Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)

[ZSmit88]

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

Man that Payton-Pippen 40-40 was insane

[RMJH4]

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

Payton and Pippen as good as anyone could have dreamed of. Just wow!!

[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, not showing any signs of slowing down despite multiple distractions. The Mavericks, Spurs, and Suns are all battling it out for the 2nd seed, while the Clippers (fresh off getting Bernard King) and Sonics (seeing rookie Terrell Brandon deliver with 14-7 off the bench) are right behind them.

Fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds are the Blazers, Warriors, Jazz, Nuggets, and Lakers. Portland looks to have a vicegrip-like lock on the 7th seed, while the 8th is wide open — the Warriors, Jazz, and Lakers have all been disappointing so far this season and the final two months of the season will either make or break their chances at postseason glory.

At the bottom of the West are the T’Wolves (continuing to struggle), Kings (bad), Pelicans (expansion team bad), and Grizzlies (really expansion bad). Each of these teams are god-awful on defense and that’s why their records are as terrible as they are.








The top of the East is led by the Bulls, who are seeing MVP campaigns from both Jordan and Hakeem. Right behind them are the Celtics, Knicks (rookie Steve Smith has been steady with 12-3-3), and Cleveland — each team could make their way to the top-seed if the Bulls fall into a slump, though that seems unlikely. Miami and Detroit are right behind them, both looking good at this point.

In the middle, fighting for the 7th and 8th seeds, are the 76ers, Pacers, Wizards, Magic, and Hawks. Philly seems to have a lock on the 7th seed, while Indiana is barely above .500 and seemingly wants to be in the postseason. Washington made deals at the deadline to get assets and bet that it wouldn’t hurt them terribly in the short-term, a bet that’s paid off so far as the Wizards are still within spitting distance of a playoff spot. The Magic and Hawks both have been disappointing this season and could look to reload in the offseason or blow it all up.

At the bottom of the East, competing for a chance at 1st overall, are the Bucks, Hornets, Raptors, and Nets. New Jersey is tanking with the best of them and has given themselves a good chance at winning the Shaq Sweepstakes.

[marshdaddy]

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

Did Michael really take Pippen with his first pick in the All Star Game? If so, what a wild turn. Can't imagine MJ doing that besides to mess with Pippen's mind.

[kibaxx7]

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

Wow, two 40-pieces doesn't happen that often. Great record so far.

[trekfan]

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

Did Michael really take Pippen with his first pick in the All Star Game? If so, what a wild turn. Can't imagine MJ doing that besides to mess with Pippen's mind.

He really did and that will be addressed in the next story chapter. I couldn't believe the CPU did that but it just lined up so perfectly with how Jordan would run something like that.

[trekfan]

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


Ch. 20

The All-Star Break was a relief to the Rockets organization at all levels — the players and coaching staff needed the time to reset and get themselves ready for the rest of the season. The front office was preparing for the offseason, the draft and free agency specifically — and there was still the cloud of suspicion above them all. “The break had come at a good time,” said GM Nate Hale. “It felt like the season was a carnival ride, whipping us back and worth.”

Like the year before, Michael Jordan had picked Pippen to be on his team and, just like the year before, Pippen refused to speak with Jordan in the least — in fact, Pippen and Jordan’s relationship seemed to be colder than the last season, if that was even possible. “He was mad at me for winning a title without him,” claimed Pippen. “He was a competitive *uck and thought he was the better player … maybe he was more talented, but he wasn’t a better teammate than me.”

While the players were enjoying their time off, the Rockets coaching staff was looking at the rest of the schedule. The final two months of the season would be a sprint towards the postseason and, potentially, the regular season record for wins. The record wasn’t on the forefront of Randy Kern’s mind — he wanted nothing to do with it. But younger assistants on the staff and a lot of the players were looking towards it, and Kern wanted to disabuse them of the notion that it would easy to achieve.

“Quite frankly, that record was a distraction and not only that, but even talking about it just put another target on our back,” said Kern. “We didn’t need to make our lives harder trying to get something like that record.”

The coaching staff was singularly focused on finishing the season and prepping for the playoffs; the front office was looking ahead. The only thing left for them to do in the regular season was monitor the free agent market to see if any interesting veterans hit the wire, but Kern was happy with the locker room — he didn’t want any new bodies unless they were down a man. The front office was focusing on the draft and free agency, but mostly the draft.

Everyone’s eyes in the front office were on the standings out East — specifically, the Wizards. “We had Washington’s pick thanks to the Sleepy Floyd trade and the worse they were, the better our odds of getting a high pick,” said Hale. “If we landed anywhere in the top five, we were going to end up with a good player.”

The top prospects of the 1992 draft were a list of names that many NBA fans know today: Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Jim Jackson, and Christian Laettner. O’Neal was the biggest prize (literally and figuratively) and radiated charisma. “Shaq, even then, was a good quote and a fun guy,” said NBA columnist Sam Gray. “Media guys loved talking to him and Shaq loved to talk.”

Mourning was tough and came from a long line of Georgetown big man excellence; Jackson was an exciting ballhandler, a player who could play guard or forward; Laettner was, perhaps, the most hated college player in the country but played with swagger. Any of those players would be great gets for Houston and the front office was doing its due diligence on all of them. “No matter where we ended up, we knew we had a good pick waiting for us that high in the draft,” said Hale. “It was just a matter of finding those players and making sure they were good fits for our team.”

The first three weeks after the All-Star Break saw Houston run all over the league, losing only a single game in that time span (a close 128-122 loss on the first game post-ASB) and the Rockets, once more, were feeling themselves. They’d fall back to earth after a pair of two-point losses to the Sonics and T’Wolves, then another loss two nights later to the Nuggets — the end of March saw Houston finish a middling 3-4 and their pursuit of the regular season record was over.

“I was thankful it was done,” said Kern. The head coach was alone in that opinion, but the Rockets seemed to play freer after the chance of the regular season record fell by the wayside — the team to end that pursuit also felt really good about itself: the Dallas Mavericks.

“Putting an end to their hopes felt good,” recalled Mavs PG Derek Harper. “We had watched them get all the press, all the recognition, and it made a lot of us angry how ignored we were. We were a good team and no one in Texas outside of Dallas seemed to care.”

The Mavericks were hot in contention for the second best record in the West and Dallas was playing a brand of basketball that made everyone on the team feel good — even their owner, Trent Lewis. Lewis found himself believing, as the season went on, that his team could finally compete with Houston. “We had beaten them twice, they had beaten us twice, and we had the mental edge I thought,” said Lewis. “We weren’t dealing with the same levels of distractions, we were playing clean basketball.”

Houston entered April with the loss to Dallas — and the loss of the regular season record for wins — firmly on their mind. They were angry, at themselves mostly, but that anger had to be directed somewhere and the schedule provided them with a glorious target: the Boston Celtics.

“We set out to finish the year strong — no more losses, no more *ucking around, just straight winning with attitude,” said Gary Payton. “I, definitely, had an ax to grind with Boston.” Payton hadn’t forgotten how Danny Ainge embarrassed him in the Finals — it had been the lowest moment of Payton’s professional career, perhaps even his life as a basketball player.

The Celtics weren’t cattle being led to slaughter, though; Boston was having a great year too, entering the game at 47-24, the Celtics were once more being led by Larry Bird, who was playing amazing basketball still.



Bird, though, wasn’t quite as good as Pippen — Pippen had entered another level that season and the Rockets record was a direct reflection of his growth as a player. He wasn’t simply an All-Star, he was a legitimate superstar that was a franchise player. Pippen was in a tight race between himself and Jordan for MVP, a race that would come down to the wire that year.

But, before anyone could think about MVP ceremonies, they had to deal with Boston — and the Rockets left the Celtics for dead early. Pippen locked Bird down and Payton put Danny Ainge in chains; poor Ainge could barely get a pass off or a pass to him before Payton was in the picture, stealing the ball and tossing it down the court to Pippen.



Boston ended the first quarter down 31-18 and were down at the half 67-44. “We got our *ss kicked,” said Larry Bird. “They came out and whooped us — they were a mad team and when teams play like that, harnessing their anger like that, it’s damn tough to beat them.” Bird and the Celtics took the regular season loss in stride — the veteran team knew that playoffs were the real goal — but the beating stuck with them for the rest of the year.

For Houston, the beating was one of many they were going to deliver to all comers. The Rockets won the next six games, all by large margins, before taking a trip to Portland to face the rival Blazers. Portland’s season wasn’t nearly as good as the Rockets was — they were a middle-of-the-pack team, a former conference champion that had seemingly fallen off.




This Blazers team was confronting their own basketball mortality — Clyde Drexler would be a free agent in the summer and the Blazers franchise player hadn’t committed to re-signing one way or another. The team wasn’t sure who would or wouldn’t be there the next fall, and if Clyde left … well, that would be it. “We all knew Clyde was the key, that he held the keys to our future,” said Blazers PG Terry Porter. “We had a lot of good players on that team, I wasn’t a slouch, but Clyde was another level.”

The Blazers entered the game the underdog, but they didn’t feel that way — Portland felt they were still a championship-caliber team, and Drexler certainly believed he was better than Scottie Pippen. “I looked at Scottie and I thought I could take him,” said Drexler. “Great players don’t look at other great players and shrink; you can’t shrink if you’re great. You have to go out there and fight them.”

The first quarter saw the Rockets come out and try to deliver the knockout blow early; they took a 35-21 lead in Portland and the fans weren’t happy, booing the Rockets anytime they touched the ball. The hatred in the air wasn’t subtle. “Oh, those *uckers really hated us,” said Payton. “But we were fine with that — they hated us because they wanted their team to be us. We fed off that hate.”

In the second, the Blazers stormed back thanks to Otis Thorpe being in foul trouble; Thorpe was forced to ride the bench and that meant Moses Malone was getting extra minutes. The veteran looked slow-legged in the second, a result of not having enough time to rest on the bench, and he was being manhandled by the Blazers bigs. That beating continued in the third quarter, where the Blazers took the lead and then built on it — suddenly, the Rockets were the ones on the ropes.

Coach Kern was looking for someone to step up and implored his starters to put the Blazers away in the fourth — Houston tried, but could only manage to get the game to overtime. Clyde Drexler was destroying everyone Houston put on him, including Pippen, and everyone in the arena knew that they were watching a legendary duel. One of these teams had to lose, right?





It would end up going to double overtime, thanks to a Terry Porter floater as the clock expired. But it was there where the Rockets trio — Pippen, Payton, and Grant — finished the game, finally pulling away and putting away the pesky Blazers. It was an exhausting, but thrilling, win and has gone down as a regular season classic since. “We really battled all game, Drexler and I,” said Pippen. “It was a great game.”

An exhausted Drexler showered and left the arena without talking to the press. “I was just done after that,” said Drexler. “We had taken the defending champs all the way to the end … two overtimes … and still couldn’t do it.” Defeated and emotional, Drexler went back home and went to bed. He was tired of losing to Houston and he was tired of losing with Portland. “I knew then I was done there,” said Drexler. “After that game, for the first time, the thought in my head wasn’t ‘if I’ll come back’ but ‘I won’t come back.’”

The Rockets finished the rest of the season without losing and easily secured the best record in the West and in the NBA as a whole. The postseason was finally here — and Houston’s path through the conference looked easier than anyone could have predicted.

[georgiafan]

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

I feel behind on this all caught up now. Barkley and Magic together that's a fun pair. Signing Moses Malone will help out even at this older age. How does the pairing of him and Grant work on the court together ? I guess Grant has the mid range shoot.

[studbucket]

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

Oh man, if Houston gets Shaq or Zo, that's a third star on that roster. The other guys are solid players, but those two are guys you can build around.

[ZSmit88]

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

The front court is really coming along

[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 not in doubt. Golden State punched its ticket thanks to Denver going 2-10 in their final games, that record due in large part to dual injuries for SF Chris Morris (18-6 on the season) and PF Jerome Lane (8-8) for the year. Without those two starters, Denver had little hope overtaking the Warriors.

In the East, the final week of the regular season saw the Pacers and Hawks battling for the final spot — Atlanta needed to win out or the Pacers to win out, but what they couldn’t have was a tie, as Indiana held the tiebreakers. The Pacers were unable to win their last two games, splitting them, and that guaranteed the Hawks a playoff berth; word out of Indiana is that Reggie Miller is very unhappy with the situation and a trade request could be incoming for the pride of the Pacers.




The Playoff Teams:

The 1992 playoffs features some great matchups. The 1st seeded Rockets face the 8th seeded Warriors, in a rematch of last years Round 2 series; Houston enters this matchup much healthier and with the addition of Moses Malone at center, which should allow them to get out of Round 1 easily.

Below them, the 4th seeded Spurs take on the surprise Sonics. Seattle has been solidly good all year long and the core there seems to have figured things out with the addition of rookie PG Terrell Brandon — but the Spurs possess David Robinson, the biggest advantage in the conference, and the Admiral wants to redeem himself from last year’s disappointing loss in the WCF.

The Clippers, the only LA team to make the playoffs (there’s a sentence) face off against the much more veteran Mavericks. Dallas has been here before and LAC hasn’t, but the Mavs may not have an answer for the scorching scoring of the Clippers, who’ve gotten back Ken Norman from injury and have Bernard King putting in over 20 points a night off the bench; Dallas wants desperately to make it to the WCF, but getting past the Clippers won’t be easy.

Finally, the Suns take on the veteran Blazers in what could be Clyde Drexler’s last series in Portland. Drexler’s impending free agency has hung over the Blazers all year, but Portland has done all right despite that — Phoenix, on the other hand, has been dominant through much of the season and the Suns high-octane offense seems primed to run over the older Blazers.

In the East, the Bulls take on the Hawks and it’s not expected to be a close series — Hakeem has had his way most of the year against any center matchup he gets and Jordan, per usual, is playing his best ball as the playoffs start. The Hawks, meanwhile, barely got into the postseason and the team simply hasn’t looked as good in their first year without Doc Rivers and Moses Malone.

The Knicks and Heat face off in a 4 vs 5 matchup, a series that features Patrick Ewing going against a younger Heat team, but it’s a series that New York will have to win without starting PG Rod Strickland, who’s out due to injury — New York will need to rely on Mark Jackson to guide them and Miami smells blood in the water.

The 3rd seeded Cavs face off against the rival Pistons yet again, as Detroit struggled to ascend to the top of the East all year. Cleveland has looked good from start to finish, is healthy, and looking to knock out their rivals once more in a series that could signal the end for this iteration of the Pistons as Dennis Rodman is a free agent, and may move on.

Finally, the Celtics take on the 76ers in a series that Boston shouldn’t overlook. After a tough Round 2 series last year that went the full seven games, Philly retooled around Dawkins and Hawkins, adding Worthy and Green (two players who do know how to beat Boston) and they want to score an upset here. Boston has been great all season, but the many years of long playoff runs may finally take their toll if they can’t put away Philly quickly.

(Random number generator has assigned me Games 3 and 5. Can the Rockets stop the Warriors or will Run TMC get their revenge?)

[trekfan]

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

AUTHOR'S NOTE:


This will be the last post for this week as I'm heading off on a vacation tomorrow. I'll be back next week and we'll pick up the start of the playoffs from there -- thanks to everyone for following along.

[studbucket]

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

LJ was awesome and Charlotte still stunk. Maybe they can vault from 6 to 2 and pair up LJ and Zo again.


I'd love to see Boston a win title here. Phoenix would be fun from the West.

Of course, the two 1 seeds facing off would be *such* a storyline.

Chuck has to be ticked off he missed the playoffs in LA.

Enjoy your time off

[jj248]

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

"I'm not saying Scottie didn't deserve that award: I'm just saying it fueled a fire in me, like, 'you say he's the best in the world, fine, I'ma show you that he's not.'"

[kibaxx7]

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

"I'm not saying Scottie didn't deserve that award: I'm just saying it fueled a fire in me, like, 'you say he's the best in the world, fine, I'ma show you that he's not.'"

"... and I took it personal."

Great job winning the MVP for Scottie. Have a nice vacation, brother, it's always needed to take a break from everything!