Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Thon Maker 1-12! Come on boy!

He was the offensive star last season, has he slowed down this year?

No, he just had a bad game. Towns was bullying him down low and Thon was fouling left, right, up and down. He didn't give us much, but going against Towns, he's totally forgiven. KAT is the next superstar of the league, he's super-good.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 33

We welcomed the Rockets to The Dome on January 27th, 2018. We were 24-17, having won our last two games by three-points each. The triple — suspect in our offense — was finally starting to hit for Delly and Junkyard Dog. Houston showed up to our place at 25-18, vying for a playoff spot just like we were. Harden was leading the league in scoring at 26.7 PPG, with Hayward near him at 21.9 PPG. Hayward was exactly the secondary playmaker/ballhandler the Rockets needed and his signing looked like the move of the year.

Houston was a division rival and, more than that, was McHale’s former team. They had given up on him and our young guys loved McHale. There wasn’t a player on that team that didn’t love him. McHale had rings, experience, know-how, and wasn’t so *ock sure of himself that he wouldn’t listen to you. He actually gave a *hit about his guys and that made a difference.

The team came out and ran the Rockets OFF THE FLOOR. Houston had no idea what hit them and were thrown off their game early. It got less competitive as it went on and in the third, we started to really show our dominance.



Jackson didn’t have a great game from the field, but his play energized our guys, our defense, and our team. We just let loose from deep throughout the second-half, Carroll in particular knocking down everything he hit. Even Joe Young hit a triple, but he got run into by Beverly and went down with a sprained foot. Out, for 1-2 weeks, minimum.

So we inserted Gbinije and he gave zero *ucks about Patrick Beverly. He took the ball not once, but twice, and nailed triples in Beverley’s face. By that point, we had put the Rockets away firmly but he — and the rest of our team — was pretty pissed that Beverly had run into Young when there was clearly no reason to. The Rockets were among our least liked teams in the league for a lot of reasons, but Beverly’s play added to it in spades. We rested our starters for most of the fourth and walked away with an easy win, but we were down on of our most important bench players.

It was next man up territory and the next two weeks of our schedule wasn’t going to be easy.

[BlueJays09]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Just power read through this. Wow what a great dynasty. I remember your old lakers one from years ago. Noticed your old Seattle one as well. Great job as always! Looking forward to more


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Just power read through this. Wow what a great dynasty. I remember your old lakers one from years ago. Noticed your old Seattle one as well. Great job as always! Looking forward to more


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ah, yes, Ronnie Gold! One of my favorites. This has a bit of that in it, at least in terms of the mob angle anyway. Happy to see you here, hope you continue to find enjoyment from it.

Updates coming later today -- we're near the trade deadline and some deals have been made, plus league standings, and an ill-timed injury to a Flight player.

As always, stay tuned.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 34

We had two games, back to back, right before we hit the all-star break. Our first was in New York, against the Knicks, and we came into the game 30-25, just holding barely onto our spot as 6th in the conference. The Knicks were a cluster*uck and this year it was even more pronounced than usual. New York brought back Rose in the offseason, added some decent players around Melo, and it looked liked they’d compete.

That day, they were 22-32, right near the bottom of the conference and racing for a top-five pick. It was heartwrenching to watch in one respect; both my brothers were Knicks fans, growing up on the East Coast, and neither of them were particularly fond of what Dolan had done to the team.

On the other hand, New York did need to build around Porzingis, not Melo, and the way the season was going they were going to get their way. Melo was making waves that he would “explore” his options in the summer and he was likely to opt out and become a free agent. The New York media was handling it about as poorly as you’d expect.

The Knicks were considering trading away everyone that wasn’t Porzingis and we faced a team that was distracted. It showed in all aspects of their play. Their rotations were sloppy, their defense was non-existent, and they just looked bad. Their shots were off, their energy was low, and the whole team didn’t seem to give two *hits about anything.



Melo got absolutely eviscerated by Josh “Action” Jackson. Jackson played the half of his life that night, scoring 20 points in the first two quarters and leading our team to a ludicrous lead that just ballooned in the second-half. Melo looked old, tired, and completely disengaged. It was such a piss-poor showing the Knicks home crowd booed their players off the floor at halftime. I have never seen such a damning thing from the Garden crowd.

Jackson didn’t get much in the second-half, he eased off the gas pedal, but the Knicks did manage to hurt us — well, Delly. He went diving out of bounds for a ball and broke his damn toe on the play. It knocked him out of the game and was going to keep him out 2-4 weeks, minimum. I was hopeful that, with the all-star break upon us, he could recover faster but we were down a point guard again.

It was Young’s chance to show if he could lead the team, but we were at a crucial time in the season. The West was fierce and a few losses could send us out of the playoffs. We needed Delly back and, in the meantime, we needed to survive without him.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

2017-18 All-Star Break Standings






Things to watch:

1. The Nuggets have fired coach Mike Malone, ending his tenure with the team and leaving the state of the Nuggets in question. Denver was under the impression they would be playoff contenders this season but that simply hasn't been the case; with Al Horford and Dano Gallinari on the books for at least the next three years, Denver has to be wondering what they can do to get better. Look for them to be selling both Gallinari and Horford on the trade market, though offers for either seem unlikely.

2. The Utah Jazz are willing to trade Derrick Favors. That's the word out of Utah, who was considering a move from Coach Quinn Snyder but ownership was unwilling to sanction it. Favors has fallen out of favor with Snyder and Favors has reportedly told the Jazz he will not, under any circumstances, re-sign with them. Utah is left with a need to move on from him and play Trey Lyles at the four to see what he's worth, though it remains to be seen who would trade for the dissatisfied Favors.

3. Jason Kidd has been relieved of his coaching duties in Milwaukee. Kidd, once more, finds himself on the outside looking in after the Bucks front office evaluated the failure that was this season. Despite doing as Kidd asked in getting DeAndre Jordan, it appears as though Milwaukee is going to lose him in free agency and Kidd has taken the fall. Talented as a coach he may be, the Bucks are now left without a true head coach and Milwaukee will be looking for a veteran HC in the offseason.

[BookWork123]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Nice to see you holding on to a playoff spot, and even nicer to see the knights so far back! Keep up the great work in St. Louis!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Nice to see you holding on to a playoff spot, and even nicer to see the knights so far back! Keep up the great work in St. Louis!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hope I can hold onto it till the end. It's a bloodbath out West and if I go on a prolonged losing streak, things would get bad. As it is, I'm 9 wins away from guaranteeing a .500 finish or better ... I figure if we can win 43 games, we'll make it.

And, yes, it's nice to see the Knights suck it up, even though they're better than last year, they still seem to suck no matter what. I imagine another lottery pick *might* improve their team but they just be destined to be the Bobcats between us.

[gametyme89]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Such solid writing. This is a joy to read and keep up with.

Thank you for putting out such a great product Trek!

[LeoBassiHeat]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

I've created an account on this forum just so I can follow and reply to this thread.

What an amazing job you've done. Cheers from Brazil and keep it up!!

Are you a writer or something?
Amazing job again.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Such solid writing. This is a joy to read and keep up with.

Thank you for putting out such a great product Trek!

Thank you! It's fun for me, I'm glad you like it.

I've created an account on this forum just so I can follow and reply to this thread.

What an amazing job you've done. Cheers from Brazil and keep it up!!

Are you a writer or something?
Amazing job again.

Wow, thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy it.

I am not a writer, professionally anyway. I do it for fun and that's what makes it work as well as it does. I do love to write, though, it has been a hobby of mine for many, many years, and I hope it continues to be going forward.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story



The Lakers and Hornets engaged in a surprising deadline deal, but not one that either team will regret in the meantime. Boogie Cousins is on his way back to California, this time suiting up for the Lakers in this deal.

Boogie informed the Hornets that he would not re-sign with them, even if they made the playoffs, and told Charlotte he would only sign a contract extension with the Lakers. Devoid of any other trade partners, the Hornets were forced into this trade but came out in good shape -- the Lakers sent Julius Randle (who had been benched for Larry Nance four weeks ago) and their 2018 1st (unprotected) for Boogie, filler players on both sides.

Boogie immediately agreed to a 3yr/$95M contract extension and the Lakers core of the future -- Russell, Ingram, and Boogie -- is set. Coach Luke Walton was said to be excited for the trade. The Lakers are very likely not to make the playoffs unless they end the year with a crazy winning streak.

Elsewhere around the league, Kyle Anderson agreed to a 2yr extension with the Spurs, who will be without the services of both Manu and Paul Gasol next season as the two veteran players announced their intentions to retire at season's end.

Dirk from the Mavericks will be joining them as well, as the previous NBA generation of greats slowly dwindles.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 35

It’s not often you get to watch an empire on its knees. That was the feeling I — and virtually everyone in the NBA in 2018 — felt when they met the Spurs. Duncan had retired the year before and there was a hole on the basketball court where he used to be. They had barely gotten to the playoffs the year before and now they were sitting at 33-28, the exact same record we had. San Antonio was hanging onto the final playoff spot as the T’Wolves were heading up, sitting at 32-28.

The All-Star Break was over, the Spurs had won 5 of their last 6. Us? We had gone 1-3 since the break. Delly’s absence hurt — a lot — and luckily we had him back that game in San Antonio. With both our squads fighting for a playoff spot and a little more than 6 weeks left in the season, there was no room for error. This was a big game for both squads.

And we came out and looked like the team that wanted it more. The Spurs, for all their vaunted Spurs ideals, simply couldn’t keep up with us. We were younger. We were faster. We were deeper. We simply had too many edges, too many advantages against a team that was hanging on — by a thread — to the glory of past years.

The first quarter was an exercise for our guys, like playing the YMCA rec team led by your uncle who was 20 years your senior. San Antonio had spunk, they had pride, but a lot of them were just a bunch of old *ucks who were still playing basketball. Gasol and Manu, those guys were gone at the end of the year. Aldridge? He played well-enough but he wasn’t “the guy” the Spurs needed. Leonard was too damned deferential for his own good and after one we had a clear advantage.

In the second, that advantage became far more pronounced.



That was the play that signaled the end of the Spurs as they had been known. The team was going to change in a big way after Gasol and Manu went, but what we were seeing there, near the beginning of 2018, was the last remains of a glorious champion. Clawing their way into relevance through savvy, guile, and straight-up pride. But you can only be relevant for so long, you can only be good for so long before Father Time gets you.

And after halftime, he got the Spurs. We ran roughshod over them, Kyle Anderson blew out his hamstring — gone for 6-8 weeks more than likely — and a key bench man evaporated from the Spurs rotation. San Antonio also lost Danny Green to a strained Achilles, so they went out and signed Terrence Ross — recently released from the Magic due to lack of playing time — to a contract for the rest of the year.

We went on to demolish the Spurs to the point we were playing our deep bench for most of the final quarter and those guys didn’t do half-bad. I was sure we were going to lose Gbinije in free agency — he was simply to good to be so deep on our bench — and I had a feeling Jordan Mickey was going to leave too, as the arrival of Noel simply ate into his minutes. But AJ Hammons played well, not a great offensive threat, but plenty big enough to defend most guys.

If the worst occurred and we went down some guys, I was more confident we would be okay. But the magic number we needed to hit was 43. 43 wins and I was almost sure we’d be guaranteed a playoff spot. I didn’t want to see the Warriors, so I was hoping we could hang around the 7th seed, but making the playoffs was all that mattered at that point.

[trekfan]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story


Ch. 36

Every game we played in March and April that year felt like a playoff game. The stakes were high for us and every loss we took was one more loss we couldn’t afford. After the Spurs win, we went 1-3, then went 5-1 over our next six, one of the wins being against the T’Wolves — the team that was right behind the Spurs, and then us, in the standings. Minnesota was clawing their way back into the conversation and you know who else was, too? The Lakers, who were 7-3 in their last ten, sitting at 33-39 and looking much improved after the trade for Boogie Cousins.

On March 29th, 2018, we had the Grizzlies enter our building and they, too, were locked in a death struggle for the final playoff spot out East. Sitting at 36-36, a win would have given them a bit more breathing room. We were 39-32 and three more wins would guarantee us a winning record — we already had the best season in franchise history (little history there was at that point).

The Grizzlies came into the game and made our lives a living hell. Nothing went in easy, they fouled, they scratched, they tossed bodies around and we were thrown off our game. Memphis was going to bully us into the ground and take the game from us. It was already an ugly affair by the end of the first and it just got uglier as the game went on.

But they kept it close that way. We managed to get a slim lead in the fourth and, with less than three minutes remaining, our offense finally started getting through. Thon got Gasol to foul out, which opened up a hole in their defense they simply couldn’t contain, and we took advantage.

Ultimately it came down to Josh Jackson to kill the Grizzlies and he did just that — he was the only one who was scoring consistently the entire game — and he hit them with a dagger triple that pretty much ended any threat of a comeback. It was the only three he hit all game.



It got us the win and it further cemented Jackson as the likely ROY; he was leading all other players for the award, including Fultz, the Knights vaunted first overall pick. With the win we moved to 40-32, within three wins of my goal and — I hoped — a likely playoff appearance.

[Slyone14]

Re: Through The Storm: A St. Louis Story

Beautiful read bro;


So what are you doing, playing one and simming 5? I cant believe your turning it around so quick. In my Pitt Chise, I am actually sitting at .500 at the break and considering it a blessing. You sir, are very good at this game.