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Fantasy Basketball Review: Week 23 (3-30 – 4-5)

The finals have arrived. In each of my leagues, this week starts the two-week showdown between the two best teams. Two men enter, one man leaves. The months of agony and patience all come down to this one matchup. Just don’t blow it. Oh, and good luck and all that crap.

Injury Roundup

Allen Iverson (PG,SG), Detroit Pistons: A.I.’s season is officially over. Iverson’s bad back, which has made him miss time already this season, will shut him down for the rest of the year.

Manu Ginobli (SG), San Antonio Spurs: Ginobli had just returned last month, but will now be out fo the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his right ankle.

Kenyon Martin (PF), Denver Nuggets: K-Mart has missed two straight games after suffering a strained rib cage on Thursday against Utah. No return date has been set.

Three Shining Stars

Chris Paul (PG), New Orleans Hornets: Yeah, it is no surprise that CP3 is awesome. His numbers last week are what we have come to expect. 26.8 points on 55.4% shooting with his ridiculous 12.5 assists continue to make owners giddy. The 2.8 steals and 1.3 threes are going to make it hard for people to decide whether or not to draft LeBron or CP3 first overall next season.

J.R. Smith (SG,SF), Denver Nuggets: OK, Smith’s FT% sucked (69.2%). However, good ole J.R. gave you almost everything else. He had a decent amount of rebounds (3.0) and assists (3.8). His 22.8 points were boosted by his simply ridiculous 5.5 threes. Yeah, he made 22 three pointers in four games last week.

LaMarcus Aldridge (PF,C), Portland Trail Blazers: Aldridge averaged a double-double last week with 27.7 points and 10.7 reb which included season highs for both categories against Oklahoma City when he had 35 points and 18 reb. The 56.4 FG% was excellent and he tossed in the valuable 1.7 blocks.

Three Fading Stars

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C), Cleveland Cavaliers: Big Z seems to have checked out for the last few weeks of the season. His Week 23 was crap with only 7.8 points on an embarassing 34.2 FG%. Yes, he grabbed 7.3 reb, but is that enough to compensate for a lack of everything else? The answer is no.

Vince Carter (SG,SF), New Jersey Nets: Vinsanity had scored 20+ points in four straight until last week when his single game high score was 15. His 31.9 FG% failed to give his owners confidence and his reb and assists were not up to his season averages.

Jason Richardson (SG,SF), Phoenix Suns: Richardson continues to struggle with the Suns as he posted only 13.0 points last week. His 1.0 threes were heartbreaking for owners who expected a repeat of his phenomenal three-point shooting from last season.

Players to Pick Up

Mike Conley (PG,SG), Memphis Grizzlies: Conley, only 67% owned in Yahoo! leagues, is currently white hot. In Week 23, he scored 21.3 points on 57.9% shooting. Rounding out his stats were his 4.3 reb, 6.7 assists, and 2.3 steals. Three pointers? Yeah, 4.0 for the week.

Kendrick Perkins (C), Boston Celtics: It may have only been two games, but they were dominating. If you need some big defensive numbers, then Perk is the guy to grab. He had a modest 8.0 points and very good 11.0 reb. He made his money with the absurd amount of blocks. Perk recorded 12 blocks last week with games of five and seven blocks a piece.

Anthony Randolph (SF,PF), Golden State Warriors: Randolph has recorded 10+ reb in five straight games and scored a season high 20 points against the Hornets. His increase in starting time yielded a double-double last week with 15.0 points and 12.7 reb. Hey, ride it while it is hot baby.

Sports of Boston Friends and Family League

• Wow! Holy crap! This was one of the closest matchups I have ever been apart of in any fantasy sport. I lost to Shotgun from The Blue Workhorse 8-1, but the final score does not reflect the tight race we had. I lost points by just 21. Here is the kicker: I lost rebounds, assists, and steals…all by one each. Can’t get much closer than that.
• The king is dead! SoB’s Mike has fallen at the hands of SoB’s KC and his rampant streaming. KC won with a close 5-4 score to dethrone Mike’s juggernaut of an offense.
• The Finals: SoB’s KC vs The Blue Workhorse
• Recent pickups include: ALOT! Too many to mention since owners took part in massive streaming. Basically, if you play in the NBA, you were picked up last week.

Tags: Allen Iverson, Chris Paul, Fantasy, Fantasy Basketball Review, J.R. Smith, Jason Richardson, Kenyon Martin, LaMarcus Aldrige, Manu Ginobili, Vince Carter, Zydrunas Ilgauskas