You're down to your last chips, and you take a look at your cards. With a straight poker face and toneless voice, you push everything forward and say, "All in."
The Cavs are in that situation. They've been winning the last 3 tables with ease, but found themselves in the same table as the poker player of the year, the Warriors. Down 1-3, it's all-in for Game 5. If they upset the Warriors on the road, they'll go all-in again in Game 6 at home, and so on. Unfortunately, there's no bluffing involved. The Warriors will keep calling, until the Cavs draw a poor hand.
We are in that situation. With a probable final game, we are to weed through our roster and bring forth our best remaining player. To all of you who have been saving LeBron James in an elimination game, now is that time. To all who have been waiting for the right time to pick Kevin Love after his concussion, now is that time.
Alas, all I have left are fillers. My pick goes to my best remaining player... Shaun Livingston. He's been the X-Factor for the Warriors, in my opinion. Hopefully my DTTF season ends with a bang with a stupendous Livingston outing.
This year has been bad for my DTTF game, but I hope to overtake rebounds and jerry in the final day in our league leaderboard.
And tangent is sneaking up on Alex, but he probably doesn't want me revealing that :P
Good luck ;)
The Cavs are in that situation. They've been winning the last 3 tables with ease, but found themselves in the same table as the poker player of the year, the Warriors. Down 1-3, it's all-in for Game 5. If they upset the Warriors on the road, they'll go all-in again in Game 6 at home, and so on. Unfortunately, there's no bluffing involved. The Warriors will keep calling, until the Cavs draw a poor hand.
We are in that situation. With a probable final game, we are to weed through our roster and bring forth our best remaining player. To all of you who have been saving LeBron James in an elimination game, now is that time. To all who have been waiting for the right time to pick Kevin Love after his concussion, now is that time.
Alas, all I have left are fillers. My pick goes to my best remaining player... Shaun Livingston. He's been the X-Factor for the Warriors, in my opinion. Hopefully my DTTF season ends with a bang with a stupendous Livingston outing.
This year has been bad for my DTTF game, but I hope to overtake rebounds and jerry in the final day in our league leaderboard.
And tangent is sneaking up on Alex, but he probably doesn't want me revealing that :P
Good luck ;)
Hi
ReplyDeleteMy username is Grave. I was picking Livingston for game 5, I just took first available date and it was still 10 June. So now I have two picks for June 10. Can you please delete Livingston pick for June 10? My pick for that date was Iggy. Livingston is for game 5.
Thanks Grave for your honesty :)
DeleteFixed.
No problem, I am all for fair competition. Thanks for fixing it :)
DeleteI'm not going to finish in first sooooooooooo...
ReplyDelete...I"m going to take Shumpert in G5 with the hopes that the CAV's win and then Irving @ home in G6.
love it
DeleteMy obvious pick for game 5 is Kevin Love. But I wonder how Draymond's suspension will affect him. Maybe more minutes for Jefferson than for Love? Will the Cavs win and I should pick Jefferson? Decisions :-)
ReplyDeletego love
DeleteProbably I will...but you don't trust Cavs? I thought you would do more than me ;)
DeleteI trust in Mavs! :P
DeleteWell, certainly I don't trust the Mavs to win tonight :D But at least you had the players of your fav team available to play in this game, mine are still trying to learn about triangology xD
DeleteNah, I'm cool with the mention that I've snuck my way back into the mix. For a change, I've had a good Finals. It's usually my downfall. Just look at the archives from last year. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently leading by 11 PRA in Google Drive to the Finals over Jakester. In theory, it's a close match, but tomorrow is a David vs. Goliath type situation. I've still got LeBron James. I've been holding onto him in hopes of getting him in Game 6 at home in a championship on the line game. I'll settle for him here in Game 5. Jakester's best possible picks include Shaun Livingston, Andrew Bogut, Speights, Ezeli, and Richard Jefferson. The Draymond Green suspension certainly opens a door for somebody to step up for Jakester, so it will be a bit more interesting, but it is a massively uphill battle.
In Drive & Slam, my best available player is Love, but the same can be said for Alex. There are two people above us, and they should stay that way. One has Harrison Barnes left, and the other still has Stephen Curry, as they bet all in that Golden State would defeat OKC. It was smart move by them, and I almost did that myself. It wouldn't have helped me though, as I would have picked Curry-Thompson Game 1 and 2, and that would not have ended well for me. I was just going to pick Kevin Love, even though I expected Alex to do the same, and be happy with my finish (we were never gonna catch the leaders anyways). But with Draymond Green suspended, there is opportunity for perhaps a Cleveland win, and perhaps a good pick from Golden State's plethora of usually underwhelming low minute bigs. So stay tuned, I'm not sure what I will end up doing. Still got a day to decide where to go!
As time goes by I am not so convinced about picking Love either. Almost everybody has Love left, I know I would finish at least in 8th position picking Love. But what's the difference between finishing 8th and 12th? My original pick was Bogut, also thinking about Jefferson...I will decide when I know who will start for Green
Deleteis website down?
ReplyDeleteNope as of this writing
DeleteSite is still up but the tab on this page appears to be missing. If you google "Drive and Slam", it will show up.
DeleteAre you kidding me? ONE PARAB? Why did I take Channing Frye? I should have picked Andre Iguodala!!!! But hey we'll 4X that LOLOLOLOLOL! From best performance (LeBron James 208 to worst with 4)
ReplyDeleteI'm betting on the CAV's to pull it out tonight. Though if the DUBS win I want to say a few words in parting.
ReplyDelete...
First off
..........Outstanding job Taong.
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I know things were choppy to start the contest off with the site but thank you for hanging in there and making all the fixes as contest went along.
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I know things will be a lot better next year.
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When NBA.com came out with this contest I fell in love with it. When they discontinued it I was heartbroken.
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I want to thank you personally for keeping it alive for those of us who love it. Major props to you and all the hard work you have put into it.
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Thank you and I look forward to next year my friend.
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P.S.
I would also like to thank all of the guy's that donate their time in writing up all their articles. I love reading every ones takes and strategies.
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I just wanted to get my thank you's in in case it all ends tonight.....
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Again, thank you Taong... I absolutely love this contest..
Player situation
ReplyDeleteBoth Games:
LeBron James-I was initially saving him for the 1st potential closeout game which is tonight, but many are doing the same which is why I couldn't since the pick wouldn't be able to gain on many other players.
Google Drive:
Stephen Curry-Due to the Warriors going down 1-2, with a blowout loss in game 3, I had to use him as I believed he would go all out to get the series even at 2-2. He Proved me wrong as he did not even get 30 PAR in another 20+ loss.
Draymond Green: With the Warriors down 1-3, I had to use their best players as they were on the brink of elimination. He is the one player who I'm glad I don't have as he is suspended for tonight's game (though I'll be eating those words, if a game 6 is forced).
Klay Thompson: With the Warriors on the brink of elimination and looking incapable of winning at OKC, I had to take their last remaining star as I was certain that would be it, he gave me a strong performance, unlike when I picked Curry... and the Warriors won! That resulted in a game 7 which I figured they'd win and I came into the Finals with 2 less stars than I was planning on. Taking both big 3s would be tempting but that would mean 6 games would have to take place to play them all so someone could have been saved for nothing.
Due to the 1-3 deficit then coming back to win, I only had the Cavs Big 3 as the major players to pick from.
Kyrie Irving-I heard he was better off being played at home (but not until I took him in D&S), so I'm hoping he doesn't prove me wrong tonight.
Kevin Love-I took him at the worst possible time of any game he played in, getting single digit PAR from one of the three stars I had left due to a not so great game to begin with and then an injury.
But hey aren't there still some decent picks...
Harrison Barnes?-Let's see, I don't have that guy!
Andre Iguodala?-I don't have that guy!
Shaun Livingston?-I don't have that guy!
Tristan Thompson?-I don't have that guy!
J.R. Smith-I not only don't have him but I used him to no avail!
Looks like Richard Jefferson gets my pick, it's either him or Bogut, but Bogut hardly gets any minutes. The same could be said about my disgraceful D&S pick of Channing Frye where I failed to notice how invisible he was in games 1-3.
Bogut just got hurt, so it looks like Jefferson has turned out to be the better deal, though not by much at this point.
DeleteFinally I will pick Jefferson tonight. First I thought Bogut, but I am afraid of his usual foul trouble, even if given minutes. I guess there will be a lot of small ball minutes tonight, and hope for Cavs win and use Love at home. If they lose...well, it's just a game xD
ReplyDeleteCleveland played a stellar Game #3 to get back into the series, while being helped by the dismal play of several key Warriors players after punting the first two road games of the series in Golden State. Unfortunately that euphoria for the Cavaliers did not last long, as Cleveland totally mailed it in for Game #4, and now face a daunting task of trying to beat the Warriors on Golden State's home court, now trailing in the series 1 game to 3, and facing elimination. Going by the first two games played on Golden State's home court in this series, things don't seem very likely that this series makes it past tonight's Game #5. The only small hope that Cleveland has is that one of Golden State's big three (Draymond Green) is suspended for tonight because of accumulating too many flagrant fouls. Still trying to win in Golden State, with or without Draymond Green playing, seems an insurmountable task for the Cavaliers.
ReplyDeleteSeveral players for Golden State stepped up in Game #4 after dismal games in Game #3, namely Stephen Curry (49 PRA) and Klay Thompson (30 PRA). Harrison Barnes (24 PRA) had his second good game in a row, and Draymond Green added 25 PRA and Andre Iguodala added 23 PRA.
For Cleveland, they did get great games from Kyrie Irving (42 PRA) and LeBron James (47 PRA), but the rest of the team didn't do enough to stay with Golden State. Richard Jefferson only had 9 PRA in Game #4, and Kevin Love only had 16 PRA coming off the bench. One of Game #3s heroes Tristan Thompson only added 17 PRA, of which he had 15 PRA at halftime, and looked to be well on his way to another decent game like in Game #3 (29 PRA). Unfortunately, Tristan Thompson, my pick for Game #4, never showed up for the second half (only 2 PRA after the half), so that was incredibly infuriating and frustrating to say the least.
For tonight's Game #5, it looks like the end of the road for Cleveland, playing in Golden State needing a win to extend the series. I really don't see that happening the way things have transpired so far in this series, but perhaps with Golden State missing Draymond Green for the game that will change the dynamics of the situation. But I certainly am not going to count on that happening at all. So with that in mind, and this being an elimination game for Cleveland tonight, I am going to use their best player, LeBron James, hoping for a huge night out of him tonight, in a very likely season finale of a performance. I would have liked to pick LeBron at home in Game #6, but there is probably not going to be a Game #6 now, and time to use the best player available for the Cavaliers very likely elimination. Hoping for at least 50+ PRA minimum from LeBron James tonight. Anything less than that would be a huge disappointment for sure.
The pick of 6/13 is missing for me. Can please change my pick of 6/16 to 6/13 instead?
ReplyDeleteMy user name is League mcp53. Thanks!
Deletefixed :)
DeleteCan you slide Livingston in for 6/13. There is a G6 on 6/16 so I can use Love.
DeleteHi Grazer, your missing 6/13 pick which I found and restored for you already had Love picked. Didn't see any Livingston pick anywhere. You actually had Love both for 6/13 (missing and found) and 6/16 (deleted due to conflict with 6/13).
DeleteNot sure how to go about it
DeleteI only had 2 options to pick. Either 6/16 or 6/19. I had Love picked for 6/16 not 6/13. I tried resetting the cookie still not allowed me to make a pick for 6/13 which I plan to pick Livingston. Which I found the site has a serious glitched.
DeleteYou may have tried to pick close to tip-off. Don't do that. 6/13 was closed about 3 minutes prior to tip-off.
DeleteAre you sure you wanted to pick Livingston in an elimination game ahead of Love? ;)
You did say "Can please change my pick of 6/16 to 6/13 instead?" and your 6/16 pick at the time was Love. So your 6/13 pick is Love.
DeleteThe pick was not available prior to an hour b4 tipoff. I wasn't sure if Love was starting or not.
DeleteI'm sorry to confuse you, but I meant to insert Livingston for G5. I was still at work and accidentally type a typo. Thanks for getting the pick fixed!
Hello Taong, I went to submit my pick before game time and the only dates available we're the 16th and 19th. My user name is Alex Hamrick and my pick for the night is Richard Jefferson. Could this please be fixed. Thank you.
ReplyDeletenw, done :)
DeleteDrive and Slam:
ReplyDeleteHopefully Kevin Love comes through in this game, especially after that 1 from Channing Frye!
MID 2nd quarter and Kevin Love has TWO PARBS, could he really do worse then he did for me in game 2 on google blog?
DeleteAfter G5 was done, i wasn't surprised at all. No Green will do that.
ReplyDeleteJust skulking about having to dole out $ again for beer in G6.
Jefferson wasn't great, but...I feel good about not having picked Love or Bogut, who were my other options :-)
ReplyDelete