Well, if you’re reading my column this week, I am assuming that unless you just love reading any and all fantasy basketball content, you made your league’s playoffs. Congratulations to all of you who made it to the do or die portion of the season. This is where the gloves come off and you do whatever necessary to live to see another day. If you’re in a dynasty league, it limits what you can do to survive because you can’t totally abandon your team’s future. If you’re in a weekly lineup locking league, you have to just set it and hope for the best because there’s nothing else you can do after they lock. If you happen to be in a daily league, you have the ability to go all out without a care in the world if you get in trouble.

By “get in trouble” I mean after Wednesday night’s full slate of games end you find yourself trailing by a good margin and/or your opponent has more games played the rest of the week, putting the odds even more against you. When you get to this situation it’s not ideal but it’s also not a time to lay down and just take your beating. This is the time that you throw out all care for next week, because frankly if you don’t win this week there is no next week. It is time to stream your way to victory or die trying. You need to bring Joakim Noah intensity to your playoff matches. Have no fear of losing and put everything you have into winning one week at a time. Play every week like it’s the championship.

Have you ever watched the show ‘Survivor’ before? The biggest flaw contestants make on that show is telling a person that they’re being voted out before it’s time to vote, because when anyone knows they’re facing the end and have nothing to lose, it’s a scary thing. Pretty much anytime that happens on the show, the person who had their backs against the wall either find a way to stay by making crazy deals/moves OR they just go absolutely crazy and make the rest of the contestants lives a living hell. In fantasy basketball’s version of this you do basically the same thing. If you have to drop one of your better players because they only play once on Friday then are off on Saturday and Sunday so be it. Be sure to check your opponents and your own amount of games played through the week and on the weekend so you know if you’re facing a heavier disadvantage or if you have the advantage on the back stretch of the battle. If you’re losing after Wednesday and you have less games played on the weekend, it’s time to go crazy.

You shouldn’t think “I can’t drop a player like [insert really good but below super stud level player here] he’s too good to just cut.” When you are facing elimination you can drop anyone necessary. If they play only one game between Friday and Sunday, they’re especially cuttable. Unless your wire is super thin, it’s likely you can easily beat out one player’s one game stats by using three games of waiver adds. You can worry about trying to get those players you dropped back via waiver claims if you advance, if you drop good players and still lose, that’s not your problem anymore. You’re just doing all you possibly can to win this round even if it makes the next round a mess for yourself or the other teams. If you get to the end of Saturday night’s games and you’re still behind but it’s at least reasonably close, you must cut ANY player not playing on Sunday to fill your starting roster for that day. Go big or go home, and if you go big and go home then at least you did everything you could to give yourself a chance. Be sure to target players on the wire who help you primarily in the categories you have a chance of winning if it’s a categories league. In a points league, just add whoever the best available are or have good matchups each day.

Check out my week four column intro about Streaming players for added strategic help for winning in daily H2H lineup leagues.

Now let’s get into this week’s waiver targets that may help you advance in the dance:

Before you get to this week’s list be sure to remember names I’ve mentioned in past weeks who could still be available in your league to add or stream, like: Dion Waiters, Vince Carter, James Anderson, Jerryd Bayless, Will Bynum, Kyle O’Quinn, Tim Hardaway Jr, Khris Middleton, Kyle Singler, Tony Wroten, Andray Blatche, DeMarre Carroll, Alec Burks.

Ryan Kelly (19.9%) – Who would’ve thought that Ryan Kelly would have a more productive rookie season than the likes of Ben McLemore or number one overall pick Anthony Bennett? Kelly has had some good spurts this season for the Lakers and right now he’s on another heater. Surprisingly he is doing a little bit of everything stat-wise as well. Over his last seven games he has averaged ten points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 treys while shooting 54% from the field and 92% from the foul line. Over his last four games he has upped his playing time to 33 minutes a night which is giving him plenty of opportunity to produce with no sign of that PT going away. The ways he’s playing right now he should be owned in most twelve team leagues and especially anything deeper than that. He’s also a nice streamer option for shallow leagues if you need a well balanced performance.

Ramon Sessions (8.6%) – Sessions has made a nice name for himself as an off the bench scoring guard everywhere he has gone. His return to Milwaukee via trade from Charlotte has earned him two things A) another backup guard job with a fair amount of playing time and B) a seat on the terrifying Larry Drew roller coaster. Thus far though Sessions is on Drew’s good side and has done really well off the bench for the Bucks. Sessions has scored in double digits in eight of eleven games games and also has had one steal in each of his last five games. One of the underrated things that Sessions has always done is pad your free throw percentage. He’s does a fantastic job of driving to the rim and drawing contact and from the line he’s money in the bank. In eleven games with the Bucks, Sessions has shot 60(!) free throws and he’s converted on 56 of those for a very nice 90%. Some players shoot a good percentage from the free stripe but don’t get there enough to really elevate your team’s free throw percentage, Sessions though gets to the line over five times a night and that’s plenty enough to benefit your team. Combine that with his reasonable 12.5 points and over three rebounds and assists a game and you have a quality fantasy option. Sessions should be owned in most 12-team leagues and/or is a great stream option down the stretch.

Pero Antic (3.6%) – More of a deeper league option is Antic but he’s absolutely worth mentioning with the way he’s played since returning from a 17 game hiatus due to an ankle injury. Antic has started the last three games at center for the Hawks over Elton Brand and he’s played well enough to hold the job down for the rest of the way if he can stay healthy. He’s not a big scorer (11.2 points per game since returning) and his rebounding isn’t ideal and inconsistent (4.4 per game last five games) but he has hit two treys per game. The threes are a nice perk from the Macedonian big man and I think he can get to around at least 5.5 boards a night the rest of the way. You could do far worse than Antic if you’re in need of a big man in a deeper league or need some help in treys.

Chris Douglas-Roberts (0.4%) – CDR found himself as nothing more than a bench warmer for the Bobcats since his call up from the D-League. Then, Gerald Henderson went down with an injury and CDR made the most of his chance and has ran with it. He played around 30 minutes a night while Henderson was out for five games, but his good play earned him a role and he’s still played 20 minutes a night since Henderson returned to the starting lineup. He’s not a do everything kind of player but he has a knack for getting steals and knocking down open threes. Roberts has had two or more steals in six straight games while also nailing 2.1 treys a game in that same span. He’s mostly a deeper league option due to him only getting 20 minutes and a handful of shots a night, but if he keeps hitting those shots from deep and getting the takeaways he should stay in the rotation and be deep league roster worthy.

Andrew Bynum (17.7%) – I can’t tell anyone that they SHOULD add Bynum to their team, but I have to tell you that he’s worth watching over the next couple of games to see if he can follow up his first solid performance with the Pacers. In just 16 minutes he put up eight points and ten boards. Yes, this was against a very weak Boston team, but it’s a noteworthy start to his Pacer career nonetheless. He should see primary backup center minutes going forward but expect him to get random off nights which is a con to taking a chance on him. It being playoff time, it’s likely not worth owning him in anything but maybe the deepest of leagues until we see him play every night and produce.

All percentages were gathered from ESPN.com

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