PLAYOFFS
Fulks was named first team all NBA as well as MVP, surprising nobody. Simmons won sixth man of the year. He’s not happy coming off the bench, but he’ll have to live with it. Vern Mikkelsen won rookie of the year for Boston.
Philadelphia beat Boston in the first round, so that is our opponent. This could be a problem, because of our 6 losses this season, 3 of them were to Philly. We won our first game 88-72, but my injury fears were realized. Glamack broke his foot and will be out for the season. But Simmons shows he is up to the challenge, leading our team in scoring in a 104-83 victory in game 2. Philly is tough at home, and it shows in a 96-87 loss on the road in game 3. Home court continues to be a factor, as Philly wins game 4 114-105. We win game 5 in a laugher 116-88, but lose Simmons with blurred vision. Glamack has played his whole career with blurred vision, so I'm not sure why this is a problem for Simmons. Budko is going to have to start game 6 for us at center. He was pretty terrible, but Fulks and Tannenbaum picked up the slack with 33 and 26 points respectively, and we won a tight game 6 85-82.
This year, we meet #1 seed Rochester in the finals. Their 2nd year head coach started out as one of our assistant coaches. Rochester is led by Arnie Risen and Dolph Schayes, and with our injured big men, could prove a significant challenge. Budko follows his 1-8 game with a 0-8 clunker, but Fulks pours in 59 to lead us to a 114-96 victory. Fulks carries the team once again in a game 2 111-87 win. Simmons returns for game 3 in Rochester, and scores 20 with 22 boards in a 100-88 victory. Game 4 was a balanced effort, and we complete the sweep winning 108-75. Fulks continues to fill up his trophy case, winning playoffs MVP for the third time.
If I can't sign Fulks next year, our run of dominance may come to an end. I think we would still be pretty good, but he's the best player in the league right now, and that is impossible to replace.