RADIO
Brendan Kennealy highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's December 30th slate. This recap focuses on Karl-Anthony Towns, Pascal Siakam and DJ Augustin.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games. The Lakers implied their will and managed to avenge their defeat to the Kings earlier in the week with a 121-114 win yesterday. Brandon Ingram put together a solid performance for Los Angeles, as he scored 21 points, while adding nine assists and seven boards.
Elsewhere, the Mavericks upended the Thunder 105-103 behind another incredible game by rookie phenom Luka Doncic, who scored 25 points and set up his teammates with his seven assists. The Magic defeated the Pistons on a buzzer-beating floater by combo guard Evan Fournier. The Magic were set up for the win by Nikola Vucevic, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Aaron Gordon, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Let's take a look at the recap for NBA games on Sunday, December 30th.
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Pascal Siakam Flying Under the Radar
The Raptors have been absolutely torching the NBA thus far, as they currently hold a 27-11 record on the season, and a key reason why they've had so much success is due to the brilliant play by Kawhi Leonard and his tertiary components on the roster.
One of the main helpers has been Pascal Siakam, who has clearly flown under the radar this season, but deserves to be owned in all formats.
In last night's win over the Bulls, Siakam scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had four assists. He has been consistent all season and is receiving over 30 minutes per game on one of the best teams in the league. His per game averages currently sit at 14.5 points, 6.5 rebound, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals. He is also shooting nearly 58 percent.
Karl-Anthony Towns Puts the Team on his Back
The Timberwolves have had their fair share of struggles on the road this season, but Karl-Anthony Towns wouldn't let that trend continue yesterday as he dropped in 34 points, nabbed 18 rebounds, dished out seven assists, swatted away six shots by the Heat and had three steals.
Towns has been a beast all season, but has really turned it up a notch over the last three games. In addition to yesterday's stellar performance, he had 20 points and 20 rebounds on Wednesday against the Bulls and 31 points and 19 rebounds against the Hawks on Friday.
D.J. Augustin Provides Cheap Production
D.J. Augustin capped off a terrific week of production for the Magic with 26 points and eight assists, while making all 10 of his free throw attempts. This performance came after a 27 point, six assist, three steal performance against the Suns on Wednesday and a 17 point, six assist game against the Raptors on Friday.
His consistency in minutes is frustrating from a fantasy standpoint, as he has alternated between mid-30s (and even 41 minutes against the Suns) in minutes and mid-20s in minutes over the past seven games.
Augustin is not the worst option to add for a final bench spot on your team, as he does receive some cheap assists with passes down low to Vucevic and Gordon.
