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Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games.
Thursday is the last slate of NBA games for a full week with the All-Star game coming up. There were only three games and they were all equally disappointing. Just for a quick overview:
- The Knicks won their first game in weeks, snapping an 18-game losing streak against the Hawks. Neither of these teams wanted to win today. They both want Zion Williamson, but I guess the Knicks just played less poorly enough for 48 minutes and lost by winning. Fantastic.
- The Orlando Magic are on a five-game winning streak heading into the break and literally, no one cares because they're still half of a game out of a playoff spot. They're combined margin of victory over the course of this streak is 114 points - roughly 23 PPG. They even beat the second seed Milwaukee Bucks in this stretch and no one cares, at all.
- The Pelicans beat the Thunder after Anthony Davis left with a "shoulder" injury early on. This game was just weird. One would assume that the Pelicans would be more inclined to lose games for the rest of the season as they aim to maximize their draft position (tank), but it seems that they would just rather live in chaos. More power to them, I guess?
Anyway, let's take it away with the Thursday, February 14th recap with these fantasy highlights!
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Kemba Walker: Oof
Well, that was a night to forget for Kemba Walker and Hornets' fans. The franchise point guard went 4-for-20 and lost to the Orlando Magic by 38 right before the All-Star Game they have to host. That just leaves a terrible taste in Charlotte's mouth that hopefully will pass soon. Walker's Thursday night is far from his recent streak of five 30-point games and should just be marked down as regression.
Walker went 0-for-7 from three-point range, scored 10 points, and only provided three assists, two rebounds, and two steals. At least he didn't turn the ball over...nevertheless, not much to worry about here. Walker will be back to normal next week after a few days off with no travel. He is going to be giving it his all to make a playoff push and fantasy owners should be reaping the benefits as he labors through the back-end of the season.
Julius Randle: Three-Point Specialist
Uhh, this is not good for my reputation. I am on record in various group chats announcing that letting Julius Randle go was a good move for the Lakers because of his inability to stretch the floor and poor rim protection. Randle is making over 34 percent of his threes this season and I am going to have to eat a ton of crow if it carries into the future.
Randle dropped 33 points, 11 rebounds, six assists on 11-for-21 shooting while providing two threes and one steal/block. He is going to continue stuffing the stat sheet with Nikola Mirotic out of town and Anthony Davis on a minutes limit per game. Randle might not be the most impactful player on the court (despite the counting stats) but he should be huge down the stretch in fantasy. The Pelicans' season is over and playing Randle an absurd amount is in the cards.
Mitchell Robinson: Big Block Rob
Very under the radar fantasy headline here, but Mitchell Robinson is a top-30 fantasy player over the past month. With Enes Kanter out of the picture and Robinson finally healthy, there are enough minutes for him to get work in. Robinson is putting up elite block numbers per game and they should absolutely be rostered. The beauty of Robinson's game is that he can get his job done in just over a quarter of play. Not even Fizdale's entopic rotations can keep him away from multiple blocks to buoy your weekly category.
Robinson is the rare waiver wire block specialist who doesn't really hurt you too much in other categories. The free throw percentage is not great, but if you have someone like Lillard of Curry to mask it, by all means, jump for MitchRob. In 19 minutes on Thursday, Robinson provided six points, seven rebounds, FOUR blocks, and a steal. He's a cheap FG percentage boost and has nearly averaged a double-double for the past few games.
