NBA Big Events: Big Money Wednesday Recap
With the all-star break looming, Wednesday night was your last chance to soak up a full NBA schedule. We’ll have a full four days without the NBA, so enjoy the time off and give your brain a break from the DFS grind. Don’t be the guy that’s desperate for action and blow all your money on a sport you know nothing about (I’ve seen a lot of people looking for CBB advice today; if you don’t normally play CBB, just stay away). Spend time with family, go out with your friends or binge on Netflix, but don’t play CBB if you haven’t watched a game all year.
Last night was full of big events, with DraftKings, DraftStreet and StarStreet running qualifiers, many of which were won by our members. FanDuel ran the weekly Super Slam, and DraftStreet ran the first of their new Weekly $50K tournaments. In addition to the tournament breakdowns, there will be a section at the end of the article that covers the night’s top scorers/biggest busts around the NBA. Last night featured a 13-game schedule, so there was plenty to pick from. 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 DSBBC Qualifier #24
Congratulations to our 3rd ranked NBA Grinder Dinkpiece on his 2nd place finish. Big games from Harden, Hayward, Lowry and Calathes helped to get him near the top, but a monster entry from the winner left him as the runner up. Msidla (currently #1 in the TPOY rankings) was right on his tail in 3rd, and was part of the 9% of the field to roster the nights top scorer in LeBron James. Chop (19th overall) finished 4th, followed by Notorious (4th overall, 7th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 7th and GrindersLive host Al_Smizzle (9th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 9th. If you aren’t watching the 5:30EST GrindersLive shows as you’re working on lineups, you’re definitely missing out. The “gongs” will keep you updated on injury news and there aren’t many more successful analysts/players then Smizzle.
DraftStreet Weekly 50K
Donaldwells (964th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) is the first winner of the Weekly $50K on DraftStreet, taking down a cool $10K for first prize. He was part of the 4% of the field to roster Nate Wolters, and also got more then his moneys worth out of Tristan Thompson (8% owned, 42.25 FP’s). Naapstermaan (36th overall) was a few points behind in 2nd place, and he had plenty of entries in the money outside of the top ten. RussARMNY (12th in the TPOY rankings) followed up his Big Score win from a week ago with a 3rd place finish last night. He’s been absolutely on fire this NBA season, and has taken down several notable tournaments through the first half of the season. Generalz3 (940th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 6th, rounding out the RG members in the top ten.
FanDuel $120K Super Slam
Congratulations to generalz3 for following up his big night on DS with a 2nd place finish in the Super Slam! He was hitting on all cylinders and the big night from LeBron really put him near the top, but rostering Tristan Thompson on both sites was the difference maker. Cvdynasty (471st on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished third with big games from Chandler Parsons (6% owned, 41.4 FP’s) and Nate Wolters (8.6% owned, 36.7 FP’s). Naapstermaan also followed up his DS success on FD with a 7th place finish, followed by nilla143 (113th in the TPOY rankings) in 8th place and jordanh415 (117th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 9th place.
DraftKings $27 Showcase Qualifier
Kjohnny14 (2313rd on the NBA leaderboard) was just a point away from taking down the $27 Q last night, but had to settle for 2nd place. The huge night from LeBron was his downfall, as the eventual winner continued climbing up the leaderboard as the night was coming to a close. Wasdammada (aka minimeat, 481st on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 3rd, and he’ll get another shot in the $270 Q which consists of far fewer entries. Naapstermaan stayed hot with a 4th place finish, and considering he’s appeared in write-ups for three different sites, I’m going out on a limb and saying last night was a very profitable one for the Panda. Damp (aka dampkring, 2074th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 8th, followed by campbell0021 (33rd on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 10th.
DraftKings $109 Showcase Qualifier
Big ups to radthad (86th overall) for securing two Showcase Tickets last night! In addition to the $109 Q, he also took down the $270 as well, which we’ll recap next. He had a very well-rounded lineup by punting efficiently with Cory Joseph, Draymond Green and Ersan Ilyasova. Gary8700 (981st overall) finished 2nd, and was part of the 5.3% of the field that rostered Nick Calathes (38.25 FP’s) in perhaps his last start at PG with Conley returning after the All-Star break. PrimeTime420 (7th overall, 8th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 4th and could have done more damage if Zaza Pachulia and Patrick Patterson would have been the strong value plays we all thought they would be. Pitch12 finished 5th and was flying up the leaderboard during the MIA/GS game, but it wasn’t quite enough to land the Showcase ticket. AgentAgent (208th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 6th, followed by ARPANET (aka TheCheech, 2236th overall) in 8th place, superbowlhomeboy (aka joshjacks8, 91st on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 9th and Troll4MVP, the 2nd ranked NBA Grinder, in 10th place.
DraftKings $270 Showcase Qualifier
The $270 Q consists of just 30 entries, so we’ll stick to the top five in this write-up. Congrats to radthad on his second Showcase Ticket of the night, and the rest of the field should be happy that he’s now maxed out. Kobe4MVP (aka Troll4MVP) finished 2nd in this one, as his LeBron/Love duo set him up nicely with the two combining for over 135 points. Emge (19th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) finished 3rd, followed by Drolson22 (84th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) to round out the top five.
StarStreet PBC Qualifier
Congratulations to headchopper for securing a spot to the Playboy Basketball Championship and a trip to the Mansion! He took this one down in style, outscoring 2nd place by 24 points. Ersan Ilyasova, Spencer Hawes and J.J. Hickson all being under-owned helped his cause, and all three of them were great plays considering the price. He was so far ahead that even a 10-point, 8-turnover game from Randy Foye didn’t hurt him. Besides Foye, the rest of his roster fell between 30.25 and 46 FP’s. PrimeTime420 finished 2nd, followed by Al_Smizzle in 3rd, MrTobiasFunke (70th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 4th and TommyG1979 (100th on the NBA Grinder leaderboard) in 5th.
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 slew injuries (both pre-game and in-game) last night, but at least most of the critical news broke before 7 EST, minus the late-scratch of Dwyane Wade. Let’s take a look at the difference makers in last night’s games…
Studs
LeBron James – The game-winning three pointer with Andre Iguodala in his face was one of the biggest shots he’s hit during a regular season game, which capped off one of his strongest statistical games of the season. King James went wild on the Warriors, scoring 36 points on 14-26 from the field to go along with 13 boards, 9 assists and two steals. He wasn’t a very popular play last night in general, but he rewarded his owners with one of his vintage monster stat lines that we haven’t seen enough of this season.
Kevin Love – Love wasn’t far behind James in terms of fantasy production, putting up 32 points, 11 rebounds, 8 dimes and a block against the shorthanded Nuggets. Denver doesn’t have anyone who can defend him with any kind of consistency, and he showed it with yet another dominating performance with Nikola Pekovic out of the lineup. His running mate Ricky Rubio also had a nice game, posting a double-double to go along with seven steals.
James Harden – Harden’s price has started to fall across the industry after a slow (by his standards) couple of weeks, but he got back to his old self by dropping 35 on the Wizards. He also added six dimes and six boards, and was actually very efficient (again, by his standards) from the field, shooting 8-14 to go along with a perfect 16-16 from the line. Both Dwight Howard (24 pts, 16 reb, 3 blocks, 2 steals) and Chandler Parsons (18-12-6) also had big performances in the one-point win over the Wizards.
Blake Griffin – He’s kept right on rolling with the return of Chris Paul, and had no trouble against the Portland interior last night. Blake put up 36 points on 13 of 21 from the field to go along with 10 rebounds, and led the Clippers to a big win at home with the help of CP3 and Jamal Crawford in the back-court.
Carmelo Anthony – If you were able to avoid The Brow by rolling with Love, Blake or Melo, you really did yourself a favor. Melo started off red-hot with 17 points in the first quarter, and finished with 36 points and 11 rebounds in the overtime loss to Sacramento. He didn’t register a block or a steal and only dished out two assists, but when Melo drops 36 it’s hard for him to have a disappointing fantasy output.
Trevor Ariza – Ariza was one of the best GPP plays of the night, thanks to his middling price and plus matchup against the fast-paced Rockets. He was helped in large part by his success from beyond the arc, hitting 10 of 14 shots from deep on his way to a 32-point, 11 rebound performance to go along with three dimes, three steals and a block. Pairing up the SF’s from this game would have served you very well on Wednesday night.
Tristan Thompson – T-Thomp is one of my least favorite players to roster, partly because his price seems to always keep him in play even when he’s struggling, so I’ve fallen into the trap with him a few times this season. Last night was a big for him, as he looked confident and stayed aggressive around the rim without Varejao to help him contain the Pistons big three. When all was said and done, Thompson registered 25 points on 12-16 from the field, including 15 rebounds and an assist. The problem with Thompson is that he seems allergic to blocks, steals or assists, so you’ll need him to have big numbers in the points/rebounds category for him to have any real fantasy success.
Alec Burks and Gordon Hayward – The Jazz had the dream matchup of the night against the 76ers, and while a few of their players were extreme disappointments, Burks and Hayward both posted strong fantasy lines last night. Hayward was feeling it early but went ice cold from the field and finished with just three buckets on 17 attempts, but was 11-12 from the charity stripe to save his night. As usual, his rebound and assist numbers were solid (seven each) and he added three blocks and two steals. While Hayward was one of the night’s most popular plays, Alec Burks was overlooked by most people but had a big 4th quarter to finish with 26 points, four rebounds and three steals. Considering his price across the industry, that was more then enough for him to return value.
Kyle Lowry – On a relatively low-scoring Wednesday night, Lowry’s 16-point, 13-assist, 6-rebound game made him one of the top options at the point guard spot. While he hasn’t been posting 50+ FP performances with DeMar DeRozan (who also had a big night with 31 points) healthy again, he’s one of the more consistent producers at the PG position and had no trouble getting his against the Hawks undersized back-court. He was around 6-7% owned in the DK Showcase Q’s, but was on the roster of all three ticket winning lineups last night.
Monta Ellis – In a tough match-up with the Pacers, it was pretty surprising to see Ellis outscore both Paul George and Lance Stephenson last night. Both teams really struggled to score, but Monta was the one bright spot in this game. He finished with a very well rounded line of 23 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists to go along with two blocks and a steal.
Duds
Anthony Davis – This guy absolutely destroyed my night, and I know I wasn’t alone in that regard. Against a Bucks front-court that was down to Zaza Pachulia and Ersan Ilyasova, Davis managed to get in early foul trouble (three fouls in the first seven minutes) and had played just 20 minutes total when the 4th quarter buzzer sounded. In that time, he posted just 12 points with only a single rebound, which left his owners in a HUGE hole in both tournaments and cash games. If you ended up in the money in a GPP with Davis in your lineup, you deserve some type of medal or trophy, because he was unspeakably bad last night.
Derrick Favors and Trey Burke – Favors also left his owners in a ginormous hole, playing just six minutes before leaving the game for good with a hip injury. He basically left his owners with a big fat zero, but his teammate Trey Burke didn’t do much better even though he played 29 minutes against the worst PG defense in the league. He was really hard to avoid on a site like DraftStreet (priced under $8K), and he burned a ton of people over there in both cash games and tournaments. He’s hit the rookie wall harder then anyone else this season, and has struggled mightily as of late, which is why his price had fallen so drastically. Hopefully the All-Star break can give him a chance to recharge, because it’s probably getting hard for Ty Corbin to watch at this point.
Paul George – He’s dealing with some off the court controversy, but it’s no excuse for how poorly he’s been playing lately. In a match-up that both he and Lance Stephenson should have been able to take advantage of, PG posted an underwhelming line of 12 points and 7 rebounds, and didn’t contribute much in terms of peripheral stats. The All-Star break is also coming at the right time for him, but he’s becoming hard to trust considering the price he carries.
Lance Stephenson – Things weren’t much better for Lance last night, although at least he did manage to put up a double-double. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but didn’t do much else outside of that, which left his owners with yet another dud. He’s been a popular play the last two times he’s taken the court, but has posted disappointing fantasy outputs in both. Roy Hibbert was actually the worst of the Pacers starters last night, but not many people were counting on him on a full slate of games.
Brandon Jennings – He was primed to be one of the top PG’s of the night in a great match-up with Kyrie Irving and the Cavs, but Jennings wasn’t up to the challenge and finished with a frustrating line of 9 points, five dimes and four boards. Jennings isn’t a very good jump shooter and can really struggle when his shot isn’t falling, as we saw last night with his 3 of 14 shooting performance. The lack of assists in 36 minutes is surprising, but we all know by now how volatile Jennings can be. He’ll put up 50 FP’s one night and follow it up with a performance like this, so he’s best left for your GPP lineups.
Marc Gasol – I really hope his injury isn’t something serious because he’s one of my favorite NBA players to watch, but it cost his owners big time last night. In a plus match-up with Vucevic and the Magic (the 4th game in 5 nights, to be fair), Gasol was only able to manage 4 points and 5 boards in his 23 minutes on the court. Hopefully the injury is nothing serious and he’ll return after the break, but the results of his MRI over the weekend should shed some light on that. If he can’t go, look for Z-Bo, James Johnson and Kosta Koufos to pick up some value.
Jeff Green and Jared Sullinger – He’s a notorious boom-or-bust player, and we saw the downside of Green last night. After a big game against the Bucks on Monday, the Georgetown alum shot just 4-17 for 10 points, and only added three assists and two boards to his stat line (in addition to four turnovers). Green is a guy to target in fast-paced games against weak defenses, not against the Spurs. Jared Sullinger didn’t fare much better against Duncan and Co., finishing with just four points and seven boards in 19 minutes. Sullinger has really come on of late and looked to finally be shaping up as a steady contributor in the Boston front-court, but things are a little less clear heading into the break.
Al Jefferson – Jefferson should have been able to take advantage of the Nets front-court last night, but his poor performance could be attributed to the back-to-back as well as the fact that Charlotte was trailing big after three quarters. Regardless, Big Al was only able to manage 12 points and 10 boards against the Nets, which is not even close to what we’ve been seeing from him lately. He will bounce back after the break, and the Bobcats would be foolish to get away from constantly feeding him in the post with Kemba Walker now (somewhat) healthy.
Zaza Pachulia – These two weren’t total wastes of space on the sites that still have them priced near the bottom, but if you paid over $10K for either on a site like DraftStreet, their performances left you in a hole even though both were fairly popular plays (Zaza was owned by a much higher percentage of the field, however). Both Pachulia and Middleton struggled even in a full complement of minutes, while Ersan Ilyasova, Nate Wolters and Brandon Knight all put up worthwhile stat lines. It’s tough to trust the Bucks even when they’re shorthanded, but Larry Drew was forced to give his starters extended run last night. Too bad it didn’t equate to fantasy success for either Pachulia or Middleton, but both are still somewhat intriguing with the Bucks expected to be fairly busy near the trade deadline.