Daily Lies & Statistics: 18 and life to go..

It really was the night of a thousand blowouts (music by Il Divo) in the NBA. At one point there were five of them going on at once. Let me see, where do we start??

The Dallas Mavericks went 49 points on 17-of-19 shooting in the 2nd quarter against the Nets. Nuff said. They handed the Nets their 18th loss on the season, setting a record with their 0-18 start. True story, my girlfriend (who does watch some basketball with me) asked what the odds are that the Nets could lose all 82 games. Obviously, that’s not possible, but I did actually take an extra second to answer that question. They have the Bobcats at home and the Knicks on the road. How about that 0-20 start?

The Hawks dropped 149 points on the Raptors. Toronto has allowed 100-plus points in 11 straight games and have now joined the Warriors, Knicks and Suns as must-start-against-defensive-matchups.

I’m having a hard time talking about the players in the Hawks-Raptors, Knicks-Magic, Mavs-Nets, and Suns-Cavs games. Really these were ALL done and over with early on in the third quarter. Chris Bosh played 15 minutes and scored 2 points with 5 rebounds. How often will you see that? Sonny Weems played 28 minutes and DeMar DeRozan scored a team-high 21 points in 30 minutes — the only game this season in which he played in more than 25 minutes. For the Hawks, 10 players scored nine or more points, with only Al Horford topping the 20-point mark. Sometimes blowouts aren’t as favorable as one would expect. On both ends.

Allen Iverson signed!!! Oh, yeah, I forgot… Check it — he is an instant add in all formats. He’s supposed to make his debut on Monday night. This means the end of the like for Jrue Holiday (scored a career-high 16 points last night) and Willie Green (14 points in 40 minutes last night). Both might have limited value while Louis Williams is out for the next seven weeks, but Iverson is going to do his damage by time L-Will returns. It seems to me that Williams is about to go back to last year’s value — 11 points and 3 assists. Nothing you can do now, though, since he has no value while he’s injured. So it’s sink or tread water until he returns.

Luke Ridnour played last night and dropped 20 points and 6 assists on the Wizards. But, as usual, it was Earl Boykins who owned the night. After Brandon Jennings hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds to go tying the game up, Boykins came down the court, much to the surprise off all League Pass viewers, and clinched the game by hitting two free throws in the final second. Boykins? Really? His teammate Nick Young got all up in our business with his 21-point performance on 7-of-12 shooting. All this dude does is score. Though he doesn’t do it consistent enough. But man, if he catches fire… and they Wiz get rid of Gilbert Arenas… he can be a nice fantasy option for those in need of some scoring.

Mike Conley got something to say (Last Caress? Anyone?) — he’s no longer afraid of Jamaal Tinsley. Strippers, heed his advice. He scored a season-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Tinsley had a big fat ZERO. Nah, Conley isn’t back, but he sure looked good last night. He fought through a shoulder strain in order to make sure that Tinsley knew what’s up.

If you watched the Bulls-Pistons game last night, I’m sorry. Ben Gordon came back to score 18 points off the bench. Nice to have him back. Charlie Villanueva sat out with a runny broken nose. He is day-to-day and should return this weekend.

Luis Scola got fingered on Saturday and managed to play last evening despite getting fingered. Tee-hee. He scored 8 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. Not bad considering he was up against Marcus Camby and his 19 rebounds. Please Camby, don’t hurt ’em.

Time to drop Brandon Rush. He played just 8 minutes last night and scored merely a single point. With Dahntay Jones playing so well (16 points in the start) and Mike Dunleavy back, this modern-day warrior with a mean, mean stride has no value right now.

Russell Westbrook gave (15 assists) and took (1-of-11 FGA) from his fantasy owners last night. At least you got something out of him. I am sick of guys not being able to shoot, by the way. After watching Trevor Ariza, Chris Duhon, Gilbert Arenas, etc. it’s a bit disheartening to see these guys throw brick after brick. Somebody get them that J.J. Redick Better Basketball shooting dvd. Hey, Christmas is coming. I think I know what I’m getting some very special basketball players…  shhhhhhh!

Three games tonight — BOS @ SAS, MIA @ DEN, and HOU @ GSW.

Roger Mason is expected back — who care.

Don Nelson is expected back — beware.