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Welcome to the BaNT Championship round!

the write up period for this matchup will end Friday night when the clock strikes midnight. After that, all BaNT participants may vote for who they think would win this matchup. All votes must be in by Tuesday night when the clock strikes midnight. all votes prior to the start of the voting period will not count.

1. Shaqsux

LaMarcus Aldridge
Andrew Bynum
Erick Dampier
Boris Diaw
Ben Gordon
LeBron James
Jason Kidd
Mike Miller
Joakim Noah
Travis Outlaw
J.R. Smith
Maurice Williams

vs.

15. dcash4

Shane Battier
Mike Conley
Devin Harris
Allen Iverson
Andrei Kirilenko
Roger Mason
Andres Nocioni
Dirk Nowitzki
Greg Oden
Shaquille O'Neal
Michael Redd
Kurt Thomas

Cash, don't look now its almost over!

I for one really appreciate you taking this game over so it wasn't just a waste of time for the rest of us....
Seriously its about time to band that guy from starting games! I appreciate you seeing this one all the way out, I know you have been real busy.

Crowd... a hand for Cash?

Ok, I'll get to my write up asap...

Good luck Cash, This is going to be another good series... Its going to be fun taking on Shaq/Dirk... You have definitely put together a good team as usual, and made it through some tough series... Congrats and Good luck...

Agreed. Great job Dcash.

Btw, Cellardoor in 7!!!

Im going to have to second that notion...

BTW... Cellar you did a kick ass job, our series IMO was the best series thus far in this game, and it could have easily went either way...

harris 36 / mason 10 / conley
redd 28 / iverson 20
battier 38 / nocioni 10
nowitzki 36 / kirilenko 12
o'neal 34 / thomas 14 / oden

And it all comes down to this...

The starting lineup for your Haiti Hurricanes:

Jason Kidd(14)/Mo Williams(26)/Ben Gordon(8)
Ben Gordon(20)/Jason Kidd(16)/Mike Miller(12)/J.R. Smith (only if someone is cold)/
Lebron James(40)/Travis Outlaw(8)/J.R. Smith
LaMarcus Aldridge(28)/Boris Diaw(20)
Andrew Bynum(30)/Erick Dampier(12)/LaMarcus Aldridge(6)/(Noah only in case of foul trouble)


Defense: I am going to start with defense because most of my changes to my depth chart were for defensive reasons.

Point Guard: Kidd will be there at tip-off, but only to psych my opponent! Quickly, Mo Williams will step in to run this position.This series you are going to see a very different look at point guard. I am putting Mo Williams on Devin Harris because I feel Williams will do a much better job at defending him. Williams is quicker than Kidd and will be able to run stride for stride with Harris.

Shooting Guard:Ben Gordon is going to take the reigns for us at shooting guard. Gordon can easily hold Redd, and Iverson will be guarded primarily by Kidd.

Small Forward: Diaw will be the off man with Lebron guarding Dirk. Diaw will be able to come out to the perimeter if need with Battier, or just clog the passing lanes into Shaq, Battier has one shot, its from the corner I have no problem leaving Diaw on the baseline doubling Shaq and only popping out when needed against Battier. I'm going to let Battier have that shot all night, as many teams do. Its up to him to knock them down, and the truth is, this year he just isn't doing it.

Power Forward: Im moving Lebron in on Dirk. Lebron can guard Dirk outside, inside, or wherever. Dirk will have zero ability to post up Lebron because of Lebrons tenancious blocking skills, and Dirk can't drive on him because of the fact that Lebron can pick your pocket at any moment.

Center: Bynum is one of the better big man defenders in the game. I really like what he is going to bring defensively against Shaq. No one can out muscle Shaq but Bynum can certainly out jump him, Bynum is going to be able to tear down rebounds and really aggravate Shaq's game.Diaw will also be doubling up on Shaq and clogging this passing lane to Shaq. Look for Dampier to come in and really lay on Shaq. Maybe pick up a couple of fouls and really wear him out. If need be Noah can come in for limited stretches for foul trouble.

Offense:

Point guard: Mo Williams had a break out year this year, an All Star year in fact. How more proper to set up the best player in the game, on the best team in the east, with his point guard. A proven succesful scenario. Kidd will come in and get the rest of the team involved. Look for Bynum on back cuts. Run the pick and roll with LaMarcus for either the easy jumper or either guy diving into the paint.

Shooting guard: Ben will acel in this series better than others because my opponent has no one who can play a lick of defense at this position. Virtually you are leaving a 20ppg guy open to run his will on you. . 45% from the field and 42% from behind the arc is just not something that can be left alone. Also having Ben in here give you a very capable 2nd floor general, as he is averaging a career high in assists. Kidd is backing up both guard positions so I can have a more than capable defender on Iverson. Look for Kidd to play a small role in the points category especially at this positions. Mike Miller and J.R Smith will also see minutes here depending on who has the hot hand that particular night. Overcoming streaky shooting!

Small forward: Lebron is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, putting it conservatively. He brings it all to the court. The outside shot, the incredible body movement in the air or in the paint, also accompanied by a killer midgrange jump shot. Lebron is going to play virtually every minute possible. Because he can. This is the championship. Expect an amazing series from Lebron as he has the best offensive set he has ever seen around him. Nothing like when the Celtics gave him trouble last year.


Running out of time!!!!
Power forward: Aldridge will be able to work an interior game on Dirk and the offense will be able to utilize him on a lot of pick and roll situations, look for him to be cutting to the basket alot like in a Princeton style offense. Diaw will be able to stretch my offense greatly lurking around the perimeter.


Center: Bynum will be used alot out on the elbow, trying to force Shaq out from underneath, especially when I have 3 good perimeter players out their. Bynum will be able to scoop up long rebounds and out hustle Shaq back to the basket once getting him out on the wing. Dampier will also be able to grab alot of garbage baskets on put backs.

Summary:
Great series! My opponent will not be able to slow Lebron, same as most of the other series. I do however have the defensive weapons to lock him down. I will use alot of size mismatches to my advantage. Look for the same versatile offense as before, which has proven to be successful in the past...


Good series Cash, I really appreciate everything... Thanks to all the other guys who stayed active in this...
Cellar,Cash,Vintage, Mascot,Ambient,Gremz,(the ones I'm missing) all the guys who were here from the beginning, it was frustrating some times waiting for the guys who took 2 days for their picks, but it was a lot of fun!

All the guys who came in with a disadvantage and tried to make something happen, thank you as well...
Ballboy,MJAllday,Quazi, the rest of the guys... all ya'll it was fun.

11:47 my time!

defense: my guard rotation will consist of playing harris on the bigger offensive threat, with redd/mason/iverson guarding the which ever player they matchup well against. as my backup sg, iverson will not have to worry about guarding bigger guards because my opponent is using gordon extensively at sg. in the frontcourt shaq/thomas will have no trouble guarding an offensively raw bynum and offensively challenge dampier. when aldridge plays center, shaq will eat him alive. at pf, i see dirk as a good defensive matchup for the perimeter oriented LMA, and kirilenko can matchup with LMA or diaw with no need for help. at small forward, lebron will deal with premier perimeter defender shane battier and with hard nosed nocioni.

offense: shaq, shaq and more shaq. bynum just doesn't have the experience right now to deal with shaq in a playoff setting. when shaq isn't on the floor, thomas gives my team a big man that can spread the floor, forcing his man to step out of the paint or become victim of his deadly midrange game. at pg, my opponent really doesn't have anyone that can stay infront of harris. harris should be able to get into the paint at will whether its against too slow kidd or mo will, same for iverson. dirk, apparently being played by lebron, will be able to kill lebron if he ever wanders off effectively eliminating lebron's help defense. once again, role players will spread the floor in a deadly manner, mason/redd/battier/thomas/nocioni

last time lebron matched up against shane battier with the help of ron artest:

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/02/27/doin ... ff-lebron/

This might be the most downright outlandish line of the entire season: LeBron James played 34 minutes Thursday in Houston, and only tallied 21 points (on 21 FGAs), one rebound, zero assists, two blocks and a steal.

This was the first game in LeBron's entire NBA career without an assist. He hadn't finished a game with only one rebound since November 2007. Shane Battier and Ron Artest completely obliterated King James, and it wasn't even debatable. Simple, wanton destruction.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2 ... 10&prov=ap

HOUSTON (AP)—LeBron James missed shots, complained to the refs and went an entire game without an assist for the first time in his career...“We just can’t seem to get into a good flow against the Houston team,” James said. “A lot of credit has to go to them, they are a very good team. Offensively, we couldn’t make a shot and we could never get in any rhythm."

James was called for a charge late in the opening quarter when he spun into Shane Battier on a drive...James kept missing shots in the second quarter and earned another offensive foul after bumping into Battier again.

Too much VETERAN talent on Dcash's team. I got Dcash taking this series in 6 games. Lebron is good, but Ben Gordon will FINALLY gtop to bottoet exposed as the liability he is, ESPECIALLY when he's playing with Mo Williams.

Cash,
I like how you went into very limited coverage on what you will do to guard Ben Gordon, Gordon is a 20/3/3 guy, you can't merely say Iverson will have no problem guarding him... Iverson play horrible defense.

From my recollection, this game is to be judged on how the team will fit together. How do you plan on keeping Iverson not only on the bench, but getting such limited touches when on the court, with guys like Dirk and Shaq already demanding the ball? Iverson blows up this team, See: Denver, Detroit.

I like the quote from the Lebron v. Rockets game. Did you see the game? As an avid Rockets fan I did. Battier didn't lock down James. Artest did. The reason Battier was drawing charges was because he was the off man, while guarding ::cough:: Wally Z ::cough::...

Guarding Harris: I spent an extra amount of time getting peoples opinions on this one and got an overwhelming amount of positive response's when I questioned about Mo Williams guarding Harris. The same exact thing you spoke of Williams not being able to do, staying in front of Harris, is exactly what they suggested Williams would excel in.

By the way... who is guarding all of my 3pt shooters? If Battier is so wrapped up in guarding Lebron, who is going to get all of those guys shooting 40%plus from behind the arc?

By position comparison
Kidd,Williams,Gordon>Harris, Mason,Conley (np)---
I will agree that Harris is better but, the drop off from either Williams or Kidd to Mason is much greater than the drop off from your starter to mine.

Gordon,Miller,Kidd=Redd,Iverson
In my opinion Gordons negatives and Iverson can almost wash each other out besides the fact that Gordon is a better fit for my team than Iverson is for your team, then you are left with Redd and Miller and Redd even before everything was having a horrible season.

Lebron,Outlaw>Battier,Nocioni
Need I get into detail?

Aldridge,Diaw<Dirk,AK47

Shaq,Thomas=Bynum,Dampier
I think Shaq has been majorly over rated in this game. Look how many dominant big men are left in the game? Howard,Shaq,Duncan? Shaq is playing against smaller guys every night and is averaging less blocks than Bynum, the same amount of rebounds, and only 4 points more. In his last game against Cleveland, Shaq 12/7...Against Bynum beginning of this season Shaq 15/9 Bynum 10/7... Really not that big of a gap. If your main offensive threat is to run this series through Shaq I think I have a much greater advantage there. Dampier is very effective against Shaq see 12/4 box score... 4 POINTS/5 rebounds... Dampier 10/14.... But we'll call it even.

Bench--
Kidd/Mason
Miller/Iverson
Outlaw/Nocioni
Aldridge/AK47
Dampier/Thomas
The bench is easily in my favor...

So by position
PG-ME
SG-TIE
SF-ME
PF-YOU
C-TIE
BENCH-ME

Once again, IVERSON kills this team.

I have the best player in the game playing with his point guard. Then I have surrounded him with perfect role players, and a team that will have great chemisty.

i'm not going to type too much more than to question what exactly your team strategy is. i just can't help but notice that kidd and aldridge are in your starting lineup, then you use them to talk about how strong your bench is. i understand u had that little video game gimmick about kidd starting for like 10 seconds or something, but, c'mon. you talk about playing lebron at pf with diaw guarding battier, but that completely throws off all your assigned minutes, giving u like a million center minutes. either that or lebron isn't really playing pf cause you'd have aldridge guarding my sf all game. just way too confusing to even get a grasp of what your up to.

i know you got away with making the inexcusable error of playing bynum at pf and diaw at center last round, but reign it in man.

LOL at Bynum and Dampier equaling Shaq. Shaq may not be as effective as he once was, but he is still a dominate big man, and if you give him shooters like Redd, Dirk, and good players around him, he would excel.

Also, I have to call you on this, but Bynum is almost exclusively an inside player, why in the heck would Shaq follow him out, if Bynum is no threat?

Also, you say Kidd is better than Mason, which by all accounts, is true, however Mason is playing a WHOLE 10 minutes, which could easily be spread out towards the back end of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters, which means Harris is STILL the main threat at the PG position, and I think your using the back up stuff as a cop-out, what do you have to say to that?

dcash4 wrote:i'm not going to type too much more than to question what exactly your team strategy is. i just can't help but notice that kidd and aldridge are in your starting lineup, then you use them to talk about how strong your bench is. i understand u had that little video game gimmick about kidd starting for like 10 seconds or something, but, c'mon. you talk about playing lebron at pf with diaw guarding battier, but that completely throws off all your assigned minutes, giving u like a million center minutes. either that or lebron isn't really playing pf cause you'd have aldridge guarding my sf all game. just way too confusing to even get a grasp of what your up to.

i know you got away with making the inexcusable error of playing bynum at pf and diaw at center last round, but reign it in man.

My fault on using Aldridge in my bench arguement, honest mistake. It should read Diaw there.
Yes Lebron is guarding Dirk, with Aldridge guarding whoever is at SF for you. I will leave Battier alone all day in the corner if need be. Aldridge is in there to clog passing lanes, and double Shaq or the ball. I will make Battier hit that shot. He isn't going to do it, plain and simple. It was a joke, trying to have fun with the Kidd "showing" to be in the starting lineup. I thought I made it clear that he will be backing up Mo. C'mon its a freaking game!.... As far as Shaq goes, I forgot to mention I have an extra 6 fouls in Noah waiting on the bench. C'mon Shaq hit them free throws!

after re-reading my comment from last night, apologies to shaqsux for coming off like an ass.

Bynum/Dampier are two of the centers in this league that can hold their own 1v1 against Shaq. I hate both Redd/AI at SG. Don't like Kidd paired with LBJ since they both need the roc a lot.

In the end I will have to go with ShaqSux in 6 as I am not all that impressed with the opposing squad.

Will this FINAL round last long enough to get a proper amount of votes in?

Thanks for taking over dcash but this game still felt like a serious build up to a big letdown since peeps just vanished.

Still love Dcash's balance on offense and defense. While Lebron is Lebron, the better team will be dcash in 7

This is really tough, but I think LeBron is too dominant. Shaqsux in 7.

Tough decision, I'm going Shaqsux in 7, I don't think that Battier will be able to stop LeBron when push comes to shove. I guess I'll further show my view point here.

LeBron head to head vs. Battier (12 games):

26.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.3 steals, 2.1 3PM, 47%/44%/71%

Although Battier and the Rox did win 7 of 12, that can be based just as much on the team around him, and the original lack of quality surrounding LeBron in previous years.

This is such a tough matchup to call. I love the duo of Shaq-Dirk! Possibly one of the better inside outside matchups in the game. The bench is crazy good with Iverson, Nocioni and AK-47..

But the idea of Kidd-Lebron-Aldridge-Bynum is just too good.

Shaqsux in 7

Let's keep it interesting, dcash in 7. I'd like it for all the participants to take part in this vote.