bulls after missing the last three games and had 11 points and 8 assists in 32 minutes. The Bulls don’t play again until Wednesday, so Rose should be good to go again for that game, I’d expect.

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Day 122 of 124: Chris Paul Makes a Run At Fantasy MVP

Day 121 of 124: When Danny Granger is Away, Paul George Will Play

GMTR Podcast #37: All About Fantasy Basketball Leagues

Day 120 of 124: A Peaceful Elbow To The Head

Day 119 of 124: Where the Miami Heat Declare the Regular Season to be Over

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