NBA Big Events: Big Money Wednesday Recap

by Stephen Keech (SBK) Last Updated 2014-02-07 04:43:12

Last night was probably the biggest night of daily fantasy NBA action of the season, with a bevy of major tournaments/qualifiers across the industry. DraftStreet held the Big Score last night, where one of our own took down the $50K first prize, and they also ran a DSBBC qualifier that literally came down to the last play of the night. DraftKings held two qualifiers for the Showcase, StarStreet ran a PBC qualifier and FanDuel offered up the $120K Super Slam, so there was no shortage of action across the industry.

In addition to the tournament breakdowns, there will be a section near the end of the article that covers the night’s top scorers/biggest busts around the NBA. There were a few landmines to avoid last night (don’t get me started on Mike Brown), but overall it seemed like a very high scoring night. Injury news continued to pour in after roster lock, which isn’t unusual on a busy Wednesday night, but it definitely kept everybody on their toes. More on the studs and duds of the evening later, but let’s break down the night’s big winners in our community first. All RotoGrinders members who finished in the top-10 of a major tournament will have their names bolded.

Tournament Breakdowns

DraftStreet $150K Big Score

A big congratulations to RussARMNY (254th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) on taking down the Big Score! It’s not very often that you can win $50K in one tournament outside of a live final, so I’m sure Russ is feeling preettttty preetttty good right about now. He took down the FD Slam last week, so 2014 has been treating him well so far. TheOnlyLimitIsTheSky (35th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) had identical lineups in 3rd and 4th place, which won him a combined $16K! Kdn333 (857th on the overall leaderboard) finished fifth, followed by jimmygriggs (260th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in seventh place. Msidla (aka Mattness, 15th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) rounds out the RG members in 9th place. We had plenty of members cash in this event, so congratulations to all of you for taking down some dough. Here is RussARMNY’s first place lineup:

DraftStreet DSBBC Qualifier #22

This one literally came down to the final play of the night.. Knickgilman and stlcardinals84 (8th overall, 13th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) were all tied up as the Heat/Clippers game was coming to a close, but on a Blake Griffin missed shot with two seconds left, Darren Collison grabbed an offensive board as time was about to expire, giving Knickgilman the lead by 1.25 points. You have to feel for STL, because that has to be one of the toughest ways to end a night. He should still be proud of his 2nd place lineup, which exceed 300 points (a very tough feat on DS). Nrberkeley finished fourth, followed by DailyCrusher (65th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in fifth, and msidla in sixth. Marcin25 (216th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) put together an eighth place finish, and our very own Notorious (4th overall, 7th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) rounds out the top-ten.

Fanduel $120K Super Slam

Congratulations to McJester (28th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) for dominating in the Super Slam, he put together 4th, 7th and 9th place entries in addition to having several others cash. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned him in this article all three times it’s been written, and he’s clearly one of the top NBA tournament players around. Eaglezzz (1205th in the overall rankings) finished fifth, followed by kingmidas (aka Illadelphia), who flew up the leaderboard during the LAC/MIA game, in eighth place. Ctown8282 (1053rd on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished in tenth.

DraftKings $11 Showcase Qualifier

Burghfann (497th on the overall leaderboard) was just a few points away from securing a Golden Ticket, but he’ll have to give it another shot on Friday (there are still spots in the $27 Q as of this writing; the $270 is full). Halman4 (130th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) and Gateman07 (40th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) tied for fourth place, and they each will get another shot in a $109 qualifier, along with osubase34 (447th on the overall leaderboard) and KDG16 (365th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard). Redwood rounds out the top-ten.

DraftKings $109 Showcase Qualifier

Congratulations to Stinger88 (128th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) for qualifying for the DK Fantasy Basketball Showcase! He must have really enjoyed that MIA/LAC game last night, because in addition to it being a game filled with highlight dunks, Stinger was also watching his point total skyrocket as LeBron, Blake and Jamal Crawford ran the show. Those three players accounted for 187 points on there own, just an absurd total for those three to reach, and he needed every one of them to stay atop the leaderboard. Fitch123 (784th on the overall leaderboard), who was on the other side of the spectrum during the MIA/LAC game, finished just .25 points behind the leader. PrimeTime420 (6th overall, 8th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished third, followed by Waffles2003 (103rd on the overall leaderboard) in fourth and GrindersLive host CSURAM88 (7th overall, 6th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in fifth. CSU also had two entries tie for eighth, and was sandwiched between Campbell0021 in seventh (aka TheOnlyLimitIsTheSky) and Gateman07 in tenth place. Here’s the lineup that took down the Golden Ticket:

StarStreet PBC Qualifier

A big shout out to BirdWings for getting himself back to the Mansion for the PBC! Although the prize pools might not match those of FD, DK and DS, StarStreet has done a great job making their live final one of the most anticipated events in the industry, and I doubt I have to explain to any of you why the Playboy Mansion is a great venue for a live tournament. BirdWings (3rd overall, 5th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) benefited from the Kevin Love injury, as he was part of the 5% of the field that played Dante Cunningham ($7,500 salary, 42.50 SS points). TeamSleep (94th overall) finished second, followed by headchopper (20th overall) in third, Michael-Leone (40th overall, 16th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in fourth and SyracuseSlappers (454th overall) rounds out the top-five. Here’s a look at BirdWings winning lineup:

Studs & Duds of Wednesday Night

As you can see from the tournament breakdowns above, there are always a few players that make or break tournament teams on a nightly basis. We dealt with a few more injuries (both pre-game and in-game) then usual last night, and that’s before we even get to the disappointments of the night. Let’s take a look at the difference makers in last night’s games…

Studs

Jeff Green – There is no better cure for a struggling shooter then a game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Green was a fairly popular play on DraftStreet and FanDuel due to the match-up with the Philly, and he followed up a poor game on Sunday with a 36-point, 8-rebound effort last night. Green shot 11-18 from the field (5-7 from 3PT range) and looked as confident as he has all season. His jump shot was obviously on, but he had success getting to the rim as well, something that eludes him when he’s struggling. He’ll give you a game like this for every 3-4 duds, so don’t expect him to replicate this performance tomorrow against the Kings.

Jared Sullinger and Rajon Rondo – Green wasn’t the only Celtic to take advantage of the cake match-up with Philly. Rondo and Sullinger both posted double-doubles, and if you stacked these two along with Green, you were sitting pretty after the early games. Sullinger finished with 19 and 10 to go along with 5 assists, 4 blocks and a steal, and it’s clear that the Philly front-court has no answer for him (or anyone else for that matter). Unless Sully is priced wayyyy too high in the next match-up between these teams, how can you not roll him out? Rondo nearly posted a triple-double in 32 minutes, finishing with 8 points, 11 dimes, 9 boards and 2 steals.

Anyone on the Lakers with a pulse. – What in the world happened in Cleveland last night? If you thought you had this game figured out before tip-off, guess again. The Lakers came in with only 7 healthy bodies, and a few of them had just recently returned from injuries. Nick Young and Jordan Farmar (who posted 21 points and 8 assists) both were banged up and had to leave the game, which left the Lakers without a substitute late in the contest. Robert Sacre then proceeded to foul out, but had to stay in the game, so the Lakers would have been called for a technical foul had he committed any personals after that point… the game was just a mess. However, the extended playing time paid huge dividends for Steve Blake, who posted a triple-double in his return from an injury. Wesley Johnson and Ryan Kelly also exceeded value industry wide, as each was called on to play more then 40 minutes against the Cavs.

Blake Griffin – If you didn’t catch the Clippers/Heat game last night, you missed out one of the best displays of athleticism the NBA has to offer. Blake and DeAndre Jordan were throwing down highlight dunks every few minutes, and you know LeBron was not going to be left out of the fun. Like Jeff Van Gundy said during the telecast, the SportsCenter Top 10 could have consisted only of plays from that game, but back to the stats… Griffin posted perhaps the strongest line of the night, totaling 40 points on 32 shot attempts to go along with 14 boards and 6 assists. The offense runs through him with CP3 on the shelf, and it was fairly obvious that neither Shane Battier, Chris Andersen or Chris Bosh had any hope of stopping him down low.

LeBron James – In a game full of highlights, there’s no way LeBron will be kept in check. King James put up a gorgeous stat line last night, finishing with 31 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds, a vintage LeBron all-around effort. He also added three 3PT makes, three steals and a block, and put up his third straight 50+ fantasy point game. While Kevin Durant has been in a tier of his own lately, LeBron outscored The Durantchula last night.

Dwight Howard – Superman was too much for the Phoenix interior to handle, going off for 34 and 13 with 3 steals and 2 blocks. He was a pretty popular play on DraftStreet, where he was right around the 15K mark (he’s usually around the 17-18K range), but he returned value regardless of where you played him. The Suns have actually been pretty tough against opposing front-courts on the season, but they really struggled with Howard and Terrence Jones last night.

Tim Duncan and John Wall – These two were the beneficiaries of the double-OT game in Washington, which provided plenty of fantasy goodness as a whole. Duncan and Wall were the top plays from this one, and the extended run for Duncan will keep him out of tonight’s game with the Nets. In 40 minutes last night, Duncan scored 31 points to go along with 11 boards, 5 dimes, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Wall did his best to keep up, finishing with 29 points on 12-29 from the field, and added 9 assists, 5 boards and 4 steals to his line.

Paul Millsap – Millsap came to play last night against The Brow & Co., following up his 7-point effort against Indiana with 26 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. It was fairly obvious that Millsap would break out once he received big minutes in Atlanta, and he’s done just that as the focal point of the offense with Al Horford out. Not many people would have taken him over Anthony Davis last night, but the two were neck and neck in terms of fantasy points in the match-up with one another.

Jamal Crawford – He wasn’t a very popular play last night, in part because the Redick news didn’t come out until late, and the Heat are a tough match-up for guards as it is. That didn’t seem to bother him too much, as he got the start and gave the Heat trouble all night, finishing with 31 points, 6 assists and 3 steals in 47 minutes. For as great as he is coming off the bench, Crawford likes to start and he showed it last night. He’s a tough guy to roster because he doesn’t typically contribute much outside of points, but he can really pour it in when he gets hot.

Duds

Tony Parker – There weren’t nearly as many obvious duds this week compared to the number of popular plays who met/exceeded value, which had a lot to due with the high-scoring nature of last night. Parker was one of Wednesdays few landmines, only playing 19 minutes before leaving after aggravating a back injury. In those 19 minutes, Parker posted just 4 points and 5 assists to go along with 4 turnovers, and he basically took his owners out of GPP contention on his own last night.

Luol Deng – I felt like I could have listed quite a few Cavaliers here (including Mike Brown), but Deng takes the cake as the worst of the bunch. In a match-up with the up-tempo, no defense Lakers, Deng could only muster up 3 points on 1-10 shooting to go along with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He didn’t add a single steal or block, and was in Mike Brown’s doghouse along with Kyrie Irving, Jarrett Jack and Tristan Thompson shortly after half-time. The Cavaliers are a complete mess right now, and they are beginning to put themselves in the same territory as the Milwaukee Bucks in terms of cash games; you just can’t trust them. Kyrie, Jack and T-Thomp burned a lot of people last night, but things could have been much better had they played a full compliment of minutes. It’s hard to blame Brown for benching his starters after they got blown out of the water by the few healthy players the Lakers had left. The bench got the Cavs back in the game, so it was tough for Brown to pull the players that led the comeback. With that said, keeping your best player on the bench during the fourth quarter of a close game is a questionable call.

Kyle Singler – Singler was inserted into the starting lineup for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope last night, but couldn’t muster up a successful stat line even with 32 minutes of playing time against Orlando. He’s now played at least 30 minutes in his past three games, but he’s struggled to get in a groove during his past two (which happen to be the two games he wasn’t playing against Philly). The shot attempts weren’t there for him last night, which seems strange considering Brandon Jennings kept firing away en route to a 5-23 shooting performance. If only Singler could play against the Sixers every night…

Kevin Love – Love didn’t play last night, but he’s getting a mention here because we didn’t get much notice about his ailment, although he did take a couple of hard falls in Tuesday’s game against the Lakers. He’s been great against Oklahoma City during his career, and a match-up between him and Kevin Durant would have been a great game to watch. This also prevented (at least some) people from playing Dante Cunningham, who proceeded to top the 40 FP mark with Love on the shelf. He’ll be back to doing typical Kevin Love things soon enough, and I’d be surprised if he missed Friday’s match-up with The Brow.

Dwyane Wade – Wade was actually a fairly popular selection last night, as his price has come down a lot across the industry. The Clippers have been a pretty good team to target with shooting guards, but Wade never really got into much of a rhythm last night and finished with an underwhelming stat line of 14 points, 8 assists and 3 boards. He didn’t add a block or a steal to his total, and we expect better nights then this from Wade when he’s playing a full compliment of minutes.

Michael Carter-Williams – Facing off with his hometown team, MCW was once again held in check, totaling just 11 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds to go along with 4 turnovers. He also failed to add a block or a steal, which is pretty atypical for him. MCW has seemed to hit the rookie wall, and he’s not playing with the same level of energy that we saw earlier in the year. He’s had some nagging knee issues and he’s played a ton of minutes this season, so it’s understandable as to why he’s struggled of late.

Damian Lillard – In a match-up with the bowling ball that is Raymond Felton, Lillard put up just 12 points and 4 assists, which he matched with 4 turnovers. Lillard has suddenly become a bit more boom-or-bust, which has made him a lot tougher to trust recently. He wasn’t a very popular play last night due to the tough match-up on the road, but you still expect more then this out of the stud second-year guard. Lillard wasn’t the only Blazer starter to struggle statistically, but Portland was still able to pull out the win over the struggling Knicks in Madison Square Garden.