By: Anthony Oliva III
Fantasy Sports 101 Basketball

Feb. 14, 2008 - A look through last night's slate of NBA action and the naming of our All-Box Score team. Manu Ginobili and Monta Ellis highlighted a night full of excellent individual scoring efforts, and Dwight Howard was the best of the bigs with 23 points and 24 rebounds vs. Denver.

Ginobili Outshines King James in Cleveland: Manu Ginobili drained a career-high eight 3-pointers and poured in a career-high 46 points in a 112-105 Spurs win at Cleveland in a rematch of last year’s NBA finals. Ginobili was 15-of-20 from the field and added eight assists and five rebounds. The effort came after Ginobili had 34 points, 15 rebounds and six assists in Monday’s win over Toronto.

Despite the loss, James also put in a stellar effort with 39 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Games like this show just how valuable a fantasy stud James can be.

Defense Hard to Come by in Golden State: Phoenix and Golden State combined for a staggering 238 points in a 120-118 Warriors' victory over. All five Warrior starters scored in double figures led by Monta Ellis, who had 37 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Baron Davis also had a tremendous game scoring 27 points and dishing out 13 assists.

For Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire, Grant Hill, Leandro Barbosa and Steve Nash all scored more than 20 points. For Hill, who also grabbed 15 rebounds, it was the first time he scored over 20 points since Jan. 7. Stoudemire had a great fantasy game as well with 29 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 10-14 from the floor.

Draft Classmates Howard, Okafor Have Dueling 20-20 Nights: Dwight Howard responded to coach Stan Van Gundy's recent criticism of his defense and rebounding by putting on a dominant performance against the Nuggets. Howard had 23 points and 24 rebounds for his sixth 20-20 effort of the year.

Emeka Okafor, who was selected the pick after Howard in the 2004 NBA Draft, scored 20 points and added 21 rebounds for his second 20-20 game. Okafor’s effort helped the Bobcats past the Hawks, as Atlanta’s Joe Johnson, who had a game-high 23 points, missed a game-tying shot at the buzzer.

Lamar Odom Fills the Stat Sheet With Triple Double: Lamar Odom was able to complete the 12th triple-double of his career with 10 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in the Lakers' 117-92 victory over Minnesota. Six Lakers scored in double figures and Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 29 points.

Pau Gasol had an efficient game scoring 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting and grabbing nine boards.

Crawford Stars in Loss to Celtics: Jamal Crawford, who has been a consistent producer all year poured in 26 points and added seven assists and six steals in a 111-103 loss to the Celtics. Crawford has scored more than 20 points in eight of his last 10 games. 

Paul Pierce added 24 points, seven assists, five rebounds and made two 3-pointers for Boston. He is averaging 29 points per game in his last three. 

Balanced Effort Leads Detroit to 10th Straight Win: Five Pistons scored in double figures as Detroit extended its win streak to 10 games with a 96-80 victory over Indiana. Amir Johnson had an unusually productive day off the bench with eight points, nine rebounds and seven blocks.

The All-Box Score Team