Homestretch
The end of the regular season of the National Basketball Association is still a good month or so away but for fans engaging in fantasy leagues the frenetic pace for playoff positioning has begun. As things stand, fantasy league play has hit the homestretch with four weeks left in the classification phase, including this week, before the championship rounds. This is the crucial stretch wherein you fortify your hold of your playoff position if you are inside it and make your run at it if you are outside looking in.
For this writer, of three teams I am maintaining in as many leagues, I am happy to report that I am in the mix for a championship round spot in two of them.
The one that I am in with officemates (team name: Roadblock), a 14-team, head-to-head (H2H) league, has me at number one and pretty much assured to be in the playoffs while the other (Nacho’s BW Posse) with fellow sportswriters, a 20-team, H2H league, has me at sixth spot, currently in but still needs to shape up.
The third one ( BW Ghostbusters), another 20- team, fourdivision H2H league with fellow sportswriters as well, has seen me drop to number 15, dead last in my division, and could well be eliminated once classification play ends.
For Roadblock, I must admit that it has been a relative seamless campaign so far. Save for the opening week, I have led the league every step of the way and lost only twice in 16 matches.
Credit this strong showing to the solid campaigns of the much-improved Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) and Otto Porter (Washington), the still-healthy Anthony Davis (New Orleans) and steady Eric Bledsoe (Phoenix), Eric Gordon (Houston) and Myles Turner (Indiana).
Also chipping in their fair share are Greg Monroe (Milwaukee) and Courtney Lee (New York) as well as notable pickups Nerlens Noel (Philadelphia), Sean Kilpatrick (Brooklyn) and David Lee (San Antonio).
Unfortunately for me, I lost Jabari Parker (Milwaukee) to a season-ending knee injury, which has affected my team as far as points, rebounds and field goal percentage go, prompting me to take my chances on Ish Smith (Detroit) and Maurice Harkless (Portland) currently.
While I’m happy to be leading, I’m fully aware that it does not guarantee a championship, especially since our playoff format has no bye for the top teams, leaving me still on my toes and surveying the wires for players that could help down the line.
As for Nacho’s BW Posse, I take special pride in it as it has worked its way up the standings. From a low of 18th spot at one point it is now in the top five.
Antetokounmpo stars for me in said league with valuable steady contributions from Serge Ibaka (Orlando), Porter, DeMarre Carroll (Toronto) and Lee.
Amir Johnson (Boston), Derrick Favors (Utah) and Seth Curry (Dallas) have also been of help.
A key loss is Zach Lavine (Minnesota) who suffered a knee injury and is out for the season. Luckily, pickups in lieu of Lavine — Kilpatrick and Solomon Hill (New Orleans) — have somehow cushioned his departure.
Interestingly, I received trade proposals for some of my players over the course of 16 weeks and good thing I did not accept them, notwithstanding the early struggle I had, for it is seemingly paying off. I hope my ascent continues. On the part BW Ghostbusters, it has been a letdown to say the least. For a team that boasts of the likes of LeBron James (Cleveland), Nicola Jokic (Denver), Dwight Howard (Atlanta), Tony Parker (San Antonio) and Evan Fournier (Orlando), a 15th place position is underachieving.
Better handling from my end could have made a difference but still injuries to the likes of Avery Bradley (Boston) and Fournier and occasional underperformances from my players have not helped my cause.
Just the same, I’m not going out on a whimper and bent on at least landing in the top 10.
With four weeks left in fantasy league classification play, anything can still happen. Exciting times ahead for fantasy freaks and here’s hoping the best for your respective teams.