Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight a few key fantasy basketball takeaways from the games played during last night's slate. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making based on trends and statistical nuggets from around the Association.
Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, every time I mention Fantasy Points in these articles I will be using DraftKings' scoring system, which goes as follows: 1*PTS, 0.5*3PM, 1.25*RBD, 1.5*AST, 2*STL, 2*BLK, -0.5*TO. On top of that, bonus points are awarded for Double-Doubles (+1.5) and Triple-Doubles (+3), only one per player at a time.
Without further ado, let's get right into the latest slate of games from the 2021 season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.
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Wednesday, November 3
A night for reclamation projects and under-the-radar players sees all of Myles Turner, Miles Bridges, Jarrett Allen, and Jalen Brunson finish as top-10 plays on Wednesday's slate
The trio of Turner, Bridges, and Allen were all able to finish in the top-4 of fantasy players only bested by reigning MVP Nikola Jokic. Not bad for these three, who have had up and downs higher or lower depending on the case, but who showed their talents for good yesterday.
Myles put up a monster 25-13-2-1-3 stuffed line (in just 29 minutes!) and hit a slate-high 7 triples while shooting 64.3% from the field; Miles Bridges kept up his fantastic start to the year with a 32-9-2-2-2 near dub-dub performance; Jarret Allen was good for a 24-17-4-1-1 all-across-the-board contribution in a freakish 40 minutes of playing time. Most impressive of all, though? Jalen Brunson's fantastic 31-10-3-2 line, which was lower than the other three's but a tasty one considering Brunson's availability/price on redraft and DK slates.
- Getting back to the true stud of the day, Jokic got the highest DKFP tally on Wednesday with 60.8 fantasy points to the tune of a 34-11-5-2 night in which he also went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. To no avail, though, as Denver dropped another game to the Grizzlies, which seem to have the Nuggets number after going 2-0 in back-to-back games this week.
- In the middle of all complaints about the lack of fouls getting called these days by the likes of Trae Young and James Harden, our man Brunson put on some work and was able to attempt 15 FTA yesterday hitting 12 of them. Talk about foul-calling and opportunity-seizing.
- Another win for the Clips, now two in a row. Obviously, only Paul George could save the LA squad once more (as will be the case all year long) with a neat 32-6-8-1-1 scoring 4 treys and shooting 61.1% from the field and 6-for-6 on freebies. The 8 TOs were sky-high, I know, but that's what happens when you get a massive 36.8 USG% and are the only viable leader on your team.
- What about starters Garret Temple (NO) and Pat Beverley (MIN)? Fantastic games for them considering their availability and price in DFS. Temple dropped 12 pops on Sacto while getting 9 boards, dishing 2 dimes, and blocking a couple of shots; and Beverley played 32 minutes in which he was this close to trip-dubbing with a 10-10-8 line to which he added a block on a measly 12.8% usage rate.
- As for pine-riders, Gary Payton II put on a show getting off the bench and playing a low 18 minutes in which he demolished the Hornets with a 14-5-1-3-1 stuffed line. Not happening every night, of course, but The Glove Jr. showed his talents and upside yesterday...
- Along with teammate Jordan Poole and his ridiculous 31-3-1-4 to go with 7 treys in bailing out a struggling Steph Curry. The good Curry turned out to be Seth, the Philly Sixer, who put up a 22-5-3-1 line shooting 64.3% from the field and scoring 2 treys, hitting a crucial shot to hand Philadelphia the win against Chicago yesterday.
- Disastrous game from Domantas Sabonis, who finished with just 21.3 DKFP and a silly 10-7-3 line including 4 TOs and a game-closing 6 PFs against the Knicks. Another dud equally priced came from Jayson Tatum, who responded to Marcus Smart critics with a rather bad 14-6-3-1-2 outing shooting 25% and... proving Smart smart?
- Orlando lost yesterday and Cole Anthony came down to earth a bit, but it was former-Magic Nikola Vucevic, now balling in Chicago, who struggled mightily on Wednesday: 36 minutes only good for a 4-10-6 is just not going to cut it for fantasy GMs looking to roster and start top-tier plays daily/weekly, I'm afraid.
- Scares from Anthony Edwards, Myles Turer, and Gary Payton II, who all returned to the court. No such luck for PJ Washington (elbow) and Kyle Kuzma (forearm) as neither finished yesterday's games.
- News on Indiana Pacers T.J. Warren, of whom HC Rick Carlisle said he's off the boot already but made it clear that "it will be weeks before he is back, but hopefully not months". Long road ahead, folks.