RADIO
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from the previous night's slate of NBA games. Wednesday's docket in Week 3 was a little lighter than the previous two Wednesdays, but there were still some interesting storylines that came to the forefront.
Stephen Curry -- perhaps the way-to-early leading candidate for MVP -- poured in 30 points for the sixth time this season as the Warriors, who improved to a Western Conference-best 8-1 on the season, eased past the Pelicans 131-121. Overall, five of the seven games on the night were decided by single digits, including three by one point with two of those games needing overtime to determine a winner. Denver (6-1) kept pace with Golden State by outlasting Chicago 108-107 and Brooklyn nipped Detroit (120-119) extending the Pistons losing streak to three.
Let's take it away with our real October 31st fantasy highlights.
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Derrick Rose: Continues Bounce Back Season
Rose appears to have put his miserable 2017-18 campaign behind him. Rose lit the Utah Jazz up for a career-best 50 points as he made 19 of 31 shots from the field (61.3 percent), which includes draining 4-for-7 from the three-point line as well as 8-for-11 from the charity stripe -- both are season highs. He added four rebounds, six assists, two steals and one blocked shot in 41 minutes. The 2011 NBA MVP benefited from Jeff Teague (bruised knee), Tyus Jones (foot) and Jimmy Butler (rest) sitting out.
Rose -- who got into the paint at will -- scored 34 of his points in the second half with 15 coming in the hotly contested fourth quarter. Six of his points in the final stanza came in the last minute of the contest. His layup with 54 seconds left gave Minnesota the lead for good at 123-122. Then after knocking down a pair of free throws with less than 14 ticks on the clock, Rose sealed the game by blocking Dante Exum's three-point attempt.
While the point total is probably an anomaly -- it was just the third 40-point game of his career -- Rose is definitely playing his best basketball in several years. Rose is averaging 18.8 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds while turning the ball over 1.9 times a game. His numbers in offensive rating, assist-to-turnover ratio, offensive rebound percentage, rebound percentage and turnover ratio are currently the best of his career.
Rose has now scored in double-figures in seven straight games. In eight games this year, Rose has contributed at least four rebounds (five times) and five assists (six times).
With his performance on Wednesday, Rose's shooting numbers are pretty decent across the board. However, he has only made 40 percent of his shots on four occasions.
It is hard to imagine that Rose will receive 40 minutes of playing time or get off 20 shots a game too often going forward. Still, the 10th year vet -- who is averaging over 32 fantasy points a game -- has some value in fantasy basketball. He obviously has earned the trust of coach Tom Thibodeau, but it will be interesting to see how many minutes he will get in the near future with both Teague and Jones listed as day-to-day.
Domantas Sabonis: Fantasy Stud Off The Bench
Sabonis tied a career high with 30 points off the bench as he made all 12 of his field goal attempts in the Pacers 107-101 victory over the Knicks. Sabonis contributed nine rebounds along with three assists and two blocks in 21 minutes. The 6-foot-11 power forward, who was 6-for-7 from the charity stripe, also turned the ball over six times before fouling out.
Sabonis started the game off strong tallying 15 points and seven rebounds (three offensive) in just seven first-half minutes. By making all seven of his opening half shots, he joined Deandre Ayton and Nikola Jokic as the only players with at least seven made field goals without a miss in a half this season, per ESPN Stats and Info.
Sabonis, an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate, leads all reserves with three double-doubles. The third-year pro is second among all reserves -- only behind the Pelicans' Julius Randle -- in fantasy points production at 31.0 points per game, which ranks 63rd most among all players. He now has four games of 30 or more fantasy points in seven appearances this season.
Among all qualified reserves (five games or more off the bench), Sabonis ranks in the top-10 in scoring, field goal percentage, offensive as well as total rebounds. He is on pace to have the best season of his career by compiling 21.0 points, 17.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists per 40 minutes while posting a true shooting percentage of 66.9. The former Gonzaga star is also scoring (1.74 points per shot) and shooting (71.6 percent) at the most efficiently of his young career.
Obviously, fantasy players can't expect Sabonis to go without missing a shot on too many nights, they can expect him to continue to shoot a high-percentage and come close to putting up a double-double each night going forward. He has collected 18 double-doubles since the beginning of the 2017-18 season while also reaching double digits in scoring (49 times) and rebounds (24) during this time frame.
JaVale McGee: Getting It Done On Both Ends
McGee had his best overall game of the early going as he put together 16 points -- on 8-of-15 shooting -- to go along with 15 rebounds and five blocks against the Mavericks. He also added two steals and one assist in a season-high 35 minutes. It marked his first double-double in three seasons.
McGee is off to a surprising start to the season as he is averaging 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, 1.3 assists along with 1.0 steals through the first eight games. The 11th-year vet has not put up those kinds of numbers since 2011-12 when he was with the Wizards. He is known mainly for his defense as well as Shaquille O'Neal making fun of him on TNT's Shaqtin'-A-Fool segment. But McGee is running the floor, protecting the paint and finishing at the rim with renewed vigor this year.
The game versus Dallas was the seventh time the 7-footer has tallied double figures this season. He now has collected five or more rebounds in all eight games while recording multiple blocks (six times) and multiple steals (twice).
McGee is attempting and making shots at an unprecedented level for him as he is seeing over 27 minutes a game. There is no reason that former first-round selection can't keep up his current production going forward, although fantasy players shouldn't expect him to continue to swat shots away at the current rate of 9.2 percent, as the Lakers really don't have any other option at center. The last time that McGee spent this much time on the floor was in 2011-12 when he posted 15 double-doubles.
