Beast of the Night: Stephen Jackson finished the night with 27 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals, one block and three three-pointers. He shot 48 percent (11-23) from the field, 100 percent (2-2) from the line and had three turnovers. The Captain wasn’t exactly crying when Larry Brown left the Bobcats’ bench, and his on-court play has reflected that. It’ll be interesting to see how Jackson will mesh with Gerald Wallace again once Crash returns from his bothersome ankle injury.
Lines for Discussion:
O.J. Mayo: 1-8 FG (13%), 2-2 FT (100%), 4 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 3 TO; So much for that comeback. Mayo continues to have a black eye of a season and is doing very little to justify his high rate of ownership. Feel free to include him as loose change in any package deals you ponder in the coming weeks.
Aaron Brooks: 8-15 FG (53%), 3-3 FT (100%), 5 threes, 24 Pts, 1 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 TO; He made a surprise start in place of an injured Kevin Martin last night and had a great night. Brooks and his ankle should be fine going forward, though we’ll have to see how Martin’s return will affect his minutes.
Glen Davis: 6-14 FG (43%), 0-1 FT (0%), 12 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast, 4 Stl, 1 Blk; Kevin Garnett is close to returning, which could put a wet blanket on Davis’ strong start to the new year. He remains worth stashing in most leagues.
Derrick Rose: 10-20 FG (50%), 9-9 FT (100%), 29 Pts, 5 Reb, 7 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 TO; What, no threes? Kidding. Rose continues to roll this season and has put up top-30 averages so far.
Waiver-Wire Watch:
Tony Allen: 13 Pts, 4 Reb, 2 Ast, 5 Stl, 2 Blk, 2 TO; He continues to start and put up usable numbers, especially in the steals department. Pick him up in deeper leagues.
Kwame Brown: 8 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 Blk, 3 TO; He’s worth a look in deep leagues if you’re absolutely desperate for a live center.
Chase Budinger: 13 Pts, 3 threes, 3 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 TO; Budinger’s been making some noise lately and is worth a look in deeper leagues if you need threes.
Marquis Daniels: 19 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 TO; This is most likely a fluke, so ignore him unless he pulls something like this off again in his next outing.
Greg Monroe: 10 Pts, 11 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 TO; That’s three straight double-doubles, for those keeping count. Pick him up if you have room, though he might not be a viable long-term solution.
Austin Daye: 14 Pts, 2 threes, 4 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Blk; The former sleeper candidate is finally showing signs of consciousness and deserves consideration in deeper leagues.
Chris Wilcox: 13 Pts, 9 Reb, 1 Stl, 1 TO; He’s been a DNP machine more than anything this season, but Wilcox is capable of putting up decent lines when given 20+ minutes.
Ronnie Brewer: 11 Pts, 1 three, 2 Reb, 6 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk; He’s a good source of steals and has been having a decent enough January to be considered in deeper leagues.
Injuries:
Kendrick Perkins (knee): has been cleared to participate in full-contact practices
Nazr Mohammed (knee): could return Friday
Ben Wallace (ankle): check his status
Kevin Martin (wrist): day-to-day
Brad Miller (knee): day-to-day
Drew Gooden (foot): could return tonight
Andre Iguodala (Achilles): practiced Monday, game-time decision tonight
Grant Hill (knee): could play tonight
Mehmet Okur (back): game-time decision for Wednesday’s game
Josh Howard (knee): out 1-2 weeks
Christian Eyenga (ankle): day-to-day
Monta Ellis (flu): missed Monday’s practice, questionable for Wednesday
For Tonight:
Darko Milicic has had his moments against the Spurs this season. See if he has another against them in Minnesota tonight.
LaMarcus Aldridge is finally playing like a legit big man lately, and he should have little trouble continuing that against the Knicks.
Throughout the season, be sure to leave your questions, comments, concerns, trade offers, roster problems and more in the comments below.
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