The NBA is fantastic and there are so many things to talk about each and every week. Whether you are a Fantasy Basketball fanatic or just a fan here is ten things about the NBA that I want you to know about as we head into week 24 of the NBA season!
Best Games to Watch in Week 24
Monday March 26: Denver Nuggets at Philadelphia 76ers. Denver is fighting for the last playoff spot in the West. The 76ers are on a roll. This should be a great game to watch!
Tuesday March 27: Portland Trail Blazers at New Orleans Pelicans. This should be a fun game to watch and a possible first round Western Conference playoff matchup!!
Wednesday March 28: Brooklyn Nets at Orlando Magic. If you like to watch teams score points these two non-defensive teams will make your evening!
Thursday March 29: Milwaukee Bucks at Golden State Warriors. This should be an interesting game between a banged up Warriors squad and a young, hungry Bucks team.
Friday March 30: Denver Nuggets at Oklahoma City Thunder. The Nuggets are fighting against a Thunder team that doesn’t always show up.
Saturday March 31: Toronto Raptors at Boston Celtics. The top two seeds in the East collide on a Saturday night.
Sunday April 1: Milwaukee Bucks at Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets are the team to watch down the stretch!!
You are a Happy Fantasy Basketball General Manager If
If you have players on your roster from the Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards as each team has four games this week.
Waiver Wire Pickup of the Week for Week 23
The Chicago Bulls have four games this week (@Houston, @Miami, @Orlando and Washington) and PF/C Bobby Portis has been playing out of his mind. Over the past five games Portis is averaging 16.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, two assists, one steal and nearly two triples per night. Portis has very solid shooting percentages and while his 27.5 minutes per night on a tanking team might scare you please don’t let it as it’s five more minutes than his season average. Portis is widely available and should be good to go this week in any league format.
You are an Unhappy Fantasy Basketball General Manager If
You have Toronto Raptors players on your roster as they are the only team in the NBA with just two games on their schedule this week.
Widely Available Streaming Options for Week 24
Monday March 26: If he plays I like the Grizzlies PG/SG Andrew Harrison against a middle of the road Timberwolves defense against point guards.
Tuesday March 27: Indiana Pacers SG/SF Bojan Bogdanovic has a nice opportunity Tuesday against a Warriors defense missing Kevin Durant.
Wednesday March 28: Brooklyn Nets PG/SG Caris LaVert is a very good option on Wednesday against a very bad Orlando Magic defense.
Thursday March 29: Sacramento Kings SG Buddy Hield is in a nice spot at home against a mediocre Pacers defense against shooting guards.
Friday March 30: Chicago Bulls PF/C Noah Vonleh has a great opportunity Friday night against a very bad Magic defense.
Saturday March 31: Wings against the Washington Wizards is a real thing so it makes sense to look to Charlotte Hornets SG/SF Jeremy Lamb on Saturday.
Sunday April 1: Atlanta Hawks SF Taurean Prince has a great opportunity Sunday against the Magic. Then again who doesn’t have a great opportunity against the Magic?
Dwight Howard’s Historic Night
Over his lengthy career Charlotte Hornets center Dwight Howard has had his ups and downs but this season has been one of those ups. He’s a different player then what he was last season in Atlanta, Houston or Los Angeles. On Wednesday night Howard became the eighth player in NBA history to record a 30 point 30 rebound game. Howard posted an incredible 32 points and 30 rebound line against the Brooklyn Nets. Check out the highlights below.
Tweet of the Week
Sometimes Twitter can be informative; case in point this Tweet from ESPN Stats demonstrating the Cleveland Cavaliers dominance when entering the fourth quarter with a lead…..and is this week’s Tweet of the Week!!
The Cavaliers are now 34–0 when leading entering the 4th quarter, the only undefeated team in such games this season. No team has gone undefeated in such games over the course of a season during the shot-clock era (since 1954-55). h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/VjexY8QTvs
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 20, 2018
Dunk of the Week
LeBron James has two dunks that are worthy of the Dunk of the Week. I couldn’t decide which one I liked better so here are both of them from the Cavaliers big win over Toronto on Wednesday night.
Taking Advantage of the Tankapalooza
Because the NBA powers that be didn’t think the Lottery all the way through we now have a NBA Front Offices building rosters solely to lose enough games in hopes of getting the number one pick in the NBA Draft. It sucks for fans of tanking teams but for wise Fantasy Basketball General Managers this is a beautiful thing and something to take advantage of. I’m going to give you one player on a few of these tanking teams that could pay off big in either Daily Fantasy Leagues or Season Long Fantasy Leagues. Each of these players is widely available across the Fantasy Basketball industry.
Chicago Bulls: Besides Portis there is also David Nwaba and Noah Vonleh. Both are getting minutes and both have been productive.
Charlotte Hornet: Jeremy Lamb might be worth a look especially if Nicolas Batum is out.
Dallas Mavericks: Yogi Ferrell is giving solid production in his 27 minutes. Dwight Powell is another Maverick you can look to for rebounds and points.
Los Angeles Clippers: Austin Rivers is always worth a look. Montrezl Harrell is also worth a look this week.
Memphis Grizzlies: Dillon Brooks has been very solid over the past two weeks as has JaMychal Green.
Phoenix Suns: Josh Jackson has been putting up some huge numbers. He also has the tendency to put up a dud so be careful with him.
Sacramento Kings: Buddy Hield has been dang good lately. If you need triples and if Bogdan Bogdanovic is healthy he is always worth a look.
Top Five Whiniest Teams Part 2
Way back in November I gave you a list of five of the most teched teams in the NBA. You might want to revisit the original list to see what has changed. We have a couple of newcomers like the Pistons while Houston has dropped out. Here are the worst offenders.
5). Detroit Pistons: It takes quite a bit of whining to rack up 57 team techs but that’s where the Pistons are at. Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond have done their fair share of complaining this season and had I not looked it up I would have never guessed the Pistons were in the top five. Griffin has also has one ejection to his credit.
5). Golden State Warriors: No surprise here. The only surprise is the Warriors aren’t still tied for the worst. Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have missed a bunch of games this season otherwise the Whiniers would be hands down the whiniest team in the NBA. Durant also leads the League in most ejections (4) and Green is tied for second after being bounced three times this season.
4). Los Angeles Clippers: New to the list but known whiners are the Clippers. My goodness does this team cry. Griffin being the main one when he was a Clipper but Austin Rivers has four techs and his daddy Head Coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers has a bunch of them too.
3). Charlotte Hornets: I had no idea this team whined as much as they do. Wednesday night Dwight Howard became the eighth player in NBA history to record a 30-30 game and the first player this season to be suspended for one game for racking up 16 technical fouls. Kemba Walker has six tech’s and Frank Kaminsky has four.
2). Oklahoma City Thunder: Last season the Thunder behaved themselves with only 51 techs. This season is a different story; Russell Westbrook has 13 techs and one ejection, Carmelo Anthony has nine and an ejection and Paul George and Steven Adams each have been T’d up seven times. The Thunder might not ever win an NBA Championship but if there were a Championship for whining and pouting the Thunder would be perennial contenders.
1). Phoenix Suns: The Suns are not only one of the worst teams around but they are also the whiniest team in the NBA. T.J. Warren, Devin Booker and Josh Jackson lead the way with nine techs. Marquese Chriss is running a close second with eight T’s. The Suns have also had six players ejected this season. Wow. Okay; much of those ejections were the result of this fight with the Utah Jazz but still. I will leave you with the fight with the Jazz!!
You can reach Phil on Twitter. Listen to his Fantasy Basketball show on Fantrax and his NBA show the Phil Naessens Show.
