Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - #TheStormIsComing | Nashville Expansion Story Pt. 2

orlegend0208 · 09-29-2017, 06:50 PM

December 15, 2017

Nashville (7-20) @ Houston (19-10)

Ellington 3.jpg
Wayne Ellington drains a big 3 during the 4th Quarter

Recent Games:

12-6: @ Golden State: L 88-105: 6-17
12-8: vs. Los Angeles: W 107-101: 7-17
12-10: @ Cleveland: L 68-104: 7-18
12-11: vs. Atlanta: L 69-106: 7-19
12-13: vs. Charlotte: L 101-118: 7-20

Once again, these last few games have been frustrating.

Especially the Atlanta game. Atlanta (6-24) currently has the worst record in the East and they beat us by 37 points... AT HOME.

That game 100% convinced me that we needed a coaching change. Not only a head coaching change, but we needed change up and down our entire coaching staff. Including scouts, trainers, everyone.

I wasn't satisfied with the way that any of them were performing and I knew that we could hire replacements to help our team not only in the present, but also in the future.

Anyway, we traveled to Houston to take on the Harden/CP3 led Rockets.

I'm not gonna lie, I was really impressed by our effort of the team. We kept it reasonably close in the 1st half. Going into halftime, Houston led 55-48.

We outscored them 19-16 in the 3rd Quarter to shrink the lead down to 4. The 3 points that we outscored them by came on a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Patty Mills.

Mills did this weird, unnecessary fading away 3 that somehow swished through the net. Honestly, from my view, I thought he air-balled it and it just hit the net, under the basket to make the net move that way. But, no. He drained it. It went under review and the refs confirmed the ball left his hand before time expired in the quarter.

That fired our guys up and I could tell we were going to be in for one helluva 4th Quarter.

And we sure were.

We went back and forth with Houston the entire Quarter. However, the problem is, we had to defend a very good team when it come to perimeter shooting.

In the 4th Quarter is when it really showed.

Throughout most of the game, it would be Harden and Paul with the ball in their hands and they'd usually drive and try to score. Or they'd kick it out to Eric Gordon who would chuck up a 3.

However, now Harden went into full blown scoring mode. 15 of his 24 points came in the 4th Quarter and Ryan Anderson made a huge 3 late with 3:08 left in the game to increase their lead to 8 points.

We went on a quick 6-0 run as Wayne Ellington and Jayson Tatum drained 3's.

It was now a 2 point game in Houston.

But, a minute later, disaster would strike our team.

Blake Griffin got the ball at the free throw line, pump faked to get Ryan Anderson off of his feet, then drove to the basket. Griffin attempted to posterize Clint Capela, but Capela fouled him hard. Griffin landed awkwardly and players immediately looked away grimacing.

Turns out, Blake has a fracture left leg. The doctor's told us the time table for his return will be anywhere from 2-4 months... With 3-4 months being more likely.

So, the earliest Griffin can return will be sometime in March.

As you could probably guess, our guys were shaken up by the loss of our star player.

Houston went on a quick run following Griffin's injury and we could never recover.

The Rockets went on to defeat us by a score of 97-104.

Let me say this real fast. We were EXTREMELY impressive shooting the ball. We shot 52% from the floor tonight. That's a huge positive since we're one of the worst teams in the league in PPG.

However, our problem tonight was that we turned the ball over 15 times while Houston only turned the ball over 4 times. That was the difference in the game.

And now that Griffin was done for about 3-4 months we had one strategy in mind: Tank, get a high draft pick, and return next year with an improved team, with a new staff.

Not to be a debbie downer, but with Griffin out our season is pretty much over. Again, not trying to be unbearably negative, that's just the reality of our situation now. If we can't win with him, how can we win without him?

And that thought was spot on because the rest of the season was rough...

Due to this reason, I'll give a couple more updates for the season and then we'll move onto the off-season.

Rockets 1.jpg

Rockets 2.jpg

Rockets 3.jpg

09-29-2017, 06:50 PM	#41
orlegend0208 MVP OVR: 0 Join Date: Nov 2013	Re: #TheStormIsComing \| Nashville Expansion Story Pt. 2 \| NBA 2K18 December 15, 2017 Nashville (7-20) @ Houston (19-10) Ellington 3.jpg Wayne Ellington drains a big 3 during the 4th Quarter Recent Games: 12-6: @ Golden State: L 88-105: 6-17 12-8: vs. Los Angeles: W 107-101: 7-17 12-10: @ Cleveland: L 68-104: 7-18 12-11: vs. Atlanta: L 69-106: 7-19 12-13: vs. Charlotte: L 101-118: 7-20 Once again, these last few games have been frustrating. Especially the Atlanta game. Atlanta (6-24) currently has the worst record in the East and they beat us by 37 points... AT HOME. That game 100% convinced me that we needed a coaching change. Not only a head coaching change, but we needed change up and down our entire coaching staff. Including scouts, trainers, everyone. I wasn't satisfied with the way that any of them were performing and I knew that we could hire replacements to help our team not only in the present, but also in the future. Anyway, we traveled to Houston to take on the Harden/CP3 led Rockets. I'm not gonna lie, I was really impressed by our effort of the team. We kept it reasonably close in the 1st half. Going into halftime, Houston led 55-48. We outscored them 19-16 in the 3rd Quarter to shrink the lead down to 4. The 3 points that we outscored them by came on a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Patty Mills. Mills did this weird, unnecessary fading away 3 that somehow swished through the net. Honestly, from my view, I thought he air-balled it and it just hit the net, under the basket to make the net move that way. But, no. He drained it. It went under review and the refs confirmed the ball left his hand before time expired in the quarter. That fired our guys up and I could tell we were going to be in for one helluva 4th Quarter. And we sure were. We went back and forth with Houston the entire Quarter. However, the problem is, we had to defend a very good team when it come to perimeter shooting. In the 4th Quarter is when it really showed. Throughout most of the game, it would be Harden and Paul with the ball in their hands and they'd usually drive and try to score. Or they'd kick it out to Eric Gordon who would chuck up a 3. However, now Harden went into full blown scoring mode. 15 of his 24 points came in the 4th Quarter and Ryan Anderson made a huge 3 late with 3:08 left in the game to increase their lead to 8 points. We went on a quick 6-0 run as Wayne Ellington and Jayson Tatum drained 3's. It was now a 2 point game in Houston. But, a minute later, disaster would strike our team. Blake Griffin got the ball at the free throw line, pump faked to get Ryan Anderson off of his feet, then drove to the basket. Griffin attempted to posterize Clint Capela, but Capela fouled him hard. Griffin landed awkwardly and players immediately looked away grimacing. Turns out, Blake has a fracture left leg. The doctor's told us the time table for his return will be anywhere from 2-4 months... With 3-4 months being more likely. So, the earliest Griffin can return will be sometime in March. As you could probably guess, our guys were shaken up by the loss of our star player. Houston went on a quick run following Griffin's injury and we could never recover. The Rockets went on to defeat us by a score of 97-104. Let me say this real fast. We were EXTREMELY impressive shooting the ball. We shot 52% from the floor tonight. That's a huge positive since we're one of the worst teams in the league in PPG. However, our problem tonight was that we turned the ball over 15 times while Houston only turned the ball over 4 times. That was the difference in the game. *And now that Griffin was done for about 3-4 months we had one strategy in mind: Tank, get a high draft pick, and return next year with an improved team, with a new staff.* Not to be a debbie downer, but with Griffin out our season is pretty much over. Again, not trying to be unbearably negative, that's just the reality of our situation now. If we can't win with him, how can we win without him? And that thought was spot on because the rest of the season was rough... Due to this reason, I'll give a couple more updates for the season and then we'll move onto the off-season. Rockets 1.jpg Rockets 2.jpg Rockets 3.jpg __________________ NCAA 14: SMSU Dynasty Last edited by orlegend0208; 09-29-2017 at 07:36 PM.