Young-est Gun
San Antonio Scrubs
If you own any of the Spurs' Big 3, you probably got an early taste of what the last 10 days of the regular season could look like on Tuesday. Gregg Popovich chose to sit
Tony Parker,
Tim Duncan and
Michael Finley 'just because,' while
Manu Ginobili was out with a hip contusion. Manu was legitimately hurting and couldn't go against the Nuggets, while the other three were held out for rest after an overtime game the previous night. I don't use the final week of the season in the leagues I run because of all the weird DNPs that come with it, but was not expecting this prior to the All-Star break. All four players should be available for their next game, Sunday against the Celtics.
Snapdraft
And if you're still reeling because you own
[URL="http://fantasyfootball.usatoday.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NBA&id=1115"]Chris Paul[/URL],
[URL="http://fantasyfootball.usatoday.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NBA&id=1132"]Andrew Bynum[/URL],
[URL="http://fantasyfootball.usatoday.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NBA&id=1060"]Jameer Nelson[/URL] or
[URL="http://fantasyfootball.usatoday.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NBA&id=1130"]Deron Williams[/URL], why not change up your karma and play some fantasy hoops at
Snapdraft? The next NBA game is happening on Friday night and you can draft yourself an entirely new squad of healthy players and try to make a little cash from your knowledge. And once Wednesday's games are over, that team will be dissolved and you can start over again on the next night. That's the best part about the game, is that there is no long-term commitment - hence the name. New users get a free five bucks to play with, or a $100 deposit will get you an additional 10% bonus.
Jameeracle on Ice
Jameer Nelson has a torn labrum in his right shoulder and needs surgery. Whether he'll have it sooner or later is still up in the air, so owners should just hang tight for now. He'll miss 2-6 weeks without surgery, or the rest of the season if he goes under the knife. Unfortunately, that's all we know at this point.
CP3
When will we see
Chris Paul again? He wants to play tonight, but has already been ruled out with a strained groin. It's possible he could play Friday, but it's also possible he could sit until after the break.
You Say Hello, I Say Goodbye
Joe Johnson is out for tonight's Hawks' game with some kind of virus, while
Al Horford is expected to return to action from his knee injury. Hopefully Joe only misses this one game, and it sounds like
Maurice Evans will start in his place.
D-Will He or D-Won't He?
Deron Williams is still iffy for Thursday against Dallas with his quad contusion that has caused swelling in his knee.
C.J. Miles is also iffy for that one after suffering a shoulder injury in his last game.
Influenza
Kenyon Martin,
Sasha Pavlovic and
Lorenzen Wright all missed Tuesday with the flu.
Good-en News for Drew
Drew Gooden is hoping to play Saturday vs. Dallas after a long bout with groin and abdominal injuries. His return will hurt
Joakim Noah, just like Noah hurt his owners last night.
Tuesday's Action
Tuesday was much less painful on the injury front, but that shutdown by the Spurs will leave a mark. In addition,
Kevin Garnett sat out for the Celtics for the second straight game with the flu, but should be back on Thursday against the Lakers in Boston.
Cleveland beats Toronto
LeBron James scored 33 points to lead the Cavs over the Raptors and became the youngest player ever to score 12,000 points. And that's saying something.
Daniel Gibson scored 18 points and
Wally Szczerbiak, who started over Pavlovic (flu) scored 15. That's all well and good, but the shooting guard job is
Delonte West's when he returns soon from his broken wrist.
Mo Williams had 16 points and nine assists, and many folks believe he's headed to the All-Star game in place of Nelson.
Jermaine O'Neal started over
Jamario Moon and it's time to cut Moon again. JO had 20 points and eight boards, while
Andrea Bargnani had 10 points and 10 boards despite another off-shooting night. Bargnani is struggling, but I think he'll bounce back. He'll be especially valuable for the second half if JO is traded.
Jose Calderon hit just 1-of-9 shots for two points and six assists. You can blame it on his lingering hamstring concern, or a stout Cavs' D – your pick.
Wolves beat Pacers
Minnesota got 19 points and nine turnovers from
Randy Foye, 16 points and four assists from
Sebastian Telfair and 15 points and 11 boards from
Kevin Love. Love isn't blocking shots, but should be a double-double machine over the second half.
Mike Miller had 13 points, six boards and three assists, and appears to be close to finally breaking out.
Danny Granger played well through his knee injury, going for 28 points, five boards, four assists, a steal, two blocks and four treys in the loss. Some trades of Granger that I've heard of recently include giving up Granger and
Eric Gordon to get
Brandon Roy,
Mike Dunleavy and
Kirk Hinrich. I also heard of someone trading him straight up for
Antawn Jamison. I'm still not sure if it's completely worth panicking on Granger, but his knee injury is certainly a concern. It does sound like he plans on playing in the All-Star Game, which could mean that the Pacers aren't all that worried about his knee. But then again, we'll see if he shows up for the exhibition or not.
As for
Eric Gordon, in his one game with
Baron Davis and
Zach Randolph back he struggled. He may continue to do so, but I bet he still has some value. The prevailing thought is that he won't have many of those 30-point nights when everyone is healthy.
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Ray Allen's 3-pointer beats Sixers
Ray Allen, who is another serious candidate to replace Nelson on the All-Star team, hit a three at the buzzer to beat Philly. Allen finished with 23 points, while the C's also got a dub-dub from
Glen Davis. With KG set to return Thursday, don't bother picking up Big Baby.
The Sixers got 14 points, seven boards and three blocks from
Samuel Dalembert, who is suddenly relevant again. Who is not relevant?
Elton Brand, who failed to score and had just three boards in nine minutes last night. I am not counting on much from him the rest of the way and suspect he'll aggravate his shoulder injury. Trade him for what you can get.
Andre Iguodala had 22 points, six boards, six assists, three steals and a block, and I've heard from some folks that they're having a lot of trouble moving him right now. I'm not sure why that is, but with Brand so out of it, I'm not sure you want to move Iguodala anyway.
Nets hold off the Bucks
Vince Carter hit just 3-of-12 shots but finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for his fifth career triple-double as the Nets beat the Bucks.
Brook Lopez was beastly again, finishing with 22 points, 12 boards and two blocks without
Andrew Bogut in the middle, and
Keyon Dooling had 18 points and five threes despite the presence of
Devin Harris. Dooling, as usual, is intriguing, but is only reliable when Harris is out.
Ryan Anderson hit 7-of-10 shots and three 3-pointers for 19 points and seven boards, and should be a decent play for as long as
Bobby Simmons and
Yi Jianlian are out.
Richard Jefferson had 27 points, six boards, three assists and three 3-pointers against his former team, and it's too bad he can't play Jersey every night.
Ramon Sessions had 19 points and six dimes, while
Charlie Villanueva had just 11 points. I'm guessing CV got limited minutes so that RJ could torch his former team, but let's just hope this isn't a sign that Scott Skiles is about to start screwing with his minutes again.
Rockets tame Bulls
Yao Ming had 28 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, while
Luis Scola torched
Tyrus Thomas and company for 13 points and 18 boards. If you have a big man you can play against the Bulls, do it. I don't care who it is.
Tracy McGrady played and scored 16, but
Rafer Alston (1-of-7, seven points) and
Ron Artest (10 points) struggled in the win.
Derrick Rose played well through his foot injury, finishing with 12 points, seven boards, seven dimes and two steals, while
Luol Deng scored a season-high 28 to go along with six boards.
Joakim Noah struggled for two points and one rebound, and will continue to struggle when Gooden returns.
Tyrus Thomas is still playing well and had 14 points, 13 boards, four assists, a steal, three blocks and a 3-pointer. Wow. He should be in all starting lineups right now, until he pisses his coach off again.
Nuggets struggle to beat Spurs' scab team
The Nuggets barely held on to beat the Spurs' reserves and were led by
Carmelo Anthony's 35 points. He hit 10-of-17 shots and 14-of-15 free throws, and should be poised for a big second half. Nene had 17 points, 11 boards and a whopping five blocks, while
J.R. Smith started at shooting guard over
Dahntay Jones. Good news, right? Not last night, as he hit just 1-of-10 shots for six points, five boards and four assists. But if he continues to start, he'll be better on most nights.
Chauncey Billups sat out the second half with a right ankle sprain and is day-to-day. Hopefully he's ready to go tonight at OKC. Consider him a game-time decision at this point, but watch for updates throughout the day.
Roger Mason led the Spurs with 26 points, five boards, six assists and five 3-pointers, which could have been useful to you if we'd known of Pop's plan to bench his studs.
Wednesday's Story Lines
Clippers @ Magic - Should be interesting to see how
Anthony Johnson fares against
Baron Davis, and vice versa. I'm expecting big things from both point guards tonight, although I suspect
Hedo Turkoglu will play plenty of PG for the Magic, as well.
Dwight Howard vs.
Marcus Camby should also entertain, while I'm anxious to see if
Eric Gordon still has any juice left with the return of
Zach Randolph and Baron.
Lakers @ Toronto - Kobe's coming off a 61-point feast on the Knicks and has an 81-point game under his belt against the Raptors. I'm going to predict 47 from Kobe tonight, which might be conservative?
Nets @ Wizards -
Brook Lopez could go for 20 & 20 tonight.
Cavs @ Knicks - LeBron is downplaying his matchup with the Knicks tonight, but I would not be surprised to see him go off for 52 or so. And as much as the fans were behind Kobe the other night, LeBron will be showered with even more love.
Heat @ Pistons - D-Wade vs.
Rodney Stuckey will be fun.
Nuggets @ OKC - Trap game for the Nuggets and I am looking for
Kevin Durant and
Russell Westbrook to go off – especially if Billups is out.
Hawks @ T-Wolves - Horford will struggle against
Al Jefferson and the Hawks will struggle to win this game without JJ. In fact, my guess is they get blown out, with
Kevin Love posting a big line tonight.
Rockets @ Memphis - Will T-Mac and Ron-Ron go? I assume so. Yao should go off and if
Rafer Alston struggles against Memphis, it's going to be a long second half. He just can't seem to get it going when the Rockets are at full strength.
Bulls @ Hornets -
David West and
Hilton Armstrong should have big lines tonight, while
Devin Brown and
Antonio Daniels should do something without Paul in uniform. And if
Tyson Chandler returns from his ankle injury, forget about Armstrong. Chandler's likely a game-time decision.
Blazers @ Mavs -
Greg Oden could torch
Erick Dampier tonight, while
Dirk Nowitzki and
Brandon Roy should put on a show.
Suns @ Warriors -
[URL="http://fantasyfootball.usatoday.com/content/playerpages/player_main.asp?sport=NBA&id=1551"]Jason Richardson[/URL] and
Matt Barnes are almost must-starts tonight against their former team, while
Corey Maggette is a little questionable with a sore back. He missed practice yesterday, but is expected to play off the bench.
Cutting T-Mac
Dropping
Tracy McGrady has become a popular game within the game in fantasy leagues, and this is reader Kenny's take on the sport.
