Garden Of Oden: RELOADED | NLSC Draftees??

[The X]

Nice, everybody is making the Finals now

[kibaxx7]

Fantastic job man Well deserved!

[Axel The Great]

Nicely done making the finals. Must definitely feel good to have advanced thanks to a monster game from LMA.

[Lamrock]

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Orlando extends lead to 3-2 after 110-86 win over Celtics
Celtics 86 @ Magic 110

The tied series shifted back to Orlando where the Magic made a huge statement on their home court. Thanks to a balanced attack buoyed by strong distance shooting (14-22 from 3), Orlando blew out the Celtics 110-86 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The winner will face the Portland Trail Blazers in the finals.

Orlando [3-2] notables
Gilbert Arenas: 24 Points, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 6-8 FG, 4-6 3PT, 8-9 FT (PotG)
Dwight Howard: 17 Points, 12 Rebounds, 4 Blocks
Jameer Nelson: 15 Points, 6 Assists

Boston [2-3] notables
Paul Pierce: 20 Points, 5 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 8-22 FG
Rajon Rondo: 7 Points, 11 Assists, 4 Steals, 4 Turnovers
Ray Allen: 5 Points, 2-12 FG (Shitass)

Magic lead series 3-2.

Pierce, Celtics cling to life with game 6 win over Magic
Celtics 110 @ Magic 96

Thanks to a huge night from Paul Pierce and the Celtics, Boston has forced a game seven in the Eastern Conference Finals. Blowing the game up with hot shooting in the third quarter, Pierce had an incredible 34 points to carry his team past Dwight Howard and the Magic. Game 7 will be played in Orlando.

Boston [3-3] notables
Paul Pierce: 34 Points, 3 Rebounds, 3 Steals, 12-19 FG, 8-9 FT (PotG)
Jermaine O'Neal: 17 Points, 8 Rebounds, 8-11 FG
Kevin Garnett: 13 Points, 9 Rebounds, 4 Blocks

Orlando [3-3] notables
Dwight Howard: 23 Points, 15 Rebounds, 5 Blocks
Jameer Nelson: 18 Points, 4 Assists, 3 Rebounds
Kenyon Martin: 2 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Fouls, 0-5 FG (Shitass)

Series tied 3-3.

Brian Scalabrine A Suspect In Howard Shooting Ploy

Former Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine has been implicated in an attempted shooting of Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard. Howard told police that on the night after his Magic defeated the Celtics by 24 to take a 3-2 lead in the series, he was shot at by a thin man of average height, and a slightly taller man with a gravelly voice. "They were aiming at my legs. They wanted to end my career, not kill me. Thank God they missed," said Howard. Brian Scalabrine was spotted at the scene of the crime later that night with a gun that used the same bullets as the shells later found by police. Scalabrine said that he was just doing a photoshoot for his upcoming rap album and may have been framed. "I'm an assassin on the court, not off it."


Brian Scalabrine: Assassin?

Western Conference | Eastern Conference

1-4 | 3-3

[hova-]

Good job. Let's hope you will face the Magic because Howard's not as dominant as he should be on offense and you should be able to contain the Magic whilst Pierce, Allen and Garnett can be a pain.

[Martti.]

B-Scal's a badass. Who do you hope to face of the two anyway?

[Mavs4Life]

LMAO at the Scal- Shooting suspicion. Hope you go up against Boston.

[Lamrock]

Thanks guys. I think Orlando is probably the easier draw. They have less options on offense and a lot of their bench is disgruntled, while my frontcourt should be able to handle Dwight. I have trouble defending teams with four or five scoring options. Would've been fucked against the Grizz had Zach Randolph not went down.

[Justine.]

A B-Scal sighting! I'd agree that Orlando is easier opponent than Boston.

[Lamrock]

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Celtics advance to NBA Finals following 94-92 win over Magic
Celtics 94 @ Magic 92

The Boston Celtics are back in the NBA Finals! After a thrilling game that saw the lead change many times, Boston weathered the storm, taking a small lead late, and holding off the Magic to advance to the Finals. Boston, who were led by Kevin Garnett's 26 points, will face the Portland Trail Blazers for the championship. The Magic meanwhile, are facing an off-season in which franchise player Dwight Howard is a free agent. This heartbreaking game 7 could have been Superman's last game in Orlando (again).

Boston [4-3] notables
Kevin Garnett: 26 Points, 8 Rebounds, 10-15 FG (PotG)
Ray Allen: 19 Points, 5 Assists
Jermaine O'Neal: 12 Points, 13 Rebounds

Orlando [3-4] notables
Dwight Howard: 22 Points, 17 Rebounds, 9-13 FG
Glen Davis: 15 Points, 5 Rebounds
Gilbert Arenas: 11 Points, 6 Assists, 4-17 FG (Shitass)

Celtics win series 4-3.

Western Conference | Eastern Conference

1-4 | 3-4

[Lamrock]

2012 NBA Finals: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Boston Celtics



The 2012 NBA Finals are here, and your finalists are the Portland Trail Blazers and the Boston Celtics. Wait, what? After a grueling lockout followed by a season consisting of just 29 games, the average seed in this year's NBA Finals has emerged to be 6. This year, it'll be either the broken down Blazers and washed-up Celtics hoisting the Larry O'Brien.

Both teams are strong at every position, thanks to the re-emergence of Jermaine O'Neal in this series. Both squads are defensive teams that take a lot of threes. The Blazers have youth, but the Celtics have experience. While the Blazers should be thrilled to have their roster as healthy as it is right now, the loss of Wesley Matthews could hurt them this series as he's the perfect guy to match up with Ray Allen. Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are sure to be the focal points for the Celtics, while Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge will try to carry the Blazers through one last round.

The Celtics will hope to win their eighteenth championship and their second in five seasons. Though people have been saying it for years, the Celtics aren't getting any younger, and this could be their last real chance at another ring with the big three. Portland meanwhile aims for its second championship - its first in 35 years and in the shot clock era.

How The Blazers Got There:

The Trail Blazers never seemed to get their footing in the regular season. A mid-season trade for Carl Landry and Ronnie Turiaf didn't seem to help matters as the unusually healthy Blazers barely qualified for the post-season with a 15-14 record at the 8th seed.

Matched up with the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder, the Blazers got huge games from LaMarcus Aldridge and their bench to win the series in 6. Injuries hit in the next round against the Warriors, with Gerald Wallace and Brandon Roy missing multiple games and Wesley going down for the whole playoffs. Injuries went both ways however, as the Warriors would lose David Lee, and the series in 6 games.

Portland faced Memphis in the conference finals. Though Memphis won game 1 by 30, it came at the cost of star Zach Randolph. Winning games 2, 3 and 5 by a narrow margin, Portland won four straight to win the series in 5 games and make the finals.

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Season: 15-14; Playoffs: 12-5 | Total: 27-19 | DEF 89 OFF 81 OVR 87

PG | Raymond Felton | Starter | 81^3
SG | Brandon Roy | Sixth Man | 80^1
SF | Gerald Wallace | Starter | 86^1
PF | LaMarcus Aldridge | Star | 90^2
C | Greg Oden | Starter | 78^1
----------
F/G | Nicolas Batum | Role Player | 79^1
F | Carl Landry | Role Player | 76^1
G | Elliot Williams | Role Player | 66^2
C/F | Ronnie Turiaf | Role Player | 68^1
G | Patrick Mills | Role Player | 67^1
G | Nolan Smith | Prospect | 64-1
C/F | Chris Johnson | Bench Warmer | 63^1
----------
G/F | Wesley Matthews | Starter | 54-24
F | Luke Babbitt | Bench Warmer | 63

Head Coach: Nate McMillan

How The Celtics Got There

Boston was jocking for the first seed in the playoffs all season, but its short length meant for little margin of error and they ended up falling to the fourth seed. With a 17-12 record and a draw of the Miami Heat in the first round, most counted Boston out from the start. Heh.

The Celtics opened the playoffs by winning a thrilling seven game series against the Miami Heat. It was out of the frying pan and into the fire as the top seeded Chicago Bulls were their next match-up, or so it seemed. The Celtics took the first two games in Chicago en route to a six game series win.

Boston continued to play more games than anybody else in the league this season, defeating the Orlando Magic in another thrilling seven game series. Now the seemingly ageless Celtics just needs to defeat the 8 seeded Trail Blazers to raise banner #18.

BOSTON CELTICS
Season: 17-12; Playoffs: 12-8 | Total: 29-20 | DEF 94 OFF 80 OVR 87

PG | Rajon Rondo | Star | 89^2
SG | Ray Allen | Starter | 84^2
SF | Paul Pierce | Star | 87^2
PF | Kevin Garnett | Star | 87^2
C | Jermaine O'Neal | Starter | 73^2
----------
F | Tayshaun Prince | Sixth Man | 69-7
F | Jeff Green | Role Player | 72^1
F/C | JaJuan Johnson | Role Player | 70^2
C | Jeff Foster | Role Player | 69^1
G | Anthony Carter | Role Player | 66^2
G | Avery Bradley | Prospect | 64-1
G | Marvin Owens | Bench Warmer | 62^2

Head Coach: Doc Rivers

Key Matchup


The match-up between Gerald Wallace and Paul Pierce could very well be the most important one in this series. Paul Pierce is the Celtics' leading scorer and closer, and was the Finals MVP in 2008. Wallace meanwhile, is arguably the best defensive small forward in the league. Having come off an injury, there may be concern, but Wallace seemed fine in games 4 and 5 against the Grizzlies. The bigger issue has been consistency for Wallace, who has averaged just 11 points per game this season. You may see that so goes the small forwards, so goes the game.

----------
Playoff Tipping Game: NBA Finals

Post your predictions for the final round of the 2012 playoffs! Post the team you expect to win the series, and how many games they win it in. Correctly selecting the winning team will get you 2 points, picking the correct team and number of games, you get 5 points. If you are one game off, you get 3 points. One bonus point is added if you correctly pick the lower seed to win and/or a sweep. Correctly picking a seven game series but picking the wrong team is worth one point. Furthermore, correctly picking the Finals MVP is worth 5 points.

Round 4 Multiplier: x2

Series to predict:

(8) Trail Blazers - Celtics (4)
(Finals MVP)

See all active contests and results here.

Leaderboard

1. shadowgrin | 67
2. dei. | 52
3. Justine. | 51.5
4. Martti. | 46.5
5. Axel. | 43
6. KidJustin | 37.5
7. Thierry | 37
8. dare | 34.5
9. Valor | 31.5
10. z02 | 22
11. badreligionau | 16

Conference Finals Contest Results

Justine. | 18 Winner (+5 bonus points)
Thierry. | 16
Martti. | 14
z02 | 14
shadowgrin | 12
KidJustin | 8
dei. | 6
Axel. | 6
dare | 0

[Martti.]

Blazers in 5

Edit : Aldridge MVP. Even if Roy avetages 30+, LA is too much of a beast.

[dare]

Blazers in 6
MVP- L.A

[Lamrock]

My bad for not making it clear, but you also want to predict the Finals MVP as well.

[qfrmcpt310]

Blazers in 7

MVP-LaMarcus Aldridge

[kibaxx7]

Blazers in 6. MVP = LaMarcus... wanted to say Crash, but it won't happen

[rise]

0portland in 6, lma is mvp (although i want g-wall to win it!

[KidJustin]

Blazers in 7
MVP Aldridge

[shadowgrin]

Celtics over the Failblazers in 6.

The Truth Finals MVP.

[Justine.]

Celtics in 5
MVP - Rondo

[Mandich]

Blazers in 4, MVP Greg Oden

[Kenny]

Congrats on making it through... Shaq for MVP!

On a more serious note, I'll say Blazers in 7 and Roy for Finals MVP.

[hova-]

Good luck against the Cs. Will be a tough matchup. I won't participate since I haven't before.

[Lamrock]

Finals coverage starts in roughly 24 hours. Get your picks in today.

[Axel The Great]

Blazers in 6, Roy Finals MVP