Sunday was an interesting NBA day, as there were only three games and two of them featured dominant defenses -- at least on paper -- while the other was a rematch of a high-scoring battle from a couple of weeks ago.
The choice for which game would produce the best fantasy lines seemed obvious, and in this case, it played out true, as the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns put up the two biggest scores of the day. The Timberwolves and Suns produced 227 total points, 34 more points than the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, and 41 more points than the Brooklyn Nets and Memphis Grizzlies. Thus, to some extent the games played to chalk, at least on the surface.
If you dig in a bit, though, you will find that injuries and team dynamics caused the micro-stories to be different than expected in several ways, producing unusual impact players who could be worth tracking in the near future.
Three of the six teams were missing their starting point guards, the Suns came in without their best player, Devin Booker, and the Nets lost Rondae Hollis-Jefferson early on in the action.
The ongoing absence of Mike Conley has clearly diminished the Grizzlies, who lost their seventh straight home game overall to a weak Nets squad that remains without their starting point guard, D'Angelo Russell, indefinitely. The Nets were led by DeMarre Carroll and Trevor Booker, who both shined once Hollis-Jefferson went down.
The Heat entered their game with Hassan Whiteside questionable due to left knee soreness, and he played only 21 minutes, as the Heat ceded leadership to Goran Dragic, James Johnson and Wayne Ellington. Whiteside's weakness seems to have led to added rebound success form the Bulls, who got two double-doubles and 30 total rebounds from their starting frontline to supplement a strong 24-point effort off the bench from Jerian Grant.
Finally, in Minnesota, Mike James came off the bench and stepped in for Booker's scoring, while the Timberwolves got a startling near triple-double from Tyus Jones, who started in place of Jeff Teague. All told, the story of the day on Sunday seemed to be injuries and how they affected each team's production.
Sunday recap
Injuries
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns: missed game with an inflamed right big toe
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brooklyn Nets: left game early with sprained ankle
Jeff Teague, Minnesota Timberwolves: missed second straight game due to sore Achilles
Box scores
Highlights:
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves: 32 points (12-26 FG, 6-6 FT), 12 rebounds, 2 3-pointers, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover
Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls: 14 points (5-12 FG), 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 3-pointers, 1 steal, 2 turnovers
Tyus Jones, Minnesota Timberwolves: 9 points (3-6 FG, 2-2 FT), 7 steals, 7 assists, 2 blocks, 1 3-pointer, 0 turnovers
Mike James, Phoenix Suns: 26 points (10-20 FG, 3-4 FT), 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 3-pointers, 3 turnovers
Lowlights:
Mario Chalmers, Memphis Grizzlies: 3 points (1-for-2 FG), 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 3-pointer, 0 turnovers
Kris Dunn, Chicago Bulls: 2 points (0-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 FT), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers
Alex Len, Phoenix Suns: DNP-CD
Sunday takeaways
Towns had the stat line of the night, which is to be expected. His Sunday line was better than his season average, but remember that KAT came up huge in the second half of each of his first two NBA campaigns, and box scores like last night's became more routine.
Valentine's line was huge because of the diversity of ways that he led the Bulls' starting unit. He played a team-high 40 minutes and led the starting unit in rebounds, assists, shots taken and 3-pointers made. This shows that he truly is becoming one of the primary options on the Bulls.
James and Jones both put up huge numbers largely due to injuries to teammates. Both Booker and Teague are day-to-day, so the bump could be short term.
Carroll (24 points, 6 boards, 4 3-pointers, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) and Booker (16 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block) both shined in larger roles after Hollis-Jefferson went down with an ankle injury.
Chalmers' line showed that, despite his starting status in place of the injured Conley, Chalmers is still a risky play in any given game.
Dunn is considered to be part of the future for the Bulls, but in the present, he is still working through young player up-and-down production, and his shot is weak, which makes scoring the stat that he'll most often struggle to fill.
Len has been battling with Tyson Chandler and Greg Monroe for minutes, then they both started on Sunday while Len got a DNP-CD.
Analytics advantage for Monday
Three of the four fastest-paced teams in the league play on Monday: the Nets (103.3 possessions per game), the Lakers (103.3) and the 76ers (102.8). This should lead to fantasy-friendly pace opportunities for their opponents, the Rockets, the Clippers and the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers at the 76ers really stands out as a potentially fantasy-friendly game. In addition to the 76ers' fast pace, the Cavaliers also sport the second-highest team defensive rating in the NBA at 111.2 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Top players to watch tonight
One player to keep an eye on tonight is Tony Parker, who is expected to make his season debut after missing the entire season to date due to a ruptured left quadriceps tendon that he suffered last season in the playoffs. This also shines further light on the continued absence of Kawhi Leonard, who also injured his quad in last season's playoffs but had supposedly suffered a less-serious injury.
Check Ben Simmons' availability. He didn't play on Saturday due to an elbow injury but was generally expected to return on Monday. If he sits again, look to Dario Saric (available in 43.5 percent of ESPN leagues) in his absence.
