Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
Line of the Night: While there were only three games yesterday, the fantasy performances were strong. Jason Terry (1.27), who is quietly putting together yet another great year, led the pack by taking advantage of the Golden Ticket to score 36 points, with 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 threes in 42 minutes. For those of you who don’t follow the Mavs closely, Terry has actually started the last 10 games, with the disappointing Josh Howard moving more to a 6th (or sometimes 9th) man role.
(Picture from NQTC)
Line of the Night: Chris Bosh (1.06) must know that he’s playing to make teams want him. Last night he had 36 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists while shooting 78% from the field.
Honorable Mentions: Rajon Rondo (0.86) flirted with a triple-double, but only had as much success as Patrick does when he flirts with his wife. Boom, roasted. Rondo had 17 points (2 threes), 8 rebounds, and 9 assists. He also had 3 steals and 0 turnovers.
Read the rest of this entry »
Week 16 in fantasy basketball is going to get a little bit more funky than usual. Why? Well for starters, it’s the week that culminates in the NBA All-Star weekend.
This means that there are far less NBA games played in this week than any other during the season.
ONLY the Orlando Magic has THREE games scheduled this week. All the other teams have either one or two games on tap. That means players like Matt Barnes, J.J. Redick, Mickael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat may have a little bit of extra value than normal in leagues of various depths; at least for this week. Stream in or grab those guards for an extra boost in threes and a few points. While Gortat may be able to add a few boards and a block or two to your team’s totals for the week. Study your upcoming match-up and if those cats are going to be tough, then consider these Magic players. These guys may be especially useful to you if your fantasy team is loaded with players who play for teams that have only one game this week.
Teams with TWO games: ATL, CHA, CHI, CLE, DAL, DEN, DET, GSW, LAC, LAL, MIA, MIL, MIN, NJN, NOR, PHI, POR, SAC, SAN, UTA
Teams with ONE game: BOS, HOU, IND, MEM, NYK, OKL, PHO, TOR, WAS
In spite of having only one game this week, I would still opt to start several players due to the value of the numbers they are capable of producing in one game. I would play Kevin Durant, Steve Nash, Danny Granger, Chris Bosh, David Lee, Zach Randolph
There’s a second tier of player who I would start if DID NOT have competitive replacements playing two games this week and they are: Rajon Rondo, Troy Murphy, Nate Robinson, Amar’e Stoudemire, Antawn Jamison, and maybe Aaron Brooks (but he’s pushing it).
Line of the Night: The potent combination of LeBron James (1.91) plus the New York Knicks led to some fireworks all right, as LeBron dropped 47 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 threes and 5 steals on the star-struck team. I’m guessing the Knicks just wanted to show him how good he can play in New York as we approach the 2010 free agency period.
Honorable Mentions: Russell Westbrook (1.17) flirted with a quadruple-double, but ultimately he couldn’t seal the deal and she left for the night with some other guy. Still, 21 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and 8 steals isn’t as bad a consolation prize as some of stuff my friend used to go home with from the bars at the end of the night; the late, great Jermaine O’Neal (1.08) had 24 points and 16 rebounds against Brad Miller and the Chicago Bulls (oh wait, O’Neal is alive, Brad Miller is the one who died); and Nate Robinson (1.07) has gone from the Knicks’ doghouse to a de-luxe apartment in the sky. He scored 26 points against the Cavs, hitting 5-7 from three and adding 6 assists in 38 minutes on the court.
Line of the Night:With Carmelo missing his 7th straight game, Chauncey Billups (1.63) took over against the Lakers with a career-high 39 points, knocking down 9 of the 13 threes he took, and adding 8 assists in 41 minutes. What more can you say about Billups? Apparently, nothing.
Honorable Mentions: Steve Nash (1.21) – with a 23/8/10 and 4 threes – fell a couple rebounds short of a triple-double in a win over the Kings; Jason Kidd (1.14) fell a bunch of stuff short of a triple-double with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, but he did add 4 steals and 2 blocks, which funny enough doesn’t get him any closer to a triple-double; David Lee (1.1) had a monster of a game with 32 points on 12-18 shooting and grabbed 15 boards, but he didn’t get a lot of help from his teammates and the Knicks still lost to the Bucks 114-107; and Dwight Howard (0.99) finished with 20 points 18 boards and 3 blocks.
Our friend Erik, who still blogs at Points in the Paint while two-timing GMTR, is hosting the Roundtable this week over at his own personal little baby.
This week’s topic: The NBA trade deadline is just around the corner and soon so will be the one for most fantasy leagues, what general or specific trade advice can you give fantasy managers out there?
Joining the discussion this week are:
Ryan Lester, Lester’s Legends
Tommy Beer, Hoops World
Patrick Madden, Give Me The Rock
And here’s a link to the whole thing – including advice from Ryan, Tommy, and Erik.
This is what Patrick had to say:
My advice would depend a lot on the position of your fantasy team. For those owners currently in first or second place or those almost guaranteed a playoff spot (in H2H leagues) now is the time to make a strategic trade or two aimed at maximizing the amount of games you will get from players during the final weeks of the season. Nothing worse than having your monster first place team all season make a quick exit from the fantasy playoffs based on one bad week in April. A quick look at the GMTR schedule grid shows that the Rockets, Bucks, Thunder, Spurs, Toronto, and Wizards all play 14 games over the last 4 weeks of the season, while the Cavs, Hornets and Blazers only play 11. It may be a fools errand to trade someone like LeBron, but swapping players of similar value like Brendan Haywood for Emeka Okafor will net you three additional games over the typically fantasy playoff period. Do that with a 2-3 players and you could easily have a 5-10 game advantage over your opponents during the playoffs.
For those teams on the proverbial playoff bubble, now is the time to take stock of your team. Are you mediocre because of injuries and bad luck, or is it because your players are really just mediocre? If you problem is the latter, then now is the time to take some risks. Chances are even if your team makes the playoffs, you are not going to win it all. And if you’re not trying to win it all, then why are you playing in the first place? So, trade for Paul Millsap and hope Boozer gets traded from the Jazz, overpay in a trade for someone like Darren Collison and hope that CP3’s recovery goes badly and he misses the rest of the year. It may smell a little of desperation, but who are we kidding, it is.
This post is brought to you by SPORTSBETTING.com:
Best online sports betting bonuses and promotions at Sportsbetting.com. Join now the most secure online sportsbook!
Line of the Night: While he was on the losing end of the game, Michael Beasley (1.28) was on the winning end of fantasy. Bees Knees had 21 points (1 three), 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Player Raters love defense. Especially when there’s only 2 games being played.
Honorable Mentions: Not far behind Beasley was the King, LeBron James (1.02) with 36 points (1 three), 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. He was also a fairly awesome 81% from the line on 21 attempts. Should put you in good position in that category.
Martell Webster (0.97) is finally owned in 50% of leagues, so he’s no longer eligible for Waive Wire Line of the Night. He made it top 3 last night, nevertheless, with 21 points on 5 threes, adding 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Read the rest of this entry »
Line of the Night: Stephen Jackson (1.06). With Gerald Wallace sitting out of the Bobcats/Lakers match-up with a hamstring injury, Capt. Jack almost led Charlotte to a win over destiny’s team with a 30 point, 7 rebound performance. His fantasy line was certainly helped by the fact that he was 10-16 from the field and 8-8 from the line in this one. Wallace is expected back for the Bobcats next game, but that doesn’t make Jackson any less of a stud going forward. And I mean that purely in a basketball sense.
Honorable Mentions: A lot of great fantasy performances last night, so I will attempt to be brief. Tyreke Evans (1.03) finished with a 32/7/8 against the new look run-and-gun Spurs (Kevin Martin (-0.30) and his crappy shooting night were not as lucky); Andrei Kirilenko (1.02) had a 22, 6, and 8 against the Blazers and appears to be benefiting from Boozer’s absence almost as much as Paul Millsap; Joe Johnson (0.95) scored 34 on 11-21 shooting as the Hawks downed the Clippers; Mehmet Okur (0.95) showed some signs of life with 28 points on 11-13 shooting with 8 rebounds, and appears to be benefiting from Boozer’s absence almost as much as Paul Millsap (wait a second…); and Dwyane Wade (0.93) generally had his way with the Celtics to finish with 30 points and 13 assists. Unfortunately for Wade and the Heat, the Celtics generally had their way with the Heat as well and won the game 107-102.
Don’t Forget: Today is Wednesday, which means Give Me The Rock’s Weekly Fantasy Contest. It’s called a FreeRoll (contest #95720 – code: GMTR). I have yet to win one, but I’m not going to stop trying.
Line of the Night: You have to wonder if Kevin Durant (1.33) is thinking that he can take over Chris Paul as the future of fantasy basketball. The 33 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 steals (9-18 from the field, 14-14 from the line) gives him his 2nd Line of the Night in 2 games. He even beat out LeBron James’ (0.99) 22, 6, and 15 (also 50% from the field and 100% from the line). Which one do you think is going to get the All Star MVP award? You know it’s going to come down to a 3-point bombing contest if the game is close.
Read the rest of this entry »
Yes we know Chris Paul is going to be gone for a long time, and yes it is unfortunate that he may not be 100% during fantasy’s home stretch.
Image via DIME
Yes you should grab Darren Collison in every league you’re in, if you still can. And if both he and Marcus Thornton are still lying around in the league’s FA pool, then I am sorry to say that the league you are playing in is not all that competitive.
Now this just has to have a longer term impact as far as fantasy basketball is concerned.
Subscribe via RSS