The NBA had a light three-game schedule last night with the National coverage focused in New York and Oakland. In both those games, the home team got the win as the Warriors and Knicks took care of the Clippers and Cavs. The one other game gave us probably the most surprising result as the Pacers lost at home to the visiting Suns. How did your fantasy players do? Well, here’s the top performers from yesterday’s schedule who made their owners happy with solid games before the weekend push:
Curry takes the top spot due to his extremely efficient production in his 34 minutes last night against LA. Curry only took 10 shots but scored 22 points including shooting 8-10 from the field and 4-4 from long distance. He added seven assists, four rebounds, a steal, and a blocked shot leading his team to a nice win at home over the Clippers.
Dragic helped the Suns pull the upset with another big game finishing with 28 points while handing out seven assists and grabbing three rebounds. Continue to lean heavily on Dragic and play him with confidence for as long as he stays the centerpiece of the offense with Eric Bledsoe sidelined.
In the Warriors win, Lee had a workman-like 22 points and 11 boards with adding four assists. His 10-15 shooting made him slightly less efficient than Curry, but he still turned in another very solid effort for Golden State.
‘Melo only had to play 30 minutes in the Knicks laugher over the Cavs, but he still managed to produce enough to make him fantasy-relevant. He shot 8-17 from the field and 3-5 from deep, but he did manage to score 29 points while adding five rebounds, an assist, a blocked shot, and a steal.
It’s unusual to find a triple-double this low on the list, but Stephenson didn’t have any huge numbers in his balanced, productive line in the Pacers loss. He had 15 points to go with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but if your league rewards triple-double’s with bonuses he was able to get the job done.
Griffin played 40 minutes for the Clippers last night in their loss at Golden State and was able to build a solid stat line despite his team losing by 19. Griffin finished with 27 points but didn’t get his usual totals in other areas finishing with just three rebounds, two assists, and three steals.
One of the reason Griffin was held off the glass was Bogut’s 17 boards in 28 minutes when he was on the floor for the Warriors. The Aussie added three blocks and 14 points continuing to provide a boost in those tricky-to-fill categories for his fantasy owners.
Hardaway was already on the top of our top ten fantasy pickups for the coming week, but he further strengthened the case for picking him up with a career game last night earning him our sleeper-of-the-day honors. Hardaway scored 29 points which tied him with teammate Carmelo Anthony for the high mark of the night last night. He knocked in six three-pointers while adding three rebounds and an assist. Expecting him to reach those levels on a regular basis is probably a stretch, but he’s definitely a solid pickup option in the over 90% of leagues he’s available in with the Knicks playing four games next week.
