The Golden State Warriors narrowly escaped the Sacramento Kings with a two-point win in what was a riveting showdown of potential first-round playoff foes. Golden State swept the four-game season series, albeit only winning by a total of 12 points, which is tied for the third-smallest margin of victory in a sweep of at least four games in NBA history, per Elias.
Golden State allowed 121.8 PPG to the Kings and still swept them, which is the most points per game allowed in a sweep of four or more games over the past 25 seasons. The Kings, a team that weeks ago surpassed their projected win total for the entire season, have put the league on notice by capably pairing the second-fastest pace (104.23 possessions per 48 minutes) with an ultra-athletic and young roster.
Stephen Curry went ahead and had his fifth game with at least 10 3s this season, the most in a season in NBA history. It was his 14th game with 10 threes in his career, nearly three times as many as any other player (Klay Thompson has five). Superstar peer Kevin Durant, meanwhile, posted 28 points and, most notably, seven swats, including blocking gifted rookie Marvin Bagley III five times, the first time "KD" has blocked one player five times in a game in his storied career.
Back to this surging Sacramento team, Bagley finished with his third performance of at least 20 points and 10 boards off the bench this season and had his way in the post, save for Durant's deft defense. Only Montrezl Harrell and Julius Randle claim more such outings. Bagley is still just 19 and is producing rates of 20.1 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 1.9 3PG, and 2.2 combined steals and blocks per 36 minutes this season. This might seem bold, but those awesome rates look like a line we expect from Karl-Anthony Towns, which implies Bagley could become an elite fantasy option as early as next season.
With a contentious race for the final playoff spot in the West coming down to the Clippers, Lakers and Kings, these final weeks of the season should be riveting with De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Bagley poised to eventually challenge the Warriors in years to come.
Thursday recap
Highlights
Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento Kings: 28 points (8-19 FG), 14 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 TO
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors: 36 points (12-23 FG), 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 TO
Al Horford, Boston Celtics: 21 points (8-21 FG), 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks
Lowlights
Tyler Johnson, Phoenix Suns: 5 points (1-7 FG), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 TO
Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat: 4 points (2-6 FG), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Thursday takeaways
Boban Marjanovic of the Philadelphia 76ers will prove busy when matchups allow for it during the next week. The hulking backup big vaulted into the starting lineup last night with Joel Embiid sidelined and produced a plus-10 net rating with 19 points and 12 rebounds in a season-high 27 minutes. The Blazers come to town for a matinee on Saturday, so you'll want to make your decision to stream Boban early. The Blazers run out traditional centers, which means we could see another heavy workload for the league's biggest big man on Saturday afternoon.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports Anthony Davis and the Pelicans have brokered an agreement that will see the disgruntled superstar with play out the season on the court for New Orleans, albeit with limited minutes to buffer injury risks. The team will also curb Jrue Holiday's minutes as the team focuses on youth and, well, lottery balls. There really is no clear winner here. If anything, pursue free agent shares of Kenrich Williams.
Let's keep touting Cleveland's Cedi Osman until the fantasy market finally recognizes his relatively awesome ascent the past few weeks. Rostered in just a quarter of ESPN leagues as of Friday morning, Osman posted 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 dimes last night in a win over the Suns and has averaged 19.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 3.1 3PG, 1.0 SPG in 31.5 MPG the past seven games, all starts. The Cavs' Ante Zizic was also impressive last night in finishing fourth among centers in fantasy points on DraftKings thanks to an efficient double-double effort. Zizic isn't quite as bankable as Osman, but merits attention in deeper leagues if the team plans to play him more in Kevin Love lineups going forward.
Kelly Oubre Jr. shifted into the starting lineup over rookie Mikal Bridges on Thursday and delivered 23 points on 16 shots in a team-high 41 minutes. I was wrong when fading Oubre earlier this season after his shift from Washington, as he's made the best of just a few more minutes and shots in Phoenix and most impressively has averaged 2.2 combined blocks and steals and 1.7 3PG with the Suns -- evidence of legitimate 3-and-D value.
The Lakers overcame a 19-point deficit to beat the Rockets 111-106 on Thursday, marking their largest comeback win of the season. The Lakers now have six comeback wins of at least 15 points this season, the second most in the NBA (Clippers). Over the past 20 seasons, the Lakers have had at least six 15-point comeback wins three times in a season, per ESPN Stats & Info: this season, 2003-04 and 1999-00. They went to the NBA Finals the first of those two seasons. That's a bit more unlikely this time, as the Lakers are still fighting to catch the Kings and Clippers for the right to face the Warriors in April. The Lakers' key deadline acquisition, Reggie Bullock, played 30 minutes, took all eight of his shots from beyond and finished with an efficient 14 points and five rebounds. Bullock is available for the price of a roster spot in 89 percent of ESPN leagues.
James Harden and Chris Paul fouled out in the loss to Los Angeles and are the only starting backcourt to foul out in a game this season. It's the only time in the past 20 seasons a Rockets' starting backcourt fouled out in a game. Per Second Spectrum, Harden committed four charges on Thursday, tied for the most by any player in a game this season and the most for Harden in a game over the past five seasons. Harden did still score 30 points to extend his 30-point streak to 32 straight games and now sits in sole possession of the second-longest streak in NBA history. Harden has also outscored LeBron James in seven straight games, the longest such streak for any James opponent in his career.
Looking ahead to tonight's fun nine-game slate, a key DFS and streaming value who stands out for me is Atlanta's Kent Bazemore, who is in a good spot to exceed value in daily fantasy play, given rare freedom to shoot and score for a Hawks team that leads the NBA in pace. Bazemore is also a strong streaming option, given he's available in three-quarters of ESPN leagues and Detroit might just have the thinnest wing rotation in the league. Another underrated play is Charlotte's Cody Zeller against the Wizards, as Washington once again is among the weakest teams on the glass (28th in rebounding percentage) and Zeller is a quietly productive old-school banger.
Injuries of note
The Spurs' LaMarcus Aldridge is listed as probable, and combo guard Derrick White, a top free agent to consider ahead of tonight, is likely to return from injury in Toronto.
It's not an injury, but the Grizzlies' Jonas Valanciunas will miss tonight's matchup with the Clippers for personal reasons. Jaren Jackson Jr. is questionable with a quad injury that held him out before the break, suggesting cheap shares of Ivan Rabb could pay off.
Analytics advantage for Friday
The Thunder (third in the West) host the Jazz (sixth in the West) in a potential playoff preview tonight at 9:30 ET on ESPN. Russell Westbrook has recorded an NBA-record 11 straight triple-doubles, and since the start of the 2016-17 season (the first season he averaged a triple-double), he's totaled 91 triple-doubles. LeBron ranks second during that span with 36. Meanwhile, his teammate, Paul George, is averaging a career-high 28.7 points this season, second most in the NBA. George has the third-best odds to win the MVP award per Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.
The Thunder have scored at least 115 points in 18 straight games, the second-longest single-season streak in NBA history. They are countered by a Utah Jazz team that ranks fourth in defensive rating, but Vegas seems confident this game will still host healthy offensive production, given the opening total of 226 points.
For Utah, I love this spot for Donovan Mitchell in DFS competition, as he costs 72 percent of Westbrook's price on DraftKings and yet has been awesome on offense dating back to Christmas; he's averaged 25.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.7 APG and has returned to competence beyond the arc (nearly 37 percent on heavy volume) during this 23-game sample.
Top players to watch tonight
I'm sort of a sucker for revenge narratives and supposed additional motives on top of what is often already great NBA competition. In a matchup on ESPN this evening, Toronto's all-time leading scorer DeMar DeRozan returns to Toronto for the first time since being the centerpiece of the Raptors' offseason trade for Kawhi Leonard.
DeRozan is the Raptors' all-time leader in points scored (13,296) and games played (675), and he also ranks in the top five in assists, rebounds and steals. DeRozan dominated the Raptors back on Jan. 3 in San Antonio when he became the fifth player in NBA history with a triple-double in his first game against a former team, per Elias.
Leonard's first game against his former team did not go well as the Raptors were outscored by 22 points with Leonard on the floor. That marked his third-worst game by plus-minus in San Antonio in his career and his worst since 2013. Leonard did score 21 points on 13 shots in the loss, however, and is producing an efficient 27 PPG this season, suggesting a bounce-back game tonight on Toronto is quite possible. Leonard ranks fourth in Spurs franchise history in PER (22.1), trailing only David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and LaMarcus Aldridge, while slotting one spot ahead of George "The Iceman" Gervin.