The Daily Dose: Dose: Melo My Man

Carmelo Anthony is really clicking again. He had a gem on Tuesday during a 108-96 win over the Pistons and wasn’t really forcing shots, scoring 24 points with six rebounds, six assists, one steal and two 3-pointers. He’s actually really put it together over his last eight, averaging 24.3 points, 8.1 boards, 4.5 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.3 treys on 49.7 percent from the field. Here is his shot chart in that span:

That’s pretty good on the most part, but obviously those mid-range shots are a little unsustainable. Still, you have to like Melo getting 31 percent of his shots at the rim. In his first 23 games before this hot streak, Melo was only taking 23.1 percent of his shots at the rim, so that is a really good sign.

The Knicks are sort of changing their system a bit. They were pushing the rock more often and were leaning more on pick-and-roll, too. Melo has some decent numbers as a pick-and-roll player, but for some reason the Knicks haven’t really run it since they embraced the triangle.

I’m not ready to say Melo is going to be a second-round guy like he has been in his last eight, but he’s looking a lot better. The Knicks have no reason to tank because they don’t have a draft pick, so Melo’s chances on a shutdown are pretty low.

The Knicks had some great output from their bench. Kyle O’Quinn scored a quick 10 points, finishing with 12 points, two boards and one steal in 11 minutes. There’s no need to read into this here. Derrick Williams was also fantastic with 18 points, four boards and one 3-pointer. His strong play sort of kept Kristaps Porzingis on the sidelines late in this game. Interestingly, the Knicks went crazy with their rotations. Here’s a look at the lineup combos from Tuesday:

Interestingly, their best lineup for more than a minute was Jose Calderon, Lance Thomas, Carmelo, Williams and Lopez. That was the first time the Knicks used that combination all season. It’s kind of cool to think about using three SF/PFs on the outside and maybe the Knicks use that lineup again. Plus, that lineup might work with KP at the five, but it obviously wasn’t an option in this game against the Pistons.

Speaking of Three 6 Latvia, he was disappointing with 10 points, two rebounds, one assist and two blocks in just 19 minutes. The Knicks aren’t quite ready to make him matchup proof and they are shifting him to more of a center at times. That means it wasn’t a great matchup for him against Andre Drummond. He’ll be more consistent soon, but for now DFS owners need to look at the scenario and not the matchup. He should still be fine in season-long leagues as a top 40-60 guy. Robin Lopez also had his best game in a while with 11 points, seven boards, two assists, one steal and six blocks. He’s not a pickup yet.

There wasn’t much going on with the Pistons. Andre Drummond made just 5-of-15 from the filed for his 13 points, which is hard to believe when 13 of his shots came from within six feet — the other two were eight and nine feet and one was a make. He’s obviously fine.

Brandon Jennings made his season debut and played 17 minutes, scoring seven points with one rebound, four assists and one 3-pointer in 17 minutes. He was just a straight backup to Reggie Jackson and that’ll probably continue. Jennings will need a trade or Jackson to get hurt to boost his fantasy value, but don’t forget he hasn’t been a great per-minute guy in his career and coming off an Achilles is no joke. I wouldn’t stash him in most leagues. Reggie Jackson was OK with 17 points, five boards, nine assists and one 3-pointer in 31 minutes. He’s fine.

The Pistons also played it straight up with the rotation and their starters played together for 27 minutes on Tuesday. Such an SVG move. Stanley Johnson was playing 43 percent of his minutes at shooting guard in his previous four, which dipped to 31.6 percent. He’s a stash and likely needs Marcus Morris (17 points), Ersan Ilyasova (19 points) or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (nine points) to miss time.

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Al Horford: 3-point specialist (Hawks 121 @ Rockets 115)

DeMarcus Cousins may wish he’s Al Horford sometimes. Boogie can’t hit his threes, but Al just made a career-high five treys on Tuesday, finishing with 30 points, 14 boards, two assists, one steal, one block and no turnovers. He’s a fantasy monster in standard leagues. Paul Millsap also crushed it with 22 points, 13 boards, four dimes, one steal, five blocks and one 3-pointer. No analysis needed here. Jeff Teague was also pretty good with 22 points, two boards, eight dimes, three steals and two 3-pointers.

After the studs, there were some really, really good guys, and some really, REALLY bad guys. Let’s hit the good guys with Kent Bazemore, who scored 26 points with three rebounds, four assists, two steals and five 3-pointers. The Hawks completely trust him now and clearly the Hawks wing spot can lead to some good numbers. It’s also worth mentioning he saw some point guard minutes on Monday, so the level of trust is as high as ever and he should be owned in all leagues. Why did he get PG minutes? Well, because…

Dennis Schroder is in the doghouse. He only played 12 minutes on Monday and he was a DNP-CD on Tuesday. This is probably something that will turn around and he might have just done something to get on coach Mike Budenholzer’s nerves and the coach spoke on it after the game. “(We’ll) continue to grow and develop the roster and continue to grow and develop Dennis,” coach Budenholzer said. He’ll be back, but isn’t worth owning in most leagues right now. Shelvin Mack was the backup on Tuesday, but there is no need to add him yet.

Kyle Korver is struggggggggggggggggglin. He was 0-of-11 from the field and missed all 10 from deep on Tuesday. Here is his shot chart in his last four:

Ugh. He’s having a really bad year, but I still wouldn’t cut him in standard leagues. You can get him for a song right now, and you don’t even have to be Randy Watson or something like that. The greatest love of all.

For the Rockets, there were a lot of positives in the loss. Clint Capela picked up a little extra run with Terrence Jones (illness) out. Cap had 17 points with 10 boards, two assists, two steals and one block. He’s basically a hold because TJ was playing well. Donatas Motiejunas picked up most of the run with 27 minutes, but he didn’t produce with six points, seven boards, two assists, one steal, one block and two 3-pointers. He was almost out of the rotation before, so there’s no need to add here.

Perhaps the most noteworthy item when it comes to the future is the play of Ty Lawson. He’s starting to figure it out off the bench, putting up a 14-point, four-dime game in 26 minutes. He’s still not going to have a big usage rate or many play-making chances, but I don’t hate the idea of adding him in deeper leagues. Patrick Beverley still looks like the better player to own with his steals, but he had a bad game with nine points, one assist and one trey.

Dwight Howard went off with 30 points, 16 boards, three assists, one steal and one block while James Harden was solid with 26 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, one steal and three 3-pointers. Howard looks great.

Like a Bosh (Heat 90 @ Grizzlies 99 in OT)

Chris Bosh was rollin’ to start the game and made 7-of-8 from the field, but he finished just 9-of-21 — yeah, 2-of-13 to close. Bosh is still playing really terrific ball on both ends, so he should be a second-round guy in standard leagues. Not much else doin’ here on the Heat side, but Goran Dragic was better with 16 points, three rebounds, five assists, one steal and one 3-pointer. He might be able to get it going.

The Grizzlies didn’t have Matt Barnes and they basically gave Tony Allen (six points, seven boards and two steals) most of his minutes with a little bit of Jeff Green, too. Green was solid with 16 points, seven boards, four assists and one turnover. His upside is too low, but he’s a guy I’d use in DFS on Jan. 2 against the Jazz.

Zach Randolph played big minutes with 33, scoring 17 points with seven rebounds, three assists and two turnovers. With the Grizzlies off for so long, they played Z-Bo a lot more than usual. He’ll likely be in the 25-minute area most nights, which makes him an undesirable asset in standard leagues. Marc Gasol was outstanding with 23 points, eight boards, six assists and four blocks in 44 minutes.

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