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| Jerry Stackhouse will practice on Tuesday and play in Wednesday's regular season finale, the AP reports. He has been out since March 27 due to a sore right groin. |
Our View: The Mavericks would like to have Stack available as an off-guard option come playoff time.
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| Bobby Jackson did not play on Sunday night due to a sore left knee, the AP confirms. |
Our View: We'll consider Bobby day-to-day until we hear otherwise.
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| Nick Collison finished with 18 points and 11 boards in Sunday's win over the Mavericks. In seven games this month, Collison has four doubles-doubles. |
Our View: Collison has hammered the boards since Chris Wilcox started dealing with injuries. The two big men could end up hurting each other's values in 2008-09.
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| Jason Terry scored 25 points and hit 10-of-18 shots on Sunday. The only problem was that he missed all five of his three-point attempts, including an open look late in the game. |
Our View: The Mavs will need Terry to be more clutch from beyond the arc come playoff time.
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| Earl Watson led the Sonics to a win over the Mavericks on Sunday. The point guard finished with 21 points, 10 assists, eight boards, one steal, and one block. |
Our View: Watson has been solid since the All-Star break. He's not a fantasy stud, but most people will take 14 points and seven assists out of a No 4 guard.
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| Dirk Nowitzki poured in 32 points on 13-of-25 shooting on Sunday night. The superstar added nine boards, four three, and two assists. It was Nowitzki's third 30-point outing in the last five games. |
Our View: Dirk looks ready for the postseason.
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| Rafer Alston may have aggravated his right hamstring injury on Sunday night, the Houston Chronicle reports. He scored only six points on 2-of-10 shooting. |
Our View: The Rockets aren't looking good heading into the playoffs, and they better hope Alston only needs to miss a few days.
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| Carmelo Anthony shot only 3-of-14 from the floor and scored just 11 points against the Rockets on Sunday. He added eight rebounds and one assist. |
Our View: This is the same guy who had 36, 38 and 47 in the last 10 days, right? Carmelo obviously deferred to other hot hands on Sunday.
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| Tracy McGrady was stymied by the Nuggets on Sunday and made only 5-of-18 shots. He finished with 16 points and did not hit a three for the third time in the last four games. |
Our View: We imagine T-Mac's sore left shoulder has something to do with his struggles.
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| Allen Iverson poured in 33 points against the Rockets on Sunday. The Answer hit 13-of-20 shots and added seven boards, seven assists, and four steals. It was Iverson's second 33-points game in the last four days. |
Our View: We're edging towards an Iverson-Kobe showdown in the first round of the playoffs, which would be fun to watch.
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| Jerry Stackhouse won't test his injured right groin until Wednesday, and he'll likely be limited once the playoffs begin, the Dallas Morning News reports. He has been out since March 27. |
Our View: The Mavs may be forced to turn to Eddie Jones more in the playoffs. If this was 1998, they'd be in good hands.
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| Josh Howard started on Sunday, and his sore right knee looks fine, according to the Dallas Morning News. He missed the game on Saturday. |
Our View: That's obviously good news for a team trying to lock up the seventh seed.
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| Bobby Jackson is unavailable for Sunday's game against the Nuggets, the Houston Chronicle reports. |
Our View: We haven't seen a reason why Jackson is unable to play. Maybe he ran out of long socks.
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| Shane Battier is unavailable for Sunday's game against the Nuggets due to a bruised left foot and ankle, the Houston Chronicle reports. He also missed Friday's contest. |
Our View: We imagine the Rockets may sit Battier down until the playoffs, although they are still jockeying for position.
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| Dwight Howard was able to work on his free-throw shooting on Sunday. He shot the ball only four times against the Bulls, but he made it to the charity stripe 17 times, making 13. Howard sat out the final quarter. |
Our View: The studly big man shouldn't need any more practice after making it to the line 11 times per game this year. Sadly, he still hits around 59 percent.
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| Luol Deng was one of the few Bulls to show up on Sunday. He had 19 points and seven boards in a loss to the Magic. |
Our View: Deng was unable to replicate his solid 2006-07 numbers in what was a weird year for the Bulls. With good health and maybe some personnel changes, Deng should be able to rebound next season.
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| Hedo Turkoglu is putting the finishing touches on his breakout campaign. He hit 9-of-17 shots against the Bulls on Sunday and finished with 24 points, eight assists, four boards, three steals, and one block. |
Our View: Turkoglu has missed only one game and has been an excellent eight-cat contributor all season. Needless to say, his fantasy stock will be much, much higher going into 2008-09.
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| Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 14 points and nabbed 14 boards on Sunday. The bad news is that he hit only 6-of-18 shots against the Heat. |
Our View: Big Z should have been able to shoot about 70 percent against the pathetic Heat frontline. We'll chalk it up as simply a bad night.
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| Ricky Davis continues to produce despite, uh, less than ideal conditions. He managed 17 points, seven assists, four boards, four threes, and three steals in a loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday. |
Our View: Davis is having a big month as the only reliable option in the Heat starting rotation. It won't last into next season.
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| LeBron James took it easy on Sunday, shooting only nine times in a win over the Heat. He finished with 13 points, 11 boards, seven assists, two blocks, and one steal. |
Our View: James is pretty good even when he's not going full out. Fantasy teams in championship games may be disappointed by his point total, though.
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| Tim Duncan had a rough showing on Sunday. He hit only 6-of-19 shots against the Lakers. Duncan finished with 16 points and 12 boards. |
Our View: It's tough to argue with a strong double-double, but the Spurs obviously can't afford to have Duncan shoot like that.
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| Lamar Odom was solid again on Sunday, finishing with 17 points and 14 boards against the Spurs. He also chipped in four assists. Odom is shooting over 52 percent from the floor and is two games away from averaging a double-double for the second time in his career. |
Our View: An argument could be made that this has been Odom's best fantasy season since 2000-01, even though he didn't shoot as many threes.
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| Manu Ginobili missed his second straight game on Sunday due to a strained left groin. He might sit out the final two regular season games as well, the AP notes. Head coach Gregg Popovich expects Ginobili to be ready for the playoffs. |
Our View: After a wonderful fantasy season, Manu has sadly abandoned teams this April. The quiet finish shouldn't affect his value for 2008-09.
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| Kobe Bryant led the way in Sunday's easy win over the Spurs. He had 20 points, five boards, five assists, two steals, and one block before sitting out the fourth quarter. |
Our View: Bryant carried many fantasy teams this season. We just hope you didn't have your championship this week, as he managed outings of "only" 16, 29 and 20 points.
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| Rasho Nesterovic turned in another solid performance on Sunday afternoon. He shot 8-of-13 from the floor and finished with 18 points, seven boards, and one block in a loss to the Pistons. |
Our View: Rasho has turned in up since early March, and the digits he posted Sunday are pretty much his exact averages for April. He has only one so-so fantasy season in his past (2002-03), but his finish this year was promising. He'll likely hand the starting job back to Andrea Bargnani next season, though.
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| The Detroit Pistons continue to trim minutes and build rest for their top commodities with no single player earning more than 25 minutes in today’s 84-91 win over the Toronto Raptors. Rookie guard Rodney Stuckey topped all efforts with 5-of-9 from the field and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe to record 18 points. Chauncey Billups totaled 14 points, Rodney “Rip” Hamilton scored 12, and Rasheed Wallace scored 4. No single player on the Detroit roster gathered double-digit totals in rebounding or assists. |
Our View: It’s wonderful new for traditional fans of the Pistons, though the statistical results are concerning for fantasy owners. The Pistons get the win despite an obvious desire to rest, meanwhile giving their reserve players experience and work that could prove valuable in the playoffs.
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| Chris Bosh did what he could to keep Toronto competitive, but his outstanding individual gifts failed to avoid the loss as the Raptors take the loss against the Detroit Pistons, 84-91. Bosh shot 13-of-23 from the floor, 1-of-3 from three-point range, and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line, scoring 30 points with 10 rebounds to complete the double-double effort. |
Our View: Bosh also added four assists in the top fantasy performance of the game.
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| Following an ongoing story, the Lakers, moving into 1st Place in the West, could be forced to hit the playoff without young center Andrew Bynum , according to the Los Angeles Times. Bynum visited with a knee specialist in New York on Saturday and received a troubling report that indicates he will need several weeks to gain clearance for game play. “Jumping, landing, backpedaling, quick change of directions are still a problem,” Bynum told reporters. “In a couple of weeks, I might be good. I might not be good. I’m not sure.” |
Our View: This is nothing short of concerning for the Lakers as the playoffs loom and their outlook without Bynum is, at the very least, troubling. However, the team has Pau Gasol back and health and his ability to cover the position should ease any grave concerns moving forward. Instead, fans should hope to see the team looking towards next season rather than rushing Bynum back to the court now. Stay tuned for updates.
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| Spurs F Robert Horry was unable to play on Friday night, has missed the Spurs' last 10 games, and his status for return remains unknown, according to CBSSports.com. |
Our View: Horry has been battling a bum knee for the bulk of the last month, and with deep roster to compete for playing time, the veteran forward may not see substantial action until the playoffs.
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| Cuttino Mobley lit up the Warriors for 30 points on Saturday night but it wasn't enough as the Clippers fell 122-116. Elton Brand had 21, Corey Maggette had 22 and Al Thornton 25. The Clippers had a lot of points that's for sure, but they couldn't play defense on this night. |
Our View: This was a fine bounce back performance for Mobley as he was limited to just four points last time out versus the Lakers.
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| Baron Davis helped keep the Warriors slim playoff hopes alive on Saturday as he scored 25 points with five rebounds and nine assists. Stephen Jackson also scored 28 points in the win. |
Our View: Davis has produced his best season since 2001-02 as he has managed to post 22 points and 7.7 assists per game over 79 outings, this after suiting up for less than 70 games in each of the past five seasons.
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