Ripped City

I know some of you were ripped too. The last three days of DTTF have not been kind to us. We've been spoiled with 30+ PRAs in the previous round and here we are getting peanuts of 15, 20, 25 PRA. Low-scoring games, slowed-down pace, defense-oriented basketball and blown-up games have all contributed to our perceived falldown.

I said perceived falldown because most of us didn't really fall too far. Notice how you had two-straight duds, and still only lost a few percentiles only? If these were normal circumstances, you'll fall a full 10 percentile. But see, most got low PRAs these past few days anyway. The only ones who stole your percentile are the few who soared up because of lucky picks.

Persistence, persistence.

Moving on for our Saturday pick, both teams Nets and Blazers are down 0-2. Assume worst-case scenario that they both get swept, we have only two chances left to pick from them. So list down your top two remaining. For me, that would be Joe Johnson (average 27 PRA) and Nicolas Batum (25). So I should pick from these two only.

Now on the next not-so-worse case scenario that only 1 team gets swept and the other stretched to 5 games, then I would need a third person. My third best remaining is Deron Williams (25). This forces me to pick Johnson, so I can still pick either Batum or Williams on a Game 4 elimination game. So, Joe Johnson it is, regardless of performance.

If none of that happens, my next options for Games 5 to 7 are Paul Pierce, Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews, all of whom are just sub-20 PRA picks. Hope we don't get that low.

If you still have LaMarcus Aldridge or Damian Lillard, do yourself a favor and feast on their PRA in their home Game 3. And for some long-overdue payback.