For the benefit of those who are new to the game, I'll make it easier for you... pick the player from the losing team. Stick to that and you'll be fine ;) Look at my picks...
Outside of Rockets and Griz fans, who would really bet against the Warriors and the Spurs? The West's top two seeds are looking ripe and ready for a championship run. It's too early for talks of sweeps, but of all matches, these are the most likely to finish early.
The Warriors' record-breaking 73 wins is not a fluke. Believe it baby! They are charging like a freight train! The Rockets' chemistry is a wreck this year. Talent was able to get them the 8th seed, but I believe that's as far as that can bring them. James Harden will try to strike early because he knows a Game 1 win is the only thing that can turn this around in a big way.
The Spurs are always in the mix. 40 home wins -- that's unheard of, and they do win on the road consistently too! The Grizzlies are a beat-up squad. A long list of injuries and a revolving door for a roster. There is no way they can match up to the Spurs. Zach Randolph is a safe pick as maybe (just maybe) he can exploit Duncan's age and Aldridge's subpar D.
We have many veteran followers who have other tricks up their sleeves. Look for their thoughts in the comments.
Good luck!
Drive & Slam notes: For the site's simplicity of maintenance...
* All picks for April 16 close at 12:30 PM ET (New York). You had 24 hours to do the pick. Anyone who misses a pick will be given the lowest PRABS score just this once only.
* No live / real-time results yet
* Cut-off times are getting improved upon as soon as resource allows
You can't really go wrong with that strategy to be honest. I mean, I'm not using it, but you can't go wrong.
ReplyDeleteI half expect today to be a non-contest in Oakland. I'm talking 25-30 point blowout. So I'm not going to pick Harden just yet. Might wait for a home game for him. Meanwhile, in the Grizzlies series, I think the only way you pick Randolph tomorrow is if you plan on taking a second Grizzly at some point (Anyone gutsy enough to pick Lance?) The reason I saw this is because of game 2 on Tuesday - there are only two games, Mem-SA and Bos-Atl. I'm not ready to make a call on Boston-Atlanta yet, so that is going to be Randolph time for most of us, I'm guessing.
I'm just super happy that the playoffs are back.
We're still missing your pick in the Google Drive, Taong. If you can't get there before the Rockets game, I'll just put in Harden for you, as he seems to be your pick today :)
As for me: Dirk is the man today. For the same reasons you picked Harden. Go Raptors!
On it
Delete@mfari Nice call on the exact point spread of the blowout. Lol. And your exact logic was mine as well. Looking to Harden in Game 2 to redeem this stinky.
Delete*stinker
DeleteYeah I have Harden in for game 2 as well now. Rockets need to make a point.
DeleteI called one blowout, but I didn't expect the Mavs to be *this* bad. Still, I'd rather get a 22 from Dirk than from Harden.
I'm likely not going to be picking from the two Eastern series that ran today until I've seen two-three more games.
I've got two different guys in the first two games.
ReplyDeleteToday, I've got Dirk. I think Harden will be game two for me, and Howard game 3. My Rocket strategy in recent years has been "Harden on the road, Howard at home", so expect Harden in game 2. I don't give the Mavs much of a chance against OKC, a team that seems like a bad match up for them, especially with Parsons out. So I'm not concerned. Dirk is a veteran and the Mavs have traditionally been a good road team in the playoffs. The Rockets are walking into an ambush in Golden State. I'll let James Harden work through things in Game 1 and hope to catch him hot in Game 2.
I'd be nervous about picking Z Bo tomorrow, for reasons I will leave a mystery. If you can figure out why readers, then bonus points to you! All I will say is, it has nothing to do with him and he could perform as well this game as any game. I'm going with a Piston. They have two guys for sure in tier 1 (Drummond and Jackson) and another who is probably also in tier 1 (Harris). I'll go with Drummond, before Cleveland goes to the "hack-a-Drummond" strategy, should they decide to.
ZBo historically has always failed expectations on days ppl expect much from him. I can site two times that happened, but it's too early for sourgraping :P
Deletemfari031 mentioned it above, so might as well end the mystery - the only reason I'm nervous about Z Bo tomorrow is because of Tuesday. It's either a Grizzly (Z Bo) or picking from the Hawks-Celtics series. Otherwise, Z Bo is a fantastic pick. He historically has good opening games, and this is almost a guaranteed sweep.
DeleteExactly why I have Randolph penciled in on that day you described. Boston / Atlanta is one of the hardest series to predict in my opinion.
Deletedarn I'm rusty
DeleteI also worry about a blow-out in Golden State today & find Howard to be so uninspired / written off that perhaps he's comes out of the gate trying. I feel like if he doesn't try hard right away with maximum effort, he's simply not going to turn it on in later games. I feel like the home town Houston crowd doesn't even like / support Howard. He has to make an impression on the road first to even have respect at home. So come on Dwight, I dislike almost everything about you, but surprise me tonight!
ReplyDeleteThat and I figure many others are picking Harden so may as well come down the road less traveled by from the start as I do plan to pick both guys regardless.
DeleteVery interesting reason for Howard. I'm interested in seeing if that is the case. I'll still go with him at home, but now I'm not as sure if that will actually end up working well for me. Time will tell.
DeleteYeah, I mean I just watch & follow a lot of basketball. But I'm not someone that studies who does better at home vs the road (although I love when you guys on this blog do). I just go with vibe really & I guess I tend to not want to match picks with all of you for the first several games. I want to carve my own path from the start so even if I fall behind, I have a player still available that others don't that possibly can catch me right back up.
DeleteHmmmm...it's almost 10 & picks don't seem to have locked as per you note in the blog update.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, now it appears locked at least for my ability to "edit pick" which no longer exists :)
DeleteHi guys,
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that timestamps for picks are not accurate? I made my pick at about 12:15 your time (18:15 CEST) and your web app says: "Submitted by Jordan4ever on Sat, 04/16/2016 - 12:45".
I made different pick (after cloning old one) and timestamp shows 18:53. Ignore my previous comment :)
DeleteI have had a lot of confusion not to mention my computer is garbage! I don't get how to use the spread sheet and I recently put in a pick from the Rockets (Dwight) but I just noticed how the rules are apparently different then on DTTFs. I'd hate for my junk computer to give me a 0 on the first day.
ReplyDeleteFor the Google Doc spreadsheet, we know you are picking Dwight, so if it wasn't put in correctly, we will correct it for you.
DeleteOn the spreadsheet, there is a "How-to guide", it's a tab you can find on the document. It has all the info you will need. The spreadsheet is traditional DTTF rules, it's only the Drive & Slam that is new rules.
DeleteEntered the Howard pick for you. If ever your computer fights you on it again, don't hesitate to just email me or Tangent the pick. There's a timestamp on emails, so even if we only see it after the game has started, we can retroactively enter it for you if the email was sent before tip-off
DeleteHoly Valanciunas! These rebounds...damn
ReplyDeleteAs i type that a BS 3rd foul. Otherwise he'd have over 15 rebounds by half
DeleteDamn he does have 15 even though we won't see him until the 3rd
DeleteIn case anyone is looking for good live stat tracking for Drive & Slam. This link below is the best I've found. I'm using AdBlock chrome extension which cleans it up beautifully and gets rid of all the adds. What's great is it lists the fantasy point totals as well as individual stats and the player lights up in real time as they gain or lose a stat. Their calculation of fantasy points give -1 for each turnover. That's the only difference to Drive & Slam which is fine. Essentially your player will likely end up a couple points higher than what you see on this live stats page, but it will always be marginal & you'll know just by adding the turnover number to the total. Also there's a running ticker at the top for the leaders in each category in descending order of the game you're watching. I used this during the first half of the Tor / Ind game and it's enjoyable enough.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/live/NBA_20160416_IND@TOR
From this page below choose GameTracker for whatever game you want to use it for: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/scoreboard
Also using AdBlock on chrome (for look / speed) and an extension called Super Auto Refresh (that auto-refreshes just the tab / page you select at whatever interval you select), this daily leader board works great and has everything except total fantasy points. I'll let you know if I find one like this that includes fantasy points, but for now this includes ALL players from any given day so today it will combine the players of all 4 playoff games and we can clearly see the leaders in descending order in every category and you'll see it in real time using the auto refresh (I have mine set to 30 seconds, in a tab I have here in chrome that I check every so often)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbssports.com/nba/stats/leaders/live
*Again, just searching for ways that get as close to possible to what we had with DTTF
We'll try it Jerry. Thanks thanks!
DeleteHi everybody and thank you Taong for your drive to the finals!
ReplyDeleteI picked up PG13 and very good beginning for me! I was thinking about a losing effort by george but raptors sucked today: just a bit worried about remainder of series..
Good luck everyone
Picking any Houston Rocket player today is going to be absolutely dreadful. Unfortunately I actually picked one, just not the worst one possible, which was James Harden.
ReplyDeleteStill not good at all, just as frustrating as the old DTTF.
Thanks Taong for actually making some version of the DTTF game to play. At least there is something to play along with now to make the playoffs more interesting.
Miss the chance to go for the car though, through the old DTTF game. Not that I actually had a chance in hell of winning it. But it was fun/frustrating to try anyway.
I'm actually happy with my Howard pick. I knew the Rockets would get destroyed. I'm just relieved I don't have to worry about picking Howard in future games & still have Harden on a day that he'll inevitably be better than he was today.
DeleteAbsolutely. A 26 from Howard would feel very good. Solid. Harden at 23 is far more painful for those who took him.
DeleteAnd it's a 28 for Howard in Drive & Slam given the steal and block
DeleteHarden's PRA yuck!
DeleteGet rid of the multipliers for future rounds. It puts less emphasis on individual game picks and more on which teams will advance. The former has more thought and where the skill comes into play imo whereas the latter most people will have the same teams projected to go through so it just becomes more of a crap shoot
ReplyDeleteWe'll display two scores:
Delete* PRA, no multipliers
* PRABS, with multipliers
Your leagues can decide among yourselves which one you are gunning for.
Awesome, thanks
DeleteHi everyone, I am new to this site. How do you see the score of your guy? or the people in your league?
ReplyDeleteDrive & Slam UPDATES:
ReplyDelete* Busy weekend for family, apologies. Leaderboard is delayed, but picks are saved. Just no page for it yet. Will try again before Day 3.
* You can view your leagues' members now.
Total score or to see who pick who?
ReplyDeleteTotal score or to see who pick who?
ReplyDeleteFor those that are Mavs fans, it is not easy they may have won a championship 5 years ago but it feels like 8 and I don't remember them winning a playoff series since then. As defending champs they were swept by "yours truly" and appear headed the same route again. On the optimistic side if you believe in a Heat-Mavs connection, the Heat won their 2nd and 3rd titles 6 and 7 years after their first, with the Mavs winning in 2011 (ending the series on the Heat's court in game 6 after the Heat did the same to them in 2006) while the Heat won in 2006, 2012 and 2013, maybe that means the Mavs will win it all in 2017 and 2018?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the Pistons are back in the playoffs for the first time in 7 years and the last time they were in "yours truly" swept them. Logically a Pistons team on the rise should give the Cavs a better match but LeBron James Cavs could sweep any east team.
ReplyDeleteOkay, this game now really shows what I know. Due to this pesky thing called "real life" I haven´t followed the NBA at all this season. From time to time I learned something, mostly about the Mavs, and even then not too much.
ReplyDeleteNow if I try to pick a player, all I get is a listing of all available players in alphabetical order, with no info whether or not the player is actually available or if he is any good. Or injured. That makes my pickings even more of crapshoot than before ;)
I started with Howard and am more or less happy with the pick. Could have been worse, he was even better than Harden or Dirk. That´s a win for me. I pushed Z-Bo to tuesday after I read the reminders here and chose a Piston for today.
I have absolutely no idea who to pick from the Pistons. Drummon and Jackson seem to be the best picks, I start with Jackson. No idea how this is going to turn out.
For tomorrow my initial plan sees Harden, then Z-Bo. Let´s see if I change my mind again.
Another question. How and where can I see my results and these of my friend in my league?
Hi Alex, my apologies. We're supposed to have the results displayed per league earlier but was tied to family affairs. Will try again to update site later after work.
DeleteAre there any public leagues I can join? This is 37 rebounds
ReplyDeleteAre there any public leagues I can join? This is 37 rebounds
ReplyDeleteHey, could someone tell me how to access the leaderboard?
ReplyDelete