News and Notes From the Day
- Losing is a slippery slope, just ask the Los Angeles Lakers who have lost three straight. It is looking more and more like the Lake Show could really use Andrew Bynum right now – not necessarily for his skill or production, but to simply give Pau and Lamar a break. Phil Jackson cannot continue to play Gasol and Odom this much without expecting one of them to break down. Get to work Kupchak.
- The New Jersey Nets cannot catch a break. Devin Harris, the team’s starting point guard, injured his knee during the Nets’ matchup with the New York Knicks. Harris will be having an MRI on Wednesday to determine if he tore the meniscus or not. Losing Harris would be a huge blow to the Nets, but there is one person that is smiling right now – Jordan Farmar. If you are looking for a hot pickup in your fantasy league, go grab Farmar now.
- Carlos Boozer will be making his long-awaited debut for the Chicago Bulls this evening, when the Bulls play the Orlando Magic. Do not plan on Boozer seeing a lot of minutes in his debut, but expect a rousing ovation for the Big Alaskan from the fans at the United Center. This will be the first chance that Bulls’ management gets to see what a huge mistake signing Boozer was.
Top 5 of the Night
- Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers: 37 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. Granger scorched the Sacramento Kings making 3 three-pointers and sinking ten free throws.
- Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets: 36 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots. Lopez stepped up in the absence of Devin Harris, but when you are playing the Knicks you should expect to grab more than five rebounds.
- Amare Stoudemire, New York Knicks: 35 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. It looks like it was a shoot out tonight between Stoudemire and Lopez.
- Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies: 28 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Once again the Lakers made their opposing point guard look like an All-Star – Conley earned his paycheck tonight.
- Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: 29 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal. The Black Mamba’s shot selection was atrocious this evening and the Lakers will need to start playing within the triangle if they want to start winning games again.
Fantasy Stud of the Night
Tim Duncan is finally making his debut in the Fantasy Stud of the Night and doing it in a big way with a monster triple-double. This is an impressive line:
- 15 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 blocked shots.
The Big Fundamental showed why he earned that nickname by showing off his passing game tonight. It is nice to see a line like this from Timmy, who is currently well below his current averages of 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.3 blocked shots.
Dunk of the Night
Lamar Odom got his “Statue of Liberty” on tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Deadbeat of the Day
For all of you that got on my case for not including Evan Turner in our Rookie of the Year discussion, he proved again tonight why he should not be discussed in the same breath with John Wall and Blake Griffin. Turner was given the opportunity to start this evening and he come up with a totally uninspired line:
- 1 point, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
For a guy that was a supposed number overall pick, he certainly is not showing it. Luckily the Portland Trailblazers were not blessed with the number one overall pick last season.
Hilarious Pic of the Day
This should be filed under the, “What were you thinking?” category:
ATI