SSBA

Up.

I don't think I've EVER seen that before.

The top 4 teams in both conferences won the matchups.  Truly amazing.

I was really getting excited too.  Hornets were down 3-1 and won 3 straight.  Pacers were down 3-1 as well and won 3 straight :(
My games:
23 pt win, 23 pt win, 22 pt win, 16 pt win ;)

The Warriors are a machine.  They had little problems taking care of the Mavs WITHOUT their 2nd best player.

whats the link to the box scores> Its not working.

Yes it is.

There's just a problem if you're using Firefox.

If you're using firefox you CAN'T click on the links under playoff bracket.  Instead, go to your team page, then click on team schedule, and use those links.

Ahhh, tough lost. Made some adjustments like putting Barner at C almost had the Pacers too. Went up 3-1... but lost. Damn.... Good series Pacers.

Wow... Daniel Holt did a decent job replacing Hinrich...
Jim Finley had the best set of games in his career.
I cannot seen the 2nd game (did not load), but...
11 ppg, 61% shooting, 13 rpg, and 2.8 bpg for Finley...

And Deng was excellent as a 2nd option, with 24 ppg and 8 rpg...

Daniel Holt cam through with 14 ppg and about 8 ppg...

And, of course, Dirk came through with 35 ppg...

Great series with the Mavs...

nothing suprising but started like Sixers in 2000-01, with a win away heh, then like the Sixers lost the 2nd in OT by 1 point, that was crucial game, who knows how the series would end if i did went 2-0 and with both wins in Sacramento.

Then lost at home by 3, got crushed in 4th and lost again by few points, was a close series even it doesnt look so on paper after 1-4, with little luck could have gone 2-0 or 3-0 in first 2,3 games, then everything would be possible, but well, it was a nice experience for my youngsters and im sure next year it will be a complete different story after this,
they've learned their lesson, and i really made Kings sweat this one despite the final result, not as they were hoping for tough :)

I can't see game 7 of my series...
Excellent series magic, I think it truly was a coin flip; in fact, I think I got lucky.

Real nice team effort over the Heat. Here's a little game to game recap:

Game 1: Raptors 116 Heat 96 -- Always nice to start off the series with a 20 point win. Yao held Duncan to 8-25 shooting. For himself, Yao was able to get 31pts, 9rebs, 8 blcks. Shot nearly 50% as a team. Max was awesome with 15pts, 13asts and 7 boards. Was a little worried about Perry's defense on JRich, but he held him to 5-16 shooting. A nice team win.

Game 2: Raptors 113 Heat 92 -- A 21 point win this time, very cool. As usual, Yao had an amazing game with 39pts, 20rebs, 5 blcks. This time held Duncan to 9-19 shooting. Max had a great, great game with 21pts, 13asts, 5rebs, 3stls. Dickau and Jefferson also played great, allowing my team to shoot 53% from the field.

Game 3: Heat 102 Raptors 93 -- The only loss of the series, a 9 pt one on the Heat home court. This time, Duncan got the best of Yao, forcing him out of the game in 29 minutes. Dunkin's 31, 18 and 8 clearly lead the way for the Heat, who played a decent game at home.

Game 4: Raptors 112 Heat 109 -- Squeaked out a big win on opposing turf. Tied going into the 4th Quarter, and with Yao a non-factor playing only 21 minutes, the rest of the team really stepped up. Makes me think that this supporting class is going to be good enough to lead me very far in future years. Max had 29 pts, 7 asts and 5 rebs, domintating Khoury. Dicka, Jefferson and Perry all had above average games, and all played decent defense.

Game 5: Raptors 114 Heat 90 -- Back on homecourt, the boys were able to wrap it up in a big way. Yao had 31 and 22, another domintating rebounding performance. Max had 28, 8 and 3, showing that he can and will become a premier scorer in this league. JRich kinda tore apart Perry, and something will have to be done before I have to face the dreaded Nets.

Got to your roster page, click "team schedules", scroll to the bottom, try that link.

Ah, thanks...

OK, 1-3 on the season v. the Pacers.
I am looking forward to this playoff matchup more than any other in the new SSBA.
Good luck Pacers.

good luck to you... :D

you thought I was placing Brice at my sg, eh? :D

dang... I thought you were playing Melo at SF, I had Hunter as my 2nd stringer.. oh well, your frontcourt dominated my team... nice series. good luck

Spank spank spank.

Btw Do you realize Hoffa didn't even played, i mean he did, by a average of some 5mpg. Could commish tell me why?

Tracy Mcgrady first scorer so far in the playoffs by average of 39.6!!  8)  :)

well, Arn Tellem told me that his player would be interested to be back in O-town :D

His's not his agent anymore. ZLOVRO is. :)

Yea this is one of the matchups i really like only second to the nets.
I hope this series will be long and fun to watch and at the end i am the winner  :wink:
it should be a nice matchup between melo and marion...
Good luck Hornets.

Also congratulation to the wiz who changed their lineup and almost beat me.
After marion wake up in time the series was over. Also congratulation to Artest and Rocky who really stepped up their game and gave me defense and scoring.

The VERY best teams advanced all to the second round. Great playoffs so far. The road to the finals is getting even heavier.

4-1 against the young Blazers. With Hoffa out for some reason Rasho Nesterovic came up big. Not bad for a 1 mil $ guy. :)

* Lost the first game as my team relaxed too much, the whole team didn't showed up to play. Clean Blazers W.
* One point W in the second game. Mcgrady 44pts, Forston 18pts, 8rebs, Posey with great overall game, 8pts, 3steals and 13rebs and Rasho Nesterovic is just a rebounding machine. 4pts, 2blocks, 4asists and 13rebs off the bench. I really like that.
* First game in Rose Garden: Tracy with 37pts and 11 boards, Bibby 15/16, RASHO NESTEROVIC WITH 15 PTS AND 17 REBS as the Kings overcame triple double by Telfair who had a great series. 106-103 W.
* Game 4 was a complete massacre. Smashed the Blazers by 36+. Mcgrady with another 40+ output, Bibby doing his standard 17 and 10, Camby 11pts and 13boards and Nesterovic with 14 boards as well. Held the Blazers to 33% from the floor.
* Last game of the sim, back in Sac town. Tracy Mcgrady with his 3rd 40 + game as he went for 48pts and 10 boards. Camby 12pts and 18 boards,. Fortson with 12pts and 8 boards in only 18 minutes. Series over, Grizzlies coming up next. I hope everything will be fine with my DC this time.

After the first round;

Mcgrady #1 in scoring with 39ppg  :shock: . You hear that Dirk? :wink:
Bibby #5 in asists with 9.6
Nesterovic #8 in rebounding with 12.2  :)

I'm afraid that you'll be fired as his agent soon. sorry.

That's a dirty rumor and you know it.

However, you may have him........for DH... 8)

Erm.....wow.

Kings changed up his DC last sim, to protect guys (hoffa) from getting injured.  So I went to put Hoffa back up as starting PF, hit "R" to go to Rafael, but accidentally went to Radoslav instead.  And I didn't notice it!

Luckily KingsGM still won.  Thank god.  Oops.

Well well...the Commish is not so sober guy afterall! :)

On a related note: What would happen if that costed me the series? I'm asking in general. Would we re do the sim or..?

Nope, you'd be screwed.  That's the problem with anything done by people...human error.

But I can't go back and re-sim because it's unfair to all the other peoples results.  Luckily we don't have to worry about that.

Pheew....

I would have been one to request a resim even though I won 4-1. But thank God it's irrelavant.

Kings, it really shows what a good team you have put together. Congratulations.

Thanks!

Nice interpretation.
Believe it or not, my first thought was: "hell, what a great move, starting a guy who actually plays defense, and giving the scoring back to tmac, who doesn't like to play next to a ballhog like hoffa anyway."

So what a huge luck for the Kings Nesto only had to go up against a crappy guy like Finley, I'm pretty sure Buehler would have eaten Nesto alive for dinner ... and the Blazers take the series. No kidding.
 :shock:

And imo, anyone can surround tmac, one of the best players in FBB forever, with some fine (old) defenders and have accomplished the same. C'mon, losing with tmac, thats hard to do, but winning?


Still, congrats to Pacers, Hornets and Kings who had to sweat it out ... but that's what good teams are able to do !
 :D

You're completely insane. I'll send you some pills...

Lol...  See, that is the difference bewteen Dirk and Tracy...
Dirk just wants to win, he does not care about his individual stats...  He let Deng and Finley pick up the scoring slack without Hinrich (8 ppg above Deng's average, 6 above Finley's season average), and averaged about 5 assists per game...

Could Tracy do the same???  :P

Not much of a chance here since we didn't play them well in regular season also.  Good series Warriors, I think this is your year.

Just an FYI for those staying up for the sim.

I'm still at work.  Don't expect it until about 1:30 am or so (eastern time)

Round 2 is done.

Flat out shocked to see the Warriors lose.  That both the Pacers and Raptors would put up more of a fight too.

Raptors suck :P

Naw, not that suprised to lose, kinda surprised that I just laid down and took it hard, especially after putting up such a fight last year. I can tell you one thing, I'm flat out sick of facing the Nets in the second round.

Yao played great, as expected, but Petit was able to dominate Perry, which made a world of hurt.


Went from a fantastic offensive team against the Heat to a team that couldn't score to save it's life against the Nets.

Oh well. Wasn't exepecting to win the series, and got exactly what I expected.

4-0 not one close game
I was pretty sure it would be a lot closer but with marion and artest both dominating at their position and thanxs to outrebounding one of the best rebounding teams in the league it wasn´t even close.
next are the nets who are built very similar like the hornets exept they have an inside presence named Okafor   :?
So what can i do with this series. Only hope is that marion can take care of Pettit more than Okafor will of JO. We split the season series 2-2 with every team winning at home.

wow. not even a game 7 :D

Oh yeah!! Oooooh yeeeeeahhhh!!!!!!

great statement if i can win the nets series i hope you will advance as well...not really a big chance that this will happen  :roll:

Why?

because i feel the nets are the fav in my matchup since i couldn´t hold them under 100 points scoring in the regular and the clipps aren´t bad either.

Back to the WCF!

Relativly easy 2nd round against the great offensive Memphis team. 4-1, won by 14, 21, 2 and 13+.

Game 1: Hoffa 33pts, 4 blocks and 18 boards followed by Mike Bibby 17pts, 14asists and 8 boards, Camby 10pts, 4blocks and 12 boards and James Posey contributed with 13 boards himself. I really like the hustle of this team. Everyone from 1 to 5, can flat out rebound.
Game 2: Hoffa once again with 35/12, Tmac 26/5/8, Bibby with 13pts/15asists and 6 boards. Danny Forston with nice double double off the bench, 11pts and 11boards and Camby is just doing what he's supposed to do; 7pts, a block and 13 rebounds.
Game 3: Hoffa and Tracy combined for 67pts and 21rebs and Bibby with the game of the series - 18pts, 5 steals, 6rebs and 20 asists  :shock: !! Camby once again with great effort, 5 blocks and 13 boards. And yeah, Tinsley with 5 asists in only 8 minutes.
Game 4: 3 point loss. Hard to sweep a team like the Grizzlies. Outside of Hoffa and Bibby no one came to play.
Game 5: Last game of the sim. 13 point W in red hot Arco Arena. Hoffa was again too much for the Grizz frontcourt, 39pts and 12rebounds, Tmac 23/5/7, Bibby with standard 19pts and 10asits. Great defensive effort from Camby and Posey who combined for 6 steals, 2 blocks and 20 rebounds! And rarely used Broderick Lousietti chipped in 6pts, 2 asists and 4 boards in only 10 minutes!

Great performance, i'm very pleased. Bibby is just a passing machine (#1 in playoffs in asists, 11.9 per game), Hoffa and Mcgrady doing what they're doing best, Camby is even better then in the regular season. Forston and Posey are just a great role players.

Well, i'm 3-1 against the Clips this year so i like my chances. I don't think they have the answer for Hoffa who had monstrous 44/8 and 54/16 games against them.

But both of you have even better defense. I would rather (if i advance off course) play against the Nets against who i'm 2-0 this season then you. We split the season series with both teams winning by large margin. And Marion is certanly a bigger problem for Mcgrady then Pettit.

Although, it would be nice to have first ever Euro Finals. :)

As am I, since I won the season series against the Clippers 4-0...  Just goes to show the regular season means absolutely nothing.

Excellent series, Clips, especially since 4 of the games were decided for 4 points or less.  Nice to see you finally get to the WCF.

Kick some ass!!!   :D

Yeah, great run Kings, but I'm pulling for the Clippers.  They've been knocking at the doorstep for so long that they deserve this.

Well, really cannot complain about my offense at all, it was great.  

Dirk Nowitzki : 31.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 5 apg, and 2.2 spg on 46% and 43%.  Offensively, an incredible performance, and he did a pretty good job defending brand as well.  Great performance.

Kirk Hinrich : 22 ppg, 10.7 apg, 1.5 spg and only 2.2 tpg, on 52% and 48% shooting.  Came back from his injury in a big way, and played better then could be hoped against a great defender like Gordon.

Luol Deng : 20 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 2.8 spg on 50% and 55% shooting.  Wow.  Deng has been magificent in these playoffs, showing that he may be ready to take the offensive load from Dirk in a couple seasons. However, Corey Maggette ate him alive defensively, though...

Don Ruffin : 12.2 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 3.5 bpg, 2.2 spg on 45% shooting.  The 1st team all defense PF showed his ability, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, and scoring at a good clip, while doing a good job on Kwame Brown...

And the man who killed the season...
Jim Finley : 3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, on 24% shooting.  Crushed at the center position, and crushed badly.  Tyson Chandler dominated both Finley and Rubini.  And that was the series...

maybe i deserve this as well ??? :wink:

well, maybe if you weren't playing against me i'd be rooting for you ;)

yea i will root for the winner in the finals  :wink:

Yeah, this is about as happy as I've been with the way the playoffs have played out.   Everyone here has been deserving.  Sure, there are some other deserving teams (mainly the hornets and warriors), but there are only 4 open slots.  I think all the teams here are great teams, I don't think that's necessarily been the case in the past.

yea i agree this year is the first time ever that 4 teams are in the CFs who should be there. Not i don´t think the jazz or i didn´t deserve to be in the finals some years ago  :wink:
Maybe the raptors choose the wrong year to dominate the league  :roll:

Now imagine Pettit getting defended by some real SG, like a lets say 6'6" veteran, freeing Perry to come from the bench on SG/PG.

I wouldn't say this would have won the series, but with so many tight games and Pettit going off big time it's safe to assume this could have been different too.

And you were soooooo close ...
 :(

Yes, I know, you must have sent my 35 PMs about Giniboli this year ;)


But don't you worry, I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet.

it were 37 actually, but i guess you didn't read the last two.
and now you paid the price for it ...
 :wink:

If he could have mustered some offense in games 2 and 3 he would have had a chance.  He was up 8 going into the 4th of game 2, then only scored 17 in the 4th.  he then scored 14 in the 4th in game 3, and was within 5 entering the 4th quarter of game 5.  

Especially game 2.  Game 2 was very winnable.  I couldn't do squat through 3 quarters.

Like Bods said, I don't think starting Perry was the only reason. It was that my young guys like Dickau and Jefferson couldn't handle the defensive pressure of the Nets.

Dunleavy has been a flat out amazing fit with this team.  He's given me the same level defense of Battier with more aggressive play, an ability to create for others, more outside shooting and much more rebounding.  I'm so glad I didn't worry about giving up Antonio Turkoglu.  And to think, I almost turned that down because I didn't expect Dunleavy to start.

12.1 pts, 7.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.5 steals so far in the playoffs.  Just a perfect compliment.

I feel bad for Shane, who's now been relegated to 11 mpg in the playoffs after helping me win a title last year, but he's a team player  :lol:

No, i don't think Perry was the only reason, but i think we can agree that Perry will never be a fulltime SG starter at 6'1".

So what do you wait for, while Yao is in his prime ? Why not get an update NOW. Forget Ginobili, who's numbers against Pettit were equally bad this year (though he had to cover for Lenard's "defense" all season), but ANY better would give you better team balance ...
 :?

yea i feel also bad for shane  :wink:
mike gives me more worries than i ever thought i would ahve to considering your team. if i can stop either emeka or pettit i am pretty sure mike will step up his game.  He is very similar to Artest on my team ( too bad i couldn´t find a combo to get him  :roll: )

man stop that. there is a forum called trade talk or you can sent him your usual pms making it 38  :roll: to praise your players  :lol:

Shane's getting paid 8 million per.  That's almost a million per minute/game.  Don't feel too bad for him ;)

Hey, I'd love to get an upgrade, sure, it would be great, but the thing is, no one seems to be willing to give fair value anymore in this league. I'm getting offered SGs who are comparable to Manu, for Max. That's obviously something I'm not willing to do.

Oh man, absolute domination by the Pacers in our series. Marion really locked down Melo. The closest game was an 11 point loss  :oops:

Livingston had a very forgetable playoffs. As my best player, he needed to step up, and he didn't. Hopefully he'll be stronger next year.

On the other hand, Pavel (starting at PF) did a very admirable job on O'neal, holding him to 17 ppg.

Well, at least I have the lotto to look forward to.

Ah, but Nets, if you played the Warriors in the Finals, would you have started Dunleavy or Battier?

Dirk loved playing against Dunleavy (games of 54 and 40)  Just curious...

From my recollection of prior series, Dirk loved playing against Emeka, Sammy and Battier as well.

Well, he was not on my squad in those past years, so my knowledge of those days is lacking :)

Hopefully I can find out next year.  I expect my squad will be even better next year.

Dirk gave me sleepless nights in the past.  I probably would have just left my lineup the way it is and try to beat you at the other positions.

Yeah, i was really all pumped out thinking i would play against Dirk and the Wariorrs but Clips came out strong.

But now it's payback time! Clips vs King, the CLASH of the TITANS!!  :)

Haha..oh man. What if Clips put Brand at SF? Posey don't have a chance off course. But what if i put Mcgrady on 3? Head to head against Brand?!

Which one would fouled out first?! :lol:

That is where he was against me... Brand vs. Dirk at the SF spot.

Ooooooh...... :)

btw I'm not sure we're allowed to talk about that... :P

all you have to do is look at the boxscores.

Yeah, but positions in box score are not completely accurate so you can never be sure how much minutes one played at certain position.

You can almost always determine who the starters at each position are.

the positions on the boxscores show the position a player was at when he FIRST entered the game.

So...if a guy's a starter, the position he's listed is the position he's starting at  :D

And the starters usually play the most minutes.   :lol:

Congrats Clippers.  Bring it!

5 straight finals appearances for your New Jersey Nets!

(we won't mention our record in finals)

What was probably the deciding game in Nets/Pacers (Game 5) was very close, with the Pacers actually winning at half time.  There were blowouts each game.

Marion and pettit played each other pretty well.  O'neal struggled shooting in some of the losses against Dalembert.

Luckily for the clips Brand is back.  He missed one full game, then played only 13 with an injury in the other.  Clips lost the game he missed but were able to overcome it.

Also, Clips, tomorrows sim won't be until about 1 am GMT-500 time.

home court advantage was the difference...

Pettit was almost unstoppable.. thought i had a a chance to stop him after marion shot down him through regular season.
Jo was as expected but artest was the real surprise  :cry:
He defended Mike very well but couldn´t hit any shots.
Biggest suprise is that i had the rebound advantage and win a game against the nets shooting around 33%
My team also couldn´t get to the foul line or if there hit the FTs.
In the last deciding game my team (one of the best FTs teams in the league) shot 48%; even Shaq would have done better :oops:  
I will wait for the nets to break up their team and win it next year  :wink:

This is my first finals appearance. Who do I send my dc to?

still to bods...

Oh my goodness, i can hear the heartbreaking cries from 600 miles away already.

This was an amazing series going the distance, this is as good as it gets. At first look, the difference was depth on offense. The Kings are two deep there (let's say "and-a-half" since bibby occasionally can score too) while the Clippers have 5 guys who can - and do - put up 20 consistently. And in the game Brand missed even a 6th man, Chills, came up big. The Clipps can come at you from so many different angles.

Hoffa put up a truly forgettable series against Kwame, at least offensively, shooting 37% while jacking up more than 27 shots (5 more than TMac) a game - highlighted by a 7-32 stinker in the pivotal game 3 where Brand only played 13min ... coincidentally the only game where he shot 50% was game 4 which Brand missed. So much for the "no answer" the Clippers were supposed to have.

Apart from game 7, which was essentially over in the second quarter this was a series that could have gone either way.


Congratulations to the Clips and good luck for the finals. The Nets now may be the heavy favourite since they owned the season series but if the Clippers offense can click at the right time is see them taking this to 6 games at least

To bad we will never find out what could have been. Was the Kings' regular season domination of the Nets just a fluke? Would the big two of the Sacto really hold the big two from swampland down.  
That's what will never be answered, since both team will most likely have a different look next year. The Nets talk about it for some time and the Kings (current) starting lineup would total 160yrs of age next season, something that won't get you anywhere near the finals ...
 8)

Lol...  well, the Clips are breaking all the regular season records...
The Warriors were 4-0 against them, and the Clips beat me...
The Kings were3-1 vs the Clips, and the Clips took them down too.

Good look Clips, and congratulations.  After years of having one of the top teams, you finally made it to the Finals....

God damn!! Another 3-2 lead in WCF and another loss! Bunch of lousy chuckers!

Clippers go to snowboard, smoke some weed, drink, teach kids, whatever, just leave me alone! Every friggin year he stops me in the palyoffs!  :bash:




  :wink:


Congrats man, you deserved it, but it was real close, damn!

you should start all over again and trade me bibby and arajou  :wink:

he should throw out his computer trough the window and get the hell out of here  :idea:   :lol:

Clips: you just send your DC to me.  I've already PM'd you my DC.

No anger and shame in losing against a team like the Clips. The only thing that angers me is a fact that i lost another game 7 at home after leading 3-2 in the series.

Friggin Kwame Brown with a series of his life! :?

I should have putted Hoffa at SF too...

What a great move by you, Clippers.

Now wait, you say you play Elton at SF the whole season, and this has nothing to do with Hoffa? Wow, how could i miss that stuff through all the regular season matchups we had ...

(and i'm beginning to wonder if thats's really a joke or part of your complete ignorance of other teams lineups & tactics, fully believing the Master's team can master any opponent without adjusting, and not giving a single thought on matchup advantages)

Even the Raptors do that now, after the mighty Bucks surprised them some seasons ago in a first round series ...
 :wink:

I won the season series 3-1 with both of us having the same strategies, had no reason to change anything, and almost swept my way to the WCF with this one. There was no need for adjusting.

Almost swept???  You did not sweep anyone. Ugg   :bash:

Wrong.

He beat you once, at Sacto, with a different strategy than in the final matchup where you blew him away.

And that's exactly the problem. You do not see any need adjusting to opponents. And believe me, even the Nets study the other teams, maybe more than anyone else, to see favorable matchups, and are not shy to tweak their lineup/strategy to gain an advantage.

It's a Master's problem ...

Gotta say, I was very tempted to move Nowitzki back to PF, and move Ruffin to SF to guard Brand.  Just thought that would leave me with too little shotblocking (and Dirk has alot of foul trouble this year at the power positions).  May have cost me the series, though.

Kings, you have great flexibility with your lineup (Araujo apparantly can play PF and C, McGrady and Posey can both play SF and SG, while Tinsley can probably play pretty well at both PG and SG.)  It is a great luxury to have, wish I had more of it on my squad.

Yeah, I've made a lot of adjustments in the playoffs.  I've had Pettit at both PG and SF at times in the past, flipped Dalembert and Okafor, even had Battier at SG in the past.

This year I haven't, as I didn't think it was to my advantage (for example, I thought about switching the bigger Dunleavy onto Marion, but figured that despite Marion being a huge SG, got his points on 3pt'ers and penetration.  Pettit is actually very good at denying penetration, which I know by looking at the stats of opposing SG's), but you should always look at it.

The only real change I was thinking about for the Clippers was matching up with Brand, but the only way I would really do that is by starting Gooden at SF.  But that would take too much away from what I do offensively.  I think Dunleavy's ability to create will hurt Brand, especially defensively.  Or at least I think.  We'll see.

Only time it would it might have been to your advantage was with the Pacers, but Artest on Pettit instead of Marion really is not that much better :)

I lost only 2 games (which would have probably been only 1 if it wasn't for the Hoffa "incident" in the first round) until the WCF. That's why i said ALMOST.

There is only one thing i didn't want to admit to myself. That is; i won everytime when Forston started or played more minutes then Camby. He had some monstrous games against the Clips. I was thinking until the very end about putting Danny at PF or C as a started but for some reason i went with Camby in the end.

And i don't see any way i could have adjusted my lineup against the Clips. The only thing i could have done is to put Tmac at 3. But history tells me (cause i had him there in the past) that his scoring goes way down at SF and i didn't want to put him to jeopardy of fouling out every game tryin to guard Brand. It could have been reversed situation, maybe Brand would have fouled out every game, but that was the gamble i wasn't willing to the take.

I don't think the strategies prevailed, things are simple, better defense won and Clips are certanly better defensive team then the Kings.

Many times in the past I have changed my lineup in the playoffs depending on what team I play. And when I thought I created some great matchup problems for other teams, it turned against me and I lost a series I was not supposed to lose.

So this year I did not change too much... until now in the finals... and it may again turn against me! We will see what happens.

I had great playoff series against Nuggets, Warriors and Kings. Overcame homecourt disadvantage in the last two series.

Nuggets series: Alphonse Butler did a great job guarding Gordon!!! But there was just too much firepower left for the Nuggets to guard. Brand, Maggette, Brown and Chandler did what they were supposed to do.

Warriors series: Playing 4 on 5 is tough. I was really afraid of Dirk's playoff perfomances (I remember last year!) but honestly... the Warriors' center problem killed them in that series. Deng, Hinrich had very good series.

Kings series: Just a great series Kings. It could have gone either way. But I think my team is deeper.

So now... after so many years of being a top 5 team in the league, we finally made it to the Finals...

Yeah, this one was classic. Congrats!

This is a heavyweight title fight right here.
Losing game 1 hurt.  Lost by 4, after dominating the 2nd quarter (23-9) to come back in it, had a rought 3rd quarter (32-11).  Lost by 4.

Game 2 and 3 were blowouts.

The Clippers are an astonishing +10 in rebounds.  I've made up for it a bit with +5 in turnovers, but rebounds are something I count on.  The person who has won rebounding is 3-0 in this series.

Pettit has made Maggette his personal whipping boy.  59% shooting, 57.8% 3pt.  With I could list him as options 1, 2 and 3.

The rest of my team has been stifled by the clips.  Emeka is shooting 34.9% (he is grabbing 16.3 rpg and blocking 5 shots/game though).  Dunleavy is shooting 34.2 ppg (once again, 5.6 boards, 4 assists, 3.3 steals are nice, but need more).  Earl shooting 21.6%.  That's staggering.  Great team defense by the Clips, but my guys need to perform.  Lincoln Lord has been vastly outperforming Earl so far.

That being said, I am holding my own defensively.  Both teams are shooting 40.7% from the field,oddly.  I'm holding Chandler to ca 36.5% shooting, Brown to 23.6%, maggette to 37.5%.  

Brand's hurting, 22.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg.  As is Gordon (21 ppg, 6.7 apg, both shooting at or above 50% (50% for Brand, 53% for Gordon).

Basically, he's brought 2 people who have brought it offensively to my 1.

Wow, kind of strange to see the Nets behind in a series. I am definitely looking forward to seeing possible adjustments and the conclusion of this series.

It's 3-0 Clips?!

2-1

bods, you're a greedy bitch, asking more than 34.2ppg from Dunleavy !!!
 :lol:

lol, I obviously meant %

Unfortunately me being behind in a finals is kinda commonplace.

Damn, this is the first finals series in ages REALLY lasting two days. And the drama is developping.

Could it be the year of the Clippers, who were maybe the only team staying with their roster for what seems like forever. I doubt they looked that much different when i first joined here,and they were good then, also young but already good.

There were no panic moves, no wholesales, just keeping the team together and letting it develop. This has to be admired, and after the Nets won last year i doubt there would be a more deserving winner now than the Clippers.


This series has the perfect day 2 setup: the underdog took home court from the fav and has two more home games to finish it at the Staples. I don't think anyone believes they really will as the Nets have shown over and over again it doesn't matter to them WHERE they play, road or home.

So my guess is this will go 7 games with the winner decided in a blowout finale. The Clips already did it once, but can they do it to a much deeper team too?

Editor's choice: Clippers in 7
 8)

I am glad you noticed this. It is exactly what my plan was all along. I could not explain it any better!

:(

I don't know what's more depressing.  The fact that I just simmed my SECOND 7 game of the finals that I've been on the losing end, the fact that I've committed to breaking up my team after only 1 championship, or the fact that I have to now process all those friggin FA extension

:(

I blew another halftime lead in game 7 of the finals.

Ok, this game needs to be brought up for review:
http://ssba.phillyarena.net/boxes/162-1.html

lost by 4, FT's:
Nets: 6-10
Clippers: 29-36

Ah well, congrats Clips, you deserved it.

Maybe it's a good thing to break my team up just for all the heartbreak.

Damn... I have a hard time believing it. I kept this team together for so long and it finally pays off. I was fearing that this would be one of the greatest teams without winning a championship. But here it is. I am very happy it!!!

:cheers:  :bounce:  :hotbounce:

Honestly... this Finals series was a thriller. Nets could have won as well.
Congratulations to the Nets on a very impressing season, a great playoff run, and a very interesting Finals (which they as well deserved to win)!


What I did change for this series was my pf and c lineup. I moved Chandler to pf to (try to) guard Okafor, and Brown to c.
Also I moved Gordon to 2nd option and Maggette down to 3rd option. Because I knew that Gordon would have a better time against Boykins. Maggette had a hard time against Pettit, but he did ok.
I was thinking to put Childress at starting sg to try and guard Pettit, but I chose for Maggette's scoring instead.  

Congratulations to Brand as the playoff MVP!

There were two roster moves I was considering.

First, I was thinking of switching Dunleavy to the 3rd option over Boykins, seeing Boykins ineffectiveness against Gordon.  I wanted Dunleavy to force Brand to defend him out on the perimeter.  In the end I had faith that Boykins would pick it up.

Second, I should have changed my pace to Fast from slow.  Frankly, I don't have one logistical reason for having a slow pace at all in this finals.  With Brand, you should exploit him at SF.  I have no idea why this didn't even occur to me until now  :oops:

Congratulations to both of You, and especially to Clipps for winning their first ring.

big BRAVO to the Clippers.
Well deserved.

on a side note: EUROPE 1 - USA 0

you mean Europe - USA 1 : 6 now, i hope we europeans can come close or beat that in some 1-2 years....there's few big teams now, Clippers, Pacers, Kings, emerging Blazers  :lol:  and always suprising Celtics ;)

Congratulations Clippers...  Well done, the team finally came together...

No, it's 1-0 in favor of europe, only the direct matchups count. And i can't recall any non-US team in the finals for some time.

ok, i looked that up. It's actually
USA 1 - Rest of the world 2
since the Heat (Asia Pacific) won once and the Pacers lost once in the finals - which was before my time - so in detail it's
USA 1 - EUROPE 1
USA 0 - ASIA 1


Forget about those intercontinental finals, that's like Milan and Juve playing for the european championship. Nice, but hardly the flair of a Juve/Barcelona matchup ...
 :lol:

congratulations.

you had your pace at slow the whole POs?

Yeah, starting with Sim 11.

http://www.phillyarena.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=27262#27262

Thanks everybody!!

The team will be in town for a parade and a party tomorrow night. You are all welcome to join the party. Lots of champagne, sigars and hot women!  :lol:

Congrats Clips!  :cheers:

hot women?! Did you say hot women?!!!!! Sign me up for the parade. :D

Congrats Clips. It's been a long time coming. You'd been right in the thick every year.

Clips won a date with Brooke Burke.
(http://stuffmagazine.com/girls/brooke_burke_ii/brooke_burke_ii_l6.jpg)

When and where???? Can you give me her cellphone number, so I can call her already!

She said she'll be there if KingsGM is invited.  :)

Talk about a defensive struggle.

Okafor was the second leading scorer on my team.  He put up 19.6 ppg, 16.7 rpg, on 38.8% shooting.  Ouch.
Tyson Chandler was the 3rd leading scorer on the clippers and put up 16.3 ppg, 13.8 rpg on 32.7% shooting.

Anywho, like I said, the series basically came down to the Clippers having two people show up offensively (Gordon and Brand) to my one (Pettit).