By Jimmer Simpson (Jamez31)
It was a roller coaster kind of night in the NBA yesterday, one that started out very saucy for many Jousters but ended on a very high note for one hardcore Jouster in particular. As I’ve said a couple of times in this space, sometimes success and failure in daily fantasy (and the NBA game in particular) come down to making the right pick in only one or two spots. Yes, all the other picks eventually must succeed, but maximizing the low salary players value in one or two spots (even if everyone else knows the same information) is the matchstick to the victory fire.
As for last night, that value was the combination of Mareese Speights ($86k) and Derrick Favors ($101k). Speights and Favors were the top two owned players in Jouster lineups last night, coming in at 32.2 and 27 percent ownership. It comes as no surprise, since both players have talent and past success given any semblance of full playing time. Both players made starts for their teams and combined for 73 fantasy points. Simply put, if you didn’t have them as a pair you were already probably shedding tears of sadness right from the start.
Many Jousters even went ahead and paired Favors and teammate Enes Kanter ($103k) together, as he was the fifth highest owned in lineups last night at 24 percent. Heck, a trio with Speights meant Jousters got over 100 fantasy points in three spots less than $300k in salary. Boom. Easy game right?
Well, not if you were fans of Kyle Korver and/or Byron Mullens last night. Thanks to some late breaking news in a later game, Korver didn’t play because of a previously unreported toe injury. As for Mullens, well he played all of three minutes then was never seen again after what the “Straycats” called a knee injury.
Both bagels were tough to swallow for Jousters but since Korver was the sixth most popular player in Daily Joust yesterday, it really ensured Jousters had a spoiled night right from the start. Knowing Ashton Kutcher would score as many fantasy points as Korver would is not pleasing, but I believe the anger only grew from the fact it was a toe injury. I swear, that thing better be discolored and growing out of your shoe Korver because if it isn’t, you have some seriously pissed off Jousters on your hands. No other way to put it. If you Jousters want to add him to the black list, go on ahead because I won’t stop you.
This all finally brings me to the hero of the night, ldmariodl28. After a furious run of points in the end of the Warriors/Raptors game, he surpassed mbomb44 for not one but two seats in the $50,000 Super Joust V as a lot of Jousters cheered him on in chat well into the night. Mbomb44 was the clear favorite (and Camelot winner) in both the depositor free roll and $55 qualifier early on but could only watch as Amir Johnson and Kyle Lowry racked up the points in a foul strategy used by Toronto to extend the game with Golden State.
Look, there is always going to be a place for guys like mbomb44 in daily fantasy, a respected expert across many sports in every way and a guy feared in any head to head situation. But Goliath can’t win them all, as it was sure nice to see an extremely active and loyal Jouster such as ldmariodl28 take down big tournaments like the SJ V qualifiers last night. He epitomizes the quality of the Daily Joust community in every way and it was truly well deserved. You can see a recent interview here.
The SJ V qualifiers weren’t the only tournaments going on yesterday, as shout outs definitely go out to turfs for winning the popular Squire William and to czmuscle for winning the $1.2 million cap Page Thomas tournament. This isn’t the first time turfs has appeared in this space and czmuscle won right after his one-year anniversary on Daily Joust. Congratulations to both as they will get seats to the $2,500 Playoff Joust tournament in April.
Definitely more qualifiers to hit this upcoming Wednesday on Daily Joust, as we anticipate the arrival of the mbomb44/kaiseroll13 free roll. All that hard work in February might finally pay off to another seat to SJ V and a $15,000 grand prize. Good luck to all and happy jousting!
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