MILWAUKEE BUCKS = NBA CHAMPIONS!!!

NBA FNIALS, GAME 4: SUNS @ BUCKS

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN- In the first quarter, Grant Hill of the Bucks started off the game clicking on all cylinders. He scored an amazing 17 opening-period points, making good on 6 of 9 field goal attempts, and 5 of 6 foul shots. Like the Hill of old, Grant also rounded out his statline with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. “Right from the get-go, I knew I had a good game in me tonight,” Hill remarked. “I recognized that spring in my step that I used to have with the Pistons.”
Milwaukee also received a solid opener from another veteran, Vlade Divac, who registered 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal while providing energy and inspiration for his team-mates. When PG Beno Udrih canned a 3-pointer with 4:50 left, Milwaukee led 17-8. The Suns were only capable of trimming 2 points off that margin by quarter’s end, despite big performances from Amare Stoudmire (10 pts, 5 rebs, 2 ast, 1 stl) and Joe Johnson (8 pts, 3 rebs). At the end of 1, the Milwaukee Bucks led 31-24.
In the second quarter, the Bucks fed off the great energy of the Milwaukee home crowd, who in turn got more pumped up with their beloved team’s great play. Hill lit up the Suns defense for 8 more points while grabbing 4 more boards, raising his totals to 25 pts and 8 rebs! Reserve center Melvin Ely stepped nicely in for Divac with a 3-for-4 effort. Milwaukee’s lead extended to 35-24, then 45-35 with 4:16 left in the half, and at halftime they led by 14 points: 55-41. Phoenix had shot only 32% in the second quarter.
Having already lost their first two games at home, the Suns knew that they had to have a great 2nd half or they’d be in the dreaded 0-3 hole in the series. Phoenix head coach Mike D’Antoni told them to have faith in themselves and in each other, and to be aggressive in the second half. “Leave it all out there on the floor,” he urged.
The Suns took his coaching to heart in the third quarter, and played desperate basketball. For the first time in the series, they really buckled down defensively, and held Milwaukee to a 19-point quarter. Phoenix also dominated the boards 11 to 5. They combined winning the “hustle” points with lighting up real points with a 62% shooting quarter.
The Bucks’ 16 point lead early in the 3rd was, in 8 minutes, cut down to 4. Two Amare Stoudemire free throws completed the comeback as Phoenix tied the game at 71-71, with 34.5 seconds left in the period. Beno Udrih’s 3 pointer gave Milwaukee a 74-71 lead after 3, but the Bucks certainly had seen the momentum shift to the team from the Valley of the Sun.
Dwyane Wade was in the midst of one of the worse performances of his career: he had only 6 points on 1-for-9 shooting after 3 quarters. If it wasn’t for the continued dominance of Hill, who had 10 more points (raising his total to 35!) on 5-for-7 shooting, Milwaukee might have completely collapsed in the 3rd. But thanks to Mr. Hill and an earlier double-digit lead, Milwaukee still found themselves one solid quarter away from being one win away from an NBA Title.
Bucks coach Terry Porter made a lineup change to start the fourth: he put Dwyane Wade in at point guard. Immediate dividends came as the Bucks opened the quarter on a 8-2 run to lead 80-73.
Grant Hill was taking a short breather on the bench, and when he came back in Porter decided to move Wade back over to the 2, and inserted Nate Robinson in at point guard. The Bucks’ lineup was completed with Melvin Ely playing well at center, and Dwight Howard at power forward.
Ely’s tip-in put Milwaukee up 86-79 with 3:38 to play, and Robinson baseline slam dunk made it 90-83 with 2:14 left. Phoenix battled hard, and were within 5 points in the final minute, but Shawn Marion blew a fastbreak layup! Then Robinson converted a layup of his own- 92-85. Two plays later Amare Stoudemire made a jumper that cut the lead to 3, 92-89, with 26.5 seconds left.
The Suns decided not to foul, but try to get a stop and then go for the tie with the remaining time. So the Bucks ran the clock down, passing the ball around, but with 7.5 seconds left, Melvin Ely made an errant pass that floated out of bounds! Phoenix regained possession, but inexplicably, they gave it in to Stoudemire, who shot and missed a 15 footer! They were down 3! Melvin Ely snared the rebound, and that was the ballgame.
Phoenix Coach Mike D’Antoni’s emotions were divided between shock and fury , while Bucks Coach Terry Porter was shocked and ecstatic . His team was 1 win away from the NBA Championship!

FINAL SCORE: BUCKS 92, SUNS 89

BUCKS NOTES
The Bucks are just getting it done: in Game 1, 4 players had 20+ points, in Game 2, Dwyane Wade scored 37, and in Game 3, Grant Hill exploded for 39. It's been a total team effort all the way.

SUNS NOTES
Steve Nash had a series-best 13 assists in the game, but also committed 10 turnovers! "That will never happen again," he vowed...Amare Stoudemire had another big night, but Shawn Marion continues to really struggle with his shot...The Suns had better get it together in Game 4.

GAME STATS

MILWAUKEE
Divac: 4 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1-2 FGs
Howard: 5 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 2-9 FGs
Hill: 39 pts, 10 reb, 3 ast, 15-25 FGs
Wade: 10 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast, 3-14 FGs
Udrih: 8 pts, 0 reb, 4 ast, 2-4 FGs
Rush: 2 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1-4 FGs
Traylor: 0 pts, 4 reb, 0 ast, 0-3 FGs
Robinson: 6 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast, 3-8 FGs
Ely: 16 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 8-14 FGs
Bowen: 2 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast, 0-0 FGs
Collins: 0 pts, 0 reb, 0 ast, 0-0 FGs
TOTALS: 35-83 FGs (42.2%), 20-22 FTs, 43 REB (10 OFF), 21 AST, 11 FL

PHOENIX
Stoudemire: 30 pts, 9 reb, 3 ast, 12-22 FGs
Marion: 10 pts, 9 reb, 1 ast, 5-17 FGs
Richardson: 10 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast, 5-13 FGs
Johnson: 22 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast, 11-20 FGS
Nash: 4 pts, 2 reb, 13 ast, 2-8 FGs
Abdul-Wahad: 2 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast, 1-5 FGs
Nesby: 2 pts, 0 reb, 0 ast, 1-1 FGs
McCarty: 9 pts, 6 reb, 0 ast, 4-8 FGs
Voskuhl: 0 pts, 3 reb, 0 ast, 0-1 FGs
Barbosa: 0 pts, 0 reb, 4 ast, 0-2 FGs
TOTALS: 41-97 FGs (42.3%), 6-9 FTs, 47 REB (16 OFF), 24 AST, 17 FL

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER SCORING
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Suns 24 17 30 18---89
Bucks 31 24 19 18---92
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Three-point field goals: Milwaukee 2-9 (Udrih 2-4, Hill 0-1, Rush 0-2, Robinson 0-2), Phoenix 1-4 (McCarty 1-1, Barbosa 0-1, Nash 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Turnovers: Milwaukee 18, Phoenix 15. Steals: Milwaukee 13 (Wade 8), Phoenix 12 (Richardson 4). Blocks: Milwaukee 6 (Howard 3), Phoenix 8 (Stoudemire 2, Nash 2).


BUCKS LEAD SERIES 3-0

i'm still pleased to read your dynasty... btw when checking screenshots, I suggest you update the Suns jersey Check Alexsite to get a recent one

i'm still pleased to read your dynasty... btw when checking screenshots, I suggest you update the Suns jersey Check Alexsite to get a recent one

thanks but no thanks Alex, I'm going to retire from NBA Live 2000 after this season is done. It's time to move on for me

I hope to have Game 4 ready for everyone by tomorrow. Until then, peace out all -

Very well written once again, with some nice smileys along the way.
Grant Hill got to a very good start, good to see him taking over instead of Wade and Howard. He got going early and was able to keep it going throughout the game and ended with an impressive 39 points. Plus Wade and Howard comined for only 15 points! Not even half of what Hill put up so kudos to him. Nash was pretty quiet but collected 13 assists while Amare keeps staying hot. Going for the title in Game 4, good luck! You're not the underdog anymore...

Very well written once again, with some nice smileys along the way.
Grant Hill got to a very good start, good to see him taking over instead of Wade and Howard. He got going early and was able to keep it going throughout the game and ended with an impressive 39 points. Plus Wade and Howard comined for only 15 points! Not even half of what Hill put up so kudos to him. Nash was pretty quiet but collected 13 assists while Amare keeps staying hot. Going for the title in Game 4, good luck! You're not the underdog anymore...

thanks Sensation. Good analysis there- and you're right, I'm definitely no longer the underdog.

To all: sorry about Friday. I didn't get the summary done in time. I have it this morning though. Hope you enjoy

NBA FINALS- GAME 4: Phoenix Suns @ Milwaukee Bucks


MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN- Milwaukee jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead on a Grant Hill layup, and extended it to 15-8 on another Hill lay-in not long after. Phoenix was finding it hard to score on the Bucks’ tough defense, and found themselves down 21-10 on 2 Dwyane Wade free throws. The Suns shot 37.5% in the opening quarter, and their defense failed to hold Milwaukee at all in check, allowing the Bucks to shoot a scorching 73.7% (14 for 19) . The lead ballooned to 30-16 on a Dwight Howard 3-point play, and then 34-20 by the end of the quarter.
After a rough Game 3 in which he scored only 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting, Dwyane Wade had scored 14 points on 5-for-5 FGs to start off Game 4. Beno Udrih handed out 6 assists, and Dwight Howard did damage underneath with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Grant Hill rounded out an amazing opening quarter for the Bucks with 8 points of his own. With Phoenix already down 14 points, and PG Steve Nash scoreless while missing all 4 of his shot attempts, the Suns were in serious trouble only 10 minutes into the game.
Phoenix battled back in the second period. Wade picked up his 3rd foul at the 8:53 mark, and sat for the rest of the period. Meanwhile, Amare Stoudemire led the Suns offensive charge. His jumper with 6:51 to go cut Milwaukee’s lead to half its original 14-point margin: the score was 38-31, Bucks.
But Dwight Howard was in the midst of another perfect shooting quarter, and was not to be denied. He buried a 15-footer to put the Bucks up 42-34, then, a few plays later, hammered down an alley-oop pass from Vlade Divac, plus a foul! That made it 49-36 with less than a minute to play in the half. But Howard and the Bucks weren’t done. In the final 57 seconds, the young big man had a two-handed jam, and Divac added 2 free throws, while the Bucks put the defensive bolts down on the Suns. At halftime, they led big: 53-36.
The Suns struggled severely in that period. They shot 19.2% in it, a tribute to the Bucks’ defense yes, but moreover, Phoenix was just totally out of sync offensively. Their coach Mike D’Antoni explained during a halftime interview, “We were starting to fall apart there- I think our confidence is shaken. We’re already down 0-3 in the series, then we’re down by 14 after the first quarter. The guys are having a tough time reaching down and finding the belief in themselves that’s necessary to come back. I tried to help them get it during the break. We’ll see how they respond.”
Phoenix opened the half strongly, going on an 8-2 run that cut the lead to 11, at 55-44. But as has happened so many times in this series, Milwaukee was able to stifle the Suns’ run, and counter it with one of their own. Beno Udrih swished in a 3 to make it 58-44. A few plays later, he connected on another from downtown, and the lead was back up to 13 at 65-52. After that, Stoudemire picked up his 4th foul and coach D’Antoni made the questionable decision to bench him for Jake Voskuhl until the final quarter.
Milwaukee took advantage. Hill scored on a lay-in, then Melvin Ely hit a shot, and Howard added 2 free throw to build the Bucks’ lead up to 75-58 by the end of the 3rd. The 17 point margin was their biggest of the game, and the Phoenix bench consisted of long faces and longer periods of silence. Coach D’Antoni was fiery, however. He yelled at his team, “Have some heart! Believe! Why don’t you just go home now if you want to give up? I don’t want anyone on this bench, and on my team, who’s not going to fight until that clock reads 0:00!”
It turned out that Phoenix would need all the fortitude it could muster in the 4th, because the Bucks just kept pouring it on. Udrih opened the quarter with 2 consecutive mid-range jumpers, then Kareem Rush, Howard, and Wade all connected on jumpers. At the 5:00 mark, Milwaukee led by 31 points, 93-62. Bucks coach Terry Porter subbed all his starters out, and inserted Jarron Collins, Robert Traylor, Ryan Bowen, Bryce Drew, and Nate Robinson.
There wasn’t much the Suns could do except keep fighting, despite the fact that their deficit kept expanding. They knew that they represented the city of Phoenix, Arizona, with its millions of people. They knew that there were millions of kids and adults watching at home. And they knew that, not just for themselves but for everyone else, they had to try. It was the least they could do.
With 26 seconds left, Nate Robinson’s emphatic slam dunk marked the last basket of this NBA season, and the Suns’ run. By a final score of 101-75, the Milwaukee Bucks are the NBA Champions!

While all their fans surrounding them in the Bradley Center celebrated joyously, the Bucks and Suns hugged and congratulated each other. Each team had much to be proud of.

BUCKS NOTES
Here are the statistics for the top-5 performing Bucks in this series:

Udrih: 8.8 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 7.5 apg, 1.0 spg, 50% FGs (11-for-22), 53.3% 3FGs (8-for-15)
Wade: 22.3 ppg, 6 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.8 spg, 61% FGs (36-for-59)
Hill: 24.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.8 spg, 53.2% FGs (42-for-79), 44% 3FGs (4-for-9)
Howard: 16.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 3.3 bpg, 51.1% FGs (23-for-45)
Ely: 9.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 66.7% FGs (18-for-27)

NBA COMISSIONER DAVID STERN: “After careful consideration, it has been decided that Grant Hill is to be named the NBA FINALS MVP! His averages of 24.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, along with a stellar 53.2% field goal percentage and 44.4% 3-point field goal percentage, have earned him this honor. His 39-point, 10-rebound outburst in Game 3 was a moment to remember. Congratulations, Grant.”

Grant Hill: “You know, this is a team game, and I love my team, so it’s on behalf of all of them that I accept this award. Thank you.”

SUNS NOTES
The Phoenix Suns locker-room was very quiet after the game. Their on-court leader, Steve Nash, addressed the media: “This is obviously a really tough fact to face for us. There are a lot of guys down on themselves in the locker-room right now. But we’ll bounce back. We have a good, young team, with a good coach, organization, and fan base to support us. The Bucks just outplayed us in this series- they deserved to win. But we’ll be back next year…”

GAME STATS

MILWAUKEE
Divac: 4 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast, 1-3 FGs
Howard: 23 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 2-9 FGs
Hill: 18 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 9-20 FGs
Wade: 22 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 9-10 FGs
Udrih: 10 pts, 3 reb, 14 ast, 4-9 FGs
Rush: 10 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 5-9 FGs
Traylor: 6 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast, 1-5 FGs
Robinson: 2 pts, 0 reb, 2 ast, 1-1 FGs
Ely: 6 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2-2 FGs
Bowen: 0 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast, 0-2 FGs
Drew: 0 pts, 0 reb, 0 ast, 0-2 FGs
Collins: 0 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast, 0-0 FGs
TOTALS: 41-76 FGs (53.9%), 17-17 FTs, 37 REB (4 OFF), 31 AST, 13 FL

PHOENIX
Stoudemire: 23 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast, 11-21 FGs
Marion: 4 pts, 5 reb, 0 ast, 1-9 FGs
Richardson: 8 pts, 7 reb, 0 ast, 4-14 FGs
Johnson: 20 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 8-22 FGS
Nash: 11 pts, 2 reb, 7 ast, 3-15 FGs
Abdul-Wahad: 3 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1-5 FGs
Nesby: 2 pts, 1 reb, 0 ast, 1-3 FGs
McCarty: 4 pts, 6 reb, 0 ast, 2-8 FGs
Voskuhl: 0 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast, 0-0 FGs
Barbosa: 0 pts, 0 reb, 2 ast, 0-4 FGs
TOTALS: 31-101 FGs (30.7%), 11-13 FTs, 46 REB (23 OFF), 15 AST, 17 FL

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER SCORING
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Suns 20 16 22 17---75
Bucks 34 19 22 26---101
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Three-point field goals: Milwaukee 2-8 (Udrih 2-4, Hill 0-1, Drew 0-1, Rush 0-2), Phoenix 2-11 (Johnson 2-5, Nesby 0-1, Richardson 0-2, Nash 0-3). Turnovers: Milwaukee 13, Phoenix 11. Steals: Milwaukee 8 (Udrih 2, Robinson 2), Phoenix 10 (Johnson 3). Blocks: Milwaukee 15 (Howard 5), Phoenix 7 (Abdul-Wahad 2).


BUCKS WIN SERIES 4-0!

PHOTO GALLERY


Dwyane Wade led the way all season for the Bucks.


Robert Traylor was a key bench member, scoring 20 points in Game 1.


This is the final basket of the NBA season: a skying Nate Robinson throws down the dunk over 2 defenders. Not a bad way to go out, eh?


It's official: the Bucks have won the title!


Here are the Game-by-Game results one more time.


Dwight Howard celebrates winning a NBA Championship in just his 2nd NBA season.

Congrats to your Bucks, bullsfan. What an exceptional job.
You dominated the game and pretty much the series. I'm surprised that Marion didn't give a good effort in the series, had they gotten more from him this might have been a different story. Hats off to Grant Hill, the veteran stepped up in the play-offs and lead the team to the Championship. And of course the young duo of Flash and Howard were fantastic throughout the season, a well-deserved win. You were the underdogs but you sweeped the biggest powerhouse from the west.

Well bullsfan, you said this would be it for you so I'm sad to see you go from NLSC. At least you went out on top and what a nice way to finish off the franchise. Best of luck to you, goodbye for now.

Congratulations bullsfan, the bucks have deserved this title in everybody opinion... too bad that we don't gonna see you playing more franchises here... well... anyway thanks for sharing your franchise stories with us and thabks for helping me on my english... see ya "professor"

Congrats to your Bucks, bullsfan. What an exceptional job.
You dominated the game and pretty much the series. I'm surprised that Marion didn't give a good effort in the series, had they gotten more from him this might have been a different story. Hats off to Grant Hill, the veteran stepped up in the play-offs and lead the team to the Championship. And of course the young duo of Flash and Howard were fantastic throughout the season, a well-deserved win. You were the underdogs but you sweeped the biggest powerhouse from the west.

Well bullsfan, you said this would be it for you so I'm sad to see you go from NLSC. At least you went out on top and what a nice way to finish off the franchise. Best of luck to you, goodbye for now.

Hey Sensation, thanks for following my franchise so consistently. You've always been supportive. It's helped me have the motivation to always continue. As you said it, it's nice to go out on top Thanks a lot, my friend.

Congratulations bullsfan, the bucks have deserved this title in everybody opinion... too bad that we don't gonna see you playing more franchises here... well... anyway thanks for sharing your franchise stories with us and thabks for helping me on my english... see ya "professor"

Hey Diogo, one last English tip: I checked and "thabks" is definitely not in the dictionary J/K, I know you were trying to say thanks. No problem, Diogo, I want to be a teacher one day, but one piece of teaching wisdom is that a teacher is useless without students willing to learn. So: thank you for being willing!


I'm going to post a "Farewell Thread" in a week or so in General Talk, complete with shoutouts and a final message. Until then, take care everybody

Sorry for not checking for so long, i've gotten really lazy. Well it looks like you got an easy series against Phoenix unlike we expected but you deserved it. So are you still gonna be active or is the farewell later for the forums.(which i hope is not)

Sorry for not checking for so long, i've gotten really lazy. Well it looks like you got an easy series against Phoenix unlike we expected but you deserved it. So are you still gonna be active or is the farewell later for the forums.(which i hope is not)

no prob NRNB...I'm still not used to that name btw, I think of you still as Sac-1 ...but since I'm not going to have a franchise/dynasty going anymore, I'm probably going to retire from these forums. But I'm working on a Farewell Thread that I'm going to get up one of these days...

I'm working on a Farewell Thread that I'm going to get up one of these days...

Attention-whore.
Good read, even though the series didn't go the distance as I wanted.
Farewell. (You'll be coming back. They all come back! hahahaha *evil laugh*)

I'm working on a Farewell Thread that I'm going to get up one of these days...

Attention-whore.
Good read, even though the series didn't go the distance as I wanted.
Farewell. (You'll be coming back. They all come back! hahahaha *evil laugh*)

You're one funny cat, shadowgrin

And to all: I've been doing a lot of thinking. I'm not going back to school until August/September. I was originally planning on leaving NLSC b/c I wanted to use this time to prepare for it by bettering myself in all different ways: spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, etc.

But I've been thinking that I can do some of that around here! I loved participating in the Bible thread, debating about God with believers and non-believers alike. Debating and discussion is one of the best ways to develop spiritually, b/c you discover that there's many things you don't know or simply are wrong about, and you're forced to reconsider, research, and readjust your views. That can be for any subject, really, not just about religious topics.

And, of course, it's a lot of fun having a franchise and talking with all these different people from around the world. Even if one of them is shadowgrin

So I'm going to stick around. For about 8 more months or so. And my NBA Live edition will change this time- I have NBA Live 2004, so I'm going to make a dynasty with that.

So I'll see you all around!

Great news... really great news... welcome back bullsfan, I can't wait too see your Live 2004 dynasty...

Great to hear that, I can't wait for your 04 Dynasty! So does this mean you'll join my franchise for the draft? I could use a couple more NLSCers right now.

Good to see you sticking around and i'll be waiting for your NBA live 2004 dynasty to hoin mine!

Great news... really great news... welcome back bullsfan, I can't wait too see your Live 2004 dynasty...

thanks Diogo

Great to hear that, I can't wait for your 04 Dynasty! So does this mean you'll join my franchise for the draft? I could use a couple more NLSCers right now.

PM me with what I have to do, Sensation, and I'll see about it...

Good to see you sticking around and i'll be waiting for your NBA live 2004 dynasty to hoin mine!

Hey you changed your name back! Thanks for the well wishing. I'm probably going to have to ask you for some advice, because I've been gettin creamed by AT LEAST 20-25 points every exhibition game I've played so far...

You're one funny cat, shadowgrin

Cat? Are you calling me a pussy?

You'll be coming back. They all come back!

So I'm going to stick around

Told you so.

I've been gettin creamed by AT LEAST 20-25 points every exhibition game I've played so far

You suck. What team are you playing?

Request: make an announcement in this thread if your Live 2004 dynasty has started so I could check it out.

So I'm going to stick around.

I've followed your Bulls and Bucks seasons from the beginning, and I think that they were perfect. Alexboom was perfectright when he said yours was the best dynasty of NBA Live.

I really can't wait until the 04 edition of your dynasty starts. I really am breaking my chair now.

Request: make an announcement in this thread if your Live 2004 dynasty has started so I could check it out.

It's started. The team will be the New Orleans Hornets, and the thread is named "New-Look New Orleans Hornets."

Negative One- Thanks for the compliments, hope you enjoy the new season

INTERESTING...

nice wins man

when are you gonna update

Read before you dig anymore old threads and posts spam.