The title is a message to all newcomers to this fantasy game -- Not Kevin Durant.
You can only pick a player once the whole playoffs. As most think that the Warriors will get to the Finals, you will want to have KD by the time that comes. Picking him now means you'll be missing out on another good player that will not advance, and having to pick Iguodala in the Finals instead of KD.
So save him. And save yourself from this mistake.
Day 1 pick:
Looking at the teams in the four games on Saturday, I can comfortably bet on the Golden State Warriors to advance. I have great respect for the Spurs, but with Kawhi ruled out for at least Game 1, I don't like their odds. Picking LaMarcus Aldridge now may make sense, but Tangent is right to have brought up that Day 3 only has two games so we might want to save a Spur on that game. Besides, I like Aldridge playing in Texas. (Left-hand brain tells me Coach Pop wanted this matchup now in Round 1 without Steph Curry, instead of a full-strength Warriors later.)
The Sixers are favored to beat the Heat in Round 1, but I have an eerie feeling about the Sixers being newcomers to the playoffs. The Heat organization has a lot of playoff experience, and I think a Game 1 Heat win (or even a 2-1 lead) will put this series in a flux. I'll have to see how that series goes.
The Raptors will win their series with the Wizards, but I want to see first how John Wall changes the landscape. Note to all who are thinking of picking John Wall .. GO FOR IT! John Wall loves Game 1s :)
I very much like the chances of the Blazers against the Pelicans. The Blazers are hot and I can very much see them winning 4-1. My pick: Anthony Davis.
Day 2 pick:
As Tangent pointed out for April 23, I will set aside picking from the Rockets' and Jazz's series for later.
I like the Bucks'chances against the higher seed Celtics, but that series too needs more monitoring before I move my pieces there.
The Cavs are advancing, who we are we kidding? My pick: Pacers' Victor Oladipo. My guts tell me he has something to prove for Game 1.
Don't forget to set the rest of the days even tentatively, just in case you forget to do so later. Gotta be safe than sorry!
Good luck with your picks!
You can only pick a player once the whole playoffs. As most think that the Warriors will get to the Finals, you will want to have KD by the time that comes. Picking him now means you'll be missing out on another good player that will not advance, and having to pick Iguodala in the Finals instead of KD.
So save him. And save yourself from this mistake.
Day 1 pick:
Looking at the teams in the four games on Saturday, I can comfortably bet on the Golden State Warriors to advance. I have great respect for the Spurs, but with Kawhi ruled out for at least Game 1, I don't like their odds. Picking LaMarcus Aldridge now may make sense, but Tangent is right to have brought up that Day 3 only has two games so we might want to save a Spur on that game. Besides, I like Aldridge playing in Texas. (Left-hand brain tells me Coach Pop wanted this matchup now in Round 1 without Steph Curry, instead of a full-strength Warriors later.)
The Sixers are favored to beat the Heat in Round 1, but I have an eerie feeling about the Sixers being newcomers to the playoffs. The Heat organization has a lot of playoff experience, and I think a Game 1 Heat win (or even a 2-1 lead) will put this series in a flux. I'll have to see how that series goes.
The Raptors will win their series with the Wizards, but I want to see first how John Wall changes the landscape. Note to all who are thinking of picking John Wall .. GO FOR IT! John Wall loves Game 1s :)
I very much like the chances of the Blazers against the Pelicans. The Blazers are hot and I can very much see them winning 4-1. My pick: Anthony Davis.
Day 2 pick:
As Tangent pointed out for April 23, I will set aside picking from the Rockets' and Jazz's series for later.
I like the Bucks'chances against the higher seed Celtics, but that series too needs more monitoring before I move my pieces there.
The Cavs are advancing, who we are we kidding? My pick: Pacers' Victor Oladipo. My guts tell me he has something to prove for Game 1.
Don't forget to set the rest of the days even tentatively, just in case you forget to do so later. Gotta be safe than sorry!
Good luck with your picks!
I'm breaking my own steps with my own pick today. Well, sort of. I'm following the last step of following my gut. I'm ignoring the issue on Monday's two game schedule and picking LaMarcus Aldridge today. I'm saving the big Wizards for home games if possible, because the Raptors at home are going to be amazing and I'd prefer to get as many Wizard picks on their home court as possible. The Golden State Warriors have been banged up all season, so I think it won't be as much of a blowout as it could be. The stage is set for Aldridge to put up some good numbers early before the Spurs get destroyed as the series progresses. For Monday, I'll need to pick a member of the Heat, so either Dragic or Whiteside. I'm gonna #trusttheprocess. Hopefully they don't storm off to a 1-0 lead. Then I'll need to rethink things.
ReplyDeleteMy pick for Sunday is a bit more straightforward. I've got Jimmy Butler. It could be a blowout, but Jimmy Butler has been hurt until recently so picking him ASAP feels right. And I have little doubt that Houston is winning this series. Saving Karl Anthony Towns for a home game which should be friendlier for his first time in the playoffs. I think they lean on the veteran in their first playoff game in a long, long time.
Butler is a good choice. You had me rethinking about my pick. Let's see.
DeleteOff to sleep, see you all later at the Warriors game!
Can't trust any Heat player sorry
DeleteHi again to everyone! One more year of playing this game, and as others said, it feels like it will be much more interesting. I hope this Playoffs will be much more open than last years.
ReplyDeleteAlso more difficult to predict series. In my opinion, after watching more games than any other year during the Regular Season (thanks to Google Drive Drive to the Playoffs), I think the safest bets are the Rockets, the Warriors(even if they miss Curry, they are too good for the Spurs without Kawhi), and the Sixers(maybe they have not enough experience, but they have been playing great lately). I also like Raptors, but Wizards have been missing Wall, and I think they always do better in the Playoffs. And never bet against LeBron. For the rest of the series, I will wait for now. Too close to pick players by now.
For Game1, on saturday I had no clear choice between a Spur or a Heat. But finally I decided to go Whiteside. It helps the fact that Embiid is missing this game, and Whiteside is also injury-prone. I will probably pick LaMarcus for monday's 2 games day.
And for tomorrow I will go with Towns. Rockets are the most favourite team on that day for me (even if I like the Timberwolves), and I could go either Butler or Towns. In this case I just like to think in advance, and I don't mind using Towns now, even if they advance. I would prefer picking him now than against Gobert or Adams.
I hope we will have more fun than ever this season, and that this game will be more complicated :-)
Whiteside was a bad choice because the Heat didn't need him out there to match up against Embiid. I figured he'd play low minutes, but he really played lowwwww min
DeleteI was afraid of foul trouble against Embiid, but obviously this was far worse...It's difficult for him to defend smaller players, but I was hoping small defenders couldn't stop him inside. But he barely got any ball inside from his teammates
DeleteWOW Pelicans@Blazers Game !.
ReplyDeleteThe good news: The Brow 50 PRA
The bad news: The Brow won
The Pelicans will never live by Rondo-Davis alone. I still think the Blazers can pull this off. But for now, I am not touching this series until a 2-1 happens.
Good game!
We have our first road winner! Do we turn on Portland now? Too soon for me, I think. I still have Washington players to pick from on Tuesday. Thursday will be a little bit tougher to decide, because the other options are Spurs (ugh) and Miami (who I'm using on Monday). Perhaps we can get Kawhi back for that game. I can only hope so.
DeleteKawhi won't return at all sadly... Pelicans series is a tough one to call. Playoff Rondo has the keys to the car.
DeleteYep, I just looked it up. Kawhi is out. Ugh....
DeleteLooks like everyone on google drive listened, the same can not be said on fantasy postseason and 10 players are done with Durant.
ReplyDeleteThat’s why Google Drive To The Finals is soooo good! Everyone there knows the game like the back of their heads
DeleteYep love the Google Drive!
DeleteTried posting this yesterday, but was logged in with the wrong account so it didn't post. Attempt #2.
ReplyDeleteInitial thoughts on this year is that there is more margin for error (thank god for that, I had Whiteside yesterday). There is no walkover series, and some teams are going to be surprised. Particularly, I'm personally not picking from OKC-UTA, POR-NO, and BOS-MIL before I see at least 2 if not 3 games. My best 3 options for yesterday were all wrong, but here they were:
3) DeJounte Murray. I was expecting Golden State to come out with a defensive scheme based around stopping Aldridge (they did). I thought Murray would be the one to exploit that (no one was). Just stay away from the Spurs.
2) Bradley Beal. I thought this would be effective because Toronto always sucks in game 1 and Wall passes the ball more on the road, plus Otto Porter was a game time decision. He got 25 PRA, which is acceptable. In case of a surprise, I would also rather have to pick from Gortat, Morris and Porter than from Gasol, Gay, and Anderson (we understand that Wall and Aldridge both have set days to be picked).
1) Whiteside. Awful idea, in the end, he was bad. I just figured he had been good to end the season, and I wanted to play him before Embiid came up. Realize now that was a bad idea. Don't listen to anything I say, I guess.
For today, here are my top 3 options:
3) Giannis. I know, I'm contradicting myself. I said I wouldn't pick from that series yet. Here's the issue though... I would rather be wrong and have Milwaukee advance without Giannis (Parker, Bledsoe, Middleton, and Brogdon are all options) than be wrong and have Indiana advance without Oladipo. I also would rather pick from MIL-BOS than UTA-OKC, because there are more opportunities to pick from UTA-OKC. Game 4 is a on 2 game day, and games 5 and 6 are matched up with the Houston, Cleveland, and Toronto series. They very well may be the lone game on one or both of those nights. So I'm not sure that it's too soon to pick Giannis.
2) Jimmy Butler. Because Minnesota is clearly the team to pick from, and he's the lone playoff veteran on the team.
1) KAT. Because Minnesota is clearly the team to pick from, and Taj is banged up.
I'm not expecting there to be many non-woodpuppies picked tonight, to be honest.
For tomorrow, we've only got two games from which to pick. Here are the best options.
3) Hassan Whiteside. I don't think it's unreasonable to count on a bounce-back game. I also don't think it's unreasonable to look at Philly's play in day one and say that they are clear favourites to win this series.
2) LaMarcus Aldridge. Even though the Warriors are keying in on him, he's still going to have at least one big game. I personally think he waits until he's back in Texas to do it, but why not give it a go on a 2 game night?
1) Goran Dragic. I'm not excited about this pick, but there's a lack of options here. Dragic is my second Heat picked and means that they are the first team I am eliminating from contention. I'm fine with that.
+1 on the Giannis logic
DeleteI'm going LA in Game 2 due to the lack of options on Monday. That's been the plan all along.
DeleteCavs looking shaky like last year, but will definitely get the job done so I am still fine with the V.O. pick today. Now for tomorrow I'm faced with a tough decision as we just found out that JoJo is going to be out for Game 2. Whiteside burned me game 1, which leaves me either Dragic or Olynyk, Olynyk thrived in the small ball offense game 1 and it could happen yet again... or would the safer pick be Dragic. Decisions.
ReplyDeleteCavs are down 20 & it's almost the 4th quarter. My take from this. They'll still win the series so don't worry.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so confident. Cleveland's third best player after LeBron James and Kevin Love is ..... who? Seriously, I'm asking. I'm looking at the boxscore and can't figure it out. Is it JR Smith? George Hill? Larry Nance? Jordan Clarkson? Yikes. This isn't the same Cleveland team we are used to without Kyrie Irving.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, they are coming back and might win the game. If they win, smooth sailing. If they lose, look out. The wheels might fall off. Cleveland has been a circus this season.
Delete