SSBA

Wow, a pair of game 7's.  I won't divulge who won just yet ;)

God depth charts are so much easier right now.  Only 4 teams, and all 4 of them had the same :)

Pacers won! Another upset!

So two #6 seeds meet in the finals. This SSBA is one of a kind, I tell ya. Lol, happens every season.

Well, the pacers were a #1 seed last year, with essentially the same team.  They shouldn't have been a #6th seed.  The shock to me is that they were a #6 seed, not that they made the finals.

Pacers are really the best team when it comes to closing the series

Oddly, both teams were down 3-2 after 5 games, and won a road game 7

 :?

Congratulations to the 2 best defensive teams who made it to the Finals (like in the NBA)

I KNEW the Pacers would do it, I bet on the Raptors in our pool !!! (I've always bet against them and they've always won)

And I believed that KG would do his thing but like MJ earlier he's like "Kevin home alone", that poor dud.



Man, I can't await the finals ...

... cause after that we all can play again  :wink:

Ah well, it was a fun run.

Overtime in game 7, gotta love it.

Congrats Pacers, you truely are a giant killer.

Reason I'm not upset? I'll have the same team next year with an improvement at SG.

Oh, don't kid yourself.  You're pissed off.  Just like I was 2 nights ago.

You're just controlling it :)

Well, yes, I felt like I was the better team. I also felt like you were the better team.

I'm not so much pissed off as I am frusterated. It seems that every year there are a few great, great teams, but almost always there are 6 seeds, or 5 seeds, or 8 seeds in the finals.

It almost gives incentive to try to build a team that is good, but not good enough for a top 4 seed.

Like I said earlier, I thought going into the season the pacers were one of the top 3 teams in the east.  So I consider their regular season record an abherration, not their playoff success.

Here's a little recap:

Game 1: Pacers 98 Raptors 97 (OT) - Ouch, was up 12 going into the 4th Q.

Game 2: Raptors 83 Pacers 77 - A tale of two struggling offensive teams. Davis shot 4-10 from the FT line. Blech.

Game 3: Raptors 89 Pacers 85 - Yao had 27 and 16, but the defence was key again.

Game 4: Pacers 113 Raptors 73 - Wow, I got pistol-whipped.

Game 5: Raptors 98 Pacers 88 - Obviously the series should have been over right here. Since when can my team not win 1 of 2? Yao absolutly exploded in this one with 31 points and 26 rebounds. Wow.

Game 6: Pacers 97 Raptors 81 - With a chance to win, I get smoked again.

Game 7: Pacers 111 Raptors 107 - Ouch. That's all I can say.

But haven't you seen a reoccuring theme? Say the Pacers were the 3rd best team, behind you and me. So for them to knock off both of us is a great thing, but not unbelievable.

However, how many times in the old SSBA did the 8th seed in the West win it all, or at least make the finals?

Waht were the Heats record year 1 of this league?

Weren't they pretty dominant?

True, very true.

I would say both series came down to one particular matchup...

In the East, it was Artest vs. Peja.  Artest did a very good job defending Peja, and that is what one the Pacers the series...

And, even though Rafer played well, he should have ripped Daniels to shreds.  Daniels was the worst starting defender in the playoffs.  Rafer needed to average 15-18 ppg, and 10+ assists per game.  And he did not...

Congrats to the Pacers and Jazz...

Thanks Celtics and Warriors for the Congrats. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming defensive battle. The last two series have been kind of sloppy for me. Hughes has been outstanding and the most consistent for me, but Kirilenko has obviously been pretty good, it's just sometimes he contributes more defensively, other nights he contributes more offensively. As long as others pick up the slack, I'm okay with it and so far everyone has. Murphy really stepped up this series and improved his rebounding and scoring except for game 7 when he went 0-10. Garnett definately got his, but I was able to contain everyone else just enough to take it in 7. Whatever happens in the finals, I am more than happy with my team's success this year. They definately overachieved. Also, Congrats to the Pacers, I look forward to a brutal series.

I'm worried about whether I have enough offense to outscore the Pacers being that we're even enough defensively. I think Daniels needs to continue to outplay himself and a little more in order to win this matchup.

thanks for nice words. Yea Artest won the battle for me.
I could hold the raptors under 40% from the field and even Peja who avg. 26 had his problems. with caremlo also in the mix i could match his points.
redd and fisher really dominated as expected. fisher at around 4 stls avg. and shot again over 60% and redd avg. 20pts 7 reb.
The Jazz are very tough team who are very similar buitl to mine. If redd can match hughes in points i think i could have a chance but i am still the underdog as usual because of AK.
I think Minny lost the series because KG had to do it all as usual but against a balanced team like the jazz it wasn´t enough. Alston isn´t the guy you should trust to dominate imo.
thanks bods for the change of the schedule.
short message to the celtics: keep up the good work at predicting my series  :wink:

yea i also think my team is a top 3 in the east. But i did a lot of experimenting this season. i never thought i can´t make the POs and my team is experienced enough to win series even without a homecourt advantage.
But in the finals i think i will have it for the first time this POs.

Now to get this reg season record thing straight:

The Pacers improved greatly with that Deadline deal for Carmelo Anthony, which makes their reg season record a little bit suspect. On the other hand with Jamison and Foster the starting C and 6th man went down late in the season, so the Pacers team you see now has little to do with the regular season team.

And, not to depreciate someone, I think that PacersGM is very good in evaluating matchups and strategies finding the better combinations in that. Again, others are good there too but IMHO he's among the best strategists around here ...

awesome series, it's a great matchup in the finals.

I don't mean to burst your bubble....but up to this point pacersgm hasn't changed his depth chart ;)

First, how should I know since you didn't post it  :cry:

And second, did he have to ? You can bet he would have changed something if it improved his play. I guess he found the "working" lineup at the end of the season and his team is strong enough to force their style of play on the opponent.

He won the higher scoring battles, he won the low scoring grind-outs, he won at home, he won on the road. so why change ? ... One could argue that even I could have led this squad that far because of the non-changes, but I sure would have tried some move like putting Artest on Petitt which might have killed team chemistry.

I agree, he didn't have to change.  But when you say the best "strategist", I think if someone who is taking advantage of matchups and milking everything he can out of his talent.  

He's done a great job, and he might be the master strategist, but IMO the playoff success isn't indicative of that.   Because he hasn't had to use strategy yet in these playoffs.