Two Eastern Conference All-Stars went down with six-to-eight week prognoses for recovery on Tuesday. Early in the day it was John Wall, who has been battling knee soreness and elected to have a procedure to try to improve the situation that has been bothering him all season. Then, Tuesday night, Kevin Love broke his left hand in the first quarter of his game against the Detroit Pistons and will also be sidelined. Unlike DeMarcus Cousins, these two aren't done for the season, but these are still major injuries that directly affect a lot of people's fantasy teams. Let's look further into the ramifications.
In their first game without Wall on Tuesday night, the Wizards defeated the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder behind a balanced effort led by Bradley Beal (21 points, 8-19 FG, 3-5 FT, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 3-pointers, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 TO) and Otto Porter Jr. (25 points, 8-13 FG, 8-8 FT, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 3-pointer, 1 TO).
They also got strong contributions from their bigs, with Markieff Morris (available in 70 percent of leagues) turning in 18 points (7-14 FG, 3-3 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 1 TO and Marcin Gortat contributing 11 points (4-12 FG, 3-3 FT), 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 TO. If Porter and Morris are able to stay healthy after struggling with nagging injuries, this starting group could realistically turn in this caliber of performance on a regular basis with Wall out.
But what about the point guard replacement, as one of my Twitter followers asked (@ProfessorDrz). The following are his question and my answer, taking into account that I don't expect big numbers from either, but that Tomas Satoransky is starting, and what their per-100 possessions stats would project to:
Neither project as world-beaters but look at their per-100 numbers to see who looks better in more time: Satoransky: 14.9 pts, 7.9 asts, 6.7 reb, 1.4 stl, 1.4 treys, 51 FG%, 65 FT% vs Frazier's 10.8 pts, 11.7 asts, 6.5 reb, 2.5 stl, 1.1 3ptr, 42% FG 78% FT. Close but I lean Tomas
- Andre Snellings (@ProfessorDrz) January 30, 2018
Here's another question I got about Wall's current value in a dynasty league, and my response:
Dynasty league...yeah, I think I would. Porter and Warren are both good, young players with some upside, but I don't think they have top-10 upside, which Wall has
- Andre Snellings (@ProfessorDrz) January 30, 2018
As for Love, he went down in the first quarter, so we also got a first look at what the Cleveland Cavaliers looked like without him. Love is a stretch big man who can volume score and rebound. Thus, theoretically, there are three Cavs players who most benefit from his absence: Channing Frye, Isaiah Thomas and Tristan Thompson. Frye (available in 99.7 percent of leagues) takes on the stretch big responsibilities; and on Tuesday, he responded with 20 points (6-9 FG, 4-4 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 3-pointers and 2 blocks in 21 minutes off the bench.
Thomas has been working himself into shape after his long injury absence, and much of his integration has been rocky, but on top of occupying the "Kyrie Irving" role for the Cavs, Thomas now has to step up even more as the No. 2 scoring option on the team after LeBron James. Thomas scored 19 points (3-10 FG, 12-13 FT) with 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 3-pointer and 6 TO on Tuesday and is averaging 16.6 points, 4.6 assists, 1.6 3-pointers, 1.6 rebounds and 3.6 TO during his last pive games. These numbers are inching upwards into more respectability, but he will seemingly have to up the volume considerably with Love out.
Finally, Thompson (available in 82.4 percent of leagues) would seem to be the Cavs player who will be called on to fill the rebounding void. On Tuesday, he grabbed 10 rebounds with 8 points (4-9 FG), 1 assist and 1 TO in 27 minutes. This was his second double-digit rebound effort during his past three games, and he will seemingly need to increase that production in Love's absence.
Big combo forwards like Jae Crowder (27 minutes on Tuesday) and Jeff Green (12 minutes on Tuesday) could also see larger roles moving forward, but that isn't guaranteed.
Overall, absences from players like Wall or Love leave a big space that their teammates have to step up to fill. This leads to increased fantasy production opportunity all around on those teams.
Tuesday recap
Box scores
Highlights:
James Harden, Houston Rockets: 60 points (19-30 FG, 17-18 FT), 11 assists, 10 rebounds, 5 3-pointers, 4 steals, 1 block, 5 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 21 points (9-12 FG, 3-7 FT), 22 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 3 TO
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans: 23 points (6-16 FG, 9-10 FT), 13 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 assists, 2 3-pointers, 1 steal
Enes Kanter, New York Knicks: 20 points (8-10 FG, 4-4 FT), 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 4 TO
Lowlights:
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder: 13 points (5-18 FG, 2-2 FT), 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 7 TO
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors: 14 points (4-13 FG< 5-5 FT), 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 3-pinter, 3 TO
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves: 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-3 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 assists
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz: 9 points (4-7 FG, 1-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist, 1 TO
Elfrid Payton, Orlando Magic: 4 points (2-6 FG), 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound
Rajon Rondo, New Orleans Pelicans: 2 points (1-4 FG), 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 TO
Tuesday takeaways
Harden just turned in the highest-scoring triple-double in NBA history, eclipsing Westbrook's 57-point triple-double from 2017 and Harden's own 53 point triple-double from 2016. This is an all-time achievement and should be noted as such, but it should be noted that Chris Paul (groin) didn't play and Eric Gordon (back) played only briefly (see below), and when they both play, he is much less likely to have a huge game.
Drummond had a big day, from news of the Blake Griffin trade to his elevation to All-Star, replacing the injured Wall, and he finished it off with a huge 20/20 game that flirted with a triple-double. However, he was far from alone, as Stanley Johnson (available in 98.3 percent of leagues) chimed in with a monster 26 points (10-21 FG, 5-8 FT), 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 3-pointer and 1 block. Reggie Bullock (available in 94.7 percent of leagues) was good for 22 points (9-15 FG, 0-1 FT), 4 3-pointers, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and Anthony Tolliver (available in 99.3 percent of leagues) went for 20 points (6-9 FG, 5-5 FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 3-pointers, 2 steals and a block. Ish Smith (available in 75.7 percent of leagues) was the only Pistons starter not to go for 20 points, and he scored 19 points (8-17 FG, 3-5 FT) with 7 assists and 2 rebounds. Griffin will come in and eat up a good chunk of stats, but all of those players could remain fantasy useful for the new-look Pistons after the trade.
As noted in the Analytics advantage section of yesterday's article, the Sacramento Kings had a field day offensively on Tuesday against the friendly Pelicans defense. Willie Cauley-Stein (knee bruise) missed his second straight game, but it didn't matter, as Zach Randolph picked back up with 26 points (11-23 FG, 1-2 FT), 12 rebounds, 3 3-pointers, 2 assists and a steal. Kosta Koufos (available in 99 percent of leagues) also blew up in the middle, scoring 17 points (7-12 FG, 3-4 FT) with 17 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. De'Aaron Fox was solid again, scoring 15 points (6-14 FG, 2-2 FT) with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 3-pointer and a steal in the win.
Davis produced as expected, Jrue Holiday (21 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 3-pointer) was solid, but E'Twaun Moore (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 3-pointer) and Rondo underachieved. The big surprise was Ian Clark (available in 99.9 percent of leagues) coming from nowhere with 20 points (9-10 FG, 1-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 3-pointer, 1 assist and 2 TO in 30 minutes off the bench.
Injuries of note
Gordon had lower back stiffness and didn't return to Tuesday's game after leaving in the first half. His absence, in conjunction with that of CP3's (groin), paved the way for Harden's historic detonation. Gordon is questionable to play on Thursday, and if he sits, that could open up more minutes for Gerald Green.
Dante Cunningham suffered a lower-back injury and had to leave the game in the first half. He was starting in place of Cousins but was not a big fantasy producer. If the Pelicans are able to complete the rumored trade that they are trying for to bring in another power forward, Cunningham would probably go back to a bench role.
Analytics advantage for Wednesday
Harden just turned in a 60-point triple-double against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, the biggest scoring triple-double in NBA history. Last season, Westbrook turned in a 57-point triple-double against this same Magic defense, the second-biggest scoring triple-double in NBA history.
The Magic were already terrible defensively against opposing guards this season before Tuesday, allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing point guards and the tenth-most to opposing shooting guards. They are also on the second half of a back-to-back on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Lakers are missing starting point guard Lonzo Ball, but Jordan Clarkson is their most aggressive scoring lead guard and has had some good games off the bench in his past handful of games. Wednesday projects as a game that he, or one of the other on-ball Lakers perimeter scorers like Brandon Ingram could be in for a good game.
Top players to watch tonight
Dwight Howard has been a monster in the paint, and his former team -- the Atlanta Hawks -- are terrible at defending opposing centers. He just dropped a huge game on them last week and seems likely to do it again on Wednesday.
Ben Simmons has quietly been playing better of late, seemingly adjusting a bit to the way teams were defending him. He could put up a big game against a tired and weak Brooklyn Nets defense that is on the second half of a back-to-back.
Lauri Markkanen is out Wednesday for personal reasons, and Nikola Mirotic is questionable with a lower-leg injury while simultaneously living in serious trade talks. On Wednesday, I'm watching to see if Bobby Portis (available in 77.2 percent of leagues) explodes against a Portland Trail Blazers team that is on the second half of a back-to-back.
