NBA FInals Strategy: Picking the Right Players on the Right Days

Tangent here!

The NBA Finals is one of the easiest for strategy. You simply have to pick players from your remaining pool of options and hope you pick them on the right day. Essentially, you are relying on all the work and (hopefully) good reads you did in the previous three rounds.

The NBA Finals this year is Golden State vs. Cleveland. A lot of us ended up using players from both sides when they were down 3-2. Why did we do that again? Did we expect a different NBA Finals as if these two teams weren't destined to meet again?

I fell into that trap, because I thought Boston was going to advance. That meant I left Marcus Smart on the table, and picked LeBron James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Jeff Green. I didn't have that problem with Golden State though. I only picked one member of that team in Steph Curry, and that was only because I was out of good Rockets to pick anyways. That leaves me the following options for the Finals:

Draymond Green
Kevin Durant
Klay Thompson
..... ????

All remaining picks are TBD. Plenty of options like Kevin Looney, Andre Iguodala (if healthy), Kyle Korver, and JR Smith. None of them are good, but on the right day any one of them could be a passable pick. I'd advise picking a big name player first (if you have any left) and waiting to see how the rotation players stack up in this series. Perhaps this is a series where Korver will get heavy use. Or perhaps he will only get 12 minutes of playing time. The coaches have a game plan, so we should wait one game and see which reserves are part of that game plan. Tonight, I've got Draymond Green. Who do you have?


Comments

  1. FPS: Curry
    GDTTF: Jeff Green while Love is sidelined

    Dubs in 5

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    1. Doh, Love is back. Jeff Green out.

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    2. FPS: Curry
      GDTTF: JR Smith. Not because he’s a safe pick (most dangerous even), but because of the potential.

      Dubs in 7 now with Love active.

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  2. Here we are...How did I forget about my "never bet against LeBron" strategy? Sorry, I will not do again...

    So my plan to keep all the Warriors available worked finally, but I am too far in the standings anyway. So it's their 4 allstars, plus Iguodala if healthy. And about the Cavs...only Hill and JR available. Anyway I will have decent options if this Finals go to 7 (which I don't think so).

    I will start as always. My game1 of the Finals doesn't change, as I pick always Draymond before he kicks LeBron's in the middle and gets suspended...or not. I think he would need to kill someone to get a suspension xD

    Enjoy the Finals! (even if I am also a little tired of the same matchup)

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  3. Few minutes before halftime Cavs were leading much. Halftime came and tied. Wow

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  4. Oops, did I err? I most certainly did.

    As I explained in detail I don´t have too much left for the Finals to pick from. Essentially one good Warrior in each game (two of Iguodala comes back). In Fantasy Postseason I have Klay Thompson, in google drive it´s Draymond Green.

    Good news: in FP I saved Klay and picked Livingston (I have a fond spot in my heart for him ever since I used his story in my bachelor thesis back in 2013) who had 4/2/1 in regulation and added great 6/1/1 in overtime including that stupid stuff at the end. His best game after the first round. Great.

    Bad news: in GD I wanted to start with my remaining star Draymond Green. But, ahem, I, uh, somehow picked Klay Thompson? As of now I still have the points, but they won´t stay there for long. Especially stupid considering Green had 5 more PRA than Thompson anyway.

    Just in case I had put Green in there before changing it to Klay, is there a possibility to restore that? If not then it will be Green in g2. If you grant me my wish then it will be Looney in g2.

    That was nearly as clever as whatever J.R. Smith did in the waning seconds.

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    1. Yeah, you clearly had Draymond Green penciled in for that game. You outlined he was all you had left in Google Drive in your previous blog post. So, sure, I'll grant the wish and give you your Draymond Green pick. I mean, that's clearly who you were planning to pick, and you just mixed up who you wrote down. Not like it will matter much anyways. Starting Game 2 your PRA is about to become real sketchy anyways :P

      I was tempted to give you JR Smith hehe. Just because.

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    2. I picked JR Smith in GDTTF. Aren’t dribbles counted there??

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    3. Sure, why not? Smith is goint to want to redeem himself. I have to pick scrubs anyway, so I will try J.R. for g2. Maybe he at least tries to take over responsibility in the beginning. Smith to the rescue.

      OMG. I have a problem...

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  5. Alright time for my round 3 recap! Last year this recap was short as we had the minimum 8 days from 2 sweeps, this year it's the exact opposite with the MAXIMUM 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Date -- Google drive pick (PRA) ---- Fantasy postseason (PRABS+bonuses-TOs)
    5/13 -- Jaylen Brown (32) ---- Marcus Smart (17) Surely the Celtics aren't going to pull off another upset, right?
    5/14 -- Eric Gordan (23) ---- Clint Capela (24) Decent picks, losing team
    5/15 -- Kevin Love (39) ---- LeBron James (72) Could the Celtics do it again?
    5/16 -- Clint Capela (16) ---- Eric Gordan (34) ---- Great game from Gordan not so much from Capela.
    5/19 -- LeBron James (44) ---- Kevin Love (31) Alright Celtics are up 2-0 (37-0 all time THIRTY-SEVEN AND O) so it's safe to use the remaining top Cavs as they will give it their all................. sadly the Margin was too BIG preventing even bigger scores!
    5/20 -- Trevor Ariza (11) ---- Paul Tucker (11) Equal disappointment but with G5 assured I needed to handle 1 game outside the Rockets Top 4.
    5/21 -- Tristian Thompson (27) ---- Kyle Korver (21) Good scores though unfortunately in a winning effort
    5/22 -- James Harden (38) ---- James Harden (46) The scores aren't bad like last year BUT the Rockets WON AND I used all their top players EXCEPT THE ONE who was getting HURT as I was so caught up in Harden from last year's elimination debacle!
    5/23 -- Marcus Smart (21) ---- Josh Brown (21) Since the Cavs don't have more than 2 reliable players I knew I had to use some Celtics regardless of who I'd thought would win.
    5/24 -- Kevin Durant (33) ---- Stephen Curry (36) The Rockets taking home-court back in G4 eliminated my dream of saving ALL the Warriors, winning G5 meant I was forced to take another Warrior in G6.
    5/25 -- Kyle Korver (9) ---- Tristian Thompson (8) It's pretty much LeBron James, a Wildcard player (George Hill, Jeff Green) or YUCK! KK and TT were nice wildcards in G4 but were on the YUCK patrol in G6 resulting in an inverse (terrible performance but team won)
    5/26 -- Klay Thompson (43) ---- Draymond Green (29) Strong scores but I wanted to save them for the Finals however with them on the brink I had to take them to play it safe!
    5/27 -- George Hill (10) ---- George Hill (9) Another TOTAL inverse result! Since the Celtics were at home in G7, 37-0 in series they started 2-0 and one of the ONLY TWO reliable Cavs was OUT compared to 5 or 6 Celtics then the Celtics will win only question is do I get a Wildcard? Not only did I fail to notice Hill's invisibility on the road instead of Jeff Green who does similar home and away but even if I did take Green...... the CAVS WON ON THE ROAD (after the home teams had won the 1st 6 games) WITHOUT KEVIN LOVE! I lost Marcus Morris AND AL HORFORD due to the Celtics G7 CHOKE with only 79 points against a 1 MAN team (alright Green helped out)
    5/28 -- Stephen Curry (46) ---- Kevin Durant (51) - Chris Paul was still out so I lost him, I was thinking of using some scrubs on the Rockets to save the rest of the Warriors but after losing Horford I did not want to chance another shorthanded team winning!

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    1. I think i lost two good Boston picks. Should have held on to LBJ even down 2-3 since I wasn’t ranking good anyway.

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  6. Coming down to the wire for me. Gonna be a fun ending.

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    1. Yeah saw that! You need good picks outside of KD and Green. Good luck!

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    2. Iggy in game 4! And hope for a sweep! Haha but really Nance or Korver may come into the equation. Livingston maybe if Klay misses more time. Who knows. In hindsight glad I picked Klay game 1 with his injury looming

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  7. I had Klay for tonight, but it looks like a very risky pick even if he plays. So I will go with Curry tonight. Hoping for a Cavs win to make it a little more interesting. But right now I need to pick from the 4 allstars, just in case

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  8. I've got Durant tonight. Looking for a good performance from him after getting 0 points with phila1234567 and eric jr the past two days. Hopefully, Durant plays with a fire fuelled by his own Twitter burner accounts!

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  9. I'm currently joint 7th but have run out of all stars but only 31 points behind at the moment!

    I think I'm still too far back.

    I could get lucky with JR Smith/Kyle Korver or Jeff Green on the next two games but I highly doubt it.

    Great post-season everyone. See you again next year.

    Tillt

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    1. Come back at the end of the postseason, and tell us how you did. Laters!

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    2. I've actually moved up to joint 6th now and 27 behind. Still not going to win it but I think I've done pretty well!

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  10. Okay, J.R.Smith was not good. He started not too shabby with 5 points in the first quarter. And that was it. Everybody from the starting lineup contributed, except for my pick. Well, that is what I deserve after my Klay-Thompson-Draymond-Green-blunder from g1.

    Now it´s off to Ohio for the next two games. Barring a return of Iguodala my best options are bad. George Hill is my biggest stud. I hope I didn´t just miss the golden opportunity to pick him and he only got started.

    As for the series, the Cavs had their chance in g1. If they can win at least game 3, it might become a little interesting. Or... you know, how about LeBron leading his team to a series win after being down 0-3? Now that would be something. Sounds like a plan.

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    1. I’d like to see a comeback off an 0-3. That would be good for the NBA (except if fixed by officials)

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  11. If CLE wins this series at all, Lebron is the GOAT. End of discussion.

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    1. Good point. MJ didn’t really need a lot of comebacks. MJ playoff teams always dominated. Hmm.. so MJ is the GOAT

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    2. Well, MJ dominated in the 90s, and tell me when he was at least partly an underdog in any series. He built his team up and when he finally could surround himself with enough good players he was unbeatable. LeBron carried the 07 Cavaliers to the Finals and now reached the Finals for the eighth time in a row, this time with a team that has absolutely no reason to get out of the second round, let alone be here.

      If LeBron really wins this series singlehandedly (and how else could he do that?), then I would concede that he is the GOAT. And I say that knowing full well that it is impossible to do.

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  12. Another Warriors win, so another player from the Big4 to spend. KD for me tonight

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  13. I've got JR Smith tonight. Gulp. Good luck to me LOL

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  14. I started conf finals at 11th and dropped all the way to 90th with gsw big 4 left. After three games, dray/steph/durant today.IM IN 6TH NOW woot woot!

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    1. Durant was HUGE. Congrats! If only I had saved him for today and not last game

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    2. I just looked. You picked your warriors so well! Green 41 Curry 49 Durant 69. Talk about the perfect order and Thompson is bound to do alright for you next game so load him up!

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    3. Yep yep, I was close in playing klay game 2 instead of curry. I figure the bigger 2 of kd and steph would be better on the road then klay and dray. Klay game 2status made me change. I knew for sure i wanted KD for a road game. He has really stepped on the road this postseason. Heres to hoping Klay works his game clinching magic like he did last series

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    4. Yes, good luck! I also had them in the same order (and also have Klay for game4), my problem was that I did not pick very good in the first rounds. But this order made me jump from 230 to 123th in 3 games. A lot of people running out of good players

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  15. I’m bettkng my two cents :P LeBron’s final game in Ohio as a Cav.

    G4 pick: The non-suspended Draymond Green.

    Good luck with your final picks.

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    Replies
    1. Green says if LBJ goes to GS, he prolly won’t be there anymore.

      So I’m thinking he’ll get triple double in the last game of the year. Let Dubs nation and the management think they don’t need to blow up the Dubs bench and Green, for LBJ.

      Wishful thinking, but I need him to go 40 PRA for me to crack FOS top100 :P

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  16. Haha, speaking of perfect order, after that g1 blunder where I made that Green/Thompson mistake (thanks for the correction again), I managed to pick the worst of the Cavs starting five in successive games. J.R.Smith redeemed himself in g3, not g2. George Hill did a lot in g2, not g3. Bad news for everybody that now tries to salvage something by picking Rodney Hood in g4, that is my pick as well. Does not bode well for his numbers.

    Iguodala in the series clinching g5.

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  17. I've got Klay Thompson tonight, my last reaming quality option. We might be seeing LeBron James' last game in Cleveland as a member of the Cavs. Should be a fun game regardless.

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