Line of the Night: This is Paul Pierce’s (2.83 WARP) second line of the night this season (the first came on Day 30) and he has the Bobcats to thank for it. With Ray Allen sitting out with a sore right ankle, Pierce led the Celtics to a 102-95 win against Charlotte with 36 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. He also went 15-18 from the line. Boston is now tied with Philadelphia for first place in the Atlantic Division, so expect both teams to go hard as the regular season comes to a close. No DNP – Old for Paul Pierce the rest of the season.
Honorable Mentions: Chris Paul (2.76) scored 25 points and added 10 assists and 4 steals as the Clippers thoroughly outplayed the Hornets 97-85. To show you what type of game New Orleans had, their best fantasy player last night was Al-Farouq Aminu, but more on him below.
The Heat lost their second straight game (gasp), but Dwyane Wade (2.39) put up one of the best lines of the night with 24 points, 4 threes, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks. Ah, everybody loves classic Wade. For the Pacers, it’s nice to see that Darren Collison (1.49) is actually alive. He scored 20 points for the first time since the beginning of February, tying a season high with 4 steals.
Bombs away for Ryan Anderson (2.30), who hit a season-high 8 threes on his way to 28 points in a 117-101 win over the Raptors. I’m surprised that 8 threes is his season high – but it looks like he’s hit 7 on three different occasions. The Magic really had a fantasy party last night. Jameer Nelson (1.96) chipped in 18 points, adding 7 assists and 2 steals. Dwight Howard (1.44) finished with 23 and 10 and also hit 70% of his free throws. Even Hedo Turkoglu (1.14), who only shot 2-9 from the field, contributed with 8 assists, 4 boards and a couple steals.
The Nuggets beat up on a Bulls team without Derrick Rose. Denver was led by Ty Lawson (2.16), who had 27 points, 3 threes, 9 rebounds and 2 steals going against the not exactly a defensive stopper in C.J. Watson. To show you what type of game the Bulls had, their best fantasy game came from Omer Asik, but more on him below.
A big double-double for Paul Millsap (1.80), who scored 24 points (on 10-14 from the field) and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Jazz took down the Nets. To show you what type of game the Nets had, their best fantasy game came from Gerald Green, but more on him below.
Jeremy Lin sat with a sore left knee and Amare Stoudemire is out indefinitely with a bulging disk in his back, so that means Carmelo Anthony (1.56) can once again take the reigns of the Knicks’ offense and do his thing, which against the Bucks was score 28 points (going 12-12 from the line) and grabbing 12 boards. Lin’s injury doesn’t sound serious and he could be back for the team’s next game unless Melo does something to stop him, but unfortunately it sounds like Amare could be sidelined a while. The good news is that his back won’t require surgery (they think), instead it is something that he’ll try and rehab through. However, the fact that Amare is seeking a second opinion on his back this week means that I would not expect him on the court anytime soon. Those of you in tight playoff matches this week will likely have to drop Amare.
It may have been overtime assisted, but a HUGE game from DeMarcus Cousins (1.55), who scored 38 points and had 14 rebounds in nearly 50 minutes on the court. That’s three straight games of 20+ points and 14+ rebounds for Cousins who is increasingly looking like a legitimate high round draft pick for next season.
For the Rockets, Luis Scola (1.23) used the overtime to put up an 18 points, 14 rebound double-double.
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Mike Dunleavy (1.49) is like a horror movie villain that just can’t be killed (that’s how I imagine him anyway). He survived an early season injury, Scott Skiles crazy rotations and now it looks like he’s going to survive the arrival of Monta Ellis. In fact he’s doing more than surviving, as Dunleavy got 31 minutes off the bench against the Knicks, scoring 26 points, going 5-8 from three and adding 5 rebounds. His ownerships rate is slowing approaching 50% at the point, but if you need a scorer and some threes, Dunleavy will persevere.
Pick Up Lines: Omer Asik (1.38) tied his season high with 5 blocks, but did so in only 19 minutes on the court as the Bulls got blown out by the Nuggets. He added 7 points and 6 rebounds, but the impressive thing is that he blocked a shot every 4 minutes he was on the court. Still, it’ll take a Joakim Noah injury to give him any real fantasy value.
Kyle Korver (1.36) went 4-4 from three for the Bulls on his way to 14 points and 5 assists. Korver is getting pretty consistent mid-20?s minutes off the bench and is worth a look if you need threes.
Patrick Patterson (1.19) helped the Rockets to an overtime win over the Kings with 24 points (shooting 10-16 from the field) in 31 minutes on the court. Considering it was an overtime game and it was the most minutes that Patterson has seen since Marcus Camby arrived in town, you probably want to leave him on waivers for now.
Gerald Green (1.14) got 30 minutes off the bench for the Nets and made the most of it, scoring 20 points on 4-8 from three, adding 3 steals. As long as Jordan Farmar and Anthony Morrow remain out with their respectively injuries, Green is worth a look in deeper leagues as the kid can flat out score at times. But once those two return, Green won’t see enough minutes to have any type of consistent fantasy value.
Al-Farouq Aminu (1.02) had his second-best game of the season yesterday, hitting 7-8 from the floor and tying his season high with 15 points. There are a lot of reasons not to pick up Aminu – he doesn’t pass our 70% rule, his minutes are all over the place, he’s behind Trevor Ariza on the Hornets’ depth chart… I could go on. Leave him on waivers.
Derrick Brown (0.92) – who you may remember from a brief stint of fantasy relevance earlier in the season – got 31 minutes off the bench for the Bobcats and was their best fantasy player on the night, scoring 16 points and adding 7 assists against the Celtics. Brown’s minutes have been trending upward over the Bobcats last four games, but you’d have to be in a pretty deep league before his usual meager lines look tempting,
Not to be outdone (ok, in fairness he’s be outdone all year) Tyrus Thomas (0.85) blocked 4 shots and adding 6 boards in only 21 minutes on the court for Charlotte. I guess if you own Thomas, at this point you’re happy if he can bring that on a nightly basis.
C.J. Watson (0.77) scored 17 points and added 8 assists as Derrick Rose sat out his 7th straight game. He also turned the ball over 5 times, but you’ve got to take the bad with the good with Watson, because as we all know, he’s no Derrick Rose. Watson remains a decent fantasy play as long as Rose takes his sweet time returning to the court.
I know Courtney Lee (0.68) isn’t the sexiest pickup, but with Kevin Martin in bad shape Lee is going to get plenty of minutes for the Rockets as last night’s OT game demonstrated. Lee got the start and played 43 minutes, finishing with 16 points, a three, a steal and a couple blocks. It’s not exactly the kind of per minute production you want to see out of a NBA player, but as long as Martin is out it’s going to be quantity over quality for Lee.
Gary Forbes (0.62) – you know, the Raptors’ starting SG with DeMar DeRozan out with an injury – dropped 21 points on the Magic, going 4-7 from three. DeRozan is day-to-day with the injury and Forbes is only worth a play if DeRozan were to miss additional time.
Carl Landry (0.43) is back on the court for the Hornets after missing over a month with a knee injury. He came off the bench for 28 minutes, but double-doubled with 14 points and 10 boards. It’s an impressive game for Landry, but things will get really crowded again when Jason Smith returns from his two game suspension and Chris Kaman returns from illness. There is likely not going to be enough time for Landry to consistently do his thing once he’s competing with Smith and Gustavo Ayon for minutes.
And finally, deep leaguers keep an eye on rookie Alec Burks (0.37), who got 31 minutes off the bench for the Jazz and scored 15 points with 5 boards. Gordon Hayward stumbled in this game and if he starts to disappear yet again, Burks could be in line for more consistent minutes off the bench.
Biggest Loser: Just like a Bosh. As Chris Bosh (-1.58) goes, so do the Miami Heat. Bosh had an empty 14 points in a loss to the Pacers, adding 2 rebounds, 1 assists and 4 turnovers in the game. He also shot 4-11 from the field and 6-11 from the line.
Monta Ellis (-1.24) shot 2-14 from the floor against the Knicks, finishing with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 turnovers. Ellis has shot 34% from the floor and 18% from three since joining Milwaukee and has only averaged 12 points a game, so clearly this relationship needs a little more work. Ok, a lot of work.
D.J. Augustin (-1.17) is not doing his owners any favors as the playoff start in a lot of leagues. His latest line included an 0-5 shooting night and 2 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 21 minutes. Four games removed from that huge double-double he had last week, Augustin has scored a total of 17 points in those four games combined. Is he droppable? I wouldn’t trust him heading into a fantasy playoff series.
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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.
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