Game Notes: 10/31

Oh man, lots of blow outs tonight…

New York – 87 at Philadelphia – 116

Philly’s big, athletic starting lineup really took it to New York, absolutely crushing them on the boards 61-43. Iggy didn’t score much, and from the look of things he didn’t need, but did round his line out with 6 boards and 7 dimes. Elton Brand put up a big double double, and Willie Green was on fire the second he got off the bench (he has a game like this about once every 3 weeks. It is best just to pretend they never happen, because even with the open flow of this game considered… he is just too random). None of the New York starters matched their opening night lines, but Chris Duhon had a game (5-6-7 with 3 steals and 1 TO) that I think is a better indicator of what his Knick line will be than his opening night performance.

Things to watch: For the second straight game Thad Young failed to register a steal or a block. While an efficient 12-5 is nice, the reason he was in the conversation with guys like Al Thornton is because it was believed that with ~30mpg he could approach 2 spg. I wouldn’t make anything of this yet, as steals can be fickle, but if this doesn’t turn around I would have trouble making a case to own him.

Golden State – 108 at Toronto – 112 (OT)

All Warriors not named Corey Maggette put up nice lines here. Brandan Wright and CJ Watson both came off the bench before Azuibuke (foul trouble did not influence this), but Kelenna ended up with more PT than the two of them combined (and put together a quiet, but decent line for himself)… so I guess this was just Nellie being Nellie? JaMario Moon threw up his roto spread and not much else once again (this time failing to get a single rebound, which I found odd). Several Raptors benefited substantially from the overtime period (Calderon in particular, who doubled his FTA’s in OT). Bargnani had a nice line, but be careful with this… It is too early to call it a fluke as his nice lines were last year, but he is VERY BAD about doing this, luring you to hold on to him for a few more days or pick him up by showing off a beautiful spread of %’s, 3ptm and blocks.

Things to watch: Ronny Turiaf is now averaging 4.5 blocks per game, and judging by his fouls per game (5… in ~22 min), it appears as though Nellie has given him the green light to chase everything in sight. I don’t think he can keep up this pace, but very few guys who get 2+ bpg are not worth owning.

Sacramento – 77 at Miami – 103

This one was a slaughter from the get go. Sacramento really needs Francisco Garcia to get healthy so that they will have a shred of competent back court depth. Spencer Hawes put up another nice line (low FG% again, but that is his game), and Jason Thompson did well despite the alarming rate he put himself into foul trouble (picked up two in the last 3 minutes of the first quarter). Mario Chalmers didn’t do much with his 29 min outside of collecting 4 steals, and Michael Beasley made the best of being the only Heat starter in the game for most of the second half and put together a nice line (17-9-0-1-1 with no TO’s). Don’t read into any of the Miami bench players who rolled off decent lines in this game, both teams pulled their starters really early.

Things to watch: What will happen to Jason Thompson once Brad Miller returns? Reggie Theus was quoted the other day saying that “the bigs who play will be the ones who rebound”, taking this and the recent play of Thompson and incumbent Mikki Moore into account, it sounds like it is only a matter of time (possible very little time if Moore keeps playing like himself) before Thompson supplants him. I have no clue how this will translate into minutes, as Hawes will still have priority over him, but I don’t think Miller’s return will end Thompson’s fantasy relevance for this season.

Chicago – 80 at Boston – 96

This one was never very close. Derrick Rose found a touch of foul trouble in the third quarter, but still managed to post the best line of any Bulls player (with Joakim Noah a very close second). Doc left the Boston starters in a lot longer than he had to, as they played through the third quarter. Tony Allen and Leon Power both had interesting elements of their game pop up in the extended garbage time, but their flaws leave them on the fringe of fantasy worthy (Powe not knocking down a helpful % of his ridiculous FTA#, and Allen’s FG% making his hustle stat potential difficult to stomach). Boston is definitely not slacking off after last season though, their defense is killing teams.

Worst line of the night: Tyrus Thomas (an argument can be made for Corey Maggette). 7/8 from the stripe was a pleasant surprise, the 2 blocks and 6 boards are nice blah blah blah. But 2/17 from the field makes this the ugliest line of the night in my opinion… I mean how did he even get that many attempts?!?

Orlando – 84 at Memphis – 86

This game must have been miserable to watch. 47 total fouls, the teams combined to shoot 40.7% from the field… Despite winning, no one on Memphis really had a nice line. I mean Rudy Gay put up 29 points, went 7/8 from the line and had two blocks… but 9/23 from the field and 4 rebounds can’t be in line with what his owners expect. Darrell Arthur put together a line nearly as bizarre as Corey Brewer’s 17 rebound, zero FTA game last year, by recording 10 boards (all defensive), 2 blocks, and 2 steals, and nothing else. Rashard Lewis started hot and cooled off, Turk did the opposite, and Pietrus was in foul trouble from the second quarter on.

Trendspotting: I never thought I would be saying this… but this is two straight games where Memphis has made a very talented team play ugly. The almost beat Houston doing this the other night, and they snuck up on Orlando to snatch victory tonight. Hopefully this is just an early season fluke, because their doormat defense was one of the most useful things in the league last year when it came to finding streamers.

Denver – 113 at Los Angeles Clippers – 103 (OT)

Denver’s bigs put up nice lines again, Linas Kleiza did very little with his opportunity again (which is weird, because he KILLED in Melo-less games last year), and Dahntay Jones had a very “where did that come from!?” line with his 12 FTA’s (of which he hit 11). Baron Davis left the game in the second quarter with a hip injury after a hard fall, and is currently considered doubtful to play Saturday (from Rotoworld). Al Thornton really popped off delivering a rock solid all around line of 30-11-2-3-1 on 1 TO, 11/21 from the field and 8/10 from the line (no threes however :( ). Even with Baron Davis out, Ricky Davis only managed 14 minutes… and maybe I have just seen him through fantasy goggles (interpret this however you want) for too long, but such low PT struck me as odd.

A star is born?: JR Smith appears to have rounded out his game… or at least his mind set. In the first two games he has filled out his non-3ptm cats more than ever before. If this continues after Melo returns, he will be… this year’s Mike Dunleavy? I can’t believe I just used that as a complement?

*San Antonio – 99 at Portland – 100

Despite some REALLY touchy calls early in the fourth quarter, this game was a blast to watch, as it was pretty close throughout and got tight down the stretch (Finley missing a relatively uncontested 12 foot base line J in transition as time expired). Duncan is really taking command offensively with Ginobili out of the line up (averaging 29.5 points through 2 games). Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were very impressive down the stretch, and ultimately pulled the game out for Portland. Matt Bonner started but was scaled back to 12min tonight, and Joel Przybilla started for Oden, and each of these guys did about what one would expect given their time on the floor. Roger Mason looked really good in silver and black once again, and would fit well with any team trying to win 3ptm.

Things to watch: Nicolas Batum put up a JaMario Moon line tonight, and was very exciting to watch in the process. Not worth a pick up, but his battle for minutes with Outlaw is definitely something to keep an eye on.