Corey Maggette has been a star player for the Clippers all season long while Elton Brand recovers from his Achilles tendon injury, but in the past couple of weeks, he has raised his game to a new level. Corey has scored 20+ points in each of the past six games, including a monstrous game on January 19th, when he led the Clippers to a win over the New Jersey Nets with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. He followed that up two days later with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals in loss to Carlos Boozer’s Utah Jazz. For the month, Maggette is averaging 22.0 points per game and shooting 55% from the field.
Line of the Week
Last week we mentioned Mike Dunleavy‘s terrific performance is his first trip back to Golden State since last year’s trade. The Pacers weren’t able to pull out the victory in that game, but Dunleavy delivered another dominating performance the next night back in Indiana, powering the Pacers to a victory over the Warriors with 24 points (including 11-of-11 from the line), 9 rebounds, and 2 assists. Mike is averaging 20.8 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 48% from the field in his last five games.
Unfortunately for Blue Devil fans, most of the news this week is about players who haven’t been able to play. Elton Brand has been sidelined all season by an Achilles Tendon injury but is progressing nicely in his rehab. He will be examined at the end of January to determine whether he is ready to progress to the next stage, which includes running at full speed and jumping off both feet. If things continue to go well, we can hope to see Elton back on the court by the end of February or early March.
In Chicago, both of the Bulls’ Blue Devils are experiencing injury problems. Luol Deng has been bothered on-and-off for weeks with a sore Achilles tendon, and last week was no exception. He has now missed four games in January and been significantly limited in at least two others. There is no word on how long Luol can expect to be affected by the injury. Chris Duhon is also out for 7-10 days with a bruised knee. Duhon, well-known for playing through pain at many times during his career, both in the NBA and at Duke, had started the last 13 games for Chicago, helping them to a 7-6 record in that span, before sitting out Monday’s game against Memphis. An MRI that day revealed no structural damage to the knee.
Grant Hill is recovering nicely from surgery to remove his appendix on January 9th, having practiced at full speed on Monday and ready to play in Tuesday’s game against the Bucks. “I had to get back because I was running out of suits,” joked Hill Monday.
Duke Blue Planet NBA Fantasy League Update
All the injuries are taking their toll on Duke’s standing in the Fantasy League. While still easily in third place and well over 1000 points ahead of fourth-place Florida, the hobbled Blue Devils have fallen further behind the leaders thanks to missing three of their top five fantasy players for a significant portion of the past month.
1. Connecticut Huskies: 10,224.6
2. North Carolina Tar Heels: 9965.1
3. Duke Blue Devils: 8762.9
4. Florida Gators: 7094.6
5. Arizona Wildcats: 6586.3
6. Kentucky Wildcats: 6207.9
7. Kansas Jayhawks: 5502.1
Scoring summary: one point for each point scored, 1.5 point for each rebound, two points for each assist, steal or block, 0.5 points for each 3-pointer made, and -1.2 points for each turnover. Field-goal percentage is included by subtracting 0.2 points for each field goal attempt and adding 0.5 points for each field goal made, which would mean you break even by shooting 40% from the field.
Quote of the Week
“[Mike] Dunleavy is having his most productive and enjoyable season under Jim O’Brien, who understands how to utilize his skills and appreciates them. He’s averaging a team high 17.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and is shooting 49 percent from the floor and 85 percent from the line.”
-New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey (January 20, 2008)
