Here's my first AGAINST THE GRAIN of these playoffs. This is where I recognize some popular picks of the day & make a suggestion for another player more under the radar with reasons why that player could very well over-perform & potentially put you in a good spot competitively by going contrarian to the masses.
While it may seem obvious to pick your best remaining Bulls or Pelicans player tonight (if you’ve already picked Trae Young), let’s examine why that’s a risky prospect at this point. Each of those “underdog” teams has now won a game on their opponent’s floor (essentially stealing home court) and did so just as each favored team lost a star player (Middleton on Bucks & Booker on Suns). This situation means each series is far from decided at this point & signals me to stay away from them both.
While I’m fortunate enough to have Trae Young available to pick tonight, for those that have already used him I’d say go against the temptation of the popular picks from those series I mentioned above and go with a guy like John Collins or even Bogdanovic on the Hawks (who came alive last game). I’d go with Collins as the safer bet as his rebounding should provide a more solid floor (especially with Capela out) than the other Hawk options not named Trae Young.
Without Capela, I don’t see Hawks extending the series. Dare I say sweep? 🧹
ReplyDeleteNope, they won. Large part due to Bogdanovic who proved he's the 2nd most consistent Hawk on any given night from this point forward.
DeleteYeah I lol’ed at self when i saw the final score 😂
DeleteGood, more basketball to watch
Middleton-less Bucks win.
DeleteLuka-less Mavs win.
Should have known better 😆
Booker-less Suns, w00t!
Deletecollins is bottem feeding no need to take him so early Only take top 2 options now.I took Young for 37 which is about is average.Collins with 10 Kills your game cant risk that
ReplyDeleteCollins def became too risky after this game. Didn’t get minutes down the stretch. Bogdanovic seemingly has a nice floor moving forward, but may not be worth picking any more Hawks.
Deleteno need to take anymore Hawks..Collins doesnt get minutes since his injury and is inconsistant.Tonight its Durant cant risk not taking him
DeleteI have Edwards and DeRozan for the weekend. I hope Nets and Jazz can both win. Or at least one of two, to avoid a difficult choice on Monday
DeleteSiakam 21 at half equaling his G3 (0 in OT) total! I predicted 40+ after that game and it looks very likely despite the 0-3 series mark.
ReplyDeleteSiakam had a super game ...
ReplyDelete47
DeleteNeither Irving or Durant is even halfway to that after 3 quarters
Nets are cold Bu had to pick Durant
DeleteI mentioned it in the past. I usually follow the games the next day on nba.com by scrolling through the play-by-play.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part of picking a good player in a bad night? When he goes off the next game. Case in point, Pascal Siakam. I picked him in g3, an OT game where he didn´t score after the second quarter. The very next game, I scroll throught the fourth quarter of the game and all I see is baskets for Siakam.
On the other hand, Booker is out for the Suns, I try to get creative and pick Cameron Johnson who is supposed to get most of Booker´s minutes, and he gives me a whopping 9. Combined, that is.
Sigh. Par for the course it is. Doesn´t matter. I´m not here to win, I am here to play.
So, the most interesting series with the Celtics and the Nets became a sweep-in-the-making? And me not having picked a single Nets player? Hmm... that means Durant and Irving tomorrow. I don´t risk picking anybody else. For tonight? I still have Jokic in GD, and I want to give the Hawk Bogdanovic a chance to redeem himself for me. So expect another 12 PRA outing :)
12 PRA? I should be so lucky. He gave me 9. He was bad in games 1 and 4 and great in games 2 and 3. I managed to pick him in games 1 and 4. Please remind me to never pick him again in DTTF in the future :)
DeleteI also picked Siakam on that crapshoot of a night. All the rest of his games were solid except for that one. :(
DeleteLooking back at this, it was really Hunter that turn into the prime Against The Grain pick. Dude really had a nice showing!
ReplyDelete