Threading the accomplishments of Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into a single 44-point performance, LeBron James joined the Lakers' elite with yet another prestigious career accomplishment.
In a rousing win over the contending Trail Blazers, James' 44 points are the most by a Laker since Bryant's final career game when he scored 60 against the Jazz on April 13, 2016. In the process, James also produced 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 blocks, leaving him just one dime shy of a prolific triple-double. James scored or assisted on 66 of the 98 points scored while he was on the floor.
James passed Chamberlain for fifth all-time on the NBA's scoring list, while Abdul-Jabbar was the only player in Lakers history who played fewer games before recording a 40-point game with them back when he came over from the Bucks in the 1970s. James now trails Michael Jordan by 867 points for fourth and Abdul-Jabbar by 6,962 points for first.
As LeBron approaches his 34th birthday in late December, the question remains if he will be able to pass Abdul-Jabbar for the top spot on the all-time list.
The Lakers have now won four straight home games and next face a favorable run rife with matchups against the likes of the Magic and his former team in Cleveland. While James is surely rostered in every format, getting ahold of cheap shares of Josh Hart -- who if we look past his sluggish scoring last night, still took six 3-point attempts and hauled in six boars -- could pay off, given how he can provide value in the margins in both real and fantasy regards.
In terms of diminishing value, Rajon Rondo suffered a broken hand last night and is expected to miss up to five weeks. This should afford Lonzo Ball more run as a true lead distributor, signaling we might want to pitch some offers for Ball and an ascendant usage pattern.
With an eye on meaningful fantasy performances and relevant statistical trends, let's delve into the night that was in the NBA.
Wednesday recap
Highlights
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans: 29 points (9-25 FG), 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks
Paul George, Oklahoma City Thunder: 35 points (13-22 FG), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers: 44 points (13-19 FG), 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 blocks, 4 TO
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers: 31 points (8-23 FG), 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 TO
Lowlights
LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs: 6 points (3-12 FG), 12 rebounds, 2 TO
Reggie Bullock, Detroit Pistons: 5 points (2-9 FG), 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 TO
Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz: 10 points (3-9 FG), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 TO
JR Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers: 6 points (3-11 FG), 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 TO
Wednesday Takeaways
As a sign of how strong last night's slate was in terms of offensive performances, Blake Griffin tallied 30 points and 12 rebounds and didn't even make the cut for the highlights list. The game merits mention in that it's the fourth 30-point and 10-rebound game of the season for Griffin, the most by any Pistons player since Grant Hill in 1999-00. Griffin had three such games in his previous two seasons combined, signaling that his revived health and success as the offensive centerpiece in Detroit could prove rewarding for his fantasy managers.
Not having a pure point guard in Detroit has helped support the usage Griffin needs as a ball-dominant playmaker, while Devin Booker in Phoenix has been similarly allocated increased usage and distribution duties with the team's glaring lack of point guard depth. Booker dished out a career-high 12 assists in a sound win over the Spurs last night, marking his fifth career game with at least 10 dimes. Unless or until the team addresses that depth chart, Booker is going to provide an atypically high assist rate for a scoring guard. Per the Suns' exciting top pick, Deandre Ayton tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds while giving Aldridge trouble in the post to collect his rookie-best ninth double-double of season.
Speaking of atypical assist performances, Joel Embiid delivered his first career triple-double in an otherwise disappointing loss to Orlando amid Jimmy Butler's debut. For all the (understandable) attention to Markelle Fultz and his struggles, it's remarkable to note Embiid's ascension to superstardom in several facets, such as a career-high 20.2 percent assist rate and a turnover rate now at 11.4 percent, down from a career clip of 15.5 percent.
Butler is going to need more plays run for him in Philly's motion-driven offense when the team needs creation, such as during a brutal fourth quarter in Orlando last night that saw the team get badly outscored en route to blowing a sizable lead. My amateur coaching opinion is more pick-and-roll sets for Butler. After all, the Sixers netted the fewest points per game from pick-and-roll actions in the NBA last season, while Butler averaged more points per game (5.8) as the ball-handler in such scenarios for Minnesota last season than LeBron (5.6) had for Cleveland last season. While the sample size is quite small, Ben Simmons struggled to work off ball and had his lowest usage rate of the season. This said, trusting the process for this talented trio should pay off.
The Jazz got spanked by the Mavericks by 50 points on Wednesday in a surprising outcome. The drubbing is the second-largest in franchise history for Dallas, while the 68 points for Utah mark their fewest in a game since January 6, 2006. It's difficult to tell if this a trend or outlier, with Utah now 20th in offensive rating. Utah's trip to Philadelphia to face a smarting Sixers' team that has played stellar defense at home this season will prove revealing in this sense.
Minutes won't be a problem for Robert Covington in his transition from South Philly to the Twin Cities. "Roco" played a team-high 41 minutes and netted three 3-pointers while amassing three combined blocks and steals in a key win over the Pelicans. Still available in far too many ESPN leagues, Covington's fantasy stock rises with this recent shift to the Timberwolves. It appears Jeff Teague's buy-low window could be closing after a season-high 14 dimes now that Butler's ball-dominant game is off the floor.
Injuries of note
As noted above, Rondo will be sidelined for at least a few weeks due to a fractured hand.
Stephen Curry is ruled out for tonight's game against the Houston Rockets with an adductor injury.
Nikola Mirotic suffered a right ankle injury on Wednesday against the Wolves and is expected to get further testing on Thursday. The Pelicans play a back-to-back series beginning on Friday.
Analytics advantage for Thursday
A rematch of last season's epic Western Conference Finals is on the schedule tonight in Houston.
After a 1-5 start in October, the Rockets have won five of seven this month. The offense and defense have both improved since that slow start. The Rockets' defense has improved dramatically this month, ranking eighth in efficiency after ranking tied for 24th in October.
In October, Houston yielded a league-high 59.3 points per game in the paint. This month, they're allowing 40.9 points per game in the paint, the third-fewest in the NBA. This improved paint defense doesn't bode well for the Warriors, as they're 26th in points per game in the paint this season (42.5). Cheap shares of the Warriors' patchwork frontcourt past Green, such as Jordan Bell, Jonas Jerebko and Kevon Looney all appear too difficult to trust as streaming options in this context.
This could lead to the Warriors leaning more on their cast of perimeter shooters than ever, adding streaming upside and utility to the likes of Quinn Cook, while stacking Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant appears ideal in DFS, given this is an exciting matchup during a sluggish three-game slate.
Top players to watch tonight
Using whatever influence I can to express this meaningful message to fantasy mangers, it's time to add surging rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to your fantasy roster. Not only have I capably learned to spell and pronounce his name properly, I fully appreciate the mature floor game this professional freshman brings to the floor.
Consider the Spurs are on the second leg of a back-to-back after getting run out of the gym by the Suns last night and don't have marquee backcourt defensive talent with Dejounte Murray unfortunately sidelined this season.
This reads as a choice setup for the Clippers' aggressive backcourt manned by "SGA" and Patrick Beverley, both worthy DFS and redraft targets tonight. In his past three games, all starts, Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged an awesome 37.9 MPG with 17.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG and 1.7 BPG with 1.3 3PG. That's a ton of productive that you can easily find floating in free agency in most leagues.