Dropping Dimes On The Daily is all about the team looking at the previous night’s performances and mentioning those that did pretty goodly and those that did pretty badly.  Goodly is a word, right?  Anyway, this will be a quick look around the league, so don’t expect a ton of text, just some daily fantasy basketball goodness!!!  Please note that this is the fantasy basketball section of ElevationMag.com’s Daily Top Picks. Check it out and see your daily rumors, quotes, headlines, and facts!  But read the fantasy section HERE!

The Fig Cap: Will you be my Valentine?

Happy Valentine’s Day! Aww, the smell of overpriced roses are in the air. Heck that’s what the “little lady” wants, so you better pony up because winter’s frost may creep into the relationship. Today’s DDOTD will look at yesterday’s fantasy pairings to see if you got fantasy roses or fantasy dandelions on Valentine’s Day!

The Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal fantasy double shotgun blast has been misfiring. It looks like Wade is going off while O’Neal is still reloading from his injury. Wade filled the stat sheet with 35 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks and dropped a three for good measures. Wade left the game briefly because of a bruised left shoulder. He mentioned that he heard a pop in his shoulder but was able to return. Keep an eye on Wade’s status in the next couple of days. Shaq played only 23 minutes had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks. The Heats still won and could wait for Shaq to slowly get back to shape however Shaq fantasy owners need more from the Big Aristotle.

Portland’s fantasy pairing of Zach Randolph and Brandon Roy had a decent night. Zach had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Roy dropped 15 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Other Trailblazers picked up the slack, Ime Udoka had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 three pointers and Jarret Jack 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Tony Parker had an easy time with the beat-up Nets. Duncan had an efficient 21 points and 8 rebounds on 7-9 FG attempts. Parker had 19 points, 4 rebound and 2 assists. Both Duncan and Parker were 7-7 from the free throw line, Duncan owner’s rejoice for this rarity. A pair off the bench had a productive night - Manu Ginobili had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and Michael Finley turned the clock back a few years and dropped 15 points. 

Vince Carter was dancing solo because normal fantasy dance partner Jason Kidd was out with a strained lower back. VC manufactured 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. The Nets second highest scorer was Eddie House with 16 points. Yup the Nets lost. The Nets play the Raptors tonight and Kidd is expected to sit the game out.

Speaking of Raptors, It was the Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani show last night in Chicago. Bosh dropped 25 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. He was 9-for-10 from the line sunk the game winning point with 2 seconds left in the game. Bargnani dropped 22 points and was 4 for 8 from three-point land. The point guard duel for the Raptors are proving to be a fantasy 1-2 punch, TJ Ford had 7 points and 7 assists and Jose Calderon had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists despite coming off the bench. Hometown Raptors are going to give the injury depleted Nets a butt kicking tonight!

It was Luol Deng and Ben Gordon doing the bulk of the scoring for the Bulls last night. Deng stroked in 30 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Being a little nit picky, Deng did not make any trips to the line and where were the hustle stats (steals and blocks)?! Still Deng is helping with my demise in this week’s H2H match-up in one of my leagues. I hate short weeks. Gordon had a nice line of 26 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists but the 5 turnovers were a little bit of a damper. Kirk Hinrich was the facilitator of the Bulls’ offence with 18 points and 13 assists. 

German lager for all Dirk Nowitzki fantasy owners! Wow, with Dirk’s line of 38 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists what’s not to like? Dirk led the Mavs from a 16-point second half deficit to beat the Bucks. Dirk’s assistants last night were Josh Howard who had 15 points and 8 rebounds and Jason Terry’s double-double, 11 points and 10 assists.

Where oh where is Redd? Michael Redd will be making his return after the all-star break. It’s a little odd to see Ruben Patterson as the Bucks leading scorer last night. No offence Ruben, aren’t you the “Kobe stopper” and not the “Kobe-like scorer”?  Patterson had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 assists. Andrew Bogut was the Aussie window glass cleaner with 17 boards and 16 points. Charlie Villanueva who might sit out tonight’s game with sprain right ankle, had 15 points and 2 rebounds before calling it a night.

New Orleans’ Tyson Chandler and David West were a tag team on the glass. Chandler had 23 rebounds and 17 points and West had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Desmond Mason chipped in with 23 points and 2 rebounds. Chris Paul had an off night with 5 points and 10 assists. Paul was 0-7 from the field.

Memphis’ duo of Pau Gasol and Mike Miller were alright last night. Gasol had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Miller had 22 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. We have a Hakim Warrick sighting with 15 points and 12 rebounds. There was no sighting of Damon Stoudamire who sat this game out with flu-like symptoms. Chucky Atkins had 19 points and 6 assists in his absence.

Ron Artest was doing his best Denzel Washington’ imitation and was a Man on Fire. Artest had 39 points and 8 rebounds. Kevin Martin dropped 21 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Mike Bibby was disappointing with 13 points and 7 assists.

Tracy McGrady was Batman and Shane Battier was Robin last night for the Rockets. McGrady pulled out 28 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks from his utility belt! Battier was not too shabby with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Who the heck is Chuck Hayes? Well Mr, Hayes had 14 rebounds and 6 points. 

Kobe Bryant had a nice line with 31 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and was perfect from the line going 11-11. Lamar Odom was lacking in points but still managed a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Andrew Bynum was limited because of foul troubles (surprised?) to 8 points and 11 rebounds.

Eddy Curry had no turnovers last night!! Curry had 19 points and 7 rebounds. Curry rebounding and not turn the ball over, holy crap was there a full moon?! Jamal Crawford is making a case to sticking in the starting five with his 24 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists performance. Quentin Richardson was doing his best Matrix imitation with his Marion-like 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Gotta pick up some roses… Catch you on the rebound!