[08] Flying High In The ATL-NBA Finals - Complete!

[homicide1550]

Nice win! Momentum is now on your side... Go and win the next two, it’ll be nice to humiliate the Bucks on their home floor... hehe

[Oskar]

Sick game by Ford. Good job winning the game, just keep doing that and you'll be a champ.

[deihatein]

dei., Sorry, but no. I allow predictions after the first game for 75% and after the second for 50%, but after that, nada. Have you been inactive due to the keyboard thing?

Yes, but now my mom got a new keyboard this computer so if I feel like going here might check your dynasty often and thanks for clarifying about the prediction game.

On-topic nice game 4 win against the Bucks and tying the series as well. Win the last two games already . Goodluck on the next game

[Lamrock]

Steve Blake Wins Most Improved Player Award

Portland, OR, May 9, 2009 - The Portland Trailblazers may have underachieved this season, but Steve Blake hasn't. Crushing career highs in points (15.4) and Assists (7.9), Blake has quietly become one of the league's top point guards. Blake beat out Milwaukee's Charlie Villanueva for this award.

Blake will become the third winner of this award in his team's history, and the first since Zach Randolph won it in 2004. A free agent this coming offseason, Blake is sure to be a hot commodity now. He will accept the award at a press conference tomorrow.

[dansensei]

whoah, tj ford w/ a triple double...
congrats on your win, now show the bucks who the real hawks are...
congrats also to steve blake for winning MIP award...

[-PeeBo]

Sorry for not commentating before I have always read your dynasty and I truly think that my comments will not make it better but still this is one of the greatest I like it everything is just like it has to be it's just fun to read it keep this up pro

[Chaser7]

Nice win to get HCA back. One small typo, the game is clearly being played in Milwaukee, but in the recap u put "Atlanta, GA." Anyways monster stats by Ford. Keep this up.

[Lamrock]

dansensei, I will try. Thanks for following.

-PeeBo, No problem. Its better than to only reply when necessary/every one in a while than clutter the thread with spam. Thanks for the praise and continuing to follow it!

Chaser7, Thanks for the correction. I got the date for Game 4 wrong as well!

Game 5 should be up in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

[Lamrock]

Hawks Hold Off Bucks, Take 3-2 Lead

Atlanta, GA - May 11, 2009, 10:45 PM ET - Looks like the Hawks are back on track. After suffering a pair of devastating upsets to the lowly Bucks in games 2 and 3, the top seed looked surprisingly vulnerable. The series is far from over, but the Atlanta Hawks have a very strong chance of winning the series.

Much like the first three games of the series, the first quarter was closely fought with neither team holding a significant advantage. After one, the score was 23-21 Bucks. The first half of the second quarter looked like more of the same. T.J. Ford finally broke the monotony with a pivotal steal and layup. This triggered a 10-0 run, giving the Hawks a six point lead, which they would never lose.

[align=center]Top Players At The Half:

Josh Smith: 13/5/3/4/1
Bobby Simmons: 12/2/1/0/0



Left, T.J. Ford sinks a pivotal layup. Right, Josh Childress with a huge dunk.[/align]

Atlanta came into the second half leading 51-47, and came out of the third up 79-68. Josh Smith's defense, and Joe Johnson's shooting helped keep their team afloat. The fourth quarter started with the lead escalating to seventeen points, before Bailey sent Darko Milicic, Anthony Johnson and the second unit out.

Scott Skiles decided to leave his starters on the floor. That lineup used a 17-6 run to get beck in the game with three minutes to go. Bailey brought Al Horford and T.J. Ford back into the game. They helped hold Milwaukee off for the remainder of regulation. Horford clinched the game by hitting 5 of 6 fourth quarter free throws.

JORDAN Player of the Game: Josh Smith: 24 Points, 7 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 5 Blocks, 1 Steal
MCDWYANE Shitass of the Game: N/A

MIL 23 24 21 26 94
ATL 21 30 28 25 104

Hawks lead series 3-2.

Other Results:

UTA 67 NOH 83
Jazz lead series 3-2
The defending champs haven't put the pesky Hornets away yet. In yet another low-scoring battle, the Hornets managed to stay alive with a home win, and hope to be the ninth team to recover from a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

HOU 93 PHX 109
Suns lead series 3-2
After falling behind 2-1 to the Rockets, Phoenix has recovered with a pair of huge wins to regain homecourt advantage and control of the series. Looks like T-Mac will never get out of the first round.

SAS 82 LAL 89
Lakers win series 4-1
Lots of people expected a boil-over here due to the Spurs' edge in experience, and Tim Duncan always being a much better player during the playoffs. None such thing happened, as Kobe and the Lake Show will advance to face the winner of the aforementioned Suns/Rockets series.

MIA 102 CHI 90
Heat lead series 3-2
Despite losing all four matches against them during the season, and having an inferior record, the Miami Heat have continued to outplay the favored Bulls. The Heat will have a platinum opportunity to put away the Bulls for good on their homecourt in Game 6.

IND 76 CLE 96
Cavaliers win series 4-1
Losing the first game of the series seemed to be a wake-up call for LeBron and the Cavs who went on to win four straight (including two in Indiana) to take this series in 5 games. The will face the Boston Celtics in the conference semis.

Note: As you can see, no stats for this game either. Hope you like the small write-ups for the other games though. Game 6 coming in the next couple days. Thanks for following!

[Jing]

Oh what is this? You have pictures.

[Clutch]

Phoenix Suns o' Bitches! Nash must be healthy, unlike in my Rockets/Suns series; good show by TJ to start the run now you just need to put 'em away

[Lamrock]

Jing, Yep. Had them since page 4. They suck, but pics are pics.

Clutch, Thanks for commenting! Nash is healthy, but it doesn't matter since they traded him for Elton Brand anyway. (which ended up being a very successful move as they hold the best post-ASW record).

[Valor]

woot!! nice win!
now go and blow them outta the gym next game:D

[Lamrock]

Hawks Advance With Anti-Climactic Blowout

Atlanta 107, Milwaukee 68

Milwaukee, WI - May 13, 2009, 11:22 PM ET - Talk about disappointing. After taking a shock 2-1 lead over the highly favored #1 seed Atlanta Hawks, the suddenly popular Bucks have fallen apart. All of the swagger that Milwaukee had was wiped out after the Game 4 thrashing at the Bradley Center. The Bucks should be at least proud of one thing: they didn't break the Utah Jazz's record for lowest scoring playoff game ever.

Atlanta burst out of the starting gate hungry for the win. Al Horford and Josh Smith crashed the boards, and the Hawks could not miss a three pointer. Atlanta led 34-15 coming out of the first, much to the dismay of the hopeful home crowd.

The second quarter looked to be more of the same, but then Atlanta got cold from the three point line. For a long period, neither team scored. Finally, an explosive Horford jam ended the drought. Atlanta 50-28 at the half. The teams combined for just 29 points in the second period. The Bucks knew they were having a bad game when they saw that Bobby Simmons was the leading scorer at the half.

[align=center]Top Players At The Half:

Joe Johnson: 17/4/3/0/1
Bobby Simmons: 9/1/1/0/1


Left, Even T.J. Ford gets in on the 3pt Action. Right, Josh Smith Humiliates Charlie V One Final Time.[/align]

The Bucks had just 28 points at the half, and were on pace to score 56, just two above the record playoff low. Luckily for them, the Hawks loosened a bit on Defense, and the game's pace sped up, leading to a 23 point quarter. The Hawks led 76-51 going into the final period. That was when Scott Skiles finally gave up, represented by his insertion of generic rookie Jeffrey Wells into the game.

Coach Benji Bailey followed suit by letting his own bench into the game. The bench was intent on holding the Bucks under 54 points, but when that effort failed, they just decided to humiliate the Bucks as much as possible, by playing the game like their last. The final buzzer sounded, and the Hawks celebrated a 107-68 victory, and their first playoff series win in a decade. They will face the Miami Heat in the second round.

JORDAN Player of the Game: Joe Johnson: 22 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 1 Steal, 8-11 FG, 32 Minutes
MCDWYANE Shitass of the Game: Michael Redd: 8 Points, 4 Rebounds, 2 Fouls, 2 Turnovers, 4-17 FG, 33 Minutes

ATL 34 16 26 31 107
MIL 15 13 23 17 68

Player Stats:

Atlanta:

Horford: 16/7/2/2/0, 6-10, 33 Minutes
Smith: 9/10/4/2/0, 4-12, 36 Minutes
Childress: 10/7/4/1/1, 4-8, 35 Minutes
J. Johnson: 22/4/4/1/0, 8-11, 32 Minutes
Ford: 14/2/7/0/0, 3-8, 34 Minutes
Gay: 15/2/3/0/1, 7-8, 25 Minutes
Milicic: 4/6/1/2/0, 2-3, 18 Minutes
Bargnani: 8/1/1/1/0, 2-3, 16 Minutes
An. Johnson: 7/2/3/0/0, 3-3, 11 Minutes
Szczerbiak: DNP - Injured/Sucks
Am. Johnson: DNP - Can not coexist with Anthony Johnson
Barnes: DNP - Why would he play?

Milwaukee:

Bogut: 11/8/0/1/0, 5-14, 33 Minutes
Villanueva: 2/5/0/1/1, 1-4, 31 Minutes
Simmons: 12/1/3/0/2, 4-4, 30 Minutes
Redd: 8/4/1/0/1, 4-17, 33 Minutes
Calderon: 7/1/1/0/0, 3-11, 21 Minutes
Hollins: 4/3/2/0/0, 2-7, 27 Minutes
Hudson: 5/0/0/1/0, 2-7, 19 Minutes
Mason: 5/1/0/0/0, 2-5, 18 Minutes
Pavlovic: 4/0/2/0/1, 2-3, 15 Minutes
Wells: 10/0/0/0/0, 4-7, 13 Minutes
Price: DNP - Didn't bother showing up, but nobody noticed
Sefolosha: DNP - Useless

Hawks | Bucks

PTs: 107 | 68
REBs: 40 | 23
ASTs: 29 | 9
BLKs: 9 | 2
STLs: 3 | 6
Fouls: 10 | 17
T/O's: 11 | 6
FG: 40-70 | 29-79
3PT: 6-10 | 1-10
FT: 21-26 | 9-15
Bench: 34 | 28

Hawks win series 4-2.

Other Results:

NOH 84 UTA 94
Jazz win 4-2.
The Hornets may have had the better season and the better point guard, but in the end, the Jazz were the better playoff team. The defending champs stole game 2 and defended homecourt advantage from there to advance. Can the champs beat Dirk and the Mavs?

PHX 82 HOU 98
Series tied 3-3.
The Rockets destroyed the Suns to force a Game 7. Now that T-Mac is gone, the Rockets have a solid chance to make the second round. Game 7 could be one for the ages.

CHI 97 MIA 101
Heat win 4-2.
Chapter 3 of Heat/Bulls ended with the Heat prevailing this time. Despite a late charge led by Kirk Hinrich and rookie Vladimir Chernov, the Heat held on to edge the Bulls and get the opportunity to face the Hawks in the conference semis.

--------------------

HOU 96 PHX 100
Suns win 4-3.
In a game that was close-fought all the way through, the Suns, feeding off their home crowd, edged the Rockets in the end, earning the right to face Kobe and the Lakers. Tracy McGrady breathes a sigh of relief, knowing that Rashard Lewis couldn't do any better.

[Valor]

nice win!! 34-15 in first..talk about ownage lol, hope you can ride this out and sweep the next series

[Clutch]

ahh that's right. McGrady's back in ORL; man, he's always on the outside looking in

anyway, solid win finally the expected result; anything less would've been unacceptable

now the Heat! should be a great matchup; what's their roster look like?

[Lamrock]

Flying High In The ATL Prediction Game: Playoffs Round 2!

The first round of the playoffs had a slightly disappointing eight entrants, with dei., who was in second place, not participating on time. Balozunite and Martti. won this round with 10 points each. However, Ratrac remains in the top spot with 48 points. The system is almost the same as last time. This time, however, the point values of the predictions are increased due to their being less series and closer matchups.

If 7 game prediction goes other way: 1 point (i.e. You pick Hawks 4-3, Bucks win 4-3)
Predict Correct Winner: 1.5 points
# Games Prediction Within 1: 2 points (i.e. you predict Hawks 4-2, Hawks win 4-3)
# Games Prediction Correct: 3 Points
Bonus: Correctly guess upset: +1 points (team with worse record)
Bonus: Correctly guess sweep: +.5 points

Hope to see everyone participate. Entrees after game 1 get 75% credit. After game 2, 50%. After Game 3, none. Use the playoff matchups below.

Prediction Game Leaderboard:

1. ratrac: 48 Points (8)
2. Chaser7: 41.5 Points (9.5)
3. dei.: 37 Points (0)
4. Martti.: 33 Points (10)
5. dansensei: 27 Points (9)
6. Crimson Penguin: 23 Points (0)
7. Cool Cat: 19 Points (0)
T8. airBerlin: 18 Points (0)
T8. Skillmatic: 18 Points (0)
10. balozunite: 17 points (10)
11. homicide1550: 16 Points (9)
12. Dustball: 9 Points (0)
13. Valor: 8 Points (8)
T14. Vif: 7 Points (0)
T14: KobeBryant24: 7 Points (0)
16. Ipsofire: 6 Points (0)

--------------------

Playoff Matchups (Conference Semifinals)

Western Conference:

(1) Dallas (61-21) Vs. (4) Utah (50-32)
Season Series: Tied 2-2
Key Matchup: Dirk Nowitzki Vs. Carlos Boozer

(2) L.A. Lakers (56-26) Vs. (3) Phoenix (54-28)
Season Series: Tied 2-2
Key Matchup: Elton Brand Vs. Pau Gasol

Eastern Conference:

(1) Atlanta (62-20) Vs. (5) Miami (46-36)
Season Series: Tied 1-1
Key Matchup: Shawn Marion Vs. Josh Smith

(2) Boston (56-26) Vs. (3) Cleveland (55-27)
Season Series: Celtics Won 3-1
Key Matchup: LeBron James Vs. Paul Pierce

[balozunite]

Dallas - Utah (4-2)
LA - Phoenix (4-3)
Atlanta - Miami (4-1)
Boston - Cleveland (4-1)

[Cartar]

Western Conference

(1) Dallas (61-21) - (4) Utah (50-32) 3-4
(2) L.A. Lakers (56-26) - (3) Phoenix (54-28) 3-4

Eastern Conference

(1) Atlanta (62-20) - (5) Miami (46-36) 4-1
(2) Boston (56-20) - (3) Cleveland (55-27) 4-3

[Martti.]

Western Conference

(1) Dallas (61-21) - (4) Utah (50-32) 4-2
(2) L.A. Lakers (56-26) - (3) Phoenix (54-28) 4-3

Eastern Conference

(1) Atlanta (62-20) - (5) Miami (46-36) 4-2
(2) Boston (56-20) - (3) Cleveland (55-27) 4-3

[Chaser7]

Dallas - Utah (4-1)
LA - Phoenix (4-3)
Atlanta - Miami (4-0)
Boston - Cleveland (4-2)

[deihatein]

Dallas-Utah (4-2)
LA-Phoenix (4-3)
Atlanta-Miami (4-1)
Boston -Cleveland (4-0)

[homicide1550]

(1) Dallas Vs. (4) Utah (50-32) - (4-2)
(2) L.A. Lakers Vs. (3) Phoenix (54-28) - (3-4)

(1) Atlanta Vs. (5) Miami - (4-2)
(2) Boston Vs. (3) Cleveland - (4-2)

[Valor]

Western Conference:
(1) Dallas (61-21) Vs. (4) Utah (50-32) 4-3
(2) L.A. Lakers (56-26) Vs. (3) Phoenix (54-28) 3-4

Eastern Conference:
(1) Atlanta (62-20) Vs. (5) Miami (46-36) 4-1
(2) Boston (56-26) Vs. (3) Cleveland (55-27) 4-3

[Clutch]

DAL v UTA: 3-4 Jazz
LAL v PHO: 2-4 Suns
ATL v MIA: 4-2 Hawks
BOS v CLE: 4-2 Celtics