Week 4 and What Just Happened

No undefeated's remain, while Miami remains as the lone win-less team.

Week four guys...Just damn...So many close games...(and this is for Logan, but can I just say one minute and twenty-five seconds? Fucking REALLY!?) Between that, AJ Green tearing his hamstring, Casey Neistat ending his vlog, and just the emotional roller coaster that was following the final few minutes of last nights games all while watching my week four total slowly creep up only to fall short. I'm just drained this morning, I can only handle so much disappointment, but time drudges on and so must I, I only offer this disclaimer, this may seem, at times to be a bad beat article, it's not, it has a point, bare with me, I think you'll be glad you did, let's do this thing. 

GAME OF THE WEEK

Some losses just hurt more than others. Maybe it's frustration from waking up at 12:30 and not being able to add a player when I had one claim remaining...maybe it's all the injuries my team has and the not having the IR available to hold them...maybe it's my team getting my hopes up, and the only thing that could save me, overtime, happening, before being taken away, in this instance.                               

Maybe, it's because, when it comes to basketball, I always lose to Joey. Last year's finals, last year regular season, finals the year before that, and the finals the year before that. I had essentially accepted that it was going to happen again, but my team decided to keep me hopelessly optimistic and when the above happened, I saw 102-102 on my phone with no time remaining.

I was down seven points, I have Boogie in play, and Rondo, and Robin Lopez, I have a chance. Then nope...clock malfunction apparently, I see two things happen, score changes to 102-99, and Boogie loses 2 points. Down by nine. Three minutes left in the Bulls-Lakers game. Lopez is not in the game, Rondo is, he get's an assist, then a rebound, then another rebound, I'm within 5. Swaggy P hits a 3, to make the game 110-112. Forty-five seconds remaining. It could happen...This game could go to OT. Only problem. My phone said it as 110-112, says bad pass, Taj Gibson turnover, I get optimistic again, it's going to happen. As if my team was willing this overtime into existence. But it wouldn't happen, the score, for whatever reason didn't update, it was actually 110-115. Game ends 110-118. My night ends. Down five.

It's like a cosmic joke, they dangled a carrot in my face then took it away...This all leads to a bunch of hypothetical's and what-if's that I'm sure all of you undergo weekly. What if I woke up an hour earlier? Had an extra player? Surely they would have won me the game, actually yes, I was planning on adding Luol Deng in the revenge spot, he didn't do great, but 15 points would have done it. But that's fantasy. See I could have added him, just as Boogie could have had a decent game, I mean it was against Jonas after all, everyone goes off on Jonas. But instead, Jonas went the fuck off, in what was another twist of the knife, Jonas had a Boogie-like score, while Boogie had a Jonas-like score. That Raptors-Kings overtime could have happened as well.

But it didn't. Timberwolves win it, fair and square, both teams move to 3-1.

It's the best of what I love and hate about fantasy. So many things can go wrong, or right, and yet it elicits real emotion. Anything can happen, it was a fucking roller coaster, and I come out the other side emotionally drained, not because I'm mad, or upset... Disappointed, sure, but no, I emerge from this week drained because I fucking love it. It's why I write this article every week, and play season after season. It's for games like these.

In the end I can only elicit one response to Joey, my friend, who has been my rival these past seasons, and that is this...Good Game.

BLOWOUT OF THE WEEK

What happened to the Heat guys? They pulled a Carolina Panthers this year, going from a contender and favorite before the season to just being, as Charles Barkley would say, turrible. If you told me before the season started, that the team that has Westbrook would be win-less through week 4,  I would have laughed. But here we are.

I don't even know if Travis is trying, 1/7 acquisitions used? Gonna try to convince me E'Twaun Moore and J.R. Smith are too valuable to drop? You're gonna lose that argument bruh. 

1307-756, that's just embarrassing. Not saying the Heat could have won, 1300 is a lot, but you could have tried.  Good on Bradley though, that's back-to-back 1300 point games heading into week 5 against a Trail Blazers team that's determined to usurp the Heat for the bottom of the standings. The Heat, meanwhile, get a match-up with the newly cemented 2-win Houston Rockets.

UPSET OF THE WEEK

The Rocket's have won two games, it's all ogre now, might as well pack it in for the season. In what can only be described as an absolute shocker, Beau's Houston Rocket's toppled the undefeated Charlotte Hornets four of the seven nights to win with a final score of 1413.5-1327.5, all on the back of the Fantasy player of the week, Hassan Whiteside's, who's rocketing up the player rankings (pun definitely intended) as well, with a good showing of 233 fantasy points, an average of 58.25 per game. Week 5 will see the Rocket's try to extend their winning streak to 2 against the abysmal Miami Heat, while the Hornet's get a much tougher match-up against the 2-2 Spurs. 

NIGHT OF THE WEEK

A couple 290's but no one topped 300, and since that is a requirement, no one gets the nod.  We're all terrible.

FAIL OF THE WEEK

With the Sunday night goose egg. I really hope this award goes unearned one week, I really do.

That does it for this week's Garbage Time, a lot of interesting match-up's happening this week that can really shake up the standings, the great thing is, it's still anyone's game, even the Heat's. We're off to a great start to the 2016-2017 season, let's keep this train rolling. Until next time...

WEEK 3

The Timberwolves have fallen.  Only the Hornets and Kings remain undefeated. A lot to cover this week, so let's get to it. It's Garbage Time baayyyyybeeeeeeeeeee.

Hit my music.

I imagine Matt must know what it feels like to be the Cubs, because after 108 years, he finally won! With Matt's win, and Joey's loss, we no longer have three undefeated teams and three win-less teams, so congrats guys, we beat the Illuminati. I guess this means Half-Life 3 is never coming out after all. Next week get's even more interesting, with BOTH of our 0-3's facing winnable match ups against the Raptors and Blazers. And if everyone remembers correctly, it was about this time last year that Miami went on a tear, so Bradley might have his hands full this week. Moving on to the undefeated squads. Charlotte eek'd out another close one, while my Kings rolled. The Hornets get a breather in week 4 against a Rockets squad that have struggled to find footing ever since their week one win. On the flip side, my Kings will be handed their toughest test to date in the T-Wolves since I always lose to Joey in Fantasy basketball, but hey, I beat him in Football this week, which is nice. But enough! No more babbling, let's get to the Garbage Time week 3 awards. Quick side note, I wish this was a more physical 'in person' league, if it was, I'd totally get someone an end of the year award for most fails or most blowouts or something. The award would be 'The Golden Trashcan' and it would be... GLORIOUS.

GAME OF THE WEEK

I'll gladly admit I was wrong.  Like many LeBron James detractors, I criticized the Spurs for not being cutthroat enough, and while they weren't, and this game came down to the wire, they did enough to get the job done. And in the end, that's all that matters. Getting the W. It will remain to be seen if the Timberwolves feel they left points on the table, finishing the week with three acquisitions left, and losing by a mere 17.  That has to be sobering. 

This was one of the closest contests we've ever had, and between two perennial contenders at that. The T-Wolves even won the week split four nights to three. But Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green weren't having it, I mean if both of them posted their season average, Joey, not Heath would have won, hell, if only Andrew Wiggins posted his season average, the Timberwolves would be 3-0 and the Spurs would be in desperation mode. The entire narrative would change. 

This game showed a chink in the Timberwolves armor.  All week Joey outwardly stated that he would lose.  Maybe that attitude in and of itself caused his loss. Maybe he was showing false humility and giving his opponent a nod in good sportsmanship. Maybe he truly believed he would lose. Maybe belief was in fact the cause of his loss. I learned this a long time ago. If you ever go into a game thinking you'll lose, you've already lost.  Maybe that's digging too deep. Maybe it's just fantasy basketball, and random anomalies occur. Maybe. 

The Timberwolves are looking for a bounce-back spot in week 4 against the undefeated Sacramento Kings, while the Spurs have a match-up with Lillard/Butler led Bulls.  

                           

BLOWOUT OF THE WEEK

Something's rotten in the city of Boston.  With only 2696 fantasy points scored on the season, the Boston Celtics are in dead last in fantasy production so far this year. In fact, there is more than 1300 points in difference between the last place Celtics, and first place. That's an entire week's score! And not even a shitty score, like a legit total.  

I don't know the extent that Sam keeps up with his team. I've seen him pick up people, as well as forget to start people. So I know he does pay attention, at least somewhat.  But this week, getting handed his 3rd loss in as many weeks, in a blowout no less, should serve as a wake-up call, or so I hope. We have a long year of basketball ahead of us, and hopefully he can right the ship, he has the ability to make some moves, he just has to make them. 

I'm going to be blunt, even with the absolutely stellar play from DeMar DeRozan so far this season, the Celtics just don't have the talent to win a lot of games, and it's not entirely his fault. His teams legs were cut out from under him with Golden State's acquisition of KD killing Klay Thompson's usage, as well as the move of Victor Oladipo to OKC killing his usage now that he plays alongside Russ. Not to mention LMA has never really regained his production since moving to San Antonio. 

On the brightside, the Celtics have some bright spots in breakout candidate Devin Booker , and Julius Randle. It's definitely a rebuild year, and he, like the real Celtics, are in need of a real star to build around. Like in the case of the real NBA, I would recommend maybe trying to go younger and find teams willing to take on Klay, LMA, and Oladipo at a slight discount and try to get back upside, although I think you can hold on Klay, his shooting slump will turn around at some point. Regardless, the truth still remains, they HAVE to do SOMETHING, and I really hope they will.

As for this game, the Kings swept all seven nights and won by a total of 330.5. The Kings move to 3-0 on the year and face a tough match-up in a hungry Timberwolves squad. I think it's this week that my lack of depth at small forward bites me in the face, I've made some bad acquisitions and drops *cough Dennis Schroder, for the sake of winning games I was already winning. feelsbadman.gif It's really terrible that no trades ever seem beneficial to both sides(I'm working on a solution you can read about at the end of this article!). Heath and I had a back and forth for a while but couldn't reach an agreement so talks just broke down.  Anyways, I'll try to keep it together in week 4, while Boston will look to take a shot against a Portland team that had it's first taste of victory in week 3.

NIGHT OF THE WEEK

We had two scores over 300 this week, but the bomb goes to the Chicago Bulls who had a November 9th total of 320.5 against the Houston Rockets. With Jimmy Butler being his highest scorer of the night with 65.5, Kris had 4 other players top 40 points on the night.

DUD OF THE WEEK

Good news everyone! No one posted a goose egg this week! That's FAN-FUCKIN-TASTIC. The Rockets have the dud this week only managing a paltry 66 points from 3 player's on Sunday's slate.

GARBAGE TIME RANT

Honestly, trading is one of the best parts of fantasy, but we haven't been trading. And I think it's because people, and I'm just as guilty as anyone, either undervalue other peoples players, or overvalue their own, or both. So it's for this reason I am going to work to create a Google docs spreadsheet for our league, it will contain all NBA players, it will be sortable, and it will be sorted by tiers. Tier S, then Tier 1-A, tier 1, tier 2-a, tier 2, and tier 3. This should help give actual value to your players, and garner more understanding, I am even going to highlight upside players that have potential of going up to higher tiers. This is going to be a process so it may take a week or so to get it up, but I will post a link when it does.

  

One thing's for sure, next week is going to be interesting...Stay tuned!

                                               

Week 2

Maybe the roasting I gave the Portland Trailblazers last week lit a fire under their ass.  At least, I hope I can take some credit for their apparent turnaround, and their herculean effort in a heartbreaking loss to the Hornets.  Hey Matt, you should rebrand to the Philadelphia 76ers, you have a lot in common with them this year, and that's not an insult. You come out the gate looking like the same team, but there's so much optimism, and you come so close, and try so hard, only to lose in the final stretch. On the bright side, you're getting a game of the week nod this time around, so keep your chin up. 

At least you're not Boston... Because Boston...There's only ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE YOU, and I'm gonna SPELL. IT. OUT. FOR YA

It was a week of tough matches and blowouts around the league.  Houston put the league on notice that they aren't going to be a pushover like they were last year, while Minnesota and Sacramento reassured everyone that they're still every bit as dominant as they were last season.  

                                                     

Anyways, it's time for the only weekly awards show where the rules are made up and the points don't matter... It's GARBAGE TIME!

GAME OF THE WEEK

Charlotte Hornets vs. Portland Trailblazers

What a heartbreaker for Portland.  Moving to 0-2 in a game that came down to the final day, the Trailblazers seemingly had the Hornets number winning two of the first three days, but Charlotte, determined to remain undefeated, would not be denied, turning in back-to-back wins on night four and five before sealing it up for good on night seven.  Portland looked much better this week, while Charlotte seemed to struggle to hit the same rhythm they had in week one. Portland will hope to right the ship against the also struggling Miami Heat next week, while Logan's Hornets will hope to remain undefeated against the Anthony Davis led Raptors.

BLOWOUT OF THE WEEK

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Chicago Bulls

Minnesota.went.off. Led by the top fantasy scorer of the week, CP3, Joey took the week 6-1, absolutely humbling the Bulls, outscoring them by more than 500 points and scoring a mammoth total of 1563, the highest total of the week.  Bright side for Chicago is they have a much more manageable matchup this week in the Houston Rockets, while Joey and the Timberwolves have a rematch they nearly lost from last seasons quarterfinals against the San Antonio Spurs.

POSTERIZE OF THE WEEK

(Night of the week)

The Minnesota Timberwolves get this one too with a night three total of 318.5, marking the first team this year to have a 300+ point total on the night.

FAIL OF THE WEEK

The Sam Dekker of the week is the San Antonio Spurs who put up the goose egg on night seven.

NBA is back in full swing, and our league looks to be stronger than ever. I'm still waiting on some teams to make some moves to challenge Joey and myself at the top. We will see how the power rankings shake up this week. It's too early in the year to tell, but I feel the Hornets are on a mission this season, they seem to have the pieces to be a championship contender, and when Joel Embiid is removed from a minutes restriction, it's gonna be scary. *shudder* His biggest fault is the inability to really drop anyone throughout the week. But that's what it takes to win. He's going to have to make some sacrifices or some big roster moves to shore up some bench space so he can make matchup moves every night.  Looking at this roster, I know what i'd do, and who I'd target, but I'm not about to hand out free fantasy advice to the competition. 

That will do it for this edition of Garbage Time, tune in next week when we find out if Portland can finally blaze a trail to victory, or if they can't handle the Heat.