THRILL OF VICTORY

It was the thrill of victory almost from the opening tip last night playing NBA fantasy basketball on FanDuel. There were three games on the slate:

1. Spurs at Nets at 7:30
2. Wizards at Bulls at 8:00
3. Heat at Warriors at 8:00

Here’s how I broke down the Spurs & Nets:

• Spurs best defensive team in NBA with 89.7 ppg allowed.
• Low Over/Under of 194.
• Spurs 15-point favorites.

Figuring the Spurs would play tight defense, I ignored Nets players. Figuring the Spurs would win easy, I could see Gregg Popovich resting his older regulars when his team took hold of a good lead. So I considered just two Spurs:

1. LaMarcus Aldridge
2. Kawhi Leonard

I went with LaMarcus Aldridge – hoping that he’d get out of the gate quickly – and I’m proud to say that I hit that nail right on the head:

• Aldridge hit the game’s first basket.
• He scored 8 points as the Spurs forged an early 14-10 advantage.
• And collected three rebounds at that point.

Those 11.6 points vaulted me into an early lead.

AGONY OF DEFEAT

And as the night went on, his 41.2 total points helped me ride first place all the way to the last 0:26 of the Heat-Warriors game. That’s when Stephen Curry – whom I did not play – hit a three-pointer to extend the Warriors lead to 110-101. But worse, that three-pointer knocked me out of first place, into second place, and I tasted the agony of defeat for the first time all night.

With just 0:26 left, I was going to win money – but I wasn’t going to maximize. I had only two players alive:

1. Goran Dragic
2. Andrew Bogut

Dragic was on the court, but Bogut was riding the bench. So, in effect, I had just one player who could score.

Then with 0:15 left, fate smiled upon me. Dwayne Wade scored on a dunk – and Goran Dragic picked up the assist. That point-and-a-half vaulted me back into first place.

I had to sweat out those last 14 seconds:

• Dragic fouled Curry.
• Curry made the first free throw.
• But he missed the second.

THE THRILL IS BACK

Once again – and finally – I was tasting the sweet thrill of victory.

As previously mentioned, I play on FanDuel. I’ve tried DraftKings on occasion but prefer FanDuel. And for research purposes, I use both numberFire and FantasyCruncher.

Tonight, FanDuel offers four NBA slates:

1. 7:00 p.m. – all 8 games
2. 7:30 – 2 games
3. 8:00 – 3 games
4. 8:30 – 2 games

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com, Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow