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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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Thursday, November 11
The Sixers welcome Tobias Harris back but it goes for nothing, the Clippers win their sixth straight game led by Paul George again, and Utah literally fights Indiana but ends dropping one to the Pacers
In a small three-game slate after the monster 13-game one from Wednesday, only two players--Toronto's Fred VanVleet and Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey--got to reach 50+ FP on Thursday. They did so while facing each other and logging 40 minutes of play each as Toronto ended edging the Sixers to go above .500 with a 7-6 record now sitting eighth in the East. FVV put up a 33-6-7-1 line with 6 treys baked into it while his counterpart Maxey dumped a 33-4-5-1-2 stuffed line shooting 63.2% on 19 FGA and hitting all of his 8 FTA.
In the other two games of the slate, the Clippers defeated a worrying Heat squad that has now lost three straight. Of course, Paul George led the way with an all-around contribution going for a 27-4-5-3 line on a slate-leading 32.8 percent USG%. Utah and Indy players got into a heated confrontation that ended with four players ejected while Malcolm Brogdon was clearly the man of the day thanks to his 30-9-4-1 performance, one that truly helped the Pacers in their winning effort and put Indiana closer to the play-in spots but still left them on a rather mediocre 5-8 record through 13 games.
- Bam Adebayo was a constant threat on the day reaching a 30-11 dub-dub to go with a steal and a block. Fantastic shooting (66.7% on 18 FGA) but no lucky floor-stretching with no treys to his name against the Clips. Lowry was the one hitting long rangers (4 of them) in one of his best scoring outings for Miami to date (25-3-5-2 line with a 52.9 FG% on 17 FGA).
- Impressive performance by off-the-pine reserve T.J. McConnell for the Pacers: 21-8-5-1 line with a three, only one TO, and a masterful 71.4% shooting from the field on a bulky 14 FGA. Only the zero FTA/FTM could have gotten better all things considered. Even then, it's not that we can be too upset with his 1.31 FP/min average in 31 minutes of playing time.
- Tobias Harris came back and dropped a spicy 19-7-7 line with a block. The shooting is still cold (38.9% from the floor) but for his first game in a while, he did pretty much everything we could ask him for--and that was without Joel Embiid present and taking D-eyes off Tobi.
- Chris Boucher was the reserve of the day thanks to his 17-6-0-1-2 contrib in just 24 minutes out there. 1.27 FP/min for the forward.
- Another very under-the-radar player was Kelan Martin, who finished with a 14-4-2 line in just 20 minutes for a 1.15 FP/min average in the Pacers winning effort. The shooting sucked a bit falling just below 39%, but for Martin's profile and huge availability/low price it's not that he really tanked the slate.
- Eric Bledsoe and Ivica Zubac are fantastic high-value plays to consider in deeper leagues and as last-slot fillers in DFS contests. Bledsoe played a monster 40 minutes, and Zubac (30 min.) is the only true-center in the Clips rotation. A couple of 35+ FP outcomes from these two against Miami with EB hitting a 21-3-3-0-3 line and IZ dumping a great 18-11--1-0-2 dub-dub.
- What the hell was the sport Domantas Sabonis was trying to play yesterday? Definitely not basketball, one would say... Sab Jr. finished the day with a measly 6-7-5-1-1 line in his bulky 32 minutes for a putrid 25 FP score and a dumb low 0.79 FP/min average. Sabonis couldn't find his shooting at any point closing the curtains at a ridiculous 20% shooting on 10 FGA... only saved by hitting 2-of-4 freebies... while committing 6 PF and getting to the locker early. Night to forget for him.
- Andre Drummond logged another start--perks of backing up a COVID-hit Embiid...--but he put up a dud after reaching unsustainable numbers of late. Dru could only get 4 points to go with 12 boards, 3 dimes, and 4 (!) blocks. Yes, the swats were fantastic and I still don't know how he got to dish out three assists, but the shooting was horrific (25%) and the volume equally low (8 FGA with no FTA).
- Olynyk has taken on a bench role for the Pistons this season but he won't be even there for the next six months after getting an MCL sprain that will keep him out until Christmas if not longer... Caris LeVert did not play on Thursday but is expected back on Saturday... Ben Simmons' situation keeps getting uglier by the day, and although he's obviously worth stashing who knows when we'll see him play again--and where.
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