Alright…Here’s the scoop.  10-teams, standard categories, and a decent amount of smack talk.  After taking home the title in our fantasy football league this year (two titles in three years), I had a lot of people gunning for me in the hoops league.  The draft went a bit awry when a ton of point guards flew off of the board early.  My first picks were Elton Brand and Chris Bosh at 10 and 11, respectively.  But I digress…

After experiencing the utter brutality of injuries to several of my top selections – Bosh, Michael Redd, Rashard Lewis – I managed to sneak into the post-season as a 5-seed.  If I could just make it past the first round, I think I may have a chance to pull off the upsets needed.  Oh, and let me preface this whole thing by saying that in my money league, which is in its third year, we count “Ejections” as a category.  Yes…you may argue that it’s simply luck (or misfortune) that can win that category, but I will come right back at you with the fact that it’s Head-to-Head fantasy basketball and at this point, it’s all luck anyways. 

On to the results…

First Round Opponent: Witness This
Notable Players: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Martin

Witness This had a very solid draft.  Snagging the first pick, he then got Howard and Melo on the wrap-around.  Later round picks of Martin, Baron Davis and Emeka Okafor gave him a very high-risk/high-reward squad that paid off. 

I lucked out with a two-game week for the Magic, rendering Dwight Howard near worthless.  Okafor was just coming back from an injury, so his stats were just starting to rev up.  LBJ and Melo were on fire coupling for about 200 points, 50 boards and 30 dimes.  Luckily, neither were on their best at the line – and Witness This put up a 78% for the week.

My big dogs came on strong led by Rashard Lewis and his 116 points/16 treys, Chris Bosh’s 90 points/60 boards, and Josh Smith’s 14 blocks.  Add in a Baron Davis ejection for Witness This, and all was good. 

Final Score: 8-2

Second Round Opponent: Manute Bol’s Dong
Notable Players: Gilbert Arenas, Tim Duncan, Chauncey Billups, Al Jefferson, Tyson Chandler

Dong was the #1 seed after blowing out the majority of the league this year.  Arenas was one of the best players all year.  Couple that with an early season trade for Chandler (moving Mickael Pietrus after a hot stretch!) and a waiver addition of Jefferson, MBD was tough to beat….until the injuries piled up.

Arenas, Jefferson, Chandler and Stephon Marbury all bit the dust.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team get shelled by last-minute injuries as much as Dong did this year.  He decided to pick up Chucky Atkins to replace Arenas, but held on to the others, with news not being very vivid.  When your leading scorer for the week is Lamar Odom with 68, you know it’s going to be bad. With Jason Williams and Odom dishing the rock, I was down a ton in assists.  Duncan, Chris Webber and a late-addition of Jamaal Magloire ripped down a ton of boards, which wasn’t going to be beat.

What was going to be beat was the free throw percentage thanks to his awful-shooting big men, and my team being comprised of Bosh (89%), Brand (100%), Anthony Parker (100%) and the newly acquired Jason Hart (100%).  With Rashard Lewis and Parker simply draining the long ball, I was able to put up 54 treys – winning that category easily.  It was going to come down to steals, blocks and turnovers. 

Parker, Bosh and Brand held their own in steals, but Josh Smith was my best shot-blocker for the week with six…not good.  Smith then went on to turn the ball over 11 times which didn’t help matters much.  Thankfully, Jason Williams matched that 11 for Dong, and Odom and Ben Gordon’s nine TOs blew that total out of the water.  Oh…and Dong’s last minute addition of Chucky Atkins?  Yea, he got ejected!

Final Score: 6-4

Now it’s the finals.  With a few injuries to Antonio Daniels and Michael Redd, I added the studs Mike Wilks and Mardy Collins.  Never in a million years would I think that my fantasy basketball future rested in the hands of those two individuals.  So it goes.  Andres Biedrins wasn’t cutting it anymore, so in comes Dan Gadzuric.  (Note: All additions were made prior to the start of the finals session).

Finals Opponent: Kekumbas
Notable Players: Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Rasheed Wallace

Kekumba’s was the #2 seed going into the playoffs.  I have no idea what his name means, but his team was solid.  A win here would mean George Mason sized victories, having to knock off the top two teams in the league.  I already think I’m the coach of the year, given my roster, but Camby has been on fire and Kidd’s triple-doubles are occurring so often it’s getting ridiculous. 

My trio of point guards (Wilks, Collins and Tyronn Lue – I’m ashamed to put this in print) have been dropping dimes like crazy.  Rafer Alston, Rashard Lewis and Anthony Parker all have double-digit threes – but this was easily countered by Leandro Barbosa, Mo Williams and Walter Herrmann.  Walter Freakin’ Herrmann!

It’s getting frustrating as Bosh and Parker look like they’re done until the playoffs.  The Hawks are done for the year, so Smith is no longer useable, and lets face it…my guards aren’t exactly stellar.

Thankfully, his balance of Iverson, Camby and Sheed will be benched tonight as well. 

Here is the score as of right now…

My Line-up for tonight is as follows:

PG: Mike Wilks
SG: Mardy Collins
G: Rafer Alston
SF: Rashard Lewis
PF: Mikki Moore
F: Linas Kleiza
C: Elton Brand
C: Dan Gadzuric
U: Bostjan Nachbar
U: Devin Brown

Possible additions can be Jarvis Hayes, Jose Calderon and Steve Blake (recently added).  I’m not feeling any of them for tonight, and neither would really help me much given the score.

His Line-up will be…

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Tracy McGrady
G: Francisco Garcia
SF: Walter Herrmann
PF: Joe Smith
F: Craig Smith
C: Chris Wilcox
C: Etan Thomas
U: Shaquille O’Neal
U: Mo Williams

His recent additions of The Smiths (Joe and Craig) were obviously to attempt to catch me in rebounds.  My placement of Nachbar, Kleiza and Brown were obviously to attempt to regain my lead in threes, without gambling too much on my FG%. 

I thought I heard that O’Neal wasn’t playing tonight – which means that that DeSagana Diop would get the starting nod. 

What do you guys think?  Will Brand, Gadzuric, Lewis and Moore give me enough of a cushion in boards?  Collins has also been rebounding pretty well.  With Bosh likely out, my options are pretty limited.  Comment below if you think you can help!

The only way I think I can lose is if he catches me in boards, my field goal percentage drops, and/or someone gets ejected…

Gulp.