Sunday Daily Dose: Dose: Hornets Hive Comes Alive

It took a 16-point fourth quarter comeback, but Golden State moved to 59-6 with just 17 games left on the schedule. The pressure to go for the glory of the best regular season record ever is officially on.

The Grizzlies were dealt another blow with the announcement that Mike Conley (Achilles) will miss at least another three-to-four weeks, meaning he’s likely to miss most if not all of the remaining regular season. Lance Stephenson—who was worth a look prior to his 33-point Friday explosion—should not be available on the waiver wire, and Born Ready will be the preferred play over Briante Weber or Ray McCallum regardless of who starts the rest of the way, and I’d roll the dice on Ray Mac before firing up the barbecue. With Marc Gasol (foot) out for the season, Memphis is in dire straits given Zach Randolph (knee) missed his fourth straight game and does not have a timetable to return. Along with Stephenson, JaMychal Green, Matt Barnes and Tony Allen are locked into big minutes, and all of them warrant ownership in leagues with at least 10 teams.

After Friday night’s Sixers insanity, both Jerami Grant and Robert Covington have entered the NBA’s concussion protocol. Grant is expected to return before Covington—who left the hospital in a neck brace and will miss at least two games—but each should be held until we learn more with Jahlil Okafor (knee) done for the season. In the interim, it’s going to be a lot of Nerlens Noel and Carl Landry with some Elton Brand sprinkled in since Richaun Holmes (Achilles) is expected to miss seven-to-ten days. The Sixers are going to have to go small a lot too, meaning Hollis Thompson is looking at heavy minutes for the immediate future.

Saturday was another 10-game slate, so there’s plenty of non-injury fallout, as well. Keep up with the latest by following me on Twitter here.

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STUDS

Paul George’s last four: 29.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 3.3 3PM and stingy 1.5 turnovers on 45.7% shooting. PG-13 should have no issues finishing as a top-15 asset…Monta Ellis has played well in three straight Indy wins, averaging 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.7 steals, a block and a 3-pointer (2.0 TO) on a tidy 50% from the floor…Including Saturday’s 30 points, Dirk Nowitzki is averaging 24.6 points over his last five games, all of which have been Dallas losses…On back-to-back nights—both wins for a Hornets team that has won seven straight—Nicolas Batum averaged 15.5 points, 6.5 boards, 9.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 3PM…He’s a fantasy Swiss army knife…Marvin Williams is on fire in his last four, averaging 19.0 points, 5.5 boards, a steal and 3.3 triples on an outstanding 55.1% from the floor…He’s been cooking with fish grease since the All-Star Break…Kemba Walker has hit at least 50% of his shots in five of his first seven in March, turning the ball over just 11 times over that span…It was the first time since Thanksgiving week Al Jefferson had a double-double or played at least 30 minutes… Jackson now has back-to-back 10-dime outings, and he’s continuing to trend up with averages of 21.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 triples over his last four games…Kentavious Caldwell-Pope appears fully overcome from his groin injury, averaging 19.3 points, 1.8 steals and 1.3 triples in that same stretch while playing heavy minutes…Tobias Harris already looks more comfortable in Detroit than he ever did in Orlando…Isaiah Canaan, who had four more triples on Saturday and is averaging 2.5/game in March, is worth a long look if you need a specialist.

Lance Stephenson played his re-born ready game with a versatile 18/8/6 line, while the newly-signed Ray McCallum stuffed the stat sheet in his debut, playing a very real role—27 minutes—in the rotation…Al Horford and Paul Millsap predictably went off against a paper-thin Grizz frontline, combining to fill the box score in sterling fashion. Both Millsap and Horford should be top-20 players for the remainder of the season…Kyle Korver provided the kind of line that made him a popular fantasy pick, but there are no indications he’s suddenly figured it out…Jeff Teague’s four triples were the most he’s made in a game since February 1…Joe Johnson played the Dwyane Wade (thigh) role, cashing in his best line since going to Miami…Remember when DeMar DeRozan was considered just a scorer? An explosive 38/10/7 line with production across the stat sheet is the latest evidence of his evolution in both reality and fantasy.

Khris Middleton’s barely missed a huge triple-double, and he’s fueled back-to-back eight-dime games with averages of 20.5 points, 8.5 boards and 2.0 steals…Greg Monroe broke a mini-shooting slump with a nice line without a turnover, and there’s no reason he should be sent back to Jason Kidd’s bench…Jerryd Bayless is showing why he holds sneaky value with Michael Carter-Williams (hip) and O.J. Mayo (leg) done for the year, averaging 14.3 points, a steal and 3.0 triples over his last three contests…LaMarcus Aldridge now has at least 23 points in seven straight, and his acclimatization to the Spurs has arrived earlier than expected, averaging 25.2 points, 9.3 boards and 1.5 blocks this month…As Jeff Van Gundy noted, the trade George Hill for Kawhi Leonard will go down as an all-time heist…Enes Kanter has three (empty) double-doubles in his last four, but Billy Donovan doesn’t sound eager to feed his $70M man.

Down Bradley Beal (pelvis) and Alan Anderson (ankle), Otto Porter finally shook out of a major slump with 23 points and five steals…The red flags remain, but Porter should be given the Robert Covington treatment because you don’t find his type of upside on the wire…D.J. Augustin, Will Barton, Darrell Arthur and Jusuf Nurkic all had big nights off the bench, and Augustin is quietly averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.0 triples since March began…Nurkic could be looking at a role increase with Joffrey Lauvergne (face) hurt, but he’s only a deep league option for now…Al-Farouq Aminu stuffed the box score with his best line of the second half, but he’s nowhere near a must-own player…The Aaron Gordon Train is rolling, averaging 15.5 points, 8.8 boards, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks over his last four.

After handing out a career-high 11 assists, Devin Booker‘s March averages sit at 24.7 points, 5.3 assists, 1.7 3PM and 87.2% FTs…The rookie is well on his way to stardom in fantasy and reality…Alex Len ate up the best team in basketball for 26&13 and now has eight straight with double-digit rebounds…The Ukraine is strong with averages of 17.7 points and 13.1 rebounds in March…Tyson Chandler now has three double-doubles in his last six games…Brandon Knight had his welcome back to the starting lineup party vs. the defending champs, exploding for a 30/6/7 line, tying a season-high seven treys…It’s a rare night when Stephen Curry scores 35 with seven triples and gets overshadowed, but Marreese Speights’ supernova of 25&9 with two steals and a block in 18 minutes achieved just that.