A LEGEND IS BORN II

[Cartar]

First Round Predictions

Portland win 4-0
New Orleans win 4-2
Denver win 4-2
Los Angeles win 4-2

Miami win 4-0
Cleveland win 4-1
Washington win 4-2
Boston win 4-3

Bonus Predictions

The teams contesting the NBA Finals: Portland v Boston
The eventual champion: Portland
Pick the Finals MVP: Carlos Boozer

[megarover]

First Round Predictions

Portland win 4-1
New Orleans win 4-3
Denver win 4-1
Stealth win 4-2

Miami win 4-0
Cleveland win 4-3
Washington win 4-2
Boston win 4-3

Bonus Predictions

The teams contesting the NBA Finals: Portland v Cleveland
The eventual champion: Portland
Pick the Finals MVP: Brandon Roy

[Fresh8]

Please Note: Anyone who edits their picks after Game 1 will be disqualified. Game 1 will be posted in 2 days time.

Thank you for participating!

[Lamrock]

Blazers in 6
Lakers in 7
Nuggets in 5
Stealth in 6

Heat in 5
Cavaliers in 6
Pistons in 7
Celtics in 6

Bonus Predictions

The teams contesting the NBA Finals: Seattle vs. Miami
The eventual champion: Seattle
Pick the Finals MVP: Kevin Durant

[kibaxx7]

First Round Predictions

Portland win 4-1
New Orleans win 4-2
Denver win 4-2
Stealth win 4-2

Miami win 4-0
Cleveland win 4-2
Washington win 4-1
Boston win 4-3

Bonus Predictions

The teams contesting the NBA Finals: Portland vs. Miami
The eventual champion: Miami
Pick the Finals MVP: Dwyane.

[hova-]

Only three guys showing love for the Stealth so far. I hope you don't fail against the Clippers (as you said you cannot defend the three very well). If you get it rollin' in the first round (sweep or 4-1) then I expect big things from you

[Fresh8]

Officially 17 hours until Game 1 is posted!

[Clutch]

First Round Predictions

Portland win 4-1
Lakers win 4-3
Denver win 4-2
Seattle win 4-2

Miami win 4-1
Cleveland win 4-1
Wizards win 4-2
Magic win 4-2

Bonus Predictions
The teams contesting the NBA Finals: Denver v. Cleveland
The eventual champion: Cavs
Pick the Finals MVP: LBJ


btw, sick sick sick series breakdowns... useful too

[Fresh8]

Less than 9 hours until Game 1!

[puttincomputers]

sure am glad i got on today!
First Round Predictions

Minny win 4-3
New Orleans win 4-3
Gsw win 4-1
Los Angeles win 4-1

Miami win 4-0
Atl win 4-3
Washington win 4-1
Orlando win 4-2

Bonus Predictions

The teams contesting the NBA Finals: New Orleans v Orlando
The eventual champion: Orlando
Pick the Finals MVP: Dwight Howard

[Fresh8]

Seattle, Clippers In A Thriller

Preview | Box Score | Recap


Kevin Durant slammed one down on Amare Stoudemire

17 Apr, 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Eric Gordon scored a running layup on the buzzer, winning Game 1 by a single digit, and helping the Clippers to a 1-0 series lead to start the 2011 playoffs. A see-sawing final quarter was punctuated with Gordon’s bucket in a frantic final few seconds as Seattle’s players scrambled on defense; failing to send a Clipper to the free throw line.

A disappointed George Karl spoke of the final few seconds, “They (Stealth) didn’t have their heads in the game. We really needed to send the Clippers to the line but I guess it was a lot of confusion out there. It all comes down to experience.” Star player Kevin Durant, who led all players with 45 points, said, “I have got to take the blame for this. I couldn’t carry my team over the finish line. That Clipper guard got lucky in the end, I don’t even know who he is.”

The player who Durant claimed to not know happened to score 13 points and added 6 assists for the Clippers. The Clippers also got 30 points from substituted guard Ricky Davis, 16 apiece from Amare Stoudemire and Al Thornton, and 15 from Rafer Alston.

Raja Bell was Seattle’s next best player after Durant; he hit 18 points while Rasheed Wallace chipped in 14 from off the bench. Andrew Bogut reached 13 while Jason Kidd contributed 11 points and 10 assists.

Los Angeles was playing without injured rookie PG Ray Lliach but did not look bothered by that as Alston filled in admirably, running the Clippers offense well. After Durant opened Seattle’s account thanks to a Kidd deflection, the Clippers ran off to a 14-0 run. Stoudemire had 12 points in the first quarter alone.

Durant opened the second quarter with a dunk over Stoudemire, which had the PF sprawled on his back and led to the Clippers home crowd becoming rowdy. The Clippers led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter but Durant’s dunk seemed to have rattled Stoudemire’s confidence as the big man went scoreless for the rest of the quarter. That allowed stand-in starting SG Bell to go on a tear with 15 points in the second stanza. Durant then took over in the third quarter by scoring 19 points and getting the Stealth back into the competition. The NBA leading scorer later said, “I had to do that. It’s my team baby.”

Kidd tied the game at 79-79 with a jumper to start the final quarter. The game saw plenty of lead changes from that point on and the exciting and well-contest final period cumulated in a heart-stopping final 3 minutes. The Stealth gained a 3 point lead at 96-93 after Andrew Bogut scored a bucket with 2:54 left. The Clippers’ Davis then had an outstanding sequence in which he hit a three pointer, stole the ball off the inbounds pass, and dunking it. On the next possession for the Clippers, Davis finished his little scoring run with a three pointer. That put LA up 101-96 with 2:11 remaining and forced Seattle to call a timeout.

Durant then hit a jumper before causing his own deflection on a Clippers inbounds pass, and finishing with a dunk to close the gap to just 1 point. Stoudemire’s reverse layup at the other end made the score 100-103 with 1:18 on the clock. Durant hit a three from the corner of the court to tie the game at 103-103. The Clippers led 105-106 after Davis hit another big three pointer and all Durant could muster was 2 points. The Stealth promptly fouled Alston and sent the veteran to the line.

To the Stealth’s surprise, Alston missed both free throws and that set up an opportunity for Seattle to call a timeout with 28 seconds left. The Stealth decided to go with Durant and set him up with an isolation play. Durant drew Gordon in a mismatch and calmly sank a jumper over him with 12 seconds left in the game. Durant then fouled Alston straight after the inbound and Alston was sent to the line.

Seattle missed a golden opportunity as Alston missed both free throws. Stoudemire gathered the rebound and the crowd was on their feet as the Clippers calmly passed the ball around as Seattle’s players scrambled for position. Miscommunication meant that the Stealth did not foul and tried to set up on defense allowing Gordon to weave through for a chance at the buzzer. His running layup dropped as the Buzzer sounded.

Notes: Durant weighed in on Davis scoring 30 from off the bench. He said, “This game was probably one of the moments of his career and the first one that was legit or where he isn’t cheating.”… Jason Kidd is still injured while Ray Lliach is out for up to 2 more weeks with a broken hand… Reshawn Tyson announced the end of his season yesterday; citing injury along with personal reasons…

Quarter-by-Quarter Team Score

Seattle Stealth (Away) 25 – 23 – 28 – 31 – 107
LA Clippers (Home) 31 – 30 – 18 – 29 – 108

Jordan Player of the Game

Ricky Davis
30 Points
2 Rebounds
4 Assists
3 Steals
2 Blocks
11-14 FG
6-9 3PT
2-3 FT

Key Performers

Seattle Stealth (Trail Series 0-1)

K Durant 45 pt, 2 reb, 4 ast, 19-25 FG, 1-2 3PT, 6-6 FT
R Bell 18 pt, 2 ast, 7-11 FG, 2-5 3PT, 2-2 FT
R Wallace 14 pt, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk, 7-9 FG
A Bogut 13 pt, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk, 6-10 FG, 1-2 FT
J Kidd 11 pt, 10 ast, 3 stl, 4-10 FG, 1-5 3PT, 2-2 FT

LA Clippers

A Stoudemire 16 pt, 6 reb, 3 blk, 8-10 FG
A Thornton 16 pt, 5 reb, 3 ast, 7-15, 2-4 3PT
R Alston 15 pt, 2 ast, 6-8 FG, 2-4 3PT, 1-5 FT
E Gordon 13 pt, 4 reb, 6 ast, 5-10 FG, 2-6 3PT, 1-3 FT

[Martti.]

Ricky Davis is a beast in video games. A very tough loss, hope you can recover.

[Fresh8]

Ricky Davis is a beast in video games. A very tough loss, hope you can recover.

Do you like the picture?

[Cartar]

Officially 18 hours until Game 1 is posted!

False advertisement, you posted 1 hour earlier. Also great to see the Clippers getting the win, very important win. I guess I'm the only one hoping to see Clippers win here. You mentioned that about 2 more weeks til my return, so would I be back for the second round or not?

[Fresh8]

Officially 18 hours until Game 1 is posted!

False advertisement, you posted 1 hour earlier. Also great to see the Clippers getting the win, very important win. I guess I'm the only one hoping to see Clippers win here. You mentioned that about 2 more weeks til my return, so would I be back for the second round or not?

Ur definitely out for 1st round... prob will be back midway thru 2nd round. Bad luck man. I was looking forward to playing against you... you got hurt on April 7

[Its_asdf]

Durant sounds like a pompous ass in that post game interview... He must have been hella pissed for him to drop 45 and still lose.

It looks like you got the scoring down pat, it's the defense that needs some tweaking. All of the key performers in your roster tonight are all pretty decent defenders too.

[The X]

Star player Kevin Durant, who led all players with 45 points, said, “I have got to take the blame for this. I couldn’t carry my team over the finish line. That Clipper guard got lucky in the end, I don’t even know who he is.”

Notes: Durant weighed in on Davis scoring 30 from off the bench. He said, “This game was probably one of the moments of his career and the first one that was legit or where he isn’t cheating.”

Vintage Durant Tough loss though

[Lamrock]

Damn, thats a tough loss. At least you seem to be able to contain Amare. Hopefully you can contain Ricky Davis (lol wtf) and take the next one.

[C-77]

Shite ,Well hope you win game 2

[Mark.]

Tough loss dude

[hova-]

Oh man, Ricky Davis. How high must he have been scoring 30 on you? Wicked dunk on Amare, very nice pic! I hope you can bounce back, how bad would it be to fall to the Clippers!?
KD's saying some right things. In Playoffs you gotta be an asshole. That's probably the first time im saying this. Still, he could not lift your team to the win. Looks a bit like Kobe in the early days.

[Fresh8]

Durant sounds like a pompous ass in that post game interview... He must have been hella pissed for him to drop 45 and still lose.

It looks like you got the scoring down pat, it's the defense that needs some tweaking. All of the key performers in your roster tonight are all pretty decent defenders too.

Ah yeah, the defense needs to be a lot better. That last play was terrible... we let Gordon have his way.

Star player Kevin Durant, who led all players with 45 points, said, “I have got to take the blame for this. I couldn’t carry my team over the finish line. That Clipper guard got lucky in the end, I don’t even know who he is.”

Notes: Durant weighed in on Davis scoring 30 from off the bench. He said, “This game was probably one of the moments of his career and the first one that was legit or where he isn’t cheating.”

Vintage Durant Tough loss though

Yes, I loved it too.

Damn, thats a tough loss. At least you seem to be able to contain Amare. Hopefully you can contain Ricky Davis (lol wtf) and take the next one.

Amare was a non-factor after he got dunked on!

Shite ,Well hope you win game 2

Me too!

Tough loss dude

Cheers man. Can probably say the same about Dwight and the Magic...

Oh man, Ricky Davis. How high must he have been scoring 30 on you? Wicked dunk on Amare, very nice pic! I hope you can bounce back, how bad would it be to fall to the Clippers!?
KD's saying some right things. In Playoffs you gotta be an asshole. That's probably the first time im saying this. Still, he could not lift your team to the win. Looks a bit like Kobe in the early days.

It wouldn't be that bad to lose to the Clippers... they have a much more respectable roster here. The dunk on Amare was awesome. I've never dunked on many PFs in 2K9 before... this was really mad. Virtual Amare did not get up for ages!

KD couldn't lift the team because others did not step up... should be different next game!

[Martti.]

Ricky Davis is a beast in video games. A very tough loss, hope you can recover.

Do you like the picture?

Love it.

[dare]

Woaaaaaah tough loss against the Clippers but the dunk was awesome man hope you bounced back

[Fresh8]

Ricky Davis is a beast in video games. A very tough loss, hope you can recover.

Do you like the picture?

Love it.

Thought you would. Amare got POSTERISED. This dunk was dunk of the year material. In traffic, on Amare, Amare on the ground! SLAM!

Woaaaaaah tough loss against the Clippers but the dunk was awesome man hope you bounced back

Thanks man! Have fun visiting Valor!!!