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Daily league owners know that there is a whole lot of strategy involved in beating a worthy opponent in a playoff matchup. Furthermore, if your matchup is two weeks, there are even more chances to take advantage of the schedule and particular matchup. A lot of owners, like myself, essentially have a three-week matchup in ESPN because that format goes until the 26th of April. Before we get down to business, I have to remind you to check out my Strategy Session from a month ago that has a lot of pointers for H2H owners. Today we're going to discuss a possible way to outsmart your opponent and address ways to utilize the schedule.
The servant waits while the master baits
There are a lot of players out there that really dominate in a couple categories. Serge Ibaka for blocks and boards, J.J. Hickson for points and boards, and Jason Terry for points and threes just to name a few. If your matchup is two weeks or more, there's a pretty good chance that you'll create quite a gap in those categories and if your opponent is smart, he's not even trying to beat you in the categories since they're more or less decided. Therefore, he's spending those adds on trying to win the other categories and it might come back to bite you.
One move I'm going to use in the near future is drop a guy that everyone and their mother would consider as a "must-own player" not only to allow me to have more roster spots to add players that will help in the tight categories. Let's set up an example:
In one of my leagues I am beating the pants off my opponent in boards and he's whipping me in blocks. So while many people will agree that Anthony Randolph and DeAndre Jordan are great guys to own, I'm am absolutely going to be cutting them after they play on Thursday (a light night). The main reason for this move is because their teams don't really have anything interesting in a stream league with the Wolves and Clippers off Friday and Saturday.
The other reason is that I'm really hoping that my opponent grabs those guys more on name. Randolph was the talk of the town with his big weekend before laying an egg on Monday; I think he'll bounce back tonight tonight, by the way. Also, DeAndre Jordan is DeAndre Jordan. If my opponent does opt to add them, then those are two players on his roster that will be helping him in irrelevant areas. Yeah, he might think his roster looks better with those guys, but his acquisitions are futile. This can even be done for even bigger names, too.
That raises the question on which players are best to cut for this type of move. Conversely, which players shouldn't be cut. Before we get there, I'd have to be clear that you guys know what you're doing on the drop. There are players that might look like specialists, but they might also be very helpful in a bunch of categories. Let's say you're smashing on your opponent in assists and steals, so you're thinking about cutting Jason Kidd as bait. Yeah, Kidd is great for those two categories, but he is also very helpful with threes. So you might be feeding your opponent some stats there. Every situation is different. Be careful is all I'm saying. OK, let's check out some schedules.
Over a month ago I wrote an article about teams that played on light nights and it's something that has really helped me out in determining which guys are better assets for my teams. Let's revisit this issue now that we're at the home stretch:
Thursday (five games) and Friday (six games) are going to be the prime days to consider doing this, so we'll go after that to determine what's good and bad:
Teams with really bad finishes
Once the Dallas Mavericks finish their back-to-back on Saturday, they are off until Thursday! Thursday! If you're in a stream league you have to cut any Maverick. Yes, even Dirk. Hopefully you can snatch him back up in t a couple days though. If not, oh well.
After Houston finishes their back-to-back set on Sunday, they are also off until Thursday.
Minnesota, mentioned above, is also off until the 26th after their game on Sunday. Sunday has nine games.
The Lakers have a national game Sunday against the Thunder, then they're off until this busy Thursday that keeps coming up.
Teams with great finishes
Ah, San Antonio. Coach Pop and Co. get a ridiculous four games in the final five nights of the season. They're off Tuesday and those four games include matchups against the Cavs, Blazers, Warriors and Suns. It's too bad there's almost no chance that the Spur studs will play in all of those games. Bench players like Danny Green are guys to think about for leagues that have an acquisition limit.
Charlotte and Cleveland have fantastic finishes with a back-to-backs on Sunday and Monday, then another one on Wednesday and Thursday. Yes, this is why I was so apprehensive to cut Kyrie last week. That thing is good. I wanna be friends with it.
Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Washington also have a nice finishes by playing in three of the last four days of the season (off Tuesday).
Golden State doesn't really have a great finish based on how we've been approaching it, but their back-to-back-to-back set starting on Friday is huge. It just has to be mentioned. They get a Tuesday game and go on Thursday as well.
Oklahoma City is one of four teams off on the finale for Thursday, but they're busy before that day with a game on Sunday, then a back-to-back set for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Teams with sub-par finishes
Chicago gets a light night on Thursday and they play on Saturday, but then they're off until Wednesday for a back-to-back with Thursday night.
Boston plays on Friday, then they don't get back on the court until Tuesday. They also do finish up on Thursday. I can see cutting almost any Celtic player on after that Friday to pick up some extra games (for heavy streaming leagues).
After Utah plays on Saturday, they only have two games (Tuesday and Thursday) for the final five days.
Positives that might be advantageous
The Los Angeles Clippers play on back-to-back light nights when they go Tuesday and Wednesday. Yes, Wednesday is a light night. It's usually one of the busiest of the week.
Phoenix also gets a B2B on Tuesday and Wednesday. The tough pill to swallow is that they're off on Sunday and Monday.
Orlando and New York play on Sunday, then they're off on Monday and Tuesday, then finish with a B2B for Wednesday and Thursday.
Toronto has a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday before they finish up on Thursday. If you're in a stream league, there's almost no chance I'd be holding any Raptor after Monday.
Thanks for reading! I'm hoping we can do a Pick-N-Roll tonight even though my voice still isn't at 100 percent from being sick over the weekend.