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Do NOT vote or discuss in this thread until Lionlifer and Warspite have posted their writeups.

EDIT: It's been a few days, let's go ahead and start voting.

This back court matchup is going to be insane, I'll do the write up tonight after work.

Zeke and Stack vs Hill and Houston, I'd watch that all day every day, and twice on Sunday

Warspite wrote:...

Just a heads up.

Warspite vs Lionlifer

SG: Long 29mpg/Vinnie 19mpg
SG: Houston 29mpg/Vinnie 10mpg/Kelser 9mpg
PG: Hill 30mpg/Bynum 14mpg/TMac 4mpg
Bigs: Dele 32mpg/Leattner 28mpg/Ratliff 30mpg/Hill 6mpg


1982 John Long: .492FG 3.7RPG 2.1APG 21.9PPG
1996 Allan Houston .453FG 3.7RPG 3.0APG 19.7PPG
1997 Grant Hill .496FG 9.0RPG 7.3APG 21.4PPG
2000 Leattner .473FG 6.7RPG 2.3apg 12.2PPG
1998 Bison Dele .511FG 8.9RPG 1.4APG 16.2PPG
1998 Theo Ratlif .513FG 6.7RPG .7APG 9.9PPG
1983 Microwave .513FG 4.3RPG 3.7APG 15.8PPG
1980 Special K .472FG 5.5RPG 2.2APG 14.2PPG
2011 TMAC .442FG 3.4RPG 3.5APG 8.0PPG
2010 Bynomite .444FG 2.3RPG 4.5APG 10.0PPG


Offense:

Still running a variation of the triangle useing Hill to run the half court offense. Shooter in Houston, Slasher midrange guy in Long and pick and roll with Ratliff and pop with Laettner. We feel that Salley is too thin to match up with Dele and wont be able to def rebound at C position allowing us more offensive rebounds and thus more pts per. Im going to guess that Olden is going to play more mins at C and Salley more a 6th man spelling both Mahorn and Polynice. If he doesnt then we are going to manhandle inside and Hill is going to spend a ton of time at the FT line.

defense:

Forcing Isiah to take 18-20 ft jumpers is not that hard. His bad shot selection can realy hurt a team. What is important is keeping him out of the lane and forcing him to shoot over the defense. IMHO Stackhouse is just not a good running mate with Zeke. He cant handle the ball well enough to let Isiah play SG and he doesnt have the range on his jumper to stop defenses from cheating off of him to shade vs Isiah. Salley and Mahorn arent great scorers so they wont command a double and my defense can stay at home.


Key Matchups:

Hill vs Morris: Poor Marcus after having to guard maybe the GOAT Pistons scorer he is going up against the best all-around Piston player and he is going to get lit up again. Hill is going to torch him for scores and assists.

Long vs Isiah: Long is his shooting guard that has seen him and played against him more than most. Sure Zeke is faster and is going to have his moments but how much will he tire having to guard a more physical SG who can score on him just as easily.

Bench:

Knight/Olden/Johnson are just not an offensive unit that can compete with Microwave/Leattner/Special K. My team has more experience and success coming off the bench than Lionlifers does. Frankly his bench is very unproven and full of guys who never played playoff basketball or have very little success.


Conclusion:

Ill be honest with you this could go either way and most likely it could come down to several factors. I believe my team is better at rebounding, outside shooting and on the FT line. Along with the fact that it has a much more eff backcourt that compliments each other. Those adv allow my team more oppertunities to win. I dont think either team plays great defense or maybe even very good defense. Im going to pack the paint and force Stack and Zeke to shoot 3s. Mahorn is a elbow jump shooter that is undersized vs my bigs and Olden is well.... (w/o his badge he isnt that impressive.

I ask you to consider voting for my team that avgs fewer TOs, shoots more FTs and gets more offensive and defensive rebounds.

Lionlifer wrote:This back court matchup is going to be insane, I'll do the write up tonight after work.

Zeke and Stack vs Hill and Houston, I'd watch that all day every day, and twice on Sunday

....

Timmaytime wrote:...

Han Solo wrote:...

Snakebites wrote:...

Pharaoh wrote:...

Pharaoh wrote:...

It's been a few days, let's go ahead and start voting.

Here is Lionlifer's roster for reference...

1. Isiah Thomas
2. Jerry Stackhouse
3. Rick Mahorn
4. Greg Monroe
5. Marcus Morris
6. Mehmet Okur
7. Rodney Stuckey
8. Kent Benson
9. Phil Hubbard
10. Ron Lee

This is a matchup with pretty much no perimeter defense, but lots of scoring.

Isiah and Hill are a wash imo, Houston fits better with Hill than Stack with Isiah, although I really like Lionlifer's frontcourt a lot better.

I think Monroe/Morris might be the difference, as Warspite just doesn't have the same level of inside scoring

Vote: Lionlifer

Tough to vote without a writeup from Lifer.

I'll go ahead and throw my vote behind Warspite.

Yeah, I like the Hill, Long, Houston combo to trump the best player on the floor. Warspite.

Here’s what I’m bringing to the table for Semis.
PG: Zeke and Lee
SG: Stack and Stuck
SF Morris and Hubbard
PF: Mahorn and Okur
C: Monroe and Benson

Starters:
Zeke 1983-1984 21.3 PPG on .338 from deep, .470 efg, 11.1 assists
Stack 2000-2001: 29.8 PPG on .351 from deep , and .445 overall, 5.1 assists
Morris 2015-2016 14.1 PPG on .362 from deep, 5.1 boards, 2.5 assists
Okur 2003-2004 9.6 PPG on .375% from deep with 5.9 boards
Monroe 2012-2013 16 ppg, 9.6 boards, 3.5 assist on .486 efg

Offense:
For this matchup I’m taking a slightly different approach. The starting 5 will be Zeke, Stack, Morris, Okur, and Monroe. The reason for this is SPACING. I want to clear out the lane as much as possible for Zeke, and the addition of Okur and his .375 from deep should really help. Couple that with Morris and Stack, and that’s three shooters over .350 from deep. But in case that fails, I have the version of Zeke with the best three point percentage.

The offense will run 4 out one in with Monroe holding down the middle and passing out of double teams should they come about. If he’s left in single coverage go to work, if help comes in, find the open shooter. Zeke will still initiate everything, and the matchup on Long doesn’t worry me much, Zeke gives up size, but he has way more quickness.

Stack should absolutely feast on Houston.

I could even throw out my own death lineup with Zeke, Stuck, Stack, Morris, and Okur, have fun with that .

Defense:
Lets be real, I’m not stopping Hill. What I want to see is Morris do his best to make him shoot long 2’s, and I don’t want Hill collapsing my defense and opening up shots for Houston. Make Hill work for every point, and considering he’s done it against LBJ, he can do it against Hill. Overall I want them to play ISO ball ala Houston Rockets, and as they don’t have necessarily the greatest passers, I think it can be done. If I’m just giving up too many points, enter Mahorn and Benson. I have no doubt they can lockdown on their bigs, and take away the lane if Long, Hill, and Houston are getting in there with too much regularity.

Strategy:
The overall plan here is to put up more points, plain and simple. We aren’t stopping that backcourt, but on the flip side they aren’t stopping mine. The difference here is that my front court can score in a variety of ways, and I have lots of flexibility there. Getting lit up inside, Mahorn and Benson come in. Want to run, death lineup. Want to slow it down, throw out Mahorn and Monroe/Benson and grind

Overall:
Zeke>>>>>Long
Stack>>Houston
Morris<<<<Hill
Okur=Theo
Monroe>Dele

To the tape......

Thomas >Hill - Greatest Piston of all time - Advantage, Lifer
Stackhouse >Houston - Stack was a monster for the Pistons, Houston was just good. Advantage, Lifer
Mahorn > Ratliff - Rattler just wasn't that good until he became a Sixer. Advantage, Lifer
Monroe < Johnson - Simply because I love Vinnie and hate Monroe. Advantage, Warspite
Morris > Dele - Dele loafed his way through two seasons as a Piston, Morris tries. Advantage, Lifer
Okur < Long - Long was probably the steal of the draft. Advantage, Warspite
Stuckey > Laettner - Too bad Laettner was a cripple as a Piston. Advantage, Lifer
Benson > McGrady - McGrady was too. Advantage, Lifer
Hubbard > Bynum - Hubs was a good player, Bynum was a scary one. Advantage, Lifer
Lee < Kelser - Special K, while not on the list, was better. Advantage under protest, Warspite

So that's seven for Lifer and three for Warspite.

Plus.....by position.....

Thomas>Long
Stack>Houston
Morris<Hill
Okur>Ratliff
Monroe>Dele

That's four out of five for Lifer. Too much talent.

Lifer in a sweep.

Han Solo wrote:...

Pharaoh wrote:...

Need a vote, coaches.

I vote Lionlifer

Laimbeer wrote:

Pharaoh wrote:...

Come on man.

Lion wins it