Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: Unhappy Holidays
The Warriors have eight games to go and they are sitting at 67-7 with a 36-0 record at home this season and have won their last 54 regular-season games at Oracle Arena. Their second unit almost blew the lead on Tuesday, but coach Steve Kerr put his first unit back in for the final minute to seal the 102-94 victory.
We’ll kind of move through this edition of the Daily Dose quickly for the “important” games in the playoffs standings here and focus on the uncertainty at the bottom. Draymond Green just missed a triple-double with 15 points, 16 rebounds, nine assists, one steal, two blocks and three 3-pointers.
Klay Thompson set the record for most 3-pointers in any March ever, which isn’t a surprise after he won Western Conference Player of the Week. Thompson didn’t have a great game with 16 points, four rebounds, one steal, one block and two 3-pointers. If you count treys, Stephen Curry put up a 5×5 with 26 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, five steals and six treys. He’s on track for 400 treys this year. He’s at 356.
As for the Wizards, they played the Warriors pretty tough, but John Wall did not play well with eight points, five rebounds, 11 assists, one steal and four blocks. Markieff Morris was solid in his return from a calf issue, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and three 3-pointers.
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Harden Criminals (Rockets 106 at Cavs 100)
The Rockets stole one on Tuesday. Yes, LeBron James (rest) not playing certainly was a factor, but it was a 20-point comeback for Houston on the road. It was also their 12th double-digit comeback on the year, so it’s nothing new. As you might expect, James Harden was terrific with 27 points, six rebounds, eight assists, one steal and three 3-pointers. The Rockets fighting for their playoff lives is great for his fantasy value and makes it less likely he rests.
Patrick Beverley continues to be effective with another nice line of 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, one block and two 3-pointers. He should be a top-75 player, especially since he doesn’t like to rest. Dwight Howard destroyed his fantasy owners’ free throw percentage, making 7-of-22 from there with an 11-point, 11-board double-double. There really isn’t a lot of fantasy impact here, so we’ll just move on.
There will be more rest on the way for the Cavs. It’s not official yet, but they have a back-to-back set starting on Thursday and chances are a rest day will be on Thursday or Friday for some guys. As for Tuesday, Kyrie Irving was effective with 31 points, two rebounds, eight assists, one steal, one block and five 3-pointers. Before Tuesday, he had a 38.8 usage rate when he wasn’t next to LeBron this season, so a big line is not a surprise. Kevin Love was a letdown with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two treys. Again, expect Irving and Love to rest on Thursday and/or Friday.
Detroit Rest City (Thunder 82 at Pistons 88)
The Pistons got very, very lucky. Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka rested on Tuesday to help them get a win. They almost lost the game even without those two, but they’re sitting in the No. 7 hole right now for the Eastern Conference standings.
There really isn’t a lot of analysis needed on this one. I thought the most interesting thing was the Pistons using Andre Drummond and Aron Baynes down the stretch. It was just the fourth game all season those two were used together and it was for a whopping five minutes. Drummond put up another double-double with 13 points, 15 boards, two steals and two blocks. Ho hum.
Marcus Morris was also very good with 24 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one block and one 3-pointer. He’s on another heater, so he should probably be owned right now.
Russell Westbrook was a usage monster in the loss, making 8-of-28 from the field, 6-of-9 from the line and four turnovers in 35 minutes. He finished with just 24 points, four rebounds, six assists, one steal and two 3-pointers, too. No bueno.
Looking ahead on OKC, they probably won’t be resting guys going forward, but they do have a five-game cushion on the Clippers.
Bull Charge? (Bulls 98 at Pacers 96)
The Bulls got a huge win, but it’s too bad the Pistons won. The may have lost Taj Gibson (rib) to a contusion to his ribs after he played just 10 minutes. If he is going to miss time, that should really open up some run for Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis.
Mirotic snapped out of his slump with a tremendous line of 28 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal and seven 3-pointers. He’s as unpredictable as they come, but he would be looking at more minutes with Taj out. Portis started the second half for Taj, finishing with nine points, one rebound and no turnovers in just 10 minutes. There’s obviously no need to move here.
The Bulls stars were also dinged up. Jimmy Butler had an informal minutes cap on Tuesday, finishing with 36 minutes, 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover. He has a back injury on top of the bad knee, so his fantasy owners should probably expect him to be a top 25-40 guy and not the top-10 guy. On the bright side, the Bulls winning is big to lower his shutdown chances.
Derrick Rose suffered an elbow injury in this game. Honestly, the only person who knows who will play on Thursday is Derrick Rose. Yo Derrick, if you’re reading this, let us know what’s up.
The Bulls continue to get pounded inside as Ian Mahinmi is the latest to benefit with 18 points, seven rebounds, one assist and two blocks. He’s kind of a sneaky, late-round center going forward. Myles Turner wasn’t really in a great spot and foul trouble kept him to six points, five boards and one block in 16 minutes. Not to worry there.
Paul George gave us a little scare with a leg injury. He had some contact to his lower right leg and he did check out. George did return and looked fine, finishing with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals, one block and two 3-pointers. He’ll be all good.
No One Team Should Have All That Power (Forward) (Nets 105 at Magic 139)
So the Magic power forwards had a good night against the Nets. Aaron Gordon dunked his way to 9-of-11 from the field for 20 points with four rebounds, one steal and one 3-pointer in 21 minutes. Andrew Nicholson turned in a 116.7 effective field goal percentage, making all nine shots from the field for a career-high 24 points with three rebounds, two assists and three 3-pointers.
Gordon has been pretty bad lately, but there’s no reason to think he can’t stay hot. Keep him rolling. As for Nicholson, he should be able to put up some low-end value because it doesn’t look like Ersan Ilyasova (ankle) is coming back any time soon. Of course, the Magic don’t play the Nets every game going forward.
Victor Oladipo (wrist) made his return to the starting lineup, but the blowout factor screwed him up. He finished with just seven points, three rebounds, eight assists, three steals and one 3-pointer in 26 minutes. He’ll be better. Dipo’s return did not hurt Elfrid Payton with the PG scoring 11 points with five boards, 12 dimes, two steals and one turnover. Payton’s owners should expect a dip from his output the past week.
Sanka, ya Dedmon? Dewayne Dedmon was great again with 15 points, four rebounds and three blocks. It’s still tough to trust him with just 20 minutes.
The Nets rested Thaddeus Young and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in the second half of a back-to-back set. Before we break down what happened, I would be shocked if Brook Lopez didn’t get off on Thursday or Friday. You could say the same for Bojan Bogdanovic, too.
Anyway, it was all about the Truck lane. Thomas Robinson scored 18 points with 12 boards, two assists, one steal and one block. If he starts, you start him in DFS and season-long leagues. Period. Besides that, there’s really nothing to see here. Shane Larkin was fine with 10 points four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover, though.
Brook Lopez (five points, three rebounds, one assist and four turnovers) and Bojan Bogdanovic (six points) were benched in the second half because the Nets were smoked. I’d still expect them to sit in one of the next two games.
