POR 124, UTA 114: Donovan Clingan Grabs 15 Boards
Maya Chen
UX Designer ยท Golden State Warriors fan
Trail Blazers Survive Close One, But the Real Story is Clingan's Monster Night
Final: Jazz 114, Trail Blazers 124
This was supposed to be a Tank Bowl. Instead, we got a legitimately competitive game where the Trail Blazers' young guys showed up and made some noise, while the Jazz's injuries finally caught up with them in a major way. For fantasy purposes, this game had some really interesting variance. Let me break down who actually matters.
| Player | ESPN FP | Yahoo FP | Tonight | Season Avg | +/- Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donovan Clingan | 79.0 | 69.5 | 21/15/3 | 12.0/11.6/2.2 | +9.0 |
| Jrue Holiday | 53.0 | 44.5 | 25/5/7 | 16.7/4.4/6.3 | +8.3 |
| Brice Sensabaugh | 56.0 | 44.1 | 31/3/1 | 13.4/3.0/1.7 | +17.6 |
| Deni Avdija | 46.0 | 40.2 | 17/6/8 | 24.1/6.9/6.7 | -7.1 |
| Isaiah Collier | 38.0 | 38.1 | 17/3/9 | 11.5/2.5/7.3 | +5.5 |
| Kyle Filipowski | 40.0 | 33.7 | 11/6/5 | 10.5/7.0/2.4 | +0.5 |
| Scoot Henderson | 37.0 | 33.5 | 25/5/3 | 14.0/2.9/4.1 | +11.0 |
| Cody Williams | 23.0 | 30.9 | 19/7/3 | 6.5/2.7/1.4 | +12.5 |
| Sidy Cissoko | 30.0 | 25.3 | 14/4/1 | 5.9/2.4/1.5 | +8.1 |
| Bez Mbeng | 22.0 | 23.8 | 4/4/4 | 4.0/4.0/4.0 | +0.0 |
Donovan Clingan is Actually Good, News at 11
Look, I know it's March and everyone's tired of hearing about lottery picks. But Donovan Clingan just put up 69.5 Yahoo points on a night when the Jazz had nothing left in the tank. The stat line was disgusting: 21 points on 7-12 shooting, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and 7 blocks in 35 minutes. That's +9.0 points vs his season average, and that's not even accounting for the blocks being worth 3 points each in most leagues.
Here's what matters: he was efficient and he was everywhere. The 6-6 free throw shooting tells you he was getting to the rim, not settling. The 7 blocks tells you Utah's offense was getting desperate. This wasn't a "played a lot of minutes" performance, it was a "too big, too skilled, too hard to game plan against" performance.
If you're in a 14+ team league and still don't have him, someone messed up. If you do have him, stop looking for reasons to trade him.
Brice Sensabaugh Went Absolutely Nuclear
Brice Sensabaugh hit for 31 points on 12-20 shooting with 6 threes. That's 44.1 Yahoo points. The +17.6 vs season average is the most telling part. He was 3x his usual scoring output.
Real talk: this is probably not repeatable. He's a 13.4 PPG guy who had a hot shooting night against a bad Jazz defensive scheme. But here's the thing, ownership jumped 1.3% to 34.6%, which means people are about to panic-add him. Don't be that guy.
Sensabaugh is a solid player with a real role. Just don't expect 31-point games to be the baseline now. He's a hold if you have him, a pass if you're looking to add depth.
The Deni Avdija Letdown (Sort Of)
Deni Avdija scored 17 points with 6 boards and 8 assists in 32 minutes. That's a respectable stat line. On paper, 40.2 Yahoo points should be solid.
The problem? He came in at a -7.1 vs season average. The guy averages 24.1 PPG and only got 17 tonight. When your primary star underperforms by 7 points, you notice it, especially when his team still won. He went 7-9 from the field so it wasn't a shooting efficiency issue, just volume. The Jazz were missing so many bodies that their entire offense was disjointed. Avdija couldn't carry the load alone.
This is a one-off. Don't sell low.
Scoot Henderson Making a Case
Scoot Henderson dropped 25 points on 8-14 shooting with 5 threes. That's 33.5 Yahoo points and a +11.0 vs season average. The dude is still working on his shot selection (34% from three on the season), but when he gets hot, he actually looks like a real NBA player.
Portland had three guys go off tonight. Jrue Holiday (25 points, 7 assists, 44.5 Yahoo FP) was steady as always. Scoot was streaky but impactful. And Clingan was just a monster. That's three viable fantasy options on the same team, which is great news for Blazers stack plays going forward.
The Cody Williams Emergence
Here's a name nobody's talking about: Cody Williams. 19 points, 7 rebounds in 36 minutes. That's 30.9 Yahoo points against a season average of 6.5 PPG. The +12.5 is massive.
He's a defensive talent who started getting real run tonight. 36 minutes is a lot of rope from the coaching staff. If this becomes a role, he's a sneaky deep league add. But let's see if it's sustainable before we're championing him as a league winner.
The Utah Missing Everybody Problem
The Jazz came in with the following guys in street clothes: Keyonte George, Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Blake Hinson, Svi Mykhailiuk, Kevin Love, and John Konchar. That's basically their entire rotation.
What you got instead was Isaiah Collier (17/3/9), Kyle Filipowski (11/6/5 with three threes), and Bez Mbeng (4 points, 4 boards, 4 assists). These are not guys you draft. These are not guys you should care about. The Jazz were running a summer league roster.
This was fantasy purgatory. Utah was so depleted that no one was getting stable usage. Even Sensabaugh's explosion was more about having space to operate than sustainable role growth.
What This Means Going Forward
Portland just showed they can win without their full roster too. They're building something real. Utah is going to stay a mess until everyone gets healthy. If you have Jazz players in any league over 10 teams, you already knew this was coming. Don't panic, but don't expect much until the injury report clears up.
For waiver purposes, Ace Bailey (who got 7 minutes and isn't worth your time) and Cody Williams (who might have something if the role holds) are the only adds worth considering. Everything else is noise.