Sunday Daily Dose: Dose: Green Day In The Bay

What’s the proper response to those who still don’t want to give Draymond Green his superstar credentials? Let’s ask James Harden what he thinks.

Anthony Davis shook off what looked like an awful knee injury to bounce back with a monster line, LeBron James again put the Cavs on his back, Kawhi Leonard is automatic and the 18-0 Golden State Warriors appear to be just getting started.

A seven-pack Saturday gives us our Sunday Dose. Let’s ride.

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Toronto @ Washington: Raptors 84, Wizards 82

Studs: Bradley Beal, Bismack Biyombo

Duds: John Wall, DeMarre Carroll

It’s rare when a player can take just one shot and have a definitive impact on the game, but that’s exactly what Bismack Biyombo achieved with 16 rebounds, a steal and four blocks in his 35 minutes of action. BB now has three straight games with double-digit rebounds since Jonas Valanciunas (hand) hit the sidelines, and he should continue to be a cheap source of rebounds and blocks for the next five weeks or so.

Despite coming away with the win thanks to Cory Joseph’s (nine points, six dimes, 34.5 minutes) buzzer-beating corner three ball, the Raptors really struggled to put points on the board, with Kyle Lowry (27 points, seven rebounds, two steals, six triples, six turnovers, 9-of-19 FGs) and DeMar DeRozan (23 points, three rebounds, two 3-pointers, 9-of-21 FGs) combining to do most of the damage. Toronto got next to nothing offensively from the starting frontline of Luis Scola (six points, six rebounds) and DeMarre Carroll (four points, four rebounds, 1-of-8 FGs). Carroll is going to have a clunker like this every so often with the load he’s tasked with defensively every night, so you’re just going to have to roll with them when they happen. Things should also improve as Carroll, who is connecting on fewer than 40% of his attempts from the field, straightens out his shot.

Washington abandoned the Kris Humphries experiment, starting Jared Dudley (seven points, four rebounds, 30 minutes) at power forward. A plus-seven rating on the floor does nothing for those who used Dudley as a punt play in DFS, but a matchup vs. Toronto isn’t the spot to roll those dice anyhow. There’s no reason to believe Dudley is going to return to the bench, and those in 14-plus team formats can take a look if in need of help from beyond the arc.

This is another excruciatingly painful loss for the Wizards, and John Wall’s (18 points, five assists, three steals, 6-of-25 FGs) poor play continues to be a major issue. Over his last three games, Wall has now shot just 16-of-58 (27.6%) for a total of 42 points. During that stretch, Wall also has an unimpressive 17 assists compared to an astounding 11 turnovers. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bradley Beal (20 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals, two triples, 5-of-9 FGs, 8-of-8 FTs) is beginning to heat up for a Wizards team that needs Beal to step up his game. Marcin Gortat (16 points, 10 assists, one steal, one block, 8-of-14 FGs) had his second double-double in the last three games, and not so coincidentally he’s played 30-plus minutes in each one. Maybe now Gortat will finally start to get the consistent 32 minutes that he deserves.

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Brooklyn @ Cleveland: Cavs 90, Nets 88

Studs: Brook Lopez, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Kevin Love, LeBron James

Duds: Timofey Mozgov

The Nets gifted this game to LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers.

In addition to hitting the game-winning shot, LeBron finished with an impressive 26 points, nine rebounds, five dimes, a steal and a triple on 10-of-22 from the field. A slow start proved to be a non-issue, but the Cavs are a team with more things to correct than their record would have some believe. Kevin Love (26 points, seven boards, six triples, 8-of-14 FGs) also delivered another strong game, and it’s going to be those two carrying Cleveland until further notice.

There is really no reason to roster Timofey Mozgov (two points, six rebounds, two steals, one block) in standard formats, but there is plenty of incentive to get Tristan Thompson (10 points, 11 rebounds, 31.5 minutes) on the active roster. J.R. Smith made just three of his 12 shot attempts, but he salvaged his performance with six points, five rebounds, three steals and four blocks in a very irregular line. The Mo Williams (14 points, two steals, 7-of-13 FGs) train is beginning to run out of steam, and he’s a player I project to trend downward aggressively as the season progresses. 

Although Brooklyn took another loss, there was plenty of production on this side of the box score. Thaddeus Young (16 points, 12 rebounds, one steal) has been a consistent source of production for the entire month of November, and Brook Lopez (22 points, nine rebounds, one steal, two blocks, 10-of-15 FGs) keeps rolling along after an early season foot scare…both are under-appreciated fantasy assets in the current landscape. Jarrett Jack’s inefficient double-double (12 points, 14 assists, five rebounds, two triples, 3-of-13 shooting) still got it done in DFS formats, but the most exciting development from this game was again the play of rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: six points, 10 rebounds, five steals, one block and no turnovers in 30 minutes. Capable of stuffing the stat sheet across box score, there is no reason he should be on your waiver wire.

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Denver @ Dallas: Mavericks 92, Nuggets 81

Studs: Darrell Arthur, Will Barton, Zaza Pachulia, Deron Williams

Duds: Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons

It’s a good thing Deron Williams (22 points, four rebounds, four assists, four triples, 7-of-15 FGs) has started to get it going, because Chandler Parsons (four points, one steal, one block, 2-of-7 shooting, 23 minutes) and Wesley Matthews (seven points, four assists, one steal, 3-of-11 shooting, 28 minutes) have been miserable on the offensive end this season. Without D-Will’s mini-resurgence, Dirk Nowitzki (13 points, seven boards, three steals) finding the fountain of efficiency or Zaza Pachulia (16 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, one block) suddenly producing like we haven’t seen prior, the Mavericks would have no prayer of sniffing their current 10-7 record. Pachulia has been especially outstanding considering he was always viewed as an emergency backup plan, and he’s a player I’d be trying to package in two-for-one deals in order to get the best player in the trade.

Although Kenneth Faried (10 points, five rebounds, two steals, one block, 14 minutes) returned from his ankle injury, it was Darrell Arthur (16 points, five rebounds, two steals, two blocks, 8-of-13 shooting, 31.5 minutes) who continued to start at power forward. Arthur has played well while filling in for Faried, and it seems like Mike Malone wants to work the Manimal back in slowly. Arthur has earned himself minutes moving forward, but the Nuggets frontcourt is getting awfully crowded. We also saw the return of Joffrey Lauvergne in this game, but he played just eight minutes and is on the outside looking in right now.

A blazing hot start for Danilo Gallinari didn’t translate into a big game, and the Italian Stallion finished with just 12 points on 12 shots with nine rebounds, a steal, a block and two 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic (eight points, six rebounds, one steal, one triple, 18.5 minutes) continues to show flashes of what he’s capable of, but between the depth in Denver’s frontcourt—which will only be complicated by the return of Jusuf Nurkic from knee surgery—and the Nuggets’ tendency to play small, it’s fair to wonder how good it can really get for the 20-year-old big man. Although Will Barton came off the bench behind veteran Randy Foye with Gary Harris (concussion) out of the lineup, The Thrill produced 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal, a block and four triples in 30.5 minutes…He’s going to wind up as one of the best bargain bin values of the season. I have Emmanuel Mudiay (12 points, five rebounds, four dimes, one steal, 5-of-15 FGs) on one of my teams, but his sub-35 percent shooting and inclination to turn the ball over sinks any potential value he’d otherwise hold. It’s hard to see how it gets any better right now.

A quick side note: Playing Foye 37 minutes (!) is indefensible at this stage of his career. 

Atlanta @ San Antonio: Spurs 108, Hawks 88

Studs: Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan

Duds: Paul Millsap, Danny Green, Al Horford, Jeff Teague

It was a forgettable affair for Mike Budenholzer vs. mentor Gregg Popovich. With both teams playing the second game of a back-to-back set, it was Atlanta that looked like a tired squad. Paul Millsap (eight points, eight rebounds, two steals, one block, 3-of-9 FGs), Al Horford (10 points, four rebounds, 4-of-11 FGs) and Jeff Teague (six points, four assists, four turnovers, 2-of-10 FGs) all really struggled to show anything, and the only three players in double figures for Atlanta were Horford, Kent Bazemore (11 points, seven rebounds, one steal, one block, 20 minutes) and Mike Scott (12 points, two triples). It’s also worth noting that Bazemore (ankle) came off the bench behind Thabo Sefolosha (eight points, 25 minutes).

Clearly the Friday night of rest was good for Tim Duncan, who exploded with a massive double-double of 10 points, 18 rebounds, four dimes, a steal and two blocks with just a single turnover. Kawhi Leonard (22 points, seven rebounds, one steal, one block, three 3-pointers) doesn’t need any time off since he’s a robotic machine from another planet, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to find new superlatives to describe how impressive Leonard has been. The Spurs again limited the playing time of both Tony Parker (11 points, six assists, one steal, one block, 22 minutes) and LaMarcus Aldridge (13 points, six rebounds, three steals, two blocks, 24.5 minutes), but this game was over before the fourth quarter began. 

I’ve got nothing left to say about Danny Green (five points, three turnovers, one steal, one block, 29 minutes). He’s been a disappointment to those who drafted him based off of his prior achievements, and the Spurs just don’t need him to do anything offensively in order to succeed. If I had him on any of my rosters, I would have already moved on.

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