Rockets coach Stephen Silas said he'll decide closing lineups on "a game-by-game basis."
Silas praised the strong play of his bench, specifically Eric Gordon, David Nwaba, Danuel House and Sterling Brown. "I’d much rather have so many options than not enough options," Silas said. "We’re pleasantly deep. And we’re going to need to be deep going forward, especially without Christian [Wood]." Nwaba returned on Saturday with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, two 3-pointers, five boards, one dime and a block, and he's worth monitoring as a guy who can put up defensive stats in a hurry.
Paul George (right foot/toe bone edema) missed Sunday's loss to the Kings and remains without a timetable.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue wasn't informative when asked when George might play again. “I don’t know, I don’t know and I don’t know," he replied. He was more forthcoming about how the Clippers will compensate for PG's absence, saying, "Lou Will, Reggie Jackson, those are the two guys that we can run pick-and-roll and run plays through – along with Luke Kennard." Terance Mann also benefited on Sunday with six boards, three dimes and two steals in 26 minutes. George's fantasy managers should move him to the IR or bench him in weekly leagues, while we wait for the Clippers to provide a return estimate.
Ivica Zubac hit 4-of-6 shots, and 4-of-4 free throws for 12 points, one assist, 14 rebounds, and no turnovers in a loss to the Kings on Sunday.
Zubac double-doubled for the second time in three games on Sunday. The one game in between saw him score 14 points on perfect 7-of-7 shooting with six rebounds. Zubac ranks just outside the top-100 (No. 128) in 9-cat leagues and is having one of his best stretches of the season.
Mikal Bridges produced 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two triples across 38 minutes in Sunday's win over the Celtics.
Bridges had been struggling from distance coming into this one, going 0-of-14 from 3-point territory in his previous three games, but he was locked in today — drilling his first two triples and he finished 8-of-13 from the field and 1-of-1 from the line. This was also his second game in a row without a single turnover, and he did a really nice job of making things tough for Jayson Tatum, holding him to just 8-of-22 shooting in the win.
Miles Bridges was a beast on the glass on Sunday, grabbing 14 rebounds with 11 points, two assists and a block in the win.
Bridges accounted for 14 of the Hornet's 68 rebounds which was a single-team high in the NBA this season. It's the second time this year he's grabbed at least 14 boards and he did it in 31 minutes off the bench, hitting 50% of his field goals and picking up his second double-double of the season.
Eric Paschall (right knee soreness) is questionable for Monday's game vs. the Spurs.
Paschall sat out Saturday's game and the short-handed Warriors once leaned heavily on Draymond Green and Juan Toscano-Anderson, the latter of whom presents a nice streaming and DFS option with so few healthy bigs on the roster. Being ruled out a day in advance suggests Paschall isn't on the verge of playing, though on Saturday coach Steve Kerr did say the swelling in his knee is down and he's been shooting around. Maybe we'll see him in a rematch vs. San Antonio on Tuesday.
Buddy Hield hit 7-of-18 shots, 3-of-9 3-pointers, and 5-of-5 free throws for 22 points, two assists, nine rebounds, and three turnovers in a win over the Clippers on Sunday.
Hield shook off one of the worst shooting performances of his career in the win. He’d made just 1-of-11 shots from the field, missing all nine 3-pointers he took on Saturday but bounced back to knock down three. Hield ranks inside the top-100 of all players in 9-cat leagues, but his success is entirely dependent on his outside shooting.
Tyrese Haliburton hit 5-of-9 shots and 3-of-4 3-pointers for 13 points, six assists, two rebounds, one steal, and two turnovers in a win over the Clippers on Sunday.
The rookie hardly looked like one, scoring eight of the Kings’ 10 points in a three-minute stretch (assisting for the other two) to open the fourth quarter. He even closed out the final minutes of a one-possession game. Haliburton continues to impress as a shooter and distributor as a surprise top-50 player in 9-cat leagues.
Facundo Campazzo (right knee soreness) is questionable for Monday's game vs. the Bucks.
The good news is that it's still being called 'soreness' and he's simply day-to-day, as is starter Jamal Murray (left knee soreness). Denver is already short-handed without Gary Harris (adductor) and P.J. Dozier (hamstring), so Campazzo would be a welcome addition to the rotation if he's healthy enough to play.
Hassan Whiteside hit 3-of-7 shots for six points, two rebounds, one steal, one block, and no turnovers in a win against the Clippers on Sunday.
Whiteside followed up his only double-double performance of the season with a dud. He scored just six points with two rebounds and was thoroughly outplayed by Richaun Holmes. Forward depth in Sacramento's lineup will continue to limit his opportunities. He played just 14 minutes.
Lonnie Walker IV (illness) will not play vs. the Warriors on Monday.
Walker is listed out with a stomach illness and this is not related to coronavirus, so he's just day-to-day. Derrick White's return has ruined whatever marginal appeal Walker had in fantasy leagues anyway, though, so his absence shouldn't impact most rosters.
Brandon Clarke (sore right calf) has been ruled out on Monday vs the Raptors.
Clarke will miss his second straight game on Monday as he recovers from a sore right calf. Gorgui Dieng is a decent streaming option but hasn't scored in double figures in his last three contests.
Richaun Holmes hit 6-of-10 shots for 12 points, two assists, 10 rebounds, and two blocks with three turnovers in a win over the Clippers on Sunday.
Holmes has been a huge inside presence for Sacramento all season long and bothered L.A. in the interior. He swatted a pair of shots and double-doubled for 12 points with 10 rebounds. The top-40 fantasy player is one of the best in the league at converting easy looks and blocking shots.
Harrison Barnes hit 1-of-7 shots, 0-of-4 3-pointers, and 2-of-2 free throws for four points, one assist, 12 rebounds, one steal, and one turnover in a win over the Clippers on Sunday.
Barnes was a ghost for most of Sunday’s game, scoring a season-low four points. It snapped a streak of three consecutive 20-point games, but his lone made field goal was a huge tip-in with less than a minute to go to put the Kings up by three. He also added 12 boards.
Terry Rozier was in a groove on Sunday vs the Wizards, finishing with 26 points, three rebounds, four assists and a block in 30 minutes.
He didn't seem to be bothered by his right ankle today, knocking down 9-of-14 field goals, 5-of-9 triples and 3-of-3 free throws. It was his first time scoring at least 20 points in four games and it was a nice bounce-back outing after shooting 6-of-16 in the previous game. Rozier should continue to play some extra minutes until Devonte' Graham (groin strain) returns.
Luke Kennard hit 3-of-8 shots, 1-of-4 3-pointers, and 1-of-1 free throws for eight points, one assist, one rebound, and one block with no turnovers in a loss to the Kings on Sunday.
Kennard replaced the injured Paul George (toe) for the second game in a row and left a lot to be desired. "I have to do a better job of competing harder," Kennard said before the game. "[In] a couple games, not like I was approaching it in the wrong way, but just kind of overthinking a little bit, just not letting the game come to me and just playing my game." He’ll look to improve on that if George misses more time.
Marcus Morris hit 5-of-11 shots, 3-of-5 3-pointers, and 3-of-3 free throws for 16 points, three rebounds, and no turnovers in a loss to the Kings on Sunday.
Without Paul George (toe) on Sunday, Morris played 25 minutes and took 11 shots from the field. He stepped up to keep the Clippers within range of the win, but they ultimately fell by three points. In his first game without George, Morris scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting (three 3-pointers) with four rebounds and two assists.
Daniel Theis (knee) saw 35 minutes off the bench on Sunday, scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go with six rebounds, two assists, two triples and one block in a loss to the Suns.
Theis tweaked his right knee on Friday and was limited to just nine minutes, but the knee was a non-issue today, as he nearly logged a season-high in minutes and he also threw down a fairly explosive dunk on an alley-top from Jayson Tatum. The three-way timeshare at the center-spot in Boston has resulted in a lot of inconsistent production from Theis, Robert Williams and Tristan Thompson, but Theis has been the best guy to roster out of that group, as he’s had the most bright spots.
Tristan Thompson pulled down 12 rebounds in Sunday's loss to the Suns.
The rebounds were solid, but TT didn't do much else while he was out there, hitting 3-of-8 shots for six points, two assists and one steal through 21 minutes as a starter. Robert Williams saw just 10 minutes off the bench and finished with one point, two rebounds and nothing else — but both these guys have been too inconsistent to trust in standard settings this season.
Kemba Walker had a game to forget on Sunday, going just 4-of-20 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the stripe for 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, four 3-pointers and three turnovers across 33 minutes in a loss to Phoenix.
Walker couldn’t get anything going in this one, bricking his first five attempts, and his 4-of-20 shooting performance was his worst as a Celtic — and just the third time over the past three seasons that he’s shot under 20% on 10-plus FGA. Brad Stevens’ addressed the poor shooting after the game, saying he had “no doubt” that Walker would be able to bounce-back, and said he’ll look at some film to see how he can give Walker more space and get him easier looks. It’s been a mixed bag since he came back from the knee injury, but he’s been shooting just 35.7% in the nine games since his return.