BRANDON'S SUNDAY NIGHT RECAP
STANDINGS
West:
2. Sal: 24-15-0
5. IYF: 22-17-0
7. KIF: 20-19-0
9. UDFK: 19-20-0
10. GA: 19-20-0
11. Noto: 18-21-0
13. Stax: 13-26-0
East:
1. Mak: 26-13-0
3. Chico: 24-14-1
4. Brandon: 21-16-2
6. Ben: 21-18-0
8. CWalker: 20-19-0
12. Aid: 14-25-0
14. PSYCH:11-27-1
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MATCHUP SUMMARY
GA (2) vs. Ben (11)
Total domination by Ben. Marcus' team shot the ball very poorly (42%) and got edged out in all of the Big categories (OREB/DREB/BLK), which you'd expect him to win normally. On the flip side, Ben's team played out of his mind. Lin went off, scoring 102 points (52%) with 13 threes (45%) and 23 FTs (85%), while Z-Bo seemed to bounce back from a slow start, Curry did his thing as usual, and role players like Brandon Bass, JJ Hickson, Brandon Jennings, and even Demarre Carroll and Gerald Henderson chipped in a bit. Derozan even had a very good week scoring-wise, though his impact elsewhere was minimal. GA narrowly avoided being 12-1'd by 2 Turnovers.
Showtime (7) vs. Sal (6)
A very close matchup here in Beantown. Sal only won FGM by 5, OREB by 6, DREB by 5, and Steals by 6. Meanwhile, ST won FTM by 7, 3s by 9, and Points by 6. The usual suspects for both sides showed up - Vuc, Durant and Westbrook for ST, Batum, Cousins, and Davis for Sal. Showtime got a ridiculous 47 assists from Steve Blake, which was far more than enough to seal up that category for him. Sal, on the other hand, got 59 points and 12 threes for Jodie Meeks on 62% overall shooting. Both teams appear to be using the Waiver Wire quite well, and have some of the best steals in the draft: Kevin Martin appears to be one of the top SGs in the game, while Evan Turner also looks like one of the best wings in Fantasy. Can he keep it up the entire season, though? It's possible he could be dealt.
Notorious (6) vs. IYF (7)
Another close matchup between these two gentlemen. This week was all about three players for Noto - Love, Griffin, and Drummond. Had those three not domnated as much as they did, IYF could've certainly escaped with a much bigger victory. Griffin has worked on his jumper, and it's shown. He seems to be one of the top PFs in the game under Rivers, and Noto might have the best BIG Big Three in Drummond/Blake/Love. It was a different story for IYF, however. His wings dominated, while his bigs were able to do enough to win Blocks. It looks like IYF might've found a gem in Avery Bradley, who has played MUCH better ever since being moved over from PG to SG. Chandler Parsons has to be IYF's MVP of the week, though. He contributed across the board, from scoring A TON, scoring efficiently, to getting some boards, assists, steals, and even 5 blocks! You might not be able to expect that sort of production from him nightly, but if Dwight continues to be passive, it's certainly possible.
PSYCH (2) vs. Mak (11)
There is only one true word that can describe this: RAPE. While some categories may have been relatively close, you don't get brownie points for almost winning. Mak decimated PSYCH from top to bottom, and that was with the Suns (4 of whom Mak has) only played 2 games this week. Lillard carried Mak in Points and Assists, while Dwight chipped in with a whopping 31 FTM and 45 DREB. Kenneth Faried looks to be back healthy as well, which is a good sign for Mak's already scary team. Jordan Hill played very well for PSYCH, as did Carmelo (obviously), but his team is mostly irrelevant until Kobe Bryant returns, which looks to be withing the next couple of weeks.
Stax (4) vs. KIF (9)
I'm shocked, at both how bad Stax's team is, and how good KIF's team is. Stax is making the stubborn mistake of stashing THREE injured players, which is something you simply can't afford to do in a daily league with no IR spots. Weekly? Sure. But doing so in a daily league puts you behind the 8-ball before the next matchup even beings. LeBron of course played well for Stax, but there was nothing else really of note for him. KIF, meanwhile, continues to shock the world. There wasn't one single player who killed it, but this was truly a team effort. Very solid production across the board, and it even looks like Andrea Bargnani has turned into a worthwhile fantasy play. Who knew? Pekovic (fucker) and Paul were the two who led the way for him, in OREB/DREB and FT%/AST/STL respectively. Stax got lucky as fuck, only winning FT% by .001 and 3PTM by 1. What is a bad loss for him could've been, and probably should've been much worse.
Aid (4) vs. Chico (9)
Another mediocre week for Rose, and another loss for Aid. Rose sat out one game, and played fairly poorly in the rest. MCW only played 1 game for Aid as well, decimating his FG% before deciding to take the rest of the week off. Outside of one monster performance from James Anderson, Roy Hibbert's 16 blockd, and Rudy Gay's stat-sheet stuffing week, there isn't much optimism in Athens at the moment (I think Aid goes to UGA). Chico, meanwhile, looks like he's got himself a squad! Afflalo continues to look like the best SG in all of the NBA, and Spencer Hawes also looks great himself. What I thought was a 'whatever' trade for both teams is paying HUGE dividends for Chico. Aside from those guys, Klay continues to have an amazing start to the season and he clearly loves playing with IGGY (who wouldn't?). Jordan Crawford looks like a very good add, and Ricky Rubio led his team to a huge victory in Assists, though his 9 steals weren't enough to swing that category for him. Two teams that appear to be on opposite ends of the spectrum played, and it wasn't pretty. Chico still has Joe Johnson and that shithead Jefferson weighing him down, though!
Brandon (9) vs. CWalker (4)
Another week, another win! Kyrie lit it up for CWalker, and Isaiah continues to have an unexpectedly good start to the season, but it wasn't enough to fend off my boys from taking the win. Lawson/Conley/Teague all look like top PGs this season (Lawson especially), though I don't seriously expect any one of them to keep up their production (Conley isn't this much of a scorer/Gallo will take shots from Lawson/Lou will take shots from Teague). Regardless, all three played like absolute monsters. Pau fucking Gasol decided to return to form this week, though. Fuckin' payback for me dealing him? Perhaps. Both Gasol and Dirk played very well, but it wasn't enough to outduel the dynamic duo of BIG Al Horford and Marc Gasol, who has back to back near triple-doubles (18/8/8 and 19/8/9). I hope for Marc's rebounding and block numbers to rise a bit, and it looks like they may do just that, after his slow start to the season. At least I lucked out and that cunt Markieff Morris didn't shit all over me.
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NEXT WEEK PREDICTIONS
Me (7) vs. Sal (6)
Ghetto Anthony (8) vs. Showtime (5)
Notorious (8) vs. Stax (5)
PSYCH (4) vs. CWalker (9)
Aid (4) vs. KIF (9)
Mak (8) vs. IYF (5)
Chico (10) vs. Ben (3)