Dr. A's NBA Weekend Recap: Wembanyama For The Win, Embiid Returns and Dalano Banton Stays Sharp

We're down to the final countdown and the final week of the NBA regular season. Victor Wembanyama and Tyrese Maxey put on a show on Sunday, I won my 30-team league championship for the second time thanks to Wemby, and Joel Embiid made a return to action last week. 

Go ahead and take Monday off

There are no NBA games on Monday due to the NCAA Championship Game between UConn and Purdue tonight. Go Boilers. 

Joel Embiid returns to action Tuesday, rests Sunday

Embiid made it back from his torn meniscus last Tuesday and racked up 24 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals for those of you who hung onto him in February and March. In his three games since returning he's averaged 27.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.0 blocks and 1.7 3-pointers in 28 minutes. He sat out on Sunday to get some rest, and the Sixers have three home games left on the regular-season schedule. Maybe Embiid will play in all three of them when they host the Pistons on Tuesday, the Magic on Friday and the Nets on Sunday. 

Sunday Stars

Sunday was full of big performances by some big names as well as some silliness from some unknown faces. 

Tyrese Maxey dropped 52 points and seven assists on the Spurs to get a tough double-overtime win in San Antonio. Victor Wembanyama put on a show of his own and despite the nine turnovers, had a big line that won me the 30-Deep Championship last night. Wemby finished the game with 33 points, 18 rebounds, six assists, seven blocks and five 3-pointers on 11-for-20 shooting and even hit six of seven free throws for good measure. If he's already good enough to almost single-handedly win 30-Deep as a rookie, just how good is he going to be in three years? I could see him getting banned in some fantasy leagues, simply because his skill set is completely unfair compared to everyone else in the league. 

Luka Doncic had another ho-hum 37 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists in a tough win against the Rockets, while Kyrie Irving gave me a scare in 30-Deep by dropping 48 points on me on 15-for-25 shooting. Nobody's talking about it, but Luka made all nine of his free throws and is shooting a career-best 78.6 percent from the line this season. 

Paul George scored 39 points with 11 rebounds and seven dimes in a tough win against the Cavaliers on Sunday, while Darius Garland had 28 points, eight assists and five steals in the loss. PG-13 hit the game-winner over Evan Mobley and Kawhi Leonard sat this one out. That makes four straight missed games for Leonard and just when it looked like this was going to be the season he didn't let his fantasy managers down, he took a week off right when we needed him most. Now the Clippers just have to be hoping his knee inflammation dies down before the playoffs start. The Clippers have four games remaining: @Phoenix Tuesday, vs Phoenix Wednesday, vs Utah Friday and vs Houston Sunday.

Dalano Banton kept it going for the Blazers and went off for 28 points and nine assists, officially cementing his name as a Silly Season Hall of Famer, at least for this year. Payton Pritchard added 20 points and eight assists for the Celtics in the win, and it looks like he's going to have a strong finish to the season as well. Pritchard has averages of 20.5 points, 5.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 3.5 three-pointers over his last two games and is another guy who helped carry my team to the 30-Deep win. Jayson Tatum rested his knee on Sunday and missed his first game since March 22. The Celtics have the luxury of resting whoever they want from night to night because of the massive 15-game lead they've opened up in the East. Look for them to rest one of two key players each game the rest of the way and look for guys like Pritchard and Sam Hauser to help fill in the gaps. 

Josh Giddey racked up 20 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for another triple-double and has been a much better player of late than he was a couple of months ago. Jalen Williams missed his fourth straight game with a sprained ankle and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed the weekend with a quad injury. More tough injury news that probably costs fantasy managers some championship opportunities. 

Deni Avdija and Immanuel Quickley both topped 30 points as the Raptors beat the Wizards on Sunday. Avdija has had a nice season and the Wizards could turn some no-name players loose this week, like Patrick Baldwin who scored 16 points on Sunday. Jordan Poole came through with 29 points and 12 assists. Better late than never, I guess. 

Zion Williamson is playing through his finger injury and had 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven dimes and five blocks on Sunday. Bradley Beal dropped 33 points on the Wolves in a loss. 

Jalen Brunson went off on the Bucks for 43 points, six rebounds, eight assists and a win, while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 29 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in the loss. 

A guy named Johnny Juzang went 9-for-12 from the field and made seven three-pointers for 27 points as a starter in Utah's loss to the Warriors on Sunday. I guess he should officially be on the radar this week.

Rui Hachimura filled in for LeBron James on Sunday and scored 30 points with six boards in a loss to the Wolves and Naz Reid had 31 points and 11 boards in the win. Reid has been a bit of a monster since Karl-Anthony Towns went down. Speaking of Towns, he's been scrimmaging and is expected to return to action at some point this week. 

Injury Updates

Anthony Davis suffered another eye injury on Sunday and wasn't able to finish the game for the Lakers, ruining a lot of nights along the way. It sounds like Davis has a decent chance of playing on Tuesday, along with LeBron James, who was out Sunday due to illness. 

Franz Wagner left Sunday's game with a sprained right ankle and didn't return, meaning he'll be a little iffy going forward. The Magic have road games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at Houston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, respectively, before finishing the regular season at home against the Bucks on Sunday.