RADIO
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.
Monday, May 3
Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony contribute new entries to the Association history books on the triple-double and scoring fronts
In the middle of a two-week stretch that will decide the fate of multiple teams come postseason time, both Russ and Melo decided to put up historic nights. Westbrook did it by leading the Wiz to another W, this time against the Pacers bridging their gap to a measly 0.5 games. Russ led the fantasy slate with a monster 82 FP on the night thanks to his 14-21-24-1-1 stuffed triple-double. This is remarkable, as that line and a 20-20 trip-dub on boards and dimes had only happened twice: Wilt had one, Russ the other. Now, Russell Westbrook is the only NBA player in history with two such triple-doubles. Incredible.
Moving on, let me tell you something: there are two players from the 2003 draft class inside the top-25 scorers. Prior to yesterday's games, only one of those was in the top-10. Carmelo Anthony changed that with his 14 points against Atlanta on Monday, becoming the 10th highest scorer in the history of the L with 27,318 pops to his name, overtaking a legend in Elvin Hayes. Next on the list, most probably getting overtaken before the end of this regular season: Moses Malone (27,409). Melo is infinite, folks.
- Second game for Domantas Sabonis after coming back from injury, second incredible performance for him. Sab fell one dime short of putting up his second consecutive triple-double, but the impressive 32-19-9-3 line was sublime. No luck for Indy, though, as Russ decided to murder them with a historic trip-dub by himself (read above).
- The Warriors beat New Orleans in what could turn into the final blow to the Pels chances at a run for a play-in spot. Curry dropped 41 points, and with Beal scoring just 26 on Monday that means that Steph is now leading the PPG race by a ridiculously small 0.5 PPG margin.
- Danilo Gallinari balled for the Hawks and put up the best off-the-pine performance of the day, good for 50 FP translated from a packed 28-8-2-2-1 hitting 7 treys on the day. Two Magic players (R.J. Hampton and Mo Bamba) closed the reserves top-3 with 47 and 46 DKFP respectively, with both getting dub-dubs against Detroit.
- Horrific night for Ja Morant, who staying 38 minutes on the court could only put together a super-low 8-5-6 line shooting 14% on 14 FGA and committing three turnovers against New York. The Grizz fell to the negative side of the play-in as they were overtaken by GSW on Monday and are now 0.5 games behind the Warriors and only one above the no. 10 Spurs.
- Utah won a much-needed second game in a row, and it was mostly thanks to Rudy Gobert getting his game right after a few stinkers of late. Gobert put up 54 FP with a 24-15-1-2-3 line and a tasty 71% shooting from the floor, going 5-of-7 from the free-throw line too. No other Jazz player finished above 34 FP against San Antonio on Monday.
- Another one of those weird-as-hell games from Draymond Green: 12% usage rate, 10-13-15-3-2 triple-double, contributions all across the board, only 5 FGA in 37 minutes, 2-for-2 on freebies, 4 turnovers, a 21 plus/minus... Nothing makes sense with Dray, but somehow he is able to stay relevant in fantasy contests (61 DKFP yesterday) while stuck in a putrid Warriors team that only can trust Steph's ways.
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