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trekfan · 12-20-2017, 01:41 PM

Ch. 38

With just about three weeks to go, we welcomed in the surprisingly still relevant and playoff-worthy Nets into our building. You could have talked to a thousand people at the beginning of that season and asked, "Do you think the Nets will make the playoffs?" and a solid 75% of them would have said "Hell no!"

But Brooklyn -- with the return of their franchise leader in Brook Lopez, with the addition of JJ Redick, and the development of Russel, LeVert, and other young pieces had become a playoff-contender. They weren't jokes anymore ... they were ready for some postseason action.

And the game they played against us proved it in the end. The game was a back and forth affair in the first, with Lopez going OFF. The dude was hungry for a win, hungry for playoff action, and he went at our bigs like he was a combination of himself and his brother, Robin.

Rebounds. Putbacks. Mid-range jumpers. Corner triples. Lopez was doing it all and had a bonkers first quarter, where he scored 12 points and grabbed 7 boards.

But for all the work Lopez was doing, we had Victor Oladipo doing more -- dunks were his bread and butter. VO would not be denied.

In the second, Myles got hot from beyond the arc -- nailing back-to-back triples that extended our lead into double-digits for the first time all game, and making the Nets look silly for letting him camp in the corner.

But Brooklyn wasn't about to go quietly into the night -- as the half was ending, they inbounded the ball to Jeremy Lin, and he hit a long pull-up triple that cut our lead to just 7-points.

We were hot -- VO and Lopez were battling for supremacy in that first half. But McHale drilled into us that we were sagging off them too much, going under the screens instead of over. He wanted us aggressive and in their faces, not sitting back and waiting for them.

"You attack them and force them to get through you before they get their shot," he told us.

In the third, Brooklyn got a taste of our defense -- and boy, did we suffocate them. HB and Myles swarmed guys all over the court and the Nets -- unable to get their shooters free -- had to toss it inside to guys like Amir Johnson.

That worked out about as well as you expect.

We feasted on transition buckets, and, by the time the fourth rolled around, we were rolling to the rim. VO and I were locked in with each other, and the Nets could do little to stop it ... but they could watch.

We walked out of their with a nice win. Brooklyn was not a joke -- after that game, I figured out they weren't a team we wanted to see early in the postseason (or at all).

With the loss, the Nets playoff position got a little more precarious. The bottom of the East was a cluster*uck of mass proportions -- teams that were counted out were clawing back and teams that were surefire locks were sinking.

With the win, we officially clinched our playoff spot -- which was good. We still had to get to 50, but we were close.

Meanwhile, the Pistons trade for Conley looked to be working out -- Detroit was over .500 and actually competent looking. The Wizards were on the outside looking in and, though I didn't want to see the Greek Freak in the first round, I liked the idea of John Wall not making the playoffs. From Finals to sitting on a couch during the posteason ... the idea of that made me happy.

Out West, things were less interesting, but not boring.

The Warriors were leading the conference (no surprise) and the Rockets, defending champs, were sliding down the standings -- injuries to their bench were doing them in, but they were still solidly in the playoff mix.

NOLA was beasting, and this was without Anthony Davis (still out 2-4 weeks with an ankle injury), which made it all the more impressive.

The 7th and 8th seeds were where things got fascinating. The Blazers looked to have a second lease on life thanks to the deadline deal. The Nuggets were just barely hanging onto the final seed, as Isiah Thomas, Paul Milsap, and Jokic tried to drag Denver into the playoffs.

But right behind them were the T'Wolves, having a disappointing year, and -- to everyone's surprise -- the Mavericks, who with Mudiay and ROLO were so damn close to postseason ball. I was hoping the Mavericks might make it in -- both Mudiay and ROLO deserved to see some postseason action.

I doubted they'd win anything, but playoff bonus money was always a good thing. Especially in an income tax free state.

trekfan · 12-20-2017, 07:53 PM

Ch. 39

The season came to an end as we went 7-3 in our last ten — the final day, it was down to us and the Cavs for the 1st seed. If we won, we’d be in — if we lost, we’d get the 2nd seed and have to face Philly. We won, besting the Raptors by ten points on our homefloor, giving us homecourt throughout the East playoffs.

Our opponent? The Wizards. John Wall and Washington had done just enough to barely sneak into the playoffs. Their reward? Me. I relished the idea of being the cause of John Wall being sent home, redeeming our defeat from last year and setting us up with either the Raptors or Pistons in Round 2. The matchups, across the league, we pretty good.

On the other side of the East, you had the Cavs vs. The 76ers, the Kings vs. The Process — ratings were going to be insane for that series.

Beyond that, you had the Hornets and the Nets, though Brooklyn was without Russell, who had gotten injured two weeks before. Luckily, the had Lin to fallback on, but there was a clear difference between the two … it looked like Charlotte had a good chance of winning the series, if they could slow down Brook Lopez with Dwight Howard.

The Nuggets had survived the regular season and made the playoffs. Denver was ecstatic and Isiah Thomas, Paul Milsap, and Jokic presented the Warriors with a unique matchup. Mike Malone had saved his job … would be be able to actually do damage against the best team in the NBA?

The Lakers were back in the playoffs for the first time in what felt like forever, against a familiar opponent — the Jazz. The two teams had been trading the 4th and 5th seeds back for most of the latter third of the season, and the franchises had history; Utah put a stop to the early Shaq/Kobe squads in the late 90s, so there was a bit of ancient bad blood.

Then you had the Rockets and Thunder. Houston had fallen into a serious funk late in the season, the injuries to their bench leading them to a prolonged skid that dropped them to the 6th seed. It would be a revenge series as Harden vs. Westbrook was on the table … could Houston capture the magic that had propelled them to the 2018 title again?

Finally, you had the Pelicans taking on the T’Wolves; two squads, laden with talent, but NOLA was hurting — Jrue Holiday was out with an injury, so it was up to Rondo, Boogie and the Brow to get the Pelicans a playoff series win.

Injuries were going to play a role for a few of the playoff squads that year, but there was plenty of intrigue outside the playoffs — the race for the 1st overall pick had gotten ridiculous in the last three weeks of the season. Look at what the Suns did!

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, Phoenix lost 17 straight — 17 *ucking games straight — to tie for the worst record in the NBA with the Hawks. It was one of the most blatant forms of tanking in NBA history and was an embarrassment. Phoenix tanked and tanked hard, but no one was sure if they’d be rewarded with what they sought — the first overall pick. The Hawks were sitting pretty, too, and the Grizzlies and Knicks were also in the running.

Ironically, Boston — who had the Grizzlies and Clippers picks (both with lottery protections), were lottery bound as well.

Across the NBA, people were waiting to see if Terry Stotts would be let go. Stotts had failed — yet again — to get the Blazers into the playoffs, another season where the team just finished outside the postseason. Both Lillard and McCollum were on record supporting Stotts, but ownership was evaluating all options. With Lillard and McCollum both having three years left on their deals, either was also movable … the Blazers were bound to see changes.

In Orlando, Vogel hadn’t made the playoffs, but ownership was likely to give him one more year — they had gotten closer than they had in a long while and the midseason trade for Dragic really helped them. Vucevic, however, was a free agent and the Magic were fearful that he was going to bolt for greener pastures.

The awards played out like you’d think — except for the fact that I was snubbed from everything. I put up 21.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 10.7 APG on 54% shooting, 42% from deep, and got NOTHING. I was pissed as hell about that and McHale told me, straight up, to remember that feeling in the playoffs.

“We’re going to need that fire and brimstone,” he said to me after the awards we announced. I was determined to torch anything and anyone in my path.

(I have no idea why any of these players are on the second team, they’re not rookies but the game treated them as such — weird glitch, but whatever)

bebetomatos14 · 12-20-2017, 11:52 PM

Seeing the Lakers again in the playoffs is a breath of hope for me. But I think they do not go very far, maybe go through the Jazz, but nothing more. The duels in general are very interesting, with special emphasis on the war between The Process vs. The King. Would Embiid and Simmons be able to stop LeBron? The duel between Pacers and Wizards seems to me to taste revenge and this should be very interesting to follow. And Westbrook in another phenomenal season with almost triple-doubles average. Accompanying from now on.

trekfan · 12-21-2017, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bebetomatos14


	Seeing the Lakers again in the playoffs is a breath of hope for me. But I think they do not go very far, maybe go through the Jazz, but nothing more. The duels in general are very interesting, with special emphasis on the war between The Process vs. The King. Would Embiid and Simmons be able to stop LeBron? The duel between Pacers and Wizards seems to me to taste revenge and this should be very interesting to follow. And Westbrook in another phenomenal season with almost triple-doubles average. Accompanying from now on.

Thanks for the follow, I appreciate the kind words.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to visit family, so I'll be away from my home PC till January 4th, so the playoff games will have to wait till then.

BUT, I do have some content ideas to pass the time while we wait -- namely, looking at the state of the non-playoff teams and the scenarios in front of them as they contemplate free agency, the trade market, and the draft. So look forward to some of that towards the end of next week.

I hope everyone has a good holiday break, and thanks for all the comments. Really makes it way more fun than it has any right to be.

georgiafan · 12-21-2017, 02:20 PM

just getting caught up with this and the playoffs should be fun even the long wait will be a bummer for you. Tate got snubbed. What's up with all the toucan Sam bashing lol ?

trekfan · 12-21-2017, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgiafan


	just getting caught up with this and the playoffs should be fun even the long wait will be a bummer for you. Tate got snubbed. What's up with all the toucan Sam bashing* lol ?*

Hey, I like fruit loops, but the Clippers mascot is legit bad. It's a pink, roller blading condor ... someone was clearly doing a little too much of something when they approved that idea.

TimmsSports · 01-07-2018, 10:42 AM

Any updates soon mate?

trekfan · 01-09-2018, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimmsSports


	Any updates soon mate?

Will be coming up this weekend. Didn't have time to do any offseason previews during my vacation and, when I got back, I got bit by the football bug (and thusly started a little side project over there, so there's the link for a totally shameless plug

). Work is crazy this week with all I have to catch up on, but I'll be doing the playoffs over the weekend.

Thanks for the inquiry.

12-20-2017, 01:41 PM	#145
trekfan Designated Red Shirt OVR: 0 Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 5,795	Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story Ch. 38 With just about three weeks to go, we welcomed in the surprisingly still relevant and playoff-worthy Nets into our building. You could have talked to a thousand people at the beginning of that season and asked, "Do you think the Nets will make the playoffs?" and a solid 75% of them would have said "Hell no!" But Brooklyn -- with the return of their franchise leader in Brook Lopez, with the addition of JJ Redick, and the development of Russel, LeVert, and other young pieces had become a playoff-contender. They weren't jokes anymore ... they were ready for some postseason action. And the game they played against us proved it in the end. The game was a back and forth affair in the first, with Lopez going OFF. The dude was hungry for a win, hungry for playoff action, and he went at our bigs like he was a combination of himself and his brother, Robin. Rebounds. Putbacks. Mid-range jumpers. Corner triples. Lopez was doing it all and had a bonkers first quarter, where he scored 12 points and grabbed 7 boards. But for all the work Lopez was doing, we had Victor Oladipo doing more -- dunks were his bread and butter. VO would not be denied. In the second, Myles got hot from beyond the arc -- nailing back-to-back triples that extended our lead into double-digits for the first time all game, and making the Nets look silly for letting him camp in the corner. But Brooklyn wasn't about to go quietly into the night -- as the half was ending, they inbounded the ball to Jeremy Lin, and he hit a long pull-up triple that cut our lead to just 7-points. We were hot -- VO and Lopez were battling for supremacy in that first half. But McHale drilled into us that we were sagging off them too much, going under the screens instead of over. He wanted us aggressive and in their faces, not sitting back and waiting for them. "You attack them and force them to get through you before they get their shot," he told us. In the third, Brooklyn got a taste of our defense -- and boy, did we suffocate them. HB and Myles swarmed guys all over the court and the Nets -- unable to get their shooters free -- had to toss it inside to guys like Amir Johnson. That worked out about as well as you expect. We feasted on transition buckets, and, by the time the fourth rolled around, we were rolling to the rim. VO and I were locked in with each other, and the Nets could do little to stop it ... but they could watch. We walked out of their with a nice win. Brooklyn was not a joke -- after that game, I figured out they weren't a team we wanted to see early in the postseason (or at all). With the loss, the Nets playoff position got a little more precarious. The bottom of the East was a clusteruck of mass proportions -- teams that were counted out were clawing back and teams that were surefire locks were sinking. With the win, we officially clinched our playoff spot -- which was good. We still had to get to 50, but we were close. Meanwhile, the Pistons trade for Conley looked to be working out -- Detroit was over .500 and actually competent looking. The Wizards were on the outside looking in and, though I didn't want to see the Greek Freak in the first round, I liked the idea of John Wall not making the playoffs. From Finals to sitting on a couch during the posteason ... the idea of that made me happy. Out West, things were less interesting, but not boring. The Warriors were leading the conference (no surprise) and the Rockets, defending champs, were sliding down the standings -- injuries to their bench were doing them in, but they were still solidly in the playoff mix. NOLA was beasting, and this was without Anthony Davis (still out 2-4 weeks with an ankle injury), which made it all the more impressive. The 7th and 8th seeds were where things got fascinating. The Blazers looked to have a second lease on life thanks to the deadline deal. The Nuggets were just barely* hanging onto the final seed, as Isiah Thomas, Paul Milsap, and Jokic tried to drag Denver into the playoffs. But right behind them were the T'Wolves, having a disappointing year, and -- to everyone's surprise -- the Mavericks, who with Mudiay and ROLO were so damn close to postseason ball. I was hoping the Mavericks might make it in -- both Mudiay and ROLO deserved to see some postseason action. I doubted they'd win anything, but playoff bonus money was always a good thing. Especially in an income tax free state. studbucket likes this. __________________ *Any comments are welcome.* Texas Two-Step (2K20 Alt History) Orange And Blue Forever (NCAA 14 Dynasty) You Don't Know Jack (2K18 Pacers Dynasty - Complete) Second Coming (2K16 Sonics MyLeague - Complete) The Gold Standard (2K13 Dynasty - Complete) Last edited by trekfan; 12-20-2017 at 01:43 PM.

12-20-2017, 07:53 PM	#146
trekfan Designated Red Shirt OVR: 0 Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 5,795	Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story Ch. 39 The season came to an end as we went 7-3 in our last ten — the final day, it was down to us and the Cavs for the 1st seed. If we won, we’d be in — if we lost, we’d get the 2nd seed and have to face Philly. We won, besting the Raptors by ten points on our homefloor, giving us homecourt throughout the East playoffs. Our opponent? The Wizards. John Wall and Washington had done just enough to barely sneak into the playoffs. Their reward? Me. I relished the idea of being the cause of John Wall being sent home, redeeming our defeat from last year and setting us up with either the Raptors or Pistons in Round 2. The matchups, across the league, we pretty good. On the other side of the East, you had the Cavs vs. The 76ers, the Kings vs. The Process — ratings were going to be insane for that series. Beyond that, you had the Hornets and the Nets, though Brooklyn was without Russell, who had gotten injured two weeks before. Luckily, the had Lin to fallback on, but there was a clear difference between the two … it looked like Charlotte had a good chance of winning the series, if they could slow down Brook Lopez with Dwight Howard. The Nuggets had survived the regular season and made the playoffs. Denver was ecstatic and Isiah Thomas, Paul Milsap, and Jokic presented the Warriors with a unique matchup. Mike Malone had saved his job … would be be able to actually do damage against the best team in the NBA? The Lakers were back in the playoffs for the first time in what felt like forever, against a familiar opponent — the Jazz. The two teams had been trading the 4th and 5th seeds back for most of the latter third of the season, and the franchises had history; Utah put a stop to the early Shaq/Kobe squads in the late 90s, so there was a bit of ancient bad blood. Then you had the Rockets and Thunder. Houston had fallen into a serious funk late in the season, the injuries to their bench leading them to a prolonged skid that dropped them to the 6th seed. It would be a revenge series as Harden vs. Westbrook was on the table … could Houston capture the magic that had propelled them to the 2018 title again? Finally, you had the Pelicans taking on the T’Wolves; two squads, laden with talent, but NOLA was hurting — Jrue Holiday was out with an injury, so it was up to Rondo, Boogie and the Brow to get the Pelicans a playoff series win. Injuries were going to play a role for a few of the playoff squads that year, but there was plenty of intrigue outside the playoffs — the race for the 1st overall pick had gotten ridiculous in the last three weeks of the season. Look at what the Suns did! Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, Phoenix lost 17 straight — 17 ucking games straight — to tie for the worst record in the NBA with the Hawks. It was one of the most blatant forms of tanking in NBA history and was an embarrassment. Phoenix tanked and tanked hard, but no one was sure if they’d be rewarded with what they sought — the first overall pick. The Hawks were sitting pretty, too, and the Grizzlies and Knicks were also in the running. Ironically, Boston — who had the Grizzlies and Clippers picks (both with lottery protections), were lottery bound as well. Across the NBA, people were waiting to see if Terry Stotts would be let go. Stotts had failed — yet again — to get the Blazers into the playoffs, another season where the team just finished outside the postseason. Both Lillard and McCollum were on record supporting Stotts, but ownership was evaluating all options. With Lillard and McCollum both having three years left on their deals, either was also movable … the Blazers were bound to see changes. In Orlando, Vogel hadn’t made the playoffs, but ownership was likely to give him one more year — they had gotten closer than they had in a long while and the midseason trade for Dragic really helped them. Vucevic, however, was a free agent and the Magic were fearful that he was going to bolt for greener pastures. The awards played out like you’d think — except for the fact that I was snubbed from everything. I put up 21.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 10.7 APG on 54% shooting, 42% from deep, and got NOTHING. I was pissed as hell about that and McHale told me, straight up, to remember that feeling in the playoffs. “We’re going to need that fire and brimstone,” he said to me after the awards we announced. I was determined to torch anything and anyone in my path. (I have no idea why any of these players are on the second team, they’re not rookies but the game treated them as such — weird glitch, but whatever)* __________________ *Any comments are welcome.* Texas Two-Step (2K20 Alt History) Orange And Blue Forever (NCAA 14 Dynasty) You Don't Know Jack (2K18 Pacers Dynasty - Complete) Second Coming (2K16 Sonics MyLeague - Complete) The Gold Standard (2K13 Dynasty - Complete)

12-20-2017, 11:52 PM	#147
bebetomatos14 Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story Seeing the Lakers again in the playoffs is a breath of hope for me. But I think they do not go very far, maybe go through the Jazz, but nothing more. The duels in general are very interesting, with special emphasis on the war between The Process vs. The King. Would Embiid and Simmons be able to stop LeBron? The duel between Pacers and Wizards seems to me to taste revenge and this should be very interesting to follow. And Westbrook in another phenomenal season with almost triple-doubles average. Accompanying from now on. trekfan likes this. __________________ Sorry guys for my english. ✠ Vasco, my life, my story, my first friend ✠ KOBE BRYANT - UNLIVED MEMORIES

12-21-2017, 02:20 PM	#149
georgiafan All Star OVR: 12 Join Date: Jul 2002	Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story just getting caught up with this and the playoffs should be fun even the long wait will be a bummer for you. Tate got snubbed. What's up with all the toucan Sam bashing lol ?

01-07-2018, 10:42 AM	#151
TimmsSports Rookie OVR: 0 Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: UK	Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story Any updates soon mate?

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