or: I should never give up on Channing Frye
Line of the Night: Stephen Curry (3.19) 36 points (6 threes, 13-17 from the field), 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks
Honorable Mentions: Channing Frye (2.07) is back as the Suns starting PF and loved every one of his 41 minutes to the tune of 21 points (4 threes), 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Thank goodness I added him back to my team yesterday.
Just another day at the office for Pau Gasol (1.73), who had 25 points (12-20 from the field), 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Okay, it was a good game for Pau in a tightly contested battle against the Celtics. Sorry Patrick, I think the C’s are finally over the hill. That won’t stop me from riding Paul Pierce (1.02) and his 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, though. Also in that game, Andrew Bynum (1.25) put up 16 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 blocks. And I’ve got him in the GMTR keeper league. So if nothing else, there’s that.
You don’t need to do much more than score 6 points and get 9 rebounds when you block 10. And that is what Serge Ibaka (1.62) did to land himself at #4 for the night.
Kevin Durant (1.33) did his thing with 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals.
And just when we’d all given up on Arron Afflalo (1.33), he busts out for 26 points (5 threes, 5-5 from the line). Justin Kendall blogged it last night and picked him up in our Experts’ League at 4:31 am this morning after I suffered through his cold streak with daily changes before finally jettisoning him last week. I hope he goes back to shooting horribly and scoring in the barely single digits (yes, I know that doesn’t really make sense, so what?)
***
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Chase Budinger (1.35) continued his now 3-game long run of double-digit scoring with rebounds and threes with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. He even added 2 steals for good measure, leading to 37% ownership. I’ve picked him up in one of my leagues (if that means anything to you).
Pick Up Lines: Kyle Lowry started and played 25 minutes after injuring his elbow in the Rockets last game, but he was clearly showing some ill effects, going just 5-13 from the floor (2 threes, though). Goran Dragic (1.15) ended up playing almost 32 minutes (thanks also to Kevin Martin – more on that below) and scored 11 points matching his 11 assists while getting 2 steals (7% owned). The 32 minutes was his 3rd highest total of the season, so don’t expect to see that sort of thing from Dragic unless Lowry or Martin get injured (for real injured, not just hyperextended elbow injured).
Klay Thompson (1.01) came off the bench for the Warriors and in only 17 minutes he put up 19 points (3 threes, 8-11 from the field) (3% owned). I’m invoking the 70% rule here, which says that if a guy shows up out of nowhere (or pretty much nowhere) and has a well-rated game but shoots more than 70%, it doesn’t really count. Klay has had some pretty good games earlier, but until he breaks through the 17 minute barrier, he won’t be redeeming his Golden Ticket for any Everlasting Gobstoppers. If that doesn’t happen this season, remember him when the time comes for your draft next year.
Donte Greene (0.70) is probably worth a look in deep leagues. After returning from a spate of missed games, he played 23 and then 16 minutes, scoring 10 points with 2 steals in the latter. The Kings starter, John Salmons played 36 minutes but went 2-10 for 5 points. If Salmons plays a few more games like that, you can bet Green is going to see more time and his 1% ownership will look a bit snarky in hindsight.
The Player Rater loves defense. Ekpe Udoh (0.65) had 0 points, but got 2 steals and 5 blocks (3% owned). He’s up to 21 minutes per game in the 4 games so far in February, despite only scoring 3.8 points per game. Evidently coaches love defense too. Udoh has 0.6 steals and 1.6 blocks for the season, but 0.8 and 2.5 so far in February. Is he a poor man’s Bismack Biyombo? Or a rich man’s Bismack Biyombo?
Grant Hill (0.62) is the opposite of a Bad Girlfriend… Maybe cause he seems like such a nice guy, but mainly because he’s done me right in the past and I feel like I owe him another chance. I know it’s misguided, but look at the 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists (19% owned). What’s not to love? Sure, it’s not big boobs blocks, or a lot of steals, but I think we all know he stole my heart.
With Luis Scola continuing to do little beyond putting the ball in the hole with a modicum of efficiency, the Rockets are searching for a big man, any big man, who can play basketball. Chandler Parsons had a horrible game and we’ve seen that Chase Budinger can take advantage of that. Samuel Dalembert also had a terrible game (2-7 with 1 block) and so Patrick Patterson (0.60) played 25 minutes, taking the opportunity to score 14 points (6-8 from the field), and grab 6 rebounds (3% owned). If Dalembert continues to play like crap after his brief run of decent games, Patterson is looking like a pretty good Points, Rebounds, FG% guy. He’s not a great shot blocker, but he doesn’t turn it over much either nor does he shoot many free throws, so don’t let the 54% fool you.
Daequan Cook (0.58) had another pretty decent game for the Thunder in place of the still injured Thabo Sefolosha. Cook scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting, including 3 threes to go with 3 rebounds and a block.
Biggest Loser: Half the Rockets are struggling and none more so than Kevin Martin (-0.82). I have to think Martin must be injured after playing only 15 and 13 minutes in the last two games. Last night he had only 2 points and 1 assist with 2 turnovers. Can we get some sort of doctor’s note to excuse his absence?
***
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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