Beast of the Night: Kevin Durant finished the first half of the season to the tune of 33 points, four rebounds, six assists, three steals, one block and two three-pointers. He shot 55 percent (12-22) from the field, 100 percent (7-7) from the charity stripe and had two turnovers. Durant has been a stud, as expected, so far this season. He’s improved his field-goal percentage, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks from their marks in his 2010-11 campaign.
Lines for Discussion:
Jeremy Lin: 1-11 FG (9%), 6-6 FT (100%), 8 Pts, 6 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 8 TO; The bubble has finally popped — for now. Lin remains an appealing fantasy asset, but he was just wrecked by the Heat’s defense last night. The All-Star break should do him good, and Lin’s owners should hope coach Mike D’Antoni limits his point guard’s minutes to a sustainable level going forward.
Andre Miller: 7-10 FG (70%), 5-6 FT (83%), 1 three, 20 Pts, 1 Reb, 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO; Miller has been unsteady this month but remains a guy worth having on your bench in most leagues.
Serge Ibaka: 5-10 FG (50%), 1-2 FT (50%), 11 Pts, 13 Reb, 3 Blk; Ibaka has roared back after starting the season off slowly. He’s averaging 9.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.4 blocks in 14 games this month.
Waiver-Wire Watch:
Norris Cole: 10 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 3 TO; Cole has done just enough to warrant consideration in deeper leagues.
Metta World Peace: 9 Pts, 3 threes, 4 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 Stl; I love that I can finally type out his name, but World Peace remains irrelevant in all but the deepest of leagues.
Willie Green: 14 Pts, 2 threes, 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 4 TO; Green is worth a pickup if Joe Johnson misses time after the break.
Jannero Pargo: 15 Pts, 3 threes, 3 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO; Ditto.
DeJuan Blair: 28 Pts, 12 Reb, 3 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk; Blair blew up last night, but he doesn’t block enough shots to truly be a valuable fantasy asset.
Richard Jefferson: 17 Pts, 5 threes, 8 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl; He’s still not worth owning in most leagues until he can string some consistency together.
Matt Bonner: 12 Pts, 4 threes, 2 Reb, 2 Ast; Bonner has been a three-point machine for the past couple weeks.
Corey Brewer: 23 Pts, 2 threes, 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 TO; He’s been making some small waves lately and is worth a speculative add if you need some points, threes and steals.
Injuries:
Mike Dunleavy (ankle): day-to-day
Quentin Richardson (Achilles): day-to-day
Jameer Nelson (knee): day-to-day
Kawhi Leonard (calf): day-to-day
For Next Week:
4 games: BOS, CHA, CHI, CLE, DAL, GSW, HOU, LAC, MIL, MIN, NOR, PHI, SAC, TOR, UTA
3 games: ATL, CHA, DEN, DET, LAL, MEM, MIA, NJN, OKC, ORL, PHO, POR, SAS
2 games: IND, NYK
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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