RADIO
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games. We had six games on the dock yesterday with 10 of the 12 teams in action putting up at least 100 points, so there was no shortage of fantasy impact made on the final day of matchups. Hassan Whiteside was a major bright spot in the Heat's 102-100 win over the Jazz where he finished with 23 points and 20 rebounds. Ben Simmons led the way for the 76ers with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in their 103-95 win over the Grizzlies.
DeAndre Jordan carried the surprisingly decent Mavericks to a 114-110 win over the Clippers with 16 points and 23 rebounds. Harrison Barnes also added 30 points and nine rebounds in the winning effort. The win pushed the Mavericks to a 11-10 record on the season and they find themselves in the 8th seed in the Western Conference playoff picture a quarter of the way through the season.
Let's take a look at the recap for NBA games on Sunday, December 2nd.
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DeMar DeRozan's Mid-Range Game is Unreal
In today's NBA it's tough to go about standing out in the scoring department without being a red-hot three-point shooter, but here we are with DeMar Derozan yet again, as he scored 36 points yesterday despite not even attempting a three-point shot.
Derozan is a career 28.5 percent three-point shooter, including an eye-opening 18.2 percent this season, so it doesn't go as too much of a surprise that he didn't shoot one yesterday, but the fact he's able to score in bunches despite any long range makes is astonishing. He also added eight rebounds, six assists and two steals to his stat line in a win against the Blazers.
Derozan has adjusted well in his first season under head coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, as he's putting up 24.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game on 48.2 percent shooting, which the majority of those come from the mid-range area of the court. The mid-range game is a dying breed in a dunk or three-point cultured mentality, but Derozan is trying his best to keep it alive and he's doing a stellar job at just that.
Anthony Davis Goes Off Against Hornets
Following a 7-59 2011-2012 season for the Charlotte Bobcats, the team slipped to the number two draft slot in the 2012 NBA Draft and selected Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, just one spot behind the New Orleans Pelicans, who were able to select generational talent Anthony Davis.
Davis continues to haunt the Charlotte organization, now the Hornets, especially with his most recent performance yesterday where he scored 36 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, dished out eight assists, while coming away with two steals and two blocks. He shot an incredible 73.6 percent from the field, including two-for-three from three-point territory.
While healthy, Davis is one of the best players the NBA can boast, and he has been a joy to watch so far this season. In 20 games, his per game averages include 28.2 points, 13.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.6 steals. He's also nailing his three-pointers at a 36 percent clip.
Davis is an elite option in real life and in fantasy.
Montrezl Harrell is a Large Part of Clippers Success
The Clippers bench unit has been a key reason that the team has raced out to a 15-7 start to the season and it isn't just Lou Williams as a key catalyst this season. Montrezl Harrell has been putting together solid performances for the Clippers all season long and Sunday was the latest occurrence of this.
Although the Clippers lost a close one to the Mavericks, Harrell still played extremely well as he scored 23 points, on 11-for-15 shooting, and grabbed 10 rebounds. It was his 7th double-double of the season, but five of those have come in his last eight games.
His scoring production has been terrific over the past month, as he has scored in double digits in every game since November 1st and has seven games with at least 20 points.
He's currently averaging 16.7 points and 7.4 rebounds in just 25.7 minutes per game. Imagine if he were given the freedom to play 30 minutes a game on a consistent basis... The potential of Harrell has not been tapped into quite yet.
