HCRT FINALS: CellarDoor vs SamBone Due APRIL 1

[bringbackhoffa]

Cellar Door VS Mascot

AND

SamBone VS r0cd0gg

Goodluck

[CellarDoor]

Williams(40)/Lawson(8)
Jax(16) /Mayo(32)
Lebron(30)/Jax(18)
Boozer(38)/Lebron(10)
Perkins(38)/Hibbert(10)

Key head to head match-ups:
Wallace v. Lebron
Wallace is someone a lot of people are talking about as a defensive team candidate this season, and that’s true. What gets lost a lot of the time is that it’s because of his help D and rebounding. He’s not more than slightly above average on-ball, which he better be on at all times. In the last three seasons Lebron has averaged over 50% shooting against the Bobcats including a high of 52.3% this season. It’s also worth noting that for a while each game, either KG or Landry will be trying to cover Lebron. Good Luck.
Wallace has been particularly hot from 3 (over 40%) against the Cavs this season which has lead to a solid 20ppg average. For those who have watched the games, the two I saw Crash actually played pretty well offensively and was very active on the boards while Lebron roamed on Help D. This won’t be the case on this team with Jax starting. Jax will be on Wallace, Lebron on Rondo, Williams on JR Smith. This will allow Lebron to play passing lanes and help down on Dwight and still recover on the worst shooter outside of Dwight and Perkins on either team. Rondo’s shooting will also create problems for Dwight. Entry passes are already a highly risky pass. Rondo excels on the Celtics because they don’t have a high volume post option to pass into. Without a jumper, Lebron can sag off Rondo and force him to try to throw it over his head to Lebron or drive around him.
Williams v. Rondo
Similar to Wallace, I find Rondo’s on-ball defense to be overrated. He gambles a lot and relies on his bigs to compensate for it because he can in Boston with KG and Perkins behind him. Luckily, Rondo still has KG and now has Dwight behind him. If Rondo stays at home, he should effectively keep Deron to around 16-18 points a game on his normal efficiency.
Jax/Mayo v. Smith
There’s not a good way to get anecdotal evidence here. Afflalo starts for Denver and Jax isn’t always playing SG. Smith isn’t exactly a star defender though, and both my guys are skilled scorers and above average defenders. I don’t expect to lose this match-up. Smith gets hot every 4 or 5 games, so he’s liable to make an impact once or twice in the series, but Jax and Mayo will have a much more steady impact.
Boozer v. KG
I had to go back to 07/08 to find much of a comparison. They both shot extremely well in their one meeting this year, but on very low volume with both under 20ppg, last year they didn’t face each other due to injuries. In 07/08, Boozer handily outplayed him. Additionally, Boozer is flat out the better player than this season’s version of KG who’s only able to manage 30mpg and is still missing games from injury. Even extrapolating his numbers to per 36 Boozer beats or matches him in every category but blocks, and their DRTGs are very similar too. I truly believe the run down version of KG doesn’t have a chance of outplaying Boozer.
Howard v. Perkins
This is probably the linchpin of the series. If there’s anyone out there who believes Mascot can limit my offense, which frankly isn’t possible IMO, they’ve still got to score. And on this entire team you won’t find a 20ppg scorer, including Dwight. KG and Rondo are under 15 a game…Gordon (who’s not seeing many minutes), Wallace (being covered by SJAX), and Howard are going for under 19 a game. As mentioned, Dwight’s going to have trouble even receiving entry passes against my defense with Rondo as the primary PG. He can’t pick and roll effectively with a non-shooter at the PG slot. In addition to that, Perkins has covered Howard the last two years…this year, Howard’s averaging under 15 on 47% from the field…that’s Marcus Camby efficiency. Last season he averaged 17 on 49% shooting. Last year’s playoffs he never managed 25 in any of the 7 games.

Offensive gameplan: Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. Deron/Boozer PnR will be the staple of our non-Lebron offense, we’ll also run Lebron/Boozer PnRs, and Deron/Lebron PnRs. We’ll give Deron the opportunity to work against Rondo and Lebron to work against everyone obviously. I don’t think it’s hard to envision this offense with these weapons, so I’ll stop there.
Defensive gamplan: Deny Dwight the ball. With a non-shooter at PG entry passes are going to be difficult. When Rondo’s got the ball, Lebron’s sagging off. When someone else has the ball, Lebron’s in a soft zone denying Dwight the ball. We’re going to force someone, anyone to beat us. While I don’t think even Dwight could do it, I’m positive no one else here can.

Cellardoors in 5.

[SamBone]

The Boned Samuels

PG: Billups ( 33 ), D.Collison ( 15 )
SG: KOBE ( 38 ), Iguodala ( 10 ), R.Fernandez
SF: Iguodala ( 22 ), J.Green ( 26 )
PF: A.Horford ( 18 ), K.Love ( 30 )
C : B.Lopez ( 33 ), A.Horford ( 15 ), B.Wallace

Vs.

The Flint Tropics

Nash(32)/Stuckey(10)/Conley(6)
Roy(34)/Stuckey(14)
Smith(24)/Casspi(24)
Bosh(30)/Smith(10)/Scola(8)
Bogut(30)/Bosh(8)/Scola(10)


Head to Head

Both Nash and Billups played well when they faced off this year. Billups held Nash to poor 3 point shooting in there series (.22% in the 3 games for a guy that usually is well over 40%), were Billups shot well from down town (8-16) and also had more steals.
Kobe and Roy only played once this year and both did about the same, they also have very similar numbers against eachother in there 3 matchups last season, with Kobe having a slight scoring and reb numbers but Roy having more assists. All the other matchups are hard to judge since Iggy and Smooth did not matchup on eachother (Iggy had a nice stat line against Casspi. Same goes for Bosh vs Horford. Love and Bosh had similar scoring numbers when they matched up with Bosh having a nice rebounding game. Horford also hasn’t faced Bogut. Bogut had 2 nice games against Lopez this year but took a ton of shots (combined for 40 attempts). Since both our teams have younger guys that are very versatile the stats will be harder to find except for Nash vs Billups


Offensive Plan
I think my guys will have a great series against my opponent. Again my guards will lead the way. One on one Nash can not defend Billups at all, and Roy is too weak to keep Kobe from doing what he does. Neither guy can check Billups or Kobe in the post. Since both my guards are bigger and stronger and great passers, I can simply alternate both of them on the post with the other guard helping space the floor. Iggy moving off the ball should get some nice looks and finishes cutting to the rim. This also allows me to take advantage of the very good (and reliable) mid-range game that Horford, Lopez and Love all posses.

I also think I can utilize Iggy’s playmaking ability and passing to have him run the point on some possessions (bringing my opponents best shot blocker, JSmooth, away from the basket. This will allow both Kobe and Billups to come off screens and hit many jumpers (and 3’s).

Defensive Plan

I pretty much will be going straight man on man on D. I can’t see my The Tropics really having any major mismatches. My players all play very good individual defense as well are strong team defenders as well. I think my BIGS are strong enough to keep Bosh and Bogut away from the post and forcing them to shoot jumpers. I am pretty strong on the boards and should keep them from getting extra possessions.

Summary
I think that I could be the worst matchup The Tropics could have gotten. His great guards will just have too much trouble against the best guard duo that is available in this game. I have the size in the post to limit his BIGS (who are both having a great season). And as athletic as JSmooth is, I can not see him making a difference playing the 3, because most of his talents show the most when he is matched up against bigger slower PF’s.

I really respect my opponent and the dogg is a great GM, but I think this is the end of the road for him in this game. Hopefully we will get to battle again if my Heat are lucky enough to meet his stacked Lakers in the GM a Team finals!

The Boned Samuels will win in 5!

[Mascot]

Williams(40)/Lawson(8)
Jax(16) /Mayo(32)
Lebron(30)/Jax(18)
Boozer(38)/Lebron(10)
Perkins(38)/Hibbert(10)

Key head to head match-ups:
Wallace v. Lebron
Wallace is someone a lot of people are talking about as a defensive team candidate this season, and that’s true. What gets lost a lot of the time is that it’s because of his help D and rebounding. He’s not more than slightly above average on-ball, which he better be on at all times. In the last three seasons Lebron has averaged over 50% shooting against the Bobcats including a high of 52.3% this season. It’s also worth noting that for a while each game, either KG or Landry will be trying to cover Lebron. Good Luck.
Wallace has been particularly hot from 3 (over 40%) against the Cavs this season which has lead to a solid 20ppg average. For those who have watched the games, the two I saw Crash actually played pretty well offensively and was very active on the boards while Lebron roamed on Help D. This won’t be the case on this team with Jax starting. Jax will be on Wallace, Lebron on Rondo, Williams on JR Smith. This will allow Lebron to play passing lanes and help down on Dwight and still recover on the worst shooter outside of Dwight and Perkins on either team. Rondo’s shooting will also create problems for Dwight. Entry passes are already a highly risky pass. Rondo excels on the Celtics because they don’t have a high volume post option to pass into. Without a jumper, Lebron can sag off Rondo and force him to try to throw it over his head to Lebron or drive around him.
Williams v. Rondo
Similar to Wallace, I find Rondo’s on-ball defense to be overrated. He gambles a lot and relies on his bigs to compensate for it because he can in Boston with KG and Perkins behind him. Luckily, Rondo still has KG and now has Dwight behind him. If Rondo stays at home, he should effectively keep Deron to around 16-18 points a game on his normal efficiency.
Jax/Mayo v. Smith
There’s not a good way to get anecdotal evidence here. Afflalo starts for Denver and Jax isn’t always playing SG. Smith isn’t exactly a star defender though, and both my guys are skilled scorers and above average defenders. I don’t expect to lose this match-up. Smith gets hot every 4 or 5 games, so he’s liable to make an impact once or twice in the series, but Jax and Mayo will have a much more steady impact.
Boozer v. KG
I had to go back to 07/08 to find much of a comparison. They both shot extremely well in their one meeting this year, but on very low volume with both under 20ppg, last year they didn’t face each other due to injuries. In 07/08, Boozer handily outplayed him. Additionally, Boozer is flat out the better player than this season’s version of KG who’s only able to manage 30mpg and is still missing games from injury. Even extrapolating his numbers to per 36 Boozer beats or matches him in every category but blocks, and their DRTGs are very similar too. I truly believe the run down version of KG doesn’t have a chance of outplaying Boozer.
Howard v. Perkins
This is probably the linchpin of the series. If there’s anyone out there who believes Mascot can limit my offense, which frankly isn’t possible IMO, they’ve still got to score. And on this entire team you won’t find a 20ppg scorer, including Dwight. KG and Rondo are under 15 a game…Gordon (who’s not seeing many minutes), Wallace (being covered by SJAX), and Howard are going for under 19 a game. As mentioned, Dwight’s going to have trouble even receiving entry passes against my defense with Rondo as the primary PG. He can’t pick and roll effectively with a non-shooter at the PG slot. In addition to that, Perkins has covered Howard the last two years…this year, Howard’s averaging under 15 on 47% from the field…that’s Marcus Camby efficiency. Last season he averaged 17 on 49% shooting. Last year’s playoffs he never managed 25 in any of the 7 games.

Offensive gameplan: Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke. Deron/Boozer PnR will be the staple of our non-Lebron offense, we’ll also run Lebron/Boozer PnRs, and Deron/Lebron PnRs. We’ll give Deron the opportunity to work against Rondo and Lebron to work against everyone obviously. I don’t think it’s hard to envision this offense with these weapons, so I’ll stop there.
Defensive gamplan: Deny Dwight the ball. With a non-shooter at PG entry passes are going to be difficult. When Rondo’s got the ball, Lebron’s sagging off. When someone else has the ball, Lebron’s in a soft zone denying Dwight the ball. We’re going to force someone, anyone to beat us. While I don’t think even Dwight could do it, I’m positive no one else here can.

Cellardoors in 5.

Team Mascot
Rajon Rondo (38) /Mario Chalmers (10)
JR Smith(16)/Eric Gordon(16)/Shane Battier(16)
Gerald Wallace(38)/Shane Battier(10)
Kevin Garnett (36)/Carl Landry (12)
Dwight Howard (38)/Jason Thompson(10)

vs
Williams(40)/Lawson(8)
Jax(16) /Mayo(32)
Lebron(30)/Jax(18)
Boozer(38)/Lebron(10)
Perkins(38)/Hibbert(10)


Amazing Match-up.

in the one game this year against each other
Rondo 14pts, 1 reb, 11Ast, 2 stl
Deron 13pts, 7rebs, 7 ast, 0 stl

Deron may have the size over Rondo, but Rondo will be playing Deron aggressively. The Argument that Rondo cant shoot goes the same for Deron. While hes shooting better than Rondo, hes not an outside threat that will hit the 3 at every half open look. Rondo will play tight on Deron making him watch what hes doing instead of looking for the quick easy pass inside. You say that you are going to play pick and roll ball? With Deron and LeBron running the point, ill go under screens all day and make them shoot contested 3s.

While LeBron guarding Rondo is a decent Idea, whos going to be guarding GWallace? S Jax is only playing 16 mins a game.

Since you claim you have.
LeBron on Rondo
Deron on JR Smith
SJax on G Wallace
Boozer on KG
Perkins on Dwight.

Wallace is going to be playing 38 mins a game. So those other 22 Mins hes being guarded by OJ Mayo? Wow thats gonna be interesting. If you swing LeBron back to cover him then that means Deron is covering Rondo once again or Mayo is? Mayo cant guard Rondo, and as for making Rondo take shots, he wont need to, once he comes around that pick and roll hes going straight down the middle. And down low KG and Dwight will be waiting. On the perimiter I will ahve JR Smith or Eric Gordon who WILL hit the open 3 pointer 9 out of 10 times. Also along with those two I have Wallace (whos not know as a 3pt shooter) that is shooting 40% from 3 this season. So the argument that I dont have shooters is a fail.

Next arguemnt of yours is that I have no 20 ppl scorer?
let me see

Rondo 14.1ppg - 11.4 FGA
JR Smith 15.2ppg - 13.4 FGA
Gerald Wallace 18.5ppg - 12.5 FGA
Kevin Garnett 14.4ppg - 10.9 FGA
Dwight Howard 18.5 ppg - 10.3 FGA

vs your "starters"
Deron Williams 18.4ppg - 13.8
Stephen Jackson 20.7ppg - 17.4 FGA
LeBron James 30ppg - 20.1 FGA
Carlos Boozer 19.5 ppg - 14.2
Kendrick Perkins 10.8ppg 7.0

You clearly outdo me here in ppg but your usage rate is very high for each player, not to mention that LeBron and Deron both have to control the ball and that Stephen Jackson is going to jack it up every time he sniffs the ball. I hate this argument but I have to use it, there is only ONE ball for these guys to play with. My team is much more balanced.

Ill give you a fair assessment of the Boozer and KG deal that Boozer probably wins this one. However, I will not need KG to score so he can hang outside a bit on the offensive end to draw out Boozer. KG still can hit the mid range jumper with no problem and With Boozer hauled out that leaves room for Dwight and Crash to go to work. He will play the same roll he does in Boston right now, play defense and protect the paint.


Dwight on Perkins, this is probably going to be the choppiest played games ever, btoh guys fouling each other constantly is gonna make the refs not want to blow the whistle on every signle play. This gives an advantage to me as me having Dwight in the game a lot more is better for me than you not getting the tacky fouls called against him and making him sit. Perkins matchups up well with Dwight, but no matter what Dwight is still a beast and will win this battle.



My Bench is far superior to yours in almost every way.

You have Lawson, Mayo and Hibbert

I have Shane Battier, Eric Gordon, Carl Landry and Jason Thompson.

at some point in time your going to have Hibbert on the court vs Dwight/Thompson/Landry and thats going to get very ugly very quick. LeBron cant guard everyone and play every position at the same time like some people think.

Shane Battier will be a shut down defender to come in and mess with whoever is hot on your team. Gordon will help out with the range if it needed and Landry and Thompson are two great young guys that also do not need the ball to be effective.

With Regards to defense, my team is built around it, my guys are all very efficient scorers who do not need the ball in their hands to be effective, except for Rondo, who's my PG and is SUPPOSED to have the ball in his hands.


While this is a great match-up, I feel that I win it but it will go to 7 games.

[roc]

The Flint Tropics

Nash(32)/Stuckey(10)/Conley(6)
Roy(34)/Stuckey(14)
Smith(24)/Casspi(18)/Stuckey(6)
Bosh(30)/Smith(14)/Scola(4)
Bogut(30)/Bosh(8)/Scola(10)


v

The Boned Samuels

PG: Billups ( 33 ), D.Collison ( 15 )
SG: KOBE ( 38 ), Iguodala ( 10 ), R.Fernandez
SF: Iguodala ( 22 ), J.Green ( 26 )
PF: A.Horford ( 18 ), K.Love ( 30 )
C : B.Lopez ( 33 ), A.Horford ( 15 ), B.Wallace

PvP

Nash/Stuckey/Conley v Billups/Collison

Billups plays better D than Nash no question about it but he won't shut him down on O. We will throw Stuckey at Billups part of the time as he his much stronger than Nash and also stronger than Billups. His combination of quickness and strength will allow him to draw fouls and get to the line. We expect the duo of Nash/Stuckey will keep Billups off balance and hinder his ability to control the pace of the game. Stuckey should be able to bull his way right over Collison and Conley will just bomb away over him. The PG match up is fairly even all round but we feel our ability to mix it up will give us the edge here.

Kobe/Iggy/Rudy v Roy/Stuckey

This is a fun match up. Kobe is a great player and will cause us to lose some sleep. We expect Roy to come close in terms of production though and Stuckey will play the same roll here as does at PG, change of pace/look. He will have no problems with strength/quickness issues against Kobe/Iggy and will cause them to work on both sides of the floor. We expect the fouls at this position to be slightly in favor of the Boned Samuels but it will be close as will overall production.

Smoove/Casspi/Stuckey v Iggy/Green

Another interesting match up. We believe Smith will just be too strong and athletic for Iggy to handle. Some think he is better suited to PF but I disagree; Smith averages over 4 assists per game and plays his ass off on both ends. He is quick and athletic enough to keep up with any 3 in the league IMO. He is a great shot blocker but only 2nd best on our team this season behind Bogut. We expect his length at the 3 will cause Iggy fits. Green may actually match up better but he has been somewhat iffy this season. Casspi and Green will be fun to watch and I would expect to see many 3 pointers in this match up mainly from Casspi. Overall I feel we own at this position.

Bosh/Smoove/Scola v Horford/Love

Another position that has some fun match ups that I expect to win. Bosh is kicking ass and taking names this season. I expect him to dominate this match up on O. Horford is a good defender but will only hope to slow Bosh down. Love is only average on D but a great rebounder. We expect him to have a hard time facing up against either one of Bosh Smith. Scola will mainly allow my main guys to keep fresh with out a big drop off in production. With Love getting the bulk of the PF minutes we expect to put up a ton of points from the 4 spot and hinder his rebounding with our quickness.

Bogut/Bosh/Scola v Lopez/Horford

Yet another fun matchup that we expect to win. Bogut is absolutely dominating right now and has taken his lowly Bucks team on his shoulders into the 5th spot in the East. He has put up over 16.5ppg, 11rbs, 2.8blks, and 1.8ast over the last 3 months and is the 2nd best C in the league this season behind Dwight. I fully expect him to make the all defensive team if he keeps up this pace. Right now he is 2nd in blocks at 2.4 per game and Smith is not too far behind at 2.1. He is also at the top of the L in charges taken. We expect him to own the paint and push Lopez away from the basket and make things hard on him on both ends. The times he matches up against Horford will be a bit closer but should still favor Andrew. Bosh at C during small Ball will wreak havoc on O and should be admirable on D against these 2 Boned Samuels. This match up ways in our favor and we expect to dominate the paint.

Offense:

We will play the change of pace game and throw many different looks at the Boned Samuels. We plan to use a bit of Princeton offense and have a team that can run and gun while also playing solid defense. Nash will get us off to quick starts and will be able to play at full throttle due to having such quality back up as this team provides. We plan on using plenty of Pick and Roll with Bosh and Smith getting plenty of high percentage buckets and being able to kick out to shooters when the D collapses. We have exceptional passers at every position and plan to use that to it's fullest. Inside/outside we will dominate on O. We also can match up well in clutch situations with Roy/Bosh/Nash all able to hit those type of buckets. Kobe is a beast in those type's of situations and Billups can be on occasion but more often than not he just launches a 3 from too far out or tries to leg kick his way into a couple of FTs. We will own the offensive match up mainly because of our ability to get higher percentage shots.

Defense:

Nash is the weak link here with out a doubt. We will do our best to compensate and have him try and push his oppostion towards the teeth of our interior D. He will not win one on one but he now has team mates that can cover his weak points. He is a smart player and will be able to take advantage of what we have given him in the way of help. Stuckey will be our fly in the ointment. He is big, strong, and quick and will cause problems for Billups who has historically had problems facing up against larger opponents. He will also help keep Roy fresh and cause Kobe to have to work harder. Our interior D when Smith/Bogut are on the floor as PF/C will be hard to get by and make scoring easy buckets almost nil. We will get in their heads and wear them down. We will also use an occasional zone D just to throw the Boned Ones off balance. Mainly though we will go man to man with quick rotations and great help defense. Expect shots to get swatted left and right and charges called. Rebounds will be about even in this series from the PF/C positions but when we have Smoove/Bosh/Bogut all at the same time we should dominate the boards. We expect frustration from the Boned Samuels and victory will be ours.

Overall We plan on exploiting mismatches, rolling with the hot hand, and wreaking havoc on both ends of the floor. The Boned Samuels will not know what hit them. This seems closer than it is because of the Kobe/Billups back court the Samuels sport but the front court and depth are a much larger discrepancy as is the ability to play at different speeds.

The Boned Samuels have built a nice team and I do love the back court duo. It is not enough to get them the win though, not even close to enough. We expect a couple tight games and then the beat down will commence.

Flint Tropics win this in a 5 game sweep ala Detroit v LAL.

[CellarDoor]

Rest of my rebuttal coming later, but I wanted to make sure mascot saw this and could adjust accordingly: Jax is playing 34 minutes. He's got 16 at SG, 18 at SF. Look at my rotation again.

Okay, regarding the one ball argument:

Williams: 43.3% Rondo: 44.5%
Jax: ~18% (averaged before and after trade) Smith: 15.2%
James: 41.8% Wallace: 8.9%(!)


Regardless who has the ball, as a unit they're more willing passers than your guys. Lebron had a blast working off-ball during the olympics, and if you missed the All-Star game, Deron clearly knows how to move without it as well. Smith and Wallace are FAAAAAR more likely to jack something up than anyone on my team. Additionally, starters, who are all playing atleast 34mpg, are only taking 14 more shots than your starters and my bench players aren't going to ever be featured as options like, presumably, Gordon will from time to time.

You attacked Deron Williams' shooting, which is sort of funny. He's shooting better from 3 than anyone on your team.

On the pick n' roll argument: first of all, if you go under the screen, they're not shooting contested threes, they're shooting open ones. Second, I don't know how many pick 'n rolls you watch a season, but there's a TON of them facilitated inside the 3pt line. Especially when Boozer's one of your main screeners and has a great midrange game.

On the Rondo side of the screen rolls, he has no semblance of a jumper and is going to have an awful hard time going straight down the middle when Lebron cuts under the screen and is standing in his way. For the minutes Deron/Mayo are on him, that holds just as true. All the screen/roll is going to do for him is the same thing it did for Rose in the POs last year: bring another defender to clog up your space, and just like Derrick before he had a midrange game: I believe he's better off without the screens usually.

On the bench end, Lawson hugely outperforms Chalmers, Mayo/Jax is, at worst, similar to Gordon/Battier (Jax>Battier, Mayo > or equal to Gordon). And I have a grand total of 12 minutes being played by ANY back-up bigs that Landry and JT are supposedly going to crush. Jason Thompson will be covered by Hibbert for about 10mpg. JT is a 12ppg scorer when he's getting starters' minutes, and will be giving JUST BARELY 50% TS from the field. That's awful from the C position. While we're on TS%, your starting 2G is at 51.8%...that's including the 6 or so 3s he jacks up a game.

This series won't be particularly close. CD in 5. 4 if the wrong Dwight shows up.

[SamBone]

my rebuttal

How will the Boned Samuels be able to score against the GREAT Rodney Stuckey?

Stuckey will be our fly in the ointment. He is big, strong, and quick and will cause problems for Billups who has historically had problems facing up against larger opponents. He will also help keep Roy fresh and cause Kobe to have to work harder.

We will throw Stuckey at Billups part of the time as he his much stronger than Nash and also stronger than Billups. His combination of quickness and strength will allow him to draw fouls and get to the line. We expect the duo of Nash/Stuckey will keep Billups off balance and hinder his ability to control the pace of the game.

Billups in 3 career games vs Stuckey averages 30ppg (.475 FG%)

What would Kobe do?

Stuckey will play the same roll here as does at PG, change of pace/look.

Stuckey attempted to guard KOBE 3 times in the past 2 years (Kobe scored 40,30 and 28)
Kobe’s averaged 32.7 ppg (.543 FG%) 5.3 reb, 5.3 ast, 3.3 steals

In case you were wondering
Iggy’s line when guarded by Stuckey this season 18 points, 6 reb, 9 asst, 2 steal, 2 blocks

Stuckey should be able to bull his way right over Collison and Conley will just bomb away over him.

they matched up twice this season and the bomber Conley was 1-8 from down town (44% from field while chucking up 34 shots) all while the push over rook was able to average 17 points and 16 assists (18 and 14 in the 2 games), 3.5 reb, and 3 steals.

My opponent seems to think the modern day Bill Russell (Rodney Stuckey) will be able to make Nash not a defensive liability (while logging 10 min at PG) and also be able to slow down Kobe (during his 14 minutes), plus is listed in the SF rotation (6 minutes against Iggy I guess or maybe he will push around the 6’9’ Jeff Green). I think he is greatly over estimating Stuckey here and way over selling his impact against my much superior players

Stuckey should be able to bull his way right over Collison and Conley will just bomb away over him.

they matched up twice this season and the bomber Conley was 1-8 from down town (44% from field while chucking up 34 shots) all while the push over rook was able to average 17 points and 16 assists (18 and 14 in the 2 games), 3.5 reb, and 3 steals.

Collison and Stuckey did not matchup this season, but the pushover Collison was able to hold the great Steve Nash to 15.5 ppg (13 and 18) in the 2 matchups they had this season.

Casspi and Green will be fun to watch and I would expect to see many 3 pointers in this match up mainly from Casspi.

well these guys played twice this season
Casspi averaged 11.5 ppg, 3 reb, 0.5 asst, 1 steal and 0.5 blocks
Green averaged 21.5 ppg, 6.5 reb, 1 asst, 2 steals and 2.5 blocks

I agree about 1 point, it will be a fun matchup to watch for me, but I am not sure Omri would agree. My opponent claims that Jeff has had a “somewhat iffy season” but his num,bers across the board are better then Omri. People expected Green to bust out, but instead he has gelled into his role as a complimentary player.

We will get in their heads and wear them down. We will also use an occasional zone D just to throw the Boned Ones off balance. Mainly though we will go man to man with quick rotations and great help defense.

This I love! You honestly believe that Nash / Stuckey / Roy will get in the heads of the 2 toughest most clutch players in the game in Billups and Kobe? Are you kidding me? These guys NEVER get knocked off there game, especially in a Semi Final series like this. Not one guy on your team has WON bigger games or HIT bigger shots or delt with the pressure that The Black Mamba or Mr Big Shot, let alone both together. If anyone will struggle with keeping their heads it will be your Tropics.

We also welcome the Zone defense since my guys are deadly from down town and both my BIGS have very reliable mid range jumpers. I really don’t see were your help defense will come from since I really don’t think you want to leave anyone on my team open for either a mid range jumper, back door cut, or a 3.

I do admit that both Bosh and Bogut are having GREAT seasons, but so are my guys. Horford (3rd option on his team) did get the All Star nod over Bogut (the guy my opponent says is carrying the Bucks). Brook has been the lone bright spot in NJ this season and is having a great year himself and Kevin Love has recovered great and is basically a double double off the bench (like on my squad) almost every night. Those 3 actually matchup very well against Bosh and Bogut. Bogut has put up awesome num,bers recently but also please look at his attempts. Playing with Nash, Roy and Bosh who all demand the ball. Bogut will be left to hit the boards and only get touches off of broken plays. Unlike my team which features guys playing in roles that they excel in in real life. KOBE is the man, Billups is the general and everyone else follows their lead and fit their role. Iggy would excel not having to carry the load he does in real life. And my 3 BIGS are reliable shooters and rebounders to get theirs without calling for the rock.

[roc]

hmm guess I will have to spend time on a rebuttal now...

no worries

[Mascot]

Regardless who has the ball, as a unit they're more willing passers than your guys. Lebron had a blast working off-ball during the olympics, and if you missed the All-Star game, Deron clearly knows how to move without it as well. Smith and Wallace are FAAAAAR more likely to jack something up than anyone on my team. Additionally, starters, who are all playing atleast 34mpg, are only taking 14 more shots than your starters and my bench players aren't going to ever be featured as options like, presumably, Gordon will from time to time.

Using the All Star game as an example of anything is laughable

Smtih and Wallace are not far more likely to Jack up shots. Wallace, plays close the rim and because hes so agressive/usually has a size advantage it he takes it to the hole. There is a reason he is called Crash. Smith does what hes told to do. "your job is to go out and take shots to spread the floor" If he didnt do that then Denvers style of play would not work with Nene and Kenyon Martin playing PF and C.

On the pick n' roll argument: first of all, if you go under the screen, they're not shooting contested threes, they're shooting open ones. Second, I don't know how many pick 'n rolls you watch a season, but there's a TON of them facilitated inside the 3pt line. Especially when Boozer's one of your main screeners and has a great midrange game.

Rondo is playing Deron tight as I stated in my Original post to stop him from being a playmaker that means they are outside the 3pt line, if Deron goes around a screen about 3 feet outside the arc then when he meets Rondo around the other side hes still behind the 3pt line, Radno is quick enough to get around and CONTEST that shot.

On the Rondo side of the screen rolls, he has no semblance of a jumper and is going to have an awful hard time going straight down the middle when Lebron cuts under the screen and is standing in his way. For the minutes Deron/Mayo are on him, that holds just as true. All the screen/roll is going to do for him is the same thing it did for Rose in the POs last year: bring another defender to clog up your space, and just like Derrick before he had a midrange game: I believe he's better off without the screens usually.

With Randos quickness, going under a screen wont work, its been proven again and again in this league. Everyteam goes under the screens on him, once they do he goes right past them. LeBron cant guard everyone. Once again if LeBron is guarding Rondo, then that means SJAX is on Wallace, I beleive SJax would have a very hard time guarding Wallace. And if you do happen to have Mayo on, he will get eaten alive.

On the bench end, Lawson hugely outperforms Chalmers, Mayo/Jax is, at worst, similar to Gordon/Battier (Jax>Battier, Mayo > or equal to Gordon). And I have a grand total of 12 minutes being played by ANY back-up bigs that Landry and JT are supposedly going to crush. Jason Thompson will be covered by Hibbert for about 10mpg. JT is a 12ppg scorer when he's getting starters' minutes, and will be giving JUST BARELY 50% TS from the field. That's awful from the C position. While we're on TS%, your starting 2G is at 51.8%...that's including the 6 or so 3s he jacks up a game.

Lawson and Chalmers put up almost the same stats, Lawsons are a littler better BECAUSE he controls the ball when hes on the floor instead of Billups in Denver. Wade is still on the floor in Miami with Chalmers and WADE controls the ball. The two are about Equal.

Look at the players Hibbert plays against in the Eastern Conference, the quality of big men is horrible. Jason Thompson plays starters minutes against OTHER Starters in the Western Conference where there are a lot more dominant big men. Plus he was on a guard dominant team with Tyreke and Martin chucking up shots like they were going out of style. In those 10 minutes that Jason Thompson or Carly Landry are in against Roy Hibbert they will take it to him everytime down the floor. His Robotic style of play will just not be able to guard them. Thats 4 easy posessions for me and easily 10 points when Hibbert fouls them.

This series won't be particularly close. CD in 5. 4 if the wrong Dwight shows up.

It will be very close and I will win in 7 games.

[CellarDoor]

I'm not suggesting the all-star game is a good reference point for anything other than proving Deron knows how to MOVE without the ball. Which he does. He also proved this the season he started with Derek Fisher in the backcourt. And you ignored my assists argument because it specifically proves once crash gets the ball, regardless where he's at, he's taking the shot. And JR Smith doing what he's told to? THAT'S that laughable part. Do I need to dig up all the news articles about his benchings and george karl having ulcers because of him?

I'm also not sure I follow on how Rondo playing Deron tightly necessitates any PnR be outside the 3pt line. Are you implying Rondo's defense is SO good Deron won't be able to ever get around him? Deron's a top 5 penetrating PG in the game with probably the best crossover in the game. Every game everyone on the other team knows he and Boozer are going utilize the screen roll, and every game they can't stop them. If Rondo were able to shut down a screen roll, then why does his big SWITCH his man so often in real life?

You keep mentioning how Lebron can't guard everyone: I've pretty explicitly state he won't be. Nice try on trying to cloud people's mind's though. Again: for 30 mpg, Lebron will be guarding Rondo. the 18 MPG he's at PF he'll be on KG/Landry/whoever. SJax, who played POWER FORWARD often at Golden State is 6'8" 217, Wallace is 6'7" 215. He's not going to be bulling him out of anything. That leaves Deron on JR Smith who, as noted, is going to jack up 6 3s a game with a TS% under 52%. I'm cool with that, and Deron's no slouch either.

On Chalmers/Lawson: there's a 6% difference in their true shooting percentages. He's got a grand total of 3% higher usage, while posting lower turnovers, equal assists, more rebounds and more FT attempts IN LESS MINUTES. And before we get to the one ball argument, he takes .5 more shots. And when your TS is over 60%, I'm alright with that.

On Hibbert/Thompson: at least you're trying hard. First, I never claimed anything about Hibbert's scoring ability or his competition. Since you want to harp on this one though, I'll play along...
Hibbert v. the Western Conference-- 26 games: 12.2 points, 50% shooting, 80% from the FT line. If you're wondering, Thompson scores .8 points more of drastically lower efficiency.

I think Hibbert will be okay.

[bringbackhoffa]

bump for more rebuttels

[CellarDoor]

Considering write-ups were due 10 days ago...should there be some judging going on here?

[SamBone]

was wondering the same thing for the past 10 days

[bringbackhoffa]

start judging, im gona be in class for the next few hours, but will have my decisions in by tonight

[BlackIce]

I have Cellar in the 1st matchup, the weak spacing for Mascot, plus the fact that Perkins can guard Howard one on one reasonably well really hurts Mascot. Mascot also doesn't have a significant advantage at any other position (you could argue KG over Boozer for sure) to offset the fact that their superstar will be very limited in this series.

I don't buy the argument that Williams isn't a good 3 point shooter as well, and although I love the defense Mascot has, they won't be able to score as efficiently on the other end.
Vote: Cellar


The second matchup is harder, I'll get my vote up tomorrow in all likelyhood.

[bringbackhoffa]

Both of these matchups are truly great, and have been going back and forth with my decision for both of the matchups.

CD vs Mascot
CD has accumulated a great deal of talent as has Mascot. Both have posted great writeups how they would guard each other star players. Though i believe Mascot has the ability to limit LeBron, i believe in a 7 game series Bron Bron will be able to steal a couple of games for CD. The one matchup i like is Boozer vs KG, KG has been battling injuries but anything is possible in the playoffs. In addition if Lebron/Perkins are manning the front court i think D12 will be lauging all the way to the bucket. But after saying all this I will be taking CD in 7 games due to really liking his backcourt alot and in addition i want to see him face the Boned Samuels in the finals because it would pit to great teams against each other.

Boned Samuels vs Flint Tropics
Well i gave away who i will pick in this matchup above. Both teams are great but cannot belive a back court of billups and kobe letting four games slip by them. But Bosh and Bogut will make it interesting as i believe they will be able to take it to lopez and horford. However having Smith on Iggy will be a tough assignment and will the the Boned Samuels in 6 Games.

[CellarDoor]

hoffa...
I'd like to not directly influence my opponent if that's at all possible. Just seems like a morally shaky patch of land. If I have to, I will though.

[bringbackhoffa]

^ yea thats cool, do what you feel is morally right.

[BlackIce]

Ok the 2nd matchup is a nail biter. I agree with roC, Bosh is going to have a huge series. Horford is a very nice post defender, but Bosh is simply to quick for him, and will draw him out to the perimeter and abuse him. Bogut is the 2nd best center in the league, although Lopez is no slouch. Again, just like in the last series, I think Bogut's passing will prove more useful then his post offense (which is very good).

Obviously Billups/Kobe is a scary combo but Nash/Roy matchs up pretty well. Nash on a team with this many weapons..hot damn. I like Billup's willness to simply be a spot up shooter, or taking over a game depending on what his team requires. Roy vs Kobe is a fun matchup, with Kobe getting the nod here.

I think this series will be won or lost at the SF spot. Both Iggy and Smith are phenomal defenders but Smith doesn't have the quickness to hang with Iggy on the perimeter. I was watching the ATL/SAN game with a friend the other day and SAN was getting switches (by design I think) that had Smith on RJ or Hill. He was blown by. On the other end though, how is Iggy going to contain Smith? He isn't big enough to keep him out of the post and will need help. It also allows Smith to post up with Bosh on the perimeter waiting for the kickout.

I really like giving Green more minutes at SF (26), he is the perfect guy to throw on Smith. Casspi and Stucky is a nice counter by roC.

It's tough..but I vote Sambone. Nice series.

[jcldallas24]

Cellar Door VS Mascot

Good matchups all around but I'll take Cellar on this one...In 6

i think Deron will probably get the better of ROndo in this series which would most likely be the difference maker.As well as Perkins actually being able to contain Dwight, after that its all said and done, but still good matchup...Had to think it over a few times...

AND

SamBone VS r0cd0gg

Pretty good series but i'd take Sambone in 7

I think Sambone will barely be able to take this one.Has to be one of the most even backcourt i've seen...But Nash's weak defense will probably end up costing r0cd0gg the series.Sambone's frontcourt is something i was even with but i think R0c's is pretty close but Sambone just has a little more depth, and would be able to stand on top when its said and done, because most of his bigs are good defenders.