After a slow Monday, the NBA was back in a big way last night with a dozen games on the schedule and plenty of great performances all across the Association. There were some surprising contributors in the fantasy basketball world, but most of the big-time producers were the stars of the league who turned in big nights. Here’s the top performers from Tuesday, January 7
Durant and the Thunder fell in Utah on the road in Utah, but the Thunder star poured in a league-high 48 points on the night shooting 14-34 from the field and 17-19 from the free throw line. He added some solid peripherals as well turning in seven boards, five assists, four steals, and two blocks.
One of the reasons the Thunder lost despite Durant’s numbers was the performance of Hayward who hit 13-16 from the field on his way to a very efficient 37 points to go with 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals,a nd a block.
Like Durant, Lillard also had a huge night in a losing effort as the Blazers fell on the road to Sacramento. Lillard winished with 41 points on 13-24 shooting while hitting seven three-pointers and adding seven rebounds, four assists, and a blocked shot.
Miles has had these fantasy-relevant spurts before, but he’s worth a look for your fantasy team if you need an instant shot in the arm on the offensive end. I don’t think he’s a long-term solution and his role may shift when Loul Deng joins the team, but he’s shown he can produce when given the chance.Last night he hit a team-record 10 three-pointers while scoring 34 points to go with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He’s played 30+ minutes in three straight and is hitting three pointers, so add him until he cools off if you need scoring or long-distance assistance.
Lee continues to put up bananas numbers while staying overall pretty efficient as well. He only took 12 shots last night but finished with 22 points against the Bucks while adding 18 rebounds, two assists, and a block in Golden State’s 101-80 road win.
Cousins played 43 minutes in the Kings win over Portland and made the most of his time finishing with 35 points and 13 rebounds and adding two blocked shots, two assists, and a steal.
Anthony was uncharacteristically efficient as well hitting 13-24 shots from the field and 6-7 from long range on his way to 34 points agains the Pistons. He added four boards, four steals, two assists, and a block as well.
Another solid effort from LeBron almost goes almost unnoticed since he puts these numbers up on an almost daily basis. James finished with 32 points, five assists, two stealts, and three rebounds. James was solid even though he didn’t explode like his counterparts higher up on the list.
The Nuggets put up 129 points at home against the Celtics thanks in part to Lawson who dished a league high 13 assists in his 33 minutes of time on the floor. He added 19 points, four rebounds, and a steal while being the only player to get double-digit helpers on the night.
Meeks was one of our top ten pickups for the week, and he came through last night with a solid night earning him our “Sleeper Statline of the Night” since he’s still only owned in about a third of ESPN leagues. He finished with 24 points on 6-16 shooting in his 41 minutes. Four of those shots were three-pointers, and he added four steals, four rebounds, and six assists to go with them. He continues to get huge amounts of minutes in the Lakers depleted backcourt making him a solid source of points and steals. He’s averaging over two steals a game over his past 10 games.
