It's not too late. Play Drive to the Finals Now!
By Rob Peterson
April 28 -- First, let's give yesterday's expert Jeff Dengate a round of applause for his inspired selection: Jermaine O'Neal.
Dengate rolled the dice, selected a player in a 1-1 series and came up big. O'Neal had a ridiculous 54 PRA (37 points, 15 boards and 2 assists). That's nuts. Only LeBron James' triple-double playoff debut has matched it.
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Now, it's Day Seven and we've had a full week to map out a strategery, think about the implications of selecting a stud early and so forth.
But the Lakers' Game 2 win in Phoenix on Wednesday threw a wrench into our well-thought out plan, which was: If the Suns were to take a 2-0 lead, our pick tonight would have been Kobe Bryant. We cried ourselves to sleep that night at the thought of losing a potential 60-plus PRA.
Alas, we must search anew, because who wants to burn a pick on a superstar in a 1-1 series, right? And that's what makes tonight's pick tougher than finding cheap gas.
As I noted before, you don't want to select a superstar in a 1-1 series. It's too early to play the stud card. You need have some idea as to how the series will play out. This line of logic prevents us from selecting the following players for tonight's games:
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Wells (right, with Robert Horry) has shown a willingness to sacrifice his body in the Playoffs.
D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images |
-- Shawn Marion
-- Kobe "No. 24" Bryant
-- LeBron James
-- Gilbert Arenas (and we've already chosen Antawn Jamison)
Also, no Spurs. They're up 2-0 and you figure they will have a longer Playoffs shelf life than Twinkies.
So, where does that leave us? I figure it leaves us with three choices: two Kings -- Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Bonzi Wells, or the Suns' Boris Diaw.
Let's get Diaw out of the way first. Diaw could be an excellent sleeper pick for tonight. He's only averaged a 22 PRA in the playoffs, but he was a 27 PRA during the regular season. If he plays tonight as well as he did during the regular season, a 27 isn't bad this early in the game. And if he has a great game, he could give you a 30-35 PRA pop.
However, I don't like how the Lakers drew the sprinting Suns into a half-court game in Game 2. Hence, I'll have Diaw and Raja Bell, who had a lousy PRA in Game 1 (13), but a good one in Game 2 (29) on the Drive to the Finals pine for now. That leaves us with these two Kings, Abdur-Rahim and Bonzi Wells. My own personal pick would be Mike Bibby, but we used him Day One. I also have office mates who have lobbied for Artest for tonight, I don't trust Artest to come back with a big night after a suspension. Which, of course, means he probably will.
That being said, Abdur-Rahim would be a good choice. After an anemic 14 PRA in Game 1, Abdur-Rahim had a juicy 37 in Game 2. If he could match that, you're golden.
But keep Shareef on the shelf for now and go with Mr. Wells.
If you scan down this page, you'll see Bonzi, the only King in the PRA top 20, which was helped immensely by his insane 46 PRA from Game 2 (28 points, 12 boards and six dishes).
Take those gaudy numbers, add the Kings' return to ARCO, and I think that equals a big night for Bonzi, even with Artest's return.
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