Welcome back to another edition of Home Delivery, the fantasy basketball blog that breaks down last night's action. With 12 games on the schedule, we have plenty to get to. The Nets Play Hard to Get, Since No One Seems to Get How They Lost to the T-Wolves
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For the Nets, Brook Lopez was a killer in the paint. He put in 27 points, pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked five shots. Yes, he's that good. So was Yi Jianlian who posted 17 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, along with 7-of-8 shooting from the line. Pickup alert! Same can be said about rookie Terrence Williams. He posted a career-best 15 points and 10 rebounds in his first game. Frenzy offense or no frenzy offense he looks like a nice fit in New Jersey.
Also in the Headlines
Cleveland Fans Knew It Was Too Good to Be True; LeBron Blocked Zero Shots
On the other side, Andrea Bargnani went off. He scored 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting and added two threes, a steal and a block. Chris Bosh added 21 points and 16 rebounds (yawn), but shot just 6-of-17 from the floor. Jose Calderon added 11 assists, but scored just five points.
The Indiana Pacers Look to Turnover a New Leaf; Emphasis on Turnover
Thanks to 25 turnovers by the Indiana Pacers, the Atlanta Hawks provided fantasy owners with blocks and steals aplenty -- 16 steals, six blocks. T.J. Ford refused to turn the ball over in an attempt to keep his name out of the stat sheet. On the plus side, Danny Granger played through a heel injury, scoring 31 points while knocking down five 3-pointers.
The Charlotte Bobcats Are Led by an Actual Bobcat
I'm not sure if any publication has a Derrick Brown headshot lying around, but it amuses me, for some reason, that Yahoo! used the bobcat logo as his headshot. Read: no one expected this day to come. Nonetheless, Brown scored nine of his team's 59 points and only Gerald Wallace scored in double-figures -- a measly 10 points.
For the Celtics, Ray Allen scored 18 points, Rajon Rondo posted 11 assists and three steals, and Kevin Garnett pulled down seven rebounds.
In Other News
¤ Kevin Martin scored a team-high 27 points with three 3-pointers, three steals, while shooting 14-of-14 from the stripe. Sadly, he shot 5-of-19 from the field. ¤ Kevin Durant scored 25 points and brought down 11 rebounds, while Nenad Krstic had 20 points and seven rebounds. Not sure Etan Thomas made a case for a time-share in the middle with his two points and one rebound in 18 minutes.
¤ Ben Gordon and Richard Hamilton combined for 47 of their team's 96 points.
¤ Marc Gasol: 21 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks, 9-of-11 free throws and 6-of-9 from the field. Zach Randolph makes his teammates better?
¤ Louis Williams had a "Louis Williams" line last night -- 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 threes.
¤ Grant Hill scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. It's nice to see that his tank is still full in game number one.
¤ Baron Davis does what he does best -- plays with our emotions. After a stinker in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, he put up 12 points, 12 assists, two threes, five steals, two blocks and shot 4-of-11 from the field.
¤ Deron Williams with 28 points, 13 assists and two 3-pointers. Love the threes. Let's hope he can continue to produce from beyond the arc.
¤ Trevor Ariza scored 25 points, but shot just 9-of-21 in the effort. Luis Scola posted a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor.
¤ Dwight Howard with 21 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor. A quiet night for him.
Lost and Found
Charlie Villanueva blocked three shots in a relatively quiet performance.
Andre Iguodala stole five balls, while Marreese Speights stole two and blocked one.
Hedo Turkoglu came out of nowhere to block three shots. His season-high is 32 blocks, in 2003-04.
Like I mentioned earlier, the Hawks had 16 steals. Josh Smith stole five, Joe Johnson stole four, Mike Bibby took three, and Marvin Williams pocketed two.
Derrick Brown blocked two and stole two. We'll look back on this game and smile.
Kendrick Perkins blocked four shots. No reason not to pick up Perk in deeper leagues, or even 12-team leagues where you have to start two centers. Two blocks per, 8-and-8, plus a 58-percent showing from the floor. It all adds up.
Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers added two steals apiece, as expected. Further down in the box score, Joel Anthony blocked two shots and scored zero points, also as expected.
I liked seeing Jason Thompson block two shots last night. Hopefully he can continue to get aggressive on defense. The fouls, however, are still a bit of a concern.
The T-Wolves posted 15 steals last night. Four from Wilkins, two from Jefferson, two from Flynn and two from Corey Brewer. Wilkins and Jefferson won't see many steals in their respective stat lines.
Chris Paul with zero steals and David West with three. I thought that was worth noting, because we won't see many nights like that this season.
Marcus Camby with three blocks and three steals. Seems like he is the answer to this whole Blake Griffin quandary. Surely, that's until he hurts his ankle.
The Rockets posted 14 steals, with eight of the nine players who saw time on the court picking up at least one. Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes led the way with three apiece.
Stephen Curry with four steals in his debut.
Classified Adds
¤ Marreese Speights is all the rage this morning after his performance against the Magic -- 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block on 10-of-11 shooting from the field. It's time to get serious about Speights. I would suggest him as an "add," but please lower your expectations. It's a bit too soon to start calling him this year's Paul Millsap, but after a few more plus-performances he could be a serious flier in the early goings. ¤ Jason Williams had 15 points and five assists on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Too soon. Jameer Nelson is still the point guard and that won't change. I don't think we'll see many lines like this from Williams, so unless you are in need of a point guard in a deep league, pass on Williams.
¤ T.J. Ford was just awful last night, leaving Earl Watson the opportunity to play the point, putting in 20 points in 24 minutes. Again, not worth getting excited about. Ford is in a contract year, so don't think that he won't turn it around and find the motivation to get paid next summer.
¤ Danilo Gallinari with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting from beyond the three-point line. Add in six rebounds and Gallinari looks like an "add" to me. I know I've written about Gallo a dozen times already, but this is exactly what his worth is -- solid contribution in points, FG%, FT%, and threes. Not seven per game, but if he keeps shooting at such a high rate he could certainly top two per game and finish near the top of the league. I know, he doesn't do enough on defense or he doesn't fill out the rebound or assist categories, but there is plenty of value in an efficient shooter who makes more than two 3-point attempts per game.
¤ Ty Lawson played 26 minutes scoring 17 points, dishing out six assists, and shooting 7-of-13 from the field. Again, a bit too soon on Lawson. A lot of this had to do with available playing time left behind from J.R. Smith's seven-game suspension. Deep leagues, sure. Especially for the next six games. In standard leagues with three bench spots I probably wouldn't jump on Lawson unless I really needed to.
¤ I would love to advocate adding Stephen Curry if he's available in your league after his 14-point, 7-assist and 4-steal debut. Something tells me, though, that Don Nelson won't let you enjoy Curry much.
Lotto Line
0-0-1-2-9-43
America's sweetheart Craig Smith played nine minutes and posted just one point and two rebounds, with zero blocks and steals. He was ranked No. 43 overall in standard scoring entering the game. I think it's safe to say that the 4 percent of people who bought into Smith last night are having some buyer's remorse.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ty Lawson looked great last night. Hope he can keep it up.
He does look good and it would be nice to see him keep it up. My only concern is that when J.R. Smith returns (6 more games) the minutes will now be split between 5 guys with Smith and Billups likely getting the bulk. But, you're right. He definitely does look good.
Meh... Craig Smith is all right, considering he's basically just keeping the seat warm for soon-to-be-ROY Blake Griffin.
The Clips have been playing much better than last year. Never mind the season-opening back-to-back losses - they were competitive in both, and also the Cavs have opened with two close losses in a row and nobody's calling them a lottery team.
Give them time to shake the rust off and this team looks destined for success.