Fantasy Related But Great Info....
Theater in the Rondo
Oh good, I'm glad you're finally here. Turns out I have some rather startling news to tell you. Are you sitting down?
Side note: I hate it when people ask if you're sitting down prior to telling you big news. If the news is shocking enough, it's not like sitting down will keep you safe, as you can still fall out of your chair (especially if it's an old, rickety chair).
But I digress. What I wanted to tell you is that one week from today, the NBA regular season will be over.
Staggering, I know. So what does this news mean for you and me and any third parties who stumble across this column? For one thing, it means that time is running short, and we must be direct and to the point (I guess technically I'm failing on that front so far). Secondly, it means – well, in terms of today's task at hand, it means absolutely nothing. This is Thursday, last night was Wednesday, and we are here to break down what happened. Let us commence:
BUCKS
In the "Did I read that box score correctly?" moment of the night,
Keith Bogans busted out for 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and four threes in 31 minutes off the bench. Considering that this was Bogans' highest scoring output since Dec. 2007, I'm not expecting lightning to strike twice.
(Before we go any further, I should say that I'll be hitting as many teams as seems necessary, but in the event that a box score from Wednesday doesn't contain any notable performances, I'll be skipping that squad so that all of us can get to our 5 p.m. appointments at the tanning bed.)
CAVS
Ben Wallace had seven points and six rebounds in his first game since Feb. 26, but should not be a consideration in most leagues…
Anderson Varejao (wrist) returned from a one-game absence and had 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals. The return of Wallace cuts into Varejao's value, but he should still be useful in deep leagues…
Delonte West (13 points, four assists) is playing decently, but failed to hit a three for the third time in five games, which is maddening if you like threes (and I do).
CELTICS
So much for
Rajon Rondo's sprained ankle. The Celtics' PG went ballistic against the Nets, finishing with 31 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block on 10-of-15 from the field and 11-of-13 from the line…
Paul Pierce (10 points) and
Ray Allen (12 points) did not partake in the fun… It appears that
Kevin Garnett and
Leon Powe are set to return from their knee injuries Tuesday, giving them two games with which to attempt to make some semblance of an impact.
HAWKS
Josh Smith continued his roll with 21 points, seven rebounds, a steal, two blocks and a three, and is hopefully helping you win a fantasy championship to make up for all his earlier transgressions…
Joe Johnson scored 30 and
Mike Bibby had 22, his highest scoring output since Feb. 20.
A reminder: For exclusive stat projections, player rankings and more, check out Rotoworld's MLB Season Pass.
HORNETS
Chris Paul (29 points, seven rebounds, 16 assists) was obscene while
David West (28 points, 12 rebounds, two steals) was outstanding, but neither development is remotely surprising…
Peja Stojakovic looked very strong in his second game after a long layoff due to back trouble, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds, four threes and four steals.
JAZZ
The
Andrei Kirilenko resurfacing project continues at the most opportune of times. In his second straight start, AK-47 finished with 17 points, one rebound, one assist, a steal and a block (hey, I know you want more production, but the Jazz lost by 29 – don't get greedy).
KNICKS
Mike D'Antoni's squad got annihilated by Detroit, but that didn't stop
Wilson Chandler (23 points, eight rebounds, a steal, two blocks and five threes) and
Al Harrington (26 points, six rebounds, four steals, four threes). It did, however, stop
Nate Robinson (four points, four rebounds and four assists on 2-of-13 shooting). For the record, I still haven't given up on the possibility that Nate will break out one more explosive game before it's all said and done.
MAGIC
Rashard Lewis was awful (six points, two rebounds, two threes in 28 minutes), but has been playing well lately and should bounce back…
Courtney Lee is averaging just 6.6 ppg this month.
MAVERICKS
Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 as the Mavs crushed the Jazz, 130-101…
Josh Howard played through his ankle injury and finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals… J.J. Barea (18 points, nine assists, two threes) is on a nice run for owners in deeper leagues.
NETS
After averaging 10.0 ppg in his previous four games,
Vince Carter broke out for 33 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five treys in a loss to the Celtics. The Nets were officially eliminated from the playoffs with the loss, but hopefully V.C. has too much pride to make this game his finale…
Keyon Dooling was solid in another start at shooting guard (14 points, six assists, two steals and a three), while
Devin Harris (16 points and five assists on 6-of-16 shooting) had a rough attempting to contend with Hurricane Rondo.
<!--RW-->
NUGGETS
Considering that the Nuggets play just twice this week, there are probably some unhappy owners in weekly leagues. Why? Because Nene (23 points, 10 boards, a steal and three blocks) had his highest scoring output since Jan. 25, and
Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points with five rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks and a three.
Please just tell me that you ignored the schedule in the case of Chris Anderson, though. You did, right? Because if you did start him in a head-to-head league this week, you probably just won blocks. The Birdman finished with eight points, nine rebounds and seven please-get-that-mess-out-of-here's… Meanwhile,
Renaldo Balkman started for
Kenyon Martin (ribs), but had just two points in 19 minutes.
PACERS
Indiana crushed Toronto by 29 points (130-101) as
Danny Granger led the Pacers with – wait for it – 29 points…
Jarrett Jack was also outstanding (23 points on 9-of-11 shooting), but that's not surprising… All things considered, we probably shouldn't read too much into Indiana's box score, considering that
Josh McRoberts had his first career double-double in just 22 minutes. That probably says it all right there
However, I should point out that along with the Mavs-Jazz game, this was the second 130-101 game of the night. That's kind of a bizarre score to occur twice, wouldn't you say? I think I'm going to write a screenplay called
The Number 130-101, in which everything imaginable revolves around those two numbers. Has any movie like that ever been made?
PISTONS
Hopefully we all learned long ago that there's no point in getting too excited about anything that happens against the Knicks' defense, but
Rasheed Wallace (14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two threes, two blocks) had his first double-double since March 3, and
Antonio McDyess (13 points, 16 rebounds, two blocks) posted his first double-double since March 26.
RAPTORS
With
Andrea Bargnani sitting due to a sore left heel, Patrick O'Bryant got his first career start and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and a block in a blowout loss. I'm not scrambling to add O'Bryant in any of my leagues… Due to the lopsided nature of the game,
Shawn Marion (four points, three assists, two steals) and
Jose Calderon (four points, six assists) were awful, but try not to get too angry with them.
SPURS
Tim Duncan played in a back-to-back for the first time since the beginning of March, but did not play well. He had four points in 24 minutes before Gregg Popovich pulled him early when he didn't like the way Duncan looked going after a loose ball. Consider Duncan very iffy to play both halves of a back-to-back Sunday and Monday… Roger Mason has now averaged 15.5 points and 3.0 threes in his last two games starting for
Manu Ginobili. He's worth a look, but consider yourself forewarned of inconsistency.
SUNS
Steve Nash led the Suns to a win with 24 points and 13 assists, but the bad news is that Phoenix was officially eliminated from the playoffs because Dallas won. Hopefully all the Suns' veterans will keep on playing now that the games are meaningless, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried about one or more of them shutting it down…
Leandro Barbosa had just seven points in 20 minutes, but I expect him to bounce back.
THUNDER
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 31 points, but that's just what he does… Meanwhile,
Nenad Krstic posted a solid 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks, but remains too inconsistent to be trusted…
Jeff Green (24 points, two steals, two threes) had his highest scoring output since Feb. 28.
TIMBERWOLVES
Kevin Love (20 points, 12 rebounds, one steal, one block) is providing strong production at the right time…
Sebastian Telfair (21 points, four assists, three treys) has come back to life with
Randy Foye presumably done for the season.
WARRIORS
Andris Biedrins (nine points and six rebounds in 26 minutes) played for the first time since March 13…
Kelenna Azubuike has now hit for 26 or more points in three of his last four games…
Anthony Randolph is now averaging 13.8 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 1.5 spg and 1.5 bpg in April…
Jamal Crawford (31 points) is back from the brink of Nellie-induced destruction, while
Anthony Morrow (six points on 2-of-11 shooting) broke his string of six straight double-figure scoring outings.
WIZARDS
Washington lost to the Cavs 98-86, but looking at the Wizards' box score, you'd think they scored about 11 points. The most salvageable Washington fantasy performance from Wednesday is either
Nick Young's 16 points and two treys or
Brendan Haywood's six points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Meanwhile,
Caron Butler and
Antawn Jamison combined for just 17 points, and all you can really say is that the Wiz got schooled by a stifling defense.
TONIGHT
Three games are on the schedule this evening, beginning with Philadelphia taking on Chicago. When I think of the Bulls, I can't help but see
Tyrus Thomas' continued production (most notably the 1.2 spg and 1.9 bpg) as one of the season's most pleasant surprises. Game two of the night has Houston against Sacramento, where I'll be watching anxiously to see if
Spencer Hawes can build on his 21-point, 15-rebound gem from Tuesday night in a tough matchup against
Yao Ming.
In the last tipoff of the evening, the Nuggets are up against the Lakers, a game that will apparently feature the return of
Andrew Bynum, who when last we saw him was in the midst of steamrolling the entire league. I'll be right here to chat at 4 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, and Dr. A will be here on Friday to get you up to speed on everything you need to know heading into the season's final weekend.
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=subHead vAlign=top colSpan=3>Howard hurt again as Mavs clinch </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=vaLabel colSpan=3>Josh Howard - G/F - DAL - Apr. 9 </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Josh Howard hit just 3-of-11 shots to finish with 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals as the Mavericks crushed the Jazz on Wednesday.
