See also: Fantasy Challenge tips: Final Four, here we go!
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season has come the point where, from now on – with the exception of the third-place game – each showdown will eliminate the loser from the title race. For the second time in EuroLeague history, six teams will battle for three Final Four spots in do-or-die Game 5s of the playoffs. After that, it's the semifinals and the championship game. So get ready for two critical weeks, not just in the competition, but also in EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge powered by Ardu Prime!
My team, Gancedato, had a so-so week, scoring 129.05 points. More than half of them came from team captain Walter Tavares of Real Madrid, who really saved this round along with head coach Oded Kattash of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. I was focused on the 7DAYS EuroCup Finals in Gran Canaria and left Mike James of the AS Monaco on the bench, and my backup players on Thursday, Sasha Vezenkov and Alec Peters of Olympiacos Piraeus, combined for a PIR of -1. Even with all that, since Tavares did so well, I went up a few spots in the standings to rank 1,862nd overall. Nothing like a good team captain!
Unlimited trading is allowed from now on until the end of the season, so I decided to start over and sell everybody but Tavares. I may bring in some of the players I already had. I am switching head coaches and picking the one that, by my own criteria, has the biggest chance to win this week, and that's Georgios Bartzokas of Olympiacos. Since I think the Reds will win, I am bringing back Vezenkov and adding Thomas Walkup. I also think Real has a good chance to beat Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, and since I am keeping Tavares, I am adding two of his teammates: Adam Hanga and Mario Hezonja.
As for the remaining spots, I am keeping Alen Smailagic of Partizan because he has a great price valiue right now, and adding the two players who I think will have the highest PIR in the game between Monaco and Maccabi: Mike James and Wade Baldwin. I have very few credits for the two remaining players, so that will be Darrun Hilliard and Jake Cohen of Maccabi. I don't expect them to start, either.
You can take a look at my team here:
