Mike

Taylor

Even if Taylor’s knee isn’t an issue, his fantasy owners have reason for pessimism -- Baron Davis expects to return for the Clippers next game (Wednesday). Stay tuned for updates, but he’s suddenly much less appealing in the Clippers’ three-game week.

Taylor, who was coming off two huge performances, was starting in place of Baron Davis (stomach, calf). We’ll update his status once more is known -- in the meantime, Fred Jones should be the Clippers primary ballhandler.

With Baron Davis and Sebastian Telfair (and maybe Ramon Sessions) in the mix, Taylor will have a hard time making the Clippers roster this season. He didn’t help himself in Las Vegas.

Harrington cost the Knicks a win last month against the same team, for the exact same violation, and you have to think D’Antoni is steaming mad at him after a repeat performance. Adding insult to injury was Nate Robinson’s insinuation that the Knicks had point guard Mike Taylor, who went for a career-best 35 points, listed as a center in the Clippers’ scouting report. The faces have changed, but the Knicks have now lost six straight games as the soap opera continues.

There’s no mention of Davis’ calf injury, which is encouraging, and it sounds like he’s on pace to return against the Hornets on Wednesday. His return also impacts the playing time of Mike Taylor, so check for updates on Tuesday if you own either player.

This is interesting because Taylor was given the start over Davis for the second half of Wednesday’s game, when Taylor went off for a career-high 35 points. It’s possible that Davis really had the flu, but it’s also possible that he is simply not happy. If you want to grab Taylor until we see how this plays out, it seems to make sense.

Taylor is now 24-of-33 in his last two games, averaging 29 points, 5.5 rebounds and three assists in them. He replaced Davis as the starter at halftime of Wednesday’s game and it’s possible that Davis took Friday off in protest, although it’s also possible that he is sick. But given the Clippers’ lost season, it probably makes sense to throw Taylor at the wall and see if he sticks.

“It’s been building up for a week,” he said. “I knew it was something.” There’s no word yet on how much time this may cost him, but regardless of whether it’s a season-ending injury or not, Mike Taylor should be picked up in most fantasy leagues. Taylor is now 24-of-33 in his last two games, averaging 29 points, 5.5 rebounds and three assists in them. We’ll call Baron day-to-day for now, but this has “shut down” written all over it.

Davis’ return puts a damper on the recent play of Mike Taylor, though Taylor could get serviceable numbers even with Baron in the lineup. We’ll keep a close eye on their playing time vs. the Hornets.

Baron is apparently determined not to shut it down early this year, but if he suffers another injury between now and the end of the season, Mike Taylor could finish out the season as the team’s point guard.