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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: Trade Deadline Edition
By Sam Gray
All-Star Teams:
The Trades:
The first trade of the day saw the Sonics move on from Shawn Kemp — Kemp and the Sonics have been engaged in a prolonged contract dispute and Kemp went public with it two weeks ago in a bombshell interview; the Sonics have struggled since and Seattle, barely above .500, decided to get a return for Kemp while they could find a team willing to take him. Enter the Wizards, desperate for a franchise star — Washington traded rookie Jamal Mashburn (putting up a respectable 14-6-3 in his first season), Bison Dele, and Cleveland’s 1994 1st for Kemp. Kemp, reportedly, is happy to be in DC not so much for the location but definitely for the money as he gets a fat new contract.
The second trade of the day saw the Magic unload unhappy center Felton Spencer. Taken in the 1990 draft, the former 1st rounder has been serviceable in Orlando but not nearly as assertive or productive as Orlando wished; the Magic sent him off to Indiana for the younger (and cheaper) Oliver Miller, who’s seen virtually no play time this year despite injuries to the Pacers frontcourt players. Miller has been in the coaching staff’s doghouse all season as he’s struggled to stay in shape, but Orlando believes the second-year player has plenty of untapped potential — this was simply a transaction between two teams with two troubled centers.
The final deal of the day saw the Kings tinker at the margins, shipping off rookie 2nd round pick Byron Russell to the Lakers for a future first and SF Jerry Reynolds. Reynolds didn’t like his minutes, Russell hated Sacramento, and the two switch places — the Kings are taking a bet that the Lakers will struggle in 1997, but it’s likely that LA just sent the Kings a pick in the late 1st round worth little. Still, at least the Kings are trading for assets now.
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
While very disappointing for Seattle fans to have to unload Kemp, that's a reasonable fair deal and similar to what I feel you saw in the 90s.?The Bulgarian Brothers - a story of two brothers (Oggy and Dinko) as they coach in the NCAA and the NBA.
?Ask me about the Xbox Ally handheld - I'm on the team that made it.Comment
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
Ch. 38
All-Star weekend saw the final sale of the Houston Rockets completed, for a sum of money that would not only pay off many of the Hale family’s fines and debts, but also give them a bit of a cushion in case of another future crisis. But the biggest headline of the weekend wasn’t the sale, but what the new owner of the Rockets did as his first official piece of business.
He fired GM Nate Hale, effective immediately.
“I was stunned,” recalled Hale. “We had talked some and I told Grady I wanted to stay on as GM, I wanted to continue to build the team out, and Grady seemed to agree … but my contract was up at the end of the year. I figured we’d deal with that at the end of the season, but once he took control, he let me go.”
Solomon Grady was preparing to remake the team in his own image. “I want to thank Nate for all his work over the past few years, but I believe it’s time for a change in leadership … the front office needs to be free to operate without bias or agendas,” Grady said in a statement to the press.
Grady’s words smacked of double-speak and the truth was Grady didn’t want any remnants of the Hale family in his Houston Rockets. “Solomon Grady was a man who wanted to make money, first and foremost, and he wanted to be the reason why. He didn’t want anyone or anything else getting credit for his work … except if the team failed. Then he’d pass the blame,” recalled NBA columnist Sam Gray. “Him firing Nate Hale wasn’t about basketball reasons, it was just selfishness that led to it.”
The Rockets players weren’t happy about the move. “As a team, coaches and players met and all signed onto a statement supporting Nate, thanking him for his service, and then everyone called their agents and asked them to find out what the hell was going on,” said Gray. “Grady wasn’t happy about that statement … he thought it was disrespectful for them to release something like that.”
Grady and his team all said the same thing to every agent: the Rockets were under new management and there would be changes to how the organization would run.
“Those changes were bull*hit,” said Gary Payton. “They took the culture that we all built and started burning it to the ground.”
Shaquille O’Neal was equally displeased. “I liked the way the Hales ran things, not the way Grady ran things,” said O’Neal. Many of the players weren’t pleased with how they were being treated and the winds of change were picking up.
In the press, Grady portrayed the current iteration of the Rockets as winners, but ugly winners. “As a team, discipline is an issue … this team has gotten into many fights, has said many awful things to other players. This is not the culture I want, this is not a team I’m proud of at the moment and I believe the Houston community would agree. We, as a community, cannot condone this kind of behavior … what does this say to our children or grandchildren?” Grady stated in an interview with the local press.
Grady’s views weren’t surprising — a devout Christian, Grady’s brand was as much about nostalgia as it was about the “ideal” life: the white picket fence, the warm home with dinner on the table and both parents enjoying a laugh with their kids. It was a life that many players in the NBA never had growing up. The league’s audience was growing increasingly vocal about how “thug” the NBA had become and the Rockets were among the teams most often cited.
“Yeah, we had a history of *ucking other teams up and not apologizing,” said Payton. “That was an attitude we had as a team and it served us well … no one was worrying about that when we were winning, but under new ownership and with our team missing as many guys as we were due to all sorts of *hit, yeah, then people started to make noise. *ucking ridiculous.”
The NBA was confronting an image problem — despite the Rockets success, the three-peat, the thrilling back-to-back Finals with the Larry Bird led Celtics, the NBA’s ratings were taking a hit. The league was losing viewers to football and baseball; the league had commissioned multiple polling firms to find out the cause and the same issue came up over and over again.
“The league was too ‘thug,’, too ‘undisciplined,’ too ‘street,’” said Gray. “What the polls revealed was that the white audience of the league was turning to other sports for their entertainment and it was because the league’s culture was, basically, too black. It was too real — it wasn’t as comforting as the relatively-straight laced baseball or the easier to stomach football. Football players were in helmets, and there were so many of them you couldn’t really get fixated on any one … reading lips of a football player was hard. Baseball players were taught about the ‘unwritten rules’ and carried themselves differently. Then you had guys like Gary Payton, where everyone could definitely read his lips and Payton wasn’t shy about repeating what he said to the press after games.”
The league’s biggest draw — Michael Jordan — had also taken a PR hit. As Jordan’s teams continued to struggle in the playoffs, Jordan had gotten more bitter. “Really, ‘The Jordan Rules’ chilled him on the media … he was very, very distrusting of the media and even some teammates,” said Gray. “When the league’s biggest star was like that, it was no wonder ratings were suffering.”
The Rockets were the league’s poster boy for what was wrong in basketball. They had only one Caucasian player on the team — Drobnjak — and he was from a different country. “The way Grady treated the team and spoke about them, it was plain to me that he was a racist,” said Nate Hale. “I hated that for the team.”
Commissioner Dillon Terrell was under pressure from the owners to get the ratings back up, but Terrell resisted calls to curtail the players from expressing themselves. He did, however, propose a new rule to ban all fights on the basketball court — if anyone engaged in a fight on the court, it would result in an automatic suspension for the next game while the league office considered further punishments. The rule was adopted unanimously at the winter meetings on All-Star weekend and would go into effect for the 1994 playoffs.
The pressure from the owners extended to their own front offices and coaches as well. “Frankly, the owners didn’t have the leverage on Terrell that they might have had on someone else thanks to their boneheaded lockout years before,” said Gray. “So they pressured the people they employed — gate revenue and playoff revenue was still good, but the TV contracts were where the real money was and the next TV deal was going to be negotiated in 1995 before kicking in for the next season. They had to clean the league’s image up before then.”
Wrote Houston Chronicle columnist Chris Judge at the All-Star break:
The Rockets are under new management and the whiplash for the team is still painful; Houston has managed to put together a good season so far but the cloud above the organization grows daily. New owner Solomon Grady has made it clear he will install new executives in Houston, all with the goal of turning the Runnin’ Rockets into something different — Grandma Grady’s Rockets.
“He was a man on a mission to make the Houston Rockets his own brand,” recalled Judge. “He had a way of doing things and he was going to do it.”
Ultimately, the Rockets greatest threat to their championship run came not from outside the team or even within it, but above it — sitting in the owner’s box.
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: All-Star Break Edition
By Sam Gray
Injuries:
Standings:
At the top of the West are the Rockets, who are still in the lead for the 1st seed, but are going through massive organizational upheaval; the Hale family has sold the Rockets to Solomon Grady and Grady, in his first official act, relieved Nate Hale of his duties — add in the continuing injury situation for Houston and the many distractions, it’s amazing the Rockets are still ahead. San Antonio, Dallas, and Los Angeles are all chasing Houston and each could end up overtaking the best team in the West. Seattle and Minnesota are a ways back and likely don’t have enough season left to get much higher in the standings.
Fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds are the Jazz, Suns, Clippers, and Warriors — each of these teams is on the precipice of seeing major changes. Utah, in its first season without Karl Malone, has been steady if unremarkable; Phoenix has greater expectations than just getting into the playoffs but its defense has been awful; LAC is dealing with locker room drama as veteran Charles Oakley wants a new contract and the Clippers aren’t sure about giving it to him. Golden State has struggled to get far in the playoffs the last few years and the injury to Mitch Richmond has gutted the team’s offense. Depending on how things shake out, each of these teams could see major changes by next fall.
At the bottom of the West, the Blazers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Kings, and Pelicans; any one of these teams could be in the running for either Jason Kidd or Grant Hill (the top two players in the 1994 draft) and each one is desperate for some hope — the race to the bottom will be interesting.
The top of the East is led by the Bulls, who are seeing a massive MVP campaign by Jordan — down PF Wayman Tisdale (who’s battled injuries all season and is reportedly not a favorite of Jordan’s), MJ is carrying and carrying well. Behind him, the new-look Hawks flush with Wilkins, Malone, and Pierce are a force to be reckoned with; the young Raptors are stunning the league with their play and Toronto looks wiser by the day for the Shaq trade. The Knicks, Pistons, and 76ers all closely trail and the top of the East is going to go down to the wire as the regular season enters its final stretch.
In the middle, fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds, are the Heat, Cavs, and Pacers. Only two of these teams are going to make the playoffs and Miami looks the best out of all of them (led by SF Glen Rice, who’s dropping 21 points a night on high efficiency). The Cavs and Pacers will likely be battling to make the postseason and Cleveland needs a deep postseason run to avoid a number of their free agents decamping from Ohio — Ron Harper in particular.
At the bottom of the East are the Nets, Bucks, Celtics, Magic, and Wizards. Boston being down here is a shock but the injuries to many of their veteran players, including the 28-year-old Reggie Lewis, sunk the Celtics — their defense without McHale has been abysmal and having Larry Bird put off retirement for a year to try and run it back looks foolish in hindsight. Orlando is desperate to be as bad as possible this year so they can retain their 1994 1st (which they unwisely traded with top-5 protection at last year’s deadline for … Vinny Del Negro) — if they can be bad enough to keep the pick, it’ll turn into two 2nd rounders, avoiding a catastrophic trade blunder. New Jersey, Milwaukee, and Charlotte all could stand to be better but are young teams — the Wizards traded for Shawn Kemp and gave him a fat contract, but still have a chance at nabbing a top-pick.
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: Regular Season Finale
By Sam Gray
Award Winners:
Injuries:
Standings:
The Non-Playoff Teams:
The final week of the NBA season saw the playoff teams fighting for positioning and the final playoff spot out West in doubt. Utah was in position to lock up the 8th seed but had two key injuries occur in the final weeks as both John Starks and Adrian Caldwell, two important rotation pieces, were injured — the Jazz came close to falling out of the postseason but luckily the Sonics and Warriors struggled to win out to steal the spot.
In the East, the final week of the regular season saw the Pacers get locked out of the postseason — Indiana needed to win out to steal the Raptors spot in the highly competitive East, but Indiana wasn’t able to do the job — falling three wins short of getting the 8th seed, even as Toronto struggled to finish the season strong.
The Playoff Teams:
The 1994 playoffs feature some new blood in both the West and East. At the top of the West, the Spurs take on the Jazz in Utah’s first postseason trip in 4 years — the last time they saw the playoffs was in 1990, a 3-0 sweep against the Drexler-led Blazers. The league is a much different place now but Utah’s postseason fortunes are likely the same — missing two rotation pieces and no longer with the services of Karl Malone, Utah is likely to lose this matchup quickly.
Below them, the 4th seeded Mavs take on the Clippers — Dallas has been a playoff disappointment for years now, never going far, and the Clippers are looking dangerous again. LAC could have another WCF run in them with this roster and, if so, Charles Oakley’s contract demands are likely to grow (and be met) by the franchise desperate for relevance. This series is big for both teams, but there’s a lot of pressure on Dallas after their acquisition of Olajuwon last summer; if the Mavericks fall, especially with the way Houston’s season is going, it’s going to be a long summer in Dallas..
The Lakers and T’Wolves face off in the 3 vs 6 matchup as LAL must do battle with an old foe: former Celtic Kevin McHale. McHale has played brilliantly all year in his age-36 season, putting up 22-9 in an offense designed for his incredible post skills. If Minnesota is to upset the Lakers, it’ll be behind the veteran savvy of McHale — LAL has a path towards a championship open as every important player on their team is healthy; after last year’s near-miss in the WCF, the Lakers are eager to grab Magic Johnson’s sixth title.
Finally, the Rockets and Suns face off in a battle of top-tier offenses; Houston has battled distractions, injuries, and drama all season and is still without Pippen (possibly able to return in the second round). This is Phoenix’s best chance to upset a higher seed in years and the Suns can score in bunches; this series will come down to which team can score more.
In the East, the Bulls take on spunky Raptors; Canada’s only team had another incredible year, winning 48 games, and should provide an interesting test for Chicago — the Bulls are expected to win this series, especially considering the amount of pressure Jordan has to finally make the Finals, but getting past the Raptors may take the full five games, especially considering Toronto’s youth and depth.
The 4 vs 5 matchup is the Hawks and Pistons. Atlanta is a bit wounded but should have enough horses to take on the Pistons as both Wilkins (26-6) and Malone (21-7) have played exceedingly well together all year. It’ll be up to Isiah Thomas (18-4-10), Joe Dumars (18-3-7) and Horace Grant (17-9-4) to use their well-balanced attack to put the best Hawks team in years away. This series could go either way.
The 3rd seeded Knicks face off against the Cavs and Cleveland looks shaky. With multiple players on their team free agents this summer, the Cavs need a good showing to retain their talent but the facts are that Cleveland’s window as title contenders is likely over — New York has Ewing playing at an incredibly high-level (22-14) and the Knicks have talent all over the roster younger and better than what Cleveland has. This should be a Knicks win.
Finally, the 76ers take on the Heat; Philly had ridden the veteran core of Hawkins, Dawkins, Worthy, and Moses Malone all the way to the 2nd best record out East, but the playoffs are where Philly has struggled for years — will this core be able to correct that issue? Miami is looking for the upset and the younger team is armed with confidence after a strong finish to the regular season (7-3 in their last 10). Miami has better depth than Philly but far less experience and that could be the deciding factor here.
(No games to play since Nate Hale was fired — will Houston be dethroned? Let’s find out!)
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: The Playoffs, Round 2
By Sam Gray
The Bracket:
Injuries:
Round 1 Recap:
The West saw the Spurs put down the Jazz in the full five — San Antonio narrowly avoided an upset after going up 2-0 on Utah; Reggie Miller was raining fire in Game 5, dropping 27 points on 13-18 shooting and getting a healthy dose of points and defense from the Admiral (20-8 with 4 blocks). In the 4 vs. 5 matchup, the Clippers rode Bernard King to an incredible 3-1 series win — Hakeem Olajuwon didn’t look good against Charles Oakley, who walloped the best player on Dallas and held him to just 10 points in Game 4; the Mavs fall in the first round again as Dallas, desperate for answers, will have to look to change things up even more in the summer.
In the 3 vs. 6 matchup, the Lakers easily finished off the T’Wolves as Kevin McHale played well, but his supporting cast struggled — the Lakers high-end talent was just too much for Minnesota to overcome but Minnesota may have helped the Lakers next opponent as Vlade Divac was injured in the series and will miss some, if not all, of round 2. In the final playoff series out West, the Rockets were upset by the Suns in five games — the injuries, distractions, and drama proved too much for the Rockets who traded games with the Suns before a classic Game 5 affair; the game went into overtime and the two teams were tied with 3.3 seconds left when veteran Tom Chambers hit a gorgeous turnaround jumper on Sasa Drobnjak, giving the Suns the win as time expired and sending Houston home. For the first time in three years, there will be a new champion in the NBA.
In the East, the Bulls got a fun playoff series against the Raptors but ultimately the young team from Toronto couldn’t overcome the singular brilliance of Michael Jordan. In the 4 vs 5 matchup, the Hawks easily took care of the Pistons, who just couldn’t keep up with the duo of Wilkins and Malone — they move onto round 2 as the Pistons head into the offseason with hard questions to answer.
In the 3 vs. 6 matchup, the Knicks were shockingly upset by Cleveland — sensing the end of their window, the veteran Cavs locked down the Knicks supporting players (Rod Strickland, Steve Smith, and Charles Smith) and tasked Ewing with beating them himself — he could not. New York is gone from the postseason and the Knicks will need to evaluate whether this was a fluke or if Cleveland exposed them. In the final playoff series out East, the 76ers went the full five against the young Heat — Miami almost pulled it off. The Heat were up 2-1 heading into Game 4 but narrowly lost to the 76ers thanks to a 30 point night from Derrick Coleman; Game 5 saw Miami stay close in the first half before Hersey Hawkins went off in the third quarter, helping bury Miami and send the veteran 76ers to round 2.
Round 2 Preview:
Out West, it’s the Spurs versus the Clippers. San Antonio can’t be confident they’ll be able to beat LAC easily, especially after the defensive performance Charles Oakley and the Clippers put on in the first round. If the Spurs are to succeed, they’ll need Reggie Miller to continue firing away and David Robinson playing ace defense — the Clippers can beat the Spurs if Bernard King catches fire (likely) and their defense holds up (a toss-up).
In the second series, the Lakers take on the Suns in a divisional rivalry and LAL has to be confident — even with Vlade Divac out, this is a series the big man likely wouldn’t sway too much; Phoenix likes to run and with Divac out, the Lakers can put Rodman at center and run, too. Kevin Johnson is going to have to use his speed and quickness to abuse Magic Johnson on defense — if KJ can do that, the Suns have a chance, but it’s a tall order to do that for a whole series.
In the East, the Bulls face off against the Hawks and Atlanta has a score to settle — they nearly upset the MJ-Hakeem Bulls in 1993 and now, armed with Ricky Pierce and Karl Malone, have a lot more talent. This series will go to the team that can play defense for longer stretches — you’d be right to bet on Jordan here, especially with the way he’s played this season, but the MVP is gonna need some help from his supporting cast to make it past these Hawks. If Atlanta can get major scoring out of Wilkins, Pierce, and Malone, they have a good chance at making the ECF for the first time in many years.
In the East’s other series, the Cavs match up against the 76ers in a battle of veteran teams who just haven’t been able to get to the Finals — both teams have a lot of older talent, but Philly may have the younger legs. Cleveland losing Steve Kerr, a key bench piece, is going to be a tough loss to overcome; this is the 76ers series to lose.
(Houston is gone and so are the Knicks — there will be some new teams in the Finals this year — will MJ finally make it to the promised land?)
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
That 3-point percentage is daunting, but nice to see Spud winning 6th man. The Rockets are out? Whaaaaaaaaaaat?#AllRed | Club Atlético Independiente
(best viewed on the "vB5" style)
× Watched: Black Eagle (1988), Bring Her Back (2025), Amarcord (1973) ×Comment
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: The Playoffs, Conference Finals
By Sam Gray
The Bracket:
Round 2 Recap:
The West saw the Spurs battle the Clippers and LAC could not overcome the clutch shooting of Reggie Miller. The Spurs and Clippers split the first two games before a classic Game 3 OT, where Miller caught fire and led the Spurs back from a 6-point deficit with under 12 seconds to play to tie the game; in OT, he led the team to the win after David Robinson fouled out. Miller finished with 33 points and the Clippers lost fourth quarter leads to Miller in the next two games, resulting in the Spurs winning the series while the Clippers choked away leads in the last three games — an infamous way to exit the postseason.
In the other series, the Lakers didn’t have much trouble at all with the Suns. LAL easily took the first three games before a close loss in Game 4 — they then destroyed the Suns, 123-97 in Game 5 (led by Barkley’s 32-13-3-3-2 night) and the Lakers are back in the WCF for the second straight year, against another Texas team.
In the East, the Bulls clipped the Hawks easily — the two teams split the first two games before Jordan got a huge helping hand from Wayman Tisdale (who’s averaging 25 points in the playoffs, 7 points greater than his regular season average) and Sam Perkins. While Jordan had good games, Tisdale ate Karl Malone’s lunch (Malone put up a paltry 16 point and 7 boards for the series), ending the best Hawks team in years.
In the other series, the Cavs did it again, this time in seven games. Despite missing Steve Kerr, despite their age, the Cleveland Cavaliers put away the 76ers in seven hard fought games, none tougher than their double-OT Game 7 classic — Philly, fighting for its life, could not put away the Cavaliers, largely because of the foul out of Hersey Hawkins early in the fourth quarter; Hawkins being on the pine allowed Mark Price and Ron Harper to go off and the Cavs are, improbably, back in the ECF for the first time since 1991 (where they lost to the Celtics 4-1).
Conference Finals Preview:
The WCF comes down to the two best teams remaining out West and both could win the series; the Spurs have been riding the hot hand of Reggie Miller and with Robinson’s interior defense, plus the extra scoring Terry Cummings and the Spurs deep bench provide, San Antonio may finally make their way to the Finals. But the Lakers are fully healthy, unlike last year, and with a well-rested Vlade Divac (back after missing round 2), the purple and gold have a good chance at making Magic Johnson’s first Finals since 1989.
In the East, the Bulls face off against a divisional rival and Jordan enemy in Cleveland; Cleveland’s upset of the Bulls in the second round of 1991 (they won 4-3) still haunts Jordan to this day and he’s spent years taking it out on Cleveland in the regular season — can he put away this improbabe Cavs team when it counts the most? Cleveland is playing with house money and will need an all-time defensive series from Ron Harper and Hot Rod Williams to slow down Jordan and Tisdale. The fact the Cavs have gotten this far is impressive, but putting away Jordan in the ECF will take everything they have and this old team may not have much left in the tank.
(The West has a loaded WCF but my eyes are on the East — Cleveland has been insane these playoffs and their story could just get that much crazier if they put Jordan down again. Is Michael Jordan forever haunted by Cleveland in this universe? Will Magic Johnson make to one more Finals? Can Reggie Miller shoot the Spurs to a title? What a postseason!)
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
How do you feel that Houston lost? Even as an on-looker, I couldn't help but feel a touch of happiness that the Rockets reign ended, which is a testament to your writing and storytelling to have them overstay their welcome as the kings of the NBA - which I'm imagining quite a few folks feel that way about The Golden Era Warriors but screw y'all, we're gunning for our own three-peat.
That being said, if Chicago ends up winning this thing I think there is a huge asterisk on it, almost like Utah when they made the Finals in the late 90s. The big dogs of the East - Boston - are gone, they don't have to go through some behemoth and if they do get to the Finals, they won't be taking down the Rockets, they'd be fighting a fellow first-timer to the Finals. Feels weird to see that and say that about MJ.Comment
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
The Rockets being gone is bittersweet. On the one hand, the rest of the NBA is ready to move on -- like you said, the fans/players/owners that weren't for the Rockets were probably happy to see them go. From a writing/storytelling perspective, it was time to "retire" them anyway so I'm happy the sim engine agreed, lol (it would have been real awkward if they had won it all AGAIN after all the drama during the season).
On the other hand, I definitely wanted to see if we could get the mythological Pippen vs Jordan Finals that I had wanted to see from the beginning -- but, much like Kobe vs LeBron, the basketball gods just didn't allow it.
The rest of the season has been played out and I'll be posting that over the coming days. Things will get interesting.
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: Finals Preview
By Sam Gray
The Bracket:
Conference Finals Recap:
The West saw the Spurs and Lakers go to six in a series that could have gone either way if not for the heroics of Reggie Miller (Game 1’s highest scorer) and David Robinson (who shined over every other big on the court, averaging 30 points for the series). The Lakers stole Game 2, lost Game 3, and blew out the Spurs in Game 4 (131-108) but the Spurs rallied from the blowout with two transcendent performances from David Robinson in Game 5 (30-19 with 5 blocks) and Game 6 (28-11 with a pair of blocks steals and blocks). Robinson walled off the paint from the Lakers and forced LA to play on the perimeter, where the team was not nearly as accomplished — that was the ultimate deciding factor. For the second year straight LA goes home empty in a series they felt they could win, but didn’t.
In the East, the Bulls looked close to falling to the Cavs again — the series started off as Chicago won Game 1, 109-106, and then Cleveland blew out the Bulls 130-100 in Game 2. Cleveland took that momentum home in Game 3 and won that 121-115 with a stellar performance from Mark Price (26 points, 15 dimes). Chicago could have folded then and there, but the Bulls came roaring back in Game 4 with a 116-106 win, Jordan taking over the fourth quarter and finishing with 40 points. Game 5 saw the Bulls back in Chicago where they won 123-112 in another great Jordan performance (34-6-9) but that was followed by the Cavs blowing out the Bulls again thanks to Mark Price (he had 35-6-11 with a scorching 6-13 from deep). Chicago and Cleveland were heading to a critical Game 7 and the Bulls won — without Jordan. Jordan fouled out early in the third quarter as the home crowd rained down boos on the officials and Jordan could only stare in disbelief — it came down to Wayman Tisdale and a forgotten man off the bench, one Buck Johnson. That’s right, the same Buck Johnson that came over in the Olajuwon trade nearly 4 years ago came into the game and put up 19 points in the second half, getting the game winning bucket over the Cavs and punching the Bulls ticket to their first Finals, 112-110.
Finals Preview:
Two teams who have failed for years to reach the Finals and have re-imagined themselves on more than one occasion now battle it out for their first chance at a world championship. San Antonio has ridden the hot shooting of Reggie Miller and the increasingly dominant play of David Robinson to the Finals — San Antonio will have a fierce matchup, however, as Miller has to confront an old foe in His Airness.
Jordan, for his part, is finally in the Finals but how he got here — fouling out in a critical Game 7 — is bizarre. Jordan’s play this postseason has been incredible but the Bulls fate in the Finals will be very dependent on him; history is going to be the ultimate judge of Jordan and he’s been working at this goal for his entire career … he’s finally here but is the team he helped put together enough? Is the lack of Hakeem Olajuwon, a player he forced out, going to doom the Bulls against David Robinson and the Spurs?
The stage is set, the lights are bright, and the NBA will crown a new champion this year.
(Can Robinson and Miller carry the Spurs all the way or is the singular drive of Michael Jordan about to accomplish the title he’s so wanted? Let’s see how these Finals shake out.)
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Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
NBA League Update: A Champion is Crowned
By Sam Gray
The Winners:
The Finals are over and done, and Chicago has won in a sweep that’s closer than it appeared. Michael Jordan was the star of the Bulls as he carried them in every game, helping them win Game 1 (119-110) thanks to his 40-4-5-5 line, Game 2 (118-115) with 33-8-8, Game 3 (116-111) with 21-8 and 5 steals, and Game 4 in a blowout 134-115 win thanks to 33-5-6. Jordan was electric all Finals, showing up in the biggest moments, and his long wait for a championship is finally over.
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