For the vast majority of the country, the fantasy football season ended on Monday night with a crazy garbage-time defensive touchdown by the Philadelphia Eagles. More importantly, however, that means that there are a lot of fantasy players out there who may be looking for something fun to do this winter. It's not too late to set up a fantasy basketball team and join in on this action.
That said, let's talk some hoops! On Friday, I wrote an article about the Oklahoma City Thunder, discussing how their team offense works so much smoother when the lion's share of offensive creation is left to Russell Westbrook, leaving Carmelo Anthony (and Paul George) more as finishers than initiators. I had said something to this effect prior to the season, immediately after the trade. I pointed out that the Thunder could be very formidable with the "three central scorers approach" because they had two other starters in Steven Adams and Andre Roberson who could handle the dirty work and anchor the defense.
On Monday, against the Houston Rockets, the Thunder had a game that epitomized my view perfectly -- and showed what their fantasy potential could be moving forward if everyone settles into those roles. Westbrook flirted with a reasonably high-efficiency triple-double, with his characteristic high turnover count: 31 points (12-24 FG, 7-8 FT), 11 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 TO. George (24 points, 8-15 FG, 4-4 FT, 5 rebounds, 4 3-pointers, 4 assists, 1 steal, 5 TO) and Anthony (20 points, 8-12 FG, 2-2 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 3-pointers) combined for an efficient 44 points on 27 field goal attempts, with only four combined assists as they acted as finishers more than initiators.
Finally, Adams (15 points, 7-9 FG, 1-1 FT, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal) and Roberson (8 points, 3-4 FG, 2-4 FT, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 1 TO) indeed did the dirty work, combining for 14 rebounds and 10 combined steals/blocks. The one non-ideal stat contribution was George's lack of defensive stats. On a perfect day, he would also contribute as much on defense as on offense. But, other than that, this was an ideal performance by the Oklahoma City starters.
If they stay in these roles, literally all five of these guys could be fantasy-relevant, with each of them seeing a boost in value, relative to what they've earned to-date.
Monday recap
Box scores
Highlights:
Enes Kanter, New York Knicks: 31 points (12-11 FG, 7-8 FT), 22 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 TO
Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers: 31 points (9-25 FG, 7-7 FT), 18 rebounds, 6 3-pointers, 2 steals, 4 TO
Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers: 31 points (8-18 FG, 9-13 FT), 6 3-pointers, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 TO
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors: 12 points (5-11 FG), 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, 2 3-pointers, 1 block, 4 TO
Taj Gibson, Minnesota Timberwolves: 23 points (11-13 FG), 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 3-pointer, 1 TO
Lowlights:
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers: 8 points (4-8 FG, 0-2 FT), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 TO
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics: 8 points (3-9 FG, 2-5 FT), 9 rebounds, 1 TO
Monday takeaways
Kanter dominated the interior on Monday, winning his personal duel with Joel Embiid, but losing the game. He also outplayed Kristaps Porzingis (22 points, 6-19 FG, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks) who is still trying to shoot himself out of a slump. Lance Thomas contributed next to nothing in the box score, allowing Michael Beasley to outplay him with 10 points and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
While all eyes were on the matchup between LeBron James (20 points, 7-18 FG, 4-7 FT, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) and Kevin Durant (25 points, 8-19 FG, 6-7 FT, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 3-pointers, 3 assists, 2 steals), it was really Love and Green who stole the show. Love had a dominant inside-out effort that kept the Cavaliers competitive, and Green threw down a triple-double combined with his characteristic team leadership -- which was caught in several soundbites aired during the broadcast.
Gibson (available in 29.6 percent of leagues) didn't have quite as strong of a game as Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 7-12 FG, 5-6 FT, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 assists, 2 3-pointers, 1 assist) or Jimmy Butler (23 points, 11-20 FG, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 3-pointer), but he's still available in a handful of leagues. He should really be universally owned with the way he's played.
Simmons only scored eight points on Monday, the sixth time this month that he failed to post more than a dozen points. More alarmingly, this was his third straight game under seven assists, when he only had one such game in the 10 outings before that. There is some talk that teams are taking advantage of his inability to shoot in an effort to disrupt his playmaking ability, which opens the opportunity for T.J. McConnell (15 points, 6-11 FG, 1-1 FT, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 3-pointers -- available in 94.5 percent of leagues) to potentially re-earn starter minutes in the short term until Markelle Fultz is ready to return.
Injuries of note
Lonzo Ball (shoulder) and Brandon Ingram (quad) were both unable to play on Monday. Neither injury is considered serious, but their joint absence opened things up for Kyle Kuzma to explode, with strong contributions from Jordan Clarkson (17 points, 8-24 FG, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) and Julius Randle (16 points, 7-10 FG, 7 rebounds, 2 assists in 19 minutes off the bench) as well on Monday.
Jaylen Brown exited Monday's game late with a sprained right ankle. If he misses any time, Marcus Morris (available in 88 percent of leagues) could see increased playing time in his absence.
Earlier this weekend, the big injury news was Nikola Vucevic, who fractured a bone in his hand and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. His absence should open up space for Bismack Biyombo (available in 93.8 percent of leagues) to possibly step up to his nightly borderline double-double potential.
Analytics advantage for Tuesday
The Orlando Magic are among the worst in the NBA in points allowed per game (110.9 ppg, 29th in the NBA), 3-point percentage allowed (38.1 percent, 29th), assists allowed per game (25.1 apg, 28th), steals allowed per game (8.1 spg, t-22nd), and free throws allowed per game (17.2 FT/game, 20th). As such, it makes sense that opposing perimeter players tend to put up outstanding stat lines against the Magic.
On Tuesday, this means that every healthy perimeter player on the Miami Heat roster could be in play as a potential streamer/value play in DFS, including Goran Dragic (probable, elbow), Josh Richardson (available in 60.5 percent of leagues), Tyler Johnson (available in 80.8 percent of leagues) and Wayne Ellington (available in 96.7 percent of leagues).
Top players to watch tonight
Austin Rivers (available in 59.6 percent of leagues) and, to a lesser extent, Lou Williams, have been super-hot for the last couple of games. Rivers is coming off back-to-back games of 36 and 38 points, and will look for the trifecta on Tuesday against the Kings.
Elfrid Payton (available in 26.6 percent of leagues), who I've been calling upon to wake up for weeks, had a monster 30-and-10 game in his last outing to cap a four-game stretch in which he has averaged 19.3 points, 7.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Is he finally playing up to expectations?
Giannis Antetokounmpo was a surprise scratch on Saturday with a sore knee, but is considered probable to make his return Tuesday against a Chicago Bulls squad that he torched for 29 points, 16 boards and 4 assists just 11 days ago.
Kawhi Leonard has been easing his way back into the lineup after his quad injury kept him out for the first two months. He sat out on Saturday, but is listed as probable to play on Tuesday. Will his minutes restriction ease up at all from his season-high of 20 minutes in his last outing?
Hassan Whiteside has missed the entire month of December thus far with knee issues, but has been upgraded to questionable to play on Tuesday. He is the focal point of everything that Miami does, so his potential return could change the entire dynamic of the team.
Devin Booker, the offensive centerpiece for the Phoenix Suns, is expected to return on Tuesday after a long adductor/groin injury absence. No Suns player stepped up consistently in his absence, so Booker's return could actually help the rest of the team settle back into their roles.
