Fantasy Basketball Night In Review: Wednesday, February 24

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.

Wednesday, February 24

The Jazz destroy the Lakers while Danilo Gallinari sinks 10-treys in handing Boston another L

At this point into the season, with more than 40 percent of the games already played, it is not surprising to find Utah winning games nightly. The affair with the Lake Show yesterday was always going to be a little bit watered down with Anthony Davis sidelined, but even then the 114-89 final result was a very sound one. The Jazz are thriving through the regular season, are 26-6, have a .813 winning percentage, and are already 3.5 games clear of the no. 2 Clippers and 4.5 of the own Lakers. Jeez.

On an individual basis, Jimmy Butler was the man of the day yesterday as even on a rather average shooting night (47 percent from the floor on 17 FGA) he still dropped 27 on Toronto, helped Miami score a W, and completed that scoring with 8 boards, 10 dimes, 3 dimes, and a block. Biggies like Jarrett Allen, Domantas Sabonis, and Bam Adebayo all dub-dubbed, and Devin Booker celebrated his ultimate All-Star selection (as a replacement for the injured Anthony Davis) with a ball-hogging showcase to the tune of 33 points, no rebounds, 3 assists, and a single steal.

• The most valuable player of the night, though, was the unexpected Danilo Gallinari. Gallo has been forgettable for the Hawks after signing to play ball in Atlanta this season. Until yesterday, that is, when he sank Boston to another L thanks to a mighty 10-triple performance and a 38-6-2-2 line shooting a bonkers 81% from the floor on his 16 FGA. Crazy day for Gallo, who gathered a 1.126 true shooting percentage.
• Getting back to Jarrett Allen. Oofffff. Cleveland might be sitting Andre Drummond until they find a trade partner, but the Cavs won't be missing his numbers that much. Allen, in 37 minutes, closed the day with a monster 28-18 line and 4 blocked shots. He missed just one of the 11 shots he took, and even hit a triple on the day!

• Other than Gallo, Malik Monk was terrific off the pine for Charlotte. The Hornets fell to Phoenix but Monk found his way to 29 points on 28 minutes. He hit 5 treys and contributed all across the board with 2 boards, 3 dimes, and a steal while shooting a very healthy 21 FGA and hitting all of his 4 freebies. Monk is available in 90 percent of Yahoo leagues.
• With Kemba Walker out for Boston, Jeff Teague started at the point and he was rather productive with a stuffed 14-5-5-1-1 line in 29 minutes of playing time. He was 6-for-6 from the line, too, and did it all on a below-average 19% usage rate.

• Garrett Temple has been one of the best additions off the WW of late, but he came down crashing to Earth yesterday. Even though he started on the wing and logged 38 minutes, all he did was score 5 points, pull down 4 boards, and dish out 2 dimes in a rather mediocre 12-FP effort for the Bulls against the putrid Wolves.
• Kyle Kuzma, this time playing off the bench, was super disappointing. The Lakers had no chance of winning against Utah, sure, but even then he was horrid with just 20 FP on a day in which he shot 29% from the floor, scored a measly 5 points, and all that saved his day was a lowly-stuffed 7-1-2-1 rest-of-line. Keep believing in him because AD will be out for a while and that will bump up Kuzzy's minutes, but don't expect many fireworks.

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