Fantasy NBA Daily Notes: Boston has a historical night, top fantasy picks for December 9th
The NBA 2018-19 season has started off really well and the season is just getting started. We are done with almost quarter of the season and there is so much more basketball still waiting to be played.
There were 9 games to talk about from yesterday and there are going to be 4 games that are going to be played tomorrow. Let's get right into it then.
Saturday's recap:
1. The Dallas Mavericks 107-104 Houston Rockets
2. The Indiana Pacers 107- 97 Sacramento Kings
3. The Atlanta Hawks 106-98 Denver Nuggets
4. The Brooklyn Nets 112-104 The New York Knicks
5. The Cleveland Cavaliers 116-101 The Washington Wizards
6. The Los Angeles Lakers 111-88 The Memphis Grizzlies
7. The Boston Celtics 133-77 Chicago Bulls
8. The Portland Trail Blazers 113-105 Minnesota Timberwolves
9. The Miami Heat 121-98 The Los Angeles Clippers
Highlights:
1. James Harden (Houston Rockets): 35 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block and 6 TOs.
2. John Collins (Atlanta Hawks): 30 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block and 1 TO.
3. Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers): 23 points, 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 0 TOs.
4. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers): 28 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 3 TOs.
Lowlights:
1. John Wall (Washington Wizards): 1 point, 0-5 FG, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 TO.
2. Mike Conley (Memphis Grizzlies): 12 points, 4-12 FG, 1 rebound, 3 assists and 4 steals.
3. Tim Hardaway Jr. (New York Knicks): 7 points, 2-12 FG, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal and 1 TO.
4. Justin Holiday (Chicago Bulls): 5 points, 2-10 FG, 1 steal.
Satuday's takeaways:
1. The Boston Celtics won against the Chicago Bulls, 133-77, by 56 points, which is a franchise record win for the Celtics and is also a franchise record loss for the Bulls.
Jaylen Brown poured in 22 points off the bench for the Celtics while Daniel Theis added a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
2. The Dallas Mavericks overcame the sputtering Houston Rockets in a huge come from behind win 107-104, which saw the rookie Luka Doncic score 11 straight points in the 4th quarter, grabbing the lead.
Doncic had 21 points along with Wes Matthews, while Jordan pulled down a game high 20 rebounds. James Harden tried his best with 35 points and 8 assists but did not get much help, apart from a 23 point effort from Chris Paul.
3. The Brooklyn Nets overcame the New York Knicks 112-104 in a New York derby, frankly becoming the better team in NY this season, with a nice 25 point performance by Spencer Dinwiddie off the bench.
The Indiana Pacers got their revenge against the Sacramento Kings from earlier this season, winning 107-97, off a good performance by Thaddeus Young, who scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.
4. The Atlanta Hawks pulled off a big win over the Denver Nuggets, 106-98, who have been rolling in injuries of late. John Collins had a huge game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
The Cleveland Cavaliers also had a massive win over the faltering Washington Wizards, 116-101. Tristan Thompson had a night to remember, scoring 23 points and grabbing 19 boards while the rookie Colin Sexton scored a team high 29 points.
5. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Memphis Grizzlies with ease,111-88. LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma both had a 20-point night.
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 113-105, with two clutch three pointers from their stars, Damian Lillard and C J McCollum with a minute remaining.
Jusuf Nurkic had a great night for the Blazers, scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 boards. The Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers 121-98 in the final game of the night. Dwayne Wade had a vintage night for the Heat, scoring 25 points for them in the win.
PG 1 - Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors)
The Toronto Raptors have been really solid to start the season and they are currently leading the Eastern Conference with a 21-6 record.
They have gone 8-2 in their last 10 games, with their losses coming against an upcoming young top team in the Denver Nuggets and a shock loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
A big part of this is due to the sudden loss of form of their star point guard, Kyle Lowry. After sitting out against the win over the Cavaliers, Lowry has not been able to get back his All Star levels.
Over the past three games, Lowry has averaged a measly five points per game, taking about 8 shots and making only one of them.
Lowry has been elite in other areas though, averaging almost nine assists and three rebounds too.
He is still playing like an elite defender, averaging almost two steals and blocks per game, which is valuable for the Raptors.
He still really needs to find his shot and he can do at any point. His next shot to break out of his funk is tomorrow against the Milwaukee Bucks who also lost their last game.
Alternative pick: Emmanuel Mudiay (New York Knicks)