If this is what getting a pair of signature shoes does for your play, teams will be pushing footwear companies to sign their stars to lucrative deals with Kyrie Irving exploding just days after unveiling the Kyrie I shoe by Nike. I wonder if my writing would get better if I wore the JL 1...
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You may not realise it, but Amar'e Stoudemire is playing very, very good basketball again. He's never going to be the top 10 fantasy player he was three or four years ago, but a late-career renaissance is currently unfolding before our eyes. Against the Cavs, Stoudemire started at center and had 18 points (8-13 FG, 2-2 FT), nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in 30 minutes and at this point, is a guy that should be owned in pretty much all standard leagues. His injury history is well documented, but for now, while healthy, Amar'e is producing and that's nigh on impossible to ignore. In his last four games, Stoudemire is averaging 18.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 0.8 blocks in 33 minutes. I know we could all do with those sort of numbers on our rosters.
M.I.A.
These guys all sat out Thursday's action, for one reason or another.
- Cavaliers
- Matthew Dellavedova (knee)
- Knicks
- Andrea Bargnani (hamstring)
- Pacers
- Donald Sloan (DNP-CD)
- George Hill (quad)
- Pelicans
- Eric Gordon (shoulder)
- Warriors
- David Lee (hamstring)
CASUALTY WARD
Mike Miller of the Cavaliers suffered a concussion Thursday against the Knicks and remained in New York rather than flying with the team for Friday's game in Toronto. His fantasy value was almost non-existent and all this does is potentially give more minutes to Dion Waiters. Still, I wouldn't be making any moves based on this injury.
FANTASY LINE OF THE NIGHT
Well, the last time I wrote this column, Anthony Davis was mightily unlucky to miss out on the line of the night honors. For Thursday, I'll set the record straight and Anthony Davis gets his hands on the fictional hardware. In a loss to the red-hot Warriors, Davis had 30 points (14-19 FG, 2-4 FT), with 15 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and three blocks in 38 minutes, harking back to the numbers that were coming with regularity at the start of the season. Has Davis been re-spurred on by Kevin Durant's return, challenging his perch atop the fantasy rankings? The early returns seem to point in that direction.
BOX SCORE HIGHLIGHTS AND ODDITIES
Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 37 points, as I hinted at in the open, and has been a huge bonus for his owners this season, giving us close to top 10 value for the season. Over his last three games, Irving is averaging a whopping 29.7 points, and while his assists are down (4.7 vs 6.1 last season), the increase in efficiency is more than making up for that.
LeBron James struggled with his shooting yet again, hitting only 7-of-17 shots for 19 points. He did add 12 assists, but things aren't the same for LeBron this season.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points with four three-pointers, but it's not something to get excited about. He had just four points total in his previous two games and big games like this are few and far between.
Quincy Acy played very well in his start at power forward, scoring 15 points with six rebounds and one block. Like Hardaway, I'm not reading anything into this and he can stay on nearly all waiver-wires.
The Pacers opted to start Rodney Stuckey at point guard over Donald Sloan, who fell completely out of the rotation. Stuckey had 16 points with six rebounds, and five assists and my thoughts on Stuckey vary with almost every game. Grab him while he's hot, but he's likely to be a guy who regularly appears on your waiver wire.
Solomon Hill had his best game in a while, scoring 15 points with eight rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block and it's safe to say that with all the Pacers back, bar George Hill, Hill has his hands firmly on a starting job. He's unlikely to be a mainstay in 12 tea leagues though and I'd leave him to the deeper leagues.
Nicolas Batum gave a glimpse of what he can do, semi-regularly, scoring 13 points (5-13 FG, 1-5 3Pt, 2-2 FT), with five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks.
Aside from Davis' big game, the rest of the fantasy value in New Orleans came from the usual suspects -- Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans. Omer Asik chipped in with 15 rebounds, while Luke Babbitt had five points in 19 minutes in his second consecutive start.
Steph Curry was great, even though the 19 points doesn't wow you on first glimpse. The fact that he added three three-pointers, three rebounds, 11 assists, four steals, and one block is what owners were rubbing their hands together gleefully over.
Andrew Bogut blocked another four shots, taking his seven game total up to 23 blocks. If you can trade Bogut for really high value, you should given his injury history, but he's playing so well, that it makes hard to pull the trigger.
Harrison Barnes had his second consecutive double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and has seriously bounced back this season. In 12 team leagues, Barnes is a guy who should be on a roster.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Points
- Kyrie Irving, G, CLE, 37 points
- Anthony Davis, F, NOP, 30 points
- Klay Thompson, G, GSW, 23 points
- Damian Lillard, G, POR, 23 points
Rebounds
- Anthony Davis, F, NOP, 15 rebounds
- Omer Asik, C, NOP, 15 rebounds
- Draymond Green, F, GSW, 14 rebounds
Assists
- LeBron James, F, CLE, 12 assists
- Steph Curry, G, GSW, 11 assists
- Jrue Holiday, G, NOP, 8 assists
Steals
- Steph Curry, G, GSW, 4 steals
- Nicolas Batum, F, POR, 3 steals
- Anderson Varejao, C, CLE, 3 steals
- Pablo Prigioni, G, NYK, 3 steals
Blocks
- Andrew Bogut, C, GSW, 4 blocks
- Anthony Davis, F, NOP, 3 blocks
- LaMarcus Aldridge, F, POR, 2 blocks
- Nicolas Batum, F, POR, 2 blocks
Three-Pointers
- Klay Thompson, G, GSW, 5-8 3Pt
- Tim Hardaway Jr., G, NYK, 4-8 3Pt
- Kyrie Irving, G, CLE, 3-6 3Pt
- Steph Curry, G, GSW, 3-6 3Pt
Minutes
- Kyrie Irving, G, CLE, 44 minutes
- LeBron James, F, CLE, 40 minutes
- Harrison Barnes, F, GSW, 40 minutes