Playoffs Round 2 Discussion

[RaptorsGM]

yup, 4-1. Eddie Jones was your leading scorer in 4 of the 5 games, and your defense was great.

[Iverson2Korver43]

All I can say is wow... This series kind of had me worried...  Gadzuric played huge for me: 13 ppg, 13 rpg, 4 bpg...  Ferry didn't do a whole lot, but the rest of the team really picked up the slack...

[GoldenStateGM]

Annother great series...
Nuggest went up 2-0 in the series, and then the Warriors took the next 4 games in a row.

Averaged over 100 ppg in this series.
The series came to rebounding.  In the 4 games the Warriors won, we outrebounded the Nuggets by an average of 6 rpg.  The two lost games, only won the rebounding battle by 2 rpg.

Great series Nuggets!!!

[HornetsGM]

GSW = Bracket Buster

[GoldenStateGM]

GSW = Bracket Buster

Good to have a goal  
Never thought I would make it this far...  and now, irony of ironies, two teams that traded their cores to each other during the season will be playing each other in the Western Conference Finals.

[RaptorsGM]

Haha, yeah, those brackets we filled out...I had Mavs over Heat in the finals.

Shows you how much I know

[GrizzliesGM]

GSW = Bracket Buster

Good to have a goal  
Never thought I would make it this far...  and now, irony of ironies, two teams that traded their cores to each other during the season will be playing each other in the Western Conference Finals.

I was thinking the same thung. I think I should win this since i have wallace guarding Gasol and you have nobody guarding Jones who has been scoring well. Plus, Jones is my only defenseive liability and your sg does not have much offense.

[SunsGM]

Great series Grizz.

I was hopeing to make it a grest series, but it looks like you just had more. Good luck in the next round,and good luck to the rest of the playoff teams tuesday and thursday will definately have some good basketball in store for us here in the SSBA.

[PacersGM]

Indy's frontcourt defense is pretty intimidating. I switched my offensive focus, but they're a pretty stong defensive team all around.
O-Tag will play JO. Hopefully that height and size will neutralize JO a little.

I need Deng to come up big on defense and on offense. I predict the Pacers will win 4-2. If I had homecourt, I think I'd take the series.

hmm you really did a great job changing your focus. If i had checked it before the sim i would have changed mine also.
Can´t really believe Game 2. you only played 6 guys and still beat me by 20
deng really played well....
as expected i had troubles to contain marion and also on the boards...
i am not really disappointed since i knew that the hornets are matching really well with me...
for the series i couldn´t shoot above 40%  
now i can focus on my offseason plans...

the nuggets exit isn´t really surprising because i thought odom will have a great series and with billups coming back there aren´t enough shots for allen,billups and martin...

the nets exit surprised me but maybe the frontcourt depth of the pistons made the difference...

my favorite is still one of the east teams.. now the hornets  

[GoldenStateGM]

Full Breakdown of the Nuggets/Warriors series :
Warriors : 100 ppg, 52.5 rpg, 28.7 apg, 8.8 spf, 14 tpg, and 7.7 bpg on 47% shooting, 43.6% 3pt, and a scorching 82.2% FT.
Nuggets : 93.5 ppg, 48.2 rpg, 22.7 apg, 9.7 spg, 13 tpg, and 7.3 bpg on 42.3% shooting, 41.5% 3pt, and 78% FT.

Center :
Adonal Foyle : 36 mpg, 11.8 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.2 bpg on 46% shooting, 69% FT
Marcus Camby : 37 mpg, 9.3 ppg, 13.8 rpg, 3.7 blocks and 2.5 steals on 37% shooting 63.6% FT.

Even though Camby won the contest between them, Foyle made it much closer then most people would have expecetd.  Foyle held his own, and was able to score effectively, which is odd for him.  Odom, Gasol, and Hinrich must have created shots for him.

Power forward :
Pau Gasol : 35 mpg, 25.7 ppg, 10 rpg, 3.5 assist, 2.5 to's, and 2 blocks on 46% shooting and 86% FT
Kenyon Martin : 37.2 mpg, 17.5 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.8 steals, and 2.7 blocks on 37% shooting and 64% FT.

Have to say Gasol won this match-up.  Kenyon was great in blocks, steals, and rebounds, but that 38% from the field hurt.  Gasol's 3.5 assists were great, along with the excellent FG% (at least against an A defender it is excellent)

Small Forward :
Lamar Odom : 36 mpg, 22.2 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.5 tpg, wiht 50% shooting, 61% 3pt and 87% FT
MoPete : 29 mpg, 2.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.7 tpg on 50% shooting, 50% 3pt.

Lamar Odom crushed MoPete.  Most likely the matchup that decided the series, and Odom came through big time.  And even though Odom racked up 3.5 turnovers per game, that was offset by his 6 assists per game.  Odom was incredibly effective on offense...

Shooting Guard :
Marko Jaric : 36 mpg, 7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3 spg, and 1.2 to's per game on 37% shooting,  25% 3pt, and 86% FT
Ray Allen : 40 mpg, 33 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2 spg, 2.7 tpg, on 48% shooting, 53% 3pt, and 91% FT.

Wow...  Ray Allen showed Marko Jaric who was the man in this series.  Allen dominated, scoring 35% of the Nuggets points.  Just a great performance, tried to carry the team on his back.  Amazing shooting, and he had a 51 point performance in the series, along with a 39 point game as well.  Showed he is a true star in the league.

Point Guard :
Kirk Hinrich : 35 mpg, 10.7 ppg, 8.8 assist, 5 rpg, 1.2 spg, 3.5 to's, while shooting 51%, 57% 3pt, and 80% ft.
Chauncey Billups : 38 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 7.7 assist, 2.8 rpg, 0.3 spg, 2.5 to's, while shooting 41%, 27% 3pt, and 100% FT.

Have to give this matchup to Hinrich, based on his 1.26 pps vs Chauncey's 0.93 pps.  Hinrich had a great all around series, and was incredibly efficient from the field, while setting up his teammates nicely.  Chancey also had a great series, but his only problem was shot selection.

Overall, a very exciting series.  High scoring, fast paced, with some great individual performances.

[GoldenStateGM]

I was thinking the same thung. I think I should win this since i have wallace guarding Gasol and you have nobody guarding Jones who has been scoring well. Plus, Jones is my only defenseive liability and your sg does not have much offense.

You may have Wallace guarding Gasol, but that means I have Foyle on Biedrins...  From that perspective, our frontcourts are going to be about even.  Kaman and Wright are about equal, so the frontcourt matchup may be a wash. (also, Gasol has averaged 25.1 ppg, vs Brand and Kenyon, who are both very good defenders in their own rights)

Posey may be able to guard Odom decently, but Odom will still win the matchup.
Jones vs. Jaric...  poor Jaric has faced Corey Maggette and Ray Allen in these playoffs.  He will probably fair decently against Eddie Jones.

Williams vs. Hinrich - edge at this point to Hinrich, although William's defense could turn this in his favor.

This is an odd game for the Warriors.  The Nuggets and Clippers had the same defensive weaknesses (SF defense, PG defense), in places my team is very strong offensively (Odom and Hinrich)...  on the Grizz, those positions are good defenders (Posey, A-, Williams, B+)

JRich is still out for 6 more days, so about 4 games.  If the Warriors are not up about 3-1 in the series by the time JRich gets back, it could get ugly...

[GoldenStateGM]

Wish we could have seen more of the Vince/Kobe combo in the Grizz/Suns series.  That series would have gone to 7 if Vince was not injured in the 2nd quarter of game 2.
Watch out for the Suns next year...

BTW, in the East...
Wow, control the big guy, win the series.

The Hornets were really able to keep Jermaine O'Neal from dominating.
Just as the Pistons pretty much shut down Okafor.

[NetsGM]

Wow, my team blew up on the road.  At home I was 2-1, and held the Pistons to 83 ppg.  On the road I was TERRIBLE, going 0-3, shooting 34%, giving up 93 ppg and only scoring 67 ppg!  That's an average loss of 26 ppg on the road.  And I was a very good road team in the regular season.  

My big 2 really struggled offensively.  I guess I couldn't expect too much, givin that neither of them have ever played a playoff game before this year, but it is disappointing.

I'll do it similar to the way the Warriors did it.
C:
Okafor: 37 mpg, 17.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 1.3 spg, 2.5 topg, 33% fg, 61% ft
vs.
Gadzuric: 34 mpg, 13 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 3.6 bpg, 1.8 spg, 1.3 topg, 50% shooting, 28% ft.
Winner: Gadzuric.  This was the big blow for me.  Outside of scoring (Okafor took 9 shots more/game) and ft%, Gadz won every category.  This was a position I needed to dominate, and not only didn't I, but Gadz played better across the board.

PF:
Dalembert: 29 mpg, 12.7 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 4.3 bpg, 1.2 spg, 1.8 topg, 44% shooting, 73% ft
vs.
Ferry: 32 mpg, 17.8 ppg, 9 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.3 spg, 2.5 topg, 39% shooting, 72% ft
Winner: Dalembert.  Oddly, the bigger name in both fc matchups loses.  Couldn't have asked for Dalembert to do anymore against a 25 ppg scorer.  Outside of scoring (and Ferry got 7 more fga's/game), Dalembert won every category, and most of them convincingly, and held Ferry in check offensively.

SF:
Battier: 36 mpg, 6.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.2 spg, 0.8 topg, 53% shooting, 80% 3pt, 100% ft
vs.
Swift: 35 mpg, 11.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1 spg, 1 bpg, 2.8 topg, 45% shooting, 70% ft.
Winner: Swift.  But I don't think by a significant margin.  Battier stayed close with the true pf in rebounding, forced him to shoot a respectable percentage, made him commit turnovers, and shot at an incredible percentage himself.  Battier just doesn't shoot.  And I don't know why.  With my big 2 struggling I could have used a bit from him.

SG:
Pettit: 34 mpg, 17.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.3 spg, 4.2 topg, 39% shooting, 21% 3pt, 93% ft.
vs.
Ginobili: 36 mpg, 12.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 4.8 apg, 2.5 spg, 2.5 topg, 48% shooting, 62% 3pt, 100% ft.
Winner: Ginobili.  And that's the series.  When my top 2 guys, players who combined for over 45 ppg, get shut down like this and get outplayed by roleplayers, I'm not going to win the series.  Shame two, because both Okafor and Pettit were amazing the prior series.

PG:
Watson: 36 mpg, 8 ppg, 8 apg, 3 rpg, 1.8 spg, 3.5 topg, 29% shooting, 25% 3pt, 58% ft.
vs.
Nash: 37.5 mpg, 12.3 ppg, 9.5 apg, 3.6 rpg, 2.8 spg, 3.2 topg, 49% shooting, 46% 3pg, 100% ft.
Winner: Nash.  Watson nearly equaled him in creating for his teammates, and forced nash into turnovers, but you can't win a battle shooting 20% less than your opponent.  I wasn't expecting Watson to light it up, but he needed to at least be respectable.

[GoldenStateGM]

I noticed that Battier had the same problem witrh the Grizz last year. He is a decent offensive player, just will not take shots.  Must be something in his stats that makes him passive shooter.

Gadzuric did not play even close to that level all season (30 mpg, 9.6 ppg, p.7 rpg, 40% fg%), and he comes through huge in the playoffs.

Ginobli played better then he did during the season, but not exponentially so like Gadz.

A year of playoffs under the kids belts, and another offseason...  Yikes, glad I am not in the East.

[HornetsGM]

hmm you really did a great job changing your focus. If i had checked it before the sim i would have changed mine also.

Yeah, sorry I didn't get my DC in earlier, I have been absolutely swamped with exams. I realized about an hour before the sim that I had to get my DC in.
I don't know if it affected much, I don't know how you can counter a change in offensive focus. Maybe pressing more or something?
My apologies again...

I will try to get my DC in sooner for the Pistons but I have an exam tomorrow and I probably won't get to it until after that.