Rebirth: A 2K19 MyLeague

[trekfan]

Rapid Reaction: Kings 124, Heat 89

By Sasha Williams

The Kings won their final game with Heat, avenging an earlier loss in the month, but did so at a great cost: De’Aaron Fox sprained his ankle late in the third quarter and went down. He’ll be out 4-6 weeks, missing the final stretch of the season as the Kings try to prepare for their first appearance in the playoffs in nearly two decades. Though Sacramento won this game, they likely would have preferred to lose it over losing Fox. With the Huskies, Mavericks, and Warriors all hunting them for the 1st seed, any weakness could cost the Kings the ultimate advantage of homecourt.

[trekfan]

League Update: Regular Season Finale

By Sasha Williams

Award Winners:

Standings:

Injuries:

The Non-Playoff Teams:

Out West, the final playoff spot came down to the Wolves, with the Spurs, Blazers, and Suns in heavy pursuit — Minnesota finished well enough to get back into the postseason, while the Blazers fell out of the playoffs; had Portland won out, they would have snuck in, but instead they find themselves at home after finishing as the 3rd seed last year. Phoeix, LA, and the Jazz all finished under .500 as each team made moves at the deadline to secure a playoff spot, and all of them failed to produce. Phoenix, especially, must be concerned that the Greek Freak will see their organization as just another one that can’t deliver him to the postseason — the clock ticks loudly as the Suns must now decide how to build around the Greek Freak reliably.

The West saw the Spurs, Nuggets, Pelicans, and Clippers all miss out on the postseason. Denver and San Antonio both battled injuries to multiple players all year, so their failure can be excused. But NOLA was expected to be better than and the addition of Allen Iverson should have elevated them — instead, it seemed to drag them down. The Clippers are the most disappointing team out West, a squad that featured LeBron and had little else going for it despite immense talent all throughout the roster — LAC will have to decide how best to rectify their bad year as LeBron will not stand for missing the playoffs next season, especially with the success of others in the division.

In the East, the the Celtics and Heat both submitted uninspired final weeks to their 24-25 campaign, though at least Boston can claim to ahve won. Miami lost 5 straight as Kareem, once more, went out with an injury and the Heat collapsed. Detroit, Charlotte, and Orlando all had a chance at the final spot, but simply couldn’t win enough in the final weeks of the season and all three have missed out on the playoffs. For the Hornets, it may be a bad sign as Penny Hardaway is a free agent and could be looking to move to a bigger market.

The Bucks, Pacers, and Wizards also missed the postseason — Milwaukee has generally looked better since the Greek Freak trade, so there is hope the Bucks may compete next season with Lillard and Booker. The Pacers were a disappointment and it looks like Oladipo is going to be moving on as the team rebuilds around Shaq; the Wizards were in the thick of the playoff race before an injury to Vince Carter, which effectively neutered their offense. The Bulls and Knicks were awful all year and New York looks like they’re going to convey a very high pick to Sacramento in one of the worst trades of the last few seasons, as the Knicks bet big they could be title contenders this season and instead will get nothing for their troubles.

The Playoff Teams:

The entire bracket is filled up with interesting matchups — out West, the Kings take on KAT, Grant Hill, and Marvin Bagley in a 1 vs 8 seed matchup that should be featured heavily. The Huskies and Hakeem face the Rockets, a franchise Hakeem delivered 2 titles for and a squad looking to win one last one for the retiring Chris Paul. The Mavericks face the Sonics, a rematch of last year when Seattle upset Dallas in 7; can Charles Barkley beat Durant this time? Finally, the Warriors take on the Thunder in a renewal of old rivals, as Kobe will attempt to knock off a dynasty he never saw in his prime.

Out East, the Raptors — without Kyrie, but with Steve Nash starting — will take on the battered Heat in a series that may end in a sweep for Toronto. The Hawks, even without Trae Young, secured the 4th seed and face off against the Bill Russell led Nets, a team that has an identity of defense first. The Grizzlies and 76ers face off again after last year’s thrilling 7 game series that Philly barely won, and the Cavaliers take on Boston, a team that may not have an answer for Bronny James despite featuring Jason Kidd.

(The random number generator has assigned me Games 1 and 6 of the series. Can the MJ dominate in the playoffs as easily as he did in the regular season?)

[trekfan]

Rapid Reaction: Kings 137, Wolves 99

By Sasha Williams

The Kings are up 1-0 in their series, defeating the Wolves by double-digits thanks to a lockdown 3rd quarter. Jordan and Josh Hart absolutely scorched the nets in the third as Greg Oden snuffed out KAT with a couple of great defensive plays (and one arena-exploding block) that killed any momentum Minnesota had after the first half. Jordan was, as usual, his dominant self but got a huge helping hand from the bench as the Kings flooded the Wolves with threes, each triple making the crowd go wilder as Sacramento got its first playoff win in many, many years.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” cautioned GM Jim Harris. “But the way the team played, the way the crowd responded … this is what we’re all here for. We’re here for these moments.”

Around the League:

Raptors are up 1-0 against Miami, Hawks up 1-0 against the Nets, Houston is up 1-0 on Vancouver, while the Mavericks throttled the Sonics by 20 and are up 1-0 in their series. Golden State and Memphis took care of business as well, and Boston shocked the Cavs and are up 1-0, stealing Game 1.

[georgiafan]

I am finally getting caught up nice win to start out should be a pretty easy series even without Fox.

[studbucket]

Hey trek - I hadn't been on OS for months (life got busy, forgot, etc) and when I came back I knew I'd have some good reading to look forward to. Finally caught up on this thread and look forward to its continuation or what you may be doing with your next game.

I loved playing with the 92-93 Hornets, and I bet that this has been a blast, to play with all the old legends.

[trekfan]

Quote: Originally Posted by georgiafan

I am finally getting caught up nice win to start out should be a pretty easy series even without Fox.

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

Hey trek - I hadn't been on OS for months (life got busy, forgot, etc) and when I came back I knew I'd have some good reading to look forward to. Finally caught up on this thread and look forward to its continuation or what you may be doing with your next game. I loved playing with the 92-93 Hornets, and I bet that this has been a blast, to play with all the old legends.

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments. I took a break from this for awhile, but I actually finished up the postseason for this series, and it went like this (lost the pics, but I wrote down the results thankfully) :


SAC won vs MIN, 4-2
HOU won vs VAN, 4-2
DAL won vs SEA, 4-0
GS won vs OKC, 4-0


MIA won vs TOR, 4-3
BKN won vs ATL, 4-3
PHI won vs MEM, 4-3
CLE won vs BOS, 4-2


In round 2 I was given Games 2 and 7 to play by the random number generator:


HOU won vs SAC, 4-2 (sim gods did not let me to get Game 7, lol)
GS won vs DAL 4-0


BKN won vs MIA 4-2
PHI won vs CLE 4-2


In the Conference Round, it was HOU vs GS and BKN vs PHI


HOU won vs GS 4-1
PHI won vs BKN 4-2


Finals:


PHI won vs HOU 4-2
Ben Simmons named Finals MVP.





Amazingly enough, even Michael Jordan isn't enough to overcome the curse that is the Sacramento Kings, lol.



But it was a fun series. I like the concept and may do it again in the future, just with some adjustments.



Notably, not flooding the league with so many legends for four classes straight -- one draft class with a bunch of legends and then a break for like, 20 seasons, sounds about right.


As for my next endeavor, I was thinking of picking up 2K20 on Black Friday, but frankly the game doesn't seem that much improved from what I've seen and I was pretty disappointed by the way the game launched, with so many glitches and issues. I think I'm taking this year off from the new game, but I do have a story I want to tell and am working on something.


This next project will be focused more on the narrative portions of the basketball world, a real in-depth story rather than just recaps and occasional story narrative check ins.



Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for the comments and feedback.