NBA Alltime Fantasy Playoffs -- Round 2

[SamBone]

Warspite vs Boned Samuels
(assumed rotation from round 1)

PG KJ (34) / Lever (14)
SG Miller (28) / Rip (20)
SF DrJ (36) / Cunningham (16)
PF Sikma (26) / Cummings (20)
C Deke (28) / Ruland (18)

Vs

PG: Joe Dumars (20), Terry Porter (28)
SG: Sam Jones (33), Joe Dumars (15), Jerry Sloan
SF: LeBron James (38), Detlef Schrempf (10)
PF: Jerry Lucas (28), Shawn Kemp (20),
C: Dwight Howard (32), Ralph Sampson (16)

Years used and resume can be found here
( viewtopic.php?f=340&t=1085038 )

I must start by saying that I don’t think I respect anyone in this game as much as I respect the knowledge of warspite. Anyone that has talked strategy or players with him will know what I am talking about. Thanks for all of you assistance in all of these games that I have played. I truly hope that the student can get the best of the teacher in this match up. Good luck my friend, I am sure your going to need it!

War has built a team around my childhood idol! The Doc was the man, and could do almost anything. The Doc vs LeBron matchup will be very fun to watch because both can do soo much on the court. Matter of fact, I told warspite during the draft that I was going to build my team like it was the 83 Sixers with LeBron ( as Doc) and Dwight (as Moses)

OFFENSE

I think my team is well balanced and is built to take advantages of mismatches and my opponents weaknesses. My team is build around one of the most difficult players to defend in the history of the game in LeBron James. He has a combination of size, speed, strength and quickness that has never been seen in the history of the game. I have surrounded him with an equally as athletically dominating freak of a player in Dwight Howard and shooters galore.

Guards
My guards are simply WINNERS, there is no other word that I can use to properly explain Joe Dumars and Sam Jones.

Joe D is going to split his minutes on offense between the 2 guard positions, like he did during his playing career. In the selected seasons he won 2 World Championships (a Finals MVP). He was a clutch and deadly shooter with great efficiency and shooting percentages (averaged 49%) and did not need a lot of shots or plays run for him to get his points. In my offense, he is going to be playing both on and off the ball, and is shooting and range (averaged 44% from 3 in selected seasons) will make doubling player very painful for my opponents.

Sam Jones was the #1 scoring option on World Championship teams in both of his selected seasons (the 7th and 8th of his 10 rings) and finished in the top 5 in MVP voting both seasons. When discussing his style of play with a few other GM’s I was told his game was a “very very very rich mans version of Rip Hamilton”. While the 3 pointer was not used when Sam played, he was known as “The Shooter” and had great FG% and TS % during his selected seasons, and scored with great efficiency .

My 3rd guard is Terry Porter. Terry was a great passer and deadly 3 point shooter (averaged 40% from 3 in selected seasons) with amazing FG % (49%) and TS% (61%). My favorite thing about my 3 guards is that they can all play together and all can shoot and none of them can be left to double team

KJ will most likely be guarding Joe D, with Miller/Rip guarding Sam Jones and Porter (Fat’s minutes will be against Porter I assume). We are going to do our best to take advantage of Reggie Miller every minute he is on the court. Sam will have a great series here. I will be running some baseline double screens (especially if Kemp and D12 are on the court together) to free up some jumpers off of curls, as well as letting Sam Jones run so isolation plays when Reggie is in the game. But for the most part whatever guard combo I have on the court will be used for spacing, a lot of my offense will be coming from the low post, so the inside/out game will be deadly. War’s defenders will need to stay with there man, or get burnt by deadly high % shooters.

Forwards
LBJ vs Doc is awesome. I think both players are equally as dominant, Doc was a very good defender , so I don’t expect LBJ to do anything special, but I also do not see him playing less then his averages either.

Jerry Lucas was an awesome player. He was a great scorer and an unbelievable shooter. His range will give Sikma all sorts of trouble, and will make him play on the perimeter, something he is not used to doing. Lucas may be the best shooting BIG in the history of the NBA, and I expect his shooting to play a big role in this series.

Shawn Kemp vs Billy C will also be a very favourable matchup for me. During this time he was basically unstoppable in the post, and I can not see the Kangaroo Kid being able to handle this physical of a freak of an athlete. He had that rare combo of speed and size that defenders could not handle, plus he could jump out of the building and run like a deer. That is not a knock on Billy, just a bad matchup from an athletic standpoint.

Detlef will get a few minutes to give LBJ a break, and will most likely be guarded by Cunningham during these few minutes. He was the 6th man of the Year in both of his selected seasons, so I am pretty sure he will handle this role without a problem. He was an amazing shooter (efficient, high % and had 3 point range) and rebounder. Cunningham will matchup very well here, so I only expect Detlef contribute on the glass and for spacing, but like my other players, he can not be left open.

Center
D12 is a beast, an athletic freak that has never been seen before. Deke was a great shot blocker and has the size to guard Dwight, but Deke always did struggle one on one against stronger athletic beast C’s (I don’t think too much is different between current day Dwight and ORL Shaq) Deke had trouble slowing down Shaq, I don’t think he will shut down Dwight either. I am not saying Dwight will go off, but you can assume his numbers are not going to be any different then his averages during the selected seasons)

Sampson will get the backup C minutes and I think he will have pretty good success as well. His seasons (84 & 85, his 1st 2 seasons) are basically the same the same selected seasons as Ruland (83 and 84). I can not find box scores from those seasons, but I honestly think the much slower Jeff Ruland will have much success stopping the bigger, much more athletic, versatile game that Sampson played early in his career

DEFENSE

On the defensive side of the ball, I am pretty sure I will stay with the same matchups. Joe D will be guarding KJ. His great top tier defense should have KJ playing below what he is used to playing. Joe will limit KJ’s driving ability with was the best part of his game. This may be one of the worst individual matchups for KJ in this entire game because of the physical man to man style of defense that Joe D plays. KJ was very quick, but I think Joe will be able to keep him undercontrol.

While Reggie has a length advantage on both Sam Jones and Porter, he is too thin and weak to take advantage of that. While he is a deadly shooter, I do not think either of my 2 very good defenders will have trouble guarding him. And both Sam and Terry are very smart defenders and I can not see them getting tricked into the stupid shooting fouls that the leg kicker was know to get dumber defenders to fall for. Rip had a little more rounded offensive game then Reggie (but with less range). Rip was a superior mid range shooter, but I think my guards will keep him in check

I do not believe the “give the ball to Doc and get out the way” game plan will work in this matchup. Doc was the man but LBJ is a All NBA 1st team defender who is equally as big (or bigger), as strong (or stronger), and as quick (or quicker) then the 2X ABA MVP (LBJ is also 2 x MVP) but LBJ also finished 2nd and 4th in DPOY voting during his selected seasons.

My BIGS should not have much trouble at all guarding the BIGS that warspite will be playing. I think I may switch up and have Dwight guard the more physical (but much slower) Sikma and let Lucas to match up against the offensively challenged Deke.

OVERALL
As solid as a team as war has built, I simply think I matchup very well against him, and think he will struggle in a few areas. I simply think I can take advantage of his weaknesses because of the versatility of my squad. I have one of the few players that can contain the great Doctor, and his other scoring options either have bad matchups, or are not players that can pick up the slack and carry a team. I think war would win against many other teams, but my defensive strengths all matchup with his offensive strengths. I see my 2 old school legends ( Sam Jones and Jerry Lucas) simply being too much for warspite’s squad to handle. That combined with LBJ and Dwight doing what they always do will lead The Boned Samuels to victory in a very well played series from both teams.

[penbeast0]

I was trying to find where Baller posted his stats and couldn't. So, I had to run them myself in a crude fashion. Here's a quick summary compared to the Superfriends . . . the Superfriends rebound more, get more assists, and score more points, we are also considerably more efficient, have many more defensive stars, AND our efficiency differential goes UP in the playoffs! Baller does have 2 playoff MVPs v. our 1 playoff MVP but both Isiah and Pierce shot worse in those playoffs while not only our team improved but we were led in improvement by our Playoff MVP/Champion. "During the championship series, the 7-2 Gilmore reaffirmed his claim as the ABA’s premier big man to such a point that ‘awesome’ was almost becoming his first name. We tried everything to contain Gilmore but we couldn’t and that was the series,” said Indiana assistant coach Jerry Oliver

Thomas ('88, '89) 3.4/8.4/18.9 @.524ts% Playoffs .500
Chris Paul (08,09) 4.8/11.3/22.0@.588ts% playoffs .547 All-Def

Pierce ('08, '09) 5.4/4.1/20.1 @.590ts% Playoffs .562
Sidney Moncrief (84,85) 6.1/4.5/21.3 @.578ts% playoffs .639 DPOY
(shot over .600 from the field against Cooper’s Lakers)

Cooper ('86, '87) 3.1/5.5/8.9 @ .548ts% Playoffs .604 DPOY
Shawn Marion (06,07) 10.8/1.8/19.7 @ .593ts% playoffs .561

Gasol ('09, '10) 10.5/3.5/18.6 @.605ts% Playoffs .611
Bobby Jones (75,76) 8.9/3.8/14.9@.612ts% playoffs .595 All-Def

Ewing ('93, '94) 11.7/2.1/22.4@.549ts% Playoffs .514
Artis Gilmore (75,76) 15.9/2.5/24.1@.605ts% playoffs .627 All-Def

Thompson (''75, '76) slasher/scorer -- his rookie year was 76, 76/77?
Chris Mullin – 3 pt threat/scorer/playmaker + Willie Wise defender/scorer

Oakley ('93, '94) defensive role player
Chris Bosh – scorer with range + Mel Daniels – dominant 2 way center MVP

Marjerle ('93, '94) 3pt threat/defender
Derek Harper playmaker/3pt threat/defender

Breaking it down, this series starts at the PG spot with Isiah v. Chris Paul. Isiah’s virtues are also his faults. He was a tremendous competitor who never gave an inch or admitted there were any limitations to his game. This made him a guy who never froze up in the clutch but it also meant he would “take over” the game for better or worse. Unfortunately, in this case, that probably means worse. Isiah is easily the least efficient player on either team and his efficiency actually drops in the playoffs. Worse, he is facing Chris Paul who is as quick and a top defender, dropping Isiah’s efficiency even farther. On the other side, while Paul also sets the tone for our offense, he has shown far better efficiency and is an even better passer willing to share the ball more (Isiah needed to “get his” and even froze out Michael Jordan in one famous All-Star incident). ADV SUPERFRIENDS

On the wings, Moncrief matches Pierce offensively, albeit in a bit faster paced offense, but more importantly, Moncrief is the greatest shutdown man defender in NBA history (I’d take a Hakeem or possibly Frazier for help defense but straight up, no one was better). With Cooper not a threat, Moncrief will be in Pierce’s face where Pierce will just be average against Moncrief and overmatched physically against Marion. Cooper’s defense is nearly as storied as Moncrief but Moncrief didn’t seem to have trouble against the Lakers, shooting over .600 in games against Cooper’s squad. ADV SUPERFRIENDS

Marion will start on Cooper allowing him to use his quickness to double if appropriate. They call him the Matrix because he can do it all, steals/blocks/dunks/3pt/rebounding. Against Cooper or Pierce, he will be looking for the opportunity to slip inside for the explosive move to the hole which he used to average over 20ppg with every pg he played with, even Starbury. He doesn’t create offense, and with all our stars, he isn’t supposed to, but he can sure finish it. With Thompson in for Cooper or Isiah, Marion will switch onto Pierce while Moncrief handles Thompson. ADV SUPERFRIENDS

The PF slot is place where Baller needs to dominate. Pau Gasol is a good player but not dominant, and Bobby Jones, while a bit less of a scorer, is the best defensive forward in the history of the NBA with 10 1st team All-Def awards in his first 10 years – even Rodman doesn’t approach this (mainly because Worm cheated off for rebounds). Jones at this point in his career was the best player on two consecutive Denver teams that were actually better than Erving’s NY or Gilmore’s KY teams based mainly on his dominant interior defense. (Mike Green, Dave Robisch, and Dan Issel in 75 and 76 were hardly defensively intimidating) The second “Kangaroo Kid” was a great leaper with quick hand and feet who averaged 2 blocks/2 steals. Gasol will also have his hands full as Bobby was always among the league leaders in fg% primarily with short midrange jumpers – one of the masters of constant motion without the ball. Like John Havlicek with a much more consistent jumper and without the stamina (Jones’s weakness is his tendency to need breaks because of his high energy game). He will be manning Gasol when we play man; but will play the low wing in our 1-2-2 zone when we zone (probably still facing Gasol or Ewing with the low post player facing Gilmore). Gasol may score more but Jones will limit his touches and efficiency far more than the slower Gasol will be able to limit Jones’s super efficient motion game. Its a good offensive/good defensive player against a good offensive/great defensive player. ADV Superfriends

As for the center slot, Ewing will be able to take Gilmore away from the basket more than we would ideally like with his good range for a big man. Thus we will frequently play the Larry Brown Jump and Switch defense with our high BBIQ team allowing Gilmore to stay down if they try to set Gasol up in a stationary low post (our third main defensive set here). The object of our defense is to keep Ewing particularly from going off plus to keep Gilmore in position to seal off the lane with his height and 4 blocks/game. But, if Gilmore is on the strong side and they attack the weak, both of our forwards are also terrific shotblockers with center type numbers because of their great jumping ability. Offensively, Gilmore is one of the strongest players to ever play with great leaping ability – in the Wilt/Shaq/Dwight area – but with the most developed low post game of the four. There’s a reason Artis is the NBA’s all time leader in fg% and his fg% improved in the NBA so it’s not ABA inflation. Unlike the other three monster bigs, Artis’s developed skill set also included good free throw shooting. Our offense will revolve around Paul creating with our high percentage finishers (Moncrief/Marion/Jones) keeping the defense honest enough to free Artis for his tremendous low post game. And, again, Artis is a guy who really dedicated himself to winning a title in this year, taking a more active role in the offense and carrying the team in the finals to win Playoff MVP. Ewing and Gasol are both good post defenders but both are more reliant on length and quicks than the monster strength Artis can use to get his low post position. ADV Superfriends.

And, off the bench, their 8 man rotation is more limited than our 10 man one. When Isiah sits, Cooper can adequately man the PG but isn’t a guy who can create offense while Derek Harper not only plays good defense but creates well for others. Thompson brings a great slashing game but with corresponding immaturity and lack of defense while Chris Mullin brings equal scoring and even better efficiency plus better range and playmaking and Willie Wise can also score at a 20ppg clip but with All-ABA defense. Inside, their only reserve is Oakley who is a solid defender and thug but not an offensive threat while again, we bring in Daniels at center, an MVP rebounder and 20ppg scorer who is as intimidating a thug as Oakley while if Artis is still in the game, Chris Bosh provides more versatile scoring and decent range next to Artis who hardly needs protection. (The famous story of Mo Lucas taking out Artis is interesting, read it. It says Mo pissed off the normally even tempered Artis and was backing away as fast as he could and basically sucker punched Artis on the chin – while Mo won the fight and his rep, it sure sounds like Artis had them intimidated, not the other way around.)


So, offensively, we hold an edge pretty much everywhere. We score a little more and a lot more efficiently, we rebound a lot better particularly with Marion facing Cooper or Pierce on the weakside, we pass a little better while turning the ball over a little less, we have a lot more top defenders in Gilmore/Jones/Marion/Moncrief/Paul v. only Cooper being outstanding and have great low post defense in Gilmore plus TWO other weakside shotblockers in Jones and Marion. Add in a more versatile and explosive bench and while Baller doesn’t have huge weaknesses, he just is a bit less competitive everywhere. His only hope is a “chemistry” win with the relatively inefficient Isiah taking over and dominating a team of great superathletic defenders while if we all play our normal games, the Superfriends should win pretty consistently, even (especially) at the PG slot.

[Snakebites]

Billups (32)/MRR (16)
Drexler (36)/MRR (12)
English (24)/Dandridge (24)
Pettit (35)/Wallace (13)
Robinson (36)/Wallace (12)

Offensively:

We have chosen to start English over Dandridge because it forces our opponent to pick their poison. Ray Allen and Steve Nash is an extremely effective offensive combination, and while Ray Allen is a decent enough defender in his own right, this, on the whole, is a relatively weak defensive backcourt to open up the game and we intend to exploit that. Starting English forces Allen to guard either English or Drexler, and decent though he is, he’s overmatched in either matchup, which puts him up against a bigger, more physical, and more offensively talented player. All of our perimeter players are also terrific passers at their positions, and this gives us more options as well. Generally speaking, we think that the size and overall ability of our perimeter play will be overbearing for stud’s defensive perimeter capacity. Its possible (even likely) that Battier will be placed on Drexler. It should be noted, however, that Dwayne Wade, the player who I believe is the closest modern approximation to prime Drexler offensively, has a history of big time performances against the Houston Rockets.

Point guard is an interesting matchup for us as well. Billups had a few very strong performances against a peak Nash in the selected seasons for him, and while each and every performance wasn’t stellar, we know Billups’ size, strength, and clutch ability will make this a memorable matchup just as it was in the actual NBA. Billups has the potential to come up very big here. As a scorer he is an efficient range shooter who helps spread the floor, as a passer he is extremely effective and has many options to choose from.

Up front, our opponent gets a lot stronger defensively. There are no weak defenders here to exploit, but we still stand by our teams’ offensive ability up front. Robinson and Pettit are an imposing combination and it would be a disservice to them to imply that Unseld and Garnett will be able to stop them. Robinson and Pettit will shoot over their counterparts, draw fouls (as mentioned in the previous writeup, both are among the best in the business at doing that) and reek general havoc down low. Even with Robertson and Battier helping out during stretches out on the perimeter, KG will have his work cut out for him trying to defend David Robinson AND protecting the paint from attacks from the perimeter. He’s a great defensive player, but his capacity isn’t infinite.

Our bench doesn’t lose that much offensively either. Dandridge was a terrific mid-long range shooter who’s strong playoff performances helped get the Bullets to their first and only NBA championship, Rasheed Wallace will draw one of stud’s interior defenders out to the three point line (and out of their element).

Defensively:

Defensively our team is every bit as balanced and imposing as it is offensively, and we also match up quite well to our opponents. We won’t insult our reader’s intelligence by implying that Billups will be able to shut down Nash. That notion simply isn’t supported by established data. He can, in certain situations, limit his efficiency, but it will take more than what he has to really limit Nash’s capacity to run an offense. For that reason, we have decided to expand Michael Ray Richardson’s role to give him 28 minutes per game. Richardson is a full-on stopper and steals artist with the size and physicality to really bother a player like Nash and disrupt the general flow of the offense, which depends heavily on effective ball movement that begins with Nash. Richardson will be guarding Nash whenever the two are on the court together.

The job of guarding sharp shooter Ray Allen will come down to Clyde Drexler. Drexler was a tough, physical defensive player with the size advantage to bother a player like Ray Allen and alter his shots. Our biggest concern from scoring perspective may well be 6th man Bernard King, but he will either be covered by All Defensive small forward Bob Dandridge or mirrored in terms of production by the comparable (but probably slightly better defensively) Alex English.

Up front, we’re comfortable with the way our team matches up as well. Pettit is probably the rotation player who worries us the most from a defensive perspective, but he will be spending much of his time guarding Unseld, who, while useful in many other aspects of the game, will not factor strongly into the offense as a scorer. Robinson is possibly the most important defensive player in this entire tournament, and at this time his defense was considered on par with Hakeem Olajuwon. He is a superior shotblocker and overall defensive anchor to his counterpart, Kevin Garnett, and we expect him to do a more than satisfactory job there without compromising his protecting the paint. Assisting in this endeavor is 3rd big Rasheed Wallace. Rasheed Wallace would frequently guard an opponent’s best big leaving Ben Wallace free to patrol the paint, and he was generally considered one of KG’s tougher matchups. Numbers back this up, as KG’s efficiency and volume often went down when he faced the Pistons (and even the Blazers prior to the trades). Between the two of them KG is in for a rough series, as is any player on his team looking to score in the paint.

From a rebounding perspective, there’s no denying that he has a formidable trio of rebounders up front. Pettit and Robinson, however, were also great rebounders in their day who should matchup against them, and with Drexler, English, and Michael Ray Richardson all playing large minutes (and all, MRR and Drexler in particular) outstanding rebounders at their position, we feel we can close the rebounding gap.

Bottom line: Our team is full of strong two way players. Every single player in our rotation must be accounted for on the offensive end, and this may pose a problem for stud’s team which features some one way players on the perimeter. This problem is made even worse by the size and physicality of my perimeter, which features 3 very large guards known for their ability to exploit smaller guards offensively.

Furthermore, he starts two players (Battier and Unseld) who will ultimately have relatively little impact on the offensive end as scorers, making it much easier for our defense to limit the other players on the court and their ability to score.

I love studcracker’s team and admire that it has a specific and distinct style and feel to it, but ultimately I think my team’s balance and firepower should help carry the day here.

[Gremz]

Hood luck chief, always tough going against your caliber. I'll have to keep this one short and sweet this time.

A link to the Statistics and years being used can be found here:
viewtopic.php?p=26454671#p26454671




PG: Cheeks (32)/West (16)
SG: West (24)/Ellis (22)
SF: Baylor (36)/Ellis (12)/
PF: Williams (30)/Roundfield (18)
Cc: Mourning (36)/Smith (12)


Vs

PG - Deron Williams (36) - Mookie Blaylock (12)
SG - Ron Artest (22) - Drazen Petrovic (26)
SF - Rick Barry (38) - Ron Artest (10)
PF - Dave Cowens (23) - Larry Nance (25)
Cc - Bill Walton (35) - Dave Cowens (13)


The Gameplan.

We're keeping it simple. While it's an obvious temptation to overfill the rotation with multiple guys, we're more than happy with this solid 8 man rotation. In doing so, we'll be able to focus on what's required to win this series through stability and repetition. High tempo offense, aggressively defend the bigs, score from the wings.

It's a focus once again on going through the wings here. There's simply just no a guy from the opposition who can stay with West and that's a primary the focal point here. From TMAC's writeup, it's understood that Deron will defend West, which might make sense but it simply will cause more problems than it's worth.

Artest, while a an exceptional defender due to his quick hands and decent size, is far more productive from the outside, which as would be known, is where I don't intend to use Baylor. His operation will again be from inside the 18 feet mark, ensuring that he's not settling for inappropriate jumpers.

The bigger problem that occurs here, is that with Barry on Cheeks, Mo can get into the lane at any time he wants! This will be a killer in this series Expect Buck and more importantly West, to have a Field day here!

Buck and Zo's roles won't change in this series. Limited FG opportunities from points of strength. Mid range for Buck (bringing Cowens out will limit his ability defensively) and just use Zo to keep Walton busy. Prevent him from upsetting the rest of the offense.

Defensively, there's a temptation to switch a defender onto Barry, but there's really no point from our end. Containing him is not our concern, as we know fully well that he'll get his offensively, but the remainder of our guys are exceptional defenders.

Cheeks on Williams- Quick hands, disruptive, can stay in front of his man.
West on Artest- Artest gets 0 points all series
Baylor on Barry- He defends him by executing on the offensive end
Williams on Cowens- Prevents the easy inside looks
Mourning on Walton- Mourning dominant defensive presence should keep him incredibly busy

Rebounding we get some exceptional help from our wing guys and our bench players natch pretty well with TMAC's.

Look, we're not going to over complicate things here. It's quite simply a case of having a little more production from our main offensive guys and 6th man. West, Baylor and Ellis. This high volume offense is again where it gets done. There is just simply not enough firepower from the opposition to stay with us.

Gremzville in 7.

[Warspite]

My offense is pretty much the same as my last writeup but Im going to use my PFs a bit more to take adv of SamBones weaknesess.

1. PG dribble drive: No doubt Dumars is a very good defender with SGs but against KJ its a bad matchup IMHO. KJ in the yrs selected played Dumars and the BadBoys in there 2 title runs. His stat line in an admitted small sample size looks like this

22.8ppg 9.5apg .562 FG

KJs asts stats are down but his FG% is was up and he is able to get to the rim vs the BadBoys and get past Joe and Isiah. I look for KJ to a have great series because hes the quickest guy on the floor. With KJ able to get past Dumars and Porter he will have to attack the rim and force weakside help and use that for easy baskets or to draw fouls.

2. Running Reggie and Rip off of screens: Simply put Sam Jones inst quick or strong enough to fight through screens set by Sikma and Deke. Joe is simply too short to get a hand in eithers face. Miller a legendary 3pt shooter and Rip who shot 45% from 3 pt range (led the league in 3pt shooting) are going to stretch Bones defense to its limit. Jones doesnt have 3pt range and his ability to shoot in the 1st 3 qters is substantialy lower.

3. Posting up Sikma and DrJ: Sikma will get more touches being guarded by Lucas. he should be able to score in the post over him with his huge size advantage. Im also going to give Cunningham some mins at PF to use his quickness to get around Lucas. SIkma and Cummings (who were teammates in yrs selected) will play together in a high low game for a small stretch when I feel that Lucas is begining to tire or to get him another foul. I simply dont believe Kemp was a great man to man defender and the easiest to contain his weak side shot blocking to attack him with Cummings and Cunningham.

DrJ VS LBJ

With DrJ playing more in the post and attacking LBJ in a area I feel is a weakness I believe He will have a great series. LBJ is going to play some PG and attempt to attack from further away from the basket. That IMHO is the biggest differance between them on offense. DrJ will be looking to finish and will be set up by his teammates to operate closer to the basket. LBJ will be operating further on the wing and allow the help/weakside defense to rotate because they will have an extra few seconds as LBJ attacks from further on the wing. I also expect LBJ to shoot many more 3s since he is a primary shooter on the team. LBJ IMHO isnt used to playing with a C like Howard and I question how they are going to operate together. LBJ gets his assts by throwing out to spot up shooters while DrJ is able to find cutters who dunk. A LBJ pass out of a double team to Howard for an elbow jumper is simply not as effective as a DrJ pass to a cutting Deke at the rim or even an elbow jumper from Sikma.

In Conclussion: My team boasts superior 3pt shooting and post play. the midrange game (Rip/Sikma vs Jones/Howard) is a wash to a slight adv for my team. I feel that our offenses are similar but with Bones offense shooting further from the basket and having to shoot against better defenders who are taller.

Defense: The defense starts with trying to defend LBJ and clogging the lane and daring him to shoot 3s. The biggest differance between DrJ and LBJ IMHO is DrJs back to basket game and his defense. DrJ in the yrs chosen is 1st and 2nd in Def win shares and 1st and 2nd in Def rating in the entire league. He finishes 2nd and 3rd in steals and 4th and 6th in blocks. DrJ simply is the better defender and hes going to be able to guard LBJ better than LBJ can guard DrJ. I believe my frontcourt is the best def frontcourt in this league and certainly better than Sams. With 4time DPOY Mutombo gaurding the rim in his best shotblocking seasons hes much more of an intimidation and he will alter more shots than Howard.

Being a longtime Pistons fan who has watched Laimbeer and Sheed shoot 3s on the outside I fully realise that the drawback is that off rebounding realy suffers and that allows the other team to control the def rebs and many times get more transistion baskets because the shooting bigs arent mobile enough to get back and they arent as effective having to guard in space. With Lucas on the 3pt line Howard is going to be all alone trying to rebound against a def frontline with huge def reb ratings. This should allow me some transistion baskets from a DrJ who releases on a long LBJ jumper or a Miller release. KJs ability to attack the rim in transition IMHO is going to get us more FTs and more potential foul trouble for Bones players.

My team enjoys an advantage in rebounding in that it will get more offensive rebs and a much greater % of Def rebounds. Both Mutombo and Sikma led the league in Def rebounding in selected yrs (Sikma was 2nd in total rebs only to the great Moses Malone who needed his historicaly huge off rebs to lead the league ). There reb rates of 19 are huge.

Something I also want to point out is FT%
KJ 84%
Reggie 88%
Rip 85%
DrJ 80%
Sikma 84%

If my team is in the lead its not going to lose and its going to be more eff at the ft line. Bones simply cant use Howard on offense late in the game and the team becomes easier to defend. Its a dribble drive kick out to shooters offense in the 4th qter for Bones while my team can still run almost all of its offense and is not limited. With a low post player who shoots 80% I can still post up.


breaking down this series:

Breaking down the def KJ vs LBJ
3pt shooting Miller vs Dumars/Lucas
midrange shooters Rip/Sikma vs Jones
Low post scoring DrJ vs Howard

Def anchors Deke vs Howard
Wing defenders

[Baller 24]

Team Penbeast v Team Baller 24

Thomas(36)-Rondo(12)
Cooper(24)-Thompson(24)
Pierce (36)-Marjle(12)
Gasol(24)-Oakley(24)
Ewing(36)-Gasol(12)

Offensive Scheme:

We'll start out exploiting the guards, Paul is a horrible team defender, flat out. He's good at picking the passing lanes, but flat out horrible in a team defensie scheme of things. Take a look at this simple statistic (although it doesn't get into the little things):

On-Court DRtg: 106.37 Off-Court DRtg: 99.94 Net Difference: +6.43

This statistic was conducted from the 2008 NBA season (Paul's best and the one Penbeast is using), and out of a search of the 17 quality point guards in the league, Paul's was the second worst out of the list. This is WHILE being on a team that was 7th in overall DRtg. Further supports my statement, Paul is good in the passing lanes, here's another statistic to further support my analysis that his individual team defense might be suspect, the following are statistics of the point guards Paul guarded during the 2008 NBA season: eFG% (counts FG +3PT), iFG% ( the percentage of field goals a defender allows to be attempted 5 feet or closer to the hoop), and PER. The average PER of a point guard was 15 in 2008, so anything above is obviously a negative, while anything below is obviously a positive.

eFG%: 52% iFG%: 26% PER: 18.3

Again out of the same 17 of the quality point guards in the game at the time, Paul allows the highest eFG%, and correlating with iFG% he's amongst the bottom of the list. In terms of opposing PG PER, only Bibby (injured), Harris (switched teams), Nelson (injured), B. Davis (team gave up the most PPG) give up a higher PER, meanwhile Billups topped the list in '08 (anyone surprised?).

So I'll move on, Thomas will have NO problem with Paul, exploiting this will be a key for my team, he's a more skilled scorer, and at this point in his career ('88/'89), Thomas is very well dominant in terms of playoff performances. Pick n' Roll around Ewing/Gasol will be the key, if the defender bites Ewing's high post face up jumper was gold, and Gasol around the basket in the low post with an undersized defender should be money with his hook shot (IF Gilmore stretches the floor sticking with Ewing allowing Gasol open space).

Pierce will be posted in the high post all-night, with an undersized defender like Moncrief on him, there's really not much he'll be able to do if he's being posted down. Ball will go to Pierce with a TS% of 60%+, his turnaround jumper is more than often solid (as clutch performances against the Heat in '10, Bulls in '09, and Lakers in '08 would suggest). Once Thompson is in the game and Marion is on him, Pierce can put the ball on the floor and willfully attack, I don't think Marion's presence is much felt considering Pierce STILL physically has a solid 10-15 LBS power on him. Cooper by this time in his career was a solid spot up three point shooter, he'll get plenty of open looks with Pierce burning a smaller defender in the post, and Thomas consistently capable of taking Paul to the basket or exploiting the pick n' roll using Ewing and Gasol. Once Marjle comes in, he'll provide proper spacing, Rondo facilitating the offense, and Oakley coming in for solid chemistry with Ewing in the low post.

Ewing being a face up player will have a physical and tough battle against Gilmore, absolutely no doubt, I'll even admit his efficiency might even slightly drop, but Gasol's consistently shown his ability to WITHSTAND the BEST of defenders in the modern era during the Lakers last three playoff runs (KG, Perkins, Dwight, Duncan), and Gasol did FANTASTIC against them all, and with Jones again being undersized---Gasol will absolutely have no problem scoring, considering his fantastic low post skill and foot-work around the basket. If anything he'll use an array of hook-shots that he consistently dominated Dwight Howard with in the finals.

Defensive Matchup's:

Ewing on Gilmore
Gasol on Jones
Pierce on Marion
Cooper on Moncrief
Thomas on Paul

Historically speaking, Patrick Ewing has anchored one of the best defensive teams in the history of the game when speaking of the 90s Knicks. With Gasol being another 7 footer with all-around solid defense (VERY good help defense, we effectively saw him limit Boozer (FG% 38 in '08 playoffs), Duncan (FG 42% in '08 playoffs), Garnett (FG 43% in '08 Finals), and Howard (48% in '09 Finals)), it'll be tough for Jones and Gilmore to score in the post if AT ALL on solid efficiency. And as EFFICIENT of a player Gilmore is, he's going to have his hands full considering the significant heigh advantage my team imposes, and how vital that has been for modern day champions. Thomas like Paul is a player that's SOLID in the passing lanes, but with quicknesses alike, it's going to be tough for Paul to completely shake off or lose Thomas. Marion is a slow offensive system is absolutely limited, and without a player like Steve Nash consistently feeding him correctly in the low post Marion's overall efficiency drops quite a few notches (considering he had career high TS% numbers while playing with Nash). He's not a player that can be in a ISO situation and be used correctly on the perimeter, often too fast for bigger PFs with the Suns, his effectively is limited with a similarly physical build player like Pierce guarding hm. Cooper's going to limit Sidney somewhat, but I want to again stress the importance of height advantage and how it's been absolutely crucial. What's solid about my bench is that it doesn't lose a beat defensively with Oakley, Marjle, Rondo, and Thompson coming in.

[TMACFORMVP]

I lost my writeup, so it'll just be longish bullet points of what I was trying to address. I still stand by my comments that Gremz has built one of the best teams I've seen Baylor on. He's done a terrific job of building around strengths and weaknesses of players to build a potent squad that's a nightmare to deal with. But we feel there are apparent weaknesses, and we have the personnel as a team that can take advantage, and exploit those weaknesses to come out on top in this series. I really respect the job Gremz has done, and truly, honestly may the best team win. Which my team FULLY intends to do so.

1.) I'd like to address my teams chemistry first. I'm not denying that my team has eccentric characters, but I don't think that necessarily adds up to a poor locker room. I've honestly never heard of anyone of Cowens teammates having a problem with him, and Bill Walton is often regarded as the ultimate teammate in the way he played offensively and defensively. Artest was a psycho, but his teammates didn't have much a problem with him during his prime.

Code: Select all

Jeff Foster
“He’s an energizer bunny, I’ll tell you that. He just continues to go and go and go. He’s a workhorse. He always plays hard. A lot of things he does, he carries to the weight room as well. He’s just as vigilant in the weight room and in practice. He really doesn’t like to take days and time off. He continues to work on his game and that’s probably why he’s at the level he’s at right now.”

Reggie Miller
“He’s an energizer bunny, I’ll tell you that. He just continues to go and go and go. He’s a workhorse. He always plays hard. A lot of things he does, he carries to the weight room as well. He’s just as vigilant in the weight room and in practice. He really doesn’t like to take days and time off. He continues to work on his game and that’s probably why he’s at the level he’s at right now.”

Jamaal Tinsley and Jermaine O'neal
He's out there playing like we really need that game at practice and it just carries over to the game. Having a guy like that on your team, you'll go to war with him."

Having a guy like that on your team makes it that much easier for the rest of the guys.”

Barry is a jerk to his teammates, that's undeniable, but even those teammates agreed it was because of his desire to win. Cowens, Barry, and Walton are champions with an unnatural desire to win. Artest and Deron are guys that have been to the conference finals, clearly none of their "bad" attitudes let it affect them on the court. I look at it like this:

A team that has locker room problems is because of questionable attitudes, but most importantly players that have different agendas, share similar roles, and have different interests in mind (stats v. winning, etc). The Bad Boy Pistons had some questionable characters on their team as well, but they had well defined roles, with everyone having the same and common goal. Most importantly, every single player on that team gave it their full 100%, something I feel our players do just as well. One thing no one has denied about Walton, Cowens, Barry, or Artest is that they didn't give it their all. Hell, I'd think these guys would respect each other because of their will to win, and how much effort they put into every game.

2.) Bill Walton. I think if I were to lose this series, it'd be particularly because of the way Walton is treated in these games, both which I think is unfair, and a double standard. He's expected to miss games, and those "that he plays in" his impact gets marginalized due to injury issues. While it's a legitimate concern, the thing that confuses me is the double standard when compared to other players. Take the last series for example, only a couple GM's mentioned that Yao Ming had similar injury history/# of games played in a two year stretch, yet it was Walton who got heavily scrutinized. In this particular series, it's interesting to note that Elgin Baylor in fact plays 2 LESS games than Walton in their respective two year peaks. Now I'm not going to say that Baylor will miss any games in this series, because he still met minimum game requirements (he obviously doesn't have the history of Walton's career - but that's MOOT since it's only a TWO year peak that we're concerned with). Both players also had legendary playoff runs, which many other players do not have. While I can't change the minds of people, I'd as for maybe a bit more consistency in that regard.

In this series, I feel Walton, much like the last series will be the difference maker (for the good). Alonzo Mourning in his prime was a special player, a very good defender, solid offensive player, and a true feel good story of how he came back to the NBA to help the Miami Heat in an integral role off the bench. But there's a reason why Zo isn't considered in the echelon of first tier centers. And that's because:

a.) He under performs against All-NBA caliber centers
b.) Isn't a strong rebounder
c.) Offensively isn't as skilled as others

I think these are three aspects of the game we can exploit using Walton. Unfortunately there isn't any significant data of elite centers during Zo's selected peak that we can use to back up the data of my first claim - but however, there is just enough. In the selected peak, Zo faced a washed up, far past his prime Patrick Ewing 14 times in the span of those two seasons. Ewing by this time had failed to grab 10 boards a game, and his offensive efficiency had become putrid. Yet, in those 14 games (including playoffs), Ewing averaged 11.5 RPG, with 16 PPG on 43%. He wasn't particularly efficient, BUT do keep in mind that was actually on average his FG% in the playoffs, if not slightly better. So in reality, Ewing's #'s were up across the board. Zo didn't perform poorly, but his efficiency took a slight hit to 46%, and he just managed to grab only 9 boards per game. And for good measure, the Heat lost both series to the Knicks, even one as a 1st seed!

In the game against Olajuwon, he did 9/9 to Olajuwon's 16/13 (keep in mind, this was past his prime as well). In the game against the Spurs, Zo was able to do 15/5 to DRob's 28/7. That brings us to the rebounding aspect, and make no mistake, but Bill Walton is the best rebounder in this series, and among the greatest of all time. His TRB% is roughly 21% which puts him in an elite class, and markedly better than Mourning. Gremz counters with Buck in his best rebounding years, but we counter with Cowens who just as good a rebounder. It's arguable that we possess the two best rebounding players in this series. Baylor helps in that regard, his TRB% being in the 15ish range from what I've calculated, but our perimeter players in the backcourt also have the edge on the glass. Gremz bench is certainly impressive on the boards, but I don't feel that will tip the favor to his team. If it's close, we'll have two of the best rebounders in this series, and with Walton having the clear edge on the boards, he'll fuel that advantage, and help execute our offense to perfection.

Offensively, he'll use his IQ to pick apart the defense with his passing, and has underrated shot that can take Zo out to mid-range to somewhat limit his shot blocking ability. Walton in his two year peak was one of the greatest players of all time, and as good as Zo was defensively, Walton was better on both ends of the floor, and should have his way in this series.

3.) There is nobody to stop Rick Barry. I'm not too sure who Gremz will choose to put on Barry, but I'm not sure it really matters. Both Cheeks and West are a bit too small to guard him, while Baylor or Ellis weren't particularly good defenders. Barry will be the focal point of our offensive scoring attack. Walton will be set up with his terrific passing skills, and Deron on the perimeter to hit Barry in the spots he likes it (whether it's coming off picks from Cowens, or quick drive and shoot situations). Barry and Michael Jordan are the only two players to have averaged 30/6/6 while leading his team to the championship. In the finals against the physical defense of Mike Riordan and upfront defense of Hayes and Unseld, Barry averaged 30 PPG for the series in a SWEEP of the much heavily favored Bullets. Gremz perimeter defense is good, but I don't think this is a favorable matchup for him, a superstar, able to take over SF.

4.) Defensive Assignments/Offensive Matchups. I think the obvious inclination would be to put Artest on West, as he's Gremz best player, but I think I'm going to go with Artest on Baylor, and use Deron to guard Jerry, which leaves Barry to guard Cheeks. I think I'm making this switch because West like Barry will get his, almost regardless of defenders. I feel with our edge in the frontcourt, Gremz needs Baylor to have a LARGE series as well to win this series. With Artest, we feel we can limit him moreso, because he has the perfect size, strength, and quickness to hang with Baylor.

Again, this is a guy during his two year peak held Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady (arguably during this stretch as good, if not more versatile, and efficient scorers) to under 40%. This goes the same with the rest of the star wings (Redd, Pierce, Iverson, Carter, Allen, etc). Baylor, being the great player that he was, there is unfortunately the reason he gets drafted lower than his stats would indicate. His volume was ridiculously high - 33 FG attempts, and a boatload of FT's as well. And he wasn't the most efficient of players. But still, he'll be able to get his, but Artest will force him into positions that he doesn't like, and strictly more to the perimeter where he wasn't known for his jump-shot.

Deron will be on West. He'll get his, Deron's not a terrific defender, but he's not poor by any means. He has good size, and has nice underrated quickness to be able to at least not let West completely get TOO much more than his averages. We also feel we can help more on West, which we'll allude to shortly.

Barry will be able to roam on the weakside, where was absolutely DEADLY. Keep in mind he got 2+ steals per game, with nearly 3 per game in his best season. Guarding Cheeks, we'll dare him to shoot from the perimeter, and trust our weakside defense, as Nance, or Walton with Cowens will always be on the floor if he penetrates. Barry will also be used as help on West, which I don't think Gremz has the luxury of doing on Barry. Artest wasn't the greatest offensive player, but he was a player in Indiana that could exploit you defensively in the post, or keep the defense honest with a three or two. Our offense has perfect spacing as Walton, or Cowens could easily transition from high post to low post. Artest could easily transition to the low post for certain possessions to use his size and strength advantage on West.

In this competition, I think Deron Williams is underrated. When we look back many years down the road, we'll likely acknowledge Williams as one of the better PG's in NBA history. He averages 19 PPG, gets roughly over 10.5 APG and has a TS% of 58%. In his best season in his two year peak, he nearly does 51/40/80 shooting. He'll likely be guarded by a very solid defender in Cheeks, but we also think with his underrated ability to score off teammates, with his tremendous passing ability will be a large factor in this series offensively. As I mentioned earlier, Gremz perimeter game has to perform, otherwise the firepower of our team will be too much to handle. In this scenario, we like what we have at the PG position, and feel Barry can bring forth a similar series offensively as Gremz best player in West. Gremz will counter bringing Ellis off the bench, we'll likely have to counter with Drazen, both of whom will have the same roles, to be spot up shooters that can play off the ball. Neither did anything else to separate themselves, and will likely be a standstill in terms of production.

5.) Conclusion. In short, I think we have a definite edge in the frontcourt. Gremz frontcourt, specifically referring to PF/C is strong defensively, but we're just as good, if not we'd argue have an edge in that regard as well. Keep in mind, many compare Walton's defense during his peak to be just as good as Hakeem/Duncan whom are some of the greatest of all time, even superior to Zo on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, we definitely have the edge, as we have strong versatility that we can play from the low post/high post and initiate the offense through passing, mid-range shooting, or post play. The versatility our two big men gives us options that opens the game up for everyone else, and creates a cohesive unit that fits together.

With that frontcourt edge, we feel Gremz NEEDS a huge perimeter (PG-SF) edge in order to win this series. We feel we marginalize his 6th man having Drazen who comes in and impacts the game in the same role. Barry should have a large series, much like West, in that we feel we have a player in Rick that can match the offensive output in a given series that West brings to the table. Baylor will get his, but we're confident in the ability of Artest to put a clamp down on Baylor to reduce his efficiency, and overall not be as effective as he should be (it's interesting to note that West/Baylor never won the championship, and West was able to win one immediately the season Baylor retires, lol). Again, Artest in his prime was a defensive specimen that had the size, speed, and strength to counter all of Baylor's strengths offensively. And to make up for some of that edge Baylor has, we counter with Deron, who should have a rather large impact on the series as well, despite the defense of Cheeks.

So really, the perimeter edge isn't as large as it should be, if any at all to make up for the frontcourt edge. I think there's a lack of firepower, and albeit lack of spacing around both West, and Baylor when Ellis is not in the game to come out on top. We'll exploit the matchups in the frontcourt, and feel on the perimeter, we like the matchups we have with Deron and Baylor. Not to mention, we're confident in the ability of Artest to cover Baylor, and like that we can use Barry in his proper role on defense being able to roam, gambling for steals and help on West when he drives. We should be able to control the boards, and are a better passing squad, which should make our offensive execution game more crisp and efficient.

Overall Gremz has built a terrific squad that I have great respect for, but ultimately we have the pieces to exploit his weaknesses, while I'm afraid he cannot do the same for ours. Rebounding, passing, superior front court play, and similar perimeter play will lead our team to victory. Best of luck Gremz, always a pleasure facing you, may the best team win.

[SamBone]

REBUTTAL

1. PG dribble drive: No doubt Dumars is a very good defender with SGs but against KJ its a bad matchup IMHO. KJ in the yrs selected played Dumars and the BadBoys in there 2 title runs. His stat line in an admitted small sample size looks like this

22.8ppg 9.5apg .562 FG

KJs asts stats are down but his FG% is was up and he is able to get to the rim vs the BadBoys and get past Joe and Isiah. I look for KJ to a have great series because hes the quickest guy on the floor. With KJ able to get past Dumars and Porter he will have to attack the rim and force weakside help and use that for easy baskets or to draw fouls.

Well I am not sure how putting up good numbers against Zeke really matters here, but KJ did. I do believe you are over selling him a bit. Yes KJ was very fast, but to think he is too much for one of the best defensive guards to handle is a tad over selling in my opinion.

Here are some quotes from a Bleacher Report story about the top 10 PG’s of all time (KJ was on the best of the rest list, FYI)

Tremendously quick and explosive, Johnson was the leader of the Suns in the 1990's. Although not an exceptional defender, Johnson was known as one of the best all-around playmakers of his era.

during his career he was in the middle tier of a tremendous point guard crop. Furthermore, his lack of a title and his poor shooting ability from deep doomed him to a legacy of a forgotten man.

Joe D has guarded quick players before and I am pretty sure he will be able to keep KJ under control.

Add to that that he will also be guarded by Terry Porter who also guarded him successfully in the 1990 Western Conference Finals were KJ’s struggles on both ends of the court (guarding and being guarded by Porter) was one of the main reasons the Suns lost.

2. Running Reggie and Rip off of screens: Simply put Sam Jones inst quick or strong enough to fight through screens set by Sikma and Deke. Joe is simply too short to get a hand in eithers face. Miller a legendary 3pt shooter and Rip who shot 45% from 3 pt range (led the league in 3pt shooting) are going to stretch Bones defense to its limit. Jones doesnt have 3pt range and his ability to shoot in the 1st 3 qters is substantialy lower.

So Dumars (6’3 and 195), the same guy the GOAT, Michael Jordan (6’6 and 195) called “the greatest defender he ever faced” is not quick enough to guard KJ (6’1and 180) but is also now not tall enough to defend Reggie (6’7 and 185) or Rip (6’6 and 185).

I guess you forgot that during the selected seasons on the way to earned his Finals MVP he also shut down Magic Johnson ( 6’8 and 215) before shutting down MJ.

If Joe was big enough to successfully guard those GOAT players in the playoffs, I am pretty sure he can guard the thin, unphysical Reggie Miller and Rip.

Jones’ perfect form when shooting a jump shot, along with his great clutch shooting led opponents to nickname him "The Shooter". At 6-foot-4, Jones was the prototype of the tall guard who could run the floor, bang the boards and had a rangy offensive game that gave opponents fits.

I would think that one of the best shooters in the history of the game (who played before there was a 3 point line) would have range like today’s guys. And as far as Sam Jones not being “strong enough”, I would like to point out that he was measured at 6’4 and 198 which would equal about 6’6 with shoes and over 225 with today’s workout equipment. Which is stronger, and equally as big as either of you 2 guards. And just because the guy is know as one of the most clutch shooter to ever play the game and was the #1 scoring option during the Championship seasons (the 7th and 8th of his 10 ring career) was known for being deadly in the 4th does not mean than he was poor early in games, he was just AWESOME closing out games and when the lights were the brightest!

The biggest differance between DrJ and LBJ IMHO is DrJs back to basket game and his defense. DrJ in the yrs chosen is 1st and 2nd in Def win shares and 1st and 2nd in Def rating in the entire league. He finishes 2nd and 3rd in steals and 4th and 6th in blocks. DrJ simply is the better defender and hes going to be able to guard LBJ better than LBJ can guard DrJ. I believe my frontcourt is the best def frontcourt in this league and certainly better than Sams. With 4time DPOY Mutombo gaurding the rim in his best shotblocking seasons hes much more of an intimidation and he will alter more shots than Howard.

In your chosen seasons, Dr J (1974/75 & 1975/76) was 2nd and 1st in the ABA in those categories while not being named to the All Defensive teams!

LBJ was also 2nd and 3rd in Defensive Wiin shares whil also being named 1st team All Defensive both seasons and finishing 2nd and 4th in DPOY voting

In your selected 2 seasons for Deke is won his 1st DPOY award, the 3 later awards mean nothing in this compition, and only got named to one 2nd team All Defensive team, and was 4th and 6th in Defensive Win Shares

Dwight won the DPOY award in both of his seasons, as well as 1st team All Defensive in both those seasons, and was 1st during both seasons in Defensive Win Shares and Defensive Rating

Dwight was a supior rebounder compaired to Deke, and is as much of a defensive game changer if not more then the early Denver Nuggets Deke

DrJ VS LBJ

With DrJ playing more in the post and attacking LBJ in a area I feel is a weakness I believe He will have a great series. LBJ is going to play some PG and attempt to attack from further away from the basket. That IMHO is the biggest differance between them on offense. DrJ will be looking to finish and will be set up by his teammates to operate closer to the basket. LBJ will be operating further on the wing and allow the help/weakside defense to rotate because they will have an extra few seconds as LBJ attacks from further on the wing.

I also will add more to this, but LBJ will not be running the point, and as I stated in my writeup, will be doing most of his work from in the paint, to take advantage of the shorter Doc who is outweighed by almost 50 lbs of pure muscle!

I simply don’t believe Kemp was a great man to man defender and the easiest to contain his weak side shot blocking to attack him with Cummings and Cunningham.

Well considering you boast about the Defensive rating and Defensive win shares of an ABA player (a league that was know for not playing D), I would like to point out that Kemp had the 2nd best Defensive rating in 1996, and ranked 9th and 4th in Defensive win shares during his selected seasons.
And giving Cummings (who has a worst Defensive rating that anyone on your entire team) more minutes will simply allow “The Reign Man” to do even more damage when we have the ball.

In Conclussion: My team boasts superior 3pt shooting and post play. the midrange game (Rip/Sikma vs Jones/Howard) is a wash to a slight adv for my team. I feel that our offenses are similar but with Bones offense shooting further from the basket and having to shoot against better defenders who are taller.

3pt shooting % (2 season averages from 3)
Reggie (38.1%) vs Joe D (44.2%)
Rip (38.2%) vs T.Porter (39.5%)
KJ (14.3%) vs Schrempf (35%)
Fat (22.5%) vs LBJ (33.9%)

Midrange game, not sure why you listed Dwight, who will not be shooting mid range jumpers)
Rip < Sam Jones
Sikma < Lucas
Dr J < LBJ
Cummings/Cunningham < Kemp/Schrempf

My guys “having to shoot against better defenders who are taller”?

Reggie “turnstile” Miller is the only perimeter guy that has a height advantage over anyone that he is matched up against.

Neither of your PG’s are known as a defender at all

Rip is a solid defender, but Reggie is poor and is playing most of the minutes at SG

Doc is shorter and weaker then LBJ

Sikma (really a C) maybe slightly taller then Lucas but is a lot slower and can not defend Lucas on the perimeter
Cummings and Cunningham are both smaller and weaker the Kemp.

Deke is taller then Dwight but not anywhere close to as athletic or physical

With Lucas on the 3pt line Howard is going to be all alone trying to rebound against a def frontline with huge def reb ratings. This should allow me some transistion baskets from a DrJ who releases on a long LBJ jumper

Defensive Rebounding %

Deke (26.3%) vs Dwight (30.4%)
Sikma (26.85%) vs Lucas (% were not calculated then but he averaged 20.6 reb per compaired to 12 from Sikma)
Dr J (18.1%) vs LBJ (18.8%)
Cummings (15.6% )/Cunnigham (24.5 %) vs Kemp (26%)

Something I also want to point out is FT%
KJ 84%
Reggie 88%
Rip 85%
DrJ 80%
Sikma 84%

Deke 61%
Cummings 73%
Cunnigham 75%
Ruland 71%


Joe D 88%
Porter 84%
Jones 81%
LBJ 77%
Lucas 79%
Dwight 59%
Kemp 75%
Detlef 82%
Sampson 67%

The only point that war made that I can not argue is

LBJ IMHO isn’t used to playing with a C like Howard

I would add that he also has never played with clutch shooters like Joe D, Sam Jones or Lucas, and as warspite stated, LeBron loves to kick the ball out to open shooters. Unlike Warspite, I think LBJ’s game would be that much better playing with a low post BEAST like Dwight Howard, and only imagine how much better on defense LBJ would be, knowing that he had Dwight behind him

SUMMARY
I am sorry for being so long, but since I did not get to write a rebuttal in the 1st round, I had to comment here! As I stated before, War has put together a great team, and built around one of my favorite players of all time. I just think I put together a better team on both ends of the court and put players that compliment LBJ very well around him. I have superior shooters, rebounders, defenders, winners and clutch prime time performers.

[penbeast0]

REBUTTAL

Team Penbeast v Team Baller 24

Offensive Scheme:

We'll start out exploiting the guards, Paul is a horrible team defender, flat out. He's good at picking the passing lanes, but flat out horrible in a team defensie scheme of things. . .

So I'll move on, Thomas will have NO problem with Paul, exploiting this will be a key for my team, he's a more skilled scorer, and at this point in his career ('88/'89), Thomas is very well dominant in terms of playoff performances.

I cut a nicely done piece looking at Paul’s defensive stats because (a) similar numbers aren’t available for Thomas, and (b) defensive stats are not very good at pointing out good defenders, particularly ones like on/off. You have all seen Paul play, he didn’t get a 1st and a 2nd team All-Def for being a poor defender, particularly against quick guards like Isiah which is his strength. And, Isiah trying to shoot constantly is the best thing that could happen to us; Isiah is the worst efficiency shooter on either starting team and he even gets worse in the playoffs and is too much of a warrior ego to admit it. (.524ts% drops to .500 in the chosen playoffs v. our TEAM AVERAGE of .595/594!)

Pick n' Roll around Ewing/Gasol will be the key, if the defender bites Ewing's high post face up jumper was gold, and Gasol around the basket in the low post with an undersized defender should be money with his hook shot (IF Gilmore stretches the floor sticking with Ewing allowing Gasol open space).

As I said, if they actually try to run an offense posting Gasol in the low post, we will have Gilmore down there where his massive strength and 2-3” height advantage (the same height advantage Gasol/Ewing claim against Bobby Jones) will allow him to dominate Gasol. I don’t expect this to last, Gilmore’s dominance will show quickly forcing Baller to adapt to our game plan. Again, we will be switching up from straight man (Gilmore plays the big that is in the low post) to Larry Brown’s jump and switch defense that Bobby Jones keyed to make a Denver team whose second best 75 player was Ralph Simpson the best record in the league, to a 1-2-2 zone, all with the idea that Gilmore controls the low post against their two center offense leaving the other Baller center to try to make offense in the open floor against Bobby Jones and his 10 straight 1st team All-Def. Jones played next to Mike Green and Dan Issel in these years, both 6’10 finesse guys, and spent a lot of time guarding centers and low post forwards like Moses Malone . . . and it didn’t seem keep anyone from seeing his defensive greatness. His size, quickness, and leaping skills denied the pass in, creating steal (2/game) while blocking shots when they did get the pass in (also 2/game!). And his much greater quickness both in footwork and hands will badly disrupt the pick and roll game.

Pierce will be posted in the high post all-night, with an undersized defender like Moncrief on him, there's really not much he'll be able to do if he's being posted down. Ball will go to Pierce with a TS% of 60%+, his turnaround jumper is more than often solid (as clutch performances against the Heat in '10, Bulls in '09, and Lakers in '08 would suggest).

Moncrief was nicknamed the squid for his freakishly long arms, he had the reach of a 6-7 player. And, he is quicker and more athletic than Pierce. Pierce is their best shooter who is very efficient (about the level of our average starter) but Moncrief is the single greatest man defender in NBA history, winner of the first two DPOY awards. Pierce can get points but he won’t do it nearly as efficiently.

Once Thompson is in the game and Marion is on him, Pierce can put the ball on the floor and willfully attack, I don't think Marion's presence is much felt considering Pierce STILL physically has a solid 10-15 LBS power on him.

I’m sorry. Pierce (F/G with his 5.4 rebounds per game) is going to overpower Shawn Marion (SF/PF with his 10.8 rebounds per game)? Have you watched these two? Marion may not be the heavier, but he’s the stronger, more athletic, and the better leaper. If anyone overpowers anyone it will be Marion who is basically a 4th option finisher in our offense but who should be able to get free for some highlight slams.

Cooper by this time in his career was a solid spot up three point shooter, he'll get plenty of open looks with Pierce burning a smaller defender in the post, and Thomas consistently capable of taking Paul to the basket or exploiting the pick n' roll using Ewing and Gasol. Once Marjle comes in, he'll provide proper spacing, Rondo facilitating the offense, and Oakley coming in for solid chemistry with Ewing in the low post.

Cooper and Majerle are basically Bruce Bowen, a couple of 3’s a game but very little effect on offense. Rondo and Oakley aren’t scorers either and have little range to boot.

Ewing being a face up player will have a physical and tough battle against Gilmore, absolutely no doubt, I'll even admit his efficiency might even slightly drop, but Gasol's consistently shown his ability to WITHSTAND the BEST of defenders in the modern era during the Lakers last three playoff runs (KG, Perkins, Dwight, Duncan), and Gasol did FANTASTIC against them all, and with Jones again being undersized---Gasol will absolutely have no problem scoring, considering his fantastic low post skill and foot-work around the basket. If anything he'll use an array of hook-shots that he consistently dominated Dwight Howard with in the finals.

Again, if Baller really means to post Gasol up low consistently, Gasol will be facing Artis Gilmore, who will not only dominate that battle but will be there to help shut down the rest of Baller’s bigger but slower team. And Ewing’s playoff issues won’t help as his already mediocre efficiency from a center drops again in these years (.549 to .514ts%) v. Artis Gilmore who was a playoff MVP (.605 going to .627ts% in the playoffs!)

Defensive Matchup's:

Ewing on Gilmore
Gasol on Jones
Pierce on Marion
Cooper on Moncrief
Thomas on Paul

Historically speaking, Patrick Ewing has anchored one of the best defensive teams in the history of the game when speaking of the 90s Knicks. With Gasol being another 7 footer with all-around solid defense (VERY good help defense, we effectively saw him limit Boozer (FG% 38 in '08 playoffs), Duncan (FG 42% in '08 playoffs), Garnett (FG 43% in '08 Finals), and Howard (48% in '09 Finals)), it'll be tough for Jones and Gilmore to score in the post if AT ALL on solid efficiency. And as EFFICIENT of a player Gilmore is, he's going to have his hands full considering the significant heigh advantage my team imposes, and how vital that has been for modern day champions.

Gilmore will be facing guys 2-3” shorter in the post, while Baller’s constantly harped on height advantage will be out chasing our players with their significant quickness advantages; particularly Gasol (or Ewing) trying to keep up with Bobby Jones who was constantly in motion without the ball and was pure money when open. Jones led the league both the named years in efg (2nd in ts% to Artis who went to the line more).

Thomas like Paul is a player that's SOLID in the passing lanes, but with quicknesses alike, it's going to be tough for Paul to completely shake off or lose Thomas. Marion is a slow offensive system is absolutely limited, and without a player like Steve Nash consistently feeding him correctly in the low post Marion's overall efficiency drops quite a few notches (considering he had career high TS% numbers while playing with Nash). He's not a player that can be in a ISO situation and be used correctly on the perimeter, often too fast for bigger PFs with the Suns, his effectively is limited with a similarly physical build player like Pierce guarding hm.

Slow offensive system? With Paul, Moncrief, Marion, and Jones we have a huge quickness advantage and with our much higher steals/blocks we will be generating turnovers and running. And while Nash was great (Marion was a 20/10 player before Nash but his efficiency got better with Nash instead of Starbury passing), Chris Paul is a great playmaker too who can get the ball to our forwards, Marion and Bobby Jones, in their roles as finishers. Marion isn’t the primary scorer in our offense with Paul leading the break and Artis in the halfcourt, but he’s going to get a chance to use his great explosion and get some highlight dunks and score efficiently against Pierce and guards David Thompson/Cooper.

Cooper's going to limit Sidney somewhat, but I want to again stress the importance of height advantage and how it's been absolutely crucial. What's solid about my bench is that it doesn't lose a beat defensively with Oakley, Marjle, Rondo, and Thompson coming in.

Actually, it does, as David Thompson was from the “scorers don’t need to play defense” school of stars. Moncrief, Marion, and Mullin, even Willie Wise should be able to exploit him efficiently within the pattern of our offense.

. . .

And THAT’s the key here. Look at the four factors that determine winning: offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency, turnover differential, and rebound differential. Our starters average .595 in true shooting percnetage, .594 in the playoffs. Only Paul Pierce can score at that rate for Baller’s crew and he is being guarded by the greatest man defender in NBA history. Instead they want to rely on Isiah Thomas (.524/.500) to dominate All-Def team Chris Paul and either Ewing (.549/.514) or Gasol (very efficient in the low post but that allows us to keep Gilmore down there so they will probably move him outside where he’s not nearly as good) to "dominate" Bobby Jones, the most consistently recognized great defensive forward of all time (10 straight 1st team All-Def!). Defensively, they have one great starting defender, Michael Cooper, with Ewing also playing at a very high level. We also have DPOY Sidney Moncrief, facing their main threat rather than their 3rd option, and over the two years every starter except Marion is a multiple All-Def award winner and Marion was 3rd in DPOY voting despite not getting an All-D team. In terms of turnover differential, we generate more assists with less turnovers throughout our starters while generating steals and blocks at ridiculous rates led by Gilmore’s 4 blocks and Bobby Jones 2bl/2st (and Marion isn’t far behind). Finally, not only is Gilmore the best rebounder on the floor, but Marion (10.8reb) v. Pierce/Cooper (5.4/3.1 reb) is the biggest mismatch. We even have a deeper and more versatile bench with great two way players rather than one dimensional role players.

We are better in the areas it takes to win, not only in the regular season but in the playoffs as well.

[penbeast0]

Again, I'm going to lead off and fail to make friends and influence people . . .


PLAYOFF MATCHUPS

SNAKEBITES v. STUDCRACKERS

Billups (32)/MRR (16)
Drexler (36)/MRR (12)
English (24)/Dandridge (24)
Pettit (35)/Wallace (13)
Robinson (36)/Wallace (12)
v.
No Writeup

With no writeup from Studs, I have to assume that it goes the way Snakebites says it will and assuming that, does Studs win anyway? DRob matches up well against Garnett, Pettit against Unseld, and superior 2-way play at the guards give Snakebites’s team the win.

GREMZ v. TMACFORMVP

PG: Cheeks (32)/West (16)
SG: West (24)/Ellis (22)
SF: Baylor (36)/Ellis (12)/
PF: Williams (30)/Roundfield (18)
Cc: Mourning (36)/Smith (12)


Vs

PG - Deron Williams (36) - Mookie Blaylock (12)
SG - Ron Artest (22) - Drazen Petrovic (26)
SF - Rick Barry (38) - Ron Artest (10)
PF - Dave Cowens (23) - Larry Nance (25)
Cc - Bill Walton (35) - Dave Cowens (13)

For me, it always starts with the big men. Walton in a 1 year format is great, but beyond that unless the OP says he stays healthy as a given, he’s only 50/50 to play in the playoffs. One thing Tmac doesn’t mention, however, is that he has Arvidas Sabonis as his 4th big which allows him to plug in a similar player if Walton goes down (with a big defensive slippage but actually superior offense). Even with Walton out, Sabas, Cowens, and Nance are a good matchup against Zo, Buck, and co. The size advantage is there either way, plus the passing hub center and more explosive offense. Nance off the bench is a nice edge over Roundfield and Smith too. If Walton is healthy, Tmac has a strong big man advantage but even if Walton is limping and limited, Tmac should have a slight edge.

On the wings, West and Baylor take that edge back. Baylor shoots too much and too poorly, but Artest isn’t a good shooter either and can’t take advantage of him defensively while Baylor has a strong rebounding edge even after accounting for pace and era differential. Artest is strong enough to do a good job defensively on him though. West, however, is a lot more consistent than Rick Barry. Both are extremely explosive with great passing and range, but West is a much more efficient player and plays defense too. I can’t see Barry covering Cheeks, it will create too many mismatches, Barry just wasn’t that quick. And, while Barry had that one magic year, the only other title he ever won came with him injured and his team going on without him.

Deron is a very underrated and solid player but Cheeks will be a good defensive matchup. He is fine v. West but isn’t going to stop West from having his normal playoff heroics.

West and Barry are the keys to this matchup. With Barry out of position defensively, I see him getting frustrated and he was a guy who had control issues while West was truly “Mr. Clutch.”

Very hesitantly, I go with Gremz’s team here. Good matchup.

WARSPITE v. SAMBONE

PG KJ (34) / Lever (14)
SG Miller (28) / Rip (20)
SF DrJ (36) / Cunningham (16)
PF Sikma (26) / Cummings (20)
C Deke (28) / Ruland (18)

Vs

PG: Joe Dumars (20), Terry Porter (28)
SG: Sam Jones (33), Joe Dumars (15), Jerry Sloan
SF: LeBron James (38), Detlef Schrempf (10)
PF: Jerry Lucas (28), Shawn Kemp (20),
C: Dwight Howard (32), Ralph Sampson (16)

Again, starting with the big man matchups. Dwight is just plain better than Deke – more active, moves more offensively, better man up defensively (though it’s not like Deke gets a ton of shots here). Further, Lucas may be much weaker defensively than Sikma, but Sikma just isn’t a dominating big and Lucas is a better shooter and rebounder. Sam even has a slight edge off the bench though I’ve never been a great Kemp or Sampson fan.

Nor can I see a huge edge on the wings for Warspite. Doc was GREAT, the 2nd best SF of all time . . . unless it’s LeBron who has actually been as dominant in the modern NBA as Doc was in the ABA. People don’t realize how great LeBron has been; with perspective looking back, he’s going to be in the mix with Bird for #1. Reggie does have the edge over Sam Jones but it’s not like the Celtic great is a weak link. Reggie is better and provides the 3 ball for spacing but there isn’t the dominant inside advantage to take advantage of it.

Finally, the PG and playmaking aren’t a clear win for Warspite either as Dumars will be fine against KJ. Without a clear edge outside, I have to give it to the more dominant big man group and that’s the Boned Samuels.

[lukekarts]

Sambone defeats Warspite

I am still not sold on LeBron but it's hard to argue against the quality of sambones back court, particularly in big game situations; this matchup is really close but I give it to sambone purely because I think the lineup is a better fit and will be too strong and mobile for Warspite's team to handle.


Penbeast defeats Baller

I give this one to penbeast, by a hair. I don't like Marion at all in this game, I don't think he will be effective at all, but I expect Jones to match Pau's production, Gilmore to outperform Ewing (whom I have felt was always overrated) and CP3 to match Isiah. Overall I feel Penbeast's lineup is more solid defensively, whilst every bit as good offensively.


Snakebites defeats Studcracker

By default of course, but at the same time I do think I'd be voting for snakebites even if studcracker did a writeup.


TMac defeats Gremz

I prefer TMac's front court, both in strength and depth, and whilst Gremz' backcourt goes some way to address this, I think Barry will outperform Baylor in this series and swing the advantage in TMac's favour. I also don't think having limited offensive players (e.g. Artest) hurts as much as others do, especially when they're surrounded by talent like they are in this game.

[Miller4ever]

Warspite beats Sambone

Pen beats Baller

Snake beats Stud

Gremz beats TMac

[TMACFORMVP]

Snake over stud.

Going with Baller over pen. Close series, with similar built teams, PG/C combo, defensive wing (Moncrief admittedly much better offensively), but I think the volume of Baller's players while still being efficient makes them more trustworthy down the stretch (essentially, I trust Pierce, Isiah, and Thompson more to close out the series). I really think that pen should have played Mullin more.

Going with Warspite over SamBone. This was real tough to call, but I don't like decision of Howard on Sikma, it takes him away from the basket, and reduces the defensive impact he has on the series. I must say though, I really do applaud how Bone is selling Sam Jones in his writeup. For a second, it was almost as if he got a similar player to Reggie much later, and I would have never thought that prior to this matchup. I do like War's backcourt more however, the perimeter play likely being an edge for him, while Bone's frontcourt is superior. Bone also has the rebounding edge, but War can hang with him enough that I dunno if tilts the series. Honestly, I've deliberated on this one so much, and could be subject to change, because both teams are SO similar, dominant SF, defensive/shooting sort rebounding big men, and backcourts with good shooting, specifically at SG, but I think Sikma can take Howard out of the paint, the perimeter will beat each other up, slight edge perhaps to War as Erving was more adapted to playing off the ball, as was Reggie in terms of volume of points/3PM. LeBron makes up for that with how good he is WITH the ball, but compared to War's team there is a lack of another creator from the perimeter. I'm not sure I agree with War's minute rotations, but ultimately it's decent enough not to hurt him. Real sorry Bone, honestly, I'm still not even sure, but both of you have built fantastic teams.

[Baller 24]

Vote:
Warspite
TMACFORMVP
Snakebites

[Snakebites]

Warspite over Sam Bone

A tough matchup between two teams that are quite similar on the surface. Both feature dominant two way small forwards, defensive centers, and a solid cast of shooters and bench players. I actually tend to favor Sam Bone's team over War's if we're going purely by how the two teams are built. I love the shooters Lebron is surrounded by and think Dwight is a great fit as well. The bench is first rate as well.

Players are only part of the battle, so I also like to delve a little deeper into how the players are going to be used. A couple of things that concern me are Sam Bone's characterization of and use of Dwight Howard. He states that he doesn't believe that there is much difference offensively between Orlando Magic Shaq and current Dwight Howard. As someone who has watched Dwight play quite a lot and watched a wide variety of defenders have decent success against him (heck, even Jason Maxiell worked for the Pistons in a pinch), I can say that it is MUCH easier to take Dwight out of his offensive game than it EVER was with Shaq (at least pre Phoenix days). To say otherwise either vastly overrates Dwight's offensive talents or understates Shaq. If Sam Bone is relying on Dwight, particularly guarded by a defender like Deke, to that extent, this worries me.

Perhaps more worrisome though is his decision to place Howard on perimeter shooting Jack Sikma. I'm not sure if its a miscalculation of Sikma's abilities, but this takes Howard away from the paint where the defense needs him most.

With KJ running the show and allowing Erving to play off the ball some I think the offenses are awfully close in this matchup, and I think putting Dwight on the perimeter sways the defense Warspite's way.

[Gremz]

Snakebites wins
Penbeast wins
Warspite wins

[SamBone]

South Division Matchup -> Snakebites v. studcrackers

Snakebites wins by forfeit

East Division Matchup -> TMACFORMVP v. Gremz

Walton played the games that were needed, I am not sure why his health issues are mentioned at all. During his 2 year peak, he met the amount of games needed to be considered healthy, so I will do that. Both of these teams are built well. Walton vs Zo would be very interesting to watch, both guys were physical and got into the heads of their opponents. Barry should have a great series, and despite Mo being one ofg my favorirte players to play the game, I think DWill would give him some trouble. Mo is a great defender, but I think the strength of DWill will give Mo some problems, and will limit Mo. Mo’s lack of range will show in this matchup. I truly believe this series will go back and forth, and despite West & Baylor doing everything they can, I think Gremz will come up a little short.

TMAC wins in a game 7 thriller

West Division Matchup -> Baller 24 v. penbeast0

Pen has put together an unbelievable amount of defensive talent. I disagree with Baller’s view on CP3’s defense, and with Gilmore and the studs on the wings, CP3 will be able to gamble as much as he would like cause of the unreal talent around him. I can see lots of steals and easy buckets from Pen’s friends. Baller has also put together an impressive squad, which may be one of the most balanced well rounded two way teams in this game. Ewing and Gasol would work very well together at both ends of the court. While Baller may not have the STUDS defensively that pen has put together, It is a solid defensive unit. I am not sure that pen can score enough points to win this series. I keep going back and forth, but I will go with the better defense

penbeast to win a low scoring series

[Warspite]

Gremz
Baller
Snakebites

Ill do a long writeup explaining. Unexpected family matters have delayed me.

[Snakebites]

Baller over Penbeast:

I love the defense of Penbeast's team, and his point about Moncrief is duely noted. With that said, his firepower simply isn't on the same level with a team like that of Baller's. If Baller's team was somehow defensively deficient, I might be inclined to vote for Penbeast's team either, but I simply don't view that to be the case. Penbeast's team is offensively efficient, but I just question the general capacity there, and think the importance of that has been understated as of late.

You can also put me in the camp of not being a big fan of Shawn Marion as a starter in this league, particularly not in a slow offense like one run by Chris Paul (who, regardless of his physical ability, is a slow-it-down point guard by nature).

TMAC vs Gremz

My god, what a difficult matchup. I really like how both of these teams are put together, and feel like this should have been a finals or at the very least semi-finals matchup. I love the 3-man wing rotation that Gremz has, and while Artest will perform reasonably well against Baylor, on the whole I think that overall that combination will have a huge series, and this will be a major obstacle for TMAC to overcome.

With that said, I also think that TMAC has a size-able advantage in the front court. I see Walton and Cowens as a duo that has a strong impact defensively (like their counterparts) and has enough skill offensively (as scorers, and in the case of Walton particularly, as a passer) to stay one step ahead of their opponents. I also view Deron Williams as an underrated factor in this series.

I also like that Petrovic is finally getting some burn in these games. In a two year peak, he truly is one of the all time great shooters in this league.

With a heavy heart I vote for TMAC

[penbeast0]

At the moment I have the matchups:

Snakebites 8 Studcrackers 0
TMACFORMVP 4 Gremz 3
Warspite 5 Sambone 2
Penbeast 4 Baller 2

Correct me if my numbers are off. Still some close ones . . . Tmac v. Gremz, Pen v. Baller