Track's Matt Sanders Delivers in the Clutch

Imagine you're heading into game 14 of the USBC Masters, coming off games of 170 and 160, knowing you need to go about 60 over the last two games to make the cut into match-play.

This is the exact situation that Track's Matt Sanders faced on Thursday night at The Orleans in Las Vegas, NV.

Going into the final block of qualifying, Matt had positioned himself in the top 64. However, after bowling 171 game 12 and 168 game 13, he now faced the real possibility of missing the cut.

"That 168 game was rough," Matt told us.  "The front part of the lane hooked a ton. After talking to Rob Gotchall, I decided to move right and throw it harder.  I was lucky to spare out for 168 but knew I needed something big the next two if I wanted to make it back into the cut number."

The young southpaw managed to bowl 235 game 14 and headed into the final game of the tournament sitting less than 20 pins out of the cut.

After starting the final game with a split, he was able to regroup and spare in the 2nd frame, strike in the 3rd, spare in the 4th and then fired off 8 consecutive strikes with his Black Hammer to finish the block with a 248 game vaulting himself into 51st place overall.

"I have never had to do anything like that before," Matt exclaimed.  "I literally threw the best 8 shots I could have thrown."

Sanders, who decided to join the PBA this season and is looking for his first title, will face Dick Allen in round one of the double elimination match-play today at 12pm ET.

Track wishes Matt the best of luck in the Masters as well as all the upcoming PBA events that he will be participating in.

***UPDATE*** 

Matt defeated Dick Allen 642-585 in the first round and now moves on to face BJ Moore in round two at 2pm ET.   Tune in to XtraFrame for live Masters action.

***UPDATE #2*** 

Matt defeats BJ Moore by a score of 631-582 to advance in the winner's bracket.   He will now face Bill O'Neil at 5pm ET.

After talking to Matt this afternoon he says that he is still using his Black Urethane Hammer and was able to break the lanes down a bit better that second block for himself.    This allowed him to stay much more aggressive while going shot for shot with one of the hottest bowlers on the PBA tour in BJ Moore.

***UPDATE #3***

After loses to Bill O'Neil and Michael Tang it looks as though young Mr. Sanders' run is officially over.   It was fun following along from the sidelines.

Recap of the 2/23 Trade Deadline NBA Slate

Well, as usual, the NBA Trade Deadline came and went and the rumored trades were far greater than the actual moves.   Other than DeMarcus Cousins the big names, like Paul George and Jimmy Butler
, are still with the same teams that they started the season with.   There were a few moves that could come into play for DFS purposes but, for the most part, it was a pretty uneventful deadline day.

Now lets focus on the first NBA slate back after the All Star break:

Houston Rockets v New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans pulled off the biggest blockbuster of the trading period as they brought in the much talked about (and now always in a good way) DeMarcus Cousins.  People were very curious to see how Cousins would fit into the lineup with Anthony Davis already controlling the front court for the Pelicans.  Tonight was their first chance to prove that they could co-exist together.  Needless to say Cousins showed just why he was a hot commodity during this year's trading period as he put up 27 pts to go with 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 5 steals for a total of 71.50 DK pts.  Anthony Davis chipped in 29 points while grabbing 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 2 steals for 48.25 DK pts.  Unfortunately they were the only two that really showed up tonight for New Orleans as they lost by 30 to the surging Houston Rockets.  JRue Holiday struggled tonight as he was matched up with Patrick Beverley, who is known to be a solid on-ball defender.  Holiday only scored 6 points with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal for a mere 19.50 DK pts.  Tim Frazier, who I wrote about in a previous article as the "big winner" for the Pelicans in terms of DFS standings played just 23 minutes and scored only 13.50 DK pts.   A very disappointing start to the Cousins' era in New Orleans.  On a real sour note, Omri Casspi, who was also brought to the Pelicans in the Cousins deal, broke his thumb tonight as he attempted to strip Eric Gordon of the ball in the third quarter, and is expected to miss at least a month.

Houston also picked up a key player in their rotation as they acquired Lou Williams from the LA Lakers.  Lou, who was in a battle for 6th man of the year with now teammate Eric Gordon, got off to a smoking hot start with his new team as he played 25 minutes and scored 27 pts hitting 7 of 11 from 3.  James Harden only played 30 minutes in the blow out and disappointed owners with just 45 DK pts as he scored 13 real pts to go along with 4 rebounds and 14 assists.  Patrick Beverley chipped in 30 DK points which is an impressive number considering he only scored 2 real-life points in tonight's game.  Clint Capela returned to the bench tonight with Nene getting the starting nod but was quite a force down low scoring 15 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking 3 shots for a total of 30 DK pts.  Eric Gordon also reached 5x tonight chipping in 27.25 DK pts and putting his owner's minds at ease as the addition of Williams has to scare people away from him a bit as they're essentially the same player.  I keep hoping Sam Dekker can find a way to grab more minutes but being that he played just 20 in tonight's blow-out victory, it doesn't look promising.

New York Knicks v Cleveland Cavaliers
This could have been such a fun game had the Cavs pulled off the deal for Carmelo that had been rumored for weeks.  As we know, this did not happen.  The Cavs, however, are rumored to be the landing spot for Deron Williams who was released by the Dallas Mavericks today.

As for tonight's game the 'star's on NYK basically no-showed as Carmelo gave us 32.25 DK pts scoring 20 real pts, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  Derrick Rose, who was rumored to be heading to Minnesota, put up just 13 pts, 2 rebounds and 4 assists for 21 DK pts.  Kristaps Porzingis showed how great he can be as he shined in the NBA Skillz Challenge during the break but left tonight's game with a sprained right ankle in the second quarter and didn't return. During his 16 minutes on the court he scored 8 pts and grabbed 5 rebounds for 18.25 DK pts.  Courtney Lee smashed value tonight going 10x as he scored 43 DK pts in 36 minutes.  Courtney scored 25 real life points to go along with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal in tonight's loss.  Lee was not the only bright spot for New York tonight as rookie sensation Guillermo Hernangomez remained hot and notched another double double on his belt.  Hernangomez scored 11 pts, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 4 assists and swatted 2 shots for 34.50 DK pts in 27 minutes.  Lance Thomas also had a nice game nearly reaching 8x value with his 22.75 DK pts.

For Cleveland, when Kevin Love is out, it's the LeBron James show and he didn't let us down tonight.  James was spectacular as he joined the triple-double club again tonight as he put up 18 pts, 13 rebounds, 15 assists and 3 blocks for 64.25 DK pts.  Kyrie Irving was solid, but uninspiring, as he chipped in 39.25 DK pts scoring 23 real life points to go along with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block and 1 steal.   Tristan Thompson showed why Cleveland gave him a pretty good chunk of change this off season as he was able to produce a double double tonight vs a pretty solid front court of the Knicks.  Thompson scored 10 pts and grabbed 14 rebounds for 39.50 DK points vs NYK.  Kyle Korver got hot from behind the arc again hitting 6 out of 10 from 3 point territory and scored 32 DK points in 31 minutes.  Derrick Williams just signed his second 10 day contract with Cleveland and I will not be surprised at all if they go ahead and sign him for the rest of the season soon.  He saw another 27 minutes tonight and is a very athletic and talented body that looks very comfortable doing the dirty work with the second unit for the Cavs.

Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons

Charlotte lead this one 85-70 to start the 4th quarter and it looked gloomy for DFS purposes.  Then KCP took over.  First things first.

Kemba Walker continued his impressive DFS season as he gave the Hornets 34 pts, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists tonight for 57.25 DK pts.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was able to double-double again tonight by scoring 12 pts and grabbing 14 rebounds for 42 DK pts and giving us over 8x on his value.  Nicolas Batum was solid as usual with 31.50 DK pts while Frank Kaminsky pitched in 26.25 DK pts for just over 4x each.  Marvin Williams gave us 6x putting up 28.25 DK pts for just $4,700 in a match-up that usually does not suit him very well (slow paced game with Drummond on the other end likely grabbing all of the loose rebounds).

As previously mentioned, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope took over late in the 4th quarter scoring the last 11 points for the Pistons in regulation.  At just $4,900 KCP busted out for 10x tonight with 52.25 DK pts scoring 33 real life pts.  If you were lucky enough to predict this one tonight kudos to you.  KCP has been very up and down this season but when he's right he's great.  Tonight was one of those times.  Tobias Harris nearly reached 10x at 41.75 pts ($4800) while Ish Smith continued to steal minutes from Reggie Jackson and hit 10x tonight with 40 DK pts at just $3,900 playing 33 minutes.  Jackson's stock continues to sink lower as he managed to play just 20 minutes in tonight's game and gave us just 10.25 DK pts while not playing at all in the 4th quarter or overtime..  He should not be owned under any circumstances right now in DFS.  Joining Jackson on the bench for much of the second half was Andre Drummond.  Drummond also was benched for the 4th quarter and overtime but did double-double during his 26 minutes for 28.75 DK pts.  This is likely just a one night benching for Drummond, but it's worth monitoring to see if there was an injury or if Coach Van Gundy is looking to shake things up a bit in Detroit.

Portland Trail Blazers vs Orlando Magic

Portland made their trade several days before the deadline as they, confusingly, traded away Plumlee to the Nuggets for Jusuf Nurkic.   They are looking like very smart people at the moment.  Nurkic was wasting away on the bench in Denver but has come to Portland and looked re-rejuvenated in two games with new team.  Tonight he played 34 minutes and gave us 10x value scoring 12 pts, grabbing 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals for 44.50 DK pts.  The Trail Blazers may have pulled off quite the coo if he continues to play at this level.  Damian Lilliard was solid again tonight scoring 33 real life points for 43.25 DK points.  CJ McCollum was much of the same putting up 36.25 in a non-flashy but productive game.  Shabazz Napier lit up his former team with 32.25 DK pts and Maurice Harkless chipped in 29 DK pts.   Allen Crabbe was on the court for 25 minutes, which was nice, but some how managed to only score 4 points.  That's hard to do.

Orlando dealt away Serge Ibaka to the Raptors for Terrence Ross, who got the start tonight for his new team.  Ross played 33 minutes but hit just 4 of 17 shots for 13 points (27.25 DK pts).  If they continue to give him the green light he will be worth rolling out until his price gets fully adjusted.  Tonight he struggled from the field but still crushed value as he was only $3,800 on DK.  Nikola Vucevic continued to produce as he just missed a double-double (25 pts 9 rebounds) and put up 40.25 DK points.  Elfrid Payton's stock continued to head downward as he played just 22 minutes and scored 16 DK pts.   Bismack Biyombo who , in theory, should see more time after the Ibaka trade, played just 15 minutes and scored 9.25 DK pts.  Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon both reached 5x tonight as they scored 30.75 and 27.25 DK pts respectively.

Denver Nuggets vs Sacramento Kings

Jameer Nelson was named the started with Emmanuel Mudiay being moved to the bench and he rewarded the coach for this decision scoring 36.50 DK pts tonight (12 pts, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals) in the Nuggets 116-100 loss.  Wilson Chandler continued his steady play as he put up a double-double (18 pts 10 rebounds) for 34 DK pts.  Gary Harris, who hit 5 three pointers,  and Danilo Gallinari were solid plays tonight as they scored 33 and 29.5 dK pts respectively.  Gallinari may start eating into Chandler's minutes as he continues to recover from injury.  Curiously Nikola Jokic played just 26 minutes and bombed for fantasy owners tonight scoring just 19 DK points.   Keneth Faried (8.25 FPP) and Jamal Murray (5.50 FPP) were in good spots tonight vs the Kings but severely let down their owners as they combined for just 33 minutes.

There was a lot of talk after the Cousins' trade about who it would benefit most in Sacramento.  If tonight was any indication, we have a clear cut winner.  Willie Cauley-Stein played 35 minutes and completely out-played the much-talked about Jokic as he scored 29 pts and grabbed 10 rebounds for 43.50 FPP at just $3,600 (don't expect him to be that low for long).  Darren Collison also had a very nice game as he too managed a double-double scoring 15 points and dishing out 10 assists for 43 FPP.   Buddy Hield, who was the center-piece of the Kings' return for Cousins) scored 16 pts and grabbed 6 rebounds in just 26 minutes for 27 FPP.  Ty Lawson and Tyreke Evans  both reached 5x tonight as they each chipped in 25 FPP.  Skal Labissiere was able to get some run tonight and was quite impressive during his time on the court.  Skal played 14 minutes and scored 12 pts, grabbed 3 rebounds, handed out 2 assists and a steal for 20.25 FPP.  It will be interesting to see if his minutes continue to grow after tonight's solid outing.

Los Angeles Clippers vs Golden State Warriors

For the Clippers it was much of the same since CP3 has been out.  DeAndre Jordan put up another double-double as he scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for 38.35 FPP.  Blake Griffin's price continues to rise as he is rounding back into his elite form but tonight struggled to the tune of 12 pts, 5 rebounds and 8 assists for just 31.75 FPP.  At $9,100 this kind of night will not cut it.  The back-court guys once again were all decent plays tonight but no one stood out from the pack.  Raymond Felton played 24 minutes and scored 29.75 FPP while Jamal Crawaford played 34 minutes and gave us 29.25 FPP.  The Duke combo of Austin Rivers and JJ Redick played 37 and 30 minutes scoring 29 FPP and 20 FPP, which is nothing really to write home about.  

The "big 2" for Golden State put the team on their backs tonight and lead them to a 123-113 victory over the Clippers.  Kevin Durant lead the way with 61.25 FPP (25 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block and 1 steal) while Steph Curry hit 6 out of 10 from 3 for 60.25 FPP (35 pts, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals).  Klay Thompson and Draymond Green both struggled tonight as they scored just 24.5 and 22 DK points while David West was the lone bright spot off the bench scoring 20.5 FPP in just 11 minutes.   No one else really is worth mentioning unless you rostered the always safe Andre Iguodala whi put up his normal 23.50 FPP.

There were quite a few high scoring games tonight, so hopefully your teams did well!!

That's all for now.  Hopefully I will get back in the game tomorrow, as I forgot to set any lineups today and had to watch from the sidelines ... and no one likes that!

Hot NBA Trade Deadline Rumor and my 2 cents

As the NBA Trade Deadline draws near (Thursday Feb 23rd at 3pm ET) the rumors continue to run rampant.

Typically we see these deadlines come and go with lots of smoke but very little actual fire.  Can we expect much of the same again this year?

We have already seen the trade that could easily be the biggest move of the season when the Kings moved DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans for Buddy Hield and an assortment of other pieces.

What else may we see before the deadline is upon us?  Lets take a look at one of the big trades we are hearing around the rumor-mill:

Minnesota PG Ricky Rubio to the New York Knicks for PG Derrick Rose.
I took a quick poll on my Twitter feed (@EBIHester) on if my followers would make this trade and "YES" is currently winning, so it sounds like I'm not with the norm on this one.

Just by watching Derrick Rose's actions from a distance the last few years I would want absolutely no part of this guy on my team.  Between sitting out during playoff games because he didn't want to take a chance on doing long-term damage to his body to disappearing from the arena before a game this season, Rose strikes me as a selfish player with a "me first" mentality.  At any other position on the floor that may be somewhat acceptable, but not at the point guard spot.   The PG is supposed to be the floor leader that works to get the team to play together as one.  Rose has yet to show any ability to do that during his NBA career.  Even when he was a MVP caliber player in Chicago it was based more on his ability to score than it was his ability to lead a team.

Ricky Rubio is no where near the scoring threat that Rose is, but what he does do is focus on getting the ball to the elite scorers on the team in Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony-Towns.  Rubio can score when called upon but does not need to see the ball go through the hoop to keep him involved in the game.  That is what a throw-back point guard does and, in my opinion, is what this team needs.  I can't see a scenario in which Towns and Wiggins will be pleased with taking a backseat to Rose and his antics.

The main cog driving this trade is Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau who Rose played for in Chicago.  Thibodeau was able to get the best out of Rose during his time in Chicago but he was a different player then and not the broken shell that he seems to be today.

The reason this trade could make sense boils down to the fact that Rose would become an unrestricted free agent after this season thus freeing up the PG slot for the club's 5th pick from 2016, Kris Dunn.

Dunn has shown flashes of brilliance when given the chance to start this season and he is the type of player that can fill up each category in the box score while doing all of the little things that it takes to win ball games.   Bringing in Rose for the rest of this season would give Dunn more time to grow while coming off the bench and then free up the starting spots as well as some salary cap space heading into next season.

Typically when a coach as powerful as Thibodeau wants a move to be made, it gets made.  I will be surprised if this trade is not completed, but I will go on record in saying that I do not like the move from the Minnesota side of things.

Rubio going to the Big Apple and tossing passes to Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis could be a match made in Heaven.  This move would free up more shots for New York's "big 2" and Rubio's 'pass-first' mentality could potentially lead to some highlight reel plays from the athletic front court players in New York.

My Thought on who "Won" the Pelicans and Kings trade

Just in case you have not heard somehow, the Sacramento Kings have traded DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi to the New Orleans Pelicans for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a future first round pick and a future second round pick.

To go along with this, the Kings are expected to now waive Galloway or Matt Barnes and have made Darren Collison and Aaron Afflalo available in trade talks.

This vaults the Pelicans up the rankings in the Western Conference as they try and climb into the playoff picture.   Adding a player as dominant as DeMarcus Cousins should help their ability to make that climb.

There are plenty of question marks that come along with this move, however.

How will Cousins and Davis co-exist?   Can the two big men play together at the same time and both see the ball enough to keep the demonstrative Cousins from blowing up?

Will Cousins come in and wreck the locker room?  Most "media" personalities claim that he is a locker room cancer, so how will he do in his new surroundings?

On the positive side of things for the Pelicans, they add one of the most dominant big men in the game today and did not have to give up any key member of their core.  Yes, they gave up Buddy Hield, who was the 6th pick in last year's NBA draft, along with Tyreke Evans who, when healthy, was a big weapon off of the bench for the club.

What this also brings New Orleans is a big insurance policy to ensure the team has an offensive presence in the paint if/when Anthony Davis gets dinged up.  It is not secret that Davis has had  numerous injury concerns over the years but now the Pelicans can simply roll out another MVP type big man in those circumstances and continue to play competitive games while taking any pressure off of Davis to attempt to rush back from such injury.

All of that being said this should also make PG Jrue Holiday happy and likely entice him to sign on to stay in New Orleans for many years to come.  Holiday is having a career year and should get plenty of open looks now and also now has two huge scoring threats to distribute the ball to.

In my opinion the biggest winner of this trade is Tim Frazier.

Frazier stepped into the starting lineup earlier this season when Holiday when down with an injury and was playing at an exceptionally high level until Holiday returned thus pushing Tim down the depth chart to the point that he rarely has seen the court in recent weeks.   With the departure of both Hield and Evans Frazier will now be asked to fill the sixth man and back up guard spots again and should be able to come off the bench and give New Orleans a huge spark of instant offense.

As for the Kings side of things they are in pure re-build mode.  They have made the majority of their veterans available for trade and will build towards this year's draft which just happens to be loaded with talent.

Hield should step right into the starting lineup and have the green light to fire shots at-will.   Hield is still adapting to the fast-paced style of the NBA but comes to the Kings with huge college credentials such as the John R. Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and the Sporting News Player of the Year award that he received his senior year at Oklahoma.

If the Kings are able to turn players such as Darren Collison and Ben McLemore into picks in this year's NBA Draft they should end up with a strong young nucleus that could excite their fans and get them to start attending games again.

This all will be worth watching to see if the two former Kentucky Wildcats in Cousins and Davis can work together to lead the Pelicans to the NBA playoffs and if Hield has the ability to lead the Kings back to being relevant or if he is more of a secondary player that needs a star in the lineup to take some of the pressure off of his shoulders.

No matter what happens, kudos to the Pelicans for being willing to take a chance.  There had been rumors recently that Anthony Davis was considering leaving for free agency once his contract was up (rumors that he has denied) but this trade could be the moves that keeps him in New Orleans for the length of his NBA Career.

Cincinnati Reds are proving to be a team of second chances

When you are rebuilding your team you must sometimes take chances on some players that may have previously stumbled with other teams.

That is exactly where the Cincinnati Reds find themselves in 2017.

Two perfect examples of this philosophy are former Tampa Ray OF Desmond Jennings and former Detroit Tiger Ryan Raburn, both whom the Reds have signed to minor league contracts with a Major League spring training invite.

Jennings was once a highly touted rookie for Tampa who ranked in the top 20 list of MLB prospects in both 2009 and even started in the 2010 All-Star Futures Game.

Unfortunately Jennings was never able to find his feet in the majors as was released from Tampa in August of 2016.

Desmond is the kind of player that could thrive in a change of scenery and moving from the American League to the National League.

Ryan Raburn, an 11 year MLB veteran, bring a career .253 average to Cincinnati with him to go along with 91 HRs and 352 RBI.  After struggling last season in Colorado Raburn is looking for a chance to continue his career and the Reds are happy to take a flyer on him.

Colorado can be a fickle place as a hitter.  Players that go there and play for several years tend to thrive due to the thin air, but on the flip side of that coin, some go there and attempt to change their game to become sluggers and take advantage of the great hitting environment.  It is worth a shot to see if Raburn can re-discover the form that lead him to a .301 batting average for 82 games in Cleveland just two years ago.

Neither of these guys may make a huge impact on the team, but both are worth a minor league look to help give the Reds some OF depth and gives them a veteran presence to help the young guys continue to learn and grow. 

Another veteran piece that Cincinnati has added is none other than former Red Bronson Arroyo.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not foolish enough to think that Bronson will come in and give the Reds 200+ innings or win double digit games but, more importantly, he will give them a veteran presence to help bring along some of the young core of a rotation with a bright future.

In 2013, which seems like forever ago, Arroyo was finishing off a stretch in which he gave the Reds 200 or more innings pitched in seven of eight seasons and the one year he didn’t reach that milestone he was just a single inning short.

One can only assume that he will not be called upon to handle such a heavy load this year if he does make the big league club out of spring training.  Instead, I believe he will mentor the likes of Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed, Luis Castillo and Lisalverto Bonilla.

With Homer Bailey starting the year on the DL while he recovers from surgery on his right elbow Arroyo could find himself as a bit of a player coach and getting his chance on the back-end of the pitching rotation for the first month of the season.  This could allow some of the young guys to either start in the bullpen or getting their time down in Louisville pitching in AAA until they are needed with the big club.

The Cincinnati Reds are not expected to compete for the National League Central pennant this year and likely will not threaten in the Wild Card standings for another season or two, but what they will do is play some great baseball in spurts and give their fans something to cheer for.  

FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions

UPDATE: Tom Smallwood bowled a huge 258 in the final game to go around Jason Belmonte, who left a 2-4-8-10 in the 8th on a shot he looked like he really liked, to steal the final spot.  PDW bowls a clutch 211 game on a pair he struggled on today to lock himself into the show.  Here are your final standings:

1) EJ Tackett (Motiv)
2) Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
3) Dom Barrett (Track)
4) Tom Smallwood (Radical)
5) Pete Weber (Storm)

What an exciting finish to qualifying and this is exactly why XtraFrame is such a great feature.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 1pm ET to ESPN for the live stepladder finals.
__________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Down to the final game.   EJ Tackett remains your leader with Tommy Jones sitting second 34 pins ahead of Dom Barrett in third.  Dom is 50 pins ahead of PDW who is sitting 4th while 27 pins away from Pete is Jason Belmonte, who is putting on quite a display of bowling this morning.  Only 4 pins away from Belmo sits Tom Smallwood in 6th with Mitch Beasley and Norm Duke tied for 7th only 17 pins off the show.  Brad Angelo is in 9th 28 pins away from 5th and Marshall Kent is in 10th just 39 pins out.

Last game to go and this is going to be an exciting finish.  Get to your XtraFrame now ... or come back here for more updates.

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UPDATE:  Just about to head to position round.   Tom Smallwood (6)2 in the 10th bowling 256 to end with 218.  Huge 10th frame for our 5th seed.   Dom Barrett is about to bowl 290 to all but lock himself onto the show.

Scores coming up soon and down to just the position round remaining.

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UPDATE: Big shake up in the standings!   Dom Barrett has moved up to 4th place while Tom Smallwood bowls his way into the 5th slot.  PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke has dropped all of the way down to 6th just 2 pins out of 5th.   Mitch Beasley remains 29 pins off the while while Belmonte is just 33 out.  Brad Angelo is in 10th place but only 48 off the show.

These last two games are going to be on fire.  The position round will be must see TV!!

Get to your XtraFrame right now.



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UPDATE: And we have some serious action going into the last couple games.  Dom Barrett had 197 game 5 and remains in 5th, but just barely.  Belmonte continued his hot day by shooting 245 to climb within 5 pins of the show.   Meanwhile PDW has dropped down to 4th, only 75 ahead of Belmo now.  Tom Smallwood is only 9 pins out of 5th while Mitch Beasley and Marshall Kent are just 35 off the show.

Things are going to be fun these last few games.

Current top 5:

EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Norm Duke
PDW
Dom Barrett
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Dom Barrett tosses 243 game 4 to extend his lead to 28 pins over the two players tied for 6th in Marshall Kent and Tom Smallwood.   Meanwhile, Jason Belmonte shot 256 game 4 to pick up a few pins on Dom with just 4 games remaining.

Inside the top 5 Pete Weber jumps Tommy Jones to move into the #2 slot behind EJ Tackett.  The top 5 bowlers remain the same guys but the position has jumbled a bit.




Current standings after 4:

EJ Tackett (Motiv)
Pete Weber (Storm)
Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
Norm Duke (Storm)
Dom Barrett (Track)

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Things are starting to tighten up at the FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions as Dom Barrett is sitting just two pins ahead of Tom Smallwood for the final position for Sunday's ESPN telecast.

Smallwood, who just put up 280 game three today, is part of a pack that is making a charge towards the telecast.

Marshall Kent struggled game 2 but bounced back with 241 game three to get within 23 of the 5th spot while Jason Belmonte has put up games of 237, 246 and 247 this morning to pull himself closer to the stepladder as he now sits just 66 pins out.

Mitch Beasley and Sean Rash are both also within 70 pins of Barrett with 5 games left to go.

Who will we see on Sunday's telecast?  Tune into XtraFrame to find out.

Current top five:
EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Pete Weber
Norm Duke
Dom Barrett

Reviewing the 2/16 NBA 14 game slate

What a crazy night of NBA DFS.

There were several blowouts that caused some of my key players to get a reduced workload in the 4th quarter tonight.

The Spurs thrashed the Magic tonight so Kawhi, who got off to a hot start, ended up only playing 27 minutes which obviously crushed his value.

What is Orlando doing at this point?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but they traded Victor Oladipo and a pick to OKC for Ibaka ... then traded Ibaka and a pick for Terrence Ross and a worse pick.  So, essentially they traded Oladipo for Terrence Ross and the right to move down in the draft?   They shift Aaron Gordon to a position that he's clearly not cut out to play and basically turning a potential young star into a struggling role player.   They should absolutely clear house on the front office people there before next season.

Speaking of a franchise that is currently in shambles, the Atlanta Hawks are one of the biggest Jekyll and Hyde teams I've ever seen.  They look like world beaters one night and then they get run out of the gym by the Chris Paul-less Clippers.   Tim Hardaway struggled through 28 minutes of unproductive basketball tonight as the Hawks lost by 16 to LA.   I am not quite sure what is wrong with the Hawks, other than the fact that their bench is incredibly thin.  I have watched a few games from ATL recently and I think Hardaway, Schroder and Milsap have a ton of potential while Dwight Howard has his dominant games and then disappears at times.  It seems like if you don't get him going at the start of the night he may just sleepwalk through the entire game.

Damian Lillard was in a good spot again tonight but failed to deliver once again.  He did get 35 minutes but the Blazers struggled to just 88 points while getting blasted by UTAH who put up 111 points.   Utah ... put up .... 111.   CJ McCollum played just 25 minutes and scored 18 pts with 2 rebounds and 4 fouls.  On a bright note Jusuf Nurkic looked good in his first game with his new team as he scored 13 points with 7 rebounds an assist a block and 3 steals but 4 turnovers.  I hope he gets some run with Portland to see if maybe he can live up to the potential that was expected of him in Denver.

The Kings were actually leading Golden State at halftime but managed to lose the game by 23.  Draymond Green was booted from the game after just 15 minutes after receiving two technical fouls.  Klay Thompson, once again, man-handled Sacramento by scoring 35 points with 5 rebounds, 4 assists 2 steals and hitting 7 of 12 3 point attempts.  Kevin Durant looked like his old self tonight as he scored 21 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.   Fortunately I faded DeMarcus Cousins tonight and that worked out as he struggled through 23 minutes scoring 13 points.  It was a rough game for Cousins and Darren Collison who has been playing a ridiculous amount of minutes while Ty Lawson has been out.  The All Star break is coming at a perfect time for these guys.

I was admittedly very worried when the 76ers announced that Jahlil Okafor was back with the team and would suit up tonight vs the Celtics.  Dario Saric was a staple on ALL of my teams tonight but I was not overly comfortable with this as Okafor was likely going to steal some his minutes and shot attempts.  Early in the first half my worst fears were coming true as Dario was missing shots and hanging out on the bench for longer than I would like to have seen.  Sadly Robert Covington, who was having a great game, had to go to the locker room after hitting his head and didn't return to the court.  Dario was able to take advantage of this and once he got some consistent run he went right back to making the game look easy and he finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds a block and a steal.  TJ McConnell continues to fly under the radar and quietly put up great fantasy numbers as again tonight he exceeded value by scoring 12 points to go along with 3 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals.  I am very curious to see if this team ends up moving Okafor and, if they do, what they get back for him.

A lot of the talking heads today really liked Marcus Smart's spot tonight so I took their word for it and it paid off as he had a fantastic game scoring 21 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing out 5 assists, adding 1 block and 8 steals.   Yes, you read that right, he had 8 steals but 6 turnovers.  Kelly Olynk had another solid game and Isaiah Thomas stayed steady but was not spectacular in the Celts 116-108 victory.  This was a fun game to watch and both of these teams have a bright future and could be very scary when healthy.

The Bucks and Nets combined for 254 points tonight.  That's an incredible number that I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around.  Brook Lopez went absolutely insane tonight scoring 36 points with 4 rebounds, an assist, 8 blocks, a steal and hitting 6 of out 10 3's.   I am not sure what I'm more amazing with, him hitting 6 3's or having 8 blocks.  Brook is not really known as a rim protector so that stat jumps off the page at me.  Spencer Dinwiddle had a great game tonight as well contributing 19 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.

For the Bucks side of the ball Giannis was his normal spectacular self but the most encouraging player in the game was easily Khris Middleton.  Still working off the rust from the injury that kept him out the majority of the season to this point, Middleton exploded tonight for 20 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals in just 26 minutes.  As his minutes continue to climb we need to keep a close eye on his price as he is always a box score filler when healthy so he's certainly worth a look once his minute restriction is lifted.   Greg Monroe continues to prove that he deserves the center job as he had another very solid game tonight but was out performed by his opposite number in Lopez.  Malcolm Brogdon's numbers and minutes continue to decline since the return of Middleton.  The Bucks are going to need him to get everything straightened out to help ease the pain of losing Jabari Parker for the season.  Brogdon was a viable rookie of the year candidate last month and hopefully some rest over the break will rejuvenate him for a second half run.

Just to mention a couple other big games tonight from individual players:

Eric Bledsoe has broken out of his slump in a big way as tonight he destroyed the Lakers (point guards vs the Lakers is always a thing so hopefully you were on him tonight) as he tripled doubled with 25 pts, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.

Is it even news anymore when Westbrook triple doubles?  Well, he did it again tonight.  38 pts, 14 rebounds and 12 assists as he lead the Thunder to a great comeback victory over a Knicks team that looks like they're just completely lost and have no direction.  I am not sure what they should do with that team but I am starting to think that either Rose and Carmelo need to go or Porzingis needs to go.  I don't think the three can co-exist there.

Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins showed why Minnesota fans are excited about the future of this team as KAT put up 24 pts and 19 rebounds while Wiggins scored 40 points in their 112-99 beat down of the short-handed Denver Nuggets.  I expected way more out of Ricky Rubio tonight and he struggled to the tune of 6 pts, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.  He tends to put up duds in spots that I expect him to mash, so I wasn't too shocked when I saw his stat line tonight.

Nikola Jokic continues to impress putting up another double-double tonight with 15 pts, 14 rebounds to go along with 4 assists and 4 blocks.  Jameer Nelson also double-doubled scoring 16 points and handing out 11 assists while also grabbing 7 rebounds.   Mason Plumlee, fresh from Portalnd, drew the start in his first game in a Nuggets uniform and played 34 minutes scoring 11 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.  I believe he will be a good hard-nosed work horse that can come in and give this young exciting team a little bit of an edge with his blue-collar attitude.

Dion Waiters resurrection has been incredible.  He has been unstoppable when given the opportunity this year and he has seamlessly bounced back from his recent injury and gone right back to putting up big numbers.  Tonight he scored 23 pts, grabbed 9 rebounds and handed out 7 assists as the Heat beat the Rockets 117-109.  Hassan Whiteside looks to be healthy now and is back to being the dominant force in the middle that Miami fans have drawn accustom to.  Tonight he completely dominated the Nene/Clint Capela duo to a tune of 23 pts, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Speaking of dominant - is it news when James Harden triples doubles anymore?   Well, he also did it again tonight as he and Westbrook continue to play "anything you can do I can do better".  Harden tonight scored 38 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

Frank Kaminsky continues to be a great play at PF while Miles Plumlee and Cody Zeller are out.  Frank completely smashed value tonight by scoring 27 pts, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal.  As long as Zeller and Plumlee are out I will keep firing Frank out into my lineups unless his price gets too high.

I can't forget Dirk busting out tonight with his double double as well.  24 points and 10 rebounds for this future hall of famer during tonight's super high scoring slate.

Giving Yahoo DFS a shot tonight - HUGE slate of NBA games

I am always looking for different platforms to play on as the more options DFS players have, the better it will be for the industry.

One would think that Yahoo, and their super high user base, should be able to draw over a mix of sharks and casual players into their games -- and I'm interested in checking out how their games work.  

For those that have not played you get a salary cap budget of $200 to fill the following positions:
PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, UTL.

I made a small deposit and will give you a quick run down in who I like tonight:

PG: TJ McConnell ($16) -  McConnell has been on quite a roll lately along with another 76ers player I will have on this list in a bit.  I am really hoping they keep Okafor off the floor tonight, even though I'm a fan of his, because it seems McConnell and Nerlens Noel have shown a great chemistry together and I would like to see this duo continue to own the majority of the minutes for Philly.

SG: Tim Hardaway Jr ($17) - This obviously hinges on Thabo's availability -- but lets be honest -- if Hardaway hasn't earned his starting job at this point I'm not sure what else he needs to do.  He has absolutely taken over games in the 4th quarter recently and given the Hawks a young athletic guard to pair with the blazing quick Schroder.

G: Will Barton ($21) - The Nuggets are extremely short handed and Will Barton has been scorching hot since shouldering the offensive load for the team.  Most everyone in the DFS world was locking Barton into their lineups tonight until the news that Wilson Chanlder may play now after previously being ruled out.  I think this actually works out to my benefit here as Chandler may still not see a full allotment of minutes and, even if he plays 30 minutes, it's questionable how well he will be able to produce if he has this NBA flu that's been going around.  Everyone is jumping ship off of Barton tonight and I think this lowers his ownership enough that I want more shares of him now.

SF: Kawhi Leonard ($45) - I will have to keep an eye on news as we get closer to lock tonight because you just never know when Pop will decide to sit his guys, especially giving them a little bit of a break heading into the All-Star game.  If Kawhi does indeed play he is a lock and load for me tonight.  Since Pau Gasol has been out Kawhi has absolutely taken over this team and he can flat do it all.  The multiple time Defensive POY now has shown that he can score thus making him a dual threat that is a staple in all of my lineups tonight.

PF: Frank Kaminsky ($15) - Frank "the Tank" has been play some incredible ball since being inserted into the starting lineup.  Tonight both Plumlee and Zeller have been ruled out again so Frank will get the lion's share of minutes for the Hornets vs a Raptors front court that is not exactly known for their defensive prowess and are also playing on the 2nd game of a back to back.  At just $15 I think Frank is a great play at PF tonight.

F: Dario Saric ($13) - Dario has been absolutely on fire lately.  Finally he is showing Philly fans why the front office drafted and waited on him to be ready to come join the NBA and he looks like he's starting to get comfortable with his surroundings.  If Okafor ends up not playing Dario should see extended run again tonight and I feel is an absolute must play at just $13.

C: Mark Gasol ($34) - I am usually not a huge fan of looking at previous match-ups with teams/players because there are so many different underlying circumstances to each game, but Gasol has absolutely torched the Pelicans in recent history - so much so that I have to look his way.  I was thinking of going Noel here and spending up at UTL but a) that gives me 3 Philly players, which is scary and b) Gasol is such a safe option with upside in a match that he's dominated in the past.

UTL: Paul George ($39) - There are a couple things going for PG13 here tonight:  1) LeBron has been getting destroyed on DEF lately and 2) The Cavs have been playing a large number of close games this season.  This should allow Paul to stay on the court for an extended amount of minutes in what should be a high scoring up-paced game.  He has easily been one of my top 3 least favorite players to use this season but I feel like I have to go back to him in this spot tonight.

So many options tonight so all of this is subject to change, but for now, this will be the lineup I'm firing out on Yahoo.

Early morning thoughts on NBA DFS

What a frustrating night of DFS.

I can sum it up pretty quickly:

a) Jimmy Butler ruined a good share of my lineups right off the bat.
b) I picked the wrong PG in Sacramento (Collison did fine but Lawson was the pick.  A lot of people took both and I clearly should've considered the same).
c) I picked the wrong SF in Phoenix (went with Chriss instead of TJ Warren)
d) I didn't have nearly enough Jokic.  I had a few shares of him but was afraid to fire him back into my lineups coming back from injury last night.
e) Mudiay tanked.
f) RHJ struggled.
g) LeVert got the start and tons of minutes but put up a dud.
h) Myles Turner continues to make my scratch my head at why he's not dominating games

That's enough, you get my point.    Onward and upward.

Early thoughts on tonight's games:

I will likely be playing a lot of cash games tonight while I tinker with my tournament strategy.

A quick look at the schedule has me noticing a couple things that I will be factoring into my roster creations today.

No team that plays today has a game tomorrow.
Denver is on a B2B and this is their 4th game in 5 nights.  There are a billion questions here.  Will Jokic get a full allotment of minutes after just returning from injury?  Which of the Nuggets' injured players will return tonight?   Want a recipe for a blowout?  I have one for you:  a banged up Nuggets team that likes to run up and down the court will play @ San Antonio tonight.   This one could get out of hand quickly.
Orlando is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  How will that effect Evan Fournier, who is coming back from injury?
Detroit is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  With Ish Smith continuing to see an increase in minutes, is this a spot to fire him into my few GPP lineups?
Indiana is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  So both sides of the ball will be a bit tired in this game.  This may make for a sloppy offensive game so I may look at getting someone like Drummond that could grab all of the rebounds after each shot clanks off the iron.  He has only played 29 and 26 minutes in each of the last two games, so he shouldn't be overly exhausted tonight.
Memphis in on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  This is one where I'll have to pay attention close to roster lock.  I would not be surprised to see one of Gasol, Conley or Z-Bo sitting this game out.
Minnesota is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  Not super concerned about this one, as they are a pretty young team .. but if you're deciding on a roster spot between two players and one of them is playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights and traveled all 3 games you may want to factor that in.
Milwaukee is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights.  Another young team that this shouldn't make much of a difference but worth noting.  The big thing for the Bucks will be who Kidd decides to run out there at the C position.  If Henson gets another start I will be locking him in, though I have to believe that Monroe is a better match up vs the up and down pace of the Suns.
Phoenix is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Speaking of the Suns, they also are playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights.  I would think this will slow Chandler down just a little thus making me like whomever Milwaukee starts at center even more.
Golden State is playing their 3rd in 4 nights.  Honestly, this doesn't matter much.  The starters usually are rested throughout the game and they do not play tomorrow, but I still wanted to make note.
Philadelphis is playing their 3rd in 4 nights.  Is Embiid going to give it a run tonight or shall we throw Ilyasova out there again tonight?
Sacramento is on the back end of a B2B.  Again, doesn't matter a huge amount.  Boogie has proven in the past that he's just fine on B2B games and he's the biggest cog in this game.  Lawson and Collison are both in play again tonight as well as Matt Barnes assuming Temple and Afflalo are out again for this one.


 Notable things to look for tonight: 

Will Rose play for the Knicks?  Brandon Jennings price continues to rise but he has been very solid while starting for the injured Rose.   Will Hernangomez continue to get minutes?  He has produced each time he's been given the chance, which is why I'm still puzzled at him getting 4 minutes in a quadruple over time game earlier in the week.   Is Porzingis back to game form?  He looked like it in their last outing so I will giving him a shot tonight.

Who draws the start at C for Milwaukee?

Will the Magic rest Fournier tonight and force me to play Payton?

Will Jokic start tonight and, if so, will he be on any minutes restriction?

Dwight Howard revenge game twice in one week?

 Does Embiid play tonight or is another Okafor/Ilyasova night?

How will Frank Kaminsky handle getting the start at C tonight vs the Jazz?

Early players I am high on:

LeBron James:   All eyes are on LeBron now as he has called out his team, his GM and Charles Barkley.   As a player who loves the spotlight, this is a time for LeBron to show what he can do on the court to shut up all of the noise going on off the court.   Factor in the fact that he's playing in Madison Square Garden tonight and I fully expect something big.

Rudy Gobert:  Bigs vs the Hornets was "a thing" anyway, but with Kaminsky starting at the 5 I just do not see anyone that will be able to out rebound Gobert.  I could see a 20/20 night in the making for him this evening.

Dwight Howard:  Howard proved earlier in the week that he can still get motivated to show flashes of his former self, and he loves sticking it to his old teams.  The Hawks face the Magic tonight and I expect Dwight to come out ready to play tonight.

Tim Hardaway Jr: Not only am I interested in Tim because of his breakout game earlier in the week vs the Rockets, but at his price he is a solid start if he draws the start.  His matchup tonight vs the Magic isn't nearly as enticing as his previous one vs Houston, but I will still have my fair share of him tonight if he starts.

James Johnson: Everyone is starting to get healthy for Miami so I think Johnson will go overlooked on tonight's slate.  In his last four games he has put up 31.5, 39, 41.5 and 33.5 DK points and I do not see that slowing down tonight vs the undermanned 76ers team.

Also in play for me are Marcin Gortat, Porzingis, Hernangomez and Goran Dragic.

Four game Thursday for NBA DFS

Well it has been quite the up and down week of NBA DFS.   Early in the week I made a bit of a fun run in a 30,000 person GPP before falling a little short but the last couple of days have been small loss or break even nights.

Thursday brings us a small four game slate with a couple fun games and a couple snoozers.

Granted, any game can have its share of great plays just like any high total game can have a star tank, but I think I'll game stack two of these games and then throw a couple mix and match lineups in and be done with it.

Here are my late night/early morning thoughts on the first game on the slate:

Los Angeles Lakers @ Washington Wizards 

D'Angelo Russell came back from his injury on Tuesday and put up 51.25 DK points playing 34 minutes against the Denver Nuggets scoring 22 real life points to go with 7 rebounds and a career high 10 assists.  His price on DK is still at $5,700 which is extremely low IF he is going to get his full amount of minutes again.  There is a very good chance I start all of my lineups with Russell on Thursday night.

Ivica Zubac is starting to emerge as the big man to own on the Lakers.  In Tuesday night's game it looked for a while as though Zubac had moved back to the end of the bench as both Tarik Black and Timofey Mozgov both were playing well and stealing all of the minutes.  Low and behold, when it came down to crunch time, Zubac was the man that coach Walton trusted on the court and he did not disappoint, scoring a career high (yes, it's early in his career) 17 points and putting up 25.5 DK points.  In the three games since he has been getting minutes Zubac has scored 25.5, 31.5 and 33 DK point respectively.  At just $3,900 I truly believe Zubac will be one of the highest owned players on tonight's slate.

Lou Williams is better, in my opinion, coming off of the bench so the return of Russell is great for his fantasy perspectives.  Most fantasy players will look away from him if he isn't start, but I actually like him a lot more coming off the bench and leading the second unit.  Tuesday's game Williams played 24 minutes but took 11 shots and put up 43.25 DK points.  I'm a little worried about him matching up against Bradley Beal in spots, but for just $5,700 I will throw him into a few lineups for sure.

John Wall is in a fantastic spot against a Lakers team that severely struggles stopping guards but man his price is HIGH.  He should have little to no problem reaching 50+ DK points but are you willing to spend such a huge chunk of your salary on just one guy?  It may be worth the gamble in hopes that LA can keep this game close and he gets a full allotment of minutes and if you're game stacking this one then he's a must play.  Otherwise, choose your spots wisely.

Bradley Beal continues to produce and his price continues to rise as he now sits at $7,000 on DK.  As mentioned in the previous Wizards player, the Lakers have a hard time slowing down guards and Beal has been playing very well of late.  He has reached 5x (or close) 5 of his last 6 games and I don't see that slow down tonight.  He will be in my cash game lineups but I'm just not sure there is enough upside to be a great GPP play.  Again, game stack player - sure - but otherwise I may not have much of him in other GPP lineups.

Kelly Oubre Jr is the cheap guy I like for Washington in this game.  Call me crazy, but his minutes has been solid of late and there is a chance the Wizards blow this game out early and Oubre gets to stay on the court and be the main source of offense.  His is a very athletic young player that has the ability to shine under the right circumstances and I believe tonight, for GPPs, is a good spot for him to do just that.


Since we are getting late (updating at 5:40pm) I am just going to mention a few more players I like tonight:

Dwight Howard in a revenge game against a Rockets team that he was less than thrilled with while playing there.  Facing the revolving door of centers in Houston Howard is in a great spot in theory tonight.  Unfortunately, as we have seen many times in the DFS world, theory doesn't mean fact.  The Hawks have been absolutely horrible recently and have put up some serious stinkers in the last couple of weeks.  In what should be an up-tempo fast paced game one would have to believe the ATL players should have the chance to have great fantasy games and at just $6,900 on DK I am a fan of Howard as one of my cash game guys tonight.

Dennis Schroder will be in a lot of my GPP lineups, but maybe not cash tonight.  He has either thrived or tanked in recent weeks (seems to be the same as the rest of this team) so I can't trust him in cash games facing Patrick Beverley defense but at $6,400 I could see him getting 7 or 8x tonight in this potential shootout.

Steph Curry came back after missing the Warriors' previous game with an illness and put on a sick show against the Hornets last night (see what I did there).   The only thing that worries me here is playing on a back to back after having the NBA flu just a couple nights ago.  With this being a late game we can't really wait for news on if he's for sure playing but if you're confident that he's going to play then he's a great play tonight in all formats.  $8,900 on DK and he has been showing flashes of his old MVP form so that price is a steal at the moment.

Kawhi Leonard could be the highest scoring player on tonight slate assuming the 76ers can find a way to make this game competitive.     Leonard's usage rate goes through the roof when LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol are not on the court, which will be the case tonight.   Kawhi could be in line for a major game but this one could get out of control pretty quickly as the 76ers are playing without Embiid.

Dewayne Dedmon was in play for me before I heard Aldridge was out so now I will have a bit more of him in my GPPs.  I never seem to get David Lee right as he scores about 10 when I start him but 30 when I don't, so I will just avoid him and save myself the headache.  At $3,500 I will throw Dedmon into a few GPP lineups tonight as he should be in line for some time on the floor tonight and he seems to produce well when he gets the chance.   If this game gets ugly he will see even more time and without Embiid to worry about I like Dewayne's spot here.

Dario Saric did all he could last night to crush me in my games but a garbage time run got him back to value when the final buzzer went off.  Embiid is out and Covington is healthy tonight for Philadelphia so Saric should continue to see 20+ minutes on the court.  He has shown flashes of the ability to be an offensive weapon and should get the late run if this game blows out.  I will have him in several lineups tonight but won't go too over-board.

Well folks, that's all for tonight.  With just under an hour to lock please hit me up with any questions you may have and good luck!

WrestleMania Season hits a snag ... but there are more problems than that

There is still some question around the twitter world on if the Seth Rollins injury is a shoot or a work, but it sure seems like a legit issue.

It would be devastating if Rollins, arguably the best pure wrestler and most over face on RAW right now, is forced to miss WrestleMania for a second year in a row.

The feud with HHH had been slowly gaining steam before Seth's appearance at NxT Takeover which was completely unexpected and took the rivalry to a whole other level.

Monday Night RAW saw HHH come out and cut a very intense and well performed promo before calling Rollins down to the ring to meet "his destroyer", which we all now know was the only and only Samoa Joe.

Unfortunately, as it seems at the time of this blog post, when Joe was taking him to the mat with the Coquina Clutch it looked as though Seth's leg buckled and, as we hear now, re-injured the right-knee of the "Architect".

If you haven't re-watched the slow-mo videos of this finish, you should.  Pay close attention to the words exchanged between the two superstars.

Multiple reports are saying that it appears to go like this:

Joe: "Are you ok?"
Seth: "I hope so."

And with that, we now wait to find out how significant this injury will be and whether or not this takes Seth off of the card for the "Grand Daddy of them All" for the second consecutive year.

Now let me be honest, I have been and will always be a big HHH mark.  I'm just a fan of his in-ring psychology as well as his "holier than thou" promos --- but I was torn about him working 'Mania this year.

On one side, the last time he worked this event it was a slow moving horrible match that needed several spots of outside interference to make it watchable.

That match was vs the Icon Sting, who was severely out of shape and really was showing his age.

This match would have been against one of the best in-ring technicians in the industry and likely could have been a high quality match with some incredible story telling.

One can only hope that this injury does not derail one of the sure fire main matches of WrestleMania.

That being said, I have a big of a problem with a few of the other rumored matches for the card.

First we'll go with Goldberg vs Lesnar.

In a vacuum this match would be fine for what it is.  Two legends and two monsters facing off in what is sure to be a hard hitting and brutal fight that fans everywhere would like to see.

The problem is ... they've faced off twice now since November and Goldberg has bested The Beast both times without breaking a sweat.

If we are to believe that they are even attempting to make this believable, why would Goldberg agree to fight Brock again?   What good would it do him?

This would be the definition of a match where "nothing to be gained".  If Goldberg goes out and loses to Brock what does that prove?   Brock was still manhandled twice previously (actually 3 times if you count that debacle of a match they had at WrestleMania 20) so what would this single victory really do to make up for those?  If Goldberg wins how do they ever bring Lesnar's character back to the level of intimidation and dominance that he once was?

And without that gimmick, what is he exactly?  If he's not the Beast, then he's just another guy...

The only way I can see this match making sense is the following:

Goldberg takes on Kevin Owens at Fastlane for the Universal Championship.   We have all seen that Goldberg has his son and wife in the front row when he works during this most recent return.

We could see Lesnar come out during the title match, go over to Goldberg's son and flash that evil grin he's famous for, thus distracting the challenger and costing him his chance to win the belt while also goading him into the re-match?

That or the potential "career vs career" match that we sometimes see in these situations, but I can't imagine they'd have Goldberg end his career by losing on the grand stage of Mania.

Speaking of "why would wrestler A give wrestler B another chance", my other problem with the rumored card would be (c) Charlotte defending against everyone's favorite hugger Bayley.

If they were considering this match for WrestleMania then they maybe should have made Bayley look like a formidable opponent at the Royal Rumble.

Instead we got what might as well have been a squash match.

Bayley looked completely outmatched and dominated in a spot that they could have given her the chance to show her talents but come up just a little short.

Granted they did give her the pin the following night in the 6 person mixed tag match over the champ, but what does that prove?  That she can steal a pin in a match with the assistance of other teammates?

I have to wonder .. are we all looking one way while the WWE plans something completely different for us?

If you pay attention to the commentary during the Royal Rumble Michael Cole and Corey Graves repeatedly mention how dominant Charlotte's been at PPVs and it is hard to ignore how strong she has been booked since first winning the title.

Yes, I know, she has lost the title on more than one occasion to Sasha Banks, but go back and watch those.  Even when she lost it was usually because she became over-confident and lost focus, not because she was just beaten. 

Are they building up the unbeatable champ for WrestleMania to have Bayley pin her clean and thus, in turn, make Bayley the new Daniel Bryan ...

or....

Are we as fans all looking towards that match when what we actually will see is a Bayley vs (heel) Sasha Banks at WrestleMania (in what could be a show stealing match) while the WWE is building towards a "unbeatable" Charlotte vs "unbeatable" Asuka program?

Could the two most dominant women in the WWE be on a collision course and meet each other in one of the main spots at the biggest show of the year?

As big as a Bayley fan as I am, a potential Charlotte v Asuka match has me very excited.

For those of you who do not know who Asuka is or have never seen her in action do yourself a favor and head over to youtube now and check out a few of her matches.  You can thank me later.