Houston, We Had A Dynasty - Officially Retired

[Axel The Great]

Ah, definitely a good idea. I'll see if I can match his ratings and appearance from Live 10. Thanks for the idea.

[Houndy]

Yeah, bring my rookie back

[Axel The Great]

It's gonna take me a while to get things ready for the first round preview, so here's a little something to keep you busy.

RedNation News Article

Vipers Repeat, Could it Possibly Foreshadow Something?

As many of you don't know, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers won the NBA Developmental League championship last season. Well, they've done it again. This time, it was much, much easier. With two triple-double machines, Brad Halstead and Will Conroy, and the inside presence of Gregory Costa, the Vipers were able to repeat. They swept the Texas Legends in the first round, and then took down the Antoine Walker-led Idaho Stampede in a three-game series. They met the Erie Bayhawks in the Finals, and won in three games.

During that series, Gregory Costa was out for the first two games; he had to fill in for a resting Yao Ming in Houston. He came back for Game 3, and the Vipers cruised to an easy 123-90 victory. Brad Halstead had four triple-doubles in the NBDL playoffs, averaging 34 ppg, 10 rpg, and 12 apg, and was easily the best player in the D-League all season. "Brad just keeps outdoing himself every game. Last season was a bit tougher to win the title; we had to score a three at the buzzer to do so. This time, I'm glad it was easier," said Brad's teammate Will Conroy.

"We're basically a cheesing Oklahoma City Thunder-esque team. We have the three best players in the league, so winning this easily is no surprise," said the triple-double machine himself. Halstead has learned a lot this season, from being on the Rockets' roster. "Shane [Battier] taught me a lot. Not really much about improving my skills on the court, but in fixing my personality. At times I do act a bit arrogant still, I'll admit that, but Shane helped me realize the dirtbag that I was."

The repeat of the Vipers is surely a foreshadowing of their affiliate, the Houston Rockets, repeating as well. With a destructive Kevin Martin, a well-rested Yao Ming, and a deep bench, the Rockets are a lock to at least get to the Conference Finals.

Here's how the 2011 D-League playoffs turned out:

[Andrew]

It's certainly been an eye-opening year for Halstead!

[Houndy]

Yeah, that's my player

[kibaxx7]

"a cheesing Oklahoma City Thunder-esque team" Was hoping for the Toros in the conference finals, but well...

[Stress Fracture]

Hey, where's my character?

Can't you just continue this dynasty even if this will only have few updates? Oh and BTW, "BrickAriza."

[Axel The Great]

It's certainly been an eye-opening year for Halstead!

Definitely. What I have planned for the epilogue will be more eye-opening.

Yeah, that's my player

"a cheesing Oklahoma City Thunder-esque team" Was hoping for the Toros in the conference finals, but well...

Why? Because they have a spanish name?

Hey, where's my character?

Can't you just continue this dynasty even if this will only have few updates? Oh and BTW, "BrickAriza."

D-League season is up, you get your offseason to clear your sore throat.

What do you mean continue? After this, I'm moving on to 2K, which will be much, much better.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll maybe have the first round preview later today, or tomorrow. Then a 2-game Recap on Saturday.

BTW, sorry for the small table for team stats. Just noticed it. Will try to fix it sometime soon. Since when do we have this many emoticons? lol

[Axel The Great]

2011 NBA Playoffs: First Round Preview



These are the matchups for the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. This is the first time the Minnesota Timberwolves make the playoffs since 2004. The two LA teams are facing off, the Magic and the Knicks face each other again, and there's a rematch from last year's playoffs (the Knicks prevailed).

Here are the rosters for the Houston Rockets vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Toyota Keys to the Series.


The Starters


C Kevin Love | PF Chris Bosh | SF Carlos Boozer | SG Ryan Gomes | PG Jonny Flynn

The Bench

Ramon Sessions | Ryan Hollins | Alexander Fortsen | Thabo Sefolosha | Oleksiy Pecherov | Corey Brewer | Allen Coutts



The Starters


C Yao Ming | PF Luis Scola | SF Shane Battier | SG Kevin Martin | PG Aaron Brooks

The Bench


Kyle Lowry | Ray Allen | Donte Greene | Chase Budinger | Jordan Hill | Jared Jeffries | Chuck Hayes

Inactive List


Brad Halstead | Gregory Costa

Keys to the Series:
Minnesota Timberwolves: When it comes to their frontcourt, they've got the upper hand. They will have to go inside to Bosh, Love, and Boozer to really be effective. If they can't get it inside, this Huge 3 are all good perimeter shooters, so they can also go to that. Their backcourt is their weakness here, but if they get good games out them, they're sure to push the Rockets to the limit.

Houston Rockets: The Rockets swept the season series against the Wolves. On only one occasion there was a close game, in which Kevin Martin scored a game-winner. The Rockets know what it takes to beat the Wolves defensively. They need to force their frontcourt to take tough shots, and will really need to make sure they play tough interior defense. With a frontcourt as strong as this, Yao Ming will need help. Jordan Hill showed in the regular season that he is an excellent defensive presence. He will likely get a huge chunk of minutes to help stop Bosh and Love. The Rockets will have a tough time getting the ball inside, but that's where the shooters come in. Ray Allen and Kevin Martin ought to have an excellent series shooting from the outside, but can also drive to the rim to get the frontcourt in foul trouble. Bench production will be crucial to the Rockets, because, aside from a couple of decent players, the Wolves have no bench.

Overall, the Rockets have a tough opponent in the Timberwolves. It will definitely be much tougher to collect a sweep than last year (New Orleans Hornets).

Prediction: Series goes to five games, Rockets advance.

[Andrew]

That's a big frontline for the Timberwolves. Doesn't sound like they gave you too much trouble in the regular season though, so I wouldn't be surprised if you got the sweep.

[rise]

That's one hell of a frontcourt for the Wolves! Although, the best lineup for them would be Love playing PF, with Booz at the C and Bosh playing SF. Not sure how Boozer would play the 3. One thing's for sure: The Wolves are NOT KAHN! These emoticons!

[Stress Fracture]

OH! The emoticons made me LMAO!!

What I mean Axel is, can you still play this dynasty even though you'll switch to 2K? Are you planning to sell your Live 10?

Boozer at SF!!

[kibaxx7]

Are you planning to sell your Live 10?

He should after he finish this!

[Andrew]

Maybe it's the video game collector in me, but I say hold onto the copy of NBA Live 10. Who knows, you might want to do a sim Dynasty at some point, a few more years on this one perhaps.

[Clutch]

That's one hell of a frontcourt for the Wolves! Although, the best lineup for them would be Love playing PF, with Booz at the C and Bosh playing SF.

^ would tend to agree w/that.

exciting preview though... definitely don't see a sweep but could be wrong... glad you gave Yao a breather at teh end; he's gonna need it

Maybe it's the video game collector in me, but I say hold onto the copy of NBA Live 10. Who knows, you might want to do a sim Dynasty at some point, a few more years on this one perhaps.

agreed. still bummed about ditching classic vid games like "Bulls v. Lakers" and "Lakers v. Celtics" on Sega Genesis

[Axel The Great]

That's a big frontline for the Timberwolves. Doesn't sound like they gave you too much trouble in the regular season though, so I wouldn't be surprised if you got the sweep.

There's more at stake here, though. The AI will probably step it up, but if there's a sweep, it'll probably because the Wolve's backcourt was inconsistent.

That's one hell of a frontcourt for the Wolves! Although, the best lineup for them would be Love playing PF, with Booz at the C and Bosh playing SF. Not sure how Boozer would play the 3. One thing's for sure: The Wolves are NOT KAHN! These emoticons!

Boozer and Love can be interchangeable. Boozer is a jumpshooter (from pick and rolls), but he jacks up too many shots in this game.

Yeah, these emoticons are awesome!

OH! The emoticons made me LMAO!!

What I mean Axel is, can you still play this dynasty even though you'll switch to 2K? Are you planning to sell your Live 10?

Boozer at SF!!

I could, but it'd be hard to run a Live 10 dynasty, a 2K11 association, and a FIFA 10 story (which I still need to update), at the same time. No, I'm ditching Live 10 because of the cheating AI. Tell me, if you played a game in which your defender recovers so fast that he blocks your layup/DUNK, your passes are more sloppy than the CPU (no matter what), the CPU makes the blindest interceptions and deflections, your teammate AI is too lazy to get the ball, and you literally can't play defense? Yeah, that doesn't sound fun right?

Are you planning to sell your Live 10?

He should after he finish this!

Maybe it's the video game collector in me, but I say hold onto the copy of NBA Live 10. Who knows, you might want to do a sim Dynasty at some point, a few more years on this one perhaps.

agreed. still bummed about ditching classic vid games like "Bulls v. Lakers" and "Lakers v. Celtics" on Sega Genesis

Still undecided about selling it. Doing a sim dynasty sounds cool, but with the sim engine it isn't very appealing. I'll make up my own epilogue for this though, won't sim. If I end up not selling it, it's probably because I still want to play online.

exciting preview though... definitely don't see a sweep but could be wrong... glad you gave Yao a breather at teh end; he's gonna need it

Could be a sweep, never know. If Yao plays like he did in last year's playoffs, he's in for one hell of a post-season.

Don't know how many games I'll be able to play this weekend, since I just got a bunch of new movies, 2K11 still commands too much of my attention, and quite a bit of homework to do. Still, I guarantee that I WILL have played and recapped at least two games by the end of the week. May write a story to introduce Game 1 of the series, too.

[Andrew]

That's fair enough. As I said I'm a collector when it comes to my games, so I tend to favour keeping them.

[Axel The Great]

Could end up making a good 20 bucks on it.

Playoff Pressure

"Pressure is on, man. People doubt you'll be able to keep your consistency from the regular season here in the post-season. Go out there and silence those haters!" Brad Halstead was giving Kevin Martin a pep talk before Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kevin Martin looked tense. Sitting down in the locker room, his legs just couldn't stop shaking. "Come on, man! You've been in this situation before! Why so tense?" Halstead asked him. "This is different. The whole regular season, I had to bail my team out. There's more at stake here; if we go out there and nobody can knock down shots, we're wolf chow," Martin replied, nervously.

"Also, my family's here. My parents, my wife, everyone. I don't wanna screw up in front of them all," he added. "Just go out there, destroy the Wolves defense. They have a huge presence inside, but that won't stop you. In fact, posterize 'em." Halstead gave Martin a reassuring hard pat on the shoulder, and Martin got up to head out to the shootaround. Brad Halstead stayed in the locker room with a cup of Miller Lite he had bought from a concession stand.

"Good luck out there tonight," Martin heard from a distance. He figured it was probably Donte Greene's girlfriend wishing him (Greene) good luck; Martin was surprised they were still together after the Stoudamire drama. Greene had told Martin, and only Martin about it.

Moments later, after the shootaround, Martin heard his name called by the PA announcer during the team introduction. "Six-foot-seven guard from West Carolina University, number 12, KEVIN MARTIN!!!" He high-fived the whole team, and joined his fellow starters for a huddle-up, still feeling very nervous.

"Welcome to Game One of the first round of the playoffs! I'm Mike Breen, joined by Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. We're almost ready to go here at the Toyota Center in Houston." Mike Breen started the ESPN broadcast of the game.

"I expect a heated series from both teams' frontcourts," said Jeff Van Gundy. "The Timberwolves have a huge advantage there, but the Rockets have the size with big man Yao Ming, so yes, it should be interesting to see how it pans out," Mark Jackson said.

"And of course the Rockets have the scoring champion. Kevin Martin is likely to have a lot of pressure to bring the scoring load and the same consistency that he had throughout the regular season. I don't think the Rockets will go to anyone else to take the big shot other than him," Mike Breen said.

During the game...

"Aaron Brooks gets it to Yao Ming for the easy slam!" Mike Breen said, excitedly. The crowd cheered. "With Chris Bosh in foul trouble, I like what the Rockets are doing, getting the ball inside, and not having to deal with him," Jeff Van Gundy said.

After a Timberwolves miss: "Here's Yao to Battier. Puts it in!" said Mike Breen again. Another Timberwolves miss. "Aaron Brooks to Martin for the three... BANG!" Breen exclaimed again. "The crowd here on it's feet as the Rockets start the game on a 9-0 run! Timeout Minnesota!" Breen continued. "Shades of the true Kevin Martin from the regular season here. Mama, there goes that man," said Mark Jackson.

Kevin Martin high-fived his teammates on the bench; his confidence was through the roof...

[Murat]

Kahn rocks

[Mandich]

Wow the Wolves have a good front court , but a little bit too big in my opinion , and Boozer can't play the small forward

But the series I look forward the most are the Clipper and Lakers, surprised the Clips got home court advantage , can you please cover that series ?

[Stress Fracture]

But the series I look forward the most are the Clipper and Lakers, surprised the Clips got home court advantage , can you please cover that series ?

And also, I would like to see an article about Phil bitching the Clippers.

[Houndy]

The Wolves are

[George7]

This will be an easy win!!
The wolves are just against your team! (I just love that smiley )

[Axel The Great]

Kahn rocks

The first good season that Kahn gets out of the T-Wolves.

Wow the Wolves have a good front court , but a little bit too big in my opinion , and Boozer can't play the small forward

But the series I look forward the most are the Clipper and Lakers, surprised the Clips got home court advantage , can you please cover that series ?

Boozer doesn't have ballhandling abilities, so I should be able to force a bunch of turnovers from him. I'll definitely cover that series, thanks for the suggestion.

But the series I look forward the most are the Clipper and Lakers, surprised the Clips got home court advantage , can you please cover that series ?

And also, I would like to see an article about Phil bitching the Clippers.

Haven't put in any Jackass spice in this story, so I'll try my best to capture his personality.

The Wolves are

This will be an easy win!!
The wolves are just against your team! (I just love that smiley )

OK, guys. Stop overusing the emoticon! I'm sure Sir Charles himself would call this forum turrible if he saw this turrible spam. But yes, easy win with that turnover-prone team.

Game 1 and 2 recap coming up.

[Axel The Great]

RedNation News Article

Rockets Go Up 2-0

Houston Rockets 111-95 Minnesota Timberwolves


Kevin Martin had his way all game long, including 3/3 from downtown.

In what many thought would be a battle of the frontcourts, this was a battle of the Rockets backcourt vs. the Wolves frontcourt. The Wolves showed excellent defense in the first half; Kevin Love had four blocks in the first half alone. Rebounding was a concern for the Rockets as well; the Wolves just had all the offensive boards they wanted. The Wolves' frontcourt combined for 56 (Kevin Love 21 points, Chris Bosh 18, and Carlos Boozer 17), but the Rockets' big 3 combined for 60 (Kevin Martin 31, Yao Ming 16, Aaron Brooks 13). That's just 60, did I mention Shane Battier showed his leadership skills in the third? He scored 8 of his 12 points in the third, and went 6/6 from the charity stripe, ultimately controlling the game while Kevin Martin was taking a breather.

The Rockets started this game on a 12-0 run, but somehow at halftime, the Wolves found themselves only down by eight. Chris Bosh picked up two quick fouls within the first minute of the game, so that cost the Wolves some valuable points from the first quarter. A huge scoring third quarter proved to be the difference in the game for the Rockets, as their hot shooting got them a double-digit win over the Timberwolves.

SPOTG-

Kevin Martin
31 points | 4 ast | 2 reb

Top Scorers-
Rockets: Kevin Martin- 31
T-Wolves: Kevin Love- 21

Board Crashers-
Rockets: Yao Ming- 11
T-Wolves: Chris Bosh- 10

Assists-
Rockets: Aaron Brooks- 7
T-Wolves: Carlos Boozer- 7

Box Score-
26 27 35 23 111
16 29 23 27 95

phpBB [video]

Aaron Brooks feeds a hungry Yao Ming for two easy points.

Houston Rockets 113-88 Minnesota Timberwolves


One area of strength for the Wolves is offensive boards, but the Rockets limited that this game.

After an emphatic win in Game 1, the Rockets cruised to an easy victory in Game 2. They held Carlos Boozer to only six points, and Kevin Love fouled out in the fourth. Only Chris Bosh seems to have had the effort in this game, he had 21 points and 9 boards to lead the Wolves in both categories. Jonny Flynn and Ryan Gomes quietly had solid games with 15 and 12 points respectively.

"Shooting 55% from the field is likely to get you to score this many points. Thanks to a hot shooting night, we head to Minnesota with all the confidence and momentum in the world," said Aaron Brooks, who was the performer of the game.

SPOTG-

Aaron Brooks
16 points | 7 ast | 2 reb | 2 stl

Top Scorers-
Rockets: Kevin Martin- 31
T-Wolves: Chris Bosh- 21

Board Crashers-
Rockets: Yao Ming and Luis Scola- 6
T-Wolves: Chris Bosh- 9

Assists-
Rockets: Aaron Brooks- 7
T-Wolves: Jonny Flynn- 6

Box Score:
32 25 29 27 113
14 22 25 27 88


Bench production has been huge in this series.

phpBB [video]

Kyle Lowry finds Jared Jeffries for a two-handed jam.

phpBB [video]

Luis Scola drives the lane and posterizes Chris Bosh. The highlight of the playoffs.


Lakers, Clippers, tied at one game apiece:

"Sooner or later, the Clipper curse will come back to haunt them. I'm not too worried at this point, this has always been a horrible franchise. If it wasn't for Amory Miller, these Clippers would be at the basement of the NBA," were Phil Jackson's words on the series.
Read more...

Durant and co. shocked at Denver's split, tied 1-1:

A game-winner scored by Chauncey Billups at the buzzer to uplift the Nuggets 98-97 shocks the Thunder. Denver has the split going to Denver.
Read more...

Behind Nash's 20 assists, Suns cruise to easy wins in Phoenix:

Steve Nash had 15 points and 20 assists in Game 2 vs. the Portland TrailBlazers, they take an easy 2-0 lead in the series.
Read more..


New York shockingly forces a split in Orlando

Behind David Lee's monster 34 points and 15 boards, the eight-seeded New York takes Game 2 108-103, and force a split as the series shifts to New York. "To outrebound Dwight Howard is amazing, but to beat his Magic is even more amazing," said David Lee after the game.
Read more...

Pistons, Heat, also tied at 1

Behind Dwyane Wade's monster 45 points, Miami forces a split in Detroit. Joel Anthony's career high 15 boards crushes the Pistons, Heat cruise to a 98-75 victory.
Read more...

Nets edge out Wizards, up 2-0

Devin Harris and Brook Lopez combine for 70 points as the Nets cruise to an easy Game 2 victory in New Jersey.
Read more...

Pacers no Granger, no Hibbert, still go up 2-0

On a game-winning three at the buzzer by TJ Ford, the Pacers edged out the Milwaukee Bucks to a 90-89 victory in Indiana. Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger were forced to watch from the sideline.
Read more...

Hope you guys like the mini-headlines. I figure since this I'm closing in towards the end of the story, might as well step my game up.