Corey Maggette on Fire, Duke Remains On Top in Fantasy League
Top Performer/Line of the Week
Corey Maggette is on a major tear. The explosive wing has broken the 30-point barrier twice in his past six games, including 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting (.750) Tuesday night in a loss to Denver and 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting (.765) in a December 26th victory over Phoenix. In his past 12 games, Maggette has scored over 20 points 11 times and is averaging 24.5 points and 6.3 rebounds on a stellar 62.9% shooting from the field. In his last two games, he has poured in a combined total of 63 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 assists against only 2 turnovers.
McRoberts Moves into Starting Lineup in Indy
After averaging 8.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists over the previous three games for the Pacers, Josh McRoberts was rewarded for his strong play off the bench to start the New Year with a promotion to the starting lineup in January. In his first two games as an NBA starter, the versatile forward is averaging 6.5 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 60% from the field. McRoberts marks the third Blue Devil to start a game this season for the Pacers, following in the footsteps of Duke swingmen Dahntay Jones and Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
Blue Devil Roundup
*J.J. Redick must love seeing the Toronto Raptors on Orlando’s schedule. For the second time this season, Redick lit up the Raptors for over 20 points, recording 22 points on Wednesday night, including going 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Earlier in the season, Redick notched a career-high 27 points at Toronto on his way to averaging 18.8 points in four games against the club. The crafty guard doesn’t limit his best performances to one team, however, as he led the Magic to a win against Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz on December 21st with 20 points on 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect night from both long range (2-of-2) and the free throw line (4-of-4). The dominant performance came on the heels of a pep talk from Coach K after Redick called to wish his former coach a Merry Christmas.
*Elton Brand is finding his groove in Philly. After struggling to fit into the offensive system coming off an injury-plagued start to his Sixers career, the former Duke National Player of the Year is averaging 17.1 points and 6.6 rebounds in the eight games from December 18th to January 3rd. His performances are helping his team as well, as the Sixers, who had lost 13 of their previous 14 games prior to that stretch, went 4-and-4 during the run, including wins against Boston and Denver.
*Chris Duhon started the New Year off right as well, leading the Knicks to a win against the Pacers Sunday night with 18 points, including a season-high six three-pointers on only seven attempts from outside. The smooth floor general also contributed 7 assists against zero turnovers to help New York to their third win in four games. Since the start of December, the Knicks have won of 12 of 18 games to put them firmly in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Duhon has averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 assists per game during the run.
Duke Blue Planet NBA Fantasy League Update
The Blue Devils continue to distance themselves from the rest of the league. Led by continued strong performances from Carlos Boozer (3rd in the entire fantasy league in average score per game) and Luol Deng (13th in the fantasy league), as well as the performances noted above from guys like Corey Maggette, Elton Brand, Chris Duhon, and J.J. Redick, Duke’s fantasy team shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
1. Duke Blue Devils: 9601.8
2. UCLA Bruins: 9133.4
3. Arizona Wildcats: 7564.5
4. UCONN Huskies: 7347.7
5. Florida Gators: 7243.4
6. North Carolina Tar Heels: 7045.3
7. Texas Longhorns: 4671.5
8. Kansas Jayhawks: 4312.7
9. Kentucky Wildcats: 3770.3
10. Memphis Tigers: 3317.9
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.
Quotes of the Week
“He has been balling. For him, his confidence is growing like crazy.” Carlos Boozer on J.J. Redick after Redick led the Magic to victory over the Jazz December 21st
“On top of the confidence, the guy is just so focused and tough. He’s on top of everything. He’s a guy you can trust defensively, he plays with great energy offensively. He’s certainly, heck, I don’t know, I don’t think he’s the fastest guy we have in the sprint. But he runs harder and gets down the floor better than anybody we have.” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy on J.J. Redick
“I don’t know if Stan has seen the Iron Magic results.” J.J. Redick, joking about winning the Iron Magic competition after his coach’s comment above
