Fantasy NBA Daily Notes: Beasley's 'MVP' night, Thunder streamers for Friday

10:36 AM ET

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  Andre SnellingsESPN

Michael Beasley got "MVP" chants from the Madison Square Garden crowd on Thursday.

I repeat: Michael Beasley got "MVP" chants from the Madison Square Garden crowd on Thursday.

Beasley was once considered to be a future NBA superstar. He averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds in college during the 2007-08 season, nestled in the middle of three straight monster seasons by Kevin Durant (2006-07), Beasley and Blake Griffin (2008-09). Durant and Griffin both went on to reach their lofty NBA potentials, but Beasley never got there. He became an NBA journeyman, bouncing from team-to-team from 2008 through 2014, before leaving the NBA to play for the Shanghai Sharks in China in 2014 and 2015. Beasley had a reputation as a talented scorer who didn't really take basketball seriously.

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After returning from playing overseas, though, Beasley has been said to be more focused. He's had positive stretches of play in each of the last three seasons, but generally during periods when his team was dealing with injuries. He would come in and provide some spot-scoring, but ultimately he maintained a role off the bench. That has been his role this season for the Knicks, up until recently.

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Beasley got 36 minutes of playing time on November 25, in a game that Kristaps Porzingis sat out. He responded with 30 points (14-23 FG, 2-5 FT), 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He wouldn't play 30 minutes in a game again until December 16, when he again scored 30 points (11-18 FG, 6-7 FT) with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 3-pointers in 37 minutes with Porzingis out again. Porzingis missed the next game as well, and Beasley went big again with 23 points (9-20 FG, 3-4 FT), 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 3-pointers.

Then came Thursday. Porzingis was back in the starting lineup for the Knicks, sending Beasley back to the bench. The usual script would send Beasley back into obscurity after his brief run of success. Instead, Beasley popped off again, scoring a season-high 32 points (13-20 FG, 5-6 FT) with 12 rebounds, 1 3-pointer and 1 assist in 25 minutes off the bench ...and got MVP chants from the Garden crowd.

Beasley has been the ultimate enigma in his career. But, he obviously still has his scoring touch, he has reportedly earned praise from the Knicks' coaching staff for his willingness to listen and be coached now, and he finds himself on a Knicks team that actually could use his scoring punch. There's no guarantee that he can keep this going, as he's never been able to do that in his career, but I picked him up in my staff league this morning just in case the long shot happens and he's for real this time.

Thursday recap

Box scores

Highlights:

DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors: 45 points (13-21 FG, 13-15 FT), 6 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 TO

Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics: 32 points (12-27 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 3-pointers, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 TO

LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers: 34 points (12-23 FG, 8-8 FT), 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 3-pointers, 4 TO

Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers: 18 points (7-10 FG, 3-3 FT), 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 3-pointer, 3 TO

Lowlights:

Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks: 1 point (0-11 FG, 1-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 TO

Tyler Ulis, Phoenix Suns: 5 points (2-8 FG), 3 assists, 1 rebound, 1 3-pointer, 1 TO, 24 minutes

LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs: 11 points (4-11 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 3-pointer, 4 TO, 6 fouls

Thursday takeaways

• Irving has scored 30 or more points in three straight games, and five of their last six games. The Celtics are only 3-3 in those six games. Irving has shown that he will up his scoring as the team needs it, and with Jaylen Brown out (Achilles), the load fell to him again. This seems to be a case where strong play for the Celtics leads to lower production from Irving, but team struggles lead to big numbers for him.

• Joel Embiid (back) sat out again on Thursday, which cleared the way for Saric (available in 27 percent of leagues) to have a stronger-than-usual game. His scoring and rebounding is in line with what he's shown before, but the nine assists were a bit startling. It almost seemed as though he and Ben Simmons (20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) swapped stat lines. If Saric can start to help Simmons carry the playmaking load for the 76ers, that would increase his value and help him achieve his potential, whether Embiid is healthy or not.

• Porzingis returned from a two-game absence (knee) ice cold, missing all 11 of his shots in the first half and not even taking a shot in the second half. This was a fluky game for him, and he should return to normal production if his health holds. Of course, his struggles allowed Beasley to go big again, so we'll see if that earns Beasley a larger production share moving forward.

• The Suns' point guard position should have been abandoned as a consistent source of production long ago. However, they do make reasonable stream options because each of Ulis (available in 97 percent of leagues), Isaiah Canaan (10 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 3-pointers in 24 minutes off the bench Thursday; available in 89.4 percent of leagues) and Troy Daniels (14 points, 3 3-pointers, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 5-5 from free throw line; available in 98.3 percent of leagues) could produce streamable numbers on any given day. Mike James has fallen out of the rotation since Canaan came on, but he is still in the point guard mix for the Suns as well.

Injuries of note

• Donovan Mitchell missed his second straight game with a toe injury. On Wednesday, none of the Jazz stepped up in his absence. On Thursday, Rodney Hood (29 points scored, 3 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block; available in 64.6 percent of leagues) and Ricky Rubio (11 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 3-pointer, 1 steal; available in 25 percent of leagues) filled the gap the way one would hope that they would. Mitchell is considered day-to-day for now, but if he sits, then Hood and Rubio, and perhaps Alec Burks (12 points, 6-6 FT, 3 rebounds, 2 3-pointers, 1 steal on Wednesday; available in 86.7 percent of leagues) could see an uptick in production.

Analytics advantage for Friday

The Hawks at the Thunder game on Friday is a case of the irresistible force running into the immovable object. The Thunder are 24th in the NBA with 20.7 assists per game and 25th in the NBA with a 48.4 percent 2-point field goal percentage. Meanwhile, the Hawks allow the most assists in the NBA at 25.7 and the second-highest 2-point field goal percentage at 53.4 percent.

For Thursday, this should translate to good opportunities for the Thunder and their pick-and-roll/pop offense. According to Second Spectrum, Russell Westbrook has utilized 764 direct picks thus far this season, fourth in the NBA (James Harden, Kemba Walker and Damian Lillard), generating 0.907 points per direct pick.

Westbrook's most common pick partners are Steven Adams, Carmelo Anthony and Jerami Grant (available in 98.5 percent of leagues). The Hawks have trouble with opposing big men anyway, so this sets up to be a game where Westbrook is able to generate a lot of easy 2-point looks for his bigs off the pick-and-roll game.

Top players to watch tonight

• Harden and Eric Gordon should both be expected to go big on Friday with Chris Paul out and the team dealing with injuries to several other rotation players, including Clint Capela. Ryan Anderson (available in 71.8 percent of leagues) could also be in play against a Clippers defense that has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to power forwards this season.

• As alluded to above, Beasley is becoming must-see TV in New York. Can he continue to produce, or is the bubble about to burst?

• Draymond Green is considered probable to return on Friday, after missing most of the last couple of weeks with shoulder issues. His return could take some of the weight off Durant, who was in the midst of a monster period of doing everything for the Warriors.

• The Portland Trail Blazers guards and wings are in play on Friday, as Lillard will sit with a hamstring injury. CJ McCollum is the obvious choice to increase his production, but any of Shabazz Napier (available in 99.2 percent of leagues), Pat Connaughton (available in 99.7 percent of leagues) or Evan Turner (available in 92.5 percent of leagues) could potentially see a noticeable uptick.

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