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Mar. 29 -- This is the time of the fantasy basketball season that I enjoy the most. It may sound strange, but I prefer to be in leagues where I’m in a fierce competition for the championship into April, rather than be in leagues where I have already wrapped up the title. Sure, it feels great to have assembled the all-conquering dominant team, but I’ll trade that for the excitement of fighting for every available point any day. The thrill of chasing down the leader or holding off the contenders is what fantasy basketball is all about. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking it’s all over. There is still plenty of time left in the season to get the job done.

Fortune favors the brave. You may have suffered from bad luck all season long, but you’ll be surprised how many gambles pay off towards the end of the season. Short term gambles have a much greater chance of working out than the long term ones. For example, the jury is still out on Kwame Brown, but even he has a few good weeks every now and then. The trick is to know when he will have one of those good weeks. Just so you know, he just had his good week and promptly injured himself. Don’t bother looking him up.

Who do you think is more valuable to your team for the remaining three weeks? Josh Childress or Kevin Martin? Kevin Martin has been one of the biggest fantasy surprises this year. However, he is in a slump. Josh Childress hasn’t had much use in most fantasy leagues until now. Childress is playing a lot of minutes and producing, Martin is playing his share of minutes but not producing. Pick Childress, drop Martin. Martin may eventually start playing at the high level he was playing before and Childress may regress back to being a disappointment. Even in that case, chances are you’ll eke out the same numbers from Childress in the next week that you get from Martin. If it backfires horribly, pick the next hot player.

If you are in a roto league with a maximum game limit, it is your duty to make sure you use all of it. Injuries may have taken their toll and you may have missed a few games, but ending the season below the maximum game limit is a roto-crime. Check how many games you have left. Identify the positions in which you’re pacing short of that number. Swap your bench players for free agents who can play those positions. Don’t worry if the players you are dropping are much better than the ones you are picking up. They aren’t helping if they are sitting on your bench. Find players who can help you make up lost games, even if they don’t fill up the stat sheet. It all adds up.

Conversely, if you are ahead of pace and run the risk of exhausting the maximum game limit before the season is over, pause a little. Look at your roster; identify your fantasy stars that qualify at multiple positions. Play only your star players from now on. Play them at different positions each day so you spread the stats around. This way, you will maximize the production from each spot.

How many points can you make up in the rebounds category? Have you locked up the blocks category? Is your free throw percentage so good, even Shaq couldn’t hurt it? Know your strengths and know your opportunities. Take some time to analyze the standings in each category. Look for those where you are close enough to make up a few points. Also take note of categories where your opponents are catching up. Now target the categories you can make up points in, and hit them hard.

In one of my leagues, I played nearly the whole season with five point guards, and my team is so ahead in assists I could bench all of them and still win this category. However, I need them for steals. I also know I have a legitimate shot at picking up a few points in rebounds. So I dropped Kirk Hinrich. Yes, you heard it right. I dropped Kirk Hinrich, who doesn’t rebound much, nor steal much. Instead I picked up Bonzi Wells, who was dropped by some other owner. The way he is playing, Wells will get me more than seven rebounds every game, enough for me to catch up to the two guys in front of me. Benching Samuel Dalembert and playing Jeff Foster will fetch me enough rebounds to take another point. Another game on the Sixers bench and Dalembert gets the boot from my team, permanently.

So there you have it, all the ingredients for late season success. Take the gamble, make every game count and play smart. The end game isn’t for the weak hearted. If you have to win, you have to take some risks. If you can’t, then your team isn’t going anywhere. There is a good chance you may still come up short, but if you are like me, you will enjoy scaring the living daylights out of the team ahead of you. And anyway, quitting is for losers.

Pravin Bhandakkar is a fantasy expert for NBA.com. The Tao of Roto runs every Wednesday as part of the NBA.com Premium Scouting Report. Contact Pravin at Praywin@TalentedMrRoto.com.

The views expressed by the TalentedMrRoto.com represent only the views of the writers; they do not represent the views of the NBA or any NBA team.