A Lesson in Cleaning Glass, by David Lee
Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night’s action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.
Possibly inspired by Sacramento’s performance on Monday night, the Bulls cut a 22-point second-half deficit down to one. However, it was David Lee and his 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, 21 rebounds and five assists who sealed the deal with an 8-foot jumper with 5.5 seconds remaining to give the Knicks their sixth straight home victory and eighth overall in their last eleven. Danilo Gallinari shot a woeful 2-of-13 from the floor, but hit clutch free throws at the end of the game, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots.
The Knicks held the Bulls to 81 points on 40-percent shooting from the floor. how ’bout them Knicks! They haven’t given up 100 points in any of their last eight games, allowing just 91.8 points per. I’d go on record and say that it’s time to knock the Knicks off the shortlist of very favorable matchups, but you have to first look at who their past eight opponents were — Bulls (2x), Bobcats (2x), Nets, Hornets, Clippers and Trail Blazers. In case you’re wondering, Chicago, Charlotte and New Jersey are the three worst scoring teams in the league, while the Clippers (25th), Blazers (24th) and Hornets (19th) aren’t far behind. Give the Knicks credit, however, as they’ve been playing some inspired basketball and are for the first time in recent memory a tough fantasy matchup. at least for the time being.
Also In the Headlines
• Joel Przybilla is likely done for the season after rupturing his patella tendon. a tough loss for the Blazers. this moved Juwan Howard into the middle. He chipped in with a double-double, going for 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting with 10 rebounds. If you’re desperate, I suppose you can look at Howard. I’d pass, though. I would rather look at guys like Kendrick Perkins, Marreese Speights and Chris Andersen if available. If you have the stomach for it, look at the Blazers’ injured list. when healthy that group of guys could probably beat a handful of NBA teams.
• Eric Maynor and Matt Harpring were traded to the Thunder Tuesday afternoon. Maynor is a nice rookie, though this trade has little fantasy implications since the Thunder already have a pretty good point guard — Russell Westbrook.
• Von Wafer was picked up by the Rockets. He’ll be a relevant fantasy player at some point, especially as a shooter who can hit threes and add some depth in scoring. I think it’s too soon to grab him in standard leagues, however. The real question is what this means for Tracy McGrady. I’m sure it won’t be long before we find out what the answer to that question is.
• Don’t blame Joakim Noah (10 points, 21 rebounds, one block) or Derrick Rose (26 points on 11-of-22 shooting, one trey, six rebounds, four assists) for lack of effort against the Knicks. same goes for Luol Deng who not only scored 20-plus points for the fifth straight game, but also logged four blocks, giving him seven in his last three. John Salmons, well, where do I begin? He shot 2-of-9 from the floor, had two rebounds, zero assists, three turnovers and no defensive stats. He’s 11 for his last 34 from the floor. Sit him.
• The Celtics shot 38 percent from the floor and 6-of-20 from beyond the arc yet beat the Pacers, 103-94. Mainly because the Pacers committed 19 turnovers to the Celtics’ 10, with the C’s picking 15 steals (Rondo with six, Pierce with five). Boston also held a huge advantage shooting 37-of-40 from the line compared to the Pacers’ 18 free throws on 24 trips.
• Troy Murphy did his part by scoring 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting, two treys and 18 rebounds. He’s number three on our list of fruitful rebounders.
• Antawn Jamison shot 1-of-6 from the floor in 33 minutes of action in a victory over the 76ers. The Wizards’ backcourt led the way in this one with Gilbert Arenas scoring 31 points and Earl Boykins (18) and Nick Young (13) coming off the bench to combine for 31 points. Randy Foye actually started at the two-guard, though he played only 18 minutes. because the Wizards have plenty of options at shooting guard — remember DeShawn Stevenson? — I suggest you sit tight and not take the plunge on any of their two-guards. especially since Boykins had 11 total points over his last four and Young provides little fantasy value aside from the occasional scoring outburst.
• It was an ugly game for the Pistons. They scored 76 points on 37.8-percent shooting from the floor, 16.7 percent from the three-point line and 57.1 percent from the line. Ugly. Rodney Stuckey (20 points) and will Bynum (12 points) were the only two Pistons to score in double-figures. Of course, I need not tell you that Ben Gordon and Richard Hamilton sat out and remain day-to-day.
• Zach Randolph had another huge line Tuesday night in a win against the Warriors — 33 points on 14-of-21 shooting, 18 rebounds, two assists and a steal. over his last three he’s averaging 30.3 points, 19.3 rebounds and a 61.2 FG%. Time to trade him? He obviously isn’t going to post lines like this regularly, but as I wrote Monday he is shooting over 50 percent from the floor and taking his second fewest shot attempts since the 2002-03 season. Still, you might want to throw some feelers out there and see what you can get in return.
• Kevin love (15 points, 19 rebounds) and Al Jefferson (17 points, 10 rebounds) each posted a double-double against the Hawks. Both have notched double-doubles in nine of their last 11 games. Yes, they certainly can co-exist.
• Marcus Camby was one of the six players to grab at least 18 rebounds Tuesday night as he pulled down 19 boards and blocked three shots in 39 minutes.
• Kevin Garnett (thigh) missed Tuesday night’s game, his first DNP of the season. Rasheed Wallace started in his place, and while he struggled from the floor (3-of-8), he did pull 13 rebounds, pick three steals and block a shot. It seems that Garnett is day-to-day, so now is not the time to panic.
• Gerald Wallace (headache) was in the lineup Tuesday night — 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting, four three-pointers, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocks. See what a few Tylenol will do for you?
• Dirk Nowitzki (elbow) returned to put up an effective and efficient line — 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting, two threes, nine rebounds, two steals and a block in 41 minutes. while he was able to hit on 77 percent of his shots, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion weren’t quite so efficient. Terry shot 2-of-13 from the floor and Marion was held scoreless, going 0-of-7 from the field.
• Larry Hughes (groin) played 18 minutes and scored four points on 2-of-6 shooting with four rebounds and a steal. given that we don’t expect to see Nate Robinson anytime soon Hughes remains as a nice option going forward.
• Carl Landry (teeth) returned to tie a career high with 27 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 13-of-15 from the line. He’s good to go.
Classified Adds
• Chris Hunter had a career game Tuesday night starting at center for the Warriors — 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, six rebounds, three steals and three blocks. I would say that he’s worth a look, but I fear his run might be short-lived. The Warriors expect both Andris Biedrins and Ronny Turiaf back this weekend. I assume that even in a Nellie rotation Hunter will end up coming off the bench and see limited action.
• Earl Watson started his third straight game at point guard and scored 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, three treys, seven rebounds, six assists, five turnovers and a steal. to be honest with you I’m not all that excited about Watson with this being his best line since December 2, though he does have value if you’re looking for assists and steals. If you own T.J. Ford (six points, one assist in 12 minutes) you can drop him for Watson. Ford will likely find himself back in the starting lineup, but he won’t be taken off the wires by any of your league-mates until that day comes.
• Brandon Rush came off the bench to hit all four of his three-point attempts, finishing the night with 15 points and two steals. I can see Rush having nice value with Mike Dunleavy struggling. Junior played just 19 minutes, hitting 2-of-5 from the floor after shooting 2-of-17 the night prior. I’m not one to jump the gun, but I thought it was best to move Dunleavy while his value was at its pinnacle a week and a half ago. He’s not worth dropping, but you should consider sitting him if there is a more favorable option on your bench.
• J.J. Barea dropped at least 22 points for the third time in his last five games. He shot 9-of-16 from the floor on a night when Nowitzki was the only other Mav to hit the double-digit mark. I’d love to hear what you guys think because I am not making the move. He is averaging 14.7 points, 4.7 assists, one steal and 1.9 three-pointers as a starting two-guard this season. He’s just one of those guys that I’ve never felt inclined to own, though that shouldn’t stop you. we all have “those” guys, right?
• Serge Ibaka is the new mystery man in the middle. We’ve talked about him a few times over the past two weeks, but Tuesday night may have been his best performance — eight points on 4-of-11 shooting, 14 rebounds, one steal and one block in 28 minutes — given that he held his own against a tough Laker front line. With a number of bigs going down he’s worth a look. maybe not in standard leagues, but in deep leagues for sure.
Tonight
• a 10-game slate for Wednesday night.
• Out: Jose Calderon.
• Questionable: Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Deron Williams, Chauncey Billups and Ryan Gomes.
• Spot starts: Jarrett Jack, will Bynum, Courtney Lee, Chris Hunter, Juwan Howard, DeJuan Blair, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao and Thabo Sefolosha.
A Lesson in Cleaning Glass, by David Lee
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