[Playoffs!] A New Age! || GAME 1 OF THE FINALS | Hiatus

[Martti.]

Will finish some minor assignments for college and then I'll post the Lakers game.

[Khanwarrior]

Sanders is a good defender. I always had my eyes on him ever since 2k11, but he hasn't developed much. And whenever I have Yi Jianlian I try to make him a Andrea/Ilyasova but with better rebounding and worse defense.

[kibaxx7]

Nice deal man, Sanders will help you. Waiting for more games

[Martti.]

Nash orchestrates offense as Lakers win fourth straight

The Lakers had yet to reach 2 games above .500 this year despite adding Dwight Howard in the off-season. Their first chance was at home against the Rockets and they did right that, beating the Rockets for their third straight win.

Houston got off to a better start, leading 8-2 and 19-10 in the first quarter with the Lakers limiting Dwight while letting Kobe shoot as he likes. Kobe was 1-7 in the first quarter and it wasn't until Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison scored 12 points between them to end the quarter, bringing the Lakers to within 3 points.

With Omer Asik in foul trouble stopping Dwight and with Larry Sanders at C, Dwight took advantage and scored 11 points in the quarter. Sanders had 12 for himself in the quarter, in just his third game of with the team, showing that he is fitting in just well.

The Lakers took a 2-point lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Rockets couldn't stick with the Lakers, led by Kobe and Nash. The star-studded back-court had 16 points in the quarter, keying a 14-5 run to start the third. Harden saw constant double-teams and found it hard to score and had just 2 assists due to the Lakers good rotation defense.

In the fourth, the Lakers held on to their double-digit lead throughout as Kobe, Nash and the rest of the starters slowly took their seat on the bench.

The lead grew to 24 at one point, before Larry Sanders and James Harden scored 11 final points of the game.

Box Score

HOU (7-3) | 29 | 22 | 20 | 32 || 103 ||
LAL (6-4) | 26 | 27 | 31 | 32 || 116 ||

Player of the Game : Kobe Bryant

| 27 PTS | 4 REBS | 7 ASTS | 4 STLS | 1 BLKS | 11-23 FG | 1-2 3 PT FG | 5-5 FT



James Harden : 39 points, 2 assists, 14-24 FG, 4-7 3PT, 5-5 FT
Larry Sanders : 21 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block, 10-15 FG
Jeremey Lin : 11 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists
Carlos Delfino : 9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Patrick Patterson : 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4-7 FG



Dwight Howard : 21 points, 13 rebounds, 10-15 FG
Pau Gasol : 21 points, 5 rebounds, 8-9 FG, 5-5 FT
Steve Nash : 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 8-12 FG
Antawn Jamison : 12 points, 3 steals

[hova-]

Dwight is so tough defend in the game (finally) because of his pure power. I tend to foul him a lot (intentionally) because that helps in the game as well as IRL.

I think the headline is still from the Heat game. Sick game by Harden btw.

[Lamrock]

Tough loss in LA, but it's to be expected and at 7-3, you're still kicking ass. Keep it up.

[kibaxx7]

Great record so far. Looking forward to another All-Star nod for Harden.

[Martti.]

I hope he can be an All-Star, though simming with other teams Lin often gets the nod.

Happy new year to all my followers!

[Martti.]

Lin blocks Kidd at the buzzer as Rockets beat Knicks

Linsanity was back, as the Knicks visited the red-hot Rockets and Jeremy Lin scored 23 points after scoring 34 the night before against the Bulls. But James Harden stole the show, with nearly a triple-double while scoring 33 points.

The Knicks got off to a hot start, but Harden matched them every step of the first quarter with 14 points in the first frame.

With 7 lead changes in the first half, it was a two-man show between Carmelo Anthony and Harden. Jeremy Lin took over in the third quarter, blowing past the older Jason Kidd and getting to the rim at will.

The Knicks led by 4 points with a minute and a half to go, but back-to-back threes from Harden and Lin, put the home team on top by 2 points. With a brilliant set play, the Knicks tied the game with 25 tics left.

James Harden found a wide-open Larry Sanders under the rim who threw down a monster slam to put the Rockets up 2 with 7 seconds left.

The Knicks called a time-out, tried to get the ball to Carmelo, but there wasn't enough time and Melo couldn't break free from Chandler Parsons. Jason Kidd fired up a shot, but was blocked by former Knick Jeremy Lin. This marked the Rockets' third straight win and 10th on the year.

Box Score

HOU (10-3) | 30 | 21 | 34 | 21 || 106 ||
NYK (7-5) | 33 | 26 | 22 | 23 || 104 ||

Player of the Game : James Harden

| 33 PTS | 8 REBS | 9 ASTS | 0 STLS | 0 BLKS | 13-25 FG | 2-7 3 PT FG | 5-5 FT



Jeremey Lin : 23 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 9-17 FG, 2-4 3PT
Marcus Morris : 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6-11 FG
Larry Sanders : 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 5-8 FG
Omer Asik : 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5-5 FG
Chandler Parsons : 6 points, 10 rebounds



Carmelo Anthony : 35 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 16-28 FG, 3-3 FT
Iman Shumpert : 19 points, 9 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Tyson Chandler : 10 points, 5-5 FG
Amar'e Stoudemire : 10 points, 6 rebounds
Jason Kidd : 8 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals
J.R. Smith : 6 points, 2 assists, 3-17 FG, 0-11 3PT, 12 minutes

[mrmoves20]

Nice heroic by LINSANITY! And also nice performance by Harden, near trip-dub.

[Axel The Great]

Clutch defense by Lin against his former team, must have felt satisfying getting that block. It's great to see you guys on a roll just like my Rockets.

[hova-]

Good job. Coming up clutch is quite satisfying in the game because it's possible to play good D.

[Martti.]

Player Stats

[hova-]

Youre doing surprisingly well, although your player's stats do not look overwhelming. Quite realistic numbers. Oh and NJN is not NJN anymore (I almost did that mistake myself, that's why I was noticing)

[Martti.]

Damn, I was editing the Standings from my Heat story, forgot to swap the name.

[jyap18]

Hahaha, your Rockets is good but my Houston Rockets standing is 1-4

[Valor]

Jeremy Lin with D and James Harden beasting? bleh
MORE SHINE FOR ASIK!!!

[mp3]

I can no longer route for Jeremy Lin.

Good Luck with the rest of the team tho, yeah a little more burn for Asik would be good.

[Lamrock]

You're still doing great. Love seeing James Harden become the best SG in the NBA.

[jyap18]

Jeremy Lin + James Harden = Championship

[Mark.]

Really like that Sanders trade, although would expect him to start coming up with some more blocks soon. Also gives you a nice big lineup option.
Hope you hold onto Parsons, really like the guy, or if you do move, trade him to the Magic! He is a Florida guy as well iirc.

[Martti.]

I need to adjust some sliders I think, because I can't get blocks at all, that block by Lin was just Kidd shooting it against his hand.

And I like to play with a line-up of Lin-Harden-Parsons-Morris-Sanders at the end of games, so I hope I can get Sanders some blocks and boards. Or perhaps I'm just used to having Ibaka as I did in 2K11, getting 5+ blocks constantly.

Also, I'm in my exam period now, so don't expect major updates.

[mp3]

Yeah its hard to get the big blocks without picking up fouls, i had a few with Camby and Chandler as the Knicks but there far and few between.

[Lamrock]

I have blocks around 80 in my sliders, and get a pretty realistic amount for both sides. Before I did that, both teams would get around 2 blocks each in a given game.

[Mark.]

Lamrock, do you think contest shot frequency would affect it too?

Martti, other than the blocks being low, how are you finding Sanders? I am tempted to try acquire him in my story.