Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

[georgiafan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Houston is rolling looking like the 1st seed. Sam Bowie will help Philly if he can stay healthy.

[trekfan]

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 continue to pad their lead on the rest of the conference; but that may not hold at the end of the season, as the Lakers and Suns are both gaining (LAL especially, winners of 8 straight). The Warriors, Spurs, and T’Wolves are right behind that top tier and will need some help to gain on them, though that’s not impossible as Golden State (winners of 12 straight, Chris Mullin putting up 22-6-3) has proven.

Fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds are the Mavericks, Blazers, Sonics, and Nuggets. Dallas is looking better than it has in months thanks to the return of Rolando Blackman and Roy Tarpley (both have battled injuries all season), while Portland continues to look like the weakest playoff contender, a far cry from last year’s squad. Seattle swung a deal at the deadline that appears to be helping, but it’s a small sample size — Denver needs more if they’re going to make noise.

At the bottom of the West, it’s the usual suspects — Pelicans, Grizzles, and Kings. The Jazz and Clippers had playoff hopes but both teams have dealt with injuries all year and it looks like they’ve packed it in for the season.








The top of the East is led by the veteran Celtics, as Boston continues to look like champions in the making. Chicago is right behind them, the Bulls defense starting to shape up behind the league’s best offense. The Pistons are the only team that may seriously compete as they have the best defense in the league. Cleveland and Atlanta are right behind them, and Philly has snuck in 6th place, early returns looking good from the Sam Bowie trade.

In the middle, fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds, are the Heat, Magic, Bucks, and Wizards. Miami and Orlando have impressed and are battling for their first playoff appearance — Milwaukee’s loss of their starting PG (out for 2-4 months) leaves a gaping hole and the Bucks season could be in serious jeopardy. The Wizards don’t look good, despite promising early season results, and Washington may need to re-evaluate its plans for the offseason.

At the bottom of the East, competing for a chance at 1st overall, are the Knicks, Hornets, Nets, and Raptors. New Jersey has basically surrendered their season and the Knicks have fired their head coach, but did manage to secure an extension with Patrick Ewing, so it’s not all bad news in New York.

[ZSmit88]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Surprised at how quickly that Houston team found success

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Surprised at how quickly that Houston team found success

To be honest, me too -- I'm not even playing that many games, but Houston is really melding together well. The additions of Pippen/Grant/Payton have completely shifted the trajectory of the squad; there's a reason Pippen and Grant were so important to the IRL three-peat Bulls and they're proving their importance here.

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)


Ch. 12

February quickly turned to March and, on March 21st, 1991, the Rockets would travel to Portland and play the Blazers. Almost two months earlier the Rockets had beat the Blazers 125-111 and the game had gotten away from Portland after a close first quarter.

In this game, Portland played rough with Houston — so rough that the Rockets lost two key players. First, Otis Thorpe; the starting center for Houston had gone up for a dunk on a fast break, but got his legs taken out from under him with a hard foul by Jerome Kersey. It was a frustration foul more than anything, as Kersey had thrown the ball away, but the foul caused Thorpe to land awkwardly and he crumpled to the floor.

It was immediate to everyone in the arena that Thorpe wasn’t all right. “My knee just buckled and next thing I know, I hear a snap, then there’s this blinding pain … I don’t remember if I scored or not. I just shut my eyes and went to the ground,” said Thorpe.

On the floor, the Rockets players surrounded their downed teammate and took offense to the foul: Tim Legler, the backup SG who had struggled to stay on NBA rosters in the previous years, took matters into his own hands and went after Kersey. The barely 6’3” guard was not a physical match for the bigger Kersey, who stood at 6’7” and a solid 215 lbs.

Kersey took the initial tackle, got belted with a wild swing, and then unleashed his swing. In the span of a dozen seconds the basketball game was on the verge of turning into an all-out brawl. Benches cleared, players met on the court, and the coaching staffs of both teams formed a wall between the opposing players while the refs were trying to separate the two sides before things became dangerously violent.

“It was a dirty play,” recalled Legler. “Till the day I die, I’ll call that play dirty. Otis was up in the air, he was going to score a measly two points in a game they were winning by ten and Kersey wasn’t in position to make a play on the ball — but he ran him down anyway and fouled him. There was only one answer to that.”

When the Rockets head coach saw the play live, he immediately started towards the court. “I knew the situation was about to get really heated … that play was a dirty, unnecessary foul,” said Kern.

Pippen and Grant, on the bench at the time, both followed their coach into the ensuing fray; neither got hit or delivered hits, but both got in the faces of the Blazers coaching staff and players, using profanity that would make a sailor blush.

“We were pissed,” recalled Pippen. “Horace and I wanted to lay them out, but we didn’t get a chance.”

The two teams separated, heading back to their benches, and the refs sorted out the mess: Kersey was ejected, along with Pippen and Grant (some of their profanity was apparently directed at the refs, according to the game officials, but Pippen and Grant hold that wasn’t true), and Thorpe was taken off the floor in a stretcher, completely unable to put any weight on his leg.

Legler was also ejected, but before he was he got in one last parting shot at Kersey, throwing the ball at the back of his head on his way out. The Rockets would lose the game 122-107, and the news the day after didn’t get any better. Thorpe had partially torn his ACL and was out for the next 6-8 weeks if he didn’t make it worse. “The fact was that he was lucky it was only a partial tear,” said the Rockets head trainer Harvey Ross. “It could have been a complete rip and that would have required immediate surgery. A partial tear, though, meant he could play on it the rest of the year if he wanted to risk it.”

Thorpe wanted to risk it. Unwilling to miss the Rockets postseason, he committed to rehabbing his leg and getting ready to return … in early May.

It meant Houston would, at the very least, need to make it to the second round before seeing Thorpe on the court again.

Legler was suspended for the next three games by the NBA but had also injured his wrist when punching Kersey — he was going to need the next three weeks to heal up. “I felt like it was worth it, I wasn’t getting a lot of minutes anyway,” Legler joked to the press.

The Rockets front office and coaching staff didn’t think it was funny. “We knew injuries were a feature of the regular season, but to have it happen so late in the year was disheartening,” said Rockets GM Nate Hale. “We scoured free agency to see if we could snag any veteran bigs to come in and soak up some of Otis’ minutes, but it was pretty bare at that point in the season.”

The Houston Rockets were going to have to call upon a player who hadn’t seen more than a few minutes of action all year: rookie center Terry Moncrief.

Moncrief was anxious. The coaching staff was, too. “Frankly, we weren’t sure if Terry was ready,” said Kern. “He was young and he hadn’t seen a lot of time on the court. He was incredibly smart, so I knew he understood the plays and what we were trying to do, but I had only given him minutes late in blowouts … he hadn’t played against starters.”

Kern and the staff didn’t have much time to change things up either — the next game was against Detroit and the Pistons weren’t a team you could play soft against.

Kern reshuffled the starting lineup and moved Grant to center, brought in rookie PF Strong to start at the four, and gave Moncrief the heads up that he was going to seeing at least ten minutes of game action. It would end up being a lot more.





The Pistons knew that the Rockets were bleeding and they knew that their old friend, Randy Kern, was going to have to play a lot of rookies a lot of minutes. That was perfect. The Pistons just needed to make the game rough and they bet they could get the Rockets to collapse.

“Our strategy was simple: make it muddy and watch them lose their cool,” recalled Isiah Thomas. “Randy never could run his offense as cleanly as he wanted to when he was with us because our defense made things rough; that was the key to stopping any offense, make it dirty and watch them struggle.”

The game started off badly for the Rockets. Defensively, Houston was playing fine — well, even. Detroit didn’t mind that as their defense was also firing on all cylinders and they managed to score 4 points. With a little over 9 minutes to go in the first, Pippen went to the line after a hard foul and … bricked both free throws.

Detroit looked to have gotten into Pippen’s head early on, something that haunted Pippen back in Chicago. A miss on the other end gave Houston a chance to score their first bucket of the night but Pippen nearly turned the ball over; fortunately, it bounced off a Piston and Houston got the ball back on the inbounds.

It was then and there where Scottie Pippen put Bill Laimber on a poster.



Pippen’s big dunk got him out of his funk and propelled the Rockets to a 25-20 first quarter lead. Houston grew that lead in the second, and added to it even more in the third, before the fourth quarter rolled around and Pippen fouled out.

Detroit hadn’t given up on the game, despite being down almost 20 points. Kern plugged in Terry Moncrief to face off against Laimbeer and John Salley, not expecting much. Moncrief had already played ten minutes that night and had added a few rebounds and no points.

But Terry Moncrief used the final frame of the game to show that, yes, he could stand up against starters — he added in 8 points, 6 rebounds, and a few blocks in the final quarter, impressing both his teammates and the coaching staff.

“Best game of my career up to that point,” recalled Moncrief. “I got more confident as things went on and I was happy with the way the night went.”





The win was a needed one, stopping a two-game skid, and instilled some confidence in the Rockets; despite losing their starting center and a key bench contributor, they could still win games.

The remaining regular season saw Houston finish 9-6, their last game against the Dallas Mavericks and a 111-84 loss. Houston had already secured the first seed and opted to rest their players — Dallas was locked into their playoff spot as well, with no chance to leap the Spurs due to tie-breakers.

Trent Lewis saw the game as a throwaway and an insult all at once. “We were gifted this and I wish I could send it back,” said Lewis after the game. As the season had gone on he had become more bitter at his brother and his father; success, it seemed, would be the only thing they found.

Dallas finished the season at a respectable 48-34, but Houston was ten games better than them and had home court in the West throughout the playoffs. Even wounded, the Rockets still had enough.

But would it be enough in the playoffs? That was the question on everyone’s mind as Houston was set to take on a foe they had no love for: the Portland Trail Blazers.

[studbucket]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

That NBA on NBC branding is awesome. Did the mod also include John Tesh's Roundball Rock as part of the package?

Also, love that this is the guy who was the primary troublemaker for Houston

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

That NBA on NBC branding is awesome. Did the mod also include John Tesh's Roundball Rock as part of the package?

Also, love that this is the guy who was the primary troublemaker for Houston

I wish roundball rock was included, lol. Sadly, just a presentation mod, but you better believe I hum out the theme when the game starts.


As for Legler -- yeah, he is a bit of a trouble-maker, as you'll see the further we get down the line. I really like playing with him but he is so SLOW -- footspeed is not high for this man, but he's a smart player on the floor and can hit deep shots, so he's a nice piece.

[kibaxx7]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Tough loss against the Blazers Kersey is a player that I definitely want to add. What a game by Grant against Detroit, and it's great to see Payton contribute like that in his first year.

I'm always amazed at what the mod community has been able to do. 2K14 in my case or 2K20 here. Can't wait until I advance a little more and reach the CBS, NBC and ESPN eras with those presentations.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA 2K20)

Finally made my way up to date. Love this format. As someone who was too young to experience basketball in the 90s it’s always fascinated me and this is the best view into it. Rockets seem to be the favored story point in this so far, which I am 100% on board with. An alternate universe Pippen who doesn’t sound off in 2020 about MJ profiling him “wrong” in a documentary is all good with me.

Really impressive use and approach with these stories to tell a story in real-time but make it feel old. Love how it comes across. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA 2K20)

Tough loss against the Blazers Kersey is a player that I definitely want to add. What a game by Grant against Detroit, and it's great to see Payton contribute like that in his first year.

I'm always amazed at what the mod community has been able to do. 2K14 in my case or 2K20 here. Can't wait until I advance a little more and reach the CBS, NBC and ESPN eras with those presentations.

Yeah, the Blazers are a spunky squad -- they really test me every time I play them. The modding community are absolute superstars and they really take the base of what 2K give them and turns it into something special. Going through the different eras and different presentations is a fun way to keep the games looking fresh.

Finally made my way up to date. Love this format. As someone who was too young to experience basketball in the 90s it’s always fascinated me and this is the best view into it. Rockets seem to be the favored story point in this so far, which I am 100% on board with. An alternate universe Pippen who doesn’t sound off in 2020 about MJ profiling him “wrong” in a documentary is all good with me.

Really impressive use and approach with these stories to tell a story in real-time but make it feel old. Love how it comes across. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Thank you! I really didn't pay attention to the NBA till the late 90s during the early Shaq/Kobe years (my dad was in the military and we were got transferred to Alaska for a few years in the 90s and it's tough to keep up with games up there, lol). As I've learned more about that era and all the crazy things that happened, I've always wanted to explore it.



If you're interested in reading about more of that era, some books I'd recommend would be The Jordan Rules (the infamous but highly insightful book about that first title Bulls team), Blood in the Garden (a deep-dive on the 90s Knicks and the drama in New York, and To the Brink (a look at the late 90s Utah Jazz, who came oh so close to beating the Bulls).



The Pippen/Jordan feud is a fun thread in this story and has some fascinating long-term effects on the league (I've just finished up the 93-94 season and things are getting juicy). The way Pippen and Jordan feud, and their teams feud, and the others teams around them react to those moves is a catalyst for some cool story beats -- I'm looking forward to seeing how you guys react to some of these turns.

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)


NBA League Update: Regular Season Finale
By Sam Gray



Award Winners:






All NBA




All Defensive



All Rookie



Injuries:







Standings:








The Non-Playoff Teams:

The final week of the NBA season saw the playoff teams fighting for positioning — but the final playoff spot in the West was in doubt. Seattle needed Portland to lose it’s last games while it won them, but instead of that Blazers won out and snuck into the playoffs — denying the Sonics a playoff berth despite 44 wins. Utah, Denver, and LAC were not a threat by the time April rolled around, leaving the final spot to Portland or Seattle.

In the East, the final week of the regular season saw the Pacers, Wizards, Heat, and Magic all battling for two spots, but in the end tiebreakers and ill-timed losses sent the Pacers and Wizards into the postseason, while shutting out the Heat and Magic — denying the recent expansion teams any postseason glory (or ticket revenue).




The Playoff Teams:

The 1991 playoffs features some great matchups. The 1st seeded Rockets face the 8th seeded Blazers, but can Houston — wounded, missing Otis Thorpe, and battling injuries, survive a 5-game series against last year’s top seed and the team that knocked Thorpe out?

Below them, the 4th seeded T’Wolves take on the Run TMC Warriors. Minnesota has had a great season and looks to advance past the Warriors, who sent them home last year 3-1 in their 1st round matchup.

The Suns face off against the Spurs, as PHX — losers of the WCF last year — must battle against David Robinson, who has become the best center in the West (thanks largely to the lack of Hakeem). San Antonio is looking to do damage in the postseason behind the Admiral.

Finally, the Lakers take on the Mavericks in a fun series. Derek Harper and Magic Johnson are two of the best PGs in the game, and Dallas — though a lower seed — should be considered very dangerous, as they’re fully healthy and looking to do damage inside with Roy Tarpley, a big the Lakers may not have answers for.

In the East, the Celtics take on the Wizards and it’s not expected to be a very close series — Boston has Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Danny Ainge. Washington has Sleepy Floyd, John “Hot Plate” Williams, and Jeff Malone … the Wizards limped into the playoffs, barely squeaking in; the greatest challenge the Celtics face is not sleepwalking through the series.

The 76ers and Hawks face off in a 4 vs 5 matchup, a series that features Charles Barkley and Dominique Wilkins — Barkley got what he wanted in terms of help with Sam Bowie, but can the 76ers do enough in the postseason to convince Barkley to sign-long term? The Hawks could easily beat the 76ers and end the Barkley era in one fell swoop.

The 3rd seeded Cavs face off against the rival Pistons, as Detroit dealt with veteran injuries down the stretch — they’re healed up now, but their path to the Finals is going to be tough. Cleveland has looked good all year, is pretty healthy, and looking to knock out the team that sent them home in the ECF last season.

Finally, the Bulls face off against their old rivals the Pacers. Chicago has been exactly the basketball death machine predicted with Jordan and Hakeem; Indiana barely got into the playoffs and they don’t have a favorable matchup anywhere on the floor. It’ll take a legendary hot stretch from Reggie Miller to take one game, let alone the series.


(Random number generator has assigned me Games 3 and 5. Can Pippen stop the Blazers or will Clyde steal the series?)

[studbucket]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

A couple things are wild to me.

1. Hakeem winning MVP while Jordan is on his team. They didn't split the vote? He was more important? Is Jordan OK with this? How can the Rockets trade the league MVP and improve?
2. Chuck Person as second team All-NBA?
3. Shawn Kemp as second team all-defense already?
4. And kudos to Tim Hardaway for getting 1st team All-NBA. He got that once in real life, 96-97. Maybe he can get that 3-5x in this career?

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

A couple things are wild to me.

1. Hakeem winning MVP while Jordan is on his team. They didn't split the vote? He was more important? Is Jordan OK with this? How can the Rockets trade the league MVP and improve?
2. Chuck Person as second team All-NBA?
3. Shawn Kemp as second team all-defense already?
4. And kudos to Tim Hardaway for getting 1st team All-NBA. He got that once in real life, 96-97. Maybe he can get that 3-5x in this career?

Yeah, I was surprised at a few things here as well -- I thought about overriding the MVP vote and giving it to Jordan, but I reasoned that the writers -- witnessing the shellacking the Cavs gave the Bulls in Round 1 during the 1990 playoffs (3-0 sweep by Cleveland) -- attributed the incredible Bulls season to Hakeem more than Jordan.


Jordan, as you'd expect, did not take the news well and that will become important down the line.



Chuck the Rifle and Shawn Kemp had great years on their respective squads -- though neither made the playoffs, both were close. Person was doing 23-6-7 a night while Kemp was putting up 15-10 with 2 blocks and 2 steals a night; I let those picks stand, especially considering how Kemp was doing a solid bit better than the 89-90 season (12-8 that year). He was rising fast.


Hardaway did grab an All-NBA team -- not sure he's gonna get many more, though, as there's some great PG talent coming in via the draft in the rest of the 90s classes; plus, some guys taking off that didn't IRL but did in this universe.


Round 1 of the 1991 playoffs kicks off tomorrow -- it's gonna be fun ride.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Love seeing the Dubs winning 50 games, hopefully the 90s in this universe treats them better than ours.

I can't believe Hakeem had 4.1 blocks and 2.2 steals, that's incredible to me. I can almost hear Bill Simmons talking about how incredible it was now.

I'll go with Houston, Dubs, Spurs, Lakers out west and chalk in the East with Celts, Sixers, Cavs, Bulls. Would love to see a Houston-Los Angeles and Boston-Chicago conference finals.

For whatever reason this age feels more impressive than my dynasty, but I feel like that's because Magic and Bird and MJ and Hakeem are all legends, while my universe is still creating legends. A lot of fun as a retrospective.

[trekfan]

Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

Love seeing the Dubs winning 50 games, hopefully the 90s in this universe treats them better than ours.

I can't believe Hakeem had 4.1 blocks and 2.2 steals, that's incredible to me. I can almost hear Bill Simmons talking about how incredible it was now.

I'll go with Houston, Dubs, Spurs, Lakers out west and chalk in the East with Celts, Sixers, Cavs, Bulls. Would love to see a Houston-Los Angeles and Boston-Chicago conference finals.

For whatever reason this age feels more impressive than my dynasty, but I feel like that's because Magic and Bird and MJ and Hakeem are all legends, while my universe is still creating legends. A lot of fun as a retrospective.

Yeah, this universe is brimming with all-time greats still going at it and future all-time greats coming in. IRL, by the summer of 1993 the NBA had lost Bird, Magic, and MJ (first retirement) -- huge, huge losses to a league that was saved by Bird+Magic and the revival of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry.



In theory, had Bird and Magic's health held up a few more years and MJ didn't retire after the 93 playoffs, you could have had some fun meetings in the mid 90s with HOFers on their way out and HOFers just starting.


Imagine an Allen Iverson vs Larry Bird? Or Grant Hill against Magic Johnson? How about Kobe and Magic teaming up to take on Bird and Reggie Lewis (who was a key Celtics guy, a potential superstar, and passed away tragically during the summer of 1993 due to heart issues).



If Bird and Magic had hung on a few more years, they could have potentially welcomed in the class of 1995 and 96 (Magic would, of course, have an ill-fated comeback in the 95-96 season that was a far cry from where he was when he retired).


The talent in the 90s is insane, both old and new, and if the players then had access to training/medicine we do now, I think quite a few careers would have continued on. Being a few years ahead in the story, I can tell you there are some guys I was sure were going to retire years ago that are just still going (and my regression settings aren't bad, these dudes are still a walking bucket and being really useful for their teams).



Personally, I think we're going to be seeing more players playing into their late 30s/early 40s in the modern era -- I wouldn't be surprised to see Steph Curry still hitting deep, deep triples 8 years from now. LeBron seems determined to push himself into his early 40s to play with his kids and CP3 is aging like fine wine, he's got at least 2 more seasons left in him, maybe 4.



But I digress.