BaNT semifinals - voting over.

[dockingsched]

Voting begins friday night at 8pm eastern. All 16 participants are encouraged to vote by posting or via email at RGMTrade@gmail.com


8. SnakeBites vs. 12. Miller4ever

---------------------------------------

2. dcash4 vs. 11. vincecarter4pres

[Miller4ever]

Rotation

Sessions(28)/Westbrook(20)
Westbrook(16)/Ariza(32)
Granger(36)/Harrington(12)
Millsap(32)/Harrington(16)/Landry
Lopez(32)/Gortat(16)/Landry

Offense

Key Points:
-Granger actually plays well against Prince
-Westbrook will go to town on Martin
-Team distribution is better
-Pick-and-Rumble offense

Ramon Sessions starts alongside Westbrook in a move that gives us great passing out of the backcourt without sacrificing defense. Sessions is always a threat to torch an opposing point guard, but he also has the ability to find open teammates. His penetration and consistent midrange J opens things up. Westbrook is a similar player, so together they can slash apart a defense, forcing Kevin Martin to guard Sessions, Westbrook, or Granger. Granger plays well against Tayshaun Prince. He shot 46% against him last season, but the worst game of the 4, he was limping through an ankle injury that eventually kept him out of 14 games. Take that game away and he's 50+% against Tayshaun Prince. Up top, Millsap and Lopez are against two good post defenders in Gasol and Chandler, but out pick-and-rumble offense reduces the efficacy of their defense. In this offense, Millsap sets picks for the ball handlers with Hinrich, Terry, Dahntay Jones, or Prince on them, and rumbles like a freight train into the post. The Utah pick-and-roll training will have Gasol on a guard, and Millsap rolling or popping for easy baskets. Lopez and Chandler have faced each other only once ever, but Lopez was 4-7, and his game was able to stymie Chandler's energy-fed defense. Harrington off the bench will give Ronny Turiaf issues with his range. Ariza will do what he does, and Gortat will be able to hang with Varejao and Chandler in the energy department.

Defense

Key Points:
-Capitalize on strength advantages
-Focus on the point of attack

My opponent has a very interesting offense that is deceptively good. Obviously, Pau Gasol and Kevin Martin are the primary concerns. Prince, Hinrich, Beasley, and Terry can also score well. They obviously want to stretch the floor, but we have speed. Sessions and Westbrook can pester with their speed and deny with their strength. They have the speed to close out on shooters and every outside shot will be challenged. Granger plays good defense against Prince, but more importantly helps with weakside blocks. Millsap has the strength to shut down Gasol's post game, and Lopez doesn't have to defend Chandler one-on-one. Because the PG's are matched up in my favor defensively, it'll be difficult to get things going, and with Ariza on Martin, and Millsap and Lopez and Gortat taking away the post, the team will have to rely on Pau's midrange game, which, as good as it is, isn't quite automatic. My opponent seems to have the skinniest starting 5 in this competition. It does not bode well for their interior game.

Overall

I think that this matchup favors my defense. My defense makes plays with lots of steals and blocks, and then we destroy in transition because of our speed. We have size advantages, and several high-scoring threats. We outgun them and have players who can step up. Landry can come in and fill in defensive responsibilities in case our bigs get into foul trouble. I think that we win this matchup even though my opponent has a strong bench. I believe my bench edges his out and my post rotation trumps his, and I will beat a dead horse and say that that is what wins championships.

[Snakebites]

Reggie Miller is afraid of snakes.

Forever, apparently.

Hinrich (36)/Terry (12)
Martin (36)/ Terry (12)
Prince (36)/ Beasley (12)
Gasol (27)/ Varejao (11)/ Beasley (10)
Chanderl (28)/ Gasol (10)/ Varejao (10)

Offense: As ever, we will look to our versatile complementary duo of Kevin Martin and Pau Gasol to generate offense. Milsap may have the strength, but lets be clear here: Gasol more than enough mobility, range, and height to present huge issues there. Gasol is difficult enough to block with his jumpshooting ability and height in the best of times, but with a 4 inch height advantage over the undersized Milsap the task will become evermore daunting to anyone playing power forward on Miller's team. He doesn't have the front court tools to guard a versatile seven footer of Gasol's caliber. Martin will be against Westbrook. Wesbrook is a nice defender, but Martin will give him all he can handle with his range and height. Our supporting pieces will look to get in on the action as well. Terry is an ever present threat on the perimeter, so we will always have at least one player with that threat on the floor. Hinrich and Tayshaun aren't being relied on to be high volume offensive players, but they certainly have enough skill to keep their respective defenders honest, whoever they may be. The spacing my team has will make things hard on his defense even with their speed, and I can run lineups out on the court with plenty of mobility as well.

Defense: It kills me to do this, as I'm a UCLA guy and I therefore personally like Westbrook, but he's a liability here. He's too inconsistent to be relied on in too heavy a capacity, both in terms of shooting and in terms of protecting the ball (which he has yet to demonstrate he can do at this level). Sessions has a nice all round game, decent at a number of things but frankly not a deadly threat in any regard (the Bucks loved him so much they used a lottery pick on a point guard, so I'm not sure he's starter caliber in this league), particularly not with the stellar defensive presence of Kirk Hinrich and the fact that he isn't a threat to hit shots from beyond the arch. Overall, Hinrich will do an effective job guarding whichever of the two is playing better at the time, and both are young guards and I'd be very surprised to see both together posing enough threat to tear up my defensive plan. Make no mistake, Granger will get his fair share of points, but the numbers against Tay in a head to head matchup are deceptive because Tay was surrounded by a team defense that was frankly a mess. Rewind things back a year, when Tay was still surrounded by a rock solid team defense (as he is here), and Granger's effectiveness did see a dropoff (12 ppg and 43% fg). I will conceded that Granger was less mature then, and am thus not asserting that Prince and my defense will lock down Granger. I am merely asserting that I do have the capacity to make things difficult for him. The same height and mobility that gives Gasol the advantage on the other end of the court makes him well suited to guard Milsap (and Harrington, for that matter) on the other end of the court. Lopez is developing his offensive game, but with solid defensive options at center he isn't going to break me up too badly either.

Overall: My team features a well balanced attack on both ends of the floor and avoids being overly reliant on any one player on either end of the court. Gasol has the tools to be a difficult matchup for his opponent on both ends of the floor, and the balanced supporting cast around him should be able to keep up. Defensively, no matchup stands out as being particularly daunting (with reasonable defensive matchups up front and the issues apparent in his backcourt) and his team will look to Granger more and more as the series progresses. Advantage: Snakebites

[dockingsched]

voting postponed to our usual friday start / monday finish.

[SamBone]

voting postponed to our usual friday start / monday finish.

guess just like the NBA we schedule things around TV!

[dockingsched]

in the absence of any write ups, here are the rosters that people can use to vote:

Snakebites

PG: Kirk Hinrich / Jason Terry
SG: Kevin Martin / Dahntay Jones
SF: Tayshaun Prince / Michael Beasley
PF: Pau Gasol / Ronnie Turiaf
C: Tyson Chandler / Anderson Varejao

Miller4ever

pg: Russell Westbrook / Ramon Sessions
pg: Trevor Ariza / Rudy Fernandez
sf: Danny Granger / Al Harrington
pf: Paul Millsap / Carl Landry
c: Brook Lopez / Marcin Gortat


-------------------------------------------------



dcash4

pg: Devin Harris / Monta Ellis
sg: John Salmons / Anthony Parker
sf: Rashard Lewis / James Posey
pf: Al Jefferson / Brandon Bass
c: Joel Przybilla / Andris Biedrins

vincecarter4pres

PG: Gilbert Arenas / Rodney Stuckey
SG: Mike Miller / Eric Gordon
SF: Richard Jefferson / Marvin Williams
PF: Kevin Garnett / Rasheed Wallace
C: Nene Hilario / Javale McGee

[Snakebites]

Nonsense.

I'll get a writeup up sometime tonight.

I'm not letting this fizzle out.

Come on, guys!

[Miller4ever]

I will give rebuttals when you give a writeup.

I'm not going to vote on the other matchup for what I feel are obvious reasons.

[Snakebites]

I'll get to work on my thingy soon.

I will also be abstaining from voting unless needed.

[CellarDoor]

I will absolutely vote when there are write-ups, and don't think I wasn't eying the rematch Snake!

[Miller4ever]

^^So far I'm 0-4 in votes from people who I've beaten in these things, but I know you'll be fair.

[BlackIce]

I'll vote as well when the time comes.

[vincecarter4pres]

vincecarter4pres

PG: Gilbert Arenas / Rodney Stuckey
SG: Mike Miller / Eric Gordon
SF: Richard Jefferson / Marvin Williams
PF: Kevin Garnett / Rasheed Wallace
C: Nene Hilario / Javale McGee[/quote]

VS.

dcash4

pg: Devin Harris / Monta Ellis
sg: John Salmons / Anthony Parker
sf: Rashard Lewis / James Posey
pf: Al Jefferson / Brandon Bass
c: Joel Przybilla / Andris Biedrins

Offensive:
Basically we are gonna keep on doing what we are doing.
Garnett is going to draw Al Jeff out top, out of his comfort zone. Jefferson is already a slow footed, bad defender. Pulling him out top will really disrupt things. This will force Joel to become almost strictly a help defender, leaving Nene to operate down low like he likes.
Harris is way overrated as a defender now-a-days, he gives little effort and focuses mainly on his offense. He'll still keep up with Arenas somewhat, but he sure isn't stopping him, or even truthfully containing him, he will simply keep him at an Allstar level, instead of MVP.
Lewis is not going to be able to keep up with Jefferson running all over the court, backdoor cuts and screens, pick and rolls, etc.
Salmons and miller is a pretty even matchup, but he's the literal 5th option on offense and will be used more to spot up for 3's and ease some of the playmaking responsibility for Gil anyway.
His bench is solid, but no one is keeping up with Eric Gordon and neither of his bigs will be comfortable guarding the versatile Sheed Wallace.
Marvin Williams will also give them fits running the floor and spotting up for threes.
We will get out and run as usual.
Stuckey will be used a little more this game as well, he can get by and post up on Monta, although Rodney is still a lower minute player.

Defensive:
Business as usual. Force turnovers, get out and run. Man to man we should excel in every matchup except for Devin Harris and with three of the best helpside shot blockers in the game, we aren't that worried even if he repeatedly beats Gilbert.
Jefferson is nice, but we will keep Nene on him, who is an outstanding post defender as well.
The real beauty of it is, whether he has Pryzbilla or Beans in there, they aer both borderline offensive liabilites, meaning Garnett can cheat all day long without much worry, same for Sheed when he is in the game, basically negating the value Devin would have trying to collapse the defense and also allowing us to double Jefferson if he is beating Nene or Sheed straight up and also allowing us to double in order to force more turnovers.
Miller can easily keep up with Salmons and Jefferson with Shard, although Shard can shoot over Jefferson, face it, he can shoot over anyone in the league and even though he is good at it and efficient, he is still only about a 17ppg scorer on a team where he is the 2nd option, so we are not that worried.
Monta Ellis could pose somewhat of a problem, but Eric Gordon will be in the game most of the time he is and Gordon is a highly underrated defender at the guard position and because Moped is also short it negates the disadvantage that may have been causing me in prior matchups.
Stuckey has the height and legnth to guard him, although we realise this isn't his forte, therefore the reason he won't be steadily relied on for anything of this nature.
Posey is simple a spot up shooter and defensive guy, who quite frankly has lost a leap, let alone a step, so we won't worry about him much, for the same reason he wasn't even mentioned in the offensive writeup.
Same goes for Parker.
Bass is a fine midrange guy, but Sheed and if needed McGee will handle him, maybe even Marvin Williams, who has the height, length and athleticism to cover shorter PF's.

Overall:
We are quite confident as usual. I think pretty much every matchup has a slight advantage towards my team. Overall my strategies will get it done, along with my extremely strong bench that has continued to provide punch and allow the team to not skip a beat for the entire 48 minutes of play.
It's going to be Eddy Curry's Breakfast Blend in 5 or 6 this time.

[Miller4ever]

Reggie Miller is afraid of snakes.

Forever, apparently.

Fine

Wesbrook is a nice defender, but Martin will give him all he can handle with his range and height.

That's why Ariza is playing most of the SG minutes against Martin.

Snakebites has addressed the one-on-one matchups, but my gameplan focuses on teamwork between hard-nosed players all up and down, and we are focusing on my opponent's weaknesses. On offense we're attacking Martin and keeping Gasol out of the paint with screens, forcing mismatches or penetration opportunities for our fast guards.

[CellarDoor]

Getting ready to head out the door. I will get my vote in later tonight or tomorrow.

[dockingsched]

dcash4

pg: Devin Harris / Monta Ellis
sg: John Salmons / Anthony Parker
sf: Rashard Lewis / James Posey
pf: Al Jefferson / Brandon Bass
c: Joel Przybilla / Andris Biedrins

vincecarter4pres

PG: Gilbert Arenas / Rodney Stuckey
SG: Mike Miller / Eric Gordon
SF: Richard Jefferson / Marvin Williams
PF: Kevin Garnett / Rasheed Wallace
C: Nene Hilario / Javale McGee


defensive strategy: on the perimeter i will put harris (whose defense without such a huge offensive load should be back to elite) on a not fully back arenas. arenas is down/worse in the following stats compared to his all-star yrs: PER, ts%, eg%, ORB%, DRB%, stl%, blk%, tov%, usage %, offensive rating, defensive rating. he simply hasn't proven he's back yet. on the backup matchup stuckey simply doesn't have offensive skills to do anything to ellis. ellis is big enough, and certainly quick enough, to keep stuckey infront of him.

lewis and salmons will take turns on jefferson and miller with salmons guarding whoever has the ball in his hands more often. if gordon comes in, ellis will be able to play the offguard ahead of parker. lewis played sf for most of his career, so the idea that he can't keep up with jefferson or someone like miller won't be an issue. posey will also be available to lock up williams, jefferson, or miller.

up front i have the size to single cover a mild offensive threat in nene with przy. i also have the athleticism to matchup with kg in jefferson and beans. jefferson struggles with big centers, not with power forwards, so he'll be much better suited in this matchup against a pf.

offensive strategy:

first will be a healthy dose of my pg play against his speed challenged arenas/stuckey combo. ellis and harris will run right by either. salmons will also be able to use his offensive talents against a subpar defender in miller and a small eric gordon. lewis will be able to see over jefferson for the uncontested jumpers and occasional post up. parker and posey will be very reliable 3 pt shooters.

up front al jefferson will have too many post moves for nene, who is too bulky to guard a smooth operating jefferson. garnett will be forced to help and my opponent will pay the price with two players who specialize in cutting to the board and getting easy buckets and/or getting in incredible rebounding position.

[Snakebites]

Reggie Miller is afraid of snakes.

Forever, apparently.

Fine

Wesbrook is a nice defender, but Martin will give him all he can handle with his range and height.

That's why Ariza is playing most of the SG minutes against Martin.

Snakebites has addressed the one-on-one matchups, but my gameplan focuses on teamwork between hard-nosed players all up and down, and we are focusing on my opponent's weaknesses. On offense we're attacking Martin and keeping Gasol out of the paint with screens, forcing mismatches or penetration opportunities for our fast guards.

Yeah, guess I wasn't clear on the "attacking Martin thing".

I'm frankly not convinced your guards have the firepower or the consistency (Sessions in the former case, Westbrook in both but especially the latter) to base that level of offensive strategy on them regardless of who you're attacking. Hirich will guard whoever is "on" and I'm not convinced you can get both of those two to click enough for that attack plan to work.

Additionally, as you say yourself, even if that guard combo had what it took to be a deadly force, its only out there for 16 minutes together. And during that time any issues had will be negated on the other end of the court. That was all I was saying.

And we'll let the voters decide whether Paul Milsap's screens are enough to keep Gasol out of the paint.

[Miller4ever]

I'm adding another Gasol deterrent...Carl Landry will be subbed in for the sole purpose of punching Gasol in the face and taking him out of the series.

[CellarDoor]

I would have like to see Snakebites throw out a zone on Miller's team. In fact, it probably would've swayed my opinion. The only true 3pt threat in his line-up is the guy who's likely going to have the ball in his hands the most.

Not that i'm bitter or anything, but I've been watching Milsap this year, and I'd still love for someone to explain to me how he's going to exploit Smoove in any meaningful way and give Miller the win

On the other end, I'm a little more convinced that Arenas is "back" than DCash despite some lower percentages. Alternatively, i'm not overly convinced Garnett's going to use his speed to bother Jefferson much more than your average PF. Back when Jeff was playing PF, guys like Jamison and Co. didn't do more damage to him than anyone else.

Going Miller and DCash

[Miller4ever]

If a zone gets tossed out there we can definitely get Fernandez and Harrington out there next to Granger and Ariza.