Line of the Night: Tyson Chandler (2.91) took advantage of a DeSagana Diop matchup to score 20 points on 7-8 shooting, adding 13 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks on the night. And when I say shooting, I really mean catching and dunking lobs from other Knicks. But hey, it’s been effective for Chandler, who is now averaging what would be a career high 12 points in addition to 8.6 boards and 1.8 blocks. Speaking of Diop, he makes Boris Diaw look like he’s a runway model out on the court, which is no small feat in and of itself.
Honorable Mentions: And Speaking of Boris Diaw (2.06), he had another near triple-double against the Knicks with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. It comes after a horrible game against the Pacers – so the Diaw yo-yo effect is in full swing. Get ready for a wide ride everyone!
GMTR loves Amir Johnson (1.91), who exploded for 19 points on 7-9 from shooting and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Nice to see that Johnson has finally come alive working as the heavy alongside the not-so-heavy Andrea Bargnani (1.33). Bargs scored a season high 31 points for the Raptors, adding 9 rebounds in the game.
Kevin Love (-0.53) was just 3-16 from the field in this game, so the Wolves best fantasy performance actually came from Derrick Williams (0.79). The rookie was just 4-11 from the floor himself, but did finish with 13 points, 8 boards a steal and a block off the bench. He’ll make a strong fantasy play while Michael Beasley is out and could be in line for starters minutes if Beasley moves to the bench.
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The Hawks jumped out to a big lead over the Nets only to barely hang on in the end, but that meant some big minutes for the Hawks’ starters, including Jeff Teague (1.76), who scored 20 points and was 3-3 from three. Josh Smith (0.95) also scored a season high 26 on 10-13 shooting. Where would the Nets be without Deron Williams (0.45) who had 15 points and 14 assists in the game? Well, they’d probably still be 2-8.
I was planning of throwing up Anthony Morrow (1.29) as a waiver wire recommendation after a 20 points performance against in which he hit 4 threes, but then I saw he was already owned in 51% of leagues. The good news is that he’s back in the starting lineup for now and draining mass quantities of threes.
On a night where the Bulls beat the Pistons by 24 points if my math is correct, Carlos Boozer (1.66) finished with 23 points on 9-13 shooting and added 8 rebounds. And even though the Pistons only managed to score 68 points, Greg Monroe (1.49) somehow pulled a 14 points, 10 rebound, 6 assist game out of a hat. For his next trick, he’s going to make Charlie Villanueva disappear.
Thaddeus Young (1.45) had a game off the bench in a win for the Sixers. He scored 12 points, with 8 rebounds and 2 steals. On the flip side, David West (0.59) showed some signs of life in the game with 15 points and 11 boards. He also played 33 minutes, his second highest total of the year so far.
Here is a lesson about why you should never focus on stockpiling threes in a draft – there are so many available on the wire throughout the season, including…
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Is Vladimir Radmanovic (1.31) actually making a case to fantasy owners? Starting in place of the injured Marvin Williams, Radmanovic scored 14 points on 4-11 from three (ok, who let him shoot 11 threes?) adding 6 rebounds in the game. Williams has already been ruled out for the Hawks’ next game on Wednesday, so if you’re in a deep league and jonesing for some threes or if you’re the streaming type, Radmanovic is your man. Over his last three 3 games, he’s hit 11 threes, so there you go. Long term, he’s still Vladimir Radmanovic however.
Pick Up Lines: Finally, Marco Belinelli (1.29) showed some signs of life filling in for the injured Eric Gordon. Belinelli scored 19 points and hit 3 threes in 30 minutes of run. Belinelli started off the season cold as the Kardashian/Humphries marriage, but if he’s found his shot, Belinelli has the potential to be a plus in the threes and points categories over the next couple of week while Gordon recovers from that knee injury.
I’m beginning to love James Johnson (1.26), if only because he’s one of the more unique players in the league. Getting 19 minutes of run off the Raptors’ bench, Johnson only scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting, but also grabbed 5 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. While I certainly wish those minutes were more consistent, if you’re in a deep league and need a Shane Battier type without the threes (I know, please don’t all raise your hands at the same time), Johnson has been quietly been putting up some decent board/block numbers.
Dahntay Jones (1.22) got the start in place of Danny Granger, who missed the game with food poisoning, and finished with 12 points and 2 blocks. Leave him on waivers unless Granger decides he’s going to eat expired food at the Kwik-E-Mart every night.
Rudy Fernandez (1.01) has started his annual “I’m playing just good enough for you to think about picking me up” run only to completely crap out once you do. As you can tell, I’ve been burned by him in the past, are the scars visible? Anyway, Fernandez came off the Nuggets bench to score 14 points and hit a couple threes in 27 minutes. In a perfect world, Fernandez should continue to get 25ish minutes off the bench to fill the role vacated by J.R. Smith. Add at your own risk.
Two guys available in over 50% of Yahoo leagues right now and probably 0% of leagues of people who read GMTR are Marshon Brooks (1.29) and Iman Shumpert (1.11).
Brooks got the start at SF against the Hawks and responded with 19 points, 3 threes and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes. Both Damion James and DeShawn Stevenson missed the game with injuries, but come on, he’s way better than those two anyway. Brooks provides some much needed scoring in a Nets lineup currently missing Brook Lopez and should continue to put up impressive – if inconsistent – scoring numbers this year.
Meanwhile, Iman Shumpert (1.11) is proving he’s the real deal one good game after another. Starting at point for the Knicks, he scored 16 points, adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Even when (if) Baron Davis returns, Shumpert has been playing so well that the team will probably move him to the two and start him there.
Biggest Loser: Al Harrington (-1.18) never got it going in a loss to the Hornets. Getting only 18 minutes of run off the bench (his lowest of the season), he finished with 2 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers. Expect Harrington to bounce back in the Nuggets next game. Andre Miller (-0.89) also had a horrible game, shooting 0-5 from the field and not scoring on the night.
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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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