Drive to the Finals

I just started a playoff league fantasy-like game called "Drive to the Finals" on NBA.com. I did this last year, and everyone who participated did very well. It doesn't cost anything, and there are multiple prizes available. I won an NBA league pass (on NBA.com) last year, and tied for the most points in the last week of the playoffs (there was a drawing, and I didn't actually get anything for that).

The game is pretty easy, pretty straight-forward. You pick ONE player per day for all of the games of the NBA playoffs. Out of all the games played on any day, you can only pick one player. The trick is: you can only pick any player only once. (So, you don't want to pick LeBron James or Kevin Durrant in the first round unless you think they won't be around for the finals.) (On the other hand, there are weekly prizes, so you may want to use LeBron and Durant in the first week or second week, just so you may win the weekly prize.)

I've played this for a few years and have always won in the league I've joined. Last year was the first year I started my own league and invited Tribtalk league folks into it. (I still won it last year.)

It's a great way to get unexpected benefits on nba.com. So, I just started a league. To join, go to nba.com and find the fantasy category of "Drive to the Finals." Choose to join an existing league and look for "Jazzfamily." The password is, "tribtalk" all in lower case.

All the Jazzfans that entered last year finished at least in the 80th percentile. It's always good to see validation that we are some of the smartest fans on the NBA radar.

Saint Louis wrote:

I just started a playoff league fantasy-like game called "Drive to the Finals" on NBA.com. I did this last year, and everyone who participated did very well. It doesn't cost anything, and there are multiple prizes available. I won an NBA league pass (on NBA.com) last year, and tied for the most points in the last week of the playoffs (there was a drawing, and I didn't actually get anything for that).

The game is pretty easy, pretty straight-forward. You pick ONE player per day for all of the games of the NBA playoffs. Out of all the games played on any day, you can only pick one player. The trick is: you can only pick any player only once. (So, you don't want to pick LeBron James or Kevin Durrant in the first round unless you think they won't be around for the finals.) (On the other hand, there are weekly prizes, so you may want to use LeBron and Durant in the first week or second week, just so you may win the weekly prize.)

I've played this for a few years and have always won in the league I've joined. Last year was the first year I started my own league and invited Tribtalk league folks into it. (I still won it last year.)

It's a great way to get unexpected benefits on nba.com. So, I just started a league. To join, go to nba.com and find the fantasy category of "Drive to the Finals." Choose to join an existing league and look for "Jazzfamily." The password is, "tribtalk" all in lower case.

All the Jazzfans that entered last year finished at least in the 80th percentile. It's always good to see validation that we are some of the smartest fans on the NBA radar.

Yea i played last year or year before and was pretty fun. Thinking i would give it another shot.

Richardale wrote:

Saint Louis wrote:

I just started a playoff league fantasy-like game called "Drive to the Finals" on NBA.com. I did this last year, and everyone who participated did very well. It doesn't cost anything, and there are multiple prizes available. I won an NBA league pass (on NBA.com) last year, and tied for the most points in the last week of the playoffs (there was a drawing, and I didn't actually get anything for that).

The game is pretty easy, pretty straight-forward. You pick ONE player per day for all of the games of the NBA playoffs. Out of all the games played on any day, you can only pick one player. The trick is: you can only pick any player only once. (So, you don't want to pick LeBron James or Kevin Durrant in the first round unless you think they won't be around for the finals.) (On the other hand, there are weekly prizes, so you may want to use LeBron and Durant in the first week or second week, just so you may win the weekly prize.)

I've played this for a few years and have always won in the league I've joined. Last year was the first year I started my own league and invited Tribtalk league folks into it. (I still won it last year.)

It's a great way to get unexpected benefits on nba.com. So, I just started a league. To join, go to nba.com and find the fantasy category of "Drive to the Finals." Choose to join an existing league and look for "Jazzfamily." The password is, "tribtalk" all in lower case.

All the Jazzfans that entered last year finished at least in the 80th percentile. It's always good to see validation that we are some of the smartest fans on the NBA radar.

Yea i played last year or year before and was pretty fun. Thinking i would give it another shot.

Cool. Let me know if there are any problems signing up.

What the hell. Why not?

The "only use players one time" aspect is kind of intriguing, strategically.

Hmph. Not letting me join. No error or anything.

Of course, I JUST created the account, so...

Are you SURE that's the password?? I still only see one team in the league, so maybe there IS an issue...

Password doesn't work for me, either.

Just noticed I AM getting a (password specific) error: "Private leagues require passwords to join! You did not supply the correct league password."

Trollificus wrote:

Just noticed I AM getting a (password specific) error: "Private leagues require passwords to join! You did not supply the correct league password."

Sorry, I just logged onto it, and saw nobody had joined. I'm not sure what the problem was. I had it set as a private league, but the password should have worked. I just changed it to public, so anyone can join. (There may just be a lack of interest. I didn't do invites on our fantasy leagues-- and everyone who played last year was from the fantasy leagues.)

You should be able to join now, without a password. I took Steph Curry for today's games, and he only go me about 31 pts. I forgot to mention you only get points for pts/rbs/assists. If you join now, I would have a 31 pt lead (which is nothing in this "Drive to the Finals." And, it's not a contest between players in your league as it is trying to win prizes awarded by NBA.com. I think the top prize is some kind of car. They give away ticket packages, trips to games, basketballs, and stuff like that.

I joined, and since I had put in picks for the overall competition, that selection carried over. I took Curry, so we're tied.

My thinking being that Curry isn't going to be around for TOO long.

Trollificus wrote:

I joined, and since I had put in picks for the overall competition, that selection carried over. I took Curry, so we're tied.

My thinking being that Curry isn't going to be around for TOO long.

Hah, and Ugh! I was thinking the same thing about Curry, but I/we were wrong. The best pick would have been Lee, because he had decent stats, and is now out for the rest of the playoffs. Curry would be a great pick for the next playoff matchup, but, we've already used him.

On day 2, I took Dwight Howard. He didn't overwhelm the stats for a losing team as much as I had hoped, but, it was probably a decent pick. I'm leaning towards Carlos Boozer or Nate Robinson for Day 3. If Joachim Noah were really healthy, I would pick him. But, he ain't yet there.

We're still in it, Troll. Don't give up. We've made some so-so picks, but, we should still finish in the top 90th%.

At this point, I'm just guessin' and not stressin'...

Trollificus wrote:

At this point, I'm just guessin' and not stressin'...

Good attitude, Troll. Here's my last week scenario that should help me and you into contention for the best overall score:

Now that Westbrook is out, I no longer think the finals will be between OKC and MIA. I think it will be between SA and MIA. So, here's what I hope will be my lineup for the finals:

gm 1) LeBron
gm2) (If healthy) D-Wade.
gm 3) Duncan
gm 4) Parker
gm 5) (if necessary) Bosh or Giniobli.
gm 6) (if necessary) I haven't a clue
gm 7) (if necessary) I haven't a clue.

We're still in the 1st round, so a lot can still happen. Denver and GS is still up for grabs (I'm hoping GS wins it). Memphis just took away home court advantage from the Clippers (which really pisses me off, because I was expecting the Clips to win it in 7, so haven't picked any Memphis or Clippers' players). This really pisses me off because I gambled on the series going 7 games, and will either miss out on CP3 and Blake Griffen, or Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and Conelly. I guess I now want Memphis to win the series, with Chris Paul having an amazing, but unsuccessful game 6.

It's a difficult and highly competitive game. There are well over a million players. Thanks to random drawings for some prizes I actually won something last year. AND, I tied for 1st place in the last week of the finals (like I said earlier, I didn't actually win anything for my last week accomplishment-- I tied with a bunch of other players, and didn't win the random drawing.).

Right now, the leaders are around 420 pts. I'm at about 280, and Troll is around 290. But, the leaders have used up a lot players that won't be around for wks 2, 3, 4, and 5. So, there's lots of room for us to catch up.