RealGM

As noted earlier, teams would be divided into four groups of three. You'd play everyone in your bracket, and one will come out victorious. At that point, it would be a regular conference finals sort of setting. The brackets were decided through a randomizer, in which the first 1-3 was a bracket, 4-6 the next bracket, and so on. Without further a due, here are the matchups:

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Snakebites
jcldallas24
SamBone

Baller 24
Teddy KGB
bryant08

EASTERN CONFERENCE

TMACFORMVP
BlackIce
Miller4ever

All In the Name
bness888
CellarDoor

For full player stats, please view the following link:

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=340&t=970536

First off, props to CellarDoor and bness888 on very well-built teams.

Still, I believe my team will win both matchups.

All In The Name vs. CellarDoor

Terry Porter (31) / Jason Terry (12) / Michael Cooper (5)
Michael Cooper (18) / Manu Ginobili (30)
Grant Hill (34) / Bruce Bowen (14)
Kevin Garnett (41) / Clifford Robinson (7)
Shaquille O'Neal (41) / Arvydas Sabonis (7)

Brent Barry and Rick Mahorn fill out the bench and could see spot minutes if needed (Barry in last-second shooting situations; Mahorn if a big is in foul trouble or things aren't quite “physical” enough).

vs.

Billups (32)/KJ (16)
Drexler (35)/Gervin (13)
Jones (26)/Gervin (22)
Dirk (35)/Jones (5)/Coleman (8)
Ewing (35)/Walton (13)

Rebounding

Coach John Wooden wrote:It has been said that the team that controls the boards will probably control the game and this statement will usually hold true.

Here are each starter's rebounds per game, rebounds per 36 minutes, and TRB%, respectively, in the years selected:

Porter: 3.5, 3.7, 5.6
Cooper: 3.2, 4.1, 6.5
Hill: 8.8, 7.9, 13.3
Garnett: 13.6, 12.5, 19.7
O'Neal: 12.4, 11.6, 17.6

Billups: 3.3, 3.3, 5.4
Drexler: 7.1, 6.8, 10.2
Jones: 5.4, 7.2, 11.0
Nowitzki: 9.2, 8.8, 14.3
Ewing: 10.9, 10.6, 17.1

I have an advantage at 4 of the 5 positions. Also, keep in mind that Manu will be playing more SG minutes than Cooper. Manu's rebounding stats (4.3, 5.3, 8.7) are all higher than Cooper's, thus narrowing the margin at the one position at which CellarDoor has superior rebounding.

Furthermore, a lot of data is already available in regards to the KG/Dirk and Shaq/Ewing matchups. I'll elaborate on this later on, but, for now, let's just focus on the rebounding.

From 2002-03 to 2006-07 (spanning the selected years of both KG and Dirk), Garnett and Dirk faced each other 16 times. Garnett averaged 13.8 RPG; Dirk averaged 8.3.

CellarDoor chose the 1993-94 to 1995-96 seasons for Ewing. Shaq and Ewing played each other 12 times during this time. Shaq averaged 12.1 RPG; Ewing averaged 11.3.

So while CellarDoor enjoys a rebounding advantage at SG, I hold the advantage at every other position, including a significant edge at PF.

Offense

Unsurprisingly, Shaq is the main focus of our offense. At his peak, he was arguably the most unstoppable offensive force in this competition. With his incredible strength and effective post moves, he could score from the low post with both high efficiency and volume against any defender(s). As a result, most teams were forced to frequently help off other players or even consistently double-team Shaq. Unfortunately for his opponents, Shaq was also an outstanding passer, leading all centers in assists per game in 1999-00 and 2000-01 and finishing second in 2001-02.

Although Patrick Ewing was an excellent defender, he could hardly hope to stop Shaq, or even slow him down, for that matter. In fact, going back to the 12 head-to-head games I referred to earlier, Shaq averaged 31.4 PPG, 12.1 RPG, and 2.7 APG with a 58.8 FG% and a 58.8 TS% against Ewing during the '94 to '96 seasons. These numbers are all upgrades from Shaq's regular season averages, with the exception of TS% (which was 59.0, so it's basically a wash). Furthermore, despite Shaq's troubles at the charity stripe, merely drawing fouls is a positive in and of itself. It gets us into the bonus earlier and puts the opposing bigs in foul trouble. And Shaq averaged double digit free throw attempts per game both during his three selected seasons and during the 12 games I have often brought up (11.4 and 11.5, respectively).

Shaq was also a legendary postseason performer. In addition to capturing three straight Finals MVPs, Shaq averaged 29.9 PPG, 14.5 RPG, and 3.0 APG on 55.2% shooting. This included games of 46/17, 43/19, 41/11, 38/20, 40/24, 41/12, 37/17, 37/14, 44/21, 43/20, 44/20, 28/20, 40/12, and 35/11. The man put up 30/15 or better in over 24% of his playoff games in these seasons, for crying out loud. He also averaged well over 40 minutes per game in each postseason, so he had great stamina for a big man to boot.

Shaq leaves the opposing defense in a Catch-22 situation: You can allow him to score tons of points on amazing efficiency (he scored 40+ points on 70+% shooting a whopping 10 times in the selected seasons; the rest of the league did it 13 times combined) or you can let him pick you apart by finding open shooters (of the 90 games from 1999-00 to 2001-02 in which a center had 6+ assists, Shaq had 39 of them). Either way, he will see plenty of touches in the low post and dominate the game offensively.

Adding to the opponent's misery is Kevin Garnett. He is the perfect fit at power forward next to Shaq. In his prime, KG was one of the most devastating offensive weapons in the league, and he never played next to a center anywhere near Shaq's level. With Rasho Nesterovic, Michael Olowokandi, and Ervin Johnson (no, not the Hall-of-Famer) manning the five spot for the majority of Minnesota's games from 2002-03 to 2004-05, KG managed to carry his team to the playoffs in two of the three seasons and 44 wins in the other season.

Despite being the main focus of the opposing defense night in and night out, KG put up a ridiculous statline of 23.1 PPG, 13.6 RPG, 5.6 APG, 50.1 FG%, 78.5 FT% during the three seasons. Now, imagine him in the high post next to Shaq. His automatic mid-range jump shot and elite passing will work very well next to a dominant low post center. In addition, KG will have no problem deferring to The Diesel. He led all forwards in assists per game in 2002-03 and led all power forwards in 2003-04 and 2004-05. We will often utilize a hi-lo offense with Garnett and Shaq. With KG's phenomenal post-entry passing and Shaq's low-post dominance, this will work to perfection.

Additionally, KG will be able to exploit his matchup with Dirk. In the 16 aforementioned games, Garnett averaged 25.7 PPG, 13.8 RPG, and 5.2 APG on 52.0% shooting with a 57.8 TS%. Other than APG, those are all upgrades over his regular averages. While Dirk is no longer the defensive liability he used to be, he is still far from elite, and it takes an elite defender to stop KG, particularly when Shaq is drawing so much attention.

Garnett also averaged 6.2 free throw attempts per game in his selected seasons. Coupled with Shaq's regular trips to the line, that makes for almost 20 FTA per game from my starting power forward and center. Not a good sign for the other team.

As if those two guys weren't enough, Grant Hill rounds out my starting frontcourt. Sadly, injuries have hampered him throughout his career, but his three-year peak was simply filthy. Offensively, Hill was the complete package, posting 27 triple doubles in three seasons. He will often handle the ball in the half-court, either creating for himself or others. He was a very smart and unselfish player who will have no problem feeding it to the big men early and often. And while Hill was not a good three-point shooter, he was a terrific mid-range shooter, which will work well next to Shaq. Hill's driving ability and very good mid-range jumper are somewhat similar to Dwyane Wade's (and, as we know, the Wade/Shaq duo was an extremely effective one).

In addition, Hill also drew a lot of contact, averaging at least 7.9 free throw attempts per game in each of the three seasons.

Now, Hill will be defended by Bobby Jones, one of the best defenders ever. But while we don't know exactly how this matchup would go, we do know how Hill fared against another elite defender: Scottie Pippen.

In his selected seasons, Hill faced off against Pippen's Bulls 11 times. Hill's stats during those contests:

21.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 6.7 APG, 46.8 FG%

As great of a defender as Jones was, no one could stop a peak Grant Hill. And as a second/third option in this offense, Hill will no doubt be even more efficient.

With a frontcourt of Hill / Garnett / Shaq, there will be plenty of open looks from beyond the arc. That's where my final two starters, Michael Cooper and Terry Porter, come in.

Cooper will primarily function as a spot-up shooter in this offense. He will be seeing plenty of open looks when his defender looks to help elsewhere. Well, Cooper will have no problem knocking them down. In his seasons, Cooper averaged 0.9 made 3-pointers per game (1.2 per 36 minutes) on 36.5% shooting from downtown. In his time, those were great numbers. In fact, only four players in the entire league made more 3-pointers over those three seasons than Cooper. Cooper was also an excellent passer, averaging 6.4 assists per 36 minutes.

My starting point guard, Porter, will flourish in his role. He is actually quite similar to his counterpart, Billups, and will greatly help stretch the floor and set up the offense. Porter made 1.6 3-pointers per game at a 40.8% clip. He also was a very good distributor, even averaging over 10 APG one season (albeit not one of his selected seasons). Porter will run several pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops each game with Shaq and KG.

My offense features great ball movement and very efficient scoring. Of the starters, only Shaq averaged less than 5 APG (and he too was a great passer) and only Cooper shot under 47.0% from the field. Still, much of my offensive firepower comes from the bench.

My bench power forwards and centers (Clifford Robinson, Arvydas Sabonis, Rick Mahorn) won't play much, but they still have a lot to add offensively. All three averaged double digit PPG, with Sabonis putting up per 36 stats of 19.5 points / 11.5 rebounds / 3.1 assists / 0.7 three-pointers made with a 51.2 FG% and a 77.9 FT%. Robinson also helps stretch the floor, making 1.6 three-pointers per game.

With Shaq in the middle, it's good to have plenty of shooters, and all four of my bench guards and small forward are excellent shooters from downtown.

Brent Barry had one of the best three-year shooting stretches in the history of the NBA, averaging 1.9 made three-pointers per game while shooting 43.1% from beyond the arc. Not including the three years when the line was moved in, only one player in NBA history has had a three-year stretch with more made threes a higher clip than Barry (Steve Nash).

Bowen's offensive role will be virtually identical to what he did for the Spurs. He will be a spot-up shooter, particularly the corner 3. His 1.1 made threes per game with a 40.3 3P% make him one of six players in our lineup to make over a three per game.

In leagues with so many talented players, finding enough minutes to keep everyone happy can be a serious problem. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about that with our final two players. Both Jason Terry and Manu Ginobili are accustomed to coming off of the bench.

Terry provides us with another shooter (1.8 threes, 42.3%) who also can play point guard very effectively when needed (has averaged over 7.4 APG).

Finally, Manu Ginobili will be the same supersub for us that he was for San Antonio. He is an all-around stud who goes through stretches where he is virtually unguardable (such as his 46 point, 8 assist outburst against Cleveland where he went 15-20 from the field and 8-11 from downtown). It sometimes seems cliché to label a player a “winner”, but, in the case of Manu, there is no doubt he epitomizes this word. He has consistently won at every level and always finds a way to make plays in the clutch. In 2007-08, Manu was fourth in the league in clutch time points per 48 minutes and the only non-PG in the top 10 in clutch time assists per 48 minutes:

http://www.82games.com/CSORT11.HTM

Manu is another player who will spread the floor (1.7 threes, 39.5%) and also function as a playmaker off the bench. He will be in the game in crunch-time situations.

By surrounding Shaq with great talent that fits very well, we believe we will be able to put games away early on. Still, if the game is close near the end and we need to hit some free throws, we've got an assortment of players that can get the job done. Porter, Cooper, Terry, Ginobili, and Barry all shoot over 80%, and, per the above link, Manu shoots 93% on free throws in the clutch.

Defense

Defensively, my team will primarily play man-to-man. While Shaq has not always been great overall defensively, he has always been a great post defender, and, in his prime, he was a great defender overall. Obviously, no one will be able to bully Shaq in the post, but he also was very motivated and agile during these seasons, being named to two All-Defensive teams and averaging 2.6 blocks per game. At his absolute peak (1999-00), Shaq anchored the top-rated defense in the league. Shaq also did a good job head-to-head against Ewing. In those 12 games, Ewing averaged 26.8 PPG but only shot 46.5% and took 23.8 field goals per game. In fact, Ewing took more than 2 shots per game more than Shaq head-to-head while scoring 4.6 less PPG.

Of course, it also helps to have the perfect power forward next to Shaq defensively. KG is one of the best all-around defenders of all time and averaged 1.7 blocks per game and 1.4 steals per game in his three season stretch. He is extremely versatile and can guard multiple positions, and his effort is contagious. He also has a good track record against Dirk, holding him to 45.7% shooting in the oft-mentioned 16 games.

While Bobby Jones scored very efficiently, he is not an outside threat, and, thus, Hill will help off of him if needed. We are not too worried about Jones, because he scores most of his points inside on setup passes from others. With Shaq protecting the paint, though, Jones will have a hard time getting too many shots off. Besides, Hill was a solid defender who would surely improve when not asked to carry as much of the offensive load.

Clyde Drexler was a fantastic offensive player. Fortunately, we have one of the best guard defenders in history in Michael Cooper to make sure Drexler is held in check. It's a well-known fact that Larry Bird viewed Cooper as the best defender he'd ever played against. Cooper won Defensive Player of the Year in 1986-87 and will be up to the task of shutting down Drexler.

Terry Porter was a fine defender for a PG, and he should certainly be able to limit Billups' production. Porter also has very good size for a PG (6'3” and 195 pounds), so Billups won't be able to back him down.

Off the bench, Sabonis was in the top 7 in defensive rating in each of the 3 seasons, Mahorn was obviously an enforcer (and led the league in defensive win shares in 1982-83), and Robinson was a very good post defender who was named to two all-defensive teams.

Jason Terry and Manu Ginobili are also very underrated defenders.

Terry:

A very talented defensive guard. Has the size, length, and lateral quickness combination necessary to guard both point guards and shooting guards effectively. This allows him to stay on the floor with most anyone next to him. Very good at moving his feet to deny penetration. Will jump into passing lanes and take bad passes the other way for easy transition baskets. Sneaks down into the paint to grab rebounds so he can push the break from time to time...Gives a good effort for a player that is so offensive minded.

Ginobili:

An extremely intelligent defender who reads the game and makes plays because of it. Plays aggressive on ball defensive. Gets in a low stance and slides his feet. Will get called for some blocking fouls, but will also draw a ton of charges. Largely considered a flopper, but he certainly knows how to make an impact with that skill. Reads passing lanes extremely well. Gets a lot of strips and deflections. Will block shots in transition too. Surprisingly explosive when he comes over from the weak side. Very good rebounder for his position. Not afraid to get physical.

Still, our best bench defender is Bruce Bowen:

One of the grittiest perimeter defenders in the NBA. Always assigned to guard the opposing team’s best perimeter player. Has excellent size and length for the wing positions, but is effective primarily because of how hard he works to stick with his man. Does a fantastic job following his matchup without the ball. Fights through screens like his life depends on it, and doesn’t give his man an inch to breathe. Has outstanding footwork and anticipation skills. Even when he gets beat, has a unique gift of understanding angles and being able to recover to the spot his matchup will get to, before he gets there. Reads the scouting report and does a fantastic job executing it. Bumps his man viciously out of his comfort zone and does a great job denying space. Does not bite on jabs or fakes. Pesky defender who understands the nuances of effectively contesting shots. Has been accused of being dirty at times for his part in other players’ injuries. Certainly knows how to bend the rules, and has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get the job done. Does not gamble in the passing lanes at all, and doesn’t come up with many steals at all. Knows what he wants to give up and will bait his man intelligently into shooting what he wants him to.

Bowen is a very versatile defender who can and will guard anyone on the opposing team except for Ewing and Walton. Bowen's ability to fluster Dirk allows KG to guard someone other than Dirk and, thus, play more help defense (which he is legendary at).

Bruce Bowen didn't merely drape himself all over Dirk Nowitzki's body. He also crawled into his head.

Take a look at a sampling of Nowitzki's postgame comments Sunday after he made just one basket in the fourth quarter and nearly threw the ball away on Dallas' final possession in an 87-85 loss to San Antonio in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series:
"I'm not going to get any open looks in this series. I already know that."
Or this one:
"I know I'm not going to score 35 a game in this series."
Despite standing nearly a half-foot taller than the defensive specialist assigned to guard him, Nowitzki grew increasingly flummoxed as the afternoon wore on Sunday to the point where the look on his face went from normal to quizzical to queasy.”

In short, I believe my team holds offensive, defensive, and rebounding advantages. As good as CellarDoor's team is, it simply cannot overcome that.

Matchup the first:

Snakebites vs. Jcdallas:

Payton (36)/Lever (12)
Allen (33)/Majerle (10)/Dantley(5)
Bird (26)/Dantley (12)/ Majerle (10)
Williams (36)/Bird (12)
Mourning (35)/Laimbeer (13)

Offensively: Our team rests on its versatility and efficiency, both of which will be on full display against jcdallas's lineup. Lebron James is a very strong defensive player, but I have perhaps the one small forward in this entire game who will be able to get the better of him. Larry Bird is the total package offensively, and has the size, athletic ability, and skill to still be the focal point of the offense even with Lebron guarding him. At the other positions, we have some effective matchups. Moncrief will be effective at guarding Ray Allen, but he will also be very occupied on the perimeter while he does so, making him largely unavailable to help other position players. This fact becomes particularly harmful when looking at the other positions, notably the afore mentioned small forward and especially point guard spots. Neither Price nor Deron can hope to contain the larger, stronger, and more able Gary Payton, who can post up almost any point guard in this entire league, let alone the small and narrowly built Mark Price, who should have particular trouble against him. Deron is larger and a decent defender, but Payton shouldn't have much backing him down either. This gives use the ability to run things through either Bird or Payton to use a variety of different attacks on offense. Inside, while Buck Williams doesn't present a considerable offensive threat, this team is weak enough defensively that Alonzo Mourning should be able to power in and score considerably in the post. Neither Yao nor Sampson can hope to stand up to him down low, and they have the majority of the minutes at the center spot. Off the bench, there is little drop off, as Dantley, Marjerle, Lever, and Laimbeer provide an excellent combination of shooting, post play, and passing to contend admirably with jc's bench. Overall, we feel that our offense can run effectively through Larry Bird and we have enough weapons and matchups to exploit to be able to sustain offense throughout the game, particularly with such effective spacing.

Defense: No sense beating around the bush here. Our defense is among the best in the entire league. Bird will be matching Lebron minute for minute. There isn't an individual defender who can lock down Lebron, but Lebron doesn't have the range that Bird does, meaning many more of his points will have to come closer to the basket, and we have a monstrous interior defense that includes one of the best help-defending centers in the league. In a matchup in part defined by its small forward matchup, Lebron doesn't seem as equipped to take games over as his counterpart. Moncreif, though guarded by the weakest defender in my starting lineup, will find himself in a similar position. Throw Kemp into that same scenario as well, along with Deron Williams and Yao Ming. Without range, our interior defense will dictate the outcome of this game more than my opponent would want. Mark Price has range, but he will be guarded by the best man defending point guard in the game. When he and Rice are out, we may even throw a few zones their way to increase our stranglehold on the interior.

Overview: Jcdallas has a very talented team, but it really can't attain the range needed to win these types of competitions (particularly against a defense like mine) without sacrificing too much on defense. We are strong enough defensively and match up well enough offensively that we should be able to carry this matchup.

Sambone, I'll get to you soon.

Writeups

*subject to change I may start Finley for both series


Vs. Miller

Lineup (Minutes Distribution)
Hakeem (26)/Parish (22)
Brand (24)/ Hakeem (14)/Kirilenko (10)
Pippen (38)/ Finley (10)
Battier (24)/ Bell (10)/ Finley (14)
Thomas (38)/ Arenas (10)

Defense
+ Perimeter defense
+ Shot Blocking
+ Steals
+ Rebounding
+ Last line of defense


We will play straight man to man most of the time. Their two best players are being guarded by my two best defenders. Choose any player in the history of the game that you would want to be guarding Dr.J. Ya, I’d choose Pippen as well and he will be the one checking Dr.J during this series. Remember this isn’t DR.J at his ridicules peak during his ABA days, this is him during the 80’s in the NBA. Not quite the same monster. Robinson will be guarded by a combination of Hakeem and Parish. Brand (and sometimes Hakeem) will guard Mcdyess, and Battier will lockdown Roy. Isiah will take Stockton, which should be a fun matchup.

We will pack the lane more than usual in this series; their best 3 point shooter in their starting line-up is probably Roy who isn’t that good from 3 to begin with. We will concentrate on stopping penetration from there perimeter players and with a Battier/Pippen tandem we should be able to greatly limit them. Isiah is a pesky defender who doesn’t have great size but his lateral quicks and sheer tenacity should slow down Stockton, plus he will be make Stockton work a lot on the other end. David Robinson doesn’t have a great history when playoff time comes while his opposition, Hakeem upped his already potent game when he needed to.

Our post defense is elite, Brand and his insane wingspan will give opposing bigs trouble and Hakeem is the best defensive anchor in this game, and the best shot blocker, a ridicules 4.2 blocks per game. Pippen is the best perimeter defender in this league, and is the best steals man as well with 2.9. Battier is one of the defenders of his generation and Isiah led the league in steals as well in my chosen years. We will wreak havoc in the passing lanes, and we are a very good defensive rebounding team.

Off the bench I have a very good defensive center in Parish, and Kirilenko led the league in blocked shots in my chosen years and is an all nba defender who is very versatile eand can hit the 3. Bell is all nba defense and a very good 3 point shooter.

Simply put we feel we are the best defensive team in the league.
Offense

+ Elite Passing
+ Post Offense
+ Spacing
+ Offensive Rebounding
+ Finishers (Hakeem/Thomas)

We will run the offense through Hakeem. He KILLED Robinson when HOU faced SAN in the 90’s; he simply had his way with him and pretty much single handily won a few games in that series. Robinson said after the game that he thought he did a good job guarding Hakeem but he was simply unstoppable, or something to that regard.

Hakeem Olajuwon simply destroys league MVP David Robinson in the '95 Western Conference Finals. Recognised as the greatest one-on-one performance in NBA Playoff history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW4uXlRGAF0

Isiah will run the team like few others can, in fact we started Battier so that we could have more touches in the starting lineup for Isiah and Pippen. Stockton wasn’t a great defender even if he averaged a lot of steals, and he will have trouble staying in front of Isiah who was of the best 1 on 1 scoring PG’s in history. Battier is a smart player and a tremendous defender but on offense on our team he is a spot up shooter, a corner 3 guy who will spread the floor. If the other team chooses to double off of him Isiah/Pippen/Hakeem will find him and Battier will make them pay. He isn’t a ball stopper or a guy that will force anything which is why I really like him on this team.

Spacing. We feel that we have spaced the floor quite well, Pippen and Battier are very good from deep, and most of my bench guys have range, Parish in particular has a great mid-range game for a center.

If I need a game winner, a clutch shot, I have Thomas and Hakeem to close it out.

More to come....

Funk Train vs. Black Magic

I will be brief, and add more in here as rebuttal if my opponent wishes to change things.

First, the rotations for the Funk Train

John Stockton(36)/Norm Nixon(12)
Brandon Roy(30)/Kirk Hinrich(18)
Juilius Erving(36)/Jamaal Wilkes(12)
Jermaine O'Neal(30)/Antonio McDyess(18)
David Robinson(36)/Detelf Schrempf(12)

Offense

John Stockton-Short shorts are not the only reason this guy is awesome. Unfortunately, we can't look at the box scores for the years my opponent has selected for Isiah Thomas. However, Isiah's record against John Stockton in the 4 games the two met in that span is 1-3. Of course, the sample size is too small. We then fast forward to the years selected for Stockton.

KEY STATS: In 5 matchups with comparable minutes (Stockton playing 9 more, less than 2 more per game), Stockton posted a 5.36 assist/turnover ratio with 59 assists and 11 turnovers. Isiah Thomas posted 27 assists, less than half of Stockton's average, and 16 turnovers, more than Stockton despite playing less minutes, and mustered a 1.69 assist/turnover ratio. This included one game where Stockton had no turnovers but 14 assists. The head-to-head in that span (Pistons were champs twice) was 3-2 in favor of Stockton.

Against the defense of Gilbert Arenas, I imagine there to be no trouble.

Brandon Roy-I feel confident no matter which defender is placed on him, be it Finley or Battier. Roy, even in his youth, is a terrific scorer with an arsenal of skills as well as range. Against Finley we might never know how he would've done, but Finley's defense does not compare to that of some other notable names Brandon Roy has personally torched. Against Finley's Spurs he shot over 50%, with a rotation of Bowen, Finley, Ginobili and Mason on him.

KEY STATS: Against Battier's Rockets in the playoffs, Roy shot 47% from deep, and posted 46% from the field and 87% from the stripe. The failure of the Trailblazers was mostly due to superior post play from the Rockets, a team that pushed the eventual world champions to its most difficult series en route to a title.

Raja Bell will not be an issue. In his rookie year against the Suns, Roy committed 0 turnovers in 3 games while shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc. In subsequent season against Raja Bell, he has committed 1 turnover per game. Remember now, according to Ron Artest, Brandon Roy is the best player he's ever played against, including Lebron and Kobe. Take that with a grain of salt, but know that Brandon Roy can score along with any of the other guys on my squad.

Julius Erving-Scottie Pippen poses a challenge, and it's once again up to speculation on whether or not Pippen could contain the (still) underrated talent of Dr. J. From physicality, they are comparable. In athleticism, you could argue that I have selected downhill years for Dr. J, but I also selected the years he led Philly to a championship and many other playoff matchups against Bird and Magic. Dr. J could play so well without the ball, and was a superstar because of it, not in spite of it. He was also the blueprint for later players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant with his spectacular basketball moves. Saying that he wasn't in his ABA peak anymore and couldn't do the same things he used to is a mistake. I made it when I matched up against Warspite in an earlier ATL competition. Ask anybody who watched his career and they will tell you he kept being amazing even though his stats might not have shown it. He went up against similarly talented defenders like Michael Cooper and came out on top.

Jermaine O'Neal-This Jermaine O'Neal will not a be a jump shooter on this team. He has a legitimate post game. Now, with that out of the way:

In matchups against Elton Brand, the sample size is small, and there are other factors that contribute to sub-par outings against the Clippers. First, in 5 games during the selected span, 3 were the second night of back-to-backs, with two of them being on the road. These conditions are the most trying for a team, especially on the stars who have to play 36+ minutes then perform again the next day against another all-star forward in Elton Brand. Of course Elton Brand is going to look a little better in these matchups. But Jermaine O'Neal possesses one 3rd place finish in MVP voting behind Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan (players taken in the 2nd round of bidding as opposed to the free-for-all stage) and posted 20-10 despite being in one of the slowest teams (and leagues) the NBA has ever seen. Only two NBA teams averaged over 100 points a game that year. On a regular matchup when both players had a day of rest in between game nights, Jermaine delivered with 21 points, 10 boards, and 8 blocks on .563 from the field.

Against Hakeem, Jermaine, with jumpers over an athletic 7-footer out of the question, will utilize his own athleticism in forays into the paint. Jermaine used his abilities to get to the free throw line at a clip of 6 per game, and will do the same against Hakeem, using a series of fakes (like some kind of Dream Shake) to get Hakeem to foul him. This may seem crazy, but O'Neal possesses ambidexterity, and in years where he is healthy, he will be called upon to not worry about injuries and use the post moves that made him an MVP candidate. He can make the adjustment here because with a secondary post presence, Jermaine becomes a force inside as well. Because he's not expected to be a leader on this team, he will have an easier time finding his shot and delivering inside off of feeds from Dr. J, Stockton, and Robinson.

Also to consider when being guarded by Hakeem is that Hakeem, as athletic and versatile as he was, is out of position at the PF spot.

David Robinson-To think even for a second that Hakeem or Parish can negate Robinson is a mistake. Everyone hears about the famous "Dream Shake" and how Hakeem won that duel, but that was the exception, not the rule. The rule was that Hakeem was only a teensy bit better than Robinson in their head-to-head matchups, and even that was arguable.

KEY STATS: In the span I have selected, Robinson averaged 44% from the field, 13.5 boards, exactly 4 assists, 3.1 blocks, 2.4 steals. Hakeem averaged 45% from the field, 12.2 boards, 3.4 assists, 3.9 blocks, and 1.9 steals. Robinson holds the edge in more categories, and, in my opinion, more important categories. The whole point in defense is to get possession. A block is not a guaranteed possession. A steal and a rebound are guaranteed possessions. The field goal percentage difference is negligible, but since they are both sub-.500, and Hakeem is heaving more shots, the efficiency advantage goes to Robinson. In a more important statistic, if we take the total span that Hakeem and Robinson get in this game, the total head-to-head record for both teams are tied at 13-13.

I am not out to prove that David Robinson is better than Hakeem. But this is not some obvious margin, this is a neck-and-neck race that Hakeem's little extra athleticism wins in the end. There could even be argument that the teams were also stacked in Hakeem's favor. In 1992, Hakeem's second banana was the efficient double-double machine Otis Thorpe, and the Admiral was paired with Terry Cummings. In 1995 Hakeem had Clyde Drexler, and Robinson had Sean Elliot. Up and down, it was a superior team that matched up against San Antonio time and time again, yet the Spurs, led by David Robinson, managed to match the eventual two-time world champs toe-to-toe.

David Robinson can also take on Parish. With a 35(to 38)-year-old Parish on a prime David Robinson, the Admiral beats the Chief pretty easily, with his superior agility. The Admiral can go left- and right-handed, with hooks and spins and jumpers that really compare to Hakeem.

My opponent has decided to give Hakeem minutes guarding the PF. Robinson will take advantage of those minutes.

Norm Nixon-The guard who faces the speedy Norm Nixon will have to beware. Here's someone that, despite playing alongside Magic Johnson, still averaged 8 assists a game and 17 points per game. His quickness in penetration and court vision can spark a bench unit that can generate its own offense. He can tear apart Gilbert Arenas and hold his own against Thomas if he ever meets him on the court.

Kirk Hinrich-All-defensive team selection Kirk Hinrich is here mostly to help stifle the best backcourt scorer off the bench for the opposing team, but he can also score himself. His role is to stretch the floor and distribute the ball, but he has a green light on open jumpers. With two great distributors in the backcourt, the rotating door of Battier/Finley/Bell may not be enough to stop both.

Jamaal Wilkes-An all-star who, in tandem with Norm Nixon, generated huge offense even before the arrival of Magic Johnson. Wilkes is a 53% shooter from the field for the years selected. He runs the court extremely effectively, getting behind the defense and forcing switches. With great distributors, he is an amazing player, but his baseline jumper garners respect of its own.

Antonio McDyess-All the hype that's coming in about Blake Griffin now was fulfilled by McDyess pre-injury. His 20-10 stat line for two seasons makes him a nice continuation of Jermaine O'Neal with a little more range to show off on offense. As an efficient scorer from farther away from the basket, Antonio will be an integral part of the bench unit.

Detlef Schrempf-This man averaged 19 points, 9 boards, and 6 assists in one season, lending himself to the impressive distribution machine that is the second unit, and also shot 51% from deep on 2.2 attempts per game in a separate season with 7 boards and 4 assists. As a versatile center being played to stretch the opposing post players out alongside Antonio McDyess, the versatile German adds a unique dimension to the already potent offense.

Strategy-Distribution is the name of the game here. With John Stockton posting incredible numbers against Isiah Thomas, Brandon Roy, Dr. J, and David Robinson posting 4 assists against Hakeem, the ball will find the most open player. Our points of attack are going to be creating switches. Since both of my post players can play on either side of the basket, and from pretty far away, they can cause mismatch issues and direct traffic. My opponent has grossly underestimated the spacing ability of my starting lineup. Not only is Roy not my best three-point shooter, but my big men and Dr. J all have ranges that stretch out to 20 feet and beyond, in the case of Dr. J. They've all established jumpers that demand respect. John Stockton and Brandon Roy are enough to cause perimeter problems. You can believe that Elton Brand and Michael Finley/Shane Battier will be attacked. Roy doesn't flinch at all in the face of Battier, and Finley's defense is no better. While this is a good defensive squad that we're facing, it is not without its weak points. The efficiency that John Stockton plays with against Isiah opens up so many things for our offense. The playmaking ability of the defense lends itself to the fastbreak, which everyone on this squad runs extremely well. When the bench takes the floor, they will outscore the opposing bench. The opposing bench cannot stop them.


Take a break from reading that. You deserve it. Now, going on...

Defense

Isiah Thomas-As mentioned before, Isiah is stymied by Stockton's defense. He gets 1.69 assists for every turnover. With less assists that means he's finding less people in a good position to score baskets. Harder shots means less efficiency and more attempts for my squad. Thomas isn't a threat from deep, and his speed is matched by Stockton (and Nixon), no matter what the reputations are. With two speedy guards to disrupt his penetration, the point of attack is weakened, and the whole offense suffers.

Shane Battier-Brandon Roy and Kirk Hinrich won't have their hands full with Battier. Battier is a savvy player, but Roy has the athleticism to stay with him and close out on his three-point attempts.

Scottie Pippen-As versatile as he is, Scottie Pippen is not very dependable from the free throw line. With that said, we're not about to hack him. Dr. J is a great team defender, and a good enough defender for Scottie Pippen. Dr. J matched up against a similarly versatile Larry Bird, and Scottie is not as dangerous a shooter. Erving has the skills to dominate passing lanes and keep the ball from reaching its target, no matter who the distributor is.

Elton Brand-Jermaine O'Neal has the length advantage and shotblocking ability with both hands. In the selected span, Jermaine O'Neal held the usually efficient Elton Brand to 45% shooting. In the game where O'Neal had sufficient rest (i.e. not on the second night of a back-to-back) he stifled Brand to 29% shooting. Antonio McDyess is more athletic than Jermaine O'Neal with slightly worse shotblocking, but can definitely hold the fort and keep Elton from finding his groove.

Hakeem Olajuwon-Of course, people are going to point to the 1995 playoff series where Hakeem put on a great show and supposedly won the debate of Hakeem vs. Robinson. However, he averaged 4.2 turnovers per game in that series (more than a turnover more per game than all the other series), and was hot all playoffs anyways. Plus, this is a three-year sample we're talking about, not not playoff series among many, many matchups that the two engaged in. Robinson will confidently engage Olajuwon, sitting when he sits, going on the court when he is. God knows we're not leaving Detlef Schrempf on Hakeem. This matchup is a lot closer than the purported "domination" of Hakeem. Youtube clips only show up to 10 minutes. The two have fought to stalemates for whole seasons.

Gilbert Arenas-A 45% max field goal percentage and an average of 43% for the three year span isn't enough to make Stockton or Nixon or Hinrich respect his shooting. That said, he will be tightly defended and shots will be contested, but since his bread and butter is the free throw line, but against quick defenders that can follow him belly-up around screens and cut off his driving lanes, his 10 minutes on the court will not be effective. Add to the fact that he is a mediocre distributor and his efficiency is shot.

Michael Finley-His limited effectiveness in his 3rd season makes him a bit easier to defend, and Kirk Hinrich performed well against Paul Pierce, holding one of the best scorers to 4 sub-.400 shooting
performances. With all-defensive talent guarding a similarly aged, similarly talented (but less "clutch") Finley, the matchup turns in my favor. Finley likes to play off the ball, spotting up for shots. Hinrich will do most of the shadowing, and hampered distribution will likely see his attempts drop off sharply.

Andrei Kirilenko-Against the Indiana Pacers and Jermaine O'Neal (sans Artest) Kirilenko managed 40% shooting in the 3-year span my opponent has selected. His 3-point shooting was below 30%. McDyess has the requisite quickness to give chase to Kirilenko, and both defenders have better size to keep him from gaining confidence with inside play.

Robert Parish-Parish is old, and has lost a step in the years selected. His high FG% is still a byproduct of playing in the best front line in basketball. With Jermaine O'Neal and McDyess on him (since Robinson is exclusively guarding Hakeem) in their younger years, they have the physical advantage inside, and both are great shotblockers, and then they also have the quickness to chase out to contest the jump shot of Parish.

Raja Bell-In his limited minutes he'll be hounded by either Dr. J or Silk, both of which play good enough defense to stop a third-stringer. If he's at SG, Roy and Hinrich can take him pretty easily.

Strategy-My defense is based around playmaking, and not some mediocre playmaking. My starting lineup possesses an 8 blocks a game, and 5.5+ steals. With Dr. J plugging up the passing lanes and Jermaine O'Neal coming from either shot to block shots with either hand, and David Robinson anchoring in the middle, the front line is a black hole where possessions go to die. Then you have the pickpocket John Stockton and Brandon Roy (who's guarding Battier) and the defense becomes a constant nuisance, especially with Isiah's passing game taken down a notch. This defense turns the opposition into a jump-shooting team, which in the end is an ineffective means of victory. As for Hakeem, with weakside help coming from Jermaine O'Neal, and Hakeem's lowered distribution with Stockton and Dr. J ready to intercept the ball, the Dream will find it harder to conjure up better than the 45% shooting. Remember, he also had 4 TO's per game in the stretch of "dominance" in the playoff series. Our bench can step in and continue making plays with all-defensive team selections and defensive playmakers. If we feel like we need to swat some extra shots, Manute Bol is waiting in the wings.

Final Points

When the game comes down to it, Dr. J is the best closer on the court. We have plenty spacing and a great scheme. The battle starts at the point guards, the ones who handle and distribute the ball, the ones who determine offensive tempo and facilitate the offense. Head-to-head, Stockton can both pick apart Thomas while rendering his foe's passing ineffective. Let me remind you that Stockton's assist/turnover ratio is more than 3 times that of his counterpart's in head-to-head matchups. Isiah even won a championship in the selected span, and both players were in their primes in some part of the 3 years I selected Stockton. The rebounding edge goes to Robinson, and Jermaine O'Neal, in a system that doesn't have a pace factor of 87.5 (That's low, in case anybody was wondering) actually grabs rebounds at the same clip that Brand does (and better than Parish for that matter). Dr. J and Brandon Roy give the rebounding edge to my entire starting lineup, despite Thomas's slight edge over Stockton.

In short, the Funk Train has an edge in this matchup because of superior point guard play, and the myth of Hakeem's domination in this division should be dispelled once and for all.

mine

v. Teddy KGB

Lineup:
C: Mutombo
F: Thorpe
F: McGrady
G: Bryant
G: Johnson

Offensive Scheme:

The Baller 24’s are going to run their offensive scheme through two of the most dominant and talented perimeter scorers in the history of the game --- Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. Both are established scoring threats that play a similar style of basketball, of which have the ability to excel on every aspect on the court. McGrady’s role will deal with a little more play-making, while Kobe will look to be set up in ISO situations and down inside the post.

Our offensive scheme is pretty much simple, both of these players are unstoppable—no matter who guards them. With Hardaway and Mullin on Bryant and McGrady, respectively, this is going to be an easy game on the offensive end for both guys. Dennis Johnson will be used to bring the ball up the court, penetrate into the lane to create plays, and knock down open jump shots. Mutombo will be used to set screens as both Bryant and McGrady are deadly coming off of them.

Gasol will be used as the primary scoring option down-low, with Thrope also contributing as the side player. Pau’s passing ability and success with Kobe will be of huge success for our team, as both have won an NBA championship, and co-existed very well. Duncan being the anchor throughout his career hasn’t stopped Bryant in the previous seasons from winning multiple playoff series. The offensive scheme is pretty much similar to that of the ‘90s Bulls and current Lakers, but it’s got twice the amount deadly perimeter players, with a solid big in the front court, and the rest of the team playing team defense. Furthermore, both Bryant and McGrady are FANTASTIC 4th quarter players who know how to close out games, and do it in dominant fashion.

Defensive Scheme:
Our team is primarily defense oriented from all-aspects as every member in my starting lineup is either an All-NBA Team defender, or an above average defensive player. The anchor of the team is Mutomob, who comes with a resume of being a three time defensive player of the year, so it’s going to be very tough for the opposing team to have any momentum in the low-post. Mutombo’s primary defensive assignment will be to contain Tim Duncan, although there is nothing guaranteeing that he will be stopped, Mutmobo can surely limit his game in big ways.

Otis Thrope will be starting out the game, and his job will be to limit Barkley. From the years Teddy is using Barkley, Thrope has limited him to averaging just 21.6PPG on 47.5% that’s HUGE considering Barkley throughout that time was easily a 25+PPG player on 54-58FG%. So basically Thrope makes Barkley a high percentage shot taker, while he struggles against him.

McGrady will guard Mullin, Tracy’s rep from 2000-2003 defensively is known to be above average defense as he brings him over a block and 1.5STL a game, so it’s pretty evident that McGrady can simply out-play Mullin on both ends, as he can surely slow down Mullin in more ways than Mullin can McGrady---pretty easily too. Bryant will guard Haradawy, this is a player that’s a perennial ALL NBA defensive team member, he limited an even dangerous scorer compared to Hardaway in the WCF in 2009---Melo to just 40%FG shooting. Bryant’s got his work cut out for him, but the scenario is the same as the McGrady one, Bryant will limit Hardaway in more ways that he can limit Bryant, as he’s just simply going to out-play him. Dennis Johnson will guard Chris Paul.

Johnson is being used from his years with the Celtics where he won two championships, and was a perennial member of the ALL NBA Defensive Team. He limited Magic Johnson in the ’84 Finals, and simply embarrassed him giving him the name “Tragic”, DJ’s size and strength will be a big advantage in guarding Paul, however there’s nothing to actually stop him, but at least slow him down.

Bench
My Team has a bench that consists of perennial All NBA defensive team members, and players that have been known to play team basketball, that all don’t require shot attempts. Mark Aguirre is being used from his years with the championship Pistons as he was just a 14 PPG on 50% scorer off the bench, Doug Christie is a terrific defender and chemistry element, Derek Harper is a solid defender and distributor, Pau Gasol/Otis Thorpe are both NBA champions and above average defenders, Elvin Hayes is a solid veteran defender and rebounder, and Tree Rollins is a shot-blocking machine. It has a lot of fluidity and overall team defense, compared to that of my opponent who has a lot of issues with chemistry and shot attempts.

Ego Issues?
My opponent has numerous scorers and players that require shot-attempts and NEED the ball in their hands to be effective. Chris Mullin, Penny Hardaway, Chris Paul, Charles Barkley all need shot attempts and need the ball in their hands to be effective. Furthermore to make matters worse, 2001 MVP (25+FGA) Allen Iverson is coming off the bench, along with Tim Hardaway (another player that needs the ball in his hands to be effective). This team simply has a lot of good players, but 1 ball isn’t good enough nor ar there enough shot attempts for them to all co-exist and be effective.



v. bryant08

Lineup:
C: Mutombo
F: Gasol
F: McGrady
G: Bryant
G: Johnson

Offensive Scheme:

The Baller 24’s are going to run their offensive scheme through two of the most dominant and talented perimeter scorers in the history of the game --- Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. Both are established scoring threats that play a similar style of basketball, of which have the ability to excel on every aspect on the court. McGrady’s role will deal with a little more play-making, while Kobe will look to be set up in ISO situations and down inside the post. Our offensive scheme is pretty much simple, both of these players are unstoppable—no matter who guards them.

With Dumars and Carter on Bryant and McGrady, respectively, Bryant will have his hands full against a very good defender, but with the height advantage should make up a little bit of ground. Bryant last year in the playoffs showed us that no matter who he’s guarded by still contributes effectively with his scoring role, we saw it with Shane Battier (who Bryant said guards him the best), as he simply lit him up. With Carter on McGrady, it’s going to be an easy game for McGrady offensively, I don’t see any signs of him being worn down by Carter, as he’s constantly outplayed him throughout his peak years. Dennis Johnson will be used to bring the ball up the court, penetrate into the lane to create plays, and knock down open jump shots. Mutombo will be used to set screens as both Bryant and McGrady are deadly coming off of them.

Gasol will be used as the primary scoring option down-low, with Thrope also contributing as the side player. Pau’s passing ability and success with Kobe will be of huge success for our team, as both have won an NBA championship, and co-existed very well. McGrady and Bryant will constantly see doubles, but with two dominant perimeter players handling and scoring the ball it will simply be a nightmare on the defensive end for the Huskies. Furthermore, both Bryant and McGrady are FANTASTIC 4th quarter players who know how to close out games, and do it in dominant fashion.

Defensive Scheme:

Our team is primarily defense oriented from all-aspects as every member in my starting lineup is either an All-NBA Team defender, or an above average defensive player. The anchor of the team is Mutomob, who comes with a resume of being a three time defensive player of the year, so it’s going to be very tough for the opposing team to have any momentum in the low-post. Mutombo’s primary defensive assignment will be to contain Artis Gilmore, although Artis has fantastic regular season statistics, Artis in the post-season takes a 10%FG dip in the playoffs---67% to 57% and which a defensive anchor like Mutombo on him, Artis will TONS of problems.

Pau Gasol will be starting out the game, and his job will be to limit Malone, there isn’t much you can do, but Gasol is with a slight height advantage will use his physical tools to try his hardest to limit Malone. From the year the Huskies are using Malone, in the playoffs he got out of the first round once, and failed to advance twice. In the ’89 season Malone averaged 31 on 56%, but in the playoffs he was just 25PPG on only 43% Malone’s effectiveness takes a small dip in the playoffs, although he’s solid, just stating his contributions offensively take a dip, and with at team defense structured like mine, he will definitely face problems, especially from the weak-side where Mutombo will be operating.

McGrady will guard Carter, Tracy’s rep from 2000-2003 defensively is known to be above average defense as he brings him over a block and 1.5STL a game, so it’s pretty evident that McGrady can simply out-play Carter on both ends, as he can surely slow down Carter in more ways than Mullin can McGrady---pretty easily too. Bryant will guard Dumars, this is a player that’s a perennial ALL NBA defensive team member, he limited an even dangerous scorer compared to Dumars in the WCF in 2009---Melo to just 40%FG shooting. Bryant’s got his work cut out for him, but the scenario is the same as the McGrady one, Bryant will limit Dumars in more ways that he can limit Bryant, as he’s just simply going to out-play him.

Dennis Johnson will guard Magic Johnson. History will say Dennis gives a lot of problems to Magic, especially when it’s crunch time. Johnson is being used from his years with the Celtics where he won two championships, and was a perennial member of the ALL NBA Defensive Team. He limited Magic Johnson in the ’84 Finals, and simply embarrassed him giving him the name “Tragic” as he forced multiple turnovers and gave Magic trouble. Magic will have his way, but when crunch time come, Dennis will be on Magic like a hawk, and with the troubles Magic has had with him in the past, Dennis is very well capable of limiting Magic’s overall effectiveness.

Bench

My Team has a bench that consists of perennial All NBA defensive team members, and players that have been known to play team basketball, that all don’t require shot attempts. Mark Aguirre is being used from his years with the championship Pistons as he was just a 14 PPG on 50% scorer off the bench, Doug Christie is a terrific defender and chemistry element, Derek Harper is a solid defender and distributor, Pau Gasol/Otis Thorpe are both NBA champions and above average defenders, Elvin Hayes is a solid veteran defender and rebounder, and Tree Rollins is a shot-blocking machine. It has a lot of fluidity and overall team defense with solid chemistry.

THE BONED SAMUELS

coGM: bcortell (I have hired a co-gm to assist while I am away. Alot has come up in the last couple days and instead of delaying the game, I hired a ringer who wants to bite the snake as much as I do (joking!)

GAME 1:
ROTATION (vs jcldallas24)

PG- JASON KIDD (35 ), A.ROBERTSON ( 13 ), MO CHEEKS
SG- REGGIE MILLER ( 33), A.ROBERSTON ( 15 ), ALLAN HOUSTON
SF- JAMES WORTHY ( 20), ALEX ENGLISH ( 18 ), PAUL PRESSEY ( 10 )
PF- CHRIS WEBBER ( 28), BEN WALLACE ( 10), JAMES WORTHY ( 10 )
C – MOSES MALONE ( 35), BEN WALLACE ( 12), BRAD DAUGHERTY

VS.………
Price(28)/Williams(20)
Moncrief(35)/Rice(13)
James(30, 10 at PF)/King(12)/Melo(6)
Kemp(28)/Wallace(10, 15 at C)
Yao(25)/Sampson(8)

on Defense:

Basically we will be playing straight up man to man. And go from there. We feel that we have the defensive advantage in this match up and do not think we will need to give much help to any match up. Paul Pressey will be used in this match up simply to pester LeBron.
PG: Both JKidd and ARobertson are great defenders and will have no problems at all shutting down both Price and DWill. We do not believe either of them will have much of an impact at all in this match up
SG: Reggie and Roberston will be getting all of the minutes at this position. And we all know Reggie was not a defensive stopper by any means, but his huge height and length advantage should really give Sidney problems. And if for some reason Sidney starts to score, our 1986 Defensive Player of the year Alvin Robertson will step in and stop things. We do not understand playing sharp shooter Glen Rice out of position, but in his minutes on the court, he should not make that big of an impact plus his one dimensional game will not give either Reggie or Alvin much of a problem
SF: Our goal is to make LeBron work as much as we can. We know he will get his, but it will not come easy. All 3 of the guys we will be running at him have the size and strength to make him work.
PF: We have no problem with the match up here either, Webber is a great shot blocking weak side defender and Ben Wallace was a Defensive God during this time period. With LeBron getting minutes at PF, this will allow us to also use Worthy here while LeBron is logging those minutes
C: I hope big Yao is wearing some extra padding for this match up. As athletic and talented as he is, he never had much luck going against people that could push him around. Moses is a bruising BEAST and Big Ben will not let up either.

on Offense:

We feel that our offense can score with anybody. We have a great playmaker in JKidd, a hell of a passing point forward in CWebb, and one of the best closers in the game in Reggie Miller. Not to mention our BEAST Moses who basically averages 28 ppg during this time period. Add to that, one of the best glue players in NBA history in James Worthy. Most of our bench scoring will come from multi time Scoring Champ Alex English and Mr Quadruple double and match up nightmare Alvin Robertson.

JKidd will control the tempo here and we think we should be able to run on this team a little, especially when the Kidd/Roberston/English/Worthy/Wallace lineup is matched up against Price/Rice/King/LeBron/Yao lineup.

The size and strength advantage that Kidd has will allow him to post either PG up when they run man to man and CWebb’s range will keep PF’s from doubling down to help stop Moses dominate the paint



GAME 2:

ROTATION (vs Snakebites ) * may change depending on matchup

PG- JASON KIDD (33 ), A.ROBERTSON ( 10 ), MO CHEEKS ( 5)
SG- REGGIE MILLER ( 33), A.ROBERSTON ( 15 ), ALLAN HOUSTON
SF- JAMES WORTHY ( 23), ALEX ENGLISH ( 25), PAUL PRESSEY
PF- CHRIS WEBBER ( 30), BEN WALLACE ( 10), JAMES WORTHY ( 8)
C – MOSES MALONE ( 33), BEN WALLACE ( 10), BRAD DAUGHERTY ( 5)


VS…………
Payton/Lever
Allen/Majerle/Petrovic
Bird/Dantley
Williams/Oakley
Mourning/Laimbeer/Divac

Snakebites has put together a pretty good lineup which these teams should match up pretty good at first look. I will need to put in some work here.......

Write-up 1, Opponent All in the Name:

Rosters:
Billups (32)/KJ (16) Porter/Terry
Drexler (35)/Gervin (13) Cooper/Ginobili
Jones (26)/Gervin (22) Hill/Bowen
Dirk (35)/Jones (5)/Coleman (8) Garnett/Robinson
Ewing (35)/Walton (13) Shaq/Sabonis

I actually think these teams present an interesting match-up. Billups and Porter have similar styles, Drexler, my wing threat, is being guarded by a fantastic defender and Hill, his wing threat is being guarded by Bobby Jones. Dirk's range is hassled by KG, but KG staying on Dirk leaves him without a great help defender, Ewing and Shaq are the two best players in the match-up and played each other pretty much to a standstill many times. I'm actually pretty excited about this one, so may the best team win.

Offense: There's on terrific thing about my rotational players: they're either elite scorers, hyperefficient, or both. The starting offense is especially fluid featuring four guys who can ISO (Billups, Drexler, Dirk, Ewing), but also work well off ball as well as one great rebounder and hyperefficient offensive player (Jones). The team will work with a few main plays: a pick'n Pop featuring both Ewing and Dirk at times with Billups and Drexler who was a good passer. What this does for my team is forces Porter to either fight over the screen, leave Billups open for a jumper, or have KG/Shaq switch onto him leaving Dirk and Ewing with huge mismatches. We'll also give the ball to Ewing and let him work against Shaq where he had very nice success in his selected years on what was probably the most defensively motivated Shaq we've ever seen. From time to time you'll see Drexler take it at Cooper who, while great defensively, did have trouble with some of the bigger hyperathletic wings like Jordan and co. When starters go to the bench there's not going to be any easier go of it for the opponent as both KJ and Gervin were elite scorers at their position, especially Gervin. Additionally, Walton and Coleman were more than competent scorers as well.

Defense: Our defense features two top 5 defenders at their positions and a host of other highly competent defenders. Defending Porter isn't an issue. Around 1/3 of his shots and 40% of his points came from the 3pt line. Billups knows the book on him and unless Shaq REALLY started getting off, you're not going to see much help from him. Cooper won't be an issue at all. He's never been a starter and never played starters minutes. And regardless who is on the floor he's going to have to be on his game defensively to even hope to contain Gervin and Drexler. He'll be a spot up shooter, and one with weak legs at that. He was never a consistent shooter to begin with, so you'll see any help D mainly coming off of him. Hill is a problem, granted, but we have a guy with the size to body him up, the defensive prowess to bother his shots, and the rebounding ability to limit his effectiveness there. KG isn't and doesn't want to be a primary scorer, so while he'll get his, it won't be such a disparity as to make up for his general lack of bench scorers. Shaq is obviously his primary threat, and a beastly one at that. It's difficult to argue anything other than him going off. The one thing I can do is look over his career numbers against Ewing. Obviously we're not talking his absolute peak, but Shaq pretty much just got his averages with slightly lower rebounding numbers over the years. If I can limit the number of 40/20 games Shaq gets, then I've got an excellent shot of winning this.


Under Construction, don't judge yet.

v. BlackIce

BI, you've once again built a fantastic team built around strong morals. I think this is the first time we've faced eachother in this competition? And I know, in order to be the best, you must beat the best, and have the utmost respect for the team that you've built. Should be a great matchup, and as always, may the best team win, which my team fully intends to do so.

TMACFORMVP
PG - Nash (35) - Ray Richardson (9) - Wade (4)
SG - Wade (32) - Johnson (16)
SF - Artest (30) - Rodman (14) - Johnson (2)
PF - McHale (32) - Rodman (16)
Cc - Jabbar (38) - Ruland (10)

VS.

BlackIce
PG - Thomas - Arenas - Snow
SG - Battier - Finley - Bell
SF - Pippen - Kirilenko - Battier
PF - Brand - Parish - Kirilenko
Cc - Olajuwon - Parish

In a matchup like this, there will be a lot of myths, and it's for me to debunk those myths. Skipping a boring introduction, we'll get right into it:

- Hakeem Olajuwon will dominate this matchup?

"Kareem is past his prime, and Olajuwon's three year peak is godly." The former may be true, possibly overstated, but Kareem can most certainly keep up with Hakeem in this series. Over their year averages, Kareem averages nearly 25 points, and 10 rebounds per game, while being an elite defensive anchor on ridiculously efficient shooting from the floor.

In their match-ups post 1986, Jabbar in even his older days (this during a time in which Kareem failed to score twenty points per game, grab seven boards, or block two shots per game). Hakeem's stats are as follows (86-89):



One could argue that, this is not Hakeem's prime yet, which is true, but again I'd have to reiterate that this Kareem is not even close to the Kareem that I possess. The Kareem defending Hakeem in this set of games, has three year season averages as follows; 14.1 points per game, 5.7 rebounds on nearly 52% from the floor. So in that case, Kareem's 15/6 on 57% from the floor against Hakeem wouldn't serve as something that hurts me, but in fact another tool on my side that showed Kareem stepped up his game when facing Hakeem even when he was 40-41 years old.

The Kareem I have, is still an MVP of the league, 3rd in voting the next year, has a three year adjusted average of three blocks, ten rebounds, and twenty five points per game, on over 58% from the floor. He was an elite defender, both weakside, and on rotations. It's harder to get any better than that production. Hakeem may be better, but he won't dominate anyone in this series, the stats show an older Kareem can hold his own, imagine what an MVP Kareem would be able to do. If anything, I'd expect a standstill in this matchup.

- Isiah Thomas will have his WAY with Nash?

In this series, Steve Nash will not be guarding Isiah Thomas.

We will put Dwayne Wade on him, he's quick enough to chase him around the perimeter, and has the size, and shot-blocking ability to contest Isiah's mid-range jumper, or shots in the paint. He won't shut him down, but considering Isiah wasn't a threat from behind the arc, he relied heavily on his finishing ability, and mid-range jumper to get his points off. With Wade's size, he should be able to contest that much better than at least Steve Nash can. Not too mention, young Isiah, the one being used in this series, doesn't have that "clutch," reputation for which he's known for now. So the Isiahs 26 point outburst in the 3rd to win game 6 of the NBA Finals stated in BlackIce's writeup would not have occurred, not to mention, that's not factually correct, as the Pistons went on to lose that game despite Isiah's heroics.

And let's not forget Thomas wasn't the most efficient PG, as we noted, he didn't shoot the three well, was a mid 45% shooter from the field. In a league in which efficiency is so noted, and considering Thomas is nothing spectacular defensively, his flaws get more closely examined. That's why in these competitions, while I'd consider Isiah a greater individual than Stockton, in a competition like this, it's much closer.

But then the question bods, who is Steve Nash guarding.

Nash would guard, Finley, or Battier, doesn't matter who starts. If it's Battier, he's not a threat offensively, and merely a spot up shooter. If it's Finley, his role is the same, he's used as a spot up shooter as well. If BlackIce would choose to exploit this matchup, we trust in our help/interior defense with the likes of Wade, Kareem, McHale, Rodman, or Artest, and at times Ray Richardson to recover on Finley's move and force him into a tough shot.

The main reason we can also afford to do this is the lack of spacing found on BlackIce's team. If Finley were to try to attack Nash offensively, and our help defense steps in, Finley doesn't have the option to kick out a shooter, because neither Isiah, or Pippen were ultra reliable from behind the arc, definitely far less efficient than other spots of the court.

If you choose Battier, the more the better, he's strictly a spot up shooter, and all Nash will have to do defensively is cover the perimeter. Battier isn't the type to run off screens like a Miller, or Allen, he's strictly a spot up shooter, with favorite spots on the floor. He's never been a good playoff performer, and it only helps cover our weakness on the defensive end even further. BlackIce has informed he would be starting Battier, but could be subject to change. Regardless of who it is, we feel we have the defensive strategy and gameplan to affect that combo effectively.

As of now, it seems Battier is the starter, both from word, and from the writeup against Miller, but our defensive strategy doesn't change all that much if it's Finley instead.

Noticing BlackIce's writeup, he mentions as Pippen as one of the top shooters in the league. That would be a false statement, the hike in three point percentage would be soley due to the fact the three point line was shortened during those years, and otherwise returns to a streaky, volume three point shooter at roughly 30-32% from distance, hardly one of the best, in fact, rather inefficient.

- Rebounding An Edge For BlackIce?

Let's get this out of the way, Brand averages more rebounds than McHale, and Hakeem averages more rebounds than Kareem. That doesn't mean, my team lacks in rebounding, especially with our weapon off the bench, arguably the greatest rebounder of all time, definitely the best in this game, in Dennis Rodman.

Before we get into the stats, let's also not forget, McHale's roughly nine rebound per game average was with two other double digit rebounders in Larry Bird, and Robert Parish. Since, there are no three year averaged out stats for BI's team, and I'm lazy to do that, I'll take the best rebounding seasons, of both of our players.

Jabbar - 10.8 rebounds / 15.4 rebound rate
McHale - 9.9 rebounds / 14.0 rebound rate
Rodman - 18.7 rebounds / 26.2 rebound rate

Olajuwon - 13.0 rebounds / 18.7 rebound rate
Parish - 12.5 rebounds / 20.0 rebound rate
Brand - 11.6 rebounds / 17.3 rebound rate
36.6 / 56

It's hard to determine, considering, I'm yet to know BI's minute rotation, but considering the rebound rate is nearly exactly the same, and my trio of rebounders produce greater statistics in terms of raw numbers, you can see rebounding in the frontcourt isn't an issue.

Not to mention, judging from his writeup, that will be his three man rotation receiving all the minutes, while in my rotation I have not included Jeff Ruland for the 10 minutes Kareem wouldn't be on the floor, and since his rebound per game average is 12.3, with a rate of 17.4, for those ten minutes, Kareem would be replaced by a BETTER rebounder, which would overall gain a net production in terms of rebounding, and rebound rate, making the gap further.

Pippen is certainly a better rebounder than Artest, but BI does not use the season in where he's consistently over eight boards per game. It includes one of those seasons, and two years, at roughly 6.5 rebounds, which is Artest's three year average.

Pippen - 8.1 rebounds / 12.5 rebound rate
Artest - 6.5 rebounds / 10.1 rebound rate

The edge, still goes his SF position, but again, with the edge in the frontcourt, and the sort of decline Pippen sees in the next two years of the three years chosen would make the gap slower. And besides, with Rodman playing nearly 18 minutes at the SF position, the overall position of edge in terms of rebounding, easily goes to us.

Wade - 5.7 rebounds / 8.7 rebound rate
Finley - 5.8 rebounds / 8.4 rebound rate

Roughly the same, a wash, even though, once again, Wade is more consistent with his averages of over five per game, while Finley falls off the next two seasons, with a rebound average of under five per game, more like 4.5. In terms of the bench, it's Battier/Bell versus Joe Johnson. Battier is a solid rebounder, Bell isn't particularly impressive, but JJ with his best season, is comparable with Battier, like Wade/Finley, virtually the same statistics, keeping this position a wash.

Nash - 4.2 rebounds / 6.6 rebound rate
Thomas - 4.5 rebounds / 6.1 rebound rate

Then off the bench, is Arenas (4.7 / 6.5%) versus Ray Richardson, who has noted above has moved into the rotation (6.9 / 10.8%), the gap between the PG rebounding widens even more, and in this case, by a semi-reasonable margin.

55.8 rebounds / 81.0 rebound rate
55.0 rebounds / 83.0 rebound rate

So overall, in terms of basic raw numbers, our team grabs more rebounds, while BI's has a slightly higher rebound rate. But when you factor in Nash is substituted for a much greater rebounder in Ray Richardson, and Kareem, the same when Ruland comes in, the total amount of rebounds raises in our favor, and the rebound rate even comes into our favor. The only place, in which his team gets the higher rebound rate on the data shown above is Pippen/Artest matchup, in which I explained the flaw in that stat, and the fact, that Rodman would be playing both the SF, and PF position.

Our team grabs more rebounds, with adjusted stats has a higher rebound rate, and possess the best rebounder among both teams. At worst, what some might feel is a lack of rebounding, our team obviously has no such flaw, in fact a slight advantage.

- DEFENSIVE/OFFENSIVE COMPARISON

Any team, with both Hakeem, and Pippen should likely have the overall edge defensively. I feel in this case, that's not true. To counter that defensive tandem, we present Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Ron Artest. BI's combo has the edge, especially considering we're not using Artest in his absolute defensive peak but we feel our duo is close enough to a defensive impact, that the rest of our roster outweighs, the lack of defense compared to BI's roster.

*Note to also watch out for, is Artest's role with the Lakers, will be the role he has on this team. While, he was still an All-NBA defensive team member with the Rockets, anybody's that compared the two, has noticed, Artest is playing considerably better defense with the Lakers. He's fighting harder through screens, and using his toughness to bully his opponents. It's no coincidence, the Lakers are the #1 ranked defensive FG% team in the NBA this season.

Anyway, back to the rest of the roster's defensive comparison:

Brand is an OK defender relative to his era, but he's not on the level of McHale. I'd go on to say Elton isn't even a starter in these sort of competitions. McHale will have his way both offensively and defensively. McHale is often credited for possessing the best offensive moves in the post, when compared to any other PF in the game. He has a peak season of 26 points per game, on over 60% from the floor. He's an elite defender, that has the size and shot-blocking to defend the bigger PF's, but the quick rotations to defend the SF's, as that was often the case, with Bird switching onto PF's, and McHale guarding the opponents best SF.

In this competition, Brand doesn't have an identity, he does nothing great, but to be fair, nothing poor as well. The knock on him though, his stats have always been on terrible teams, making it hard to measure his impact To further hit the nail on this point, BI is not using his best year, in which he was an All-Star/All-NBA player and one of the top finishers in MVP Voting, but most importantly experienced his best team success. McHale on the other hand consistently put his stats, on far more efficient shooting (nearly 60%), on much more dominant teams, including the 85-86 Celtics, widely considered to be the greatest team of all time.

The key to our team is our defensive versatility, with Rodman coming off the bench, we possesses an even greater defensive asset than Scottie Pippen impacts the game. Both can defend multiple positions, but Rodman was the most versatile defender, or at least with Bobby Jones to have ever played. I remember, watching the 88' Finals, and Rodman was covering Magic for the majority of the time. Then on a switch off, he went and guarded Kareem. In a matter of minutes, despite his size, and weight, he went from defending Magic Johnson, to guarding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. With that versatility, and tenacity on that end of the floor, Rodman also provided GOAT offensive rebounding, and in general the best rebounder in this game.

We have more ways to attack his main offensive weapons. With Brand being checked by McHale, and Battier being a starter, we're comfortable with our matchups at those positions. Covering Hakeem will be Kareem, and as shown above, he's been as effective as anyone, in fact outplaying him, while Kareem was 40 years old. In this series, he's a 32 year old MVP of the league. Pippen will be covered by Artest. Pippen could score, but he was never a player that could dominate a series with his ability to put a team on his back. Even when Jordan left, Pippen experienced only a slight raise in his points per game. We feel confident, with Artest ability to at least make Pippen less efficient from the floor. Especially in this scenario where Pippen is trying to be sold off as an elite floor spacer, which has already been disproved.

We will have Wade on Isiah for majority of the time, but even our defensive flexibility could allow us to put Rodman on him for stretches. Again, having options and flexibility is very important in these types of competitions.

Finley isn't particularly a good defender, especially in an all time sense where all the teams are so talented. Battier is a good defender, but he can be prone to the post up, and that's been PROVEN against Ron Artest. I actually don't feel this move, really improves his team defensively. For someone who's seen Battier's games all of the past couple of seasons (including watching one while I write this), one player that dominated us, was Ron Artest.

In the time frame, we're both using for Battier, and Artest. Here's their head to head stats:

(note, it's only two of these players seasons, as both were teammates, for the third season of the three year peak that we are both using)



It looks like Artest just became a bigger offensive weapon than I thought. I remember, as a Rockets fan, myself, and many others, were more scared of facing Ron Artest, and the Kings, than facing like LeBron and the Cavaliers. Battier has struggled with stronger players, and Artest has shown that, in fact been a prime example during the exact same seasons chosen. In case your interested, they faced off again this season, and Artest dropped 22 points on 8-16 shooting, and 3-5 from distance. He routinley kills Battier, and I'd expect the same here. And with Finley not being a good defender himself, especially on the lowblock, or from the perimeter, I'd expect Artest to have a rather big series.

As Kareem won't completely stop Hakeem, the same will be the case with Olajuwon guarding Kareem. We've even seen, shown by those statistics above, that an older Kareem went above his season averages, when he faced Hakeem. It'll be an epic matchup, between two centers that are dominant on both ends of the floor, as I stated, more likely to result in a standstill in terms of production and impact on the series.

I've already gone over the McHale/Brand matchup, won't go into much more detail over that. We've already said, we're switching Nash off onto the wingman, as we're not really scared of Battier, or even Finley coming off the bench. The key is here, BI's team does not possess the same defensive versatility we do, thus forcing Isiah to guard Nash.

Isiah was a good pick pocket, but in terms of individual man defense, he had a lot of help from Dumars, Rodman on the perimeter, with guys like Laimbeer, Mahorn, and others inside. Nash will have a big series, Isiah has the quickness to stay with him, but it was not always a concerted effort. If Isiah can't stop Nash, that means one of the greatest offensive players to have ever played the game, and yes, one of them is Steve Nash will have the freedom to operate.

Wade will be guarded by Pippen, one of the greatest perimeter defenders of all time. He'll have his handful, and should reduce his overall effectiveness. I'd just like to say though, he won't shut him down, you don't shut down, or completely take out of the picture great players. And Dwayne Wade is a great player, he's a Finals MVP, still more efficient than most guards of this era, or in fact all time, and is smart in getting to the line. He'll still find ways to score, make plays, and compete defensively. And down the stretch, there are few better. When we're talking about defense against great offensive player, we can only hope to "contain," them, and that will be Pippen's job in this series.

RE: In terms of the Parish/Hakeem lineup, it doesn't really change our defensive strategy. Kareem would remain on Hakeem, and we're comfortable with McHale guarding Parish. It's virtually the same thing in this scenario.

In a competition like this, efficiency is supreme. Fact of the matter is, Isiah is not the most efficient PG, Finley shoots in the lower 40%, as does Battier, though both are efficient three point shooters. Pippen who's being described as a floor spacer, in reality is not, those numbers being inflated from the three point line being shortened during the chosen seasons. Otherwise, he is in fact, an inefficient shooter from long range.

Brand is decently efficient, as is Olajuwon, but NEITHER compare to their counterparts in that department, when we're talking about Jabbar, and McHale, both having seasons of over 60% from the floor. Nash is one of the most efficient guards of all time, from everywhere on the floor (look at those numbers, 45% from three, 90% from the line, and nearly 52% from the field). Wade gets himself to the line, and a majority of his shots, are good ones, from mid-range and in the paint. Artest is the only one with subpar efficiency, but he's exactly like Finley, or Battier in that regard (who are BI's more efficient perimeter players), as Artest is in fact a very efficient three point shooter, on a large volume of makes.

With teams this talented, and less shot attempts to go around, being able to maximize those possessions, especially when facing an elite defense is important. Our team is CLEARLY more efficient, rather not even close, making us more prone to beat their defensive gameplan, while our defensive versatility far greater has an ability on their offensive players, because of the versatility as mentioned, and the lack of efficiency noted as well.

- CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Overall, BlackIce has built a great team. But one without the defensive versatility ours possesses, nor the efficiency from every position on the floor. In these competitions, defense, and efficiency wins. If a team wins in both categories, with similarly talented players (in this case, that's the truth with Hakeem/Kareem, and Nash/Isiah), that team is going to prevail. Our better defense, by the numbers, and through our versatility, slightly better rebounding, MUCH more efficient offense, our team should prevail. We have adequate, and multiple options to attack BI's weaknesses, while I feel they don't have those same quality to attack our weaknesses.

As a result, the team I've created should come out the winner, in a close series. Once again BI, may the best team win.

Opponent:Snakebites

Rosters
Price(28)/Williams(20)
Moncrief(35)/Rice(13)
James(30, 10 at PF)/King(12)/Melo(6)
Kemp(28)/Wallace(10, 15 at C)
Yao(25)/Sampson(8)

VS...
Payton/Lever
Allen/Majerle/Petrovic
Bird/Dantley
Williams/Oakley
Mourning/Laimbeer/Divac

Offense: I have players in every position that can score. My backups are capable of dropping 30 if they got the minutes King, Melo, Rice are all known as great scorers. King backing up Lebron will prevent any drop offs when Lebron gets to take a breather there he will have his opportunity to score. Rice is a great part of the team one of the greatest shooters in the league back in his days. A good option to go to when we are in need of scoring. At the PG position i have Price who is a good PG that went un-noticed because the era he played in, he could get to the basket and could shoot a dream of a PG to have next to Lebron. At SG i have Sidney Moncrief a player who could not only play defense but was a cpable of scorer himself averaging at least 20ppg for his career. He could get to the basket with ease and was a pretty good midrange shooter, outside not so much. Then we have Lebron i know he has Bird but i don't think Bird could have held down James-(main scorer/go to guy). At PF we have a good matchup between Buck Williams and Shawn Kemp, Williams being a good defender in his days and Kemp a good athletic player who could score when he got the ball in the right spots and with James and Price handling the ball he'll be able to contribute. At Center i have Yao, and Sampson two tall ass centers with also Sheed being able to play center when we run Small ball. Yao and Sheed are capable of hitting the outside jumper giving Lebron, Moncrief, and Price a chance to drive the lane and get some buckets. Sure they'll have Zo facing a against them but im sure having Zo come out against them while their hitting jumpers would prevent him from blocking many shots.

Defense: My defense is pretty good once you look at it because of all the versatility i have. Will mostly run man to man or if things get a little hectic will probably run a 2-3 zone. Moncrief against Allen will most likely shut him down,back in the days MJ said Moncrief was one of the toughest guys to score on he'd make you work for every point. At PG i have Price who might have a hard time keeping up with "The Glove" I'll let both Williams and Price get their shot at stoping him. At SF its a pretty good matchup between LBJ and Bird a matchup i've always wanted to see. I can see Bird probably having a hard time against Lebron but he'll still get his points with his craftiness. At PF Kemp has another good matchup with Buck Williams who is a good defender but his offense isn't really there all that much. I can see Kemp keeping it even. At Center i have two tall ass centers in Sampson and Yao who might have trouble with Zo and Divac but that's what i have Wallace for. He might be able to prevent them from being that effective.

Opponent:Sambone

Rosters

Price(28)/Williams(20)
Moncrief(35)/Rice(13)
James(30, 10 at PF)/King(12)/Melo(6)
Kemp(28)/Wallace(10, 25 at C)
Yao(15)/Sampson(8)

JASON KIDD (35 ), A.ROBERTSON ( 13 ), MO CHEEKS
REGGIE MILLER ( 33), A.ROBERSTON ( 15 ), ALLAN HOUSTON
JAMES WORTHY ( 20), ALEX ENGLISH ( 18 ), PAUL PRESSEY ( 10 )
CHRIS WEBBER ( 28), BEN WALLACE ( 10), JAMES WORTHY ( 10 )
MOSES MALONE ( 35), BEN WALLACE ( 12), BRAD DAUGHERTY

Offense:
PG:On offense i will start Mark Price at PG to spread the floor for Lebron will also try to run some screens for Price so he can hit that 3 shot. Williams will still get his minutes to play and make some sort of impact in the game he'll penetrate and take it to the basket creating for other dishing it off to Kemp, LBJ, or even Wallace for a Dunk. Even Moncrief for a layup.

SG:On offense i will start Moncrief who has a knack for scoring. Even though not really known for it he is effective and can put you on your back when given the touches. TO back him up will be Glen Rice who might be out of position but will likely just be an outside shooter on the floor so it can be spread for others to take it to the whole and also in case the other team tries to a 2-3 zone.

SF:On offense i believe Lebron James will dominate James Worthy he'll continually take it to the rack against him somehow avoiding all the shotblockers that come his way because that's what he do. lol
The guy on offense can practically do what he wants and its pretty hard to stop him because his jumpshot is starting to round into form so you can't really back off of him like you could before.

PF:On offense Kemp i believe can hold his ground against Webber enough to tire him out. Run some alleyoop plays for him to get the team going. He can take it on Webber to the post continually dishing in and out between him and Price until one of the two can get a good look at the basket.

C:On offense i think Sheed might be pretty hard to stop. Its hard to stop his jumpshot since he shoots it up so high, if anybody can do it it has to be Malone and or Wallace but it still won't be easy. Then i'll put in Yao, and Sampson for limited minutes to give Sheed his rest and hopefully those two can hold it down.

Bench: I have a high scoring bench that can come in and continue the pace the starters were playing at.

Defense:
PG:Williams will handle the task of defending Kidd, and Robertson hopefully he can do good because those two are pretty good, and big. As for Price i'll try to hide him on defense playing a 2-3 zone, and hopefully the Bones Samuels aren't hitting their shots.

SG:Moncrief is one of the best defenders ever in the NBA won the DPOY twice. So i know he will be capable of shutting down Reggie Miller and get under his skin. So Miller will be leveled down to a role player.

SF:Im pretty sure Lebron can hold it down against Worthy without letting him go off on him if he gets tired i still have King, Melo, Rice to come in and take some heat off of Lebron so he can get his rest.

PF:Kemp has the length and athleticism to keep up with Webber, and Wallace we don't really have to worry much about on offense as long as we can box out and stop him from getting Offensive rebounds.

C:Hopefully Wallace, Yao, and Sampson can hold their ground against Malone, and Wallace. I imght have to pray a little for that to happen but im praying as we speak. lol
I know they can at least stand a chance i just hope if they go off on us its not by a lot.

Bench:Have some length and speed that might be able to hold them down some.

Funk Train vs. TMACFORMVP

Good luck to my opponent.

First, the rotations for the Funk Train

John Stockton(36)/Norm Nixon(12)
Brandon Roy(30)/Kirk Hinrich(12)/Jamaal Wilkes(6)
Juilius Erving(36)/Jamaal Wilkes(12)
Jermaine O'Neal(30)/Antonio McDyess(18)
David Robinson(36)/Detlef Schrempf(12)

Offense

John Stockton-"Overrated". "Short shorts". "White". These are all labels that Stockton ignores. Instead, he goes out and performs at his best every game, regardless of the situation. Some people may say that he does not step forward and can't score. Terry Porter will tell you differently. Although he is not Steve Nash, Terry Porter can more than act as the defensive analog. And as defensive analog, Porter can tell you that Stockton's performance fluctuations have almost nothing to do with quality of defense. In our system, Stockton will be free to turn on the scoring switch against Steve Nash, whose defense is weaker than the Isiah Thomas and Terry Porter I've already proved Stockton can perform well against. What gets lost when John Stockton dishes out all those assists is what impact he has on his team. Assists translate directly into field goals made, and with very little turnovers happening, Stockton is orchestrating the offense like a quarterback. The team's field goal percentage when he's on the floor rises. We don't need him to out-duel Nash in points.

KEY STATS: My opponent has claimed that Stockton does worse in the playoffs. With career averages of 13 points and 10 assists in the regular season, I don't see how playoff career averages of 13 points and 10 assists are any worse. As a playoff performer, Stockton has hit his share of game-winners, most notably a three against the 1997 Rockets in a game where he scored all of Utah's last 9 points.

With Jeff Hornacek out of position at the 1 (and a poor record at the position at that), Stockton can take this matchup easily.

Brandon Roy-Roy will look to force a matchup with Ron Artest whenever possible. Ron Artest has never played against a better player than Brandon Roy, and Roy proved it by being the only Portland Trailblazer to raise his game against the Rockets despite being tag-teamed by Ron Artest and Shane Battier. Against contemporaries Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson, Roy does well against both, particularly Joe Johnson, but you can bet that among the pick-setters will be Dr. J, forcing a Roy-Artest matchup.

Julius Erving-Whether Erving is matched up against Artest or Rodman, neither matters. Artest is a lockdown defender, going against one of the greatest off-the-ball superstars in league history. Artest relies on length and strength for his bread and butter. Dr. J negates this with his style of play. Against an out-of-position Rodman, the same holds true. As much of a monster athlete that Rodman is, Erving matched up against the likes of Michael Cooper and came out on top. The speed of 32-year-old Julius Erving is severely underrated by some, and his speed around the court can create problems for the two crackpots guarding him.

Jermaine O'Neal-Against a player like McHale, Jermaine O'Neal flourishes. With an edge in rebounding (again, McHale was with Parish and Bird, but Jermaine O'Neal was in the slowest pace-factors ever, along with Brad Miller and Jeff Foster), and an edge in athleticism, an edge in hardware (more MVP shares in one year than McHale's career), Jermaine O'Neal actually wins this one on paper. McHale won't be able to go in either direction against the ambidextrous O'Neal, while Jermaine finds the one opponent he can flat-out dominate: a weaker one. O'Neal excels with the strength advantage, being able to actually post McHale up and going up with either hand for the finish, which makes him that much harder to guard, and the FG% for him goes up. Jermaine O'Neal will not play against Rodman.

David Robinson-Again, David Robinson is not going to get dominated by anybody. He and Kareem share distinctions. They are the only players to own a scoring title, a rebounding title, and a blocks title. Both can score. Robinson has a better assist/turnover ratio. Robinson holds an edge in youth and athleticism, and faces a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that, while still formidable, is no longer the dominating center in the league. With a speed and strength advantage inside, it's a matchup that belongs to David Robinson.

KEY STATS: My opponent states that David Robinson is a bad playoff performer, based on decreased stats. The exact same can be said of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His career playoff averages are also lower. Another statistical aspect that my opponent neglects to mention in his writeup is that 20+% of David Robinson's sample size (23 out of 123 games) is in his last season with San Antonio. As for his "poor" playoff performance, one only needs to know that in the first year I've selected, Robinson led the league in FG% in the playoffs and rebounds per game. Also, across his playoff career he has led the league in defensive win shares twice, and defensive rating 5 times.

So, it is not an advantage in the direction of Kareem like my opponent says, but rather the opposite. For the three-year peak selected, David Robinson holds an advantage in both statistical performance (including more advanced metrics) and better physicality.

Norm Nixon-Against Steve Nash, he'll have the opportunity to drive every time. Same goes for Jeff Hornacek, who statistically does not match up well to a natural point guard in Norm Nixon.

Kirk Hinrich-As unorthodox as his placement here is, he can stretch the floor and provide great distribution for the rest of the second unit. In games against fellow backup Joe Johnson, Kirk Hinrich shoots efficiently, and dishes out 5.5 assists per game.

Jamaal Wilkes-After doing some research, Jamaal Wilkes was a guard-forward, a typical swingman. Playing SF for the second unit, he will be able to stretch defenses sideways with his baseline jumper and his off-the-ball play will enable great ball movement and keep the defense on its toes. This continues the defensive negation on Artest and Rodman that Dr. J started.

Antonio McDyess-Antonio McDyess will go toe-to-toe with Dennis Rodman. Antonio McDyess is not affected by Rodman's play.

KEY STATS: Across 6 matchups BEFORE the years that I've selected for McDyess (before his prime) against the Bulls and Rodman (checking to make sure both of them were playing the lion's share of minutes at PF, and they were), McDyess comes up with 46-85 shooting (.541). That kind of efficiency from a young, less savvy McDyess against an older, past-prime Rodman doesn't determine the matchup, but in both cases both are 3 years away from their primes, which isn't too crazy to speculate that McDyess' offense is going to be fine against Rodman.

Detlef Schrempf-Will not be in the game guarding Kareem or Ruland, but rather Rodman. On offense, he'll be forcing the opposing center out onto the perimeter. With a deadly accurate three-pointer, he'll have to be accounted for, allowing for the rest of our bench to win the battle of depth.

Strategy-We're looking to once again take advantage of the lack of point guard defense my opponent can play. The pick-and-roll run with David Robinson and John Stockton will reveal Nash's deficiencies. With open looks, Stockton will be able to find a cutter/roller or fire up his own shot, which is no less efficient than Nash's shot. The bench also holds a superior edge in scoring and passing. My team takes care of the ball, and with Stockton able to find his guys, the offense will not have much trouble finding its shot. My players will find themselves in good positions to score because of the motion offense. The positional matchup that decides it is not the center matchup, but the disparity in point guard performance.


Maybe, she'll be more naked if you keep reading.

Defense

Steve Nash-This Canadian guy is great. However, in games where he attempts more than 20 field goals, his teams are 5-9. Stockton does not stop opposing PG's scoring completely. In terms of lockdown defense, he will do a sufficient job to make Nash work for his points. His effect really shines through in his passing lane defense. Stockton significantly lowered his opponent's assist/turnover ratio (across a sample of 30-something games in 1989, I saw that he lowered the average ratio from 3.2 to 2.7 against PG's ranging from Sleepy Floyd to Muggsy Bogues to Isiah Thomas). Immediately following this is a rise in FG attempts for the opposing point guard. When this happens, offense stagnates, and this cannot be sustained as an efficient way of victory. But man-to-man, Stockton has become a bit underrated, and he also accomplishes holding opposing PG's to a FG% lower than their averages. Overall, he was an opposing point's nightmare.

Dwyane Wade-Dr. J is another defender known for clogging up passing lanes, but many people forget the swarming defense he played against the likes of Larry Bird and Clyde Drexler. The Flash has a plethora of acrobatic skills, but with shotblockers enforcing the inside and Dr. J shadowing him around the court, Wade will have to become a jump-shooter/isolation player, once again contributing to a stagnant offense. Against Brandon Roy and Portland Wade shoots under 50%, and if you take out the rookie season where Roy didn't play much against Wade in the two meetings, Roy is holding Wade to 46% shooting, three points below his average of 49%.

Ron Artest-Brandon Roy will spend more time on Ron Artest, just like in the Houston-Portland playoff matchup, where Ron Artest shot 41% against Roy's defense. Roy, when focusing in on one player, becomes a good defender, and Ron Artest tries to do too much sometimes.

Kevin McHale-Jermaine O'Neal might not currently be a name that strikes fear into the hearts of opposing post players, but in his prime days, his agility and ability to defend either side of the basket really made him a defensive force inside. McHale had a straight-arm jump shot and a few post moves that an athletic Jermaine O'Neal would not be fazed by. Since the best defender usually checked Bird and attention also went to Parish, McHale had a lot of leeway inside, but against teams with a frontcourt to match (for example Erving, Barkley, Malone) McHale was not nearly as efficient, also losing offensive touches. Erving, Jermaine O'Neal, and Robinson are just as good, if not better, of an offensive frontcourt.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-The efficiency of Kareem cannot be ignored. However, our team is equipped to handle this by limiting his touches. Robinson will be denying Kareem the ball and denying him good position. If Kareem does get the ball, Robinson still has the defensive dominance to make Kareem work hard for every shot and skyhook. The Admiral was just as dominant as a past-prime Kareem (and mind you, Kareem had it a little easier with a tremendous supporting cast) on both ends of the court, and with passing lanes to the inside patrolled by Stockton and Dr. J, getting the ball inside will be a challenge.

Jeff Hornacek-Out of position at PG, Hornacek is a nice distributor, but Norm Nixon will have him clamped.

Joe Johnson-Brandon Roy has shown the ability to bottle up Joe Johnson. Kirk Hinrich is no different, able to hound the best closers on a team.

Dennis Rodman-He will be kept outside of 5 feet from the basket, it's going to be okay. Detlef Schrempf will guard him.

Jeff Ruland-He will be guarded by McDyess while Schrempf switches to Rodman. Ruland played many inefficient minutes and was turnover-prone, which my playmaking defense really likes. He may have put up numbers, but McDyess will be able to stifle him and his brittle feet.

Strategy-With Nash more of a scorer than a distributor, the offense won't get enough touches for the post players to really get the offense going. Nash needs fastbreaks and speed to spread the ball around, and when it doesn't happen, he forces some offense (very well, but not exactly good for the team). My defense can more than match the activity of their starting lineup, which makes it difficult to move the ball when everyone's covered tightly. Contrary to my opponent's writeup, my team is the one that holds the rebounding edge down all 10 men, especially with Rodman playing off the bench defending perimeter players. We will focus on denying ball movement and locking down the paint. We will not deny the ball from Ron Artest.

Playmaking on defense is still an emphasis. My team causes much more turnovers, and will get more possessions between the rebounding edge and the playmaking defense.

Final Points

If you look at our benches, we have the more balanced (offensively and defensively) bench with Norm Nixon, Kirk Hinrich, Jamaal Wilkes, Detlef Schrempf, and Antonio McDyess. There is enough firepower there to continue the scoring for all 48 minutes of the game, whereas my opponent has to make concessions when using a specialist like Dennis Rodman. Also, team chemistry is a lot better on the Funk Train.

The Stockton vs. Nash matchup is the key because they are the integral parts of the offense. Stockton gets Nash numbers in slower paces. Nash has to slow down for Kareem, which has proven to be an iffy fit with Shaquille O'Neal. Overall, my team fits together better, and while individually my players may be weaker, they complement each other in a way that patches up all the holes. I have a more active defense, and with playmakers on both sides of the court, the well-oiled machine is what we've achieved and will give us the victory.

THE BONED SAMUELS

GAME 2:
ROTATION (vs Snakebites ) * may change depending on matchup

PG- JASON KIDD (33 ), A.ROBERTSON ( 10 ), MO CHEEKS ( 5)
SG- REGGIE MILLER ( 33), A.ROBERSTON ( 15 ), ALLAN HOUSTON
SF- JAMES WORTHY ( 23), ALEX ENGLISH ( 25), PAUL PRESSEY
PF- CHRIS WEBBER ( 30), BEN WALLACE ( 10), JAMES WORTHY ( 8)
C – MOSES MALONE ( 33), BEN WALLACE ( 10), BRAD DAUGHERTY ( 5)


VS…………
Payton/Lever
Allen/Majerle/Petrovic
Bird/Dantley
Williams/Oakley
Mourning/Laimbeer/Divac


Offensively: We feel that our offense can score with anybody. We have a great playmaker in JKidd, a hell of a passing point forward in CWebb, and one of the best closers in the game in Reggie Miller. Not to mention our BEAST Moses who basically averages 28 ppg during this time period. Add to that, one of the best glue players in NBA history in James Worthy. Most of our bench scoring will come from multi time Scoring Champ Alex English and Mr Quadruple double and match up nightmare Alvin Robertson.

Some keys to this match up:

We will make them beat us inside first. We believe the big man tandem of Webber/Malone can do some work against them. While they do have bigs that will play defense, the offensive abilities of our bigs- Moses' scoring, Webbers passing- should be able to work on the offensive end. IF they are able to slow us down down low, Moses and Webber are both guys willing to crash the glass to get us second opportunities.

Kidd and Payton have had many matchups against each other, and Payton has not shown the ability to stop Kidd's passing (averages 10.1 apg against him).

Reggie Miller is paired up against one of my opponent's worse defensive players, and should be able to have his way with him (averaging over 20 ppg in their RL match ups). He will certainly be looked to in clutch situations, where we believe he gives us the best chance for success.

We believe that our team philosophy, combined with great passing, a big man down low, and one of the best outside threats of all time, will help us prevail on offense.


Defensively: Once again we will be playing man to man. While my opponent is right, that one man would be hard pressed to cover Bird, our help defense and in particular, our big men, will do a fantastic job to slow him down as much as possible. Chris Webber and Ben Wallace will be counted on the defensive end to help with Bird. This shouldn't be a huge problem since their opponent isn't a big offensive threat. As more insurance, we have a great defender and rebounder behind all that in Moses Malone. If the situation presents itself, would could also use Paul Pressey to cover Larry Bird. On the back court side of things, we feel the great defense of Kidd will be fine on Payton. We also have a great defensive backup in Alvin Robertson. Rebounding-wise, we hold a great advantage over our opponent. Moses and Webber are both dominant on the boards, and we have the best rebounding guard of all time in Kidd. Our communication and teamwork will be key on the defensive side of the ball. Luckily, we have the players that know how to accomplish that. Each knows that a good defense can not be done by one man, but as one unit.

Overall: This match up will certainly be a grind-it-out style with both teams committed to defense. The Boned Samuels hold advantages in defense, rebounding, passing, and shooting. While the opponent may have the best player (and in most match ups, he will), we believe we have the better overall team.

Hopefully this post will contain my full writeup by the end of the night.

Snakebites vs Sam Bone

Payton (35)/Lever (13)
Allen (33)/Majerle (10)/Dantley (5)
Bird (26)/Dantley (16)/Majerle (6)
Williams (36)/Bird (12)
Mourning (34)/Laimbeer (14)

PG- JASON KIDD (33 ), A.ROBERTSON ( 10 ), MO CHEEKS ( 5)
SG- REGGIE MILLER ( 33), A.ROBERSTON ( 15 ), ALLAN HOUSTON
SF- JAMES WORTHY ( 23), ALEX ENGLISH ( 25), PAUL PRESSEY
PF- CHRIS WEBBER ( 30), BEN WALLACE ( 10), JAMES WORTHY ( 8)
C – MOSES MALONE ( 33), BEN WALLACE ( 10), BRAD DAUGHERTY ( 5)

Offensive:

Two words: Larry Bird. Our offense will normally run through our versatile franchise player regardless of who's on the other side, but we will be looking to him even more so in this particular matchup. I dont see any legitimate options on this team to man up against Larry Bird, particularly not with James Worthy and Alex English logging in the minutes at small forward. Larry Bird will be able to get pretty much any shot he wants from almost any position throughout the night. Even if Paul Pressey were playing, the help defense from other positions necessary to guard someone with the all round abilities of Larry Bird. He'll be free to initiate offense for himself and others all night long, and he's surrounded by a diverse enough set of scorers to be able to anchor an extremely effective offense. Frankly, I think the rebounding advantage enjoyed by this team on the heels of Moses Malone will be partially negated by my efficient offense.

Defensive:

Defensively, while they do have a diverse set of offensive skillsets to work with, but I don't see a true go to scorer there who clearly wins his own matchup. Moses Malone was a prolific and efficient scorer, but he wasn't noted for having a particularly the versatile offensive tool set needed to be a true "go to scorer' in these games, particularly not with a similarly sized and great defensive center to go toe to toe with him much of the time he's out there. Chris Webber's inability to be a go to guy in the clutch is well documented, and he's well covered as well. Jason Kidd is where the offense will have to be initiated, but with Gary Payton hounding him every step of the way he will struggle to kick the ball in to Moses or Chris, or, by that same token, out to Reggie Miller. Reggie Miller is his most reputable clutch scorer, and while I can't really argue we can stop him with our man to man defensive plan (Reggie makes the zone less than ideal in this matchup), we can argue that he'll be largely canceled out by his counterpart, Ray Allen. Ultimately, the Boned Samuels, while talented, just don't have that one great matchup to exploit that will be enough to reduce my upper hand.

Overall: We feel we match up very well with this team defensively and offensively, and the best player in this series is without the defensive capacity to diminish him. These, coupled with our trademark balance both in the starting lineup and the bench, will ultimately be too much to handle for our opponent.

All In The Name vs. bness888

Terry Porter (31) / Jason Terry (12) / Michael Cooper (5)
Michael Cooper (20) / Manu Ginobili (28)
Grant Hill (30) / Bruce Bowen (18)
Kevin Garnett (41) / Clifford Robinson (7)
Shaquille O'Neal (41) / Arvydas Sabonis (7)

vs.

PG: Tony Parker (35) / Jalen Rose (8) / Sam Cassell (5)
SG: Michael Jordan (40) / Latrell Sprewell (8)
SF: Paul Pierce (30) / Shawn Marion (18)
PF: Amar'e Stoudemire (24) / Dwight Howard (18) / Kenyon Martin (4) / Robert Horry (2)
C: Dwight Howard (18) / Marcus Camby (26) / Kenyon Martin (4)

Note: Since bness888 has not yet indicated which seasons he is using for each player, all stats attributed to any of these players will be career stats, unless noted otherwise.

Many of the things I wrote in the matchup against CellarDoor apply against bness888, as well. With that in mind, I will make some points relevant to this specific matchup.

Rebounding

Here are each starter's rebounds per game, rebounds per 36 minutes, and TRB%, respectively, in the years selected:

Porter: 3.5, 3.7, 5.6
Cooper: 3.2, 4.1, 6.5
Hill: 8.8, 7.9, 13.3
Garnett: 13.6, 12.5, 19.7
O'Neal: 12.4, 11.6, 17.6

Parker: 3.1, 3.4, 5.5
Jordan: 6.2, 5.9, 9.4
Pierce: 6.2, 6.0, 9.7
Stoudemire: 8.9, 9.4, 14.7
Howard: 12.6, 12.7, 20.6

It is tough to imagine a team with Dwight Howard being dominated on the glass, but my team will win the rebounding battle handily. On the surface, it might seem as if the rebounding will be fairly even. I appear to have clear rebounding edges at SF and PF, bness888 appears to have clear edges at SG and C, and PG appears to be fairly even. When the numbers are looked at more closely, though, my starting 5 is clearly the superior rebounding unit.

Basketball-reference does not seem to have box scores prior to the 1986-87 season, but, from this point on, Cooper and Jordan faced each other 7 times. In these contests, Cooper averaged 4.0 rebounds per 36 minutes, while Jordan averaged 4.9 per 36. As I alluded to in my other matchup, Manu is an even better rebounder than Cooper and will play more SG than him, too. So bness888's rebounding advantage at SG is not a large one.

Through the 2002-03 season, Grant Hill averaged at least 6.3 RPG every year. From this point on, though, his rebounding numbers took a steep drop, never averaging more than 5.0 RPG (with the exception of this season, which is still young). So when examining head-to-head matchups with Paul Pierce to determine who would grab more rebounds, I think it's only fair that we disregard games after 2002-03. In doing so, we find that, in 7 games, Hill averaged 9.9 RPG to Pierce's 6.6. And this doesn't even include games during Hill's rebounding prime (which I am using), as Pierce was not yet in the league. During the seasons in which these 7 games took place, Hill averaged 6.9 RPG, 6.9 rebounds per 36 minutes, and had a TRB% of 11.4. Each of these figures are clear downgrades from the time period I am using, so Hill would clearly hold a significant rebounding edge over Pierce during his prime.

The power forward position is where I really pull ahead. Now, bness888 indicated that Dwight Howard will play about 18 MPG at PF, and, if KG is in during this time, neither side would really have a rebounding advantage. But during the 24 MPG that Amar'e is in, KG would absolutely dominate the matchup. In 18 career games, KG has averaged 13.3 RPG to Stoudemire's 6.7. And during the 11 games in my selected seasons for KG, Garnett averaged 15.5 RPG while Amar'e averaged 7.5 RPG. Simply put, Amar'e is a very mediocre rebounder, while Garnett is an epic rebounder. I have a huge edge at PF.

At center, Dwight Howard and Marcus Camby will both see a lot of playing time for bness888. They are fairly similar in terms of rebounding. Both are very good, and are accustomed to easily winning the rebounding battle against their opposing center each game. Against Shaq, though, this will not be the case. Shaq was past his prime (although still very good) when Dwight first came into the league. Still, in 8 career matchups, Shaq has held his own in terms of rebounding, averaging 8.8 rebounds per 36 minutes to Dwight's 10.4. Against Camby, Shaq holds the per game edge while Camby has averaged more boards per 36 minutes. The fact of the matter is, though, Shaq will not be dominated on the glass, and, considering the magnitude of these games, could very easily find a way to outrebound the opposing center.

So, after looking at the rebounding matchups more closely, PG is basically even (although I have a very slight edge), bness888 has an edge at SG (but not by that much), I have a significant edge at SF, I have a gigantic edge at PF, and bness888 has a slight edge at C. Overall, 3 of the 5 matchups are fairly close, while I enjoy significant advantages in the other 2.

Offense

Offensively, my frontcourt will dominate the matchup. Now, as I stated before, prime Shaq never faced Dwight head-to-head. Still, in 8 matchups, Shaq has scored more points than his season average in 5 of them. He has also shot 61.1% from the field. Keep in mind that, while Dwight is a great help defender and a very good post defender, he does struggle against Yao Ming, due in large part to Yao's strength and length. Shaq is not as tall as Yao, but he is still a legitimate 7'1” and arguably the strongest player in league history. Dwight Howard will have a lot of trouble guarding Shaq.

My opponent also indicated that Marcus Camby will play about 26 MPG. Now, Camby is a very good shot-blocker but is in no way a good post defender. Shaq only played Camby 3 times in his selected seasons, but he scored 43, 34, and 31 points in those games. Shaq will have a field day in the low post.

Other than Howard and Camby, the only player in bness888's rotation playing more than 8 MPG at power forward and/or center is Amar'e. Again, this is a great matchup for me. Amar'e is a poor defender and an especially bad man defender. In 18 career games against him, KG has averaged 25.3 PPG on 55.2% shooting.

I'd imagine Jordan will primarily defend Grant Hill. If so, Jordan will have to expend a lot of energy on the defensive end (this also applies if Jordan guards Manu off the bench). Plus, as I showed in the previous matchup, Hill will produce against any defender. If Pierce guards him, Hill should be able to have some huge games. Pierce is a decent defender, but he's somewhat slow on the perimeter. Hill's explosiveness should allow him to get to the rim frequently, where he is a great finisher. And even if bness888's bigs are able to contest, Hill is a great passer who will dump it off to Shaq or KG or kick it out to an open shooter.

Defense

We will usually play straight up man-to-man, but we will occasionally play zone defense or perhaps even double team Jordan.

I have slightly increased the minutes of Cooper and Bowen for this matchup. Obviously, our primary focus will be making sure Jordan does not dominate offensively. We know we probably won't shut him down, but if we can slow him down, we really like our chances of winning this matchup.

We are confident that we can slow Jordan for a number of reasons. First of all, we have two of the greatest perimeter defenders of all time in Cooper and Bowen up to the task of guarding him. Additionally, a player like Jordan is most effective when he's got shooters around him, but, in this case, he does not. Of all the players on bness888's team playing double digit minutes per game, none shoot 37%+ from 3-point land and only Paul Pierce averages 1 or more made 3-pointers per game. Even if Jordan is able to get to the paint, we will be able to help and leave shooters open without fear of them knocking down treys. And with Shaq manning the point, it will be a challenge even for MJ to finish drives.

Pierce is a very dangerous offensive player, but he too will often be guarded by Cooper or Bowen. In 48 career games against Bowen, Pierce has only averaged 18.8 PPG and 2.3 APG on 44.3% shooting. These are all downgrades for him, and the first two are fairly significant decreases.

Parker is very good at getting into the paint, but, again, this is not a good matchup for him. With guys like KG and Shaq in the interior and a lack of spacing, Parker's offensive production will take a hit.

Finally, we are not too worried about bness888's big men, Amar'e, Dwight, and Camby. While the first two are great finishers, they will have a very difficult time creating offense against KG and Shaq. Plus, Dwight also struggles offensively against big, physical centers. In 8 games against Shaq, he has only averaged 14.8 PPG and less than 1 assist per game (neither he nor Amar'e is a good passer). Not able to create for themselves or others, Amar'e and Dwight will not put up huge numbers or contribute greatly offensively.

With our rebounding advantage and our favorable matchups both offensively and defensively, we believe we will be able to win the series, even with Jordan on the opposing squad.

vs. Miller4ever

I'm gonna go with a shorter writeup this time around, just hit some of the key points, and address other points in the case of a rebuttal.

Best of luck Miller, you've built a great team, and may the best team win.

Let's face it, Miller's team is well constructed, but the two players that can beat you in terms of scoring the ball are David Robinson, and Julius Erving. I'm a big Robinson fan, but even the biggest of fans cannot argue against the fact his statistics go down across the board when the playoffs come around. The same is the case with John Stockton, two players that perennially are worse in the playoffs, thus the reasons both, as all-stars weren't able to lead their team to the most prized possession, an NBA Championship.

Erving doesn't fall into that category, but he wasn't one to completely explode for 50 in any given series. His ability to score within the offense was his greatest quality, while impacting it in other areas. With Rodman, and Artest at SF though, we feel we're fully equipped to defend the opposing teams perimeter players with as much efficiency as any other team in the league. Roy isn't starters material in this competition, one could argue, he's the third best SG right now behind Wade, but considering this season doesn't count, you'd have to use Roy's rookie season. In all aspects of the game, Wade is still better, more explosive and efficient scorer, a better rebounder, better passer, and considerably better weakside defensively.

Like Roy, the same applies for McDyess. He just isn't up to the level of quality compared to the other starters in this league. He'll have his hands full having to guard McHale, who's one of the top offensive PF's of all time, but also an elite All-NBA defender. Like the Wade matchup, in every aspect of the game, we're confident McHale should be able to dominate. If it's the case of O'neal starting, it's pretty much the same case, McHale being better in every aspect of the game.

Kareem v. Robinson is an edge towards us. I'm not a believer in positional matchups towards winning competitions, but because this will primarily straight up, it might be the best method in deciphering the edge. Considering Robinson's play in the post-season, and the fact that Kareem is the better player offensively, and similarly defensively, we're confident with Kareem's ability to play him straight up, while score on him efficiently as well.

In terms of rebounding, we have the edge. Their frontcourt is good, in terms of starters, but if it's comparable in that regard, we have the best rebounder in the game coming off the bench for 30 minutes in Dennis Rodman.

Stockton is overrated. I've been known as a Stockton hater, but in these sort of competitions, in terms of a three year peak, he's nothing special. He's known as a "legend," because of his ridiculous longevity. Unfortunately in this case, that's not the same story. His defense has always been overrated, he was good in the passing lanes, but he never actually stopped his opponenets. The series in which Terry Porter averaged 30 points per game against him, killed any thought towards Stockton being a lock down defender.

In this three year peak, Nash is just as good, they're comparable passers, but Nash is the more explosive scorer, on even better efficiency. Granted, Stockton is still better defensively, the difference between them, makes it almost equal.

We'll play man to man, and have the edge at every position both offensively and defensively, except at SF. It's even at PG, though they're better at that position defensively, while we're better than them defensively at SF. Off the bench, Schrempf wasn't a center, Nixon was alright, Hinrich shouldn't be a rotation player, and only Wilkes/McDyess are the solid contributors. Schrempf guarding either Kareem, or Ruland will be a mis-match for the whatever 10 minutes he's in the game. Off our bench, we have Ray Richardson for defensive purposes, Johnson who provides shooting, and Rodman, who might be the most versatile defender to have ever played, and the best rebounder in this game.

Defensively, Robinson, Stockton, Erving, Roy, O'neal, Hinrich and Wilkes is solid, but Kareem, McHale, Rodman, Artest, Wade, and Ray Richardson are better.

Offensively, Robinson, Stockton's efficiency drop despite the defense. With our defense, it's expected to be even more efficient against them. Wade, and McHale will have his way, Robinson won't affect Kareem all too much, Stockton being overrated defensively, we feel Nash will have his normal numbers as well. Erving will be a problem, and he'll do whatever he pleases, but we're in a better situation than most with Artest and Rodman.

More efficient offense, a better defense, more dominant rebounding, and a better ability to take advantage of Miller's weaknesses, than their ability to affect our weaknesses, that's what makes us feel we'll come out on top.

Best of luck Miller. I know the writeup is crappy, but I'll address more in a rebuttal if must be.

CellarDoor wrote:The team will work with a few main plays: a pick'n Pop featuring both Ewing and Dirk at times with Billups and Drexler who was a good passer. What this does for my team is forces Porter to either fight over the screen, leave Billups open for a jumper, or have KG/Shaq switch onto him leaving Dirk and Ewing with huge mismatches.

Porter was a very good defender and hard worker and will fight over the screen if need be. And while Shaq is not a good pick-and-roll defender, he wasn't a major liability in this area during his peak. He was more agile then. As for prime KG, his length, agility, and great footwork allowed him to be an amazing pick-and-roll defender. He was great at hedging screens and quickly recovering to guard his man.

CellarDoor wrote:We'll also give the ball to Ewing and let him work against Shaq where he had very nice success in his selected years on what was probably the most defensively motivated Shaq we've ever seen.

Even during his prime, Ewing really wasn't that successful against Shaq, as I showed in my writeup. Yes, Ewing scored a lot of points (26.8 per game) but it took him 23.8 shots to do it, and he only shot 46.5% from the field (very poor for a top big man). In fact, in 26 career games against Shaq, Ewing shot 44.4% and only shot over 50% in a game 6 times.

CellarDoor wrote:Defending Porter isn't an issue. Around 1/3 of his shots and 40% of his points came from the 3pt line. Billups knows the book on him and unless Shaq REALLY started getting off, you're not going to see much help from him.

I wouldn't say that defending Porter is not an issue. Yes, Porter took a lot of threes, but he was a fantastic shooter. As you know, he was a similar player to Billups, and Porter could dominate a game or playoff series. In fact, in the 1992 playoffs (one of my selected seasons for Porter), Porter had two consecutive playoff series with the following statlines:

Against Phoenix (5 games): 25.8 PPG, 8.4 APG, 5.6 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 54.3 FG%, 41.2 3P%, 1.4 3-pointers made per game, 81.0 FT%

Against Utah (6 games): 26.0 PPG, 8.3 APG, 4.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 54.8 FG%, 52.9 3P%, 3.0 3-pointers made per game, 85.2 FT%

Those are superstar numbers. Porter was a very underrated player. Now, as a 4th/5th option (4th in the starting lineup, but probably 5th when you consider Manu), his scoring will go down, but his efficiency will go up. And considering his remarkable efficiency as is (47.5 / 40.8 / 80.1), that's scary. Billups is a very good defender, but Porter can hurt you regardless of whether or not Billups is helping off him.

And, by the way, in the selected seasons, 30.9% of Porter's shots were threes, while 41.2% of Billups' shots were threes. Plus, Porter had a higher three-point percentage.

CellarDoor wrote:Cooper won't be an issue at all. He's never been a starter and never played starters minutes. And regardless who is on the floor he's going to have to be on his game defensively to even hope to contain Gervin and Drexler. He'll be a spot up shooter, and one with weak legs at that. He was never a consistent shooter to begin with, so you'll see any help D mainly coming off of him.

Cooper will be playing 25 MPG, so he should be relatively fresh. And while he's certainly not a dominant offensive player, he is very good at what I'm asking him to do: shoot and pass.

In his seasons, Cooper averaged 0.9 made 3-pointers per game (1.2 per 36 minutes) on 36.5% shooting from downtown. In his time, those were great numbers. In fact, only four players in the entire league made more 3-pointers over those three seasons than Cooper. Cooper was also an excellent passer, averaging 6.4 assists per 36 minutes.

CellarDoor wrote:KG isn't and doesn't want to be a primary scorer, so while he'll get his, it won't be such a disparity as to make up for his general lack of bench scorers.

As I showed in my writeup, KG is a great offensive player and perfect fit next to Shaq, plus he had great success against Dirk.

As for my bench, I don't see how that is an issue. Most of my starters are capable of playing big minutes, so my only bench players seeing double digit minutes are Jason Terry, Manu Ginobili, and Bruce Bowen. With the outstanding offense of my starters, bench scoring isn't really that big a need, but I have very good bench scoring anyways.

Bowen, admittedly, is not a great scorer, but Terry and Manu certainly are. They are both extremely efficient scorers. Scoring stats during their selected seasons:

Terry: 15.4 PPG (16.6 points per 36 minutes), 81.4 FT%, 42.3 3P%, 1.8 made 3-pointers per game, 81.4 FT%

Manu: 17.1 PPG (21.4 points per 36 minutes), 46.2 FG%, 83.5 FT%, 39.5 3P%, 1.7 made 3-pointers per game, 83.5 FT%

I'm not sure how you can think I have a lack of bench scoring. Now, I realize that most of them won't be seeing their usual minutes, but, still, 6 of my 7 bench players averaged double digit points and 4 of them averaged 14.7 PPG or more. How is that a lack of bench scoring?

CellarDoor wrote:The one thing I can do is look over his career numbers against Ewing. Obviously we're not talking his absolute peak, but Shaq pretty much just got his averages with slightly lower rebounding numbers over the years.

During your selected seasons for Ewing, Shaq and Ewing faced each other 12 times. Keep in mind this was a pre-prime Shaq. Still, he averaged 31.4 PPG, 12.1 RPG, and 2.7 APG with a 58.8 FG% and a 58.8 TS%. These numbers are all upgrades from Shaq's regular season averages, with the exception of TS% (which was 59.0, so it's basically a wash). And while he may not have put up 40/20 against Ewing, Shaq had games of 37/17, 30/16, 41/17, 38/10, 41/15, 41/10, 43/10, 34/12, and 38/18 against him (and many other great ones). Again, Ewing is a great defender, but peak Shaq simply will not be stopped.

Matchup #1: Teddy KGB vs. bryant08

Artis Gilmore (32) - Jack Sikma (16)
Karl Malone (34) - Jack Sikma (14)
Vince Carter (28) - Eddie Jones (20)
Joe Dumars (32) - Dale Ellis (16)
Magic Johnson (34) - Mookie Blaylock (14)

vs.

T Duncan/M Eaton/C Bosh
C Barkley/L Nance/C Bosh
C Mullin/P Stojakovic/R McCray
A Hardaway/A Iverson/R McCray
C Paul/T Hardaway/A Iverson

Teddy KGB went out and built a solid team starting from up top and worked his way down to his guards. I'm going to keep this one short and powerful. Let's break down his strengths:

- Scoring at all positions
- Ability to score different ways (slashing, post play, shooting)
- Fast break
- Good defense from the 1 and 5 spots
- Solid rebounding

My team is more focused on solid defense, with the offense running around Magic/Malone and guys who have a nice shooting touch as well as the ability to make the extra pass, or slash themselves if necessary. Artis Gilmore provides the easy buckets off putbacks and such inside the post. I feel I've got the remedy to any problems Teddy's team may create for mine, I've also got the playoff experience to put a team that has just ONE NBA CHAMPION (Time Duncan) on the roster. Teddy KGB's weaknesses include:

- Defense from the perimeter, at the 4 spot (starters and bench)
- Lack of efficiency off the bench
- Issues with chemistry
- Issues with experience
- Players that struggle off the ball

Struggling in terms of perimeter defense is an instant problem, and the major issue for him will be who to put on Magic Johnson. Assuming Paul is left on Magic, he'll be getting destroyed by constant back-downs and Magic getting under his skin with his size (like he did so many PGs over the years). Chris Mullin and Penny Hardaway will have a tough time with the likes of Vince Carter and Joe Dumars who space the floor well and can create for themselves. Karl Malone is trouble inside and if he decides to switch with Duncan on him, Artis Gilmore becomes a factor inside. I beileve I have advantages across the board here to ensure a victory, and the talent differential will be too large for him to overcome. Half-court play, defense and rebounding are all in my favour.

Matchup #2: Baller 24 vs. bryant08

Artis Gilmore (32) - Jack Sikma (16)
Karl Malone (34) - Jack Sikma (14)
Vince Carter (28) - Eddie Jones (20)
Joe Dumars (32) - Dale Ellis (16)
Magic Johnson (34) - Mookie Blaylock (14)

vs.

Lineup:
C: Mutombo
F: Gasol
F: McGrady
G: Bryant
G: Johnson

I like this matchup, it'd be a very fun one to watch and Baller has put out a team that looks pretty solid on paper. I want to clarify some misconceptions right now:

- Yeah, DJ gave him the name Tragic. Yeah, Magic thought he was one tough (possibly the toughest) defender he's ever faced. No, Magic Johnson can never be truly shut down. We're talking about him getting shut down while averaging 18/13.5/6.6 (off 55%) over the course of the playoffs in that 83-84 year. Dennis gave him a hard time, Magic made some mistakes in that series and they lost it. Looking ahead in their careers though, Magic was never impacted negatively when going up against DJ. They played 7 games after the 86-87 season head to head, and the Lakers won 6 (lost 1) with Magic putting up 26.7 points, 12.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals off 50% FG. Dennis is a good option to not allow Magic to take over games, but he won't be able to stop him.
- Tracy McGrady is not Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant is not Michael Jordan. It's a good fantasy to have a wing combo that resembles Scottie/MJ in size, with a combo that also has great talent, but it simply isn't at that leve. The two are just not the defenders the Bulls pair were and in the case of T-Mac, lacks consistency and big game experience. Both T-Mac and Kobe like to operate from the perimeter, each having occasional back-downs, but Joe Dumars is my elite defender as Dennis Johnson is his. Dumars will give Kobe all the trouble in the world with his level of intensity and tenacity on the defensive end. I'd Kobe's going to hurt me, he better be hitting heavily contested jumpers over the arms of Dumars.
- Vince Carter won't get dominated by Tracy McGrady. Carter has the quickness and athleticism to keep McGrady in check and we're looking at very early Vince Carter, a motivated, fiery young athlete without injury concerns weighing him down. I think VC can go at McGrady on offense as well personally.
- Gilmore/Malone drop significantly in the playoffs. Gilmore's FG% drops to an absolutely pathetic 57% (oh noez!). But looking at Gilmore's stats, you'll see he's weighed down by his performances at a later age, where he was less effective. Gilmore is in the game to do the dirty work and just finish around the bucket. I don't need much else from him. Malone's FG% dropped as well, but I expect with Magic and the other playmaking options around him, he'll be getting plenty of high % looks.

My offense doesn't really change based on the opponent. It relies on Magic Johnson and his ability to create and cause the defense various problems, leading to switches/different defenders on him, eventually mismatches. Even with Dennis Johnson on him, Magic will get create opportunities, he's just that special of a player. Having the best offensive PF in history is a huge help and I look to exploit the Gasol-Malone matchup to the absolute maximum. No way Gasol can handle that physical presence inside, especially when Malone is a threat from mid-range as well. Dumars/VC add some outside shooting and solid playmaking ability and off the bench I've got more shooting and defensive options.

In terms of my defense, Mutombo isn't a threat at all, so I'm not worried about him. Gasol is going to be going up against Malone, who in his best years was a massively intimidating man defender, in case he needs help, Gilmore is an elite help defender. Looking at the 2-3 where Baller's strengths are, Dumars is going to give Kobe a hard time as I mentioned. No doubt about it, Kobe will likely score some points, but Dumars is not going to let him get clean looks. I just don't think Tracy McGrady can exploit Vince Carter to the point where it largely affects this series. They've had some closely contested battles over the years (I admit T-Mac has had a slight upper hand), but IMO it won't be a large enough advantage to impact the outcome of these ball games. Finally, I'm not too worried about Dennis Johnson, which allows Magic to actually defend the opposition's PG. He can bite for steals and try and create turnovers to initiate the fastbreak.

Baller has built a really solid team, I look forward to seeing how this one plays out, although I'm very confident my talent level, ability to execute on offense and contain his major threats on defense will get me the win here.

Western Conference

Group 1

Snakebites Vs jcldallas24

There is quite a bit of scoring from the wings with jcldallas24's squad, enough to at the very least keep the defense occupied, and with Price at the PG spot you can be sure that the main threat will come from the perimeter. A Payton /Allen combo looks to be very effective, but against Moncrief who is ever really "effective"? Dantley is a big time scorer off the bench and he and Allen should for the most part at least keep Moncrief rather busy.

This is one of the few matchups where I don't see LeBron being quite as effective as he normally is. Bird has great size and defensive awareness, both of which should restrict James a bit. I don't think LeBron has any reason to be playing out of position, especially in a competition like this. While it make work in today's game, he plays all of his best ball at the SF spot. I can't see the smallball tactic being useful in this series, leaving Bird to be defended by either King or Melo wouldn't be wise.

The frontcourt battle looks to be fairly even in terms of offensive ability. Mourning is always underrated in my book as an offensive player, and I do expect help from Buck with his size and second chances from his offensive rebounding ability. Perhaps the overall edge could be given to Kemp and Yao considering the help they'll recieve from Rasheed and his range off the bench.

The range of jcldallas24's squad should cause some potent threat and keep pressure on the perimeter defense of Snakebites, but overall I see Payton as a primary key here. His size advantage should be pretty significant during the time Price is on the floor, and while Deron is very capable, it's still a lot to ask of him at this point.

Vote: Snakebites

Snakebites Vs SamBone

I see a lot of similarities across the board with this series. It looks like the main focal points are going go be Moses and Bird here.

The scoring edge at the PG spot goes to Payton without saying. His rounded game gives the scoring edge to Snakebites. While defensively they're both solid, Payton is again superior in that department. While the defensive credentials switch on the bench, both Robertson and Lever have similar size and offensive capabilities, it's not enough to help SamBone close the gap.

The wings show a lot that can be washed out. Allen and Dantley against Miller and English for example. They're both extremely similar in terms of overall offensive production. Both Dantley and English were great volume scorers, while Allen and Miller and deadly off of screens. It's a little eerie that they're all involved actually.

The man to man defense being used will backfire on Worthy and English here. Bird can get pretty much any shot he wants against them with his size advantage and IQ. I'd expect Bird to take a lot of shots in this series as this favors him greatly.

The offensive edge up front would go to SamBone. Williams and Mourning can score, and both fairly efficiently, but Webber and Malone combined provide two very strong options. Webber's FG% has always concerned me, but with a lot of work from Malone, he shouln't be required to force the action too much here. Mourning is an extremely good man defender though and it's not a given that he'll just let Malone dominate. He's a quality protector of the paint and should be able to alter a number of shots.

This one can honestly go either way. The rebounding edge looks to be very close, spacing is very even also. I can see a couple of edges in the offensive department going to Payton and Bird that will swimg the match Snakebites' way.

vote: Snakebites


jcldallas24 Vs Sambone

Price specifically might be a little lucky against Kidd. By that I mean Kidd isn't ideally the most potent offensive weapon to take advantage of Price's less than adequate defensive skills here. On the other hand though, it goes without saying that he will be ably to negate some of that offensive spark with his size and stealing ability.

Moncrief is a stud perimeter defender. One of a handful of guys that you know can stop Reggie from being completely effective (yes that's hard for me to say). English will also have a hard time of scoring as he usually can. Reggie's length could cause some problems for Sidney and co, aside from that it looks pretty solid for Sidney and co.

I think a lot of this series will rest with LeBron and how he manages to hold together the offense. It's tough to see a trio of Worthy, English and Pressey (only playing 10 minutes) putting a stop to him, but perhaps their best defense would be to score as much as they can to negate it, well Worthy and English anyway.

Upfront will be a tough test for Yao. Moses is an absolute beast on the offensive glass and his bruising play will test the durability of Yao. Kemp and Webber should provide a pretty decent personal matchup, passing and scoring edge would go to CWebb. Kemp's overall game will keep him pretty busy on both ends though. The reserves will play a decent overall part in this. Rasheed will help tremedously with the spacing that jcldallas24 has, while Big Ben adds another defensive notch to an already decent defensive unit. I see it tough for Yao to be effective with such strong defenders to keep him busy.

Tough call overall here, but my concerns again come from LeBron's minutes not being maximised against Worthy (sorry jcldallas24) and Yao's ability to stay effective with Malone.

vote: SamBone

Group 2

Baller24 Vs Teddy KGB

vote: Baller24, with no writeup from Teddy KGB. Subject to change.

Baller24 Vs bryant08



I'd like to see an overall MPG chart for you Baller. It's tough for me to gauge what reserves will play and for how long, but I'll do my best without it.

I'm interested that Sikma wasn't mentioned too much in either writeup, I have a feeling his game would have a fairly good swing for bryant08.

I'm intrigued by the McGrady Vs Carter series. While I admit I haven't seen a whole lot of them against each other (been looking at a little bit of footage today, but that's it), I usually stick to the numbers don't lie factor. When looking at the overlapping seasons in which they faced each other (2001-2003 roughly) they both seem remarkably even. I'd possibly be tempted to give TMac a slight defensive edge with his length, but it looks like a straight wash here for me.

The guard play is a nice contest. DJ has done some decent work on Magic as mentioned, but I don't see it as a major problem for Magic here. With the options around him, I'd imagine his shot selection would be rather defined and assist numbers to be pretty decent also. It's not to thwart DJ's defensive prowess, but Magic's Win/Loss record is rather decent. Offensively, DJ's passing and playmaking will be enough to keep Magic busy.

Dumars should do an exceptional job in contesting most of Kobe's shots. He's a stopper, and someone who will play hard on defense for every minute he's on the floor. Kobe has in the past couple of seasons (as Baller mentioned) been able to perform against great defenders when required. I also do like the chemistry the has had with Pau in recent seasons also. It's not to say that he'll get his easily against Dumars, but I can't see him being completely halted.

I see a good offensive advantage upfront for bryant08. Malone is a tough assignment for Pau here. His offensive production will test him all series long. Even on offense he'll need to rely a lot on his passing ability due to Karl's physicality.

I think Mutombo will have a pretty decent effect on Gilmore. I do think that Artis will have much more of an offensive impact on the series than Mutombo.

Rebounding is fairly even across the board, advantages to Malone and Magic for bryant08 and McGrady and Kobe for Baller24. Slight edge to bryant08.

Overall I like Dumars on Kobe and think Magic will still do well on DJ. Upfront in the offensive production part I think is where this one will be one.

vote: bryant08


Teddy KGB Vs bryant08

vote: bryant08, with no writeup from Teddy KGB. Subject to change.