Friday night had to be the best night so far in this early season for fantasy owners.  How so?  Keep reading my friend.

Some nice lines, a couple of injury returns, and one possible emerging backup headline today’s edition of Dropping Dimes on the Daily.

The Fig Cap: AK has been eating his, uh… whatever that is.

Boy oh boy, where do we start?

Well first off, in a division battle between Philly and Toronto, Chris Bosh took another step toward justifying those of you who took him in the second round, with 24 points, 10 rebounds, a block, and 16-18 free throw shooting.  An unsung teammate, Jamario Moon, scored his first NBA basket and finished just shy of a double-double, with 9 points and 8 rebounds.  Keep an eye there.  As for Philly, Andre Igoudala stuffed the stat sheet, with 26 points, 8 boards, 7 dimes, 3 steals, and a pair of threes in a close loss.

Let’s go down South, and start with Emeka Okafor.  Dude went off, pouring in 25 points, pulling down 23 rebounds, and shooting 10-14 from the field.  Ignore the free throws (5-13) right?  Two members of another Southeast team also broke out.  Dwight Howard ended up with 22 points and 20 boards, dumping 6-8 from the line, and Jameer Nelson had 24 points and 10 dimes on good percentages.  Money.  Opposing the Magic were the Knickerbockers, where Zach Randolph decided he’d score 23 points and grab 13 rebounds, and Stephon Marbury had a very solid game with 7 assists.  Sure hope you stole him late.

In South Beach, Shawn Marion had 24 rebounds and 5 steals and MVSteve launched in 6 triples for 30 points and 8 dishes.  The other Western superpowers had good nights as well, as Tony Parker finished with 27 and 8, and Timmy Duncan had 12 boards and 4 swats as the Spurs improved their record to 5-1.  Carmelo Anthony went for 30-5-5 with 3 swipes and Marcus Camby had 12 boards, 7 assists, and 4 steals in the Nuggets rout of the Wizards.  That is production right there.

As the Celtics stayed undefeated, Kevin Garnett did his job, with 27 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks, all on good percentages.  Wow.

In the Chinese showdown (more viewers than the Superbowl for a Milwaukee/Houston game in November?!) Yao ended up perfect from the line in 14 attempts, and Yi continued his solid streak, almost going for a double-double with 19 points and 9 rebounds, as well as a pair of steals and a block.  Go grab him if you can.  He could end up being a fantasy stud with some good hustle stats and rebounding numbers.

Rudy Gay had 31 points, as the Grizzlies lost to the Blazers.  LaMarcus Aldridge went off for 30-10 with 3 blocks and 3 steals, and Jarrett Jack had a good game finally, finishing with 21 points and 4 assists.

One possible backup to keep an eye on is Devin Brown, who may start to get minutes if he plays like he did tonight.  His line ended up at 30 and 10 with two threes as Mike Brown looks to solve the depth problem in Cleveland.  One of his opponents, Kevin Martin went 17-18 from the line.  If you owned Yao and Martin, kudos to you my friend.

It appears Andrei Kirilenko is back, as he had 10 points, 11 assists, 8 boards, 4 steals, and 4 blocks.  In the other late game, Lamar Odom returned to the lineup with a nice double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Kobe Bryant didn’t miss a beat, unloading 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists on one of the worst teams in the league.

Line of the night?  Wow, you take your pick.  It’s somewhere between Okafor, Marion, Garnett, and AK.

With such an action packed night, I’m sure I forgot something so don’t feel hesitant to drop a line in a comment…