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Monday was a tough day to be playing fantasy hoops if you were not plugged in. Contestants who had Chris “Birdman” Andersen on their rosters got a rude surprise not long before tipoff — Andersen’s wings were clipped by a deep left thigh bruise, and he sat out Game 4 as Miami took a 3-1 lead over Indiana.
This is one of the hazards of fantasy sports, and it is easy to let your guard down now that the playoffs are in the third round and to expect that there will not be any last-minute scratches. During the regular season, fantasy players guard against this by having their body clocks set with a 6:30 EDT p.m. alarm to check for last-minute happenstances.
In this case, I was able to get Andersen off of my Monday-Tuesday rosters, replacing him with Chris Bosh in one instance to set myself up for a cash tonight.
As far as my Sunday-Monday rosters went, they were a lost cause because Birdman was the anchor at center.
Look at what happened to one of my $22 rosters, which finished a mere 6.75 DS points shy of the cash line:
As you can see, I had plenty of company in the clipped wings category, as 44 percent of the entrants went for Andersen at his relatively low price. The team shown above also had the misfortune of having Tony Parker on it for his worst game of the postseason, along with Lance Stephenson on his dud of a night.
But the fact that it almost finished in the money is encouraging, showing that at this point in the season you can overcome at least one hiccup.
So I am taking that optimism into tonight’s contests, when I will have nearly my entire $100 weekly bankroll in play — three teams in Monday-Tuesday $22 entry-fee tournaments; one team in a Tuesday-Wednesday $22 entry fee tournament. Coming out of Monday night’s Heat victory, my three $22 teams sit in 22nd, 47th and 67th place. The team sitting 22nd has the highest point total of any team with four man-games remaining, and I should have some happy news for you in tomorrow’s post if Tony Parker, Serge Ibaka, Boris Diaw and Reggie Jackson all have productive nights. Such is the benefit of having played Chris Bosh, who piled up 32.5 DS points in his best game of the postseason.
What are DS points, you may ask?
What are the rules of this game I am touting?
You start with an imaginary salary cap of $100,000, and you must choose three guards, three forwards, a center and a utility player.
You get 1 point for each point your players score, 1.25 points for every rebound, 1.5 points for each assist, and 2 points for every blocked shot and steal. Turnovers cost you 1 point, and missed shots take away a half-point.
Here is the lineup for the team that won the $22 Sunday-Monday tournament in which I finished 22nd. The winner took home a nice prize of $500.
Norris Cole, who did a nice job defending Lance Stephenson, was clearly the key low-money pickup for this player, who appears to do this for a living. DraftStreet lists “youdecao” with 212 wins in the month of May worth more than $35,000 in winnings. Two players have earned more than $100K this month playing in two-night NBA fantasy leagues.
Those players obviously sink a bunch of money into entry fees, but damn .. you know? $100,000 in a month?
My modest budget does not allow for such frivolity, but I know I am good enough to compete against the full-timers because I have won cash prizes 10 times in May thus far.
My drafting strategy for today again relies upon the studs and duds theory, with a couple of high-priced draftees and a couple of players out of the bargain basement.
Here are today’s featured prices:
| DraftStreet | Price |
| Stars | $$$ |
| Kevin Durant | $24,909 |
| LeBron James | $24,765 |
| Russell Westbrook | $22,282 |
| Paul George | $17,824 |
| Tim Duncan | $15,871 |
| Value Plays? | Under $9,000 |
| Steven Adams | $8,157 |
| Boris Diaw | $7,732 |
| Chris Andersen | $7,702 |
| Ray Allen | $7,692 |
| Norris Cole | $4,882 |
| Luis Scola | $3,342 |
I went with Cole, Scola and Jeremy Lamb ($2,875) and was able to fit James, Durant, Dwyane Wade and Tony Parker on the same team.
So I have four powerhouse guys in my lineup, but I do not need Parker to have a repeat of his Game 3 performance.
It should be noted that only 9 percent of the entrants had Chris Bosh on their rosters for the Monday-Tuesday contests, and I can almost 100 percent guarantee that he will show up on the winning team’s roster.
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Good luck!
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