Shake & Bake
Big Stars
Nate Robinson exploded for 41 points and four 3-pointers on 11-of-18 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. I own him in Rick Kamla's league and currently sit in third place, one category behind Kamla and just four behind first place (we have eight cats up for grab each week). If Nate keeps playing at such a high level, I like my chances, despite losing
Andrew Bynum a few weeks ago. On a side note, Nate was doing some
"Shake & Bake" fist bumps with Will Ferrell last night, who apparently helped Nate set up one of his dunks for the contest. At the end of the video, Nate also gives his dunk contest jersey to Ferrell. Pretty sweet, although it seems like it would have made more sense to give it to a kid. Then again, Nate doesn't have to worry about it showing up on eBay this way, either.
Devin Harris hit one of the
greatest game-winners you will ever see last night, bobbling the ball at half court, picking it up and heaving it a the very last moment possible, and then watching it semi-swish to give the Nets an improbable 98-96 win over the Sixers. It felt like the Nets were down by four points the entire second half, but Harris' miracle got them the win. That capped off a huge night for Harris with 39 points and five 3-pointers on 11-of-22 shooting along with 12-of-14 free throws, eight assists, two steals and a block. Hopefully he was not on your bench for some reason. The Nets were really struggling and it's possible that this play rallies themfor the rest of the season and on into the playoffs.
Troy Murphy's dream season continued last night with 19 points, 21 rebounds and another 3-pointer. He very well could be the fantasy sleeper of the year.
Ronnie Brewer is quietly having a pretty nice season and he had 19 points, four boards, three assists, three steals, three blocks and a 3-pointer last night. The Jazz still have a five-game week on their schedule so plan on holding onto Brewer for the foreseeable future if you own him.
Stephen Jackson hit 11-of-20 shots and a three last night for 28 points, five rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocks in a loss to the Clippers. The Warriors are now 20-37 and are 14 games out of a playoff spot with 25 games to play. They're not yet mathematically eliminated, but it's pretty darn close. Jackson is still getting around 40 minutes per game, but I think that he'll be pulled back at some point soon. In fact, owners just have to hope now that all the wear and tear doesn't catch up with Jackson once he realizes there's nothing left to play for. While I don't think this situation is as dire as the one in Washington with
Caron Butler possibly shutting it down, I do think it's something to keep an eye on.
Baron Davis finally came to play on Monday, finishing with 25 points, nine boards, 10 assists, four steals and four 3-pointers on 9-of-20 shooting. Wow! That almost helps make up for a full season of injuries and mediocrity, but not quite. If Baron could somehow go on a tear like this over the final eight weeks, owners would probably have a shot at winning their league. But my guess is Baron will have trouble staying healthy enough to do so, and you also have to consider that the first and only time he's really looked like he cared this year came against his former team last night. Let's see what he does in the next few games before fully celebrating.
Eric Gordon is doing everything he can to add some spice to the rookie of the year race, going off for 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, a block and six 3-pointers last night. Again, it happened against the Warriors, but Gordon didn't even have a personal agenda with Nellie's squad. Gordon is still a must-start fantasy player the rest of the way and it was great to see him put up this kind of line on the same night Davis did.
Welcome Back
Monday night saw the return of several injured players, including a bunch of centers.
Tyson Chandler finally played for the first time in his last 14 games and somehow put up one of the better lines of his season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He didn't block a shot, but it's tough to complain about a double-double after 13 games off. It's also important to note that he had double-doubled in four of his last five full games before suffering his ankle injury.
Marcus Camby returned from his imploded ear drum and had nine points, six boards and two blocks in a weird win over the Warriors. Camby still may or may not be able to travel with the team, but that means he should be fine for Wednesday's home game against the Celtics. Then again, if you saw what the Celtics did to the Nuggets last night, that might not be good news for Camby.
Andris Biedrins returned from an ankle injury and came off the bench for the Warriors, finishing with four points, four rebounds and two blocks. Starter
Ronny Turiaf had seven points, seven boards and two blocks, and I can see these two splitting minutes the rest of the way. Biedrins is having a great season, but has also been very inconsistent under Don Nelson. Don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Carlos Boozer is back and started for the Jazz last night in just his 13th game of the season. He had just two points, five boards and two assists on 1-of-5 shooting, while
Paul Millsap had 16 points and 12 boards in a cake walk over the Hawks. Obviously, you probably don't want to start Boozer just yet, but if he's still standing a week from now, he should be able to help your team.
Kenyon Martin played through a back injury, as expected, but had just five points and four boards in a tough loss to the Celtics.
Yi Jianlian is back in the starting five for the Nets and had seven points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals, a block and a 3-pointer last night. He may never be much of a consistent scorer this year, but can sure fill it up in every category if he's getting the minutes.
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Missing in Action
In addition to a few happy returns, there were plenty of notable absences last night.
Nene did not play through his knee injury and it now sounds like he's going to miss a solid couple of weeks with the injury. I'm in a league with no bench and my team also includes
Kevin Garnett and I'm thinking about dropping Nene and getting a warm body in there for the next couple weeks.
Andres Nocioni (30 mpg, 19 points, four treys last night) looks like a good option for me, but then again, the Kings only play twice next week. In any case, don't count on seeing Nene again until March and expect him to take the full two weeks to return. Nene's absence allowed
Johan Petro to start at center and he somehow had nine points and 10 rebounds. I'll need to see that a couple more times before biting though, so just keep your eye on him.
Chauncey Billups did play for the Nuggets, but hit just 1-of-8 shots for three points, zero boards and five assists. The Celtics have ways of making good players bad and this was just another example.
T.J. Ford missed last night's game with the flu, allowing
Jarrett Jack to start at point guard for the Pacers and go off for a season-high 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Jack has been fantastic and should start the rest of the way for the Pacers. The absence of Ford also elevated
Brandon Rush into the starting five (14-5-3) and
Marquis Daniels had another big night with 28 points, despite making several trips to the locker room with his own case of the flu. Hopefully Ford is back in action Wednesday against Memphis.
Chris Duhon played for the Knicks, but had just four points, three boards, five assists and six turnovers. In his last three games he's scored four or less points in two of them, hasn't recorded a steal in any and has committed 13 turnovers. He's hit a wall but there's still a decent chance he bounces back from it. But his ankle is not in great shape and it could be a long last eight weeks for Duhon and his owners.
Mike Bibby failed to score last night against the Jazz as the Hawks were completely outclassed. Bibby was dealing with the flu, but if he was well enough to suit up and play, it would have been nice to see him do something. Meanwhile,
Josh Smith lost his head for a moment and sent
Matt Harpring crashing to the floor. The move earned Smith a Flagrant 2 and automatic ejection, and he now faces a possible suspension for endangering Harpring's life. That sounds a little dramatic, but had Harpring come down any further on his back he probably would have split the back of his head open and it could have gotten messy. I'm not sure what Smith is doing this year, but it's obvious that Mike Woodson has lost control of him and has no idea how to motivate him any longer. As for a suspension, I usually have a pretty good feel for whether a guy is going to get one, but I'm really not sure here.
Beno Udrih played last night and was probably in your lineup after the recent tear he's been on. But like any good fantasy villain, he suckered you in with 10 days worth of stellar production until you finally took the bait and started him again. The reward? Five points and two assists. Thanks, Beno. Maybe he'll be better in his next one.
I picked up
Steve Novak yesterday in a league where I needed some threes and initially put him in the starting lineup. However, at one minute before the deadline I got cold feet and pulled him out. I'm glad I did, as he missed all three of his shots last night and played just nine minutes.
Brian Scalabrine, who played very well for the Celtics on Sunday, left Monday's game with a neck injury, finishing with five points and two rebounds.
Leon Powe stepped up in
Kevin Garnett's absence with 16 points and five boards, while
Glen Davis had 8 & 5. Scalabrine is expected back for the next one, so look for these three to continue to split KG's production between them.
Injury Tidbits
Corey Maggette had X-rays taken on his hand after last night's game but no word on the result. In addition, Pacers' coach Jim O'Brien said last night that
Mike Dunleavy is probably done for the season. Now let's just hope we don't hear the same news about
Danny Granger a couple weeks from now.
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=subHead vAlign=top colSpan=3>Update: Nene could be out up to two weeks </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=vaLabel colSpan=3>Nene Hilario - F/C - DEN - Feb. 24 
