Andre Snellings, ESPN 5y

Fantasy NBA Daily Notes: Tatum was a shining star on opening night

Fantasy NBA, Fantasy, NBA

I wasn't alive for the dawn of the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers back in the 1960s, when Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were dominating the landscape and making their battles a legend. But I did have a close-up view of the next generation of that rivalry in the 1980s.

When I was a kid, my dad's favorite player was Julius "Dr. J" Erving. Thus, my first favorite player was Dr. J. One of my first basketball memories is watching with my dad as the Dr. J and Moses Malone-led 76ers won the championship. I was too young to know fully what was going on, but I remember that he was really happy, so I was too. That team seemed magical, and the players on it bigger than life. From then on, until Dr. J retired, I lived and died with the 76ers as my squad.

Thus, the most hated squad of my childhood was the Larry Bird-led Celtics. The Celtics were the 76ers' fiercest rivals, and they were so darned good that it seemed (to a kid) like they always won. Bird became my most hated (and most feared) player, because he always seemed to figuratively (and literally) have his hand wrapped around my favorite player's throat.

That was the last peak iteration of the rivalry. Allen Iverson and Paul Pierce flirted with reviving it briefly in the 2000s, but neither team was truly championship-worthy with the talent to truly resonate.

Now, in 2018, the rivalry is back! I think. Well ... maybe, anyway. (More on that below.)

The NBA season tipped off on Tuesday night with a matchup between the Celtics and 76ers, with both teams preseason favorites to contend for the Eastern Conference championship. Both squads are young and full of incredible talent that seem destined to meet repeatedly in the playoffs for the next decade.

That sounds outstanding! But, now that the season is here, and we got to see some action play out ... how'd it look?

Actually ... it looked a lot like it looked when these two teams last met during the 2017-18 playoffs, when the Celtics won four games to one. The Celtics had the much better flow and seemingly a team full of shooters on offense, while on defense they had the athletic ability and defensive principles to prevent Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons from winning the games by themselves.

Embiid and Simmons gave it their best shot, combining for 42 points, 25 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocks between them, but the rest of the 76ers' starters combined to shoot only 8-for-25 between them with none of them scoring in double figures. Last year's top overall draft pick, Markelle Fultz, managed only five points in 24 minutes as the starting shooting guard for the 76ers.

The Celtics actually showed offensive rust themselves, with last season's injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward returning to the starting lineup but combining to shoot only 6-for-26 from the field. It didn't matter, though, as Jayson Tatum led a balanced Celtics attack that included a strong double-double from Marcus Morris (5.9 percent rostered in ESPN leagues) with 16 points (7-12 FG), 10 rebounds, 2 3-pointers and 2 steals in 21 minutes off the bench. Terry Rozier (29.0 percent rostered) also flirted with a double-double with 11 points (5-10 FG), 8 rebounds, 1 3-pointer, 1 assist and 1 block in 27 minutes off the bench.

The fantasy basketball moral to the story is that the Celtics, as expected, will come at opponents in waves this season and will likely spread their productive games around their deep cast with different stars on different nights. The challenge for them will be to keep everyone happy with this arrangement in the long run, and the challenge for fantasy basketball and DFS managers will be to identify the players most likely to have the most success the most often. For many, the preseason pick of choice for that honor was Tatum, and his season debut certainly supports the notion.

As for the 76ers, they won't face many teams with the defensive scheme and athletes to push them defensively the way that the Celtics can. While Embiid and Simmons can get theirs anyway, the rest of the 76ers should see much more productive times against average defenses with Fultz, Dario Saric and Robert Covington each really upping their production in those situations.

After the game, Embiid was quoted as saying that "This is not a rivalry. They always kick our [expletive]." The Celtics have won eight of their 10 matchups during the Embiid era, so maybe he's currently right. But the 76ers have two young players who have MVP upside in the very near future, so if it's not a full-fledged renewal of the rivalry yet ... it sure seems like it's coming.

Tuesday recap

Box scores

Highlights:

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors: 32 points (11-20 FG, 5-5 FG), 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 5 3-pointers, 5 assists, 1 steal, 3 TO

 

Dennis Schroder, Oklahoma City Thunder: 21 points (7-18 FG, 5-6 FT), 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 3-pointers, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 TO

 

Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics: 23 points (9-17 FG, 4-5 FT), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 3-pointer, 1 steal, 1 TO

 

Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers: 19 points (7-14 FG, 5-11 FT), 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 3 TO

Lowlights:

Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics: 7 points (2-14 FG, 2-2 FT), 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 3-pointer, 3 TO

Markelle Fultz, Philadelphia 76ers: 5 points (2-7 FG, 1-2 FT), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 TO, 24 min

Terrance Ferguson, Oklahoma City Thunder: 0 points (0-2 FG), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 TO

Tuesday takeaways

  • In the later game, the Warriors' offense looked to be generally in-form. Curry opened the game hot from everywhere and generally stayed that way as the dominant player on the court. Kevin Durant engaged in a cool 1-on-1 battle with the man that eventually replaced him in Oklahoma City, Paul George, notching 27 points (9-21 FG, 9-10 FT), 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 TO. Klay Thompson was the third fiddle, but his shot was off, so he turned in only 14 points (5-20 FG, 3-3 FT), 4 rebounds, 1 3-pointer (in eight attempts) and 2 TO. Draymond Green's shot was also off, but he made up for it by doing Draymond Green things to the tune of 2 points (1-6 FG), 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 6 TO.

  • Meanwhile, considering that they played without starting superstar Russell Westbrook (knee), the Thunder actually looked very good. And that's in large part due to Schroder, who they brought over this offseason in a salary cap trade with the Hawks. Schroder may eventually slot in as a sixth man for the Thunder, but he's a viable starting point guard in this league, and he showed that by playing very well in a tough environment in his first game with the team. George played his usual lieutenant role, ultimately winning his 1-on-1 battle with Durant from a fantasy standpoint with better unique peripherals in a 27 point (9-23 FG, 5-8 FT), 5 assist, 4 steal, 4 3-pointer, 5 TO night. Steven Adams was the third offensive wheel, again in the slot that he's likely to maintain for most of the season, notching 17 points (6-12 FG, 5-8 FT), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 TO.

Injuries of note

  • Andre Iguodala stayed in the locker room to start the third quarter on Tuesday due to a left calf injury. The injury is being classified as "tightness", which doesn't seem too serious, but consider him questionable to play on Friday against the Utah Jazz until more information comes out.

Analytics advantage for Wednesday

The Milwaukee Bucks have been a slow-paced team during the Giannis Antetokounmpo era to date, with an average ranking of 23rd out of the 30 NBA teams in pace during the past three seasons. This offseason, they brought in a new head coach in Mike Budenholzer. During the past three seasons, "Coach Bud" had coached the Atlanta Hawks to a fast-playing pace that ranked an average of ninth out of the 30 teams. As such, look for this year's Bucks team to start off the season playing a faster paced, more offensive-friendly brand of basketball that should lead to more fantasy production across the board.

Top players to watch tonight

  • The Cleveland Cavaliers backcourt. The Cavaliers are likely to start George Hill and Rodney Hood in the backcourt, but they've got lottery rookie Collin Sexton and proven scorer Jordan Clarkson coming off the bench. Kyle Korver could also see some backcourt minutes. JR Smith (elbow) is likely out, which frees up some minutes, but I'm interested in seeing how the minutes and production are distributed in this backcourt this evening.

 

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