Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Flight down Magic in OT thriller




In short ...

It came down to the final minute. Tired and gassed, both the Magic and Flight were pulling reserves off the bench to finish the game, trying to do just enough to escape with a victory. The final minute of regulation saw the Flight take the lead on a Josh Richardson dunk, saw the Magic answer back with a layup from Greg Monroe, saw Bullard nail a trailing mid-range shot and drain the ensuing free throw from the foul, giving the Flight a 95-92 lead.

But, with 20 seconds left, the Magic got the ball, ran Aaron Gordon off a screen, and he buried the triple with only 3.7 seconds on the clock. The Flight, without timeouts, inbounded the ball to a streaking Jackson, who ran past the Magic defenders and lofted up a pretty layup ... that just rimmed out.

OT was here. In overtime, if was the Flight's reserves that helped lead the team to victory, the last four points scored by Joffery Lauvergne, including the deciding bucket that guaranteed the Flight win.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Flight punish Warriors in fourth and win going away




In short ...

The Warriors came out to play, but the Flight got the W. After a touch and go first quarter, which saw the lead change nine times, the Flight were able to just squeak out a slim two-point lead at halftime, which Golden State promptly wiped away at the beginning of the third quarter.

But it was in the second half where the Flight got inside and bullied the Warriors, using their size and their hunger for rebounds to get multiple possessiona. Led by Josh Jackson, the Flight drew many fouls and got Chef Curry in trouble with the referees, forcing the Baby Faced Assassin to the bench early in the third.

With Curry benched, the Flight were able to play their game without fear of reprisal.



The bully ball forced the Warriors to play a slower paced game as the Flight dared anyone else not named Steph Curry to beat them; no one else could. In the fourth, it was all Thon Maker, stretching the floor and getting easy put-back buckets to put St. Louis over the top. Maker was named player of the game for his amazing night.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2019-20 Regular Season Awards

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2019-20 Final Regular Season Standings







Playoff Matchups



End of Season Injury Report

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Seeing as how this is the final season of this dynasty, I'm going to try out a new thing for the playoffs -- rather than playing my usual 1st game of the series + first elimination game (for or against), I'll take a page from my buddy's studbucket's book and randomly generate two numbers between 1 and 7, with at least one of them being in the first four. Those will be the two games I’ll play each series.


For this series, I was given Game 1 and Game 5 -- so we'll see how Houston does.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Flight take Game 1 behind unlikely heroes




In short ...

With 5:01 left in the game, the score was tied at 86 and the Flight had just lost Thon Maker to foul trouble. Maker would join Jackson (who had fouled out a quarter before) on the bench, leaving the Flight to plug in super-reserve and fan-favorite Joffery Lauvergne.

This wasn't the closing lineup Coach Kevin McHale expected: Bullard, Richardson, Gbinije, Lauvergne and Noel. But it was the lineup that got the job done, as the Flight -- led by Gbinje, their 2016 second round pick -- regained the lead and held onto it.

Behind the masterful passing of Rookie of the Year Daniel Bullard, the Flight outscored and outhustled Houston at the end, not only preventing them from eclipsing 100 points, but also -- for at least one game -- driving home the point that they were the better team, even with two of their stars riding the pine.



Elsewhere in the NBA ...

The Clippers beat the T'Wolves and the Blazers squeaked by the Pelicans, giving both teams 1-0 leads.

Out East, the Pacers handled the Knicks easily, while the Raptors scored a huge win in Boston against the Cetlics, 120-99, sending Celtics fans into a panic as their team may not even make it out of the first round this year despite the incredible talent on the roster.

The 76ers took a tough loss against the LeBron-less Cavs, bringing into question whether Philly is truly ready to ascend to the top of the East, while the Grizzlies played an ugly game that befuddled the young Hawks, stealing Game 1 80-69 in a classic grind-it-out affair.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Flight destroy Rockets in historic win




In short ...

The Flight, after losing Game 4 105-104 on a Patrick Beverly three, came out and absolutely demolished the Rockets from the opening tip. Nothing Houston could do slowed down St. Louis -- it was over by halftime, and only got worse after.

Josh Jackson led the way with a near triple-double, as he played scorer, passer, and rebounder for the Flight in a career-defining performance.



Elsewhere in the NBA ...

The Indiana Pacers have been upset by the New York Knicks, 4-1, in a stunning first round series. After a brutal shellacking by the Pacers in Game 1, the Knicks came out and played ugly, 90s-esque basketball for Game 2-5, the scores in the 80s and lower 90s; and they won.

Indiana heads home, and are joined by the 76ers, who were also upset 4-1 despite the Cavs missing LeBron (who's due back next round). The Celtics may soon be joining those two teams, as they're down 3-2 to the Durant-led Raptors. The Hawks are up 3-2 on the Grizzlies after an OT win in Game 5.

Out West, the Warriors and Lakers are tied 2-2, but Steph Curry has suffered a sprained finger and is questionable for Game 5. The Wolves are up 3-2 on the Clippers, while the Blazers were eliminated 4-1 by the Pelicans, after the season-ending ACL tear of Lillard.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2019-20 Playoff Update

Round 1 Post-Mortem



Out West, it's a funeral dirge for those contenders that were eliminated. The most shocking loss would have to belong to the St. Louis Flight, who were up 3-2 in their series against the Rockets, but dropped the next two games straight by an average of seven points. The Flight, after their historic Game 5 win, simply couldn't muster any more scoring and didn't eclipse more than 85 points in either Game 6 or 7, bringing a premature end to their season.

The Warriors equally find themselves disappointed, as they jumped out to a 2-1 lead against the Lakers, but saw Steph Curry get injured. Curry played through his bothersome sprained finger, but it affected his performance enough to allow LA to upset the first seed.

The only two teams out West that won their series as expected were the Pelicans and Wolves, two squads that have had their playoff runs ended in past years. They're now both the favorites to make the conference finals.

In the East, LeBron is back and facing a familiar foe -- the Celtics, who pulled off three straight victories after going down 3-1 against the Raptors, led by a motivated Carmelo Anthony, who's averaging 18.9 PPG on 55 percent shooting in the playoffs so far.

On the other side of the bracket, two of the East's youngest teams will battle for a conference finals berth: the Knicks and Hawks. Atlanta defeated the veteran Grizzlies in seven, hard fought games, but will now be presented with a much different challenge as New York is just as capable of playing ugly basketball as they are of playing pace-and-space.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2019-20 Playoff Update

Round 2 Post-Mortem





Out West, the Pelicans were defeated by the Lakers in five games, getting absolutely dominated by Brandon Ingram and De'Angelo Russell, the two Lakers' cornerstones leading LA to multiple blowout wins over an overmatched NOLA squad. Anthony Davis, once again, finds himself out in the second round and has be asking what he must do to get all the way to the Finals. The addition of Kemba Walker was supposed to help get them over the hump, but Walker was a ghost in the series, scoring above 10 points only twice (13 and 14 respectively), leaving Davis to carry the burden as Murray and Issac both struggled.

For the T'Wolves, they escaped the Rockets in Game 7, nearly repeating the mistakes the Flight made. Despite going up 3-2 themselves, the Wolves disappointed in a Game 6 dud, losing 108-87. They redeemed themselves with a defensive masterpiece in Game 7, winning 92-75, holding Harden to just 19 points on 6-17 shooting.

In the East, the Knicks took care of the Hawks playing stout defense and shifting gears between bully-ball and pace-and-space styles, befuddling the young Hawks and sending them home in five games.

They'll meet up with the Celtics, who have finally gotten past LeBron and the second round for the first time in four years. Led by the outstanding shooting of Bradley Beal, the Celtics left Cleveland in the dust in six games. They're now the presumptive favorites to get to the Finals in an Atlantic Division ECF, grudge-match special that forces Carmelo Anthony to get by the team he couldn't lead to the promise-land.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2019-20 Playoff Update

Conference Finals Post-Mortem



In the West, the T'Wolves escaped -- again -- in Game 7 of the WCF, beating the LA Lakers and burying the loss in the WCF in 2004 against the last Shaq/Kobe Lakers team. Those Wolves, led by Kevin Garnett, lost 4-2 to them. But that wound has now been healed as the T'Wolves, led by KAT, Wiggins, and Coach Thibs, have made the NBA Finals.

Out East, Carmelo Anthony and the Celtics are done. Despite going up 2-1 in the series against the Knicks, Melo disappeared after Game 3, and the Celtics were swallowed whole by the Knicks stifling defense. New York is now only the second eight seed to ever make the Finals -- living up to the memory of the 1998-99 Knicks who, also, made the Finals as an eight seed.

These NBA Finals will either crown another first-time champion out West, or restore a historic franchise to glory in the East.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

T'Wolves Crowned 2019-20 NBA Champions





The Minnesota Timberwolves have been named NBA Champs for the season, after a defensive series which saw the Wolves hold the Knicks to under 80 points in all four game they won in the five game series. Karl Anthony Towns got the better of his 2015 draft class comrade and was named Finals MVP.

Minnesota now join a growing list of first-time Western Conference Champions -- the Thunder in 2016-17, the Clipper in 2017-18, and the Flight in 2018-19. The East has lost four Finals straight despite their talent pool.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



Ch. 75

Our season ended too soon in those playoffs. It ended too soon for too many teams … the NBA was begging for a Warriors matchup with us. Instead, it got the Wolves and Lakers. At least, out East, the Knicks and Celtics gave them something nice to fawn over, but it was just another battle to decide which East squad was going to get waxed that year.

I was happy to see the Knicks make it to the Finals, I’ll admit it. As an east coast guy, seeing them get there was heart-warming, especially after we *ucking whiffed in the first round. They got pasted, though, which wasn’t pretty, but New York mattered again.

Back in St. Louis, our loss was taken fairly well. Going down in a seven game series against the Rockets wasn’t ideal, but it did teach us a lesson … hell, if we had beaten them, I don’t know if we could have gotten past the Wolves: that defense Thibs unleashed in the playoffs absolutely smothered teams and forced a lot of bad shots. The NBA, after trending so far in an offense-first direction, was finally starting to see teams play defense again.

In the years after, the league would find a balance between those two styles. The Flight, as you would expect, still mattered.

Hell, I could spend years telling you about all the *hit that went down behind the scenes and in the background, but I’m old. I only have so many years left, you see, and besides, that’s what history books are for. You’ve gotten the inside scoop on how it all started, on how it all went down … and the rest, I’ll leave to you to imagine.

*uck, maybe you’ll even get someone else to talk. Who knows? There’s not many of us left from that era, but those that are like to tell a good story.

We came into the league as a no-nothing expansion team in the middle of a town who had been abandoned by the Rams and the NFL. Before we were five years old, we had a title and were conference contenders. We did *hit no franchise, with so little experience, ever thought possible and raised the bar for every new team across every major sport.

We took flight when everyone believed we couldn’t fly.



The End.

[ThreeBallisLife]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Great story. I love your writing, and I am sad to see this end.

When will the next story be up?


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Great story. I love your writing, and I am sad to see this end.

When will the next story be up?


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Thank you for the kind words.

Currently at work prepping for the next story, hoping to have it up later this week. Stay tuned.