The Daily Dose: Dose: Jimmy Butler was Bonkers

There were six great NBA games on Thursday, with the Magic winning a thriller behind Victor Oladipo in London, the Sixers taking the Bulls to OT in Philly, the Spurs beating the Cavs in a playoff atmosphere, and the Warriors extending their home winning streak to 37 games. Amazingly, the first five games were all thrillers and they were decided by a grand total of just 15 points. The Lakers hung with the Warriors for a bit, but Golden State put them away in the third quarter. Oh, and Mr. Jimmy Butler, who was questionable to play, went absolutely bonkers for the Bulls. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here!

Raptors 106, Magic 103 OT – Luis Scola started and played 20 minutes for 11 points, three steals, two blocks and three 3-pointers, but had just two rebounds. James Johnson got just 17 minutes, as he remains too unreliable to trust, Jonas Valanciunas was solid with a 13-9-3 line, and Kyle Lowry flirted with a triple-double with 24-8-7, but hit just 5-of-20 shots. DeMar DeRozan didn’t fare well in London, hitting just 4-of-19 shots, but still double-doubled with 13 points 11 boards, a steal and a block. Patrick Patterson (11, three 3-pointers), Bismack Biyombo (11) and Cory Joseph (19) all scored in double digits off the bench, but none of them are worth owning. However, Joseph is averaging 9.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a steal, so he’s at least worth a deep-league radar look. Terrence Ross played just 17 minutes and hit 1-of-6 shots, and the small forward position in Toronto looks like a lost cause as long as DeMarre Carroll’s out after knee surgery. Scola’s a borderline own at this point, Johnson is waiver-wire fodder, and Valanciunas, Lowry and DeRozan are the must-own Raps.

Victor Oladipo was in the starting lineup, despite the return of Elfrid Payton, and sent the game to overtime with a clutch 3-pointer. He finished with a season-high 27 points, six boards, six assists, two steals and five 3-pointers and I’m not sure whether to praise Scott Skiles for setting him free, or rip him for benching him for the most of the early season. Probably both. Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic both had nice double-doubles and Evan Fournier restored some faith in his owners with 21 points and two 3-pointers on 8-of-11 shooting. Jason Smith was the man off the bench with 16 points, five boards, four assists and a block in a season-high 37 minutes, although his late attempt at a game-winner was laughable. He’s averaging just 5.9 points in 14 minutes a game, so don’t get too excited just yet. Aaron Gordon played through a sprained ankle, but got just seven minutes with Smith on fire. Elfrid Payton returned from an ankle injury and had four points in 20 minutes off the bench, and I sincerely hope that Oladipo keeps the starting job. If it happens, Payton is a drop candidate in most leagues, especially ones that count TOs. And if you happened to buy low on Dipo during the dark period, congratulations are in order.

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Bulls 115, Sixers 111 OT – We got the news that Jimmy Butler (ankle) was planning to play around 5:40 p.m. yesterday and it wasn’t fully confirmed until just before tip off. And the guy went bananas, hitting 15-of-30 shots and 21 free throws on his way to a career-high 53 points, 10 rebounds, six dimes, three steals and two 3-pointers in 49 minutes. Not only was it the line of the night, it might be the line of the season. Hopefully you read Derrick Rose’s blurb at 5:54 and saw this: “Jimmy Butler is all set up to have a monster game tonight with both Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol on the sidelines, so he should be a popular DFS target with a favorable matchup in Philly.” Had he been fully healthy coming in, he would have been in a lot more DFS lineups than he was. Taj Gibson started with Gasol (shoulder, Achilles) out and had 11 points and 11 boards, Nikola Mirotic struggled in his 24 minutes, hitting just 2-of-13 shots, and Joakim Noah started and played 38 minutes, finishing with six points, 16 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block. Noah’s line was lost in all the Jimmy hoopla, and while I don’t trust him to stay healthy, he should be owned if he was dropped in your league. Bobby Portis played just nine minutes, despite the absence of Gasol, and while I love him, you simply can’t afford to hold him in most leagues. E’Twaun Moore played 26 minutes and had 14 points and two 3-pointers, but I see no reason to grab him. Hang in there with Mirotic, makes plans for replacing Gibson, and expect to see Gasol back on Friday, assuming he feels well enough to play. Rose sat out with his sore left knee and Kirk Hinrich started, but has no fantasy value whatsoever. And Rose says he’s going to play on Friday. Stay tuned.

The Sixers admirably took this game to overtime, thanks in large part to Robert Covington, who exploded for 25 points, six rebounds, two steals and six 3-pointers in 30 minutes off the bench. Jerami Grant was out with a calf injury, and another Rotoworld blurb predicted nice things for Covington at 5:49 p.m.: “Brett Brown said that he anticipates playing Robert Covington “big minutes” for Thursday’s game vs. the Bulls with Jerami Grant sidelined.” Covington struggled in the first half, but blew up in the second, and I have no idea what his role will be when Grant is healthy. I’ll fully admit I had written him off, but if you have someone to drop, picking Covington up until we see what happens makes sense. Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel (was dealing with nausea) were quiet, Ish Smith went nuts with 24 points, eight assists and a fun stat line, and Nik Stauskas had 12 points, five dimes, two steals and three 3-pointers in 39 starting minutes. He’s also worth a look, but I’ll be surprised if he keeps this going and he also suffered a shoulder injury near the end of the game.

Grizzlies 103, Pistons 101 – Mario Chalmers has been a fun fill-in for Mike Conley, who remains day-to-day with an Achilles injury. Mario C had 25 points, eight assists, four steals and two 3-pointers on 9-of-15 shooting, and is a must-play as long as Conley is out. Courtney Lee and Tony Allen were both pretty bad, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph were serviceable, and Jeff Green and Matt Barnes both played very well off the bench. Green was coming off his worst game of the season, so his 16 points, four boards and a 3-pointer on 6-of-10 shooting were good to see. And Barnes, despite coming off the bench in his return from a thumb injury, hit 6-of-7 shots and six 3-pointers for 18 points with three rebounds and two steals in the win. It will be interesting to see if Barnes goes back to starting in front of Randolph, but it seems like a likely scenario. I own Barnes in a few places and you should too.

Ersan Ilyasova played well for the Pistons with 17 points, nine boards, a steal and three 3-pointers after a quiet previous game, Andre Drummond had a weak double-double with 11 points, 11 boards and two blocks, and Reggie Jackson was just all right with 12 points and six dimes. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who went off for 25 on Tuesday, disappeared with just nine points and a 3-pointer in 31 minutes. And that was disappointing after he played so well in three of his last four. Interestingly enough, Stanley Johnson played 25 minutes and hit 7-of-14 shots and five 3-pointers for 19 points and two steals for the best game of his career. With his teammates struggling to put up big numbers, it makes sense that Johnson got loose, but I’d like to see him do it again before getting too excited about him. Drummond has been great, but didn’t play down the stretch in a close game due to his poor free throw shooting, and hasn’t had one of those eye-opening stat lines in six January games. Hopefully his next 20-20 is just around the corner.

Spurs 99, Cavs 95 – Kawhi Leonard bounced back from a bad night and had 20 points, 10 boards, five dimes, a steal, two blocks and two 3-pointers against LeBron James. He loves playing LeBron. Tony Parker stayed hot with 24 points and a nice stat line, but could be due to get ‘Popped’ at any time, and Tim Duncan played 33 meaningful minutes, but didn’t put any big numbers up. Serviceable is a good word for Duncan’s performance last night. LaMarcus Aldridge, who was as hot as any big man in the league coming in, never got it going and finished with just six points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes. This was just the fifth game of the season where he failed to hit double figures in either points or boards, so don’t worry about him. My main ex-man, Danny Green, was 1-of-7 for five points, and the needle is broken on my recording of him. I cut him and I sleep better. A lot better. Boris Diaw only played 10 minutes and Manu Ginobili scored just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting in the win.

Kevin Love (10 & 12) and Tristan Thompson (18 & 14) double-doubled, and Thompson’s line was particularly impressive against the centerless Spurs. He’s worth grabbing if you need a big man. LeBron James didn’t go crazy against Kawhi, but still had 22 points, seven boards and five dimes on 9-of-17 shooting. He looks like a man on a mission and I don’t get the sense he’s going to take too kindly if the Cavs try to make him sit out occasionally. Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith both played well, and the Cavs’ bench did nothing.

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