In his 750th career start, Memphis' Mike Conley scored 40 points for the first time as a professional on Tuesday night in downing the Portland Trail Blazers in impressive fashion. The performance marked just the second 40-point game by a Grizzlies player in the past decade and the first since Marc Gasol in January of 2017.
Conley isn't the only fun story on this lottery-bound Memphis team, as trading Gasol to Toronto, among some other smaller moves at the deadline, created real value for several members of Memphis' rotation.
Chief among these rising assets is Avery Bradley, who posted a modest 14-point line last night but has slashed for 17.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.1 APG, and 2.1 3PG in 10 games, all starts, with the Grizzlies. While Conley is universally owned in competitive fantasy leagues, Bradley is found in free agency in 90 percent of ESPN leagues.
The free-agent fun continues in Memphis with Delon Wright, sent over from Toronto in the Gasol blockbuster, as he's averaged 21 points and 9.5 combined assists and rebounds the past two outings and can be found for the price of a few clicks in 98 percent of ESPN leagues. Even Joakim Noah flirted with a triple-double on Tuesday evening and is rostered in fewer than 10 percent of leagues.
Tuesday recap
Highlights
Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies: 40 points (12-18 FG), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 TO
Gordon Hayward, Boston Celtics: 30 points (12-16 FG), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves: 41 points (15-27 FG), 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
Lowlights
Al Horford, Boston Celtics: 5 points (2-3 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Al-Farouq Aminu, Portland Trail Blazers: 7 points (3-7 FG), 1 rebound, 1 assist
Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors: 8 points (4-16 FG), 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 TO
Tuesday takeaways
Myles Turner compiled a career-high with seven blocks on Wednesday as the Pacers continue to shine sans Victor Oladipo. Bojan Bogdanovic's ascent as a primary scorer also continued by efficiently netting 27 points in the win over Chicago last night -- marking his career-high fifth-straight game with at least 20 points.
With the Celtics on fire from the field on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors suffered their worst home loss since Nov. 28, 2009, against the Lakers (also by 33 points) in what was Stephen Curry's 15th career game. Hayward impressively delivered his third 30-point game off the bench of the season, the most by a Celtics player since Ricky Davis in 2004-05 (finished with three that season).
The Ryan Saunders era in Minnesota has been a mixed bag in terms of the team's record, but the interim coach has helped unlock greater three-level scoring and more consistent defense from Towns, which is notable when the team evaluates his potential to be the Wolves' coach of the future. Towns tallied his second-most points in a game this season on Tuesday evening and delivered his sixth career game with at least 40 points and 10 boards, with only Kevin Love (10 such games) claiming more in franchise history. The win over the Thunder marked Minnesota's sixth game with at least 130 points this season after having scored at least that many points just five times in the previous four seasons combined. Derrick Rose appears to be back to form from his ankle ailment, as he's scored at least 18 points in six of his past seven appearances.
After taking just one shot in the first half, Jimmy Butler scored or assisted on the Sixers' last three field goals in the final three minutes and was responsible for nine of the team's final 13 points. Butler has sacrificed the most usage of the team's core of four stars in Philly, but his role as a closer at least helps fuel some additional value. JJ Redick was mired in a multi-game shooting slump before netting a game-high 26 points in South Philly last night. He has averaged 26.3 PPG (18-of-29 on 3-pointers) in three games against the Magic this season. For Orlando, Jonathan Isaac impressively made four 3-pointers and continues to present breakout potential for next season, given his unique 3-and-D profile.
Injuries of note
Paul George returned to action last night after missing multiple games with a shoulder ailment, though he has shot just 28 percent from the floor in his past three appearances.
An MRI confirmed Kyle Kuzma suffered a minor ankle sprain in Monday's loss to the Clippers and is expected to miss up to a week of action, per Ohm Youngmisuk
Atlanta's John Collins has missed the past three games with an illness and is considered questionable for tonight's matchup with the Spurs.
Joel Embiid is expected to miss tonight's tilt with the Bulls in Chicago, his seventh straight absence, as coach Brett Brown told reporters his All-Star center wasn't going to travel with the team for this one-game road trip. The impact of Embiid's absence is detailed below.
Analytics advantage for Wednesday
We must go back to Shaq's MVP campaign in 1999-2000 to find the last time a player has produced as many points, rebounds and assists per game as Embiid this season. The Cameroonian center claims the NBA's fourth-highest usage rate, signaling there are a lot of offensive opportunities to spread throughout the roster with him sidelined.
Tobias Harris has stepped up with Embiid out of the lineup, averaging a team-leading 24.2 points during the big man's six-game absence. Harris is also pulling in 9.2 rebounds with 1.7 combined blocks and steals during this sample, suggesting he's a savvy DFS investment even on a back-to-back in Chicago tonight. The Bulls are also facing a "SEGABABA," which is NBA nerd speak for the second game of back-to-back, lessening the negative performance potential for Philly.
Top players to watch tonight
The Lakers are 5.5 games out of the playoff picture, but there could be a reason to celebrate when they host the Nuggets on Wednesday at 10:30 ET on ESPN. LeBron James is just 13 points shy of passing Michael Jordan for fourth on the all-time scoring list. When James moves past Jordan, the top four scorers in NBA history will all have spent time with the Lakers.
In his last game against Denver on Nov. 27, LeBron scored 14 points, one more than he needs on Wednesday to move past Jordan for fourth on the all-time scoring list. The 14 points were a season-low at the time and are his second-fewest in a game this season. The only time James scored fewer against the Nuggets was on Nov. 5, 2003 -- the fourth game of his NBA career.
Denver is looking to bounce back from a close loss to the Spurs, with passing maven Nikola Jokic poised as a top DFS play tonight, given the Lakers have been uniquely generous on defense since the All-Star break.
