ppealed to the referee that the ball had hit the sand before he

The sample size for the current NBA campaign continues to grow, which indicates we should start acknowledging the legitimacy of breakout performances around the league. A week or two into the season, its reasonable to dismiss a few big box scores as outliers, but now that were a quarter of the way into the marathon, its time to take note of which surprisingly productive players merit ownership throughout fantasy basketball leagues.George Hill cant seem to stay on the floor for Utah, but he has been prolific when active this season. Given the rash of injuries, the 11-game sample size for Hill is admittedly small this season, but its astounding to note hes fifth in the NBA (minimum 20 minutes per game) in effective field goal shooting, and ranks 11th among point guards on the Player Rater by averages this season. For some specific evidence, we find Hill is 15th in the league in points per game as the ball handler on pick-and-roll plays, in part thanks to earning free throws on 11.8 percent of such plays. A 56.3 percent leap in points per game above his average output from the past four seasons stands out, but increased free throw production and 3-point volume and efficiency validate the scoring surge.Phillys Sergio Rodriguez is enjoying his second stint in the NBA after years of stardom in the Spanish League with Real Madrid -- he even won EuroLeague MVP honors in 2014. Jerryd Bayless cant seem to get past this lingering wrist ailment, affording Rodriguez heavy minutes and a ball-dominant role on a team that looks to push the ball in regards to pace and transition. Eighth in frontcourt touches per game and sixth in the NBA assist percentage behind only Russell Westbrook, James Harden, John Wall, Chris Paul and LeBron James, Rodriguez is in elite company in the distribution department. Seventh among point guards in the past seven days on the Player Rater and 18th during the past 15 days, Rodriguez is available in nearly 80 percent of ESPN leagues. Adding Rodriguez costs only a few clicks and a roster spot at this point.The market is finally acknowledging Sean Kilpatricks emergence, as the Brooklyn Nets gunner is now owned in just more than 60 percent of ESPN leagues after spending the first month of the season floating in free agency in most formats. Eighteenth among shooting guards on the Player Rater and thriving in Kenny Atkinsons possession-centric scheme -- the Nets are second in the NBA in pace this season -- Kilpatricks breakout appears sustainable.Another impressive statistical commodity can be found in a majority of ESPN leagues, as investors have dropped the Suns T.J. Warren to an ownership rate below 40 percent thanks to a lingering head injury. General manager Ryan McDonough recently went out of his way to praise Warren as the teams best two-way player this season, while 32.4 minutes and 15.6 shots per game this season suggest a high-volume role waits for the talented wing when he returns to action. Expected to hit the court soon, Warren is 11th in the NBA in points per touch, and merits proactive interest for those looking to acquire a high-volume asset on a team that leads the league in pace.Fantasy Forecaster: Dec. 12-18The Nets pace-driven offense faces three similarly up-tempo foes in what should be a rewarding four-game schedule in the coming week. The Rockets and Raptors enjoy perfect ratings this week thanks to four-game schedules rife with positive matchups. It also appears to be a solid week to stream from the Kings and target their roster in daily fantasy, as they enjoy up-tempo, fantasy-friendly matchups for much of the slate.On the unfavorable end of the spectrum, the Timberwolves are the lone team with two games in the upcoming slate, thus we should avoid streaming from Minnesotas roster. The Celtics also claim an undesirable stretch, with meetings against slower-paced, defensive-minded foes defining their upcoming schedule.Access the downloadable forecaster chart PDF hereMatchup ratings are based on a scale from 1 (poor matchup) to 10 (excellent matchup). These are calculated using a formula that evaluates the teams year-to-date and past 10 games statistics, their opponents numbers in those categories and their performance in home/road games depending on where the game is to be played. The column to the left lists the teams total number of games scheduled, as well as home games, and lists the overall rating from 1 to 10 for that teams weekly schedule.Isolated successHarrison Barnes 74.3 percent leap in scoring output from last season with the Warriors to this season for the Mavericks is proving impressive from a fantasy perspective. The source of such success isnt from beyond the arc, as Barnes has dipped from shooting 39.4 percent during the past two seasons to just 30.3 this season.We expected a deflation in shooting efficiency, as Barnes enjoyed a bevy of uncontested corner 3-pointers with the Warriors, and is now facing contested shots at the Mavericks leading scorer. Instead, the source of scoring volume for Barnes is coming from isolation plays, as he leads the NBA with 5.9 points (nearly 29 percent of his overall scoring production) on such offensive sets. Barnes is scoring on 50.4 percent of his isolation plays this season. This is a valuable reality for Barnes fantasy stock, as drives and isolation plays prove sustainable for scoring success.Pick-and-roll pointsThe Hornets Kemba Walker leads the league with 11.9 points per game as the ball handler on pick and roll plays, just ahead of Harden and Westbrook in this metric. One player thriving on such plays and still available in over 20 percent of ESPN leagues (and likely still cheap in trade talks) is Detroits Reggie Jackson, as hes seventh (and rising) in the NBA with 9.5 points per game as the lead guard on pick and roll sets. Among the league leaders in drives and pick and roll production last season, we should pursue discounted shares of Jackson while hes still on his current minute restriction.Post producersMarc Gasol is in the midst of a career campaign, as ESPNs Zach Lowe reveals the Grizzlies center is on pace for one of the best assist rates in league history for a player of his size. Gasol is also enjoying a career campaign in the scoring department. This success is in part due to Gasol leading the NBA in scoring on post-up plays, besting the likes of DeMarcus Cousins and Joel Embiid.Gasol remains a value on DFS markets and could sustain his elite passing metrics with Mike Conley sidelined, validating his perch as a top commodity on the Player Rater among centers. Wholesale Astros Jerseys . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Cheap Jimmy Wynn Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. http://www.cheapastrosjerseys.com/ . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. Cheap Craig Biggio Jersey . Mats Zuccarello and Derek Stepan scored shootout goals, and backup goalie Cam Talbot earned his second win in two nights as the Rangers shook off a late tying tally and beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 Monday night. Cheap Mike Scott Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Its match point at the Copacabana beach volleyball venue, and a spike catches the line for the winning point.Or does it?While one side celebrates an apparent victory, the would-be losers turn to the first referee and form a C with their fingers to challenge whether the ball was in or out. The ref signals to the replay booth by tracing out a TV screen with his index fingers and everyone -- the players, the fans, the viewers at home -- waits for the result.The Olympics are using a replay system in volleyball and beach volleyball for the first time in Rio de Janeiro, and so far it has accomplished the goal of cleaning up calls that have the potential to influence the outcome of a match.We want the game to be more transparent, said Angelo Squeo, the director of beach volleyball for the international federation. We want the players to be happy with the decisions. We want the game to reflect what happens on the field of play.Although in use for a couple of years in indoor volleyball, the challenge system was first brought to the beach at the Rio de Janeiro test event last year. This is the sixth FIVB beach event with the Hawkeye system, the same one used at major tennis tournaments.I cannot imagine now for a moment going back, Squeo said on Monday. For sure, players are happy, spectators are happy, because the match doesnt end on a mistake. Its an essential device.While replay challenges have been known to slow other sports to a crawl -- imagine a major league baseball manager on the top step of the dugout, waiting for the signal from his video people -- volleyball seems to have it under control, for now.Teams get two unsuccessful challenges per match. They have five seconds to challenge, and only a handful of line and net calls are eligible. (Notably excluded are judgment calls, like whether a player has lifted or double-hit the ball on a set.) The decision is made by an official with a monitor in a booth behind the players benches.We think its great, Dutch player Madelein Meppelink said after beating Costa Rica 21-16, 21-16 on Monday to improve to 2-0 in pool play. For the referee, its hard to see everything.Squeo said about 25 percent of calls are overturned; the average time for a review is about 30 seconds. While they wait, the fans at the indoor volleyball in Maracanazinho arena chantt and clap in unison and then cheer or boo the decisions.ddddddddddddMeppelink said her only complaint is that the system could go even faster. But there also have been a couple of times where the replay took some of the excitement out of a finish.On the first day, China called for a review on a net fault on a match point against Switzerland in the third set and appeared to win the challenge. The Chinese women celebrated and took the microphone to thank the crowd, but the Swiss continued to argue with first referee Lucie Guillemette.After several minutes, the officials called everyone back to the court and resumed play because the Chinese had finished out the point instead of stopping play to challenge the call immediately.I didnt think she (the referee) was going to listen to us, but we knew we were super-right because it had happened to them before, said Switzerlands Isabelle Forrer, who lost the match to China anyway a couple of points later.When Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb played Austria on Monday, Gibb hit the net on the final point, a spike that went out and otherwise would have kept the Americans alive. Gibb appealed to the referee that the ball had hit the sand before he faulted, to no avail.Thats just us not giving up, Patterson said after the 21-18, 21-18 dropped them to 1-1 in pool play.Patterson hasnt had the opportunity to use the challenge system yet, because its only been at a half-dozen events, and even then only on the championship court thats wired for it. Those are usually reserved for the hometown favorites and other marquee teams.Squeo said the FIVB plans to expand the system to a dozen or more of the top-tier events next year. It costs about $30,000 per tournament to have the system, and the FIVB is looking for a sponsor to pay for it.But they wont be able to do what Meppelink wants: go back in time and fix some of the calls that went against her in the past.I can think of points that I wished we had the challenge system, she said.---AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley and AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this story.---Jimmy Golen also covered beach volleyball in Beijing and London. Follow him on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/jgolen . ' ' '