You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

[trekfan]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story




Ch. 36

Our next big game was against the Blazers, who — after their deadline deal for good backups — had managed to fight their way to .500 and the 8th playoff spot. The team was always dangerous, especially with Lillard and McCollum — they were fighting for their lives and their coaches’ lives. If the Blazers missed the playoffs, it was likely big changes would be made … either players would be traded or Stotts would be replaced. Every game was important to them.

The beginning of the game was all about our effort, especially on the boards. The best rebounder the Blazers had was Nurkic, but we had guys all over the floor who could fight for boards. Barnes was especially aggressive early, getting inside and scoring second-chance buckets on misses.

The bench was a huge help, too — out of nowhere, we got some superb defense effort from Jeff Withey, who seemed to have a personal grudge against Papa G — he owned him in the paint, denying the man’s shot over and over and over. Papagiannis lost confidence in his play early, and who could blame him when Jeff *ucking Withey owned your soul?

After one, we were up 34-24. In the second, our defense continued to pound Portland, coming up with steals left and right. And when the ball got stolen, I made sure to take it right to the hole — often with everyone and everything behind me.

As the quarter continued, the ball kept finding its way to me and I kept taking it to the rack. The Blazers tried to slow me down, but they just ended up getting themselves in foul trouble. We went to the line. We knocked the shots. And I made sure the Blazers heard all about their propensity to give us and-1s.

At the half, it was a battle between myself and Lillard. I was coming out on top and we, as a team, were just locked in on defense. Anything the Blazers tossed at us, we either took away or we sent back. Jeff Withey’s defense had inspired us … it was hard not to be.

In the third, the Blazers tried to mount a comeback — they came out and fired off a few threes, got some, and our lead was suddenly just 8 points … but we weren’t going to lay down. Jabari took it inside, Victor got in on the action, and I tried to knock down some triples.

But I wasn’t out there too long, because on one shot I came down bad … and I couldn’t get up again. Try as I might, I couldn’t get off the floor and I held my knee like someone had shot me. Pain, shock, and panic all washed over me … all I could think was “Not now.” We were late in the season, we were so close to 50 wins, and I was out, again?

I laid there on the floor until a stoppage in play, and then my guys — my teammates — took me off the floor.

We ended up winning the game, as the team just rallied after I went out. Won by nearly 30.

As for me, the training staff looked over me and I feared the worse. If there was anything I didn’t want to hear, it was that I was done. It hurt a lot … but the trainers gave me the best news I could hope for.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

[Deuce2223]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Just an FYI. Been experimenting with expansion in MyLeague and, heads up -- you need to have the expansion team designs selected BEFORE the offseason starts. Making the expansion team design in-season won't activate the expansion draft or anything, it will be listed as a "Pending Expansion" and nothing will happen.

That is until you get to the offseason and the league meetings -- that's where you'll be asked to approve of the new expansion teams and, once that's done, you'll go into League Realignment.

I assumed that if I created the expansion team in the offseason, everything would kick in, but it needs to be done before the offseason so it can be approved at the League Meetings, otherwise nothing will happen.

Well having grown up as a Blazers and Sonics fan living in the Pacific Northwest, I would love to see a team return to Seattle at some point in your Franchise. I also think it would be interesting to see who teams protect especially if you limit it to 7 or 8 players per roster with some of the new rookies and player movement you have had.

[trekfan]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

Well having grown up as a Blazers and Sonics fan living in the Pacific Northwest, I would love to see a team return to Seattle at some point in your Franchise. I also think it would be interesting to see who teams protect especially if you limit it to 7 or 8 players per roster with some of the new rookies and player movement you have had.

The Sonics are definitely back, and Mexico City will be added for the 2020-21 season.

[Jogo]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

Nooooo I had the exact same idea for my dynasty haha
Guess imma have to switch things up.

Like what you did with the Aztecs design tho! Curious to see how this'll work out.


Question: do you know how it works with the draft? Not the expansion draft but draft night. Since the expansion teams haven't played a single game, do they get a draft pick? And how is it determined which picks?

[trekfan]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

Nooooo I had the exact same idea for my dynasty haha
Guess imma have to switch things up.

Like what you did with the Aztecs design tho! Curious to see how this'll work out.


Question: do you know how it works with the draft? Not the expansion draft but draft night. Since the expansion teams haven't played a single game, do they get a draft pick? And how is it determined which picks?

You can do Seattle and Mexico City -- they are, by far, the two most realistic expansion options. If you want to change it up, perhaps Seattle and Phoenix? The new Suns would have a built in rivalry with Vegas, seeing as how Vegas is to them what OKC is to Seattle.

As for the draft positions, I believe they fell somewhere between the 4th and 9th picks. The league meeting rules changed the lottery rules in that sim, so only the 8 got put into the lottery. I've seen them end up as the 4th and 5th picks in years past. The expansion draft happens before the NBA Draft.

[Deuce2223]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

You can do Seattle and Mexico City -- they are, by far, the two most realistic expansion options. If you want to change it up, perhaps Seattle and Phoenix? The new Suns would have a built in rivalry with Vegas, seeing as how Vegas is to them what OKC is to Seattle.

As for the draft positions, I believe they fell somewhere between the 4th and 9th picks. The league meeting rules changed the lottery rules in that sim, so only the 8 got put into the lottery. I've seen them end up as the 4th and 5th picks in years past. The expansion draft happens before the NBA Draft.

I think at some point it would be realistic to see Louisville get a pro team. I know Coach Pitinio was a big influence on a team not relocating there, but now that he is gone, I could see a team moving in.

I think St Louis or Kansas City. I have put teams there in 2k17, but I do like the idea of putting a team back in Phoenix as well. Could be a very heated rivalry with the Vegas team.

[Jogo]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

Funny. I actually had both Louisville and PHX in mind as a plan B

On one hand I think it'd be a bit silly to "steal" the Suns franchise, rename it and move it to Vegas, only to then have them return 3 years later. But the idea of a Vegas - PHX rivalry in the desert is fascinating indeed.

[trekfan]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story




Ch. 37

The team lost the next three games while I was out. And the losses weren’t particularly close either — two by over 15 points, another by 7, and I felt like I was letting everyone down. I wasn’t sure what the problem was — my ankle, my Achilles, it always seemed to be a little thing that took me out right when my guys needed me most. I sat on the bench, tried to keep a positive attitude, but I was stewing.

My teammates could tell, too — they knew I was angry that I wasn’t out there, they knew I wanted to be, and I doubt it really helped them. But, I made it back — finally — for the Warriors game. Golden State was at the top of the West and looking as dangerous as ever. As my first game back, I expected we’re get into a dogfight with them … turns out, the Warriors showed up to their home floor and laid an egg. We beat them by 20 points, going away … they never got closer than 8 points in the second half.

It was invigorating — and our roadtrip continued the next night, as we took on the Clippers.

It hadn’t been a good season for the Clippers — injuries in the middle of the year had wrecked their record and they were in a hole. It wasn’t likely they were going to get out of it before the end of the season (not terrible, because Boston had their pick, but only non-lottery protected. If the Clippers didn’t make the playoffs, they would get that pick back.

Rumors were swirling that Doc Rivers was a goner at the end of the year — a new voice was needed and Rivers, for all his accolades, seemed far too comfortable in LA. Even if he wasn’t pulling the front office strings anymore, he still had a voice in roster decisions and it wasn’t exactly working out.

We walked in there high as a kite, and stomped the Clippers into oblivion. It wasn’t even a game in the first quarter. We went on an opening 14-2 run as the Clippers shot, and shot, and shot. All those shots resulted in misses.

On the bench, we weren’t even worried about what the Clippers would do. We were laid back, relaxed, and making fun of their *ss ugly mascot, who looked like the Fruit Loops bird on acid.

I got mine early and often — the team was eager to feed me the ball and I took, scored, and asked for more. DeAndre Jordan joined the long list of big men who got dunked on by me.

At halftime, it was embarrassing — like, how the hell were the Clippers even as good as they were? The team looked like it had completely checked out.

We pounded them some more in the third and then, midway through the fourth, McHale had seen enough and stuck in the deep bench, with HB as their go-to-go. Barnes responded with a great final quarter against the Clippers starters (who Rivers had kept out there to prove a point, I guess) and he wasn’t shy about denying the Clippers a chance at redemption.

We walked out of there with a comfortable win.

[Cruzerr]

Re: You Don't Know Jack: A Pacers Story

That is an absolutely horrible mascot. I'll try to catch up again, still liking the detail of your posts!

[trekfan]

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 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]

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)

[bebetomatos14]

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]

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.

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]

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 ?

[trekfan]

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 ?

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.