Nightly Fantasy Fix – Early Game
Tommy Beer

New Orleans 84, New Jersey 82

First Fantasy Star – Chris Paul: 27 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 threes, 3 steals

Second Star – Jason Kidd: 14 points, 10 assists, 2 three’s

Recap:  The Nets choked away a huge lead down the stretch, as Chris Paul carried the Hornets across the finish line.

Hornets:  Chris Paul has served noticed: When you have a discussion about the best point guards in the NBA today, you have to mention CP3 in the conversation.  Paul was unstoppable and gave Jason Kidd fits all
night, especially down the stretch when he just took over.  The overall stat-line is amazing, but the three made trifectas are especially impressive…A very solid double-double for Tyson Chandler – he finished with 14 points (5-10 FG and 4-4 FT), 10 boards, and 3 blocks… Peja hasn’t done much but bomb from the outside, but he has been very proficient in that one category.  He came into tonight averaging over 3 made three-pointers per game, and chipped in with four more this evening.

Nets:  Another near triple-double by Jason Kidd, you never get tired of seeing him do that…  Richard Jefferson’s amazing season continues to pick up steam.  RJ finished with 32 points (13-23 FG), 6 boards, and 4 dimes.  In addition, his utterly amazing free-throw shooting streak rolled on.  Jefferson was a perfect 7-7 tonight and is now 67-69 on the year!  With Vince Carter sidelined by a bum ankle, RJ should continue to put up even bigger scoring numbers than usual…  Antoine Wright, subbing in for the injured VC, played 41 strong minutes.  He finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.  If Carter were to miss an extended period of time, Wright would be worth a look.  But assuming VC comes back in a week or so, Wright won’t have much value.  Surprisingly, Boki Nachbar played just 15 minutes.

***

Nightly Fantasy Fix – Late Games
Steven Jones

Denver 122, Cleveland 100

First Fantasy Star – Allen Iverson: 37 points, 14-20 field goals, 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 threes

Second Star – J.R. Smith: 29 points, 7 threes, 4 rebounds, 4 assists

Recap: The Nuggets used a big second-quarter run to break the game open and wear down the tired Cavs in the mile-high air.

Nuggets:  Iverson was the big story, slashing his way to a season-high scoring total.  Don’t sleep on his distribution, though: he’s averaging 8.1 per game, almost 2 better than his career average, which is not too bad for a guy still considered (justifiably) a gunner.  Carmelo Anthony had a surprisingly fine all-around line with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, though before we get too excited about him figuring out how to pick apart the trap, it’s worth noting that he had 4 turnovers.  Too bad, because a Carmelo who could dish as well as he shot would be a frightening package.  J.R. Smith showed signs of last year’s fantasy production by bombing the heck out of the ball from deep, and Marcus Camby collected 12 boards to go with his 8 points.  J.R.’s return seemed to hurt recent fantasy contributor Linas Kleiza, who played only 16 minutes and got up just 4 shots – it may be time to sell high on him.

Cavaliers:  LeBron racked up 27 points, but must have been exhausted to only amass 1 rebound and connect on 8 of 14 free throws.  he didn’t get much help, as only Ira Newble (17 points) and Shannon Brown (12) hit double figures.  Fantasy disappointment Larry Hughes played only 4 minutes after getting a quick second-quarter ejection during an argument with referee Bill Spooner.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas finally hit the fantasy wall with 2 points and 6 rebounds, while Drew Gooden got just 5 points and 9 boards.

***

Utah 117, Sacramento 93

First Fantasy Star – Carlos Boozer: 32 points, 10 rebounds

Second Star – Andrei Kirilenko: 15 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks

Recap: The Jazz blew Sacramento out from the opening whistle, riding a 35-18 first-quarter lead to an easy victory.

Jazz:  AK-47 alert!  His third solid stat line in a week, flirting with a triple-double and leading the team in minutes played.  His confidence seems to be soaring and he might be a guy to buy low on before he cools off.  Of course, he could also be in Jerry Sloan’s doghouse for missing a box-out by the time this sees print.  Carlos Boozer continued his habit of torching teams with subpar interior defense, though in fairness to Sacramento’s front line, Carlos does that to pretty much everybody lately.  Deron Williams cooled off to the tune of only 6 points, 7 assists, and 6 turnovers.  Ronnie Brewer again collected multiple steals: 3 of ‘em, to go with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 13 points.  Mehmet Okur is still hibernating this season: 4-14, 12 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and he’s hit only 8 threes in 8 games this season after connecting on 129 triples in 2006-07.

Kings:  John Salmons (22 points, 3 threes, 4 assists) and Kevin Martin (21 points, 4 threes) were solid, though fantasy owners continue to wish both guys would diversify their games a little bit.  Francisco Garcia (19 points, 5 rebounds) has taken advantage of Artest’s and Bibby’s absences and might be worth picking up in deep leagues.  A random Beno Udrih sighting yielded 11 points, 4-12 field goals, and 5 turnovers in 29 eventful minutes.  Brad Miller sat with a right quad contusion.