Fantasy Basketball: The Best Fantasy Games of the Season

We’re approaching the midpoint of the season and I think it’s time to look back at the best individual games of the season. Not the games that helped their team win the most, but rather the games that helped your team win the most – the games that were the best fantasy games. The games that meant the most where it counted: In your free fantasy league with your co-workers.

This is based on statistical fact – this is not subjective – so don’t come complaining to me about how Blake Griffin’s 40 something point game isn’t there or K-Love’s 30 and 30 game isn’t there. This is based on stats that are important in the fantasy world. Thus steal, blocks, and three pointers meant a lot – at least getting an absurd number of them meant a lot. I’m not counting turnovers because a lot of leagues don’t count them and you probably lost turnovers if you have a good team anyway.

Here’s the top ten box scores:

1. John Wall against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 2nd. Final: Win in overtime 116-115

9-16 FG, 0 3PM, 11-14 FT, 2 Rebs, 13 Asts, 9 Stls, 0 Blks, 29 Pts – 23.34 Fantasy Efficiency Rating

2. Derrick Rose against the Houston Rockets on December 4th. Final: Win in overtime 119-116

13-28 FG, 4 3PM, 0-0 FT, 7 Rebs, 11 Asts, 5 Stls, 0 Blks, 30 Pts – 22.22 FER

3. Rajon Rondo against the San Antonio Spurs on January 5th. Final: Win 105-103

6-10 FG, 0 3PM, 0-0 FT, 10 Rebs, 23 Asts, 6 Stls, 1 Blks, 12 Pts – 22.07 FER

4.Kevin Durant against the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 26th. Final: Win in overtime 118-117

15-28 FG, 4 3PM, 14-18 FT, 18 Rebs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls, 2 Blks, 47 Pts – 22.05 FER

5. Raymond Felton against the Golden State Warriors on November 19th. Final: Win 125-119

13-17 FG, 4 3PM, 5-6 FT, 5 Rebs, 11 Asts, 4 Stls, 1 Blks, 35 Pts – 21.82 FER

6. John Wall against the Houston Rockets on November 10th. Final: Win 98-91

8-16 FG, 2 3PM, 1-2 FT, 10 Rebs, 13 Asts, 6 Stls, 1 Blks, 19 Pts – 21.48 FER

7. LeBron James against the LA Lakers on Christmas. Final: Win 96-80

8-14 FG, 5 3PM, 6-6 FT, 11 Rebs, 10 Asts, 4 Stls, 0 Blks, 27 Pts – 20.87 FER

8. Dwight Howard against the Chicago Bulls on January 28th. Final: Loss 99-90

14-20 FG, 0 3PM, 12-16 FT, 15 Rebs, 2 Asts, 4 Stls, 3 Blks, 40 Pts – 20.24 FER

9. Raymond Felton against the LA Clipers on November 20th. Final: Win 124-111

6-16 FG, 3 3PM, 5-5 FT, 3 Rebs, 7 Asts, 7 Stls, 1 Blk, 20 Pts – 20.02 FER

10. LaMarcus Aldridge against the Denver Nuggets on December 28th. Final: Loss 95-77

9-17 FG, 0 3PM, 0-0 FT, 13 Rebs, 4 Asts, 3 Stls, 7 Blks, 18 Pts – 19.74 FER

Interesting Facts: The teams that have the best fantasy games are 8-2 (two games in overtime) and 6 of the ten were on teams that scored over 100 points. Raymond Felton and John Wall are the only doublers. The position distribution is: PG – 6, SG – 0, SF – 2, PF – 1, C – 1.

The problem with my formula was that because it was assuming a normal distribution any outlier was given a huge advantage. In other words: John Wall’s 9 steals accounted for 18 of his 23 efficiency points that gave him the highest efficiency in one game. So I came up with a strategy to combat that: cut off the amount of fantasy efficiency points you can get from one stat. I decided the most you should be able to get was 6 points from one category. That means that the maximum you could get in each stat was 5.2 3PM, 20.74 Rebs, 16.51 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 3.94 Blks, 42 Pts. What this means in terms of my strategy for analyzing is that any number higher than these numbers will be reduced to just be this number. In other words: if a player gets 6 blocks – I will write in 3.94 blks. Same with a player who gets 4 blocks.

Here are the new rankings (Stats the maxed out are in bold):

1. Kevin Durant against the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 26th. Final: Overtime Win 118-117

15-28 FG, 4 3PM, 14-18 FT, 18 Rebs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls, 2 Blks, 42 Pts – 20.98 FER

2. Raymond Felton against the Golden State Warriors on November 19th. Final: Win 125-119

13-17 FG, 4 3PM, 5-6 FT, 5 Rebs, 11 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 1 Blks, 35 Pts – 20.68 FER

3. LeBron James against the LA Lakers on Christmas. Final: Win 96-80

8-14 FG, 5 3PM, 6-6 FT, 11 Rebs, 10 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 0 Blks, 27 Pts – 19.73 FER

4. Dwight Howard against the Chicago Bulls on January 28th. Final: Loss 99-90

14-20 FG, 0 3PM, 12-16 FT, 15 Rebs, 2 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 3 Blks, 40 Pts – 19.10 FER

5. Derrick Rose against the Houston Rockets on December 4th. Final: Win in overtime 119-116

13-28 FG, 4 3PM, 0-0 FT, 7 Rebs, 11 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 0 Blks, 30 Pts – 18.76 FER

6. Danny Granger against the Golden State Warriors on January 19th. Final: Loss 110-108

11-19 FG, 4 3PM, 6-8 FT, 13 Rebs, 6 Asts, 3 Stls, 1 Blk, 32 Pts – 18.65 FER

7. Kevin Durant against the Denver Nuggets on Christmas. Fina: Win 114-106

14-20 FG, 4 3PM, 12-15 FT, 7 Rebs, 4 Asts, 2 Stls, 2 Blks, 42 Pts – 17.91 FER

8. Stephen Jackson against the Phoenix Suns on November 20th. Final: Win 123-105

10-13 FG, 4 3PM, 0-0 FT, 10 Rebs, 10 Asts, 2 Stls, 2 Blks, 24 Pts – 17.72 FER

9. LeBron James against the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 30th. Final: Win 108-103

7-14 FG, 2 3PM, 7-11 FT, 4 Rebs, 13 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 3 Blks, 23 Pts – 17.41 FER

10. Jason Richardson against the Memphis Grizzlies on November 5th. Final: Double Overtime Win 123-118

14-29 FG, 5.2 3PM, 4-5 FT, 8 Rebs, 3 Asts, 3.51 Stls, 0 Blks, 38 Pts – 17.35 FER

Take what you will from this