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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Tuesday, November 23
Both Los Angeles franchises drop games as the Clippers force OT but ultimately fall to Dallas while the Lakers come back from a 25-point deficit only to get beaten by New York at the end of the game
LeBron James had to stay off the court yesterday while serving his one-game suspension after the Isaiah Stewart scuffle a couple of nights ago, and the Lakers also had to endure a not-quite-fit Anthony Davis who played ill on Tuesday and could only log a 20-6-3 in 34 minutes of playing time. Julius Randle was fantastic for the Knicks dropping a 20-16-5-1 dub-dub though he missed time getting in foul trouble with 5 PF.
Russ' trip-dub (31-13-10-2) should have been enough for the Lakers to hold onto that huge comeback as Westbrook led DK's slate in FP... but no other Laker was about to help this poor man. No Clipper seemed to care about helping Paul George either, other than Reggie Jackson and his top-3 fantasy tally to the tune of a silly 31-10-2-3 line with 3 treys baked into it. PG13 got to the top-5 playing a ridiculous 49 minutes for a 26-9-6 outing in which he shot a low 30.4%.
- It had to be Luka Doncic, of course. Luka finally returned from injury and played a bulky 41 minutes including OT to beat the Clippers with a near-trip-dub reading 26-9-9-1-2 while shooting 42.9% on 21 FGA and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Not bad for someone who had missed the prior three games if you ask me.
- Dame and CJ combined for 57 points in Portland's trouncing of a molly-banged-up Nuggets. Jeff Green was Denver's best player yesterday, so you get an idea of how things went for the Nugs. Both members of the Blazers backcourt dumped 5 treys on Denver, added 3-3-2 and 3-5-1 rest-of-lines, and finished as top-11 plays in DK's Tuesday slate.
- Surprising top-7 finish by Tyler Herro playing 33 minutes off the pine for the Heat and helping Miami defeat the lowly Pistons. 31 pops for my hero on a night in which he also pulled down 8 boards, dished out 3 dimes, and went 57.1% from the field on 21 healthy FGA.
- Ridiculous game from Maxi Kleber playing off the pine and taking great advantage of the bonus time via OT as he went on to log 36 minutes of playing time putting up a low-but-packed 8-9-6-2-1 line. Nothing to get crazy about, I know, but something very tasty for those with shares or looking to get some of them given Kleber's price/availability.
- Jeff Green was an absolute threat and also the only Nugget worth playing yesterday: 24-4-3-0-3 shooting 56.3% on 16 FGA, only 2 TOs, 3-for-3 on freebies, and all of that in 35 minutes for a nice 1.14 FP/min efficient average.
- Evan Fournier was fantastic for what he often does, reaching 36 DKFP on a 26-4-2 performance (6 treys), but the actual out-of-left-field player of the night was probably a still-not-washed-up Avery Bradley dumping a 15-9-1-2 over the Knicks in the Lakers losing effort.
- Just when we thought Cade Cunningham had finally got it... welp, he ain't there yet. The 6-3-6-1 line was packed, and he even scored a long ranger, but I mean... Cade shot 20% on his 10 field goal attempts, committed 4 TOs, and couldn't do a thing to help his Motown teammates.
- Stinker by Carmelo Anthony (12-3 in 28 minutes), Talen Horton-Tucker (29 minutes yet a 0-2-4-1-1), Eric Bledsoe (2-4-1-1 in 25 MP), and Jalen Brunson (limited to 12 minutes off the pine due to injury finishing with a 4-1-2-2 line). Better days ahead, folks.
- Brunson got injured in his foot and couldn't return to the court later, so keep an eye on that story... P.J. Dozier suffered the same fate, only with knee issues... LeBron should be back in the Lakers starting five tonight against the Pacers... Marcus Smart is off the injury report yet not confirmed for Wednesday's affair with the Nets... Davis Bertans should be available to play for the Wiz Kidz tonight.