The Houston Rockets ended a franchise-record 20-game losing streak on Monday with a victory over the Toronto Raptors. Houston’s Kevin Porter Jr. missed last night’s win due to a quad injury. Porter’s absence, along with Victor Oladipo resting, helped fuel a big fantasy line from Jae’Sean Tate. The wing led the team in minutes and produced six rebounds and five assists as the complementary playmaker to John Wall, who turned in his first triple-double in five years.
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A versatile small forward, Tate is an intriguing free agent to target ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, especially if Oladipo is dealt in the coming days. In what should be a busy week of transactions, it’s important to be proactive and speculate which rosters might see some significant, fantasy-relevant change this week. In Houston, it appears that Porter, Tate and Danuel House Jr. could all benefit statistically should Oladipo be moved.
Monday recap
Highlights
Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans: 28 points (11-15 FG), 5 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 steals
Richaun Holmes, Sacramento Kings: 17 points (8-9 FG), 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
Lowlights
Bojan Bogdanovic, Utah Jazz: 8 points (3-14 FG), 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Kevin Huerter, Atlanta Hawks: 2 points (1-6 FG), 3 rebounds, 5 assists
Monday takeaways
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With Giannis Antetokounmpo getting a rare night off, Holiday dished a season-high 14 assists and saw his first 25-10 game with Milwaukee. If Antetokounmpo happens to get another rest this season, streaming Bobby Portis might be a good plan. Portis had his fifth double-double this season for the Bucks after posting only five of them all of last season.
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It’s tough to trust that Luke Kennard of the Clippers can consistently help fantasy teams, but yesterday’s perfect night from the floor (on eight attempts) was good for the most makes without a miss in any game of his career. Kennard became just the second player in the last 10 seasons with 20 points on 100% shooting in under 20 minutes.
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The first game for the Hornets since losing LaMelo Ball for the season included 27 minutes and 15 field goal attempts for Malik Monk. Without Ball’s scoring and creation in the lineup, Monk figures to play an important offensive role for Charlotte down the stretch.
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San Antonio’s Derrick White led the Spurs in minutes played and was second in scoring in the team’s loss to the Hornets. White is a streaky scorer with an atypically high block rate for a guard, exemplified by his three swats last night.
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Moses Brown continues to clean the glass for the Thunder. With Al Horford resting, the center started yet another game and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds in a win over the Timberwolves. He has now had 14-plus boards in three of his last four games.
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Atlanta’s winning streak came to an end last night, but they did get second-year breakout talent De’Andre Hunter back in their rotation for the first time in weeks. Hunter played 20 minutes and efficiently scored eight points. Hunter remains a free agent in more than 50% of ESPN leagues.
Injuries of note
1 Related
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Goran Dragic is questionable to play for the Heat due to a back issue that kept him out of Sunday’s game. The combo guard is available in free agency in more than 50% of ESPN leagues.
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Kyrie Irving won’t play for the Brooklyn Nets during the team’s current three-game road swing. The absence of both Irving and Kevin Durant means that Bruce Brown could see plenty of minutes in Portland tonight.
Analytics advantage for Tuesday
Stephen Curry won’t play for the Golden State Warriors this evening. Whenever Curry has been off the floor this season, Jordan Poole has averaged 24.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 3.9 3PG (per 36 minutes). Poole, who has scored 23-plus points in three straight games for the first time in his career remains a free agent in roughly 80% of ESPN leagues. He is a strong play against Philadelphia tonight.
Top player to watch on Tuesday
James Harden is going to be busy tonight. With both Durant and Irving off the floor this season, Harden has averaged 29.8 points, 11.5 assists, and 8.5 rebounds (per 36 minutes) for Brooklyn. It’s not a novel concept to build DFS rosters around Harden, but this evening seems particularly ideal given that the game against Portland has the highest projected point total on the Tuesday slate and the Trail Blazers have allowed the most DraftKings points per game by point guards this season.