Friends in fast breaks,
With the MADNESS upon us, here's a quick update on last week:
- Survivor #1 - 8 left alive
- Survivior #2 - 41 left alive
- Weekly Pick'em - 6-way tie at 14/15 correct, spitting our weekly prize: @23james23, @Demartin1015, @jkaraica, @jriles0798, @mfc13, @morea1ms
Let's go!
WEEK 22 PICKS
- Points One-And-Done
- Survivor #1
- "All 30" One-And-Done
- Survivor #2
- Weekly Pick'em
PICK STATS
Points OAD
- V. Wembanyama takes our top spot with 55 picks
- We all agree he's real by now, right?
- Stay healthy, and the guy is going to post absurd stats and highlights for his whole career
- D. Bane makes a comeback with 45 picks
- Right when so many of us need a real "good player" again
- We can't all be so smart about holding back on good players
- Then a bit of a cluser of D. Murray (34 picks), J. Murray (29) and J. Jackson Jr (26)
- Interesting low volume picks: C. White (1 pick), D. Vassell (1), S. Henderson (1)
Survivor #1
- Status check
- 8 people alive, all with 1 miss
- The whole shebang could end this week
- Remember: In a week where multiple people go out, most total correct picks matters for your final ranking
- SAS nabs 4 picks as our top team
- 15-54 and our top team
- Hello end of SZN picking!
- ATL, HOU, NYK, and WAS all with 2 picks
- I'm just belly laughing at this point
- Good luck all!
"All 30" One-And-Done
- SAS on top here too with 50 picks
- NYK is right behind with 49 picks
- Then there's ATL (41 picks), BOS (29), and HOU (29)
Survivor #2
- Status check
- 11 of you are still flawless
- 30 of you have missed once, but are still kicking
- Remember: In a week where multiple people go out, most total correct picks matters for your final ranking
- This is our last week of 3 picks, next week is 4!
- Our top picks were close: ATL (26 picks) and NYK (23)
- Our most common triplets were ATL, LAL, NYK and ATL, HOU, NYK - taken by 4 people each
Weekly Pick'em
- 16 games in the slate this week
- We have 2 close matchups this week
- SAC @ ORL - 55.2% on ORL
- NOP @ MIA - 57.5% on MIA
- Then there's 7 lopsided matchups
- BOS @ DET
- DEN @ POR
- LAC @ POR
- BKN @ NYK
- PHX @ SAS
- OKC @ TOR
- BOS @ CHI
- That leaves 7 games in the "middle"
- At this point, I don't think we're seeing a perfect week this SZN
- (Praying my usual jinxing works!)
BEST PICK COMMENTS (Theme: Favorite Jersey?)
Reminder: The weekly themes are totally voluntary, you can always be as wild as you want. Consider them a suggestion if you need a jumping-off point for your comment.
@Jts5522 (HOU, LAL): "I gotta go with the late 90/early 2000’s Kings” jerseys are a staple to my Jersey collection!"
GM says: The boned-by-the-refs classic, before everyone decided complaining about them was cool this SZN
@Trentoff (L. Ball, J. Green): "Red Walton Blazers 1977 or Walt Frazier blue Knicks"
GM says: I see the appeal! The classic Portland/Houston/Bulls red jerseys are all so solid.
@Rodgers_is_dead_to_me (J. Green, K. Thompson): "Cream City, all the way."
GM says: A sus name, but a gorgeous jersey
@Jp2099 (N. Jokic, J. Green): "Atlanta hawks pistol Pete Maravich lime green"
GM says: These are straight up awesome - Why haven't we seen these as a throwback in the last 5 years?
@RedEd4 (A. Edwards, V. Wembanyama): "Classic jersey with modern shorts, no smuggling allowed"
GM says: But think about the BREEZE in some tiny shorts? You'd feel so fast.
@schm0869 (Weekly Pick'em (H2)): "Sonics classic. I picture Dale Ellis, hands on hips, in the road green uniform."
GM says: We're all onboard with NBA expansion to bring back Seattle JUST to get these jerseys back, right?
@Jattridge (Weekly Pick'em (H2)): "Old school suns"
GM says: I had to assume you meant the purple shooting sun-ball ones. I love the Suns for keeping them in rotation, because they ROCK.
@StatCzar (L. James, D. Murray): "So I've been waiting to use LeBron because I wanted to write about him a bit (way too long for the average comment) and his overall career. I don't want to talk about whether or not he's better than MJ. Or discuss why or why not you might find him annoying. I just want to say I'm from NE Ohio, I grew up about an hour from LeBron and went to college in Akron. I can still remember my confusion seeing Akron on the PTI rundown and then discovering the next great basketball player was in our own backyard. I regularly watched LeBron high school games in 7th grade because they were broadcast on the local stations. Whatever we thought LeBron was going to be, if you're Ricky Davis, you thought he was a guy to help you score. If you're Charley Rosen, you wrote he'd be a guaranteed bust on ESPN, but if you thought he'd be great, you couldn't have thought he'd be this. 21 years in, with more records than one can count, and still going. But his career is definitely winding down, unless he's going to play 42 years, which I'm pretty sure isn't happening, pretty. And that's the point of this post, I can literally mark the moments in my life by what LeBron was doing at the time. Whether he was the hyped prospect and exciting rookie when I was in middle school, to Gilbert Arenas pretending to be his rival as I began high school, and him ascending to the next level with 48 against Detroit and taking 14 average or worse players to the Finals, to how fun it was to start college during his first MVP years (I'll still never forgive the Cavs for not trading J.J. Hickson for Amare in 09, and likely costing themselves a title btw), to The Decision, where I can say the reaction was different in Akron than Cleveland, to him coming back which felt like it's own title, I literally stopped working the rest of the day to just consume reactions to finally winning the title which also torturing the fans of Toronto year after year. I can pretty much tell you what I was doing for every LeBron milestone to the point it's hard to fathom life without watching him play basketball. Perhaps LeBron isn't the GOAT, perhaps Wemby or someone else will soon surpass him. But I doubt I'll ever experience a player in any other sport I have such a pseudo-relationship with. The man had my grandma wearing a Witness shirt and LeBron socks while drinking coffee from a cup that said I Hate Steph Curry. I can mark moments of triumph and tragedy in my life based on epic LeBron games at the time. And regardless of when it ends, cue the Green Day, because watching him from start to finish has been the time of a life. "
GM says: There's our little essay writer, with another awesome Grandma Stat tidbit. I wish more people spent time appreciating players instead of hating them. Curry ruined the Rockets best runs in the last 10 years, but I can still appreciate him (after the buzzer).
@kbanaian (J. Brunson, J. Green): "I’m amazed I still have Steph available. I think I’ll keep him an extra week."
GM says: Like a secret little gift you left yourself
@YikesVikes (K. Kuzma, P. George): "Paul George - Kyle Kuzma, they've got the floor and more, in fact these two alone could have beat UK the way they played without madness. "
GM says: Are you disrespecting future-car-dealership-manager Mr. Gohlke?
@Logan2273 (S. Gilgeous, A. Davis): "Was trying to save guys, but these injury reports are killing me"
GM says: There's only 4 weeks left, gotta use them at some point!
@YikesVikes (Weekly Pick'em): "With the madness this week the NBA doesn't matter."
GM says: Fair. But I'm still watching!
@RedEd4 (Weekly Pick'em): "Smile and wave fellas, smile and wave..."
GM says: Just enjoy it while it's happening, we'll have to go months without ball again soon
@kbanaian (ATL, LAL, All 30): "“Pick me! Pick me!” “Sit down, Wizards.”"
GM says: No one has been happy when it was time to take WAS this SZN. Nobody.
Yours in Roundball Rock,
The GM