Jxuusa: Suggestions? Last Page. (NBA Live 06)

[kibaxx7]

Great win, but yeah, ship Cassell out of Minneapolis!

[Jing]

–103
–105

[Jazz Boxscore] [Rockets Boxscore]



[HOUSTON, Feb. 11] – Coming into this game the Houston Rockets have won 11 games in a row and looked to make it 12 against the Jazz, and despite a scare from the Jazz, the Rockets did exactly that, pulling out a 2 point victory on their home floor.

The entire Rockets starting lineup with the exception of Mike James performed extremely well, with John Barry leading the points with 24, followed Tracy McGrady and his 23. The frontcourt of Yao Ming and Stromile Swift had 18 points each while Yao grabbed 11 boards (6 offensive), and Stromile pulled down 18, including 10 offensive to win the player of the game award. Backup center Dikembo Mutombo also had a good game with 6 points and 12 rebounds (8 offensive). “Everything clicked tonight, we pulled down the rebounds and really outscored them in the last quarter, and we won, that’s what matter. We are proving ourselves to be the best team in the league.” Barry told press.

On the other side every player scored, but the only person who shined was Andrei Kirilenko with a 23 point performance. “We let that one slip away, what did they score in the 4th quarter? Was it 30 something? We didn’t defend well at all down the stretch, and this team was hot and on a streak, this is why they have won so many in a row. We turned out backs and they were on us. Nothing we can do now, we got the Lakers without Kobe, got to focus on them and put this loss behind.” – said backup guard Jeff McInnis, who had 5 points and 4 assists in 11 minutes of play.

The Jazz have one more game before the All-Star Break, and that is against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Lakers will be without superstar Kobe Bryant, who suffered a broken toe in his foot on January 18, and will be out 10 weeks.


Mike James: 1
John Barry: 1 2
Tracy McGrady: 1 2
Stromile Swift: 1
Charlie Villanueva: 1
Yao Ming: 1
Miscellaneous: 1 2

NEXT GAME
AT

[Jugs]

Tough loss against the Rockets, have fun against the Lakers.

[kibaxx7]

Ouch hard loss Man you should update your roster Cassell in Minny and now James (Raptors) in Houston?

[Jing]

Ouch hard loss Man you should update your roster Cassell in Minny and now James (Raptors) in Houston?

but the thing is that it will be so tedious and it might mess up my trades, which i am sure it will XD
i guess i could just do the trades again via dbf.. good idea or not?

[Jugs]

Make sure you back up your .dbf file. not like me

[kibaxx7]

Make sure you back up your .dbf file. not like me

Exactly.

[Jing]

hm. yeah i'll probably do that... but i got loads of stuff like the ASW and scouting to do first. maybe i'll edit the rosters after ASW

[The X]

tough loss....guess that rock-steady backcourt combo of Jon Barry & Mike James were too much

[Buckley]

tough loss...
good luck against the smush-less lakers

[Fresh8]

Kobe is next!

[Jing]

tough loss....guess that rock-steady backcourt combo of Jon Barry & Mike James were too much

sad... yes its true. lol

tough loss...
good luck against the smush-less lakers

well you know... i'll try to get the updated rosters after ASW

Kobe is next!

actually he's out for 10 weeks with broken bone in his foot.lol

[Jing]

–109
–107

[Jazz Boxscore] [Lakers Boxscore]



[LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13] – With the Lakers’ superstar Kobe Bryant sidelined with a broken bone in his foot, the Lakers needed another superstar to step up, and they got that in the forms of Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown. Odom exploded for 31 points and grabbed 8 boards while Brown had a double-double with 24 points and 11 boards (8 offensive). Despite the great performance, Kobe Bryant’s replacement rookie Von Vafer struggled, making only 4-16 shots for only 10 points.

The Jazz seem to just want the game to be over already so most of them can rest. The biggest incident of the game happened with 5:49 left in the first quarter, Andrei Kirilenko went up for a dunk against Odom, and came down holding his elbow. Kirilenko was taken out of the game and there were question on if he would be able to participate in his first start as an All-Star. Reports came during midgame that Kirilenko was cleared and able to play, but coach Jerry Sloan told the media that he doesn’t want Kirilenko to risk injury again, and will hold him for the rest of the game.

The surprise of the game was 12th man Jarron Collins, who had a career game with 24 points to lead the Jazz. Other great performers were Mehmet Okur with 18 points and lead the team with 5 rebounds.

The ending of the game was dramatic as Devean George, the hero for the Lakers the last times the two teams met, launched a three pointer, luckily the ball bounced off the back iron and the buzzer rang, sounding yet another close escape for the Jazz.

“I have made it a requirement for the whole team to attend All-Star Weekend in order to support their teammates in the contest and the games.” Sloan said afterwards. Though lineups have not been announced, we can be sure that Andrew Bogut and Deron Williams will be participating in the Rookie-Sophomore.


Kwame Brown: 1
Andrei Kirilenko: 1 2 3
Lamar Odom: 1 2 3
Mehmet Okur: 1 2
Miscellaneous: 1 2 3

NEXT GAME
VS

BUT... SCOUTING AND ALL STAR WEEKEND COMING UP!

Last edited by Jing on Fri Jan 20, 2006 7:41 am, edited 3 times in total.

[fasz]

close win , ure in a ?-? run ? ^____^ and sick pics too :p

[Buckley]

wtf no kobe for lakers and u only won by 2? j/k good win....and beat the celtics...

[Ruff Ryder]

Since when has a broken bone ever stopped kobe?

Looks like Kwame Brown might be living up to his reputation. (doubt it though)

[Fresh8]

man... why u always win?

[Anthony15]

Big game for Milicic 4 points!!! j/k great win

[kibaxx7]

wtf no kobe for lakers and u only won by 2? j/k good win....and beat the celtics...

I thought it would be a easier game

[killer_cr0ss0ver]

wheres smush? smush is doing pretty well on my dynasty when i play against lakers..

[The X]

argghh....looks like you'll beat me to the scouting reports....ahh well, can't win everything

[dada]

I was hoping the Lakers would win.

Anyways, good win and I hope this continues against the Celtics.

[Jing]

Hey Coach Sloan, how is everything going back in Utah? I just got done attending the exhibition game between the NLSC North America Academy and the Boston Celtics. Let me just say, its going down in history and its going to be the news on everything station. When the Celtics organization agreed to a friendly exhibition match against the top high school boys team in the nation, they certainly was expecting a laid-back type of atmosphere and I don’t think anyone expect the kids on the Academy team expected the outcome.

The game tipped off and surprisingly, the arena was sold out, seemed like everyone wanted to see how good these kids really are, and how the best team could stand up to a decent NBA team. To tell you the truth, what happened today was far, far worse than the Raptors loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the preseason, though it did not officially count on the record, it showed that the NBA’s layer of prestige is weaker and perhaps they are not as good as they think they are, at least the Celtics anyways, they’ve really fallen from the days when they were winning championships; they lost to a high school team for pete’s sake, they are really stinking up the league.

The North America Academy features 4 players who will be declaring for the upcoming 2006 draft, and those are team co-captains Jing “jxuusa” Xu and Desmond “Mafia” Jackson, guard Sam “iLLuzionz” Anurak, and point guard Nithin “Kuttan” Kadayil. These are also the 4 most experienced players on the team and without them, the only player left in the starting lineup will be center Peter “Cable Guy” Robertson, a 6’10, 229 point player out of Canada. Due to injuries, the Academy only brought 8 of their best players to test against the Celtics, and these players showed why they are the best players in the country tonight… and even perhaps the world. We’ve got to get some of these kids in the draft.

First Quarter

This game started off pretty fast with the Academy jumping out to a 4-0 lead on the pro team. I don’t think the Celtics expected something like this at all, they no doubt didn’t expect them to be this good and running… they probably think this about the whole league and this is why they are a losing team. Finally Boston went on the board on a dunk by forward Ricky Davis. Slowly though it seems the Celtics’ pro experience overpowered the energy of the younger players are they surged ahead and caused guard Nithin Kadayil to pick up his 2nd foul with just over 3 minutes left, and was forced to be replaced by backup Alex “cwebbiverson” Buckley out of Hershey, Penn. Kadayil didn’t come back in for the rest of the quarter. The top performers I noted were Anurak and Jackson, they used their speed to sneak up on the Celtics and either poke the ball away or force a bad shot. Anurak also helped dominate the glass for the Academy; he grabbed 4 defensive boards while scoring 4 points. However the Celtics used the likes of Ricky Davis to simpily run over Peterson down low. Ricky Davis had a beautiful poster jam over the younger, then taunted while Robertson was on the ground. Seemed like Ricky doesn’t want to be shown up by the several good dunks by Kadayil before he was taken out.


Left: Ricky Davis dunks over Peter Robertson… Right: …then cheers up the crowd

Second Quarter

The second quarter was much of the same as the first, as the two teams duked it out, the Academy players appeared to come alive. Xu and Anurak were grabbing the boards away from the Celtics and fast breaking against them, something the Celtics probably were not expecting. It soon became clear that if they were not going to play hard they were going to bow to kids not even in college. The Celtics finally got it out of their heads and began to play, but not after the Academy went on an 8-0 run and pulled ahead. The thing I noticed is that Jackson is an offensive machine, but doesn’t really do too much on defense, Ricky Davis abused him with jumpers and dunks, and surprisingly, Raef LaFrentz got on the action too and did some damage, looks like he is getting back to his form before his huge ACL injury, we got to watch out for him when we play Boston again. The score was 51-49 Boston and they were feeling the burn, such a weak team.


Left: Paul Pierce runs over Sam Anurak for 2 points Right: Nithin Kadayil celebrating to himself

Third Quarter

The Celtics looked completely dead coming out in the 3rd as the Academy went on a hot steak, scoring 9 in a row, including a definite Sportscenter highlight, as Kadayil dribbled the ball to half court, then threw it to Xu for the half court ally-hoop, it really brought the crowd to its feet. All of a sudden the Celtics were on their heels. However the Academy chilled out after bringing in their reserves, underclassmen who will most likely enter next years draft or spend more time at the Academy for more training and development. The quarter ended and the score was notched at 58-58.


Left: Kadayil to Xu from halfcourt Right: Sam “Sensation” Keon steals the intended pass to Marcus Banks

Fourth Quarter

Both teams seemed to stall during the 4th quarter was only 8 points were scored by both teams. However it does not mean shots were not taken. The starters were tired and since the Academy had only 3 reserves, they slowed the tempo down in order to rest their out-of-breath players. Down by 2 points Buckley hit from downtown over the outstretched hands of Ricky Davis to nudge the Academy to a 61-60 lead after a 3 minute drought by NLSC. With the game tied at 66 with 22 seconds left and Kadayil holding the ball, center Robertson was called for a 3 second lane violation, and it handed the ball over the Celtics with a chance to win. However the Celtics decided to dribble out the clock and take a last second shot, but they did not get the ball to the man they wanted, forced to take a shot, Rael LaFrentz missed to the right of the rim and Xu skied Corey Blount for the rebound and it headed into overtime. Now isn’t this something… a high school team taking the Boston Celtics to overtime, wow… look at what has become of the Celtics. If they keep playing like this, they’ll probably get one of these kids on their team.

At the end of regulation the high scorer for the Academy was Xu with 13, while Anurak pulled down 7 boards and Xu also led in assist with 5. For Boston Celtics it was Ricky Davis leading with 23 points, while Raef LaFrentz grabbed boards and rookie Ryan Gomes dished out 3 assists.


Left: West with a layup over Xu Right: Anurak working his crossover on Davis

Overtime #1

The Academy got off to a pretty good start. Jackson took the pass from Kadayil and just popped one from downtown. The Academy did not use much of their bench during this first overtime. Slowly the Celtics fought back again, proving experience is still of some value, and took lead at 72-71 when Xu made the mistake of stepping out of bounds attempting to get by Delonte West. However with time winding down and down 76-75 Kadayil came up big with an arcing three pointer over West for a 2 point lead. A missed free throw led to a 80-79 deficit for the Academy, but this was Desmond Jackson’s quarter as he drained yet another 3 to give lead back to his team, this kid is really something, no fear of pressure. However his defensive lapses are still there as he fouled Paul Pierce on a three point attempt. Luckily Pierce front-rimmed the first, though he did make the other two. After trading free throws, Delonte West made a huge arcing three pointer over Kadayil with 8.9 seconds for a 90-88 lead. Amazingly the Academy threw a Hail Mary pass to Roberson, who took the contact from Blount still made the shot to tie it once again. West’s last second shot missed its target and Xu again made sure no Celtics player touched the ball as he pulled down another board and took the game to overtime #2.


Left: Kadayil arcs it over West Right: West with his own clutch arching shot

Overtime #2

Could this game get any more exciting for the Academy and the fans and more and more nightmare-ish for the Celtics? The Celtics struck first via an offensive rebound and finish by Blount. Though the Academy players can jump, lack of power/strength and knowledge led that one through. After the game was tied up, the Celtics’ Davis hit a three to put his team up. After trading three pointers, the teams were deadlocked at 100 when Anurak zipped a pass over Pierce’s head to Robertson, who proceeded to dunk it on Blount’s dome. This Robertson kid is really amazing, he is currently leading his team in scoring and had a huge block PLUS an elbow to the face of Davis, really something… too bad he isn’t coming out this year. So at the end with the score at 109 and the clock showing 2.3 seconds Anurak goes up to shoot, but Kedrick Perkins comes out of nowhere to tip the ball away as Anurak went up to shoot. The ball bounced right to Jackson, who released the shot with 0.1 of a second left, however it clanked off the rim and amazingly the game headed to a third overtime. This is perhaps the most amazing game I’ve witnessed live, I would put my vote on this for the game of the year no matter if these kids in or lose.


Left: Robertson dunks it in Blount’s mug Right: Anurak with a nifty layup that Davis can’t do a thing about

Final Overtime

The Celtics won the tip for the first time this game during this overtime and they capitalized. But then off a steal by Jackson he ran to the three point line and pull up, the net barely moved. On the ensuing possession, Davis erratic shot almost air-balled, and on the other end Casey “indepent8” Vitelli nailed a bomb of his own. Man these kids on the Academy can do it all, guess that’s why they are there. However this lead didn’t last long. The Academy kids are most likely no used to playing this type of game and it showed, they were getting tired and Davis got 2 easy shots on them to tie it at 115. The teams again traded baskets until somehow Pierce had the ball go into the hoop and out, and Kadayil sprinted down the court for a dunk and the lead of 129-127. The Celtics missed on their own possession, and were forced to intentionally foul Anurak. Luck blew Boston’s way as Anurak missed both shots, and they called timeout instantly. On the inbouding play the Academy had Pierce covered with Xu, Davis with both Anurak and Jackson, Robertson held down Blount, and West was covered tightly by Kadayil. With nobody to go to LaFrentz flung the ball to Blount, who threw up the desperation three pointer. This time the arcing three did not fall and the arena was almost silent, then the Academy players burst onto the court, and why not? They just upset one of the most respected pro basketball organizations in the history of the NBA. This really proved that the Academy works and that the players really can make the jump and it is fine for the Academy players to be exempt from the age rule. They showed it today, and if I had not seen this with my very own eyes, it would have been hard to believe. I am here and still am awing over what happened. Bunch of eighteen year olds or younger just defeated the Celtics….


Left: LaFrentz blocks Xu Right: Players going up for a rebound

The co-captain Xu was named player of the game as he was one assist away from a triple-double. His statline consisted of 18 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 block, 3 steals, but he did however also commit 7 turnovers.



The following are my analysis of the game and each Academy player’s ratings for the game. However I was not able to get my hands on any other individual player stats except for their ending totals, and box scores were not released yet.

Team Stats



Peter Robertson
Will Enter Draft: NO
Robertson led the team in scoring this game with 26 and did most of his damage in the overtimes, which was crucial to the Academy. He also did a superb job boxing out Blount and Perkins, and was on the finishing end of the fast break at least 80% of the time. However he shows weaknesses when he is up against too many men, and he tends to back off on dunks since he was dunked on by Ricky Davis, but he has to get used to it at this level. I would compare him to perhaps Andrew Bogut on our team right now, somehow who is pretty raw, yet can do almost everything you want him to do. His grade for this game: B+.

Jing Xu
Will Enter Draft: YES
The undersized co-captain started at power forward and played his ass off, almost achieving a triple-double. His turnover problems continue however as he had 7 for this game. He was key and grabbed important rebounds, including 2 in the dying seconds of overtimes one and two to send it to overtime. He also did a good job despite his size. For the last quarter he shut down Paul Pierce and Delonte West when he shifted to point guard to give the others rest. This kid is a true leader. I would have given him an A if it were not for his turnovers, but he definitely deserves an A-.

Desmond Jackson
Will Enter Draft: YES
Jackson seems to be literally all offense and no defense, though he did show flashes of brilliance. I think he might play out to be someone like Deron Williams or Joe Johnson. He has great explosiveness and a quick first step. I think his offensive skills are pretty much complete and he just needs to step up his defense and he will become a complete player. His three point range is deadly, note to teams to not leave this kid open, he will make you pay, big time. B+

Sam Anurak
Will Enter Draft: YES
Anurak started off the game as the go-to guy, but as the game settled, he became more of the role player, playing just like Xu, which is hard-nosed, in your face defense, shutting down Paul Pierce, and grabbing key rebounds and stopping Celtic runs. He had a double-double in this game with 13 point and 10 rebounds. He reminds me a little of Andrei Kirilenko, because he can score 30 points and grab 20 boards despite his size, but he chooses sometimes to let others do it and resort to doing the small things to make his team win. I love this type of player. He will go pretty high in the draft; lottery is not out of the question either. A-

Nithin Kadayil
Will Enter Draft: YES
He left the game early with foul trouble, but came back to lead his team on the assault. This kid is flight at its finest. He was dunking all over the Celtics, including a huge poster on Ricky Davis. Despite his need for scoring, he is also a great passer as he dished out a game high 11 for a double-double. He was also a defensive machine, something he hasn’t shown in previous appearances, as he picked the Celtics pockets 6 times. This kid, I don’t know what to say about him because I never heard much about him expect for he demanded the ball. I predict mid to late first round, he could fall to the 2nd round though because there are so many strong guards in this draft. He has also been described as extremely erratic in his plays, which have caused injury to others and himself. A-.

Sam Keon
Will Enter Draft: NO
The Fransico Garcia look alike played well in when Robertson or Xu was out, recording 8 points, 5 rebounds, as well as 1 block and 1 steal. We know he is extremely raw and young, but he is already very tall and looks mature. He played well but still his defensive awareness needs work. B-

Casey Vitelli
Will Enter Draft: NO
This kid out of California brings good three point shooting, and plus he looks almost identical to our Deron Williams. I would compare him to a Brent Barry type of player though. He was the only bench player to score double-digits with 12, and he did a pretty decent job on the defensive end filing in for the starters. He still has lot to learn on offensive awareness because many times he did not see open guys. B

Alex Buckley
Will Enter Draft: NO
Hailing from Hershey, he brought his sweet three point shooter ala Kyle Korver. Buckley made some key shots, including the three pointer over Davis. He was hard to miss as he was over-tanned at a salon and was a sight to see as his body was at least a shade or two darker than his face. He didn’t let this incident stop him from player one of the best games of his life, as he said. He will most likely take over at point guard once the top 4 leave. B-

Well, that there is the report coach. I am thinking if we go all the way the player that might fall into our hands in Nithin Kadayil, right now Xu is on the radar and along with Jackson up there in the top 20 while Sam Anurak is hovering over 25-30, and so is Kadayil. But this is too early to be making decisions as we got all those college players like Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay, plus the international flavor and international pros. At any rate, this upcoming draft is going to be loaded and whichever pick we have, we’re going to get someone great with it.

Other images from the game

[Celtics leaving the court] [Paul Pierce looking dejected] [Robertson to Xu] [Xu grabs a rebound] [Kadayil with a windmill on Blount] [Kadayil adjusting his shot] [Al Jefferson blocks Kadayil’s dunk] [Kadayil dribbles by Pierce] [Jackson pulls up for 3] [Jackson lays the ball up] [Jackson and Robertson pleased] [Jackson shooting over Ricky Davis] [Jackson kicks Xu]

Samaki Allen

Last edited by Jing on Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Fresh8]

Wow... brilliant recap! Overrating the players a bit arent u?

[Arcane]

awesome update