Come playoff time in the head-to-head daily fantasy basketball leagues or in the final leg of the rotisserie leagues, it is only fitting to congratulate yourself if your team is within striking distance of the championship. Now, the question is how can you bring it home?
• Focus on winning the week in head-to-head playoffs
Planning ahead is a good idea as long as it doesn’t get in the way of your team’s ability to win its matchup for the current week. Head-to-head playoffs are typically single elimination, so do anything and everything necessary to win the current week.
• Your league settings matter
The rules of your league should dictate your strategy. The most important factor is your league’s categories since they dictate how valuable each player is and ultimately decide who wins and who loses.
People in weekly leagues have more flexibility when it comes to stashing players, especially injured players. But it is important to spend some time planning ahead using the upcoming weekly schedule. Make sure you get as many as four-game weekly players as possible in your lineup every week. Sit anyone with two games, unless they are superstars. You’ll also have to make the right calls on injured players who are likely to play in the week, so it is best to always play it safe.
People in a daily fantasy basketball league have it a little easier and they have the ability to adjust to injuries that happen during the week. You also have more opportunity to exploit the system by shuffling players on and off your team to maximize games played. It is important not to miss a lineup change during the playoffs if you are in a daily league—one missed lineup can easily set you back 2-3 games on your opponent.
• The 5-4 strategy
If you’ve got a particularly difficult matchup in the playoffs, remember that in a typical 9-category scoring league, all you have do is go 5-4 for the week to win. There are no style points in the playoffs; all anyone will remember about the league is who won it, so take an inventory of your team. What categories are your strengths and which categories are you weak in? How about your opponent? Find the five categories you are strongest in and focus all your attention there. Drop the rest. If you have players that don’t contribute in those categories, remove or bench them. Only pick up free agents who will help your strengths.
• Maximize the games in the roto leagues
A common mistake done in daily fantasy basketball roto leagues is not using up all the games available to your team if your league caps the games played. While you wouldn’t want to go through all the games 2/3 of the way into the season, it’s also unwise to leave the games at the end of the year.
• The game schedule can be a big deal
Over a 2-4 week playoff period, NBA schedules become a very important factor. Teams can have a difference of as much as three games over that span and the quality of opponents that a team faces also differs greatly over such a small period.
Loading up your fantasy team with players who have good to great schedules means 1) you’ll be outgaming your opponent, and 2) your players will be facing off against more fantasy friendly opponents, which are opponents who tend to give up a lot of fantasy stats.
• Focus on winning the week in head-to-head playoffs
Planning ahead is a good idea as long as it doesn’t get in the way of your team’s ability to win its matchup for the current week. Head-to-head playoffs are typically single elimination, so do anything and everything necessary to win the current week.
• Your league settings matter
The rules of your league should dictate your strategy. The most important factor is your league’s categories since they dictate how valuable each player is and ultimately decide who wins and who loses.
People in weekly leagues have more flexibility when it comes to stashing players, especially injured players. But it is important to spend some time planning ahead using the upcoming weekly schedule. Make sure you get as many as four-game weekly players as possible in your lineup every week. Sit anyone with two games, unless they are superstars. You’ll also have to make the right calls on injured players who are likely to play in the week, so it is best to always play it safe.
People in a daily fantasy basketball league have it a little easier and they have the ability to adjust to injuries that happen during the week. You also have more opportunity to exploit the system by shuffling players on and off your team to maximize games played. It is important not to miss a lineup change during the playoffs if you are in a daily league—one missed lineup can easily set you back 2-3 games on your opponent.
• The 5-4 strategy
If you’ve got a particularly difficult matchup in the playoffs, remember that in a typical 9-category scoring league, all you have do is go 5-4 for the week to win. There are no style points in the playoffs; all anyone will remember about the league is who won it, so take an inventory of your team. What categories are your strengths and which categories are you weak in? How about your opponent? Find the five categories you are strongest in and focus all your attention there. Drop the rest. If you have players that don’t contribute in those categories, remove or bench them. Only pick up free agents who will help your strengths.
• Maximize the games in the roto leagues
A common mistake done in daily fantasy basketball roto leagues is not using up all the games available to your team if your league caps the games played. While you wouldn’t want to go through all the games 2/3 of the way into the season, it’s also unwise to leave the games at the end of the year.
• The game schedule can be a big deal
Over a 2-4 week playoff period, NBA schedules become a very important factor. Teams can have a difference of as much as three games over that span and the quality of opponents that a team faces also differs greatly over such a small period.
Loading up your fantasy team with players who have good to great schedules means 1) you’ll be outgaming your opponent, and 2) your players will be facing off against more fantasy friendly opponents, which are opponents who tend to give up a lot of fantasy stats.
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