AGAINST THE GRAIN: Home Cooking From The Chef? (REVISED)

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.

(REVISED) *KAWHI LEONARD HAS NOW BEEN RULED OUT FOR THE CLIPPERS*

I'll leave my previously write-up below, but now I feel it's necessary to mention that the Clippers without Kawhi is a HUGE difference maker in that series. The Suns just gained some serious momentum last game & they'll be coming for a win in a big win tonight. This may be the night to risk Russell Westbrook given his guaranteed usage & how well he's played lately if you believe the Suns will win tonight & ultimately win the series. Also, let's see who enters the starting lineup, likely Mann or Morris (if he's active). They're much riskier than Russ but should still decently well if the game remains competitive.

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While it may seem obvious to pick your best remaining Nets player tonight (I certainly am), let’s examine a viable alternative. While the Sacramento Kings have done nothing more than hold serve at home in their first 2 games, they also had the best road record in the conference during the regular season & Draymond Green will be out serving a 1-game suspension. This certainly could be the recipe for GS to lose this game & if you feel they lose either one of these games at home, they'd be in a 3-1 hole and it'd likely be time to pick Steph Curry. If you feel that's coming and would like to get ahead of it, picking Curry or Thompson could be good choices today. One or both will simply have to have big games and Jordan Poole is just too hard to trust at the moment as a recent injury still seems to be affecting him.

That said, I'm simply not quite comfortable picking a Warrior yet & I've got Dinwiddie still available to pick so that's a no brainer for me. However, if you've already picked both Bridges & Dinwiddie, the Warrior method above makes a bit more sense or you could go a bit further down the line & opt for Cameron Johnson on the Nets whose minutes & production has been much safer than Nic Claxton thus far.