Friends in fast breaks,

If 351 points in a game doesn't excite you, I don't know what to tell you. 

MAKE YOUR WEEK 18 PICKS

• Walking Bucket Wilt OAD >>
• The Worm Survivor >>
• Pick deadline: 4pm PT Friday (3/3)

People can lament about "no defense" all they want. I love defense - Ben Wallace was my second favorite player growing up, behind Hakeem. But when a game goes this silly, you HAVE to enjoy it. 

If you missed it: SAC@LAC ended in double OT at 176-175. The second highest scoring game in NBA history, behind DEN@DET in 1983 (184-186). That did require triple OT, but we aren't judging.

HOW!?!

Kawhi is still a robot. He's been back posting 30+ minutes and 25+ points relatively consistently since late December. I miss the guy. LAC shot 58% from 3, making 26 of their 45 attempts as well as 60% from the field and 86% from the FT line.

But the BEAM was BETTER. Sacramento took advantage of LAC's 25 turnovers and two explosive performances from Fox and Monk, 42 and 45 points respectively. The duo played together back at Kentucky (March Madness plug) but I don't think they EVER blew up like this.

Hail the BEAM. Bringing us history while also signaling our location to the aliens of the universe. Beam. BEAM. BEAM!

ONE AND DONE RECAP

Weekly Standings | Player Performance | Overall Standings

Backup Picks

• 12 of our pickable players didn't play this week, and 5 of them got at least one pick
• In total, we had 29 DNP picks
  • Z. Williamson (12 picks) and S. Curry (8) were the most picked DNP'ers
  • I... don't understand. Those two have been out for WEEKS, had no positive updates recently, and have been marked with the injury warning. I can't help you more than this, lol
• We unfortunately ended had 3 double DNPs that receive zero points this week, apologies to the unlucky pickers
• Reminders
  • The Injury report is linked near the top of the picking page, it can't fix last minute DNPs, but it's a very quick and basic line of defense!
  • We do our best to provide an injury warning for players on the pick page. We are NOT a source of truth, simply trying to help people not waste a pick on a player who might be in the middle of an announced injury

Results

• 9 of our picked players scored 30+ this week, piling up big points for 85 pickers
• Our top scorer was J. Randle (46 points) and was picked by 15 of us
  • Another fresh face atop the scoreboard for us
  • This matched his career high from March 2022
  • And it's one more than his next high, which was 45 in... you guessed it, March 2019
  • Mr March over here
• Our other BIG performers: K. Leonard (44 pts, 8 picks), D. Fox (42, 4), K. Thompson (42, 9), J. Embiid (41, 11)
  • It's good seeing Kawhi up here - it might have taken the most absurd offensive game in 40 years and him playing more than he has in three years, but it was impressive
  • Same goes for Fox - there were actually three 40 point scorers from the SAC@LAC game, and George was a few points away from making it four
• We averaged 26.3 points per pick
  • The "average" picked player scored 22.6 point
  • Our last three weeks have been remarkably consistent on these metrics
• Our biggest flop of the week? I think we've got a solid three way tie
  • D. Mitchell (19 pts, 22 picks)
  • D. DeRozan (17, 19)
  • and J. Brunson (13, 18)
  • I'm not counting G. Antetokounmpo (4, 4) who left very early with a knee injury
• Some other poor performers: J. Clarkson (9 pts, 2 picks) and T. Rozier (9, 1) 

Standings Check
We have prizes for Overall points, as well as most points scored over three different Intervals (Weeks 1-8, Weeks 9-16, and Weeks 17-23). There's something to play for all SZN!

Interval 3 (Weeks 17-23) Standings

• As always at the start of the Interval, we've got a pile-up
• Congrats to the 14 J. Randle pickers, you started rock solid!
• We'll see how we shake-out with six more weeks of picking

Overall Standings

• @PurpleNurple19 continues to hold the lead
  • They made an excellent K. Thompson pick, increasing their lead over second place from 10 points last week to 18 this week
• The gap from 1st to second (18 points) is the same as the gap from 2nd to 6th
• I only share the Top 10 here, but there are prizes all the way to 50th
  • 50th place is currently at 493
  • And there's 39 people withing 15 points of 50th
  • In other words, ANYBODY'S GAME!
• We're at 27 people averageing 30 points per pick, down from 32 last week

Team SZN Performance

• I (@TheGM) got 29 points out of P. Siakam
• @TheCommish took J. Embiied and got 51 points
• @StatCzar got bulled with only 13 from J. Brunson
• @Merf got 18 (and a game-winner) from J. Tatum
• Overall, @TheCommish has our best placement at 53rd
• Reminder: We play along for fun and pride, we can't win anything

THE WORM RECAP

Weekly Standings | Game Outcomes | Golden Spreadsheet

Results

• We entered the week with 21 players and exited with 13, an 61.9% survival rate
• That's a very respectful rate for our entry into double pick land
• MIN (vs CHA) was our biggest issue, losing and dropping 7 of us
  • MIN trailed most of the game, and even brought it back to even until the final two minutes
  • They lost to the ghost of G. Hayward, who has looked rejuvenated since Feb 11th, posting 21+ in four of his last five games
  • And LaMelo. Also LaMelo.
• TOR (@ DET) also stayed close the whole time, giving 7 of us a scare
  • 11 ties and 13 lead changes, with 8 points being the biggest lead all game
• Breathe easy, and steel yourself, we do it again next week!

Team SZN Performance

• We're all out 🤷
• Reminder: we play along for fun and pride, we can't win anything

Yours in hoops,
The GM