2017-18 RCL Basketball Update: Week 5

“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” (Pele)

This has definitely been the week of the records. Last Wednesday, “Salvator Mundi”, a painting of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, was auctioned in New York for $450 million, smashing the previous record for a piece of art. One day later, we had something similar in the NBA. Our artist, called Joel Embiid finished with 46 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and seven blocks in 34 sensational minutes. It was one of the strongest performances in the history of the NBA.

This stratospheric performance impacted all of our leagues with most of his owners soaring. This tarnished other great performances.

Ben Simmons is averaging 17.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists. Throughout NBA history, only two rookies averaged (at least) seven rebounds and seven assists per game. The members of this select club are Oscar Robertson with 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists and Magic Johnson with 18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists.

Kristaps Porzingis made another record, as he is now the only player in NBA history with more than 200 3-pointers and more than 200 blocks in his first 150 games. In other words, he has made more 3-pointers than Kevin Durant and more blocks than Dwight Howard in this span.

Moreover, Robert Covington is averaging more 3pts (3.7) than Stephen Curry (3.6) and more steals (1.5) than Victor Oladipo (1.3).

The team of the week is Newbie. As you can guess he has Joel Embiid. But, he also has James Harden, the number one fantasy player the last two weeks (35.7 points, 10.2 assists, 2.0 steals, and 5.0 3pts). A match made in heaven.

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Here is how the action went down in week 5 across our 12 RCL Leagues:

Experts League: Tarch Tadness takes over first place with a strong 7-2 victory.  In a trade, Krishna Ligas added Serge Ibaka, Kyle Kuzma, and Otto Porter while Mel received Kawhi Leonard. Looks like a win-win situation for both owners. Another interesting acquisition for the week was Tarch Tadness with Kris Dunn (add) and Zach Randolph (drop), and Dynasty Deep Dive adding Jonas Valanciunas for Bobby Portis.

Straight Cash Homie: Pikachu continues to sit atop the rankings, as he was victorious over Osama Razz2 (5-3), who is now in fourth. Fenris-77 made one of the strongest triumphs of the week (8-1).

Straight Cash Homie 2: The top three team (Cronos Black Metal, Slack Jawed Daps and BUUNKGANG) won comfortably. Cronos Black Metal continues to be the leader.

Straight Cash Homie 3: The ninth-place team is only 8.5 points behind the leader. All is in the air, but right now Vengeful Hoopdies is the leader. Special mention for Onions! adding Derrick Favors for Zach Randolph.

Straight Cash Homie 4: SON beat (7-2)  Chuck’s Swell Team. This was the best victory, in one of the most competitive leagues. On the other hand, I added Jaylen Brown and dropped Nerlens Noel. I am a very happy man now.

Straight Cash Homie 5: Again SON made the strongest win (7-1-1) and is currently in fourth. Olympic Team is the leader. Team Ho Wan was able to acquire Jamal Murray for free.

Straight Cash Homie 6: My team TonyRP 4 lost this week to SON (4-5), but I’m still the leader. My curry too spicy! won 7-2 and now is only at 2 points behind.

RAZZblueBALLS: Well done Stuck in Saigon adding Kris Dunn for J.J.Barea. Akron Lebrons (8-1) helped by Rodney Hood and Gary Harris notched a great win.

BBQ Mousetrap: Panchos 2.o maintains first place, and “emoticon” made the first 9-0 victory, and is in second place.

Italy vs Razzball: We had the best duel of the week, with an enormous victory by ! over The Wakefield Case (7-2). Kemba Walker and Giannis Antetokounmpo made the difference. Bow to the Brow acquired John Collins and E’Twaun Moore for Serge Ibaka to The Wakefield Case. I believe that The Wakefield Case wins this trade. Ibaka hasn’t been playing too impressively lately, but he can be a top-50 player.

No Punt Intended: Our team of the week, Newbie, won 8-1 and now is in fourth place.

Dynasty Deep Dive: Craig’s Crazy Team was overtaken for first place by Bareaking Bad. We have another mutually beneficail trade: Craig’s Crazy Team adds Jayson Tatum and Bareaking Bad adds Marquese Chriss and Jamal Murray.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

BEST RECORD

BEST RECORD LEADERS

TEAM OF THE WEEK WINNERS