It was just another historic Monday night in the NBA with James Harden extending his streak of 30-point games to 30, becoming the second player in NBA history with 30 straight games scoring 30 points, joining Wilt Chamberlain in this unique "30 for 30" club. Former teammate Russell Westbrook extended his triple-double streak to 10 games, passing Chamberlain for the longest streak in NBA history.
In a sound win over the Blazers, the Thunder saw Paul George become the first non-center with at least 45 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive outings since Michael Jordan in March 1990. For good measure, George also completed a triple-double, the sixth 45-point triple-double in franchise history. You might guess that Westbrook has the other five.
Oklahoma City's duo became the ninth pair of teammates to ever record a triple-double in the same game and marked the fifth time this season George and Westbrook have compiled a 40-point showing and a triple-double in the same game, respectively, the most such outings from a pair of teammates in NBA history. With 21 points tallied last night, Westbrook is now just five points shy of passing Gary Payton for the most in Thunder/SuperSonics history.
These epic outings seem par for the course now, but we should take some time to reflect on history as it's occurring. Such indelible performances aren't just a sign of this offensively friendly era, but also an era with a bevy of superstar talents amid their primes.
With an eye on identifying more readily available fantasy assets than this trio of superstars, let's dive into the night that was in the NBA.
Monday recap
Highlights
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks: 29 points (9-13 FG), 17 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks, 6 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 32 points (12-19 FG), 17 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 TO
Paul George, Oklahoma City Thunder: 47 points (15-26 FG), 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, 2 TO
Lou Williams, LA Clippers: 45 points (13-25 FG), 1 rebound, 4 assists, 7 TO
Lowlights
Kris Dunn, Chicago Bulls: 2 points (1-9 FG), 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 TO
Danilo Gallinari, LA Clippers: 12 points (2-10 FG), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 TO
CJ McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers: 13 points (5-20 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 TO
Jabari Parker, Washington Wizards: 0 points (0-3 FG), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 TO
Monday takeaways
Kevin Love didn't play at all in the second half of Monday's win over the Knicks as part of a planned restriction on his minutes as he works his way back into a full-time role. With Cleveland prioritizing -- or "Zioning" -- lottery positioning as the endgame this season, Love's reintegration could prove quite slow, given how cautious the team is already proving. With Love on the sideline, Larry Nance Jr. hauled in a career-best 10 offensive rebounds to go with four assists and 15 points. Go into value here -- Nance was fifth among centers in DFS production on Monday and is eligible at power forward and center in ESPN leagues while available in free agency in more than 60 percent of leagues as of Tuesday morning.
Williams is making his annual charge for Sixth Man of the Year honors with a season-high scoring effort last night in a loss to the Timberwolves. This marked the second-most points in a game in his career and the most by any player off the bench since JR Smith in April of 2009. Despite taking the loss, the Clippers bench outscored the starters 89 to 31, with the 58-point differential the largest for the Clippers this season.
Antetokounmpo tallied his 12th game this year with at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Per Elias, that ties Shaquille O'Neal (2000-01) for the most such games in a season since the NBA/ABA Merger. This guy might be good. The team held out Nikola Mirotic to get him fully healthy for the stretch run, so it wouldn't be surprising for the Bucks to delay his debut until after the break.
For the Wizards, Bobby Portis shined in 32 minutes of action off the bench with 17 shots, 10 of them from deep with the stretch forward sinking six of them. It's clear Portis is going to take every bit of usage afforded him with his new squad. With Portis, Jeff Green and Trevor Ariza all ahead of Jabari Parker in the pecking order for meaningful touches in the rotation, I'd be fine cutting the former Duke star and pivoting to Portis or Nance, for instance.
The Nets lost a close battle to the Raptors in Toronto but kept it close, thanks to deft shooter Joe Harris going off with 24 points on just nine shots, thanks to missing just one of eight attempts from beyond the arc. Enjoying a hot stretch from beyond the arc, we can find Harris in free agency in more than 80 percent of ESPN leagues.
Injuries of note
Kyrie Irving has been ruled out ahead of tonight's showdown with the rival Sixers, per head coach Brad Stevens. The fantasy fallout of Irving's absence can be found below.
Analytics advantage for Tuesday
The immediate inference with Irving out is likely to load up on shares of Terry Rozier. With a penchant for playing well against Philly in a starting capacity, I can understand a heavy interest in Rozier in DFS competition tonight, but the savvy move is to focus on Marcus Morris. This efficient stretch forward leads the team with a robust four percent spike in usage rate with Irving off the floor the season, followed by Marcus Smart (3.3 percent boost) and Jaylen Brown (2.3). Morris produces 4.6 more fantasy points per 36 minutes with Irving off the floor, again the highest spike on the team sans Irving. As a fun Celtics note, let's extend a happy 85th birthday to franchise and league legend Bill Russell.
Top players to watch tonight
The new year has been good to Utah's Donovan Mitchell; the dynamic combo guard is averaging 26.3 PPG while sinking 37 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc since the start of January, a stark difference compared the to 20.1 PPG and 29.3 percent clip from 3-point range he had through December this season. Mitchell will need to be at his playmaking best to help the Jazz pull off the upset as sizable underdogs in Oakland tonight with the Warriors favored by 8.5 points.
For the Warriors, I'll gladly pay up for Stephen Curry in daily fantasy competition at home in a marquee matchup with Mitchell. The Warriors sport the best net rating in 2019, and Curry somehow has been sinking 5.5 3PG since the start of January at a 44.5 percent clip. The Jazz, meanwhile, are 1-1 against Golden State this season with a positive point differential in the series, revealing this could be an entertaining and competitive contest.
