Line of the Night: Sorry to end the Oscars/Actor tie-in thing, but I think 3 days was enough… Besides, who is Joakim Noah? Okay, fine, he’s Quentin Tarantino. Done. Joakim Noah won for Best Ball Redirector by tying Artis Gilmore’s 1977 record for most blocks in a regulation game by Bull with 11. He used that double-digit number to register his third career triple double with 23 points, 8-12 from the field, 21 rebounds, and even added 3 steals (3.53 WARP). If that doesn’t win you the blocks category this week, I don’t know what will.

Honorable Mentions: Chris Paul didn’t get a triple-double, and probably didn’t care since his Clippers beat the Pacers (for which, as a Bull fan, I am very grateful). Paul did have 29 points, 11-18 from the field, 6-6 from the line, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists, though (2.02 WARP). Good thing, since Paul is only #81 over the last 2 weeks (dropping him to #5 overall for the season, behind Stephen “George Clooney” Curry). Another Paul, Paul George, has fared much better, going to #10 on the year with 20 points, 4 threes, 5 assists, and 2 steals (1.25 WARP). And that was with Danny Granger going 5-10 from the field for 12 points, with 2 rebounds, and 1 assists (which somehow only got him a -0.38 WARP, second worst among players over 50% owned). Blake Griffin was the second best Clipper with 18 points, 7-10 from the field, and 14 rebounds (1.07 WARP).

The Point Guards in Minnesota seem to be the only position that can play basketball there without Kevin Love… Luke Ridnour had 19 points, 7-10 from the field, 4 assists, and 3 blocks (2.00 WARP). Ricky Rubio had a near triple-double with 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists (1.06 WARP), and JJ Barea is down there in the Pick Up Lines. The Wolves didn’t have a lot of options, though after Nikola Pekovic left the game with an abdominal strain. The Lakers were slightly more well rounded in the game, and they had a good start and build a solid lead, allowing them to rest some guys and go 12 players deep. Thanks are mostly due to Kobe Bryant who had 33 points, 4 threes, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals (1.45 WARP), but Dwight Howard also put up a decent (for “Laker Dwight”) line with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks (0.85 WARP). You would think he could have done a little better against Dante Cunningham, Chris Johnson, and Greg Stiemsma…

Spencer Hawes tried to counter Jo No’s big night with 20 points, 6-6 from the line, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks (1.52 WARP), but it wasn’t close to enough.

Waiver Wire Line of the Night: Steve Blake (2% owned) got some extra run for the Lakers thanks to their 16 points lead at the end of the 3rd quarter, and made good use with 13 points, 3 threes, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists (1.43 WARP). There’s a reason he’s only 2% owned, though, and it’s because that was hist first truly positive game since November. Yeah.

Pick Up Lines: With only 3 games, the Pick Ins (that was supposed to be some sort of pun) are pretty slim… I mentioned Jose Barea (10% owned) above as he got some extra time with Pekovic out… If Pek misses any significant period, Barea will probably see a sustained increase in minutes because the Timberwolves don’t really have a choice if they want to put out a lineup that can actually play professional basketball. With Love and Kirilenko and now Pekovic out, they might have to start Ricky Rubio at SF… Anyway… Barea had 20 points, and 5 assists (0.95 WARP).

I maintain that Kirk Hinrich (33% owned) will continue to produce until/if Derrick Rose comes back. Hinrich had 15 points, 6 assists, and 2 blocks (0.84 WARP) for the Bulls.

Biggest Loser: Thaddeus Young had 9 points and 9 rebounds which is about all we expect from him, but he did it on 4-13 from the field, and 1-4 from the line which is not acceptable if you’re not going to break double-digits (-0.51 WARP).

George Hill has had a solid run this year, holding stead at #40 for the season, but his 12 points on only 4-12 from the field with 4 rebounds, 1 assist is some Waiver Wire material right there (-0.16 WARP).

Evan Turner is hanging on to #108 for the season, but it’s games like 12 points (6-16 from the field), 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers (0.01 WARP) which seem to happen every other game or so that have him down to #159 over the last two weeks. It’s going to be tough for Turner owners with only 48 days left in the season, because you can’t just toss him, he’s still too good for that… but his poor shooting and high turnovers are really lessening the impact of his other nice stats.

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Daily rankings and stats come from the FBC H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.

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