Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

In a way, I almost really, really want to see Dallas come out of nowhere to beat the Flight and battle LeBron in some type of crazy 'revenge' match nearly 10 years later...but I also wouldn't mind St. Louis-Indiana just because of that whole midwest feel.

I just don't want LeBron to lose another Finals LOL. What's your gameplan mentality for Dallas? If Ayton was so vital to that comeback from being down 2-0, I'd have to think just stuff him and double-team him with Noel and Joff, right?

I didn't think Dallas would matter at all by this point; I was certain they were toast against the Warriors, even more certain against the Jazz, yet they both failed -- the Mavericks have something. That core of Ball, Ayton, Anderson, with Barnes, Norman Powell, Monroe, and Wes Matthews has really outperformed (and over-performed) as a team more than they've had any right to.

Ayton was big for them in the last series and Utah, with Gobert and Bosh, should have shut him down; but he didn't get shut down. His scoring and rebounding wasn't off the charts (basically 10 and 10 each game in the series) but the kid's defensive chops are really, really good -- he shut down both Gobert and Bosh in the series.

For the Flight, we're going to have to rely on our platoon of bigs to hold down the fort -- Thon is younger than Bosh and stretchier at this point than CB, as is Lauvergne. I think we'll have to give Hammons some minutes, simply to absorb fouls -- that's the biggest problem we have in this matchup.

Both Monroe and Ayton will draw fouls on our bigs, and that's an issue. The games we lost against NOLA last series was due to the foul trouble Noel and Thon got in. I'll need at least one of them (if not both), to be relatively clean (3 fouls or less) by the fourth quarter, but that's no guarantee against Dallas.

It's gonna be a competitive series I feel.

But, I won't get to play it anytime soon. I'm leaving for Christmas vacation today and I'll be away from my home PC for the next three weeks -- which means this playoff series will have to wait till I get back on Jan. 7th.

[Surg2k]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I read all 29 pages and now I have to wait a couple weeks for the finals? Damn you! LOL Nice write up's and you kept my attention. I look forward to your next entry! Go Flight!! Also KD should come to Utah and help us win a ring.... maybe

[studbucket]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I read all 29 pages and now I have to wait a couple weeks for the finals? Damn you! LOL Nice write up's and you kept my attention. I look forward to your next entry! Go Flight!! Also KD should come to Utah and help us win a ring.... maybe

But just think of the storylines he's cooking up instead of spending time with his family!

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I read all 29 pages and now I have to wait a couple weeks for the finals? Damn you! LOL Nice write up's and you kept my attention. I look forward to your next entry! Go Flight!! Also KD should come to Utah and help us win a ring.... maybe

Yeah, KD is definitely gone, but where is the question indeed -- does he sign on in Utah (of all places)? The Jazz could certainly use him and it would give KD a very talented team to work with for the future; Rodney Hood, Trey Lyles, Exum, Gobert, all great players.

Honestly not sure where he would go to -- I suspect he might turn his attention east, but any team with cap room is a potential landing spot.

But just think of the storylines he's cooking up instead of spending time with his family!

HAHA!

It's not untrue, as most of my family is still working till Friday this week -- their vacation time doesn't kick in till next week, so I'm here puttering around as it were. Trust me, though, I am working on something -- not exactly related to this, a bit of a side project, but one that's oh-so fun (in my humble opinion). Hoping to get it ready to roll out soonish, probably early next week, and it should be quite enjoyable for those of us that remember a certain time of NBA basketball.

As always, stay tuned, and thanks for keeping the faith.

[satam619]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Well I think if they can, that the Mavericks should sign KD. They're an 8 seeded team and theye made the WCF. Like why wouldn't he sign there unless of course you wanna send him to a super team

[Teleo]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Trekfan,

With the increase of the inflation rate over the next few years, what is the ideal setting for the inflation rate within the My League setting? I am considering putting it 104 to replicate next summer's increase but what would be the ideal setting to replicate an increase to reach the potential amount of $120 million that may possibly take place in 2020? It is disappointing that this cannot be adjusted throughout only at the beginning of the initial My League set up. I know that this completely off topic from what your thread is about but you have always been so helpful with questions that I have had in the past. Merry Christmas as well to you!

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Well I think if they can, that the Mavericks should sign KD. They're an 8 seeded team and theye made the WCF. Like why wouldn't he sign there unless of course you wanna send him to a super team

You know, I'm not sure where he goes. KD to DAL would be something sweet -- fits the theme of him going to teams that beat him in the playoffs. At the same time, the possibility of KD going home is also there ... KD to OKC is on the table, but I'm not sure healing is possible between the two parties, especially after Westbrook won it all in 2017.

Trekfan,

With the increase of the inflation rate over the next few years, what is the ideal setting for the inflation rate within the My League setting? I am considering putting it 104 to replicate next summer's increase but what would be the ideal setting to replicate an increase to reach the potential amount of $120 million that may possibly take place in 2020? It is disappointing that this cannot be adjusted throughout only at the beginning of the initial My League set up. I know that this completely off topic from what your thread is about but you have always been so helpful with questions that I have had in the past. Merry Christmas as well to you!

Well, three years in I've seen the cap not move much at all at the default setting of 50, so, assuming 50=no movement and 100=double the 104M cap (so 208), then bumping up the cap inflation to 60 might do it, if their logic is the same as mine.

I'd guess somewhere between 60-65 is where that's at, but I don't know for sure -- I really haven't messed with the cap inflation settings.

[Teleo]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

You know, I'm not sure where he goes. KD to DAL would be something sweet -- fits the theme of him going to teams that beat him in the playoffs. At the same time, the possibility of KD going home is also there ... KD to OKC is on the table, but I'm not sure healing is possible between the two parties, especially after Westbrook won it all in 2017.





Well, three years in I've seen the cap not move much at all at the default setting of 50, so, assuming 50=no movement and 100=double the 104M cap (so 208), then bumping up the cap inflation to 60 might do it, if their logic is the same as mine.

I'd guess somewhere between 60-65 is where that's at, but I don't know for sure -- I really haven't messed with the cap inflation settings.

Thank you Trekfan, for the response. I do wish we were able to adjust salary cap and inflation rate on a year to year basis.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

UPDATE:

Just got in from my flight tonight, so expect updates tomorrow sometime ... assuming the snow we're expecting doesn't knock out the internet or the power (crosses fingers). I'll be pretty rusty, so Game 1 of the series is definitely going to be interesting to say the least.

As always, thanks for keeping the faith.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 64

The playoffs were commonly called “the second season” in the NBA and it was true — if you made it to the playoffs, it was a whole new ball game, a chance to redefine a season … hell, a career … if you could make the cut. We had advanced, as a second seed, to the conference finals — not entirely unsurprisingly.

But we were an expansion team, barely three seasons into our existence, and we had defied the odds as much as any team ever had. We were a mix of vets and young guns, and we lucked into a matchup with the Mavericks — in some ways, our mirror. Dallas, much like ourselves, was a team that thrived off their bigs — Greg Monroe and their star rookie DeAndre Ayton (a double-double machine and a good defender, especially for his age) were bigs that the offense ran through. Any play, any action, was going to come off something those two did.

Just like us with Thon and Noel, Dallas relied on their bigs and their bench to get them out of tight spots. Ayton had missed the last two matchups between us in the regular season with an injury, but his return in the second round against the Jazz propelled the Mavs straight into us.

We had to go out there and establish ourselves, prove to the world — and to the NBA — that we weren’t a fluke. Dallas had the same chip on their shoulder … it was going to come down to which team gave more, which team hustled their *ss off, and which team wanted to *uck up the other more.

The first two minutes of the game screamed that Dallas wanted it more. They came out and blitzed us, jumping out to a 7-0 lead that felt like 70-0. They ran their offense and drilled us inside … like a fighter in the first round, they tried to KO us early — an Ayton layup, a block from Monroe on the other end, a Normal Powell triple, a steal caused by Ball, and a fast-break dunk from Anderson.

Just like that, 7-0 and our team looked dazed, confused, and utterly overwhelmed. McHale called a quick timeout to reset everyone and everything.

After that timeout, we came out and dictated the pace. Dallas wanted to play fast and loose? We went slow … we pounded the ball, dribble, dribble, dribble, and we used the shot clock. We made them play 24 seconds of defense and you know what? Dallas couldn’t do it.

They could do about 20 seconds before they got sloppy and fouled. The two biggest things that allowed us to come back was pace and fouls — the refs were only too happy to call fouls on Dallas as they just got brutalized by the whistles. We, as a team, sunk them slow and steady from the line. It was death by a thousand cuts as opposed to a KO shot.

Dallas had no answers. We went on a 14-2 run and we took the lead. We never gave it up again. The first quarter was only a taste of our victory as we played a game that forced Dallas, a young team, to think … we forced them to slow down and plod at our pace. We changed gears with the bench and they looked stuck in the mud.

We ended them early and Thon had a straight ball. He wasn’t afraid of Monroe or Ayton, our starters showed up in a big way, and even deep into the fourth quarter we were putting a hurting on them. McHale could have played the deep bench at the beginning of the quarter, but he didn’t put them in until 3:00 left in the game — the fourth was all about our starters nailing the coffin shut and tossing it into the river.



That was the dagger. We nailed more threes, we shot better balls, and we took it Dallas — even the deep bench, even Boucher (our big man 1st rounder from 2018 that hardly saw any time that year) got in on the action — Boucher snagged two boards and scored five points in two minutes. Everyone was feeling it that night.

We set the tone in Game 1. It was up to us to keep that tone the rest of the series.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 65

Game 2 went to the Mavs as they got hot from deep in the fourth and we lost, 105-96. But we took Game 3 right back from them with our own fourth quarter run, thanks in large part to Josh Richardson going bonkers from deep (5-8 from deep all game, four of those in the fourth). Game 4 we were destroyed in the fourth, outscored 45-26 as the Mavs pulled away in front of their own crowd, winning 131-117.

So, it came down to Game 5 to decide who was going to be up 3-2; the magical number. Teams up 3-2 were almost a lock to win the series and Game 5 was at home for us. Dallas was a division foe, so they knew us and we knew them … honest to God, Rick Carlisle and Dirk (at that time, the assistant coach), did a fantastic job getting their team to the WCF. Hell, if he wasn’t already employed, I’d think hard about hiring him.

But he was employed, by our opponents, and we had to beat him. And our team showed up in a big way, beating the Mavs 115-89 in a huge home win thanks to defense; we forced 19 turnovers, held their highest scorer to just 18 points, and feasted thanks to a huge *ucking night from Josh Jackson. Action had 38 points on 15-27 shooting, demolishing the Mavs any way he could.

We went up 3-2. They had Game 6 in Dallas. It was there where we had to close it out and the Mavericks had their backs against the wall.

They played like it.

In the first quarter, both teams battled hard and gave no *ucks about the refs, about fouls, or about anything other than defense. It was hard-nosed, tough basketball — not for the weak of heart. We managed to get a 14-7 lead, but then the Mavs barreled back and took a 18-14 lead after shutting us down — we couldn’t get the ball to Jackson at all, Dallas refused to let him touch it.

So, with Jackson iced, we had to turn to Thon and Thon answered, at least offensively. Defensively, he was getting beat by Monroe but at least he wasn’t picking up fouls — we traded the lead back and forth and Dallas took the quarter, 22-20.

In the second, we let Thon shoot as much as he wanted and his game stretched the floor. A three here, a mid-range jumper there, and Dallas was forced to guard the perimeter with their bigs — that left Noel to feast inside. Nerlens was huge for us as he bothered the rookie Ayton with his hustle and aggressiveness, leading Ayton to nabbing three fouls in that quarter and finding the bench.

That also put Dallas in the bonus midway through the quarter and we took advantage, getting to line with almost everyone. Still, even with those advantages, we were only up 48-45 at halftime. We were letting Dallas hang around and, if they did, they’d put on a fourth quarter barrage and bury us.

In the third, McHale went to our bench and let them get in on the action — and they made the difference, notably Mighty Joe Young, Demarre Carroll, and Joffery Lauvergne. Those three had huge contributions in the third — Lauvergne did work on the boards and in the post, getting us quite a few second chance points, and Carroll hit timely threes. But it was Joe Young who really put the dagger in the heart of the Mavs with a triple so open even he couldn’t miss it.



And that was the turning point. We already had the lead, but we could feel Dallas getting their legs under them … they were young, hungry, scrappy, but they weren’t going to fold in the third. At least, not until Young hit that triple and gave us a double-digit lead.

That broke them. Our bench continued to play well for the rest of the third, Thon, Noel, and Jackson came back in at the beginning of the fourth and, from there, it was Jackson’s show — he helped bury the Mavs with his tough inside buckets, keeping that lead in the double-digit territory and that was that.

We advanced. We survived. We moved onto the Finals in our third year of existence.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Conference Finals Recap: The Finals Are Set



The biggest story has to be the end of the Mavericks magical playoff run -- after upending the entire NBA with their win over the Warriors in the first round, the Mavs escaped the Jazz in round two, but fell to the second seeded Flight in the WCF.

It was a valiant fight by Dallas. Despite the relative inexperience of their team, despite spending most of the year being regarded as a mediocre squad, despite the injury to the number one overall pick in DeAndre Ayton, Dallas gave the Flight a tough six game series that felt closer than it actually was.

What St. Louis has done -- in their third year of existence as a franchise -- is unprecedented in the NBA and in modern sports. Not only did they make the playoffs, they advanced and have advanced further than any team in their third year of existence.

But what they face next will be their greatest challenge -- the Indiana Pacers. After missing the Finals last year, losing to the Cavs in an embarrassing 4-0 sweep, the Pacers came back this season with a vengeance, setting fire to the East as they jumped out to the best record, and they have been dominant in every playoff series. 4-1 against the 76ers, 4-0 against the Bucks, and now 4-1 against the Cavs.

Cleveland hardly stood a chance as they missed the crucial contributions of Tristan Thompson and young Aaron Harrison. With Thompson still out and Harrison severely limited, the Cavs asked LeBron, Kyrie, and Love to lead them to victory. They could not. Game 1 went to the Pacers, 92-85, behind PG13's 30 points (on 11-17 shooting). Game 2 saw the Cavs hit nearly every three they took and they won in a rout, 121-83, thanks to a 15-25 shooting night from beyond the arc.

Game 3 saw the Pacers starters struggle, but their bench came through in a huge way -- led by Thad Young, Ian Mahinmi, and Robert Covington, the Pacers squeaked by 98-91 in Cleveland. Game 4 saw Paul George take control early as the Pacers won 110-83, as LeBron was held to just 10 points and Kyrie only 17. Game 5, in Indiana, saw the Pacers shut the door as they locked down LeBron and Love, letting Kyrie score but the Cavs wither as a team -- Indiana won 102-96 in OT, securing their second Finals trip in three years.

The match is set, and the NBA will crown a first-time champion at the end of these Finals -- will the Pacers end their long quest for a title, something even the great Reggie Miller couldn't deliver?

Or will the Flight set the bar for all future franchises by doing the unthinkable, winning an NBA Finals in their third year of existence?

They say the playoffs are where anything can happen: this year has proved it.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 66

The NBA Finals. Indiana had been there twice in the entirety of its existence — the 1999-2000 team, led by Reggie Miller, which was beaten by the Lakers in six and then the 2016-17 team, led by Paul George, beaten again in six. It seemed to be destiny for the Pacers to lose in the NBA Finals, in six games, and Pacers fans were rabid — there was hardly another fanbase in the NBA that loved their team as much. Basketball was king in Indiana and even Peyton Manning, back when he played for the Colts, could only draw even with the Pacers.

Indiana had an advantage in this series that we lacked — homecourt. They finished three games better than us, were the first seed, and hadn’t had much difficulty at all in the playoffs; they won every series in five games or less. But they had homecourt back in the 2017 Finals and lost to OKC, so it wasn’t like they were invincible — we had split the season series anyway.

That said, a lot of the pundits were certain Indiana would pull it off. George had, arguably, his best team ever with a starting five of Teague, Ellis, himself, Sullinger, and Turner; add in their bench unit of CJ Miles, Thad Young, Mack, and Mahinmi, and Indiana’s bench was as good as ours — hell, probably better.

We heard the talk about us — we were told our wins weren’t good enough because we missed the Warriors and we barely escaped against the Pelicans. We were punished for daring to allow the Mavericks to take us to six games … the pundits couldn’t justify believing in us. But we had our believers, we had our fans, and thanks to how close the Pacers were to us, we knew our fans would travel well. We were, geographically, two teams that were a straight shot from one another.

It was a Midwest Finals and we were the underdog.

Game 1 started out with us in a pitched battle with the Pacers — both teams a little jittery in that first quarter as only the stars — Thon and Action Jackson for us, George and Turner for the Pacers — could really find their shot. Defense was tough, the refs let us play early, but as the quarter dragged on the defense only got rougher. We barely edged out a two-point lead, but Paul George was angling for a huge night — after one, he had already scored 14 points and was hot.

In the second, our bench units came in and we had an edge early … at least until CJ Miles started shooting. Indiana ran him off screens, tried to bury us with perimeter shooting, and they blew past us in the quarter, opening up a nine-point lead midway through it as our bench unit looked dazed. We were being run off the court because we couldn’t manage to pass to the *ucking right team — balls were just a second late, triples were just a little off, rebounding position was nonexistent and we were getting bullied.

McHale used three timeouts in that quarter to settle us down, the moment overwhelming some of our guys — Joe Young in particular — and we switched tactics. We stuck Richardson out there and let him play point forward, running our offense through him as we let everyone else spot up off the ball. That forced the Pacers to run out and close out on our perimeter shots … yes, we missed a lot of them and, yes, when we got fouled and went to the line, Lord did we suck *ss.

Despite all that, forcing Indiana to guard us tired them out some and we clawed back; thanks to a Delly steal and triple in transition on the other end right before the end of the half, we were only down 56-52, but it felt like a 14-point lead as opposed to a four-point one.

I went down to the lockerroom at halftime and listened in to McHale’s speech. This was a man who had played in more Finals than any current coach in the NBA, who had experienced one of the NBA’s greatest dynasties, had played with multiple hall-of-famers, who still walked with a noticeable limp because he played on a broken foot … he was a legend.

And at halftime, he channeled all that into a simple message:

“Guys, we’re right in this. We’re going to get this, the shots will fall, just keep pluggin’ … keep hustling, keep fighting, keep taking those shots. We know who we are and they know who we are … and we’re better. We stick to the plan.”

That was it. No rip-roaring, rousing call to action, it was a calm, level approach. And the guys in that room all nodded along. Delly spoke up, talked about some of things he saw — specifically how Monta Ellis was giving us space and we needed to use that on offense — and our team went back out in the third.

Like we always did, we started off the quarter with a mix of our bench and ours starters, trusting our guys to do the job they’ve done all year. And they did, specifically Carroll; Junkyard Dog and Delly started hitting up a two-man game that the Pacers couldn’t stop even if they tried. Jared Sullinger was too slow to keep up with Carroll at the four, and Carroll just barreled past him for dunk after dunk.

It forced the Pacers to call a timeout and switch in Thad Young, who did marginally better, but we had found a crack in the interior — Delly was in rhythm, his passing on point, and we opened up the middle like the parting of the Red Sea. Indiana started fouling and we put them into the bonus early, which meant we got to the line more and our guys started sinking those shots.

By the time the fourth arrived, our third quarter squad had gotten us an 85-77 lead. But the fourth saw Paul George catch fire and he again was trying to beat us with his shooting … defensively, we gave up a 6-0 run at the beginning of the quarter before we stabilized and started going back inside.

Noel was having a huge game and so was Thon, both showing up in a big way in the second half with their rebounds and their points, hitting tough inside shots with lots of contact; our starters were fresh and rested, and our defense was getting the steals we needed to build out our lead.



Thanks to the play of our bigs, we finally got some room to hit some off the bounce threes — a number of them from Richardson and Thon — and we pulled away as Indiana just tired out. It didn’t help that Turner fouled out either, thanks to our tough inside play.



With him gone, we had them dead to rights, and we finished the game well. We had taken Game 1, stolen homecourt advantage, and were three wins away from defying the odds.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 67

We took Game 1 on the Pacers homecourt, but we didn’t get ahead of ourselves — I sure as hell didn’t. Just because we stole homecourt advantage didn’t mean we’d be able to hold it and, true to NBA form, the Pacers came out and murdered us in Game 2, an embarrassing 105-70 loss as Paul George, CJ Miles, and Jeff Teague each ate us alive for at least 25 points. We were dominated, plain and simple, and we didn’t even bother putting out a team in the fourth — we just went to the bench.

It was a humbling lesson, one we took to heart when we returned to St. Louis. In Game 3, behind our raucous crowd and an outstanding showing from Josh Jackson (24 points and 6 boards on 9-15 shooting), we returned the beatdown with one of our own — a 97-81 clubbing, not as impressive as what the Pacers did but it still felt good.

Game 4 saw Indiana light us up from deep in the fourth quarter, where we just got hammered, losing the game 113-86 — we couldn’t stop Paul George in the fourth and he single-handedly destroyed us. Jackson tried to keep up, but the kid couldn’t stop the bleeding on his own.

Game 5 was pivotal … back in Indiana, both teams were tired and both teams shot horribly — we shot only 36 percent from the field, they shot 39 percent, but we squeaked out the win thanks to a last second shot from Josh Richardson (who finished with 18 points and 7 boards); we won 88-87, giving us the slimmest of a 3-2 series lead.

It was close. Too damn close for comfort, too damn close to do anything other than pray we could survive another Paul George onslaught — if we won Game 6, we’d win it all. If we lost, we’d have to go back to Indiana — where we could win — but would we be able to pull it off in a Game 7, with everything on the line, with the Pacers home crowd within screaming distance of all of us?

It wasn’t a pretty prospect and, at the start of Game 6, it looked like it was our fate. We came out and fell flat on our *ucking faces, going down 8-2 early behind Paul George and Myles Turner. A quick timeout to settle us down and we went back out there, struggling to get our shots and knock them down. We were horrible at the free throw line, horrible from three, and only saw success using — of all things — the midrange shot.

It was the worst way to play imaginable — Indiana was betting we couldn’t keep hitting midrange jumpers forever and it was all we had; Thon’s sweet jumper carrying us in the first frame. Without him, we would have been dead long before the final buzzer.

But we survived and, more than that, we forced Indiana into some foul trouble and into some bad shots. They only led 26-24 after one and, thanks to the early fouls on Monta Ellis and Jared Sullinger, had to go to their bench sooner than they would have liked. That let us start to roll into the inside in the second, getting easy baskets at the rim and getting our guys in rhythm. That allowed us to hang around and we engaged in trading the lead, back and forth, between us and the Pacers.

We had our opportunities to get out way ahead if we hit our open shots, but we kept missing from deep and the Pacers were unafraid to send us to the line — we were having our worst free throw shooting night of the playoffs, if not the season, and usually reliable guys like Thon, like Jackson, were clanking their shots from the line. We couldn’t get in front of them by more than a point or two and Indiana, unlike us, could hit their shots.

They retook the lead, we retook the lead, and we went to halftime down 53-52. Despite how bad we were playing, despite how ugly we were playing, we were still right there. All we needed was a good run and some solid defense, and we’d get a lead. Starting out the third, I was hopeful the break had given us a second wind.

We turned the ball over on our first three possessions, and the Pacers scored five points off those turnovers. We nearly collapsed there, the weight of the moment and the potential victory almost suffocating us, but we stabilized thanks to our most reliable weapon — our pick and roll. Despite the Pacers size clogging up the lanes, the pick and roll let our bigs get deep into the post and we threw it down there.

Lauvergne and Noel made mince meat out of the Pacers bigs, their array of pump fakes and post moves freeing them up just enough to get buckets. We clawed back into it yet again, we pulled ourselves off the ledge, we pushed them back and they tried to push us over, but we stood firm.

It wasn’t good enough to get us a lead, but it was good enough to trim the deficit to just three points; down 84-81, not having finished a single quarter with a lead, we moved into the final frame with our season hanging in the balance; the arena was tense and I was so sick to my stomach I could barely move from my seat.

If we lost here, if we let this one get away, I wasn’t sure we could recover as a team — hell, as an organization, we’d be doubled-over.

The fourth started out just as badly as the third — the Pacers scored and we went nowhere. With 9 minutes left in the quarter, we were down 93-83 and it looked like Indiana was about to run away with it. It looked to be over.

But then we finally got some threes to fall — all from Josh Richardson. J-Rich hit two triples in a row and forced the Pacers into two bad shots on the other end … suddenly we had a 6-0 run and the crowd was rocking. With Richardson hitting, the Pacers had to rotate away from the interior and Richardson gamely tossed the rock into our bigs — Thon and Noel — and let them eat away at Indiana.

And eat they did. Our bigs feasted and it launched us into a 14-3 run that saw us tie it all up at 97 with a little over 3:20 to go. The time that remained seemed to stretch out into infinity as the Pacers went to George and Turner, and we went to Thon and Jackson — power for power, stride for stride, we battled back and forth for the rest of the game.

But Indiana inched ahead thanks to George and we were lagging behind … we were under a minute and we were down 111-109; we needed a basket to tie or we were done.



It wasn’t the prettiest possession — a near turnover, an unlikely passer, and a jumper that had far more luck in it than skill, but it gave us the tie. We were all knotted up 111-111; the Pacers seemed stunned, but we had it.

The next possession Indiana came down and attempted to get a quick shot, knowing that if they missed they would get another possession — Jeff Teague came down off the screen and hoisted one up, but it clanked off the rightside of the rim, leaving us with the ball and a little over 27 seconds. We had to suck clock, but we had to get a good shot — overtime was a possibility, but it was our time now.

Richardson got the ball and was patient on offense … he was going to find the best shot available, he wasn’t going to lose the game for us.



A midrange jumper that went right in, no drama, and Richardson knew it was good — the Pacers sagged off Noel and, even if it had missed, it was likely Nerlens would have cleaned it up. We had the lead, with 4.9 seconds left, 113-111.

Indiana called a timeout and advanced it up the floor, knowing that 4.9 seconds was a lifetime. They tried to inbound the ball to George close to the hoop but we locked him down, forcing him to run out near the halfcourt line to get the ball — he did, but the catch wasn’t clean, so he had to dribble himself into rhythm, which wasted time. George tried to take Jackson off the dribble and get a clean look, but Jackson didn’t let him by and PG13 tossed up a deep three that clanked off the rim — no hope in hell of going in.

We had won.

We had won the mother*ucking NBA title!









Finals MVP went to Jackson — honestly thought Thon had it in the bag, but Jackson came through when we needed him to and he was steady throughout — his defense on George, at the end, was probably what tipped it in his favor.




When it came down to it, the whole team stepped up — everyone had a huge bucket in the Finals, everybody deserved that trophy (hell, even the benchwarmers) and the future looked as bright as ever for us. We were NBA champs, we had proven everyone wrong … they’d call us a fluke, they’d think us frauds or lucky, but they couldn’t take it away from us.

Our team, our organization, our fans … we knew it could only get better. The rest of the NBA had been put on notice.

We had arrived.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 68

We had reached the mountain top. Winning the title on our homecourt meant a lot of things, but the first thing it meant was that we, as a team, could start the party right then and there.

And once we started, we didn’t stop — the party stretched on for nearly two days as the entire organization, from the ballboys to team executives (and everybody in-between), got a bottle of champagne, got promised a ring (we gave out so many *ucking rings and we didn’t give a damn about cost), and we all invited to the party of the year.

The Dome, our homecourt, basically became an open club for those two days — we kept security around, of course, but if anyone flashed a team ID or a ticket stub from any of that year's games, they were let in. It was unprecedented and it was a spur of the moment, slightly drunk decision by myself, but I said *uck it and we did it.

The results were, as you’d expect, some crazy times. We kept a replay of the Game 6 on the jumbotron, the middle of the court was where we set up the bar, and the stands were open for anyone to sit anywhere.

We closed it down on June 15th, a Saturday, and it went smoothly — we didn’t get any trouble from the fans, our employees, or the players — two days straight of partying wore it all out for most of our guys and they went home for the weekend. Our parade was the next Monday and it was a hell of a time, too.

But, at least for me, it was a bit bittersweet … playing that final game on the jumbotron, over and over, I watched us nearly lose the game for about 46 minutes of the 48 we played. And even while pounding booze and enjoying my fair share of food, my mind was taking notes.

We had succeeded despite ourselves, really, in Game 6. We had beaten the Thunder, the Pelicans, and the Mavs — all division rivals — against a Western Conference that was missing a few power teams: the Clippers and the Spurs were both MIA from the playoffs because of injuries.

It was easy to hail our team as the best, as one that had an ultra-bright future ahead of it … but the talent evaluator, the GM in me, said that was optimistic bull*hit. We weren’t the 2004 Pistons — we didn’t have an All-Star other than Jackson and he was just a kid. No, we were a team that compared favorably to only one squad I could think of and it wasn’t a comparison I liked:

We were a younger version of the 2011 Mavericks. The team that featured Dirk, an old Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion and a bench comprised of parts from a local Goodwill (Corey Brewer, Mahinmi, and Peja Stojakovic to name a few). All those starters were close to their 30s or in them by the time the 2011 Finals hit … but they upset the Big Three Heat.

They were viewed as a fluke and the next season Cuban stupidly let Chandler walk and swung for the fences. They sold draft picks, they sold players, just to have a chance to land a big fish free agent … and they never did.

I looked at the 2011 Mavs team and found myself thinking that was our fate. We had Jackson, we had Thon, we had Noel and Richardson, we had young players, but would we ever again be NBA champions with this roster, this team, with these players?

Two days of celebrating and watching that game on the jumbotron had given me my answer: no.

We had our core of Jackson, Thon, and Noel. Richardson was probably part of our future — he was a good compliment — but I couldn’t guarantee he’d stay. Delly was a veteran and had done a great job for us as our first major signing, but the injury he suffered during the regular season had hurt him some … he wasn’t fit to be our starter moving forward, I knew that, but he was a team leader and damned important.

But the rest of the team? We had to improve, especially with the number of high-impact free agents available. Kevin Durant, John Wall, and Kemba Walker were all on the market and all looking for new digs — then there was the dark horse, Nikola Jokic, who was an unrestricted free agent at 24 (thanks to him being a 2nd round pick and a shrewd contract negotiator), and his numbers were eye-opening: 14.9 PPG, 12.7 RPG on 53 percent shooting … and the kid still had room to grow.

That didn’t even account for the other free agents like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kevin Love (who was asking the Cavs for a lot of money), Chris Bosh (who had proved himself capable in Utah and was looking for another ring), Eric Bledsoe (unhappy as the number-two to the Brow’s number one in NOLA), Ricky Rubio (mercifully let go by the T’Wolves), Kris Middleton, TJ Warren, Tobias Harris, Nic Batum, Ryan Anderson, Greg Monroe, Kenneth Faried (who had proved himself a really powerful undersized center in ATL), Nikola Vucevic (a low-post threat free of the Magic’s molasses), and Dwight *ucking Howard (mercenary for hire).

The NBA would be a much different place and our *sses couldn’t afford to sit around and stay the same. We had to improve.

Once the parade had concluded, our championship victory party ended — at least for me. I knew we had work to do and that work started off with the NBA Draft. We had a high pick thanks to the disastrous season by the Raptors, which had gifted us with a pick projected to be in the Top-3.



It was all luck from there — if we were able to pick ahead of the Spurs, we’d take the best PG in the draft, Daniel Bullard from Massachusetts. If we landed behind them, we’d trade out — we’d try to nab a young PG who could develop or maybe just trade for a future first, betting on free agency.

We were positioned to be big players in free agency thanks to our gobs of cap space (we had so many young players on rookie contracts) and our status as reigning NBA champs; it was the most clout we’d ever had as a franchise and we had to treat it as though it was the only time we’d ever have it. We couldn’t afford to take it for granted and assume people would just sign with us because we had won a title.

Cuban had made that bet and his franchise had gotten burned by it.

There wasn’t a lottery party — my brothers and the family, they were basking in the glow of the title and were enjoying it for all it was worth. Me? I was in the warroom, plotting out our offseason and trying to make sense of all the potential possibilities. We had about a million different ways we could have gone … but the first domino was where we landed in the draft.

The basketball gods didn’t disappoint.



Philly got first overall, thanks to that horrible deal the Kings made years ago to use the 76ers as a salary dumping ground — they had to convey their pick this year no matter what. It was a bad look, but Sacramento would live.

We scored the second pick, behind us the Knights.

Oh, the Knights … Marshall had been furious that we had won the Finals. He had been beside himself, especially since the West Coast pricks were so sure they were just a few pieces away from being what we were — champions. The PR was bad, especially since Kansas City hadn’t been shy about proclaiming themselves the better organization.

We had a title and they didn’t … and it was driving Marshall mad. The Young family was still making plenty of money, so they didn’t care that much, but Marshall wanted to beat me — he wanted to be the best team. Landing that third pick wasn’t going to help him in my view.

The bottom line was that we, as the defending NBA champs, had secured the second overall pick — and with it, our PG of the present and future. Bullard was as good as ours.

But that did leave us with another question: what would we do in free agency?