NBA Playoffs 2018

We will give our take on some of the 1st round games.

Sixers and Heat. Sixers in 6. Even without Embiid. Better defensively and superior bench. Miami may resort to fouling Simmons and slowing the game down to use Whiteside more.

Best 4/5 series. Cavs and Pacers. Lebron and Lance meet again. Same result in 5 games. Cavs win.

Broom Alert - Rockets over Timberwolves. Warriors over Spurs. One of these will end in 4.

Best Offensive Series - Portland and Pelicans. Take the over in every game.

Upset likely to happen. The series where a lower seed defeats a higher one. Jazz over Thunder.

                                         #GTLivechat will be daily thru the playoffs.
                                         #SportsBetting and Entertaining Predictions

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NBA Awards 2017

The NBA continues to be the most innovative of each of the major sports leagues. It was a stroke of genius to have each of the awards for the 2017 season issued on the same night. In past seasons ,he awards were given during the playoffs. The playoffs are news worthy enough without the announcement of Defensive Player of the year and the Most Improved Player. When you add the star power of  Drake  as the host, make these announcements 2 hours in prime time on TNT, you have a memorable event. Nicki Minaj did not disappoint with her performance.

The highlight of the night was the MVP award and the acceptance speech by Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook showed his humility in thanking his teammates and his family. Here is a glimpse of what he said to his younger brother. 

The surprise of the night was the Rookie of the Year award. While the Sixers Joel Embiid

and Dario Saric won the Rookie of the Month award 5 times during the season, the  voters

choose  Malcolm Brogdon from the Milwaukee Bucks.

Malcolm Brogdon

Draymond Green won Defensive Player of the Year.  Giannis Antetokounmpo won Most Improved Player.

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NBA Playoffs Preview: Western Conference

Let's look at the Western Conference where most of the elite NBA teams are.

The Warriors are the top seed and the favorite to win the title. They should beat the Blazers in 5 games. Too many weapons for Portland.

Spurs should sweep the Grizzlies. Memphis just not offensive enough to hang in a series with a team
that has multiple threats. Leonard dominates this series.

Clippers over the Jazz in 6. Clippers have a way of making things difficult. Jazz will dictate tempo and win two games at home. Chris Paul puts his team on his back and wins the last two games of this series.

The best matchup is the Rockets against the Thunder. Harden vs. Westbrook. The top MVP candidates and the leaders in triple doubles. Harden has more to work with than Westbrook and has the 3 ball analytic on his side. Three of the games during the regular season were decided by 3 points or less. If Westbrook gets help from Gibson and Mcdermott, this series goes seven. Going with Westbrook in six.

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NBA Fav Five:Week Six

This post will appear every Monday. We will change the lineup this week with the addition of Rudy Gay from the Kings. He will come to the five in place of  Otto Porter.  The other starters will remain intact. Russell Westbrook, Lebron James, James Harden and Karl Anthony -Towns are the still part of our fav five. This is a group that consistently gives production every night. Who is your fav five?

Rudy Gay

Westbrook is averaging a triple double as of this post. This was reported in a article from ESPN.

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NBA Fav Five:Week Five

This feature will post every Monday during the season. We have found the perfect team. All of the players from last week performed at the levels anticipated. Lebron James, Russell Westbrook and James Harden were the key performers. Karl Anthony-Towns and Otto Porter did as expected. We will start the same team this week. This week,we will look for additional ways to evaluate players and share our findings next Monday. So compare your five to our and we will see you next week.


Here is a look at how three members of our team looked when they were drafted into the NBA.

King James

Russell Westbrook

Karl Anthony Towns

Four members of our fav five have appeared in GQ. Can you name the one that has not been in that publication?

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NBA Fav Five:Week Four

This feature will post every Monday during the season. Lebron James was a great addition to the team . He had a triple double and just missed in two other games. Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul

posted great numbers as well. But while this was happening, James Harden is doing MVP type work with the Houston Rockets. Since we are always looking to upgrade the team and both of these payers are in the elite price range, Paul is out and Harden is in.

James Harden

Note: Don't develop an emotional attachment to a player. We like Chris Paul's game more than Harden's. The decision should always be based on productivity.

TJ Warren fell short of the 30 to 35 scoring level and is off the team. So is Nikola Vucevic. He exceeded the number once , fell short slightly and failed miserable in three contrasting performances. The additions at forward and center respectively are Otto Porter and Karl Anthony-Towns. Porter comes out a good price. KAT will give 20 points in scoring with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. We expect 32 points from him. We are right at the edge of the salary cap of 45,000 with this team. If they perform as expected they are worth the investment.

Otto Porter

Karl-Anthony Towns

Starting next week, we will extend the cap to 50,000 to allow more flexibility in selecting a team. We will always stay under the designated number.

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NBA Fav Five: Week Three

This feature will post every Monday during the season. The good news is that Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul continue to put up great numbers. They flirt with triple doubles every night and score at least 24 points a game. Needless to say they are staying on the team.

Mason Plumlee did not hit the thirty to thirty-five total of points,rebounds, assists,blocks and steals in two games so he comes off. Anthony Davis did awesome in one game and average in the other. He cost too much money to get production 50% of the time. Kevin Love did good in each game but not outstanding. We shopped the league and found replacements for the 3 aforementioned players.

Lebron James

We will add Lebron James. No explanation needed. TJ Warren of the Phoenix Suns will join the team at forward. He plays at least 35 minutes a games and was puts up between 15 to 20 shots a contest. He may not outperform Love but is cheaper. He enable us to get Lebron.

Nikola Vucevic

Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic is the center this week. Nikola is consistent and should get the range we anticipate. We look for a double-double of 14 and 10 with at least 2 assists and 1 block. Those numbers would compute to approximately 30 points per game.

We take at least one player is priced lower than the elite ones to make the team fit into a salary cap. Elite players will cost between $9,000 and $12,500. Our cap is approximately $40,000 to $45,000.

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NBA DFS Fav Five: Week Two

This feature will post every Monday. Last week lineup has mixed results. Great production from Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul. Joel Embiid played well but will not be on the court more than 20 minutes. Our other two selections did not score enough points. We need at least 30-35 pts in all scoring categories combine for the player to stay on the team. Horford and George come off. 

We take at least one player is priced lower than the elite ones to make the team fit into a salary cap. Elite players will cost between $9,000 and $12,500. Our cap is approximately $40,000 to $45,000.  

Here are the top selections for this week's favorite 5 for the NBA DFS players and fans. We will add Anthony Davis, Mason Plumlee and Kevin Love. Westbrook and Paul stay.

Anthony Davis

Kevin Love

Mason Plumlee

This is our 5 all week.  Next week, we will substitute at least 3 of them. As the season goes on, we will use data based on recent performances to determine selections.

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NBA DFS Fav Five: Week One

Here are the top selections for this week's season opening favorite 5 for the NBA DFS players and fans. This feature will post every Monday.

We will go with Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, Al Horford and Chris Paul. We will give reviews of how they are doing.

 

Joel Embiid

Paul George

Chris Paul

This is our 5 all week.  Next week, we will substitute at least 3 of them. As the season goes on, we will use data based on recent performances to determine selections.

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NBA and GTLivechat

The season starts on Tuesday. Are you ready?  This should be one of the best if not the most anticipated in history. Can the Warriors improve on 73-9?  Can Lebron and the Cavs repeat?
Is Russell Westbrook the leading candidate for MVP?

Can Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony make the Knicks relevant again? Who does not make
the playoffs from the group of 2015-16 teams that made it?
Who is the odds on favorite to win the scoring title? Will the Sixers win more than 26 games?
Who has the better season? The Spurs or the Clippers?
The must see on TV games are Warriors against anybody. Redemption games include D Wade and the Bulls against the Heat and Dwight Howard against the Rockets.


GTLivechat will return for all of the above and more. NBA Style will highlight the fashion of the players and the fans. This will be a part of the halftime feature.

We will chat prior to the primetime matchups on Wednesday and Thursday on ESPN and TNT.
When the NFL season ends we will add the Friday games from ESPN and NBA TV.
For all of you that like Daily Fantasy Basketball, we will pick a fav 5 of the week. To keep it exciting, we will change at least 3 of the players every week. This will happen thru the blog and website every Monday.
Since we are expanding what we are doing, we will involve more NBA fans from Twitter to share their opinions. We going to another level. Join us!

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Russell Westbrook extends with OKC

Russell Westbrook re-signs with OKC for three more years. The terms are for 85 million and give him the option to opt out after the 2018 season. He stated he wanted to be in OKC and felt the desire to get something done now. The move makes OKC a viable option for NBA free agents in 2017.

The most surprising revelation during the press conference was that he learned of Kevin Durant leaving for the Warriors along with everyone else. It would seem that two players that were together for 8 years would have talked about going in another direction after the decision was final and before it was made public.  

Westbrook's choice to stay will now make this his team. His talent and ability to dominate a game is without question. Can he become Batman on a team where Robin was his primary role?  I see it being a repeat of the year that he had in 2014-15 when Durant injured his foot. He was the number one option all of the time. I don't see any drop off in production. I see a possible MVP season. Think Allen Iverson in 2001 with the Sixers.  Just not enough to get to the NBA Finals. OKC will still have reason to cheer.

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                                                           48 days until #G2E2016

Kevin Durant signs with the Warriors

Lebron James is happy this morning. He is not the number 1 player that NBA fans love to hate on today. Kevin Durant moves into that spot by signing with the Warriors for two years at 27 million per season. He has a clause to opt out after 1 year.

The Warriors are happy this morning. They just sign the best free agent available and improved a championship team coming off consecutive NBA Finals appearances. They just won 73 regular season games. Could that record be challenged? Daily Fantasy Sports just got more exciting.

Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut are not happy this morning. They will in all likelihood not be re-signed by the Warriors. The money is not there under the salary cap. They both may wind up in Dallas.

Russell Westbrook is not happy this morning. He no longer has his scoring partner that made for one of the best backcourts in the league. He is counting the days until he is a free agent.

The rest of us are somewhere in the middle. Love or Hate the deal. Like or Loathe Durant. We will watch intently. I just want to see the Warriors again when they come to Philly.

After Kevin Durant's announcement that he will join Golden State, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has moved the Warriors' odds to win next season's title from 3-2 to 4-5, making them an overwhelming favorite.

The Thunder's odds dropped from 8-1 to 30-1 at the Westgate.

The SuperBook also opened the Warriors' season win total for the 2016-17 campaign at 68.5.

Kevin Durant is Happy.  Click and See.

In case you missed it, @KeshisCuties and I discussed if Kevin Durant would fit with the Warriors.
This is in part due to Warriors not winning the title and Barnes lack of production in the close out games.  Follow us for more #HisandHers Talk this coming Friday at 8PM on Twitter.

Read about the Problems with NBA Free Agency here.

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NBA Playoffs 2015-2016

The NBA playoffs started this week. I will have a series of articles that will compare comparable

players based on daily fantasy prices and make a determination as to which one has the best value.

I will also participate in a contest that will run through the entire playoffs. The players that obtain

a double - double will get one point. If the player get a triple double, he gets two points. A quadruple double that does not include turnovers would get 4 points. The player that gets the most points wins.

I want the fans of DraftKing and FanDuel to follow me and see how well I do. Tell me who you would pick as your player. I will update this blog post through the duration of the playoffs.

Which of these guys would you pick?

Follow me and see which one, if any, I select. Leave a comment if you like someone not pictured.

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               Read my latest post about #Warriors Klay Thompson & #Rockets James Harden.
thegamingguyproductions.blogspot.com/2016/04/nba-playoffs-klay-thompson-or-james.html

NBA Daily Fantasy:Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant

I am caught up in the #SSAC16 and #DecadeofData frenzy. I am sharing my own analytics comparing Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. I compared their stats over the entire season
to the last 5 games played. I used a scoring system that is associated with #FanDuel.  Assists and Rebounds have more statistical value than points. Turnovers are negative so they decrease the player's score.

I chose Westbrook and Durant because they have similar value in the Daily Fantasy Sport world.
I assigned both of them a cash value of $10,900.

Who would you select? ________

My answer is below.

 Durant is outscoring Westbrook by 8 points over the past 5 games. Westbrook has almost twice as many assists during the same period. Durant total fantasy value over the past 5 games is 50.68 while Westbrook value is 47.70. Both of them have alarmingly high turnover ratios.My analytics show an overall upward trend for Durant.

 

 

 

Westbrook is ahead of Durant statistically for the season with a fantasy value projection base on price of 4.61 to 4.43. I would stay with Westbrook at the same price but if the trend continues upward over the next 2 games then switch to Durant. Value and timing are extremely important elements to winning.

 

The Thunder play the Spurs tonight on NBA on ABC.  See the complete schedule . I am staying with Westbrook since he will be matched against Tony Parker (offensively) more than Kawhi Leonard. More favorable for Westbrook.

                                                          

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