This is the first Daily Dose of the hundreds I’ve written to be posted under the NBC Sports EDGE brand. If you missed my Midweek 5 column in which I reminisced about, and said goodbye to, the Rotoworld.com name, it’s worth checking out. I got an incredible response and judging from the feedback, it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever written.
Heat 101, Rockets 94 – Jimmy Butler went off with a 27-10-10 triple-double, his first of the season, Bam Adebayo flirted with one with 10 points, 13 boards, eight assists, two steals and eight turnovers before fouling out, while starters Kendrick Nunn (16-5-3-4) and Duncan Robinson (15 points, five triples) both played well. Kelly Olynyk scored just six points, but also had 13 rebounds, two blocks and two 3-pointers. The Heat were without Goran Dragic (ankle) and Tyler Herro (health protocols), so Max Strus played 25 minutes and got hot off the bench for a career-high 21 points and five 3-pointers. Nunn is worth using any time Dragic is out and all the Heat regulars, especially Duncan and Strus, get a boost when Herro isn’t playing. Adebayo’s eight TOs and foul out were a bit of a buzzkill, but at least he piled up some numbers along the way. Olynyk is a fantasy wild card and I’ve both added and dropped him a few times this season. But he’s generally worth holding and is currently rostered in 44 percent of Yahoo! leagues. I’ve Strus in my 30-team league and actually have to start him due to injuries right now, so I was happy to see him come through with a nice game. With Butler back the Heat are rolling with four straight wins.
The Rockets got 17 points, eight boards and seven dimes from John Wall, Jae’Sean Tate and DeMarcus Cousins each scored 16 points with fun lines, and Victor Oladipo (right foot/ankle) and P.J. Tucker (thigh) got hurt in this one. Eric Gordon moved to the bench and scored 17 with four assists and three 3-pointers on 5-of-13 shooting, and Danuel House had nine points, a steal, a block and a 3-pointer on a 3-of-13 shooting night. Gordon and Tate are going to both see a boost if Oladipo’s injury keeps him out. Tate has played minutes at both guard spots and both forward spots this season and is officially worth grabbing with the Rockets so banged up. He’s been a Top 70 player over his last five games. Wall will hopefully be good to go until the Rockets go back-to-back on Feb. 19 & 20 and his numbers tend to jump without Oladipo. As for Oladipo, the Rockets were already being very cautious with him this season, resting him in back-to-backs, so I’d expect them to proceed with caution here. Sterling Brown, who was very quiet on Thursday, will also see a bit of a bump if Dipo misses time. Hopefully, Christian Wood is getting closer despite his right ankle sprain, but we haven’t really gotten a meaningful update yet. And I really miss him.[[ad:athena]]
Celtics 120, Raptors 106 – Jaylen Brown is dealing with left knee tendonitis and it sounds like it could be an ongoing problem for him. Danny Ainge is concerned about it and the Celtics will likely monitor him closely going forward and rest him as much as they can. He struggled on Thursday, hitting 3-of-12 shots for 12 points, but he also had a career-high 10 assists to go along with five rebounds, two steals and a block. The Celtics go back-to-back on Feb. 16 & 17 and it will be interesting to see what Boston does with him in that scenario. It might be a good time to float some offers out if you’ve got Brown and are concerned about his injury.
Semi Ojeleye caught fire and hit 8-of-12 shots and six 3-pointers for a career-high 24 points and six rebounds, Kemba Walker had 21 points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal and five 3-pointers, Jayson Tatum had a 17-6-9-2 line with a 3-pointer on 5-of-13 shooting, and Daniel Theis filled the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and four blocks in 27 minutes. Tatum will get a boost if Brown’s going to miss time. Payton Pritchard came off the bench and hit a career-high six 3-pointers for 20 points, five rebounds and one assist in 29 minutes, and might also see a boost with Brown hurting. Pritchard and Ojeleye became the first pair of Celtics to hit at least six 3-pointers each in the same game. Pritchard has posted a couple of decent lines lately, but he also had just three points and one assist in his previous game. Just keep a close eye on him. And while Ojeleye deserves to be on watch lists right now, I’m not racing out to pick him up. Prior to this explosion, Ojeleye had scored five or fewer points in each of his last eight games.
Kyle Lowry hit 10-of-15 shots for 24 points and six dimes, and Pascal Siakam added 23 points, four rebounds, two assists, a steal and two 3-pointers as OG Anunoby was out again with his left calf strain. While Siakam’s line was mildly disappointing, it was nothing compared to the struggles of Fred VanVleet and Norman Powell last night. FVV hit 2-of-9 shots for five points and 11 assists, while Powell hit 6-of-15 shots for 15 points, four rebounds and nothing else. Both guys have been crushing lately but just couldn’t get anything going last night. Powell should take a hit once Anunoby is back, but I wouldn’t drop him until we see how that goes. He could easily keep it going once Anunoby is playing again. Chris Boucher still hasn’t cracked the starting lineup but kept it going with 12 points, six rebounds, a steal, five blocks and two 3-pointers. Aron Baynes started and had eight points and eight rebounds, and I am still awaiting the day that Boucher displaces him in the starting unit.
Pacers 111, Pistons 95 – Domantas Sabonis flirted with a triple-double and had three steals, two blocks and two 3-pointers, Myles Turner bounced back with a decent line that included 14 points, eight boards, two blocks and two 3-pointers, and Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points, nine boards, four assists, a steal and two 3-pointers as the Pacers snapped a four-game losing streak. Doug McDermott started over Jeremy Lamb but managed just nine points, while Justin Holiday hit 4-of-11 shots for 11 points and four assists. Lamb looked good with the second unit and his usage rate tends to go up there. He finished with 17 points, five boards, two steals and three 3-pointers on 6-of-7 shooting, which is encouraging. T.J. McConnell played 32 minutes off the bench and had seven points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals, a block and a 3-pointer. The Pacers like him and he’s averaging 7.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.5 blocks and 0.5 3-pointers over his six February games and is worth a look if you need assists and have a high-scoring team. I think Lamb should be rostered everywhere again, while both McDermott and Holiday are worth a look, even with their sometimes-lackluster lines and inconsistency.
The Pistons gave Mason Plumlee a last-minute scratch due to a minor elbow injury, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll miss more time. Isaiah Stewart got the spot start last night and went off with a career-high 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block on 8-of-9 shooting. If the Pistons ever officially give up the fight and start Stewart, he’s going to be a hot pickup. Josh Jackson came off the bench and hit 6-of-10 shots for 18 points, eight boards, four assists, a steal and six 3-pointers. He’s been fun and should be rostered everywhere, in my opinion. Blake Griffin had 16 points and six assists, but I’m not touching him, and Jerami Grant imploded last night, hitting 4-of-17 shots for nine points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block and a 3-pointer. Grant had scored in double figures in every game but the season-opener, so I guess he was due for an off night. Delon Wright hit just 3-of-10 shots for six points, five boards, three assists and two blocks, which was disappointing coming off his back-to-back 22-point games. He’ll bounce back. Dennis Smith Jr. made his Pistons debut but didn’t look great in his 16 minutes. He finished with four points on 2-of-5 shooting and threw up an ugly airball from downtown. I’m not taking the DSJ bait in Detroit. I somehow had the foresight to use Stewart in DFS and he was awesome, but Grant and Norman Powell let my squad down.
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Warriors 111, Magic 105 – Stephen Curry went beast mode on the Magic, hitting 14-of-26 shots and 10 3-pointers for 40 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. He’s incredible. Andrew Wiggins had 21 points, seven boards, three assists, three more blocks and two 3-pointers as his dream season continues, and Kelly Oubre was fun with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three 3-pointers on 6-of-12 shooting. Hopefully, you held onto him through the dark period earlier in the season. Draymond Green had eight points, six rebounds, 11 assists, a steal and two blocks, and also played a great defensive team against a surprisingly pesky and undermanned Magic team. Green has magically hit double figures in assists in five straight games and I think I heard the broadcast team say he’s the first Warrior to do that since Mookie Blaylock did it back in the day. Hopefully, you stuck with Green as well. He’s averaging 6.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 11.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.7 blocks in his six February games. Juan Toscano-Anderson added nine points, five rebounds, two assists, a steal, a block and a 3-pointer in 21 minutes and another start. He’s averaging 10 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.8 blocks and 1.2 3-pointers in his six February games and is officially worth a deep-league look. The Warriors scored 111 points and are now 13-1 when they score at least 110 points.
The Magic were without Cole Anthony (shoulder) and the last point guard standing in Orlando, Frank Mason, left early with a strained right groin. Nikola Vucevic had 25 points, 13 boards, five assists and three 3-pointers, and Dwayne Bacon came through with a season-high 20 points. He hit just 7-of-18 shots to get there, but added three boards, one assist, three steals and four 3-pointers in the loss. Evan Fournier was also out with his back injury so Bacon got all the minutes he could handle. He’s in my 30-team starting lineup but I haven’t considered him in any standard leagues – yet. Terrence Ross scored 20 with six rebounds, three assists and two 3-pointers, and James Ennis scored a season-high 17 points with 10 rebounds, two steals and three 3-pointers in another start. With so many injury issues in Orlando, Vucevic’s usage is going to be off the charts, while Ross, Ennis and Bacon are all going to be worth a look, especially as fliers in DFS. But the bottom line is that outside of Vuc, this Orlando roster is a mess.
Trail Blazers 118, Sixers 114 – This was the game of the night and the Blazers got the win primarily because of Carmelo Anthony’s fourth-quarter heroics. He got hot at the start of the quarter and scored 11 quick points, hitting his first six shots. He finished the quarter with 17 points in the quarter and hit some incredible shots, as well as the two game-sealing free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining. Melo finished with a season-high 24 points, two rebounds and four 3-pointers and has now scored at least 21 points in four of his last five games. Damian Lillard came out of the gates hot tonight with 19 first-quarter points, including a stretch of 10 straight, but then hit just one of his next 11 shots. He still finished with 30 points, two rebounds, seven assists, two steals and four 3-pointers on 6-of-21, but the line could have been so much better had his shots been falling. Gary Trent Jr. kept it going with 19 points, four rebounds, one steal and five triples and has scored at least 15 points in eight of his last nine games. And he’s averaging 4.3 3-pointers over that stretch, meaning he should be rostered and starting everywhere. Enes Kanter double-doubled after receiving stitches above his left eye and Robert Covington was disappointing with five points, five rebounds, two assists, a steal, a block and a 3-pointer in 25 minutes. RoCo didn’t exactly get revenge on his former team and is still highly frustrating to roster. But he had double-digit rebounds in his previous two games, has at least one 3-pointer and steal in seven straight games, and at least one block in three straight. The Blazers are banged up and simply need RoCo to do more going forward, as do his fantasy managers. But I still don’t think you should drop him. Just keep an eye on Derrick Jones Jr. after he had nine points, seven rebounds and two 3-pointers in another start.
The Sixers got strong performances from Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, while Tobias Harris was kind of quiet in this one. Embiid hit 13-of-25 shots, a 3-pointer and 8-of-11 free throws for 35 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocks, and Simmons just missed a triple-double with 23 points, 11 boards, nine assists, a steal and a block on 10-of-12 shooting. He also hit 3-of-3 free throws, which was nice. Harris had 17 points, six boards and five assists, and Seth Curry added 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and three 3-pointers. He hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 22 seconds left, but the Sixers couldn’t get over the hill. Curry has scored 11, 22 and 15 points in each of his last three games with nine 3-pointers and it might be time to think about grabbing him.