Empty the Bench

Point Guard

Huge win for the New Jersey Nets tonight over the visiting Wizards, and much of the credit goes to Jason Kidd. The point guard with the cheesiest pre-free throw routine in the NBA was at the top of his game once again in the 12-point victory at dreary Continental Airlines Arena. Fantasy owners will be absolutely giddy with these stats: 26 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 1 block, 10-17 FG, 6 three-pointers… and just 1 turnover. With all the time Kidd handles the ball, it’s hard to believe he only turned it over once; then again, he was playing the Wizards.

Honorable Mention: Steve Nash with 25 points, 11 assists, 1 steal, and 11-18 FG.

Shooting Guard

The Milwaukee Bucks sure are glad their one and only bonafide star is back in the lineup. After missing 20 games, former 2nd-round pick Michael Redd has resumed putting up the kind of stats expected of a guy who’s surrounded by almosts and probably-never-will-be’s. His team is now 2-3 since his return with their 122-101 blowout at home over the always inconsistent Golden State Warriors. The ex-Ohio State Buckeye had 31 points on 11-19 shooting for the night, with 6 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. Not much on the backend of his stats there, but he deserves it solely for getting his team a much-needed win. By the way, ETB doesn’t feel Bucks coach Terry Stotts deserves that position any longer. Just so you know.

Honorable Mention: Larry Hughes was pretty bad from the field (just 5-16), but he did chip in 11 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Honestly, he didn’t have much competition tonight at the shooting guard position.

Small Forward

We still feel like he’s regressed a little this season, and that he’s shooting way too many jumpers, but even if he’s taken two steps back Lebron James is still a fucking beast to deal with. Credit him for tonight (almost) putting together the kind of game his fantasy owners were expecting when they drafted him #1 or #2 overall. Bron-Bron finished with 35 points, 14-22 FG, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and 3 three-pointers in the Cavs’ 97-89 win over the visiting New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.

Honorable Mention: The Nets would be wise to keep giving Bostjan Nachbar significant minutes down the stretch. Nachbar continued to reward fantasy owners wise enough to pick him up (cough, cough, um, like me) with solid all-around numbers tonight: 23 points, 6-10 FG, three 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.

Power Forward

Well, it’s no surprise that Dirk Nowitzki shows up here again tonight. When he’s on, Nowitzki is very capable of posting the best fantasy stats of just about any power forward on any given night, and tonight was no different in his head-to-head matchup with Timberwolves enigma Kevin Garnett. The Mavericks thumped the T-Wolves in Minnesota 91-65, and Dirk put up another double-double with 23 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, a block, 2 three-pointers, and 10-18 FG. Will Dirk garner some MVP votes this season?

Honorable Mention: We’ll give it to Shawn Marion in a winning cause at Indiana with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 10-18 FG.

Center

The top two fantasy centers tonight squared off, and even though Amare Stoudamire’s Suns got the win, Jermaine O’Neal put up six fucking blocks to take top honors. We’d like to see JO moved to a different team while he’s still young—the Pacers just don’t seem to have much of a plan for the future—but for now we’ll settle for him getting what he can in Rick Carlisle’s drab offensive schemes. O’Neal was huge, going for 28 points on 13-24 shooting with 13 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, those 6 blocks, and 7 turnovers (ouch).

Honorable Mention: Amare Stoudamire continues to put concerns about his formerly micro-fractured knee on the shelf with yet another amazing effort: 23 points, 18 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, 8-22 FG, and 7-10 FT.

Sixth Man

Maurice “Mo” Williams had a nice little game for the Bucks tonight, finishing with a double-double. He posted 16 points, 13 assists (!), 8-16 FG, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. We can’t help but feel that the Bucks have two pretty similar players in Williams and Charlie Bell, but we can’t imagine either one of them having especially spectacular trade value. So, well, the Bucks continue to be the Bucks.

Biggest Disappointment

ETB loves to chide the Hawks for passing on NOK point guard Chris Paul, but tonight, for once, he made it look like Atlanta made the right decision (okay, not really, but bear with me here, it’s getting late). Going against inferior competition in rookie Daniel Gibson, Paul didn’t do much of anything tonight, with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Much of that is due to early foul trouble.

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