Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.Nobody celebrates a loss quite like the Chicago Bulls. In all fairness, at first glance it looked like Brad Miller had hit the game-winner as time expired. Unfortunately, the red light never lies.
Joakim Noah had the best line of the game with 12 points and 21 rebounds. He now has reached double-digits in all but one game this season. He also added two blocks, giving him 11 total over the last four games. Teammate Derrick Rose chipped in with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, five assists, a steal, two blocks and no turnovers. If he's not 100-percent healthy, he sure looks like it.
For the Nuggets it was Carmelo Anthony who once again led the team in scoring with 20 points. Kenyon Martin played despite a minor leg injury and doubled up with 15 points and 10 rebounds. What about Earl? Well, J.R. 'Earl' Smith returned from hit seven-game suspension to come off the bench for 29 minutes, scoring five points on 1-of-9 shooting. He just needs to shake off the rust.
Also In the Headlines
• Eric Gordon's diagnosis is in and he's now out for 10 days, thanks to his stinkin' groin. Time to make a move to replace him for the next two weeks.
• Both Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are doubtful with ankle sprains for Wednesday night's game. So, daily leaguers, get them on your bench.
• Randy Foye injured his ankle last night. It looks like he'll miss some time, so make the change in your lineup.
• Vince Carter returned to action and played 25 minutes, scoring 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, four rebounds, three treys, a steal and a block. Glad to see him back and jacking up shots. It's hard to keep a good Carter down. • Gerald Wallace, the NBA's leading rebounder, pulled down nine more last night marking his seventh straight game with at least nine rebounds. I said this in Hoops Heist last night, but I still think that Wallace is a nice buy-low trade option as he can average 10 boards, 16 points and at least two steals this season. He shot 5-of-12 from the floor marking an improvement on his 32.1 field-goal percentage and, thankfully, he did not shoot a three-pointer. The Bobcats as a team shot just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc.
• Gilbert Arenas was so-so last night scoring 21 points, hitting three treys, dishing eight dimes and picking up three steals. Of course, if you're in turnover league his 12 TOs just killed your entire week.
• Zach Randolph will single-handily bring his teammates down. Literally. Last night his head broke rookie Hasheem Thabeet's jaw. The hit looked pretty rough, though I never expected to hear that his jaw was broken. We don't know how long Thabeet will be out, but it's pretty clear that he probably shouldn't be owned right now.
• Andre Miller and Steve Blake once again started in the backcourt for the Blazers. Blake provided the scoring (14 points) while Miller was responsible for the dishing (seven assists). Miller has the upside and it's only a matter of time before he puts it all together. I'm sure I've said that a dozen times this week alone, but give him a little more time to get adjusted to his starting role and don't bail on him just yet.
• LaMarcus Aldridge had has shot falling last night and Brandon Roy followed up his two-point performance on Sunday with a 20-point showing last night. Things seem to be going well in Portland.
• Erik Dampier had 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting with 20 rebounds (!) and three blocks. Come on, man. What's it going to be? Damps is that kind of guy who you hold-off buying into because you tell yourself the moment you pick him up he's going to put up a 6 and 5 line with no blocks. But he performs again. And yet you still hold off. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
• Jason Terry doesn't seem to be worried by Josh Howard's return. He scored 24 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, 1-of-1 from beyond the arc and 9-of-9 from the line. Efficient.
• The Kings with a fantastic victory last night against the Thunder, led by Tyreke Evans' 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and clutch free-throw shooting hitting 10-of-10 -- including two in the final seconds after Kevin Durant hit a three-pointer to pull the Thunder within one. Jason Thompson turned in another huge performance with 21 points and 14 rebounds, marking his fourth straight double-double. Too bad for fantasy owners that the Kings play only twice this week. They are riding a high, winning three in a row since the Kevin Martin injury.
• Speaking of free-throws, Kevin Durant hit all 18 of his attempts to finish with 37 points to go along with his five rebounds and three steals. Durant owners get seven games out of him over the next 12 nights. Nice.
Lost and Found
• Marcin Gortat had a nice defensive showing with four blocks and two steals. Unfortunately, there's that Dwight Howard fella blocking his minutes, so there's still no need in picking up Gortat in standard leagues.
• Dwight Howard failed to block a shot for the third time in four games. I would be worried if he wasn't Dwight Howard.
• Mario Chalmers had four more steals giving him 17 on the season. Not sure why owners are bailing on him. You know what he can and can't do, so keep that in mind when you're cursing him for not scoring 15 per game.
• Chuck Hayes is a one-man defensive beast. Sure he went scoreless last night, but he picked up another three steals. He's now averaging 2.4 steals per game and is eligible at the center position. He's obviously a defensive specialist, but there's certainly some value in that. On the flip-side you have Carl Landry who had 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, picking up a steal and block. He'll sprinkle those in from time to time.
• Thabo Sefolosha continues to come up big on defense. Last night he had three steals and four blocks against the Kings. The Thunder have seven games in the next 12 nights, making him a nice add for defensive purposes.
• Spencer Hawes had four blocks last night, giving him seven over the last three. He's another value big.
Classified Adds
• Brandon Bass had another nice game. He scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting with three rebounds, one steal and a block. Rashard Lewis returns next week, so Bass might have a two-game run left in him before he returns to his role coming off the bench.
• Brendan Haywood double-doubled once again last night, giving him three in his last four games. He also blocked four shots. That's 13 blocks in the last three for Haywood! He's still available in nearly 40-percent of Yahoo! leagues and more than half of FleaFlicker leagues. At this point he should be owned across the board.
Lotto Line
3-5-5-12-41
• Who dare doubt the greatness of Dwyane Wade? Not I. Wade went for 41 points making 12-of-13 free-throws, with five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block. One note, though: watching this game you could tell that Wade knows he's in for a long season. A couple of times when he got fouled and went to the line his face had that "wow it's been a long season" look on it. He's a tough guy, and I'm not speculating anything here, but it's tough to watch him sometimes and think that he's the guy who is going to carry your fantasy team all season long.
