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Justin Carter highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's February 25th slate. This recap focuses on Boban Marjanovic's injury, Cody Zeller, and Cedi Osman.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games.
The big news last night? James Harden's streak of 30-point games ended at 32 games. With a more well-rounded Rockets team existing now with both Clint Capela and Chris Paul healthy, some of the pressure is off of James Harden. This isn't terrible news for fantasy owners, but you can expect Harden's astronomically high numbers to go down a little. He'll still be one of the NBA's top options, but the gap between him and everyone else narrows just slightly.
Our three main takeaways from the February 25th slate are still to come, so without further ado, let's take a deeper dive into Saturday's proceedings.
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The Boban Marjanovic Injury
Marjanovic has played some strong basketball lately, especially with Joel Embiid sidelined, but he left Monday's game against with a knee injury, and the Sixers just barely snuck past a Pelicans team that played Anthony Davis just 20 minutes.
Marjanovic played 20 minutes on Monday, but he opened the game on the bench as the Sixers looked to see what Jonah Bolden could do against a more agile Pelicans frontcourt. Bolden finished with nine points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks in 18 minutes of action, while Marjanovic with 12 points and 10 boards, along with a pair of blocks. With Embiid out for at least the rest of this week, that Bolden/Marjanovic duo looked to be one with some promise, with both guys filling a certain need for this team.
Now? If Marjanovic misses time, it does open up even more run for Bolden, but it wouldn't be a shock to see the Sixers scour the free agent market for a backup big. Head coach Brett Brown had been reluctant to play Bolden at the five after the acquisition of Marjanovic, so we'll see how things play out. For now, owners in deeper leagues might want to grab Bolden and see how things shake out, but should do so with the understanding that Joel Embiid's impending return is going to severely cut into what Bolden is capable of doing.
Cody Zeller Continues Impressive Run
If you want to talk about guys whose performance has been surprising lately, Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller should be the first name in that conversation. After Monday's 28-point, nine-rebound performance in Charlotte's loss to the Warriors, Zeller is averaging 13.5 points and 9.6 boards on 57.8 percent shooting to go along with 1.3 blocks in the eight games since all of January with a hand injury.
This current run shouldn't end soon, either. Willy Hernangomez has fallen out of the rotation, which leaves the team's backup big rotation as Bismack Biyombo, who isn't going to be more than a fill-in when Zeller needs to take a breather, and the potential for small ball five minutes from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Zeller should continue to get good looks near the basket and while 28 points is more than we can expect on a nightly basis, the former fourth-overall pick is capable of five you a 15 and 10 with the way he's been playing.
Cedi Osman's Been Playing Really Well, Y'all
The Cavaliers have been so bad that I completely forgot about Cedi Osman for a long, long time. Osman has started 54 games this year for Cleveland and has provided a steady presence in the lineup for a team that's been...well, bad.
On Monday, Osman scored 27 points and also added seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Over his last nine appearances, Osman is averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists and is hitting 55 percent of his shots. He's helped this team be surprisingly feisty lately; of those last nine games that Osman has played in (and not counting a four-game absence with an ankle sprain), the Cavs are 4-5, with two single-digit losses.
Cleveland is putting out a decent lineup with Osman and Kevin Love, and while part of you wonders if maybe that's going to mess things up in terms of Cleveland's ability to tank down the stretch, for now we're seeing Osman rise to the occasion. As the Cavaliers play better, Osman plays better.
