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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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Monday, February 15
Ben Simmons takes advantage of Joel Embiid's absence and finds his way to a career night
The gameplan for Utah was easy entering this one: stop Simmons, and Philadelphia won't have many more options out there to try and snatch the win. The problem, of course, was that stopping Ben was never going to be easy. While Utah got away with the W, because Utah just doesn't know how to lose a game these days, Simmons was incredible in facing the Jazz just mere hours ago. Simmons put up a mighty near-trip-dub to the tune of a 42-9-12-1-1 line, shot 58% from the floor, hit 12 of his 13 freebies, and just committed 2 TOs even though he logged a massive 39% usage rate.
If you're surprised at Simmons' 42 points, well, that's nothing to worry about. Prior to this game, Simmons' career-high scoring tally was sitting at 34, something he did all the way back in December 2019 against the Cavs with JoJo also off the court back then. This is just the eighth time in NBA history (since the introduction of the three-point line) that someone has put up a 40-9-10 line without scoring a single three-pointer while shooting 50% of the floor. Not bad for a guy who "can't shoot the ball".
- It had more to do with Embiid's DNP than anything else, but it was nice to see Tobias Harris came back to his early-season exploits. Tobi had his best game in a while putting up 58 FP with a nice 36-10-2-2 dub-dub for the Sixers. Let's see if he can sustain those great levels of production.
- Against a Nets team that is still trying to find a solution on the paint/defensive side of things, Hassan Whiteside had himself a day. Playing off the pine and just 24 minutes, Whiteside was still able to log a double-double with 26 points, 16 rebounds, and even added 5 blocks to that. Magnificent performance by Hassan, who is available in more than one of each three Yahoo leagues.
- While Whiteside was the best fantasy play of the day when it comes to reserves, it can't be argued Jordan Clarkson is the clear go-to 6MOY this season. Clarkson played 30 minutes yesterday and finished with 40 points against Philly, the most of any Jazz-man. He didn't do much more (one assist, two steals), but he's a walking bucket doing what he's asked to so nobody will complain about that.
- Washington "welcomed" back John Wall, but it was Russ' night as he put up a 16-13-15 trip-dub although he lost 5 possessions and shot a putrid 36% from the floor. Wall had a 29-11 day, and Beal answered with a 37-8-3-3 stuffed line.
- Is Davis Bertans finally getting it right? The Wiz re-signed Bertans this past summer after a great 2020 season, but so far he's disappointed a lot. Not yesterday, though, as he finished his best game this year with a stuffed 18-4-2-2 line hitting 5 treys. It is Bertans' first game above 30 FP since Dec. 29, and some positive regression is expected to go his way. Buy low while you can (55% rostership on Yahoo).
- A worrying night for both Danny Green and Seth Curry in Philly, as they both started, played 29 and 37 minutes respectively, yet finished with just 10 and 15 FP... If they don't get chances on an Embiid-out day, then odds are they won't eat a lot with him in going forward.
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