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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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Saturday, February 13
Point-Harden leads Brooklyn to victory in Durant's return to the Warriors kingdom
In a game that was already packed with storylines thanks to KD making his return to the home of his former team, it turned out Kyrie Irving and James Harden were the two most-talked-about folks of the day. That's because Kyrie "handed" the point guard position and duties to James Harden, with Irving taking on the shooting guard role instead--not to mention Kevin Durant started at the center spot with DeAndre Jordan out. And judging by the results, things couldn't have worked out better for the two of them.
Harden led all players in fantasy points yesterday with a marvelous 19-8-16-3-1 dub-dub that could have very well turned into a trip-dub had a couple of rebounds bounced his way. Harden hit 5 triples on the night, shot 55% from the floor, and although he committed 5 TOs, I guess that's what happens when you run the point. Oh, and did it all on a below-average 19.9% usage rate, which makes this game an even greater feat. It's Harden's ninth 15-8-15 game career-wise, and the second one since he became a Net.
- Joel Embiid and Devin Booker had quite a battle--from the distance of their positions on the court, though--yesterday in a game that ended with Phoenix getting the best of Philly. Pretty similar lines with JoJo getting to a 35-8-2-1 and 48 FP, and Book reaching a 36-5-4 for 46 FP.
- For fantasy purposes, it's quite nice to find the likes of Eric Gordon and T.J. McConnell among the top-11 players of the slate. Gordon started for Houston and is more widely rostered, but McConnell is still a second-unit, low-rostered Indiana player who put up a more than palatable 6-3-12-4-2 line and 39 FP even on a horrid shooting night (37.5% from the floor, no triples).
- The Jazz just don't know how to lose a game. Another night, another W. It's worth talking about Georges Niang, who racked up a stuffed 14-3-5-1 line in just 18 minutes of playing time hitting 4 treys while at it. Everybody--perhaps with the exception of Royce O'Neale in fantasy terms--is worth rostering from Utah's squad these days.
- Knicks rookie Immanuel Quickley keeps doing it. He is still coming off the bench (and that might not change all season long with Thibs coaching) but in his 21 minutes of run, he was still able to return great ROI with a 22-4-2 line shooting 78% from the floor and scoring 4 treys against Houston. IQ is becoming too mainstream, but if you can still find him in your WW, you better grab him asap.
- I have mentioned in this column before: Juan Toscano-Anderson is the way for the Warriors if only because of the time he's out there on the court. Disappointing game yesterday (8-4-1 shooting 38% in 25 minutes), but definitely a sound flyer to take in deeper leagues.
- Cousins is available in more than one of each four Yahoo leagues. That's not a low rostership, but in the same vein as Quickley you should be getting him while you can. When Christian Wood comes back Cousins' value will drop, but in his spot starts he's been magnificent. Another 10-10 game for DMC yesterday in just 22 minutes of playing time.
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