I mean, it had to be something about Jeremy Lin, right?
Line of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki (2.62) has started playing like a first round pick again these last 4 games, and gets his first Line of the Night of the season by finally making some threes and blocking some shots. Last night he had 33 points (11-19 FG, 7-10 FT) with 4 threes and 3 blocks.
Honorable Mentions: Marc Gasol (2.10) had another strong defensive game as the Grizzlies got the win over the Pacers: 15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Antawn Jamison (2.07) took advantage of overtime against the Bucks to a season-high score 34 points (14-21 from the field), and grab a nearly season-high 11 rebounds. Thanks for showing up Antawn. All it took was 43 minutes of playing time and no Kyrie Irving. I’m sure that’ll get you the big bucks this off-season.
Nicolas Batum (2.06) only had 9 points (but was 4-4 from the line) and 5 rebounds, but made the GMTR Player Rater blush a little with his 5 steals and 2 blocks. Nothing says fantasy basketball love like defense. Of course, then there’s Batum’s teammate Jamal Crawford (2.06) who scored 31 points on 10-16 from the field and 9-10 from the line, along with 8 assists. I hate Crawford’s normal terrible shooting and point-only type game, but recently he’s been making threes and averaging almost 7 assists. Can’t really argue with that. Speaking of assists: I’m sure everyone is familiar with Jose Calderon (1.90), who had 17 points and 14 assists.
Russell Westbrook (1.89) led the Thunder over Utah with 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. Greg Monroe (1.71) had an awesome night with 18 points (8-9 from the field), 11 rebounds, and 2 steals. Maybe I just love him because he’s a big man who makes free throws, but he’s at #23 on the Player Rater so it’s not just me. Not far behind is Chris Bosh (1.69) who scored 24 points with 11 rebounds.
(Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images)
Then there’s Jeremy Lin (1.68), who pretty much singlehandedly took on Kobe Bryant with his 38 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals, and the Knicks wound up with the win. Ken Berger has a great interview with Metta World Peace about Jeremy Lin. The whole thing is worth a read, but here’s the classic bit:
Q: Did the Lakers talk about him in the locker room?
A: Do we talk about him? Yeah, we talk about him. We think he needs a better haircut. I don’t like that style. You’re in New York, the fashion capital. Change your haircut, OK? You’re a star now. Wear some shades. Shades, OK? Put down the nerdy Harvard book glasses. Put on some black shades, OK? With some leather pants. Change your style. Fashion.
Q: Do you wear leather pants?
A: No, I won’t wear them, but he should wear leather pants. He’s the type of guy who should wear leather pants, some nice shoes and change his fashion. You’re Jeremy Lin, for godsakes. You know what I’m saying? You know? Put down that law book, stop reading the New York Times and start reading the Daily News. Newsday, that’s the one. I like that one because there’s always color in that one. What else? Wall Street Journal. Get some swag. You’re in New York City. Put your hat to the back, too. Put your hat on backwards. Come to practice with your pants sagging and just tell them, ‘I don’t feel like practicing.’ Practice? You know? Practice? And wear an Iverson jersey. You know? Come to practice with a cigar. Lit. ‘I’m Jeremy Lin.’ You know? He should change. We’re all excited to play tonight. It’s like the first time for everybody. Everybody’s excited. Kobe’s excited. He wants to get 50. He wants to welcome Jeremy Lin to his new level.”
Finally, Ryan Anderson (1.66) scored 21 points on 8-13 from the field with 9 rebounds. I’m starting to think 2011-12 is The Year of the Improbables.
***
Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Speaking of improbability, it’s improbable that we’ll Shane Battier (1.63) score 15 points (3 threes, 6-9 from the field), and grab 5 rebounds again in the next 8-10 games (16% owned).
Pick Up Lines: The Johnson Brothers (not really brothers) must have realized that their approval ratings were precariously low and decided to start playing well again. James Johnson (1.45) scored 14 points to go with 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks (32% owned), while Amir Johnson (1.28) scored 12 points, grabbed double-digits rebounds for the third time in five games with 12 rebounds and even had 2 blocks (43% owned). It’s almost like we have to consider picking them up again now. Arg.
C.J. Watson (1.26) filled in for Derrick Rose with 7 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals (9% owned). If you’re in a daily changes league, it’s almost worth having Watson around. He’s sitting at 100 on our fantasy basketball player rater, and with Derrick Rose sitting out every other game or so, he’s getting some opportunities.
Then there’s the Usual Suspects: Gordon Hayward (1.24) with 13 points (6-10 from the field), 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks (31% owned); Trevor Booker (1.14) who had 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 steals (28% owned). I can see why people might be little iffy on those two, but those numbers still seem low for the kind of games they’re putting up over the past week or two.
Then there’s Marreese Speights (1.05) who scored a season-high 19 points (8-13 from the field) to go with 9 rebounds, and 2 steals (6% owned). I’d say wait to see if he can come close to that in the next game before making any moves.
Raja Bell (1.00) might be a guy to keep an eye on in deeper leagues. He’s playing almost 27 minutes in his last 4 games, averaging 10 points and 1.8 threes in those 4, including last night’s 13 points, 3 threes (4-5 overall from the field and 2-2 free throws). He won’t contribute all that much, but he won’t really hurt you anywhere either. If you’re turning up your nose, that’s fine, I’m just trying to dig deep for the managers who find themselves wading into the 200s in terms of the number of players in their leagues.
Biggest Loser: Where Greg Monroe succeeded, Roy Hibbert (-0.91) failed, coming up with only 5 points (on 1-7 from the field and 3-6 from the line) but he did have 7 rebounds and an assist.
I’m not sure if it’s okay that Rajon Rondo (-0.71) scored only 5 points, since he did have 5 rebounds and 7 assists, and the assists are really all you expect from him. And you’ve probably given up on turnovers so the fact that he had 5 of them doesn’t really matter, nor does the fact that he went 2-10 from the field. I mean, that’s all pretty typical Small Ball (except for the rebounds), right? The Player Rater, of course, makes no such distinctions (unless you uncheck the categories yourself, in which case Rondo moves from #112 on the year up to #65 without FG% or TOs.
***
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.
Do not miss a day of the Fantasy NBA. Subscribe to Give Me The Rock 
right now. You can also get bonus (and easily digestible) content by following GMTR on Twitter, or become a fan of GMTR on Facebook! We are so social!
If you like what you read here, come back every day for new content! And if you come back every day, please consider donating…
Want to see your ad in the GMTR RSS feed? Contact: givemetherock@gmail.comOther Stuff Like This:
- Day 41 of 124: Anthony Morose (11)
- Day 25 of 124: One Painful Season (27)
- Day 16 of 124: Where Tyson Chandler Drops Bombs (27)
- Taking Aim: The Most Efficient Shooters in the League (5)
- Day 91 of 170: Boston Drops Dallas Like A Cheating Girlfriend (3)
- Day 46 of 124: Bad Girlfriend Syndrome (72)
- Linsanity! (48)
Original Story:
