Thursday Night Recap

Houston at Portland
It’s too bad buzzer-beaters aren’t a fantasy category for Brandon Roy. Roy hit a shot with 1.9 left, then Yao took the lead back when Roy fouled him to convert a three-point play, and Roy finished the game with a 30-foot catch-and-shoot jumper at the buzzer to win the game. Roy has also hit some buzzer-beaters at the end of quarters throughout the season, too. Roy saved his game in the last few seconds, and finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five turnovers, and a steal. Roy should be top-30 in eight and nine-category leagues.
The main fantasy player for the Blazers was Lamarcus Aldridge. He had 27 points, nine rebounds, three blocks. Oden coming back could warrant a sell-high scenario for Lamarcus, but he should be just outside of top-50 production.
Nicolas Batum got the start at the three for the Blazers and played 19 minutes. Le Frenchman scored just six, but he will do better and should be owned in deep leagues until Martell Webster returns. Travis Outlaw had a triumphant return to the bench with 14 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks, two threes, and a steal in 34 minutes. This will probably be the only time someone says, “triumphant return to the bench” for the entire season, but he should stay in that role and will produce at least until the aforementioned Webster returns. Rudy Fernandez had 15 points and knocked down three from far away. Can anyone argue that Portland isn’t the deepest team in the league?

Tracy McGrady had his best game of the season with 30 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals, and one block. This was the first game that T-Mac didn’t look like he was in pain at all. Personally, I think if you can get a top-30 player for him you’d have to pull the trigger. Conversely, Yao Ming has had a terrible two-game stretch. He has only averaged 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks. Yao will definitely turn it around, so owners should be patient. Aaron Brooks continued to look solid with 14 points and two shots from distance. Brooks should be owned in 14-team leagues at this point.

Philadelphia at Orlando
Jameer Nelson had his best game of the season with 16 points, nine assists, four rebounds, two steals, and a three. When Carlos Arroyo bolted to Tel Aviv it provided Jameer with basically no competition at the one. Anthony Johnson, his backup, had no points in 12 minutes. Nelson should be owned in all leagues.
Dwight Howard had his worst game of the season for the Magic by only scoring 14 points, grabbing eight boards, and blocking three shots in his first game that wasn't a double-double. Howard got into foul trouble which affected his playing time by only getting 29 minutes (10 minutes below his average). Howard also only made just two-of-eight from the charity stripe. Most people that drafted Dwight knew that Howard was going to be bad considering he was a 59-percent shooter last year, but this year he has only made 44-percent this season. Ouch! Howard owners in roto leagues will be last the whole year, and head-to-head owners will lose that cat regardless of how many great free-throw shooters are on the team. On the other hand, Howard has blocked over four shots per night in the first five games this year.
Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis have lived up to their draft position and both scored 20 points. There was some slight concern with Turkoglu having a let down after a breakout year. Even though his scoring numbers are down, he has been getting more minutes and grabbing more rebounds.

Thaddeus Young led the Sixers in scoring with 19 points. Surprisingly, Young leads the team in scoring this season by scoring 16.5 per game. That number doubles his average last year (8.2), and is even higher than his 14.4 average at Georgia Tech (learn something new everyday). I was pretty high on Young, but he is a sell-high candidate thus far. Elton Brand only scored six points on three-of-eight shooting. It was clearly Brand’s worst game of the year, and if there’s a way to pry him from an owner in panic, go for it!! Yes, the two exclamation points are necessary.
Andre Iguodala had his best game this season by barely missing a trip-dub with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Iggy has started very slow and has only made 38-percent of his field goals (47-percent last year). There was some concern about how Brand might hurt Iggy, but I’m still not buying it. Iggy is another buy-low guy.

Second-String Substitutions
Friday (13 game so you probably shouldn’t need these guys)
Marquis Daniels (pts, rbs, asts)
Boris Diaw (rbs, pts, asts)
Ramon Sessions (pts, asts)
DJ Augustin (asts, 3pm)
Robin Lopez (blks, rbs)
Brandan Wright (pts, rbs, FG%)
Bobby Brown (asts, pts)

Saturday (6 games)
Marquis Daniels (double dipper)
Corey Brewer (stls, pts)
Nick Young (pts, stls)
Sebastian Telfair (asts, pts)
Jeff Foster (rbs)
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (stls, blks, pts)
Nicolas Batum (stls, blks, 3pm)
Daequan Cook (3pm, pts)

Sunday (8 games)
Kyle Lowry(pts, stls, FT%)
Chris Wilcox (pts, rbs)
Paul Millsap (pts, rbs)
Trevor Ariza (stls, blks, 3pm)
Aaron Brooks (pts, asts, 3pm)
Dahntay Jones (pts)