The NBA had a light night last night with just a pair of marquee games on the schedule. In the early game the Knicks knocked off the defending champion Miami Heat even though they sat J.R. Smith. In the later game, the Oklahoma City Thunder who were also the favorite went down in Denver to the Nuggets. Although there weren’t as many teams as normal in action, there was still opportunity for fantasy basketball production. Here’s the best from last night led by–who else?–LeBron James:
In Miami’s loss at Madison Square Garden, James finished with a league-high 32 points while adding six assists, five rebounds, a steal, and a block. He played 41 minutes and turned in the best overall line of the night, but it wasn’t enough for Miami.
With Russell Westbrook out, Lawson dominated the Thunder dishing out 14 assists to go with his 16 points in the Nuggets 13 point win. He hit a pair of threes, added three assists, and even pulled in seven rebounds. Perhaps most impressively, he had just a single turnover in his 40 minutes of play despite serving as the primary ball-handler.
Anthony continued his recent role scoring 29 points on 12-24 shooting including 3-8 on three-pointers. He added eight rebounds, five assists, and a pair of steals in the Knicks big home win.
The big names came to play last night and Durant joined James and Anthony with solid final lines although the Thunder fell short in the Mile High City. KD finished with 30 points with half of his scoring coming at the free throw line where he was 15-16 on the night. He added two steals, four assists, and three rebounds to complete his evening.
Wade’s line is an unusual one. He shot 11-15 from the field and made his only three point attempt on his way to a solid 23 points. He added four boards, two assists, a steal, and a block, but the strange part is his 0-6 mark from the free throw line. Wade is a 77% FT shooter in his career and is at 70% this season, so this should just be a bizarre outlier, but it’s worth noticing if you’re a Wade owner just so you’re aware if it grows into a bigger problem.
Our sleeper of the night last night was Randy Foye who is still available in 95% of ESPN leagues despite stepping up for the Nuggets with 29 minutes or more in his last six games. In his last five, he’s averaging 35 minutes per game while averaging 17.6 points per game and contributing across the stat sheet with 4.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 0.6 steals per game. His main contribution, though, comes when he’s stroking the three’s like he has been the last two games. Against the Thunder last night, he dropped six three-pointers on his way to 24 points after hitting seven three’s in the Nuggets previous game against Boston. If you need guard play contributing three-pointers, points, and a few rebounds and assists, check Foye out on the wire to see if he can give your lineup a boost like he has the Nuggets in the early part of 2014.
