SSBA

Lot of scares.  Okafor looked like he dominated.

Wow...  very surprised to make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs...  Excellent series, Blazers!!!!
Whole team has horrendous on offense, except for Luol Deng...
But he defense must have been pretty good...

once again keogan on top of the scoring category....
its amazing how shultz being all-defense first team cannot shut down lenard excpt on the 4th game... while molina and andressen took turns making JO's game a horrible one...

im happy with the win...especially khoury winning 3 of the 4 player of the game :) terrific job by my pointguard  :D

il be facing bods in the 2nd round...same matchup as to last season...hope this season il be advancing in the finals....with a little luck... :D

wow. jerold performed like the pride of Gen San.

Jerold, asa.. haha.. I doubt you can beat dabods.. JK :D

Anyway..

Congrats to everyone who won in the first round.

Congrats also to Jerold's kababayan, Manny Pacquiao "The People's Champ" who beat Oscar Larrios this afternoon.

1-2-3 punch!!! knock down!!!  :tup:

Can't wait til Ivan sees.

Congrats to Warriors...i did some moves in hope to beat them i always have big problems against and it functioned more or
less, with season tactics i would probably be gone 0-4, like this at least it made an interesting series and unfortunately
for my another round 1 exit.



It was probably all decided with losing home advantage in Game 1 by 1pt, that was crucial for the series as teams won all
their remaining games at home, too bad that home court advantage proved crucial this time, if it wasnt for that 1pt loss
im pretty confident this team would won this series in 7.






vs Warriors 97-98...Bosh and Buehler for whom i swaped places did exactly what i wanted, they stopped Iggy and Finley,
Bosh played much better vs Iggy then Buehler did, and so did Buehler on Finley then Bosh did.Hoffa with a good 32/14 game,
Buehler excellent 16/5/10 3blk perfomance, Bosh great 14/7...both with good defense...Clement added 10/11 but couldnt
stop Deng at all, and Deng shut him down. Telf had just 3 shots WTF??, made 2, but Tinsley outplayed him...and well with
the buzzer Luol Deng scored an amazing basket from the centerhalf over Hoffa :P

vs Warriors 103-79....this time no joke, great perfomances by Hoffa,Telf,Buehler,Clement.Buehler especially 14/5/9 5blk,
he definitely seems to work better at PF and Bosh looks better at SF, i'll try that for the new season, after all Buehler
can jump as hell and has a great orientation and is a bit taller then Rodman, i always saw him as new Dennis and now im
sure he is one, welcome back mister B to your original position.

@Warriors 76-91...revenge by Warriors came fast and sweet, the whole team failed except Hoffa who was great 30/15 on 54 %
FG.

@Warriors 95-107...another one, this time everybody failed, Clement did well however.

vs Warriors 120-76...wow...this was a big one, Hoffa 24/15, Telf 21/14, Clement 21/8/7, Buehler 20/10, Bosh 13/7/6 and
Ricardo 10/10....amazing perfomance trully.

@Warriors...80-87...unfortunately dreams were gone, after a great perfomance they couldnt get another one and they us to
a Game7 decider.


Congrats and good luck to the Warriors, was a great series, too bad it didnt went trough to 7 games.

me either :lol:

fucking embarassment! this is just ridicilous! the very definition of computer error!

christ, i didn't know jason richardson is the next frikking michael jordan! i'm speechless!!

wow, I managed to win a series.  Barely, but still.
 :hail: :hail: :hail:

The Magic gave me fits - and a big scare when they took game 3 & 4 by THREE pts combined after I won the first two pretty easily. Of course, this year I took the pivotal game 5. Just by three but who cares :-) After the only blowout game of the series I managed to take game 7 in a shootout.

The Matrix was phenomenal, averaging 26/9/3 and proving why he's worth every cent. But they key matchups were PF Griffin against Biedrins and PG Malcolm Trump against Brice.
Griffin held Andris to 12/11 on less than 40% shooting (well below his 19ppg on 48%) and averaged 17/10/4 and 2.6 blocks himself. No chance without him. And Malcolm played Brice as good as anyone. Sure he got 17/10 but shot only 42% from the field and 32% on treys (after averaging 20ppg on almost 50% and 47% from 3pt). Just great defense from my 5'10" PG, who's giving up 7 inches on the All League 2nd teamer.
 :cheers:

I love how my team has responded to the first big challange and I hope I can come up with a solution for the Hornets as well ...
 8)

Well, the Cavs fought hard, other then Game 2 stomping, but the Hornets showed that they are clearly the better team. The other three losses were relatively close games, including a very tough 1 point loss in OT. A win there and the series may have been up for grabs in game 7. But anyway, good series Hornets. The young Cavs will only be getting better...

Are you kidding yourself here ? Did you look at a single boxscore all season ? I try to tell you for  more than a season the TMac is a shadow of his former self on defense, but you don't listen. So nobody should be surprised a 26ppg scorer hangs 32ppg on him.

But not only that, DIRK of all people got COMPLETELY OUTCLASSED by Udonis Haslem and Frank Hyatt. Apart from game 4 he was horrendous and that came a bit surprising since it was vics versa during the season. Guess some change did work, either from the Rocketeers or from you ...
 :o

j rich is good... he took me to the 2nd round of the playoffs without TD...he's definitely a playoff player :D

Great series Wolves.  Won game 7 with 64% shooting but my team turn the ball over way too many times.  Next up is the Warriors, should be another good matchup.

congrats heat... guess i did too many changes  :bash:
with tanner out for 4 days i tried to beat the heat in a scoring race.. :screwy:
It almost worked but my 2 best player during the season really sucked... :bods:
anyway Lenard had a fantastic series with an avg of 30/4/4 and shooting over 50% form both field and 3
and didn´t miss any freethrow during the first 3 games against shultz  :tup:
priddy was just fantastic avg as a starter at C: 20points and 19 rebounds as a non option  :hail:
artest was solid as well but with JO fouling out pretty quick i had no backups at PF

This is what I wrote after my playoff exit to the HEAT last season:

Man, i feel a LOT better now ...
 :cheers:

celics nice series we had. my team won every home and so did yours.

Thanks, Magic.
Tough loss for you, as this was one the most even played series possible.
105 ppg to 104 ppg
55.4 rpg to 55 rpg
26 apg to 24 apg
both teams shot 45%, had roughly same # of FG attempts and rebounds
Magic had more steals, less TOs, Celtics had more blocks (woha, big surprise !!!)

so the main difference were these two stats:
Celtics did better from the FT line, shooting 75% to the Magic 65% and most of all, Celtics shooting more triples and converting those at a 45% clip, while Magic (especially Brice) converted less than 37%. Enough to make a difference in a tight series.


ok, looking at season stats it probably wasn't the scoring which decided this series. After getting almost 3 blocks (8.1 to 5.3) and 2 boards (54 to 52) LESS during reg season Celtics made a nice improvement there, probably accounting for the extra possessions to take the games.


But thanks to homecourt (only assured on the final day of the series, but in reality gained when my reserves pulled out a monumental 117-114 win over the HEAT on day 118) we finally beat a top team when it counts. Too bad we don't play in the West, as both our teams, Magic and Celtics, would have had a big chance to go to the finals when playing there ...
 :cheers:

haha. I was looking at the team statistics and your team averaged only 5bpg so I has my lineup of:

Dwight/Al J
Andris/Al J

I wanted to attack the inside. but bam.

well, I think Griffin (2.6 blocks) did nicely against Biedrins, a lot better than Boozer did in the reg season. But Griff also had a 7 block game against Dwight, and Strait complements my frontcourt with more blocks and rebounds, too.

so maybe the inside attack did me a favor ...



but then again, now it's me having the dubious distinction to get run over by the Hornets
 :?

outrun them? :D

Round 2 up.

For one of the few times, playoffs going kinda how you would expect them.  Warriors are a slight surprise, but I don't consider them beating the Mavs a huge upset.

For the first time probably since Pettit's rookie year, I feel I have to make some gimmicky changes to win a series.  Odd feeling.  But I like it.

... especially since the Warriors lost !
:-)


So a brief time of enlightment comes to a close again, another Celtics season is wasted.

Hornets did what I expected, namely use their big height advantage (of the 7'6" & 7'5" frontline) and kill me on the boards. And they shot 50% to my 41% (with Yao averaging 38.7 ppg). The only reason these weren't 4 blowouts were a few more steals and less TOs, otherwise this series was a wash. I just didn't have the players to take them out on the perimeter.

What's disappointing though is that each of my players had a good game, just never in one game together. Boozer, Griff, Schabinger, Matrix (completely disappointed how old Vlad took you out of the game) and Trump (great series against Livingston) all had their games when they looked good.


So congratulations, hornets, guess this will finally be your time.
Now dare you to beat me in DJSL too ...
 :cheers:

Nice series Celts; like objects in mirrors, it was closer than it appeared...
I expected Yao to come up big against a small frontcourt, and he did. I didn't expect Radman to take Marion out of the game. I really think there's something programmed into Marion that makes him a poor playoff performer. It's weird.

Anyway, I'll need to get lucky here (and in DJSL) to win.

I'm really not anxious about this series, I expect to lose, which I guess is funny since I have home court and beat the Nets 3-1 in the season series (the games were extremely close though).
The Nets just have the mental battle completely won... I'm lucky I'm not playing in this series, or my negativity would surely cause us to lose.  :)

Good luck Nets, and no injuries this year, hopefully...

 :lol2:

oops

yea marion seems to disappear in the POs.. i figured the same problem here and i think it cost TOM at least a title in DSJL.
 

I made it to the third round of playoffs for the first time in almost 10 seasons.  Don't know if this is the first time where both #1 seed vs #2 seed in both conference.  Anyways, good series Warriors.  Next up is Clippers, their frontcourt of Chandler and Brand always a pain in the ass to deal with.  I wish I can get Broderick Baylor off IR for this series because I'm going to need it.

TIght series with the Rockets. Good that Maggette made a long 3 pointer on the buzzer in game 3 to win that game!

Very close series with Rockets. Game 4 must have been great to watch. :)  And Gordon almost got a quadruple double in game 5!

No, I don't buy that Marion talk.

FBB is about matchups,and after Marion had an easy one in rd 1 with Profit, who knows defense only as a theroretical concept, he met Vlad, who is way underrated in that regard. I had him, I know him, he's just experienced, big and on occasions has some fine offense himself too. This isn't a choke job from Shawn, this is just a good opponent.

I just realized what HUGE size advantage the Hornets had.
Their starters are 7'6" - 7'5" - 6'9" - 6'10" - 6'7"
My starters are 6'9" - 6'10" - 6'5" - 6'7" - 5'10"
And it's not like these are crappy guys. No wonder I was lost on the boards and shot only 41%.

I just had the misconception that my depth would carry me to some upset games and that maybe this could turn the series into my favor. But in the end, the outcome was pretty much like the reg season, where i only won the one game when Livingston was injured.

Don't think I didn't go through all lineup options i had. But what shold I do? None of my guys can defend Yao, maybe Etan would have been better, but he scores and rebounds even less than Booz. Strait? Roof? Griffin? (tried and fouled out in 17 minutes).

So in the end I was hoping Matrix had 3 good (30ppg) games (in a long series), that one of Griff/Booz/Schabi would give me 25pt offense each game and Trump could outquick Livi for 15-20ppg. And that Lewis, Thomas, Strait and Julius would give me some extra offense from the bench. Force some TOs, play at least solid D and outhustle them to loose balls.

Well, what happened ...

Boozer did actually good on offense. 18/13 on 46% and 1.3 blocks. That's what I wanted. But of course, Yao with 39/14 on 57% exposed him on D.
Trump was sensational again, 18ppg, 9 apg, just 1.3 TO and 46%. even better on D where he held Livi to 9/12 on 34% (way down from 13ppg on 46% this season).
Matrix wasn't bad offensively either, getting 20/7 on 53% (55% from 3pt), but Vlad only gave him 13 shots a game (way less than Booz, Griff and Trump) and Marions defense was the downside, letting Vlad go for 16/7 on 54%. Schabi wasn't much better, giving Stromile 14/7 on 52%. Thanks so much, my "A" defenders ...

But what cost me the chance to steal some wins was Griffin, who was held to 14/9 on 32% and the bench, which averaged a paltry 14ppg on bad shooting. Hornets got 17ppg on 55% from his reserves. That's a huge difference !!!


Now I see that I was too much Paxson, playing it too conservative. Maybe a high pace could have lowered their % (but i'm not too good at fast pace myself) Maybe I should've put Marion to SF and top option, where he would have had an easier time against Stro, and let Schabinger deal with Vlad (which he did pretty well last season). Probably the best change I could have made, but Shawns historical SF/top option performances scared me away. Also Strait might have looked better than Griffin, but I still can't see him elevating me to take the series.


So let's try again next year, if Marion doesn't retire I have still some good 2 seasons left with this team.
 8)

Nice series Mavs, well done.
Never expected Lebron and Deng to play almost even, but they did.  But Carmello did a good job on Andre, and my team is most defonely offensively challenged.  Still getting used to the after Dirk days.

Very pleased and surprised by the Warriors this season...  And  bright future to look forward to.

Gottam, I was eager for some data!

wow...another 2nd round exit for the heat... il just have to try and try until i succeed  :D
that one point loss in game five was really a heartbreak... everybody played good and lose in a 1 point game....

nets in the finals vs the clippers....no doubt nets would win this...i would be shock if they wont...clippers has an identical record to mine in the season...so i predict nets in 6  :D

i thought the hornets were going to get it this year, nets and clippers do not surprise me though in the least

Conference Finals up.  It was fun being the underdog, I felt I had to throw a few gimmicks in there to pull it out.  I'm surprised it worked so well.

I felt Okafor, despite being an inch shorter than Dalembert, was the superior man-man defender (with Sammy being better weakside).  I wasn't too worried about Pavel going off, so I switched Okafor to C and Sammy to PF.  Then, offensively, Okafor had done absolutely nothing against the Hornets in the regular season.  Nothing.  I'm talking like a series of 1-12 shooting games.  He probably would have shot 45% on the season if it weren't for the Hornets.  So I bumped Lord up to #2 option, Kundla up to #3, and I took Okafor out of the picture.  The results were good.

Okafor did a good job on Yao.  Yao still got his, but rather than getting 36 ppg on 52+% shooting (as he was both in the regular season and so far in the postseason) he got 32 ppg on 49% shooting.  Still great, but a substantial change.  Okafor himself put up 12 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 4 bpg, 1.2 spg, although he did so on a terrible % (33.8%).

But, my top 3 options were unstoppable.
Pettit: 33.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.4 apg, 3.6 spg, only 2 topg, 55.7% fg, 60% 3pt, 90% ft.  Those percentages are ridiculous for a top-option guard.
Lord: 24.6 ppg, 11.6 apg, 2 topg, 51% fg%, 50% 3pt, 100% ft.
Kundla: 16 ppg, as many steals as to's, 52.5% fg, 54.2% 3pt, 83.3% ft.

livingston was insane with 14 apg, and Swift was very good. 

But, the differences in the series:
- Yao didn't run away with it
- My top 3 perimeter options all shot over 50% from the field and over 50% from 3pt territory, while combining for 74 ppg.
- Turnovers.  Hornets beat me on the boards (one of the concessions made when I inserted Kundla over Dunleavy), but I absolutely destroyed him in turnovers.  Some games he had 10 more than me. 

Overall, I kinda expected my perimeter guys to have a field day (as he's essentially got a PF playing SF, and a SF playing SG).  I didn't think they would do quite as good, but I knew if I stayed away from anything inside offensively he'd have serious troubles keeping up with my perimeter guys, and that all I then had to do was contain Yao (even a little).  Luckily I think Okafor might be the best man-man defender in the league.

good game plan. perfectly executed (although that one game where Vlad held Pettit down made me thinking again, but Pettit ended all discussions the very next game)

similar to what i thought of, just my guys couldn't make any shots (Schabinger, Shard) or didn't take enough (Marion).
But then again, you played with outside focus and that's about the only way to beat Yao, as i know now ...
 :bash:


Good luck for Clippers, they will need any to succeed.

Nets in 5

lol, crushed

nah, Clipps in 7 :)

Oy. I think this was my year to reach the finals. If only I had the time to put robertson back into the lineup I think I could have beaten the clippers. Good luck to everyone.

thanks for the confidence! i think we will do exactly that from being the underdog.

Took the Clippers to 7 games.  Very proud of my team this year, we will be back next year.

tha
np :P
dunno....your team just seems to play "one for the other"...they play as a team...i think it'll decide

Games 1-3 up.

I think Pettit single-handedly kept me from being swept.

Finals are done.

I was actually very confident for being down 1-2.  I could not imagine Emeka playing 3 games as bad as he did in games 1-3, both offensively (where he couldn't shoot) and defensively (where he got schooled by Brand).  So I set him back as my 3rd option (Pettit, Lord, Okafor) and banked my entire season that he would prove me right.  And luckily he did, although he still had one bad shooting game.

I'm glad I got it this year, as Pettit and Okafor have officially played their last games.  I wanted to do this last year, but I lost in the conference finals.  Had I lost in the finals this year, I would have kept bringing the core back until I was able to go out on top.

Congratulations to the Nets!!!!
Another championship under your belt.

 :hail: Congrats, 3 championships is a great accomplishment.

congrats but i hope you will at least try to rebuild through a trade and draft and not let retire them... :rulez:
you proved to me that it is not the team that made you champ again..
the hornets had the advantage the whole season imo 
and you outcoached them with great tactics  :hail:
I believe your team is on the downside because of sammy and emeka getting older  :bounce:
i can wait the 2 or 3 years and after that you will have some problems against heat or magic and my rebuild team
 :lol2:

Congratulations, Bods.
 :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Well deserved, but you finally had the luck on your side too. One win by 2, one by 3 and one by 7 where you were down 2 after the 3rd. Honestly, could have been 4-1 Clippers as well.

This is truly an amazing team you rode to three titles and three more finals appearances in the last 7 seasons. Just the sheer dominance Ivan always dreams of ... btw, yeah, no Pettit, Emeka or Yao was blocking HIS path to the finals for the last 8 seasons.
 :hail:

Can't say i'm too sorry to see you breaking up the core now (and get someone else a chance). But I hope you mean Pettit/Meka played the last game FOR YOU. It wouldn't be fair to the league letting them retire at such a tender age. So ship them off to the west and give us a (well deserved) breather.

Big comedy again.
Let's get the Pacers a reality check: your THREE cornerstones of rebuilding were Celtics shortly ago, so GOOD LUCK my friend ... and I know what i'm talking about. I guess Trump/Schabinger/Strait/Griffin/Roof (avg. age 25) would love a little rivalry of the new Celtics Pride vs. the old Celtics Castoffs ...
 :lmao:

Congratulations Bods. Before the finals I felt like the underdog and I did not give myself too many chances to win it. But after the first 3 games, I felt really good. I won on your court, then lost a real close one on your court and then won at home. I have a great record at home so I thought we were in great shape to win it all. Oh well...
I am proud of the team. They had a great season. Starting 5 all had top seasons for them. And my bench was very very good.

please bods...trade me emeka...so i could win another one  :D anyway...congrats on your championship

Congrats Bods, great series, congrats to Clippers as well on a great fight.