Another frustrating night of DFS is about in the books and it can't end fast enough.
I only played a handful of teams tonight but it was enough to fry my brain a bit ... but I guess that really doesn't take much.
The Good or Not Horrible
In what is almost an insta-start for me, Kemba Walker playing at home vs Lillard DEF was a lock on almost every roster I had tonight. Lillard isn't known as much of a defender and I figured they would leave McCollum to try and match up with Batum so Kemba could have his way tonight.
He didn't exactly crush value, as he was $7,700, but he got to that magic 5x area I like finishing with 40.5 DK points. Not a bad way to start my lineups, as he certainly was the anchor on nearly all of them.
Darren Collison played some pretty good ball with Ty Lawson was out a few weeks ago and, with Lawson questionable leading up to the game, I went ahead and fired Darren out into over 1/2 of my lineups tonight. Just before the game, but after the roster lock of the early games, Lawson was ruled out and helped my this pick look a little better. At $5,300 he needs 28 to reach the 5x level I like and, as I write this, he as 19.5 at half so that shouldn't be too hard for him to reach.
Montrezl Harrell is a high energy guy that I absolutely love when he's going to get minutes vs a big man that isn't a dominant presence like a Cousins, Towns, Gobert, etc. Tonight he faced the Bucks who would be using Greg Monroe and John Henson and shortly before roster lock it was announced that Harrell would be starting over Capella. That was all I needed to hear to fire him out in a few lineups tonight and he did not disappoint as he ended with 37 DK pts at just $5,100.
There were other guys that I had sporadically throughout the rest of my teams such as Batum, Beasley, Kuzminskas, Lowry and Aminu who all put up solid nights for my teams.
That being said, they couldn't pick up the slack of my two huge duds of the night. There were two popular "cheap-ish" centers tonight and I wanted to start them both on my teams, using the C slot for one and the UTL slot for the other, but thought better of it. Instead, I decided to split them up evenly across almost all of my teams as "there's no way they both bust tonight, right?"
The HORRIBLE
Kyle O'Quinn is likely one of the most hated men in the DFS universe tonight. A super popular pick, which should've been reason enough for me to fade him, O'Quinn jumped to the top of everyone's value chart the second that Noah was ruled out tonight for the Knicks. Being that he has shown flashes of brilliance during a number of his starts tonight he was an almost "must play" in many people's eyes tonight, including mine. 4.75 DK points later and I'm cursing at my computer, the TV, O'Quinn, Spike Lee and anything else related to the Knicks. How someone that has flashed 40 point upside on multiple occasions could get 4.75 pts and get just 10 minutes in a start is mind-blowing.
And, on the other side of the ball we have
Kelly Olynyk of the Celtics. Coming off 7 straight games of 20 or more DK pts and putting up 44 and 34 in his last two outings, Olynyk was in a prime spot to crush value again tonight against the hapless Knicks. As baffling as it is that O'Quinn only played 10 minutes tonight it is complete insanity that Kelly was given only 13 minutes for Boston tonight. Now, I get it, I know, Amir Johnson played great for the Celts and cut into his time, just like Hernangomez played great cutting into O'Quinn's time but with the recent track-record of Olynyk one would think he would get a little more rope to hang himself with before yanking him off the floor. Apparently not. Ending with just 9 pts the majority of my rosters were dead once the final buzzer went off in this game.
Again, in retrospect I should've likely looked elsewhere as these two guys were certainly going to be high owned and that's not the best way to attack tournaments but never did I expect them both to tank this bad.
Well, live and learn, right?
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Bradley Open Saturday Qualifying 1/14/17
This was my first time bowling the Bradley in several years, but you kind of know what to expect when you go there and that is SUPER slick lanes and a lot of spare shooting.
You must come into this tournament with a level head, know you are likely not going to put up any huge games and be mentally prepared for a grind to the fullest extent.
Unfortunately I had been sick for the month leading up to this event and, prior to the sweeper event on Friday night, had only bowled three games since the Holiday Doubles which was back on December 17th. I refused to let that be an excuse and buckled in for what I knew would be a long 5 games of bowling Saturday morning.
During practice I tried my Columbia300 Tyrant that was at 500 grit, my Track Cyborg that was at 500 grit and my Hammer Phobia that I hit with a 1000 pad during practice. After our 15 minutes of practice had been completed I was in full panic mode, as I hadn't even come close to hitting the pocket and had absolutely no idea how to attack the lanes to being the day.
I decided to try and take my Cyborg and just trap the headpin until I got comfortable and, well, I failed miserably at doing it. My first ball of the event I missed a little up the lane and it never hooked, leaving a 3-6-7-9 to start. Needless to say, I wasn't able to create enough angle down lane to make it but got my count and moved onto the next frame, which wasn't much better. I moved my feet another 2 left but kept my target the same, aced it, 4-6-10...
18 in the second, when you know you're not going to be able to string together strikes, is not exactly how you want to get out of the gate. I kept fishing around and managed to mix in a double and stayed clean for 182. Trust me when I saw I was VERY happy to get off that pair without digging a bigger hole to start my day.
I moved to the next pair and decided to stay with the same plan of attack and things managed to get worse. I started x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) spare, x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) flag it.
Noooo! Again, this is going to be a grind, missing single pins is flat out unacceptable.
The next few frames were a combination of horrid shot making and worse decision making leading to a strike followed by a 3-7 split (spared), missing the headpin and leaving the 1-3 (spared), missing the headpin leaving the 1-3-6-9 and missing it before leaving another high flush 8 pin in the 10th for 170.
Two games in, 48 under and not in the cut. Consider me crabby at this point.
On the way to my pair for the third game I thought to myself "wait, you're having all sorts of troubles getting your ball to shape at all ... why are you throwing a pin up ball? Why not use something pin down so that it can at least try to see the front part of the lane and smooths out the back rather than the "reaction" I had seen the first two games where it went dead straight if I missed left or up the lane, but snapped high if I grabbed it too much or missed in."
So game 3, based on what I learned Friday night and knowing I needed to trust my gut more, I started with the pin up Cyborg again rather than making the switch to begin the game. After a high flush 8 pin in the first frame, strike in the second following by a 5 count washout and a 3-7-9, it was time to make the change.
In the 5th frame I grabbed my Ebonite Mission Unknown, which has a 2" pin and is pin under the ring finger , that I had hit it with a 500 pad that morning before we started. I proceeded to throw a triple before juicing one up a bit and leaving a 3-9 in the 8th. I struck again in the 9th but left a really good 7 pin in the 9th and ending with 192.
After game 3 I had moved into the cut, but just barely. I had a lot of work to do these next two games.
Game 4 was much of the same that I had seen all morning. Started with a strike but missed the headpin in the second (1-3-9 spare), weak 7 pin in the 3rd (spare), half-pocket 7-10 in the 4th, strike in the 5th, 3-5-6 in the 6th, chopped it. Needless to say, at this point, I was in fry mode. I am pretty sure this is when I made a Facebook post that read: "Sizzle Sizzle Pop Boom" and then text Matt Sanders and Brett Shepherd to let them know that it wasn't looking good for me to make the first cut and needed to figure something out quick or I wouldn't be bowling Saturday night. I stayed clean the rest of that game and ended with 180, leaving me a little ahead of the cutline with one game to go.
Knowing I likely needed somewhere around 180 or above to feel somewhat safe about securing my spot into the second round my idea was to just stay close to the pocket, make some spares, survive this cut and then try and figure out some sort of magic reaction later that night in the second round.
First frame that game plan went right out the window as my ball actually hooked a bit in the front and went high for a 2-4-7-8, which I promptly chopped. Awesome.
I made just a little move with my feet but also brought my index finger in a little closer and tilted my right foot a little more right so that I ensured my first step was in the direction I wanted and tossed the next three strikes followed by a 5 count washout. Seemed every time I had a double or triple my next should would be just fast enough that it would hydroplane right past the spot.
After that frame I was able to strike in the 6th, nine spare in the 7th, strike in the 8th and nine spare in the 9th giving myself a chance to mark in the 10th and feel good about my spot, which fortunately I did by throwing a double and ending with 199, thus securing my spot into the next round.
It was a complete mental and physical grind, which was expected. Based on what I felt I had that morning combined with my suspect spare shooting and shot making, I was less than excited or confident in my chances heading into Saturday night.
That being said, I never give up, ever, and I was determined to figure out something. Whether or not my determination would help my shot making was a whole other argument.
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
You must come into this tournament with a level head, know you are likely not going to put up any huge games and be mentally prepared for a grind to the fullest extent.
Unfortunately I had been sick for the month leading up to this event and, prior to the sweeper event on Friday night, had only bowled three games since the Holiday Doubles which was back on December 17th. I refused to let that be an excuse and buckled in for what I knew would be a long 5 games of bowling Saturday morning.
During practice I tried my Columbia300 Tyrant that was at 500 grit, my Track Cyborg that was at 500 grit and my Hammer Phobia that I hit with a 1000 pad during practice. After our 15 minutes of practice had been completed I was in full panic mode, as I hadn't even come close to hitting the pocket and had absolutely no idea how to attack the lanes to being the day.
I decided to try and take my Cyborg and just trap the headpin until I got comfortable and, well, I failed miserably at doing it. My first ball of the event I missed a little up the lane and it never hooked, leaving a 3-6-7-9 to start. Needless to say, I wasn't able to create enough angle down lane to make it but got my count and moved onto the next frame, which wasn't much better. I moved my feet another 2 left but kept my target the same, aced it, 4-6-10...
18 in the second, when you know you're not going to be able to string together strikes, is not exactly how you want to get out of the gate. I kept fishing around and managed to mix in a double and stayed clean for 182. Trust me when I saw I was VERY happy to get off that pair without digging a bigger hole to start my day.
I moved to the next pair and decided to stay with the same plan of attack and things managed to get worse. I started x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) spare, x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) flag it.
Noooo! Again, this is going to be a grind, missing single pins is flat out unacceptable.
The next few frames were a combination of horrid shot making and worse decision making leading to a strike followed by a 3-7 split (spared), missing the headpin and leaving the 1-3 (spared), missing the headpin leaving the 1-3-6-9 and missing it before leaving another high flush 8 pin in the 10th for 170.
Two games in, 48 under and not in the cut. Consider me crabby at this point.
On the way to my pair for the third game I thought to myself "wait, you're having all sorts of troubles getting your ball to shape at all ... why are you throwing a pin up ball? Why not use something pin down so that it can at least try to see the front part of the lane and smooths out the back rather than the "reaction" I had seen the first two games where it went dead straight if I missed left or up the lane, but snapped high if I grabbed it too much or missed in."
So game 3, based on what I learned Friday night and knowing I needed to trust my gut more, I started with the pin up Cyborg again rather than making the switch to begin the game. After a high flush 8 pin in the first frame, strike in the second following by a 5 count washout and a 3-7-9, it was time to make the change.
In the 5th frame I grabbed my Ebonite Mission Unknown, which has a 2" pin and is pin under the ring finger , that I had hit it with a 500 pad that morning before we started. I proceeded to throw a triple before juicing one up a bit and leaving a 3-9 in the 8th. I struck again in the 9th but left a really good 7 pin in the 9th and ending with 192.
After game 3 I had moved into the cut, but just barely. I had a lot of work to do these next two games.
Game 4 was much of the same that I had seen all morning. Started with a strike but missed the headpin in the second (1-3-9 spare), weak 7 pin in the 3rd (spare), half-pocket 7-10 in the 4th, strike in the 5th, 3-5-6 in the 6th, chopped it. Needless to say, at this point, I was in fry mode. I am pretty sure this is when I made a Facebook post that read: "Sizzle Sizzle Pop Boom" and then text Matt Sanders and Brett Shepherd to let them know that it wasn't looking good for me to make the first cut and needed to figure something out quick or I wouldn't be bowling Saturday night. I stayed clean the rest of that game and ended with 180, leaving me a little ahead of the cutline with one game to go.
Knowing I likely needed somewhere around 180 or above to feel somewhat safe about securing my spot into the second round my idea was to just stay close to the pocket, make some spares, survive this cut and then try and figure out some sort of magic reaction later that night in the second round.
First frame that game plan went right out the window as my ball actually hooked a bit in the front and went high for a 2-4-7-8, which I promptly chopped. Awesome.
I made just a little move with my feet but also brought my index finger in a little closer and tilted my right foot a little more right so that I ensured my first step was in the direction I wanted and tossed the next three strikes followed by a 5 count washout. Seemed every time I had a double or triple my next should would be just fast enough that it would hydroplane right past the spot.
After that frame I was able to strike in the 6th, nine spare in the 7th, strike in the 8th and nine spare in the 9th giving myself a chance to mark in the 10th and feel good about my spot, which fortunately I did by throwing a double and ending with 199, thus securing my spot into the next round.
It was a complete mental and physical grind, which was expected. Based on what I felt I had that morning combined with my suspect spare shooting and shot making, I was less than excited or confident in my chances heading into Saturday night.
That being said, I never give up, ever, and I was determined to figure out something. Whether or not my determination would help my shot making was a whole other argument.
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
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