Where The Grizz Are Making Themselves Relevant

Zach Randolph had his way with the Denver front court, as he posted 32 points on 13-21 shooting, a trey, 5-5 free throws, an NBA season-high 24 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block. The Grizzlies beat the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets, who were led by Carmelo Anthony and his 41 points on 13-26 shooting, 14-17 free throws, 6 boards, 5 assists, and a steal. This is the third time in the past 3 weeks that the Grizz beat a division leader. Oh, and they lost once to the C's in the final possession of a game. But to be fair, the Nuggets (losers of their past 2 games) are a pretty average (as opposed to the very dangerously good) team without their floor general, Chauncey Billups, who has been out for the past two games with a groin injury. Regardless, the Grizz are exceeding expectations; though, it doesn't change the fact that they are still last place in the tough Southwest Division.

Where Crash Keeps Crashing (The Boards)

Gerald Wallace continued to stuff the stat sheet, as he recorded 30 points on 10-16 shooting, 10-13 from the line, 13 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block tonight. His team didn't win, but I'm sure his owners don't mind. Coming into tonight's game, Crash was 4th in total rebounds, behind notable big men Dwight Howard (12 and 20), Chris Bosh, and Marcus Camby (11 and 22). Wallace is the only one among the top 4 rebounders in the league who is a small forward, and his overwhelming contributions in that category from the SF slot must be a blessing for his owners. (Oh, that's me! I don't know how he fell into the 4th round in my h2h league. I guess I'm lucky. Right?)

Where Gilbert Arenas Could've Scored 50

Chris Paul had the best line tonight, scoring 30 points on 13-20 shooting, 1-2 treys, 3-3 free throws, 9 rebounds, a ridiculous 19 assists, and a steal. CP3 always finds the ball in his hands some how some way. He'll wait on the opponent's side to chase down rebounds (or receive the in-bounds pass). He'll handle the ball as the Hornets set up their offense. He'll facilitate everything the Hornets want to do. He'll find his own shot. He'll make easy opportunities for his teammates. He'll do it all- except block shots. But what he does, he does well, and it more than overcompensates for his shortcomings.

Where The Knicks Shoot Themselves Dead

Not a lot of games tonight (only three), and no line really stepped up as very impressive. Sure, the lines were solid, but nothing over the edge. Luol Deng had the best line of the night, with 24 points on 8-16 shooting, 1-1 treys, 7-7 free throws, 13 boards and 5 assists, as he helped the Bulls beat the Knicks in a comeback victory. John Salmons (20 points on 7-14 shooting [7 points in the crucial final minute], a trey, 5-5 free throws, 7 boards, 4 assists, and a steal) and Derrick Rose helped, too (18, 4 and 6). (It's a rarity that those contribute these days.) The Knicks were on fire in the first quarter, leading at one point by 17. They shot 29 three-pointers in the first half- an NBA record. And then, after their shots stopped falling, they still kept shooting. They attempted 47 treys for the game- 2 attempts shy of the NBA record for the most treys attempted in a game- held by the Mavs in '96.

Where Kobe Stuck It To The Bucks.. Boom Boom Pau!

Pau Gasol continues his ascension to the fantasy elite (I know he's up there, but this season, in terms of averages [due to a little setback with his hamstring injury], he's really up there)- especially when he posts lines like these: 26 points on 9-15 shooting, 8-9 free throws, 22 boards, 4 assists, a steal and 4 blocks. Gasol has been on a tear recently, as he grabbed 22, 16, 20, and 20 boards in the past 4 games all the while contributing in practically every single category except treys. Kobe Bryant continued his scoring binge (What's new?) with 39 points on 13-28 shooting and 12-12 from the line. But the two points that mattered the most was the two he scored with his Lakers down by one in overtime with 1 second left. (What's new?)

Where The Big Fundamental Plays Beas[t]ley

Tim Duncan (34 points on 14-22 shooting, 6-7 from the line, 14 rebounds, an assist, 3 blocks, and only 1 turnover) failed to carry his team to victory at Phoenix against Steve Nash (25 points on 11-20 shooting, a trey, 2-2 free throws, 3 boards, 13 assists, and a steal) and Amare Stoudemire (28 points on 12-21 shooting, 14 boards , and 3 steals), but he was victorious in earning the best line of the night. San Antonio is notorious for being a strong defensive team, but for some reason, Stoudemire always plays very well against Timmy and Co.

Where Deron Williams Is The Best Point Guard In The NBA

Deron Williams (38 points on 11-20 shooting, 2 treys, 14-18 free throws [that's a lot of attempts], 3 boards, 13 assists, 2 steals, and only 1 turnover) and the Jazz (14-9 [before tonight], and on a roll [with their latest victory over the mighty Lakers]) lost to the lowly Timberwolves (3-21 [before tonight], but looking really good with Kevin Love [11 and 14] back) tonight. Rookie Jonny Flynn made the game winning lay-up and scored a career high 28 points on 11-19 shooting, including 4-6 from downtown. Williams had a chance to tie it at the buzzer, but he missed (unfortunately, too,  because I love overtimes [What fantasy manager in the right mind doesn't love an extra 5 minutes to pad up the stat sheet?]). But I don't think Deron's owners care about the Jazz's embarrassing loss (at home, too!) as much as they care about his fantastic line.

Where LeBron Is Louder Than Thunder

LeBron James continues to dazzle with phenomenal performances (44 points on 16-29 shooting, 5-8 treys, 7-10 from the line, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, a block, and only 1 turnover). He out-dueled the other superstar small  forward in this game, Kevin Durant (29 points on 9-19 shooting, 2-6 treys, 9-10 from the stripe, 5 boards, 2 assists, 4 steals, a block, but 7 turnovers [really the only flaw to KD's otherwise solid fantasy line]). It's not that Durant's line is bad. Shoot, if any of my players played the way Durant played, I'd be ecstatic. (My players are terrible!) It's always helpful to have a LBJ or KD anchor a fantasy team, really. They contribute positively in practically every single category, except turnovers. I really can go on and on about how great they are, but I'd just be depressing myself.

Where The Lakers Will Have To Settle For 78-4.

Troy Murphy lit up the Wizards to the tune of 28 points on 10-18 shooting, 2-6 from long range and 6-6 from the line, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers. The Pacers won that game due to Gilbert Arenas' (22, 10 and 11, his first triple-double of the year) missed free throws, but who cares about a meaningless regular season game between Washington and Indiana? It's not like either of those teams will challenge the Lakers for the championship, right? I only tune in to these games for their fantasy implications. (I love watching games go to overtime [several overtime games tonight! Yay!] so my players can pad their stats, but I'll take what I can from Murphy).

Where LeBron James Is King

LeBron James posted a pedestrian line of 33 points on 14-24 shooting, 1-2 treys, 4-6 from the line, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers. And when I say pedestrian, I mean pedestrian to LeBron James. He really didn't do anything that overwhelming. He contributed in every single category (except FT and TO, but you take the good [really really good] with the bad [not that bad]) Actually, he's so good that when posts lines like these (you know if any of your other players did it, you'd be jumping up and down with joy), nobody really notices since he seems to do it all the time. I mean, you've seen him play, right? He takes 4 to 5 steps without dribbling towards the rim and finishes with a thunderous dunk. No wonder he scores as much as he does and as efficiently as he does. He's probably one of the most athletic athletes the history of sports has ever seen so it shouldn't be a problem for him to chase down at least 7 missed shots and 1 loose ball in a game. He has the ball in his hands so much and multiple defenders guard him at the same time, so it shouldn't be that difficult to find an open teammate for a high percentage shot at least 7 times in a game. Pretty easy, right?

Where Deron Williams > Chris Paul

Okay, I know that CP3 is by far the superior fantasy basketball player. He puts up better stats, simply put. He shoots at a high percentage, gets lots of boards for a small guard and is always near the top of the leader board in the assists category. He steals the ball a ton, too. (I think he broke a record last year for most consecutive games with at least one steal.)

But Deron Williams is not that far behind, especially when he posts lines like these: 9-18 FG, 2 treys, 12-15 FT, 8 boards, 15 assists, a steal, 32 points, and only 1 turnover. That's extremely efficient. Not only are those stats amazing, but he also led his team to a comeback victory against the defending Eastern Conference Champs, the Orlando Magic.

Okay, I'm Ready To Go

So I haven't really posted anything substantial in the first quarter of the season, and I know that I'm really behind. (It's just that I've been busy with school, as it is my last quarter of being a full-time student. Now that I'm done with school, I have plenty of free time to blog as much as I want when I'm not busy with work or whatever I have going on for me [It's not much]).

So I decided I'm going to make up for my lack of posts by writing an entry every single day for the rest of the season, as long as there's a game. (I really don't know what fantasy-related news I can come up with the day before and the day after the All-Star game). But you never know. I have no life. Actually, "one has only a life of one's own."