Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.After starting the game 1-for-10, Kevin Garnett finished strong hitting four of his last five field goal attempts, including the game winner in overtime. Paul Pierce lead the way for the Celtics scoring 33 points, while Rajon Rondo just missed posting a triple-double going for 14 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and four steals.
The Knicks with another one of those famed moral victories, were led by Al Harrington's 30 points off the bench and David Lee's 22 points and 15 rebounds. The Knicks are 3-10 on the season, yet they lead the league with seven moral victories -- two more than the New Jersey Nets, yet almost as many as my fantasy football team.
Also In the Headlines
• The Lakers ended their game with the Thunder early, taking a 57-34 lead into halftime. So we'll let Lamar Odom's two-point, five-rebound performance slide. Same goes for Ron Artest who went for just seven and seven. It was worth sticking around, however, to watch Shannon Brown get up for a few dunks and a couple of fastbreak rundowns -- which both resulted in fouls. But he did make Ryan Bowen look like he wanted nothing to do with the basketball as he "went up" against Brown on a fastbreak. It was rather funny and awkward at the same time.
• Jason Williams posted his best line since opening night going for 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, zero turnovers and two three-pointers. A nice, solid, efficient line. Again, he won't replace Jameer Nelson's productivity, but he adds value and that's more than we can ask from some of the other options out there -- Chris Duhon?
• Marco Belinelli sat out Sunday's game with a sore groin. This after he had made the case for being a standard-league add. I wouldn't bite on DeMar DeRozan, though, since Coach Triano has remained focused on keeping the rookie on a 20-22 minute leash. The player worth looking at is Jarrett Jack who responded on Sunday afternoon with eight points, 11 assists, two threes, a steal and zero turnovers in 32 minutes.
• Dahntay Jones hasn't lost a beat since Troy Murphy returned to the lineup on Friday. One Sunday Jones led the Pacers in scoring with 19 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Murphy eventually will return back to the starting lineup, but thanks to the versatility of Jones he can play three positions, meaning that the Pacers will find a way to get him involved. And let's not get too excited about Mike Dunleavy Jr. returning this Wednesday. He's not quite relevant enough.
• I had a good feeling about Marcus Thornton when Chris Paul went down. Right now he's most certainly the guy to watch in New Orleans. Last night he posted an man's man line -- 24 points, 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, and three steals. His scoring abilities are no joke. His peripherals? That's another story. But Thornton may end up having an Eric Gordon type of rookie season and find himself in the starting lineup in no time. The only problem is that the Hornets play just seven games over the next three weeks, which is the fewest in the NBA.
• Udonis Haslem returned to action, posting 14 points, eight rebounds and a block against the Hornets. I'd tell you it's safe to get him back into your lineup, but the Heat play a fairly tough three-game schedule this week -- at Orlando and home to Washington and Boston.
Lost and Found
• Not much defense to speak of in Orlando-Toronto game Sunday. The Magic failed to record a single block and picked up just three steals. The Raptors weren't much better going for four steals and two blocks. Lately, Toronto has been, as coach Jay Triano put it, a "fair-weather" defensive team allowing 112.2 points per game over their last four.
• Jared Dudley kept up his steals/threes output last night with two picks and a trey. At least you know what you're getting with Dudley.
• The Thunder did at least one thing better than the Lakers -- block shots. Serge Ibaka led the way five as Oklahoma City out-blocked the Los Angeles 15 to six.
Classified Adds
• Amir Johnson looks like he might be ready to breakout a little. And by that I mean provide deep league value. On Sunday Johnson posted 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, eight rebounds and two steals. Granted, the minutes were there for Johnson after Andrea Bargnani fouled out in just 26 minutes. But thanks to the upside he provides on defense and his efficient, garbage-point offensive game you can justify adding him in any leagues that run 14 or deeper.
• Kendrick Perkins remains under-owned at just 54-percent in Fleaflicker leagues. Perk posted his second double-double in four games with 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots. Considering that Rasheed Wallace's game is such a mess right now, Perkins is taking the extra minutes and making the most of them.
• Nazr Mohammed filled in nicely for an injured Tyson Chandler on Sunday -- 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 18 minutes. Chandler's listed as day-to-day, and I'll admit I'm not necessarily a huge Mohammed fan, so I'm not going to bite on this one.
• Leandro Barbosa scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, a three-pointer and a steal last night. He's been a huge disappointment this season and already owners are starting to cut-bait. I would keep an eye on him because he's going to catch fire at some point. Put him on your "watch list" and monitor his progress. He's just too valuable to let slide to someone else.
• Serge Ibaka posted career-bests across the board with 11 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in 32 minutes. Again, it all came in a blowout game, but his progress is certainly worth noting. He might have earned himself a few more minutes off the bench
and if he can put a nice string of games together he could be a solid add in deep leagues. He got scooped up early last night in my 30-team league. That seems about right.Tonight
• Just four games on the schedule -- SAC @ MEM, MIL @ SAS, CHI @ POR, and MIN @ LAC.
• The Bulls play the first of their two games this week in Portland on Monday. Weekly leaguers if you can still change your lineup I would get all but Bulls not named Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah out of my lineup.
• As of Sunday night Tyreke Evans was still listed as day-to-day.
• Andre Miller is likely to come off the bench once again. See how he responds and watch Martell Webster to see if he can get on a nice roll.
• Manu Ginobili is out tonight, while Tony Parker is expected to go.
Lotto Line
2-3-7-11-19
• Nate Robinson worked his way back into Mike D'Antoni's good graces on Sunday. Coach gave him a second chance playing him 27 minutes after benching him for the second half of Saturday's game for shooting at the wrong basket. Robinson didn't disappoint, going for 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting with three treys and two blocked shots. He's still behind Larry Hughes on the depth charts, but he shoots enough and is active enough on defense that he can provide a solid returns coming off the bench.
