RADIO
Leonard Francis II highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's January 8th slate. This recap focuses on Andrew Wiggins, Montrezl Harrell, Jeff Green, and Nerlens Noel
Flip Saunders is the greatest coach in Timberwolves history. He led the franchise to their first playoff berth in his first full season as head coach -- Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta, and Stephon Marbury also helped -- brought them their first winning season, has the highest winning percentage among any Wolves head coach during their tenure with the team, and even had his "jersey" retired after losing his battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015. Flip's son, Ryan, has been named the team's interim coach following the firing of former head coach Tom Thibodeau and his debut resulted in a 119-117 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night -- along with plenty of emotion -- in honor of Flip.
What a night. ??? pic.twitter.com/Y9VBDogCIo
— Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 9, 2019
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Andrew Wiggins put a season-high 40 points on the board in the victory for the Wolves -- who have now won three-straight -- but his efforts mark just one of the many impressive performances from Tuesday night's eight-game slate. Let's take a light jog around the association and recap three impactful fantasy basketball performances.
Montrezl Harrell Continues to Fly Under the Radar
Montrezl Harrell has been a force all season, but these past few weeks have been nothing short of monstrous. Harrell continued his dominance Tuesday night by going 9-for-13 from the field while putting up 23 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing out five assists as the Clippers cruised past the Hornets, and has now averaged 17 points, seven rebounds, and two assists over his last 12 contests - scoring at least 20 in six.
Jeff Green Enjoying Life Without Kelly Oubre Jr.
Green's five-game streak of six or more rebounds came to an end Tuesday night, but the 11-year vet went 2-for-3 from deep en route to 15 points and continues to see a nice boost in production following the trade of Kelly Oubre Jr. Not only are Green's scoring numbers up -- he's scored in double-figures in 11 of the Wizards 12 games since the trade -- but he's seeing nearly eight additional minutes of court time which can directly be attributed to the increases in both rebounding and assists.
His ceiling is somewhat capped, but he's been a consistent source of value at 15 points, five rebounds, and three assists over Washington's last 12 games and there's not much reason to believe his production will falter any time soon. Especially, given the loss of John Wall.
Injury Update: Nerlens Noel
It wasn't all good for Andrew Wiggins and the Wolves in OKC as a third-quarter dunk attempt led to a motionless Nerlens Noel exiting the arena on a stretcher. Wiggins caught Noel with an inadvertent elbow -- as he went up in an attempt to posterize the Thunder forward -- leading to a hard fall and possible head injury for Noel.
The specifics are not clear at this time, but a lengthy absence could lead to some additional run for both Hamidou Diallo and Patrick Patterson; though neither would draw much intrigue outside of deep-leagues or the occasional matchup-based DFS play.
