Hov's Kings - Retired

[hova-]

shadowgrin, true word, man.

I don't know if anybody of you has ever played with Jarvis Hayes. His release is so easy to handle and when he's open he will knock down the three. Since I play like spot-up with Casspi anyway, Hayes is a similar player who can step in when Omri's cold. His defense and rebounding seems even better.

I really feel like I could give away one of my SFs, with Hayes, Casspi and Greene I have three guys who really can step up. Right now, Greene moves a lot to the SG spot, but when Evans and Chase are back, I have one wing-player who won't see many minutes. I will look if I can strike a deal.

[The X]

Jarvis Hayes is a killer for OKC Thunder in my Association. I always run out hard at him but he rarely misses. I always thought he'd make a pretty good NBA player IRL, but I guess we'll just have to live with a pretty good virtual version

[Axel The Great]

Wow, I am late to this. Good to see the role players stepping up, always expect the unexpected. Of those mentioned role players, I have two favorites. I love Donte Greene (see: my HOF D), good jumpshot, great athleticism and oversized for the SF position, and I've always loved point guards that play gritty defense like Delonte West. Never really seen Udrih or Maxiell or Hayes play that much, though.

[hova-]

The X, I barely remember Hayes from his time with the Wizards, I think he did not play well in Detroit. His release is definitely golden.

Axel., I think Shadowgrin pretty much did a good job of describing Udrih as slow as hell but a good shooter and Maxiell a bit like Dejuan Blair. Greene's really doing well lately.



I'd love to update this one, but the goddam Sony scandal keeps me from uploading box scores and pics. Currently working on the monthly recap.

[hova-]

Jazz@Sonics, Spurs@Pacers, Lakers@Portland, Rockets@Grizzlies, Mavs@Warriors

Sonics go down vs Jazz, lose last game in November

The Seattle Supersonics failed to win against a competitor in the race for the eight seed in the West last night when the Jazz beat them 100-84 @Key Arena.

Seattle started off well leading by six after the first quarter but the Jazz rallied back and had a five point lead in the third. The Sonics never came back and in the end kind of resignated.

"That's not what I want to see from this squad. We need to hustle. We need to go after those loose balls. We didn't, and I fear that we once again won't have a shot at this eights spot", Coach Hova said.

Demarcus Cousins led the Sonics with 23 points and 10 rebounds and Delonte West added 14 points and 7 assists. For Utah, Al Jefferson had a double double with 22 points and 13 boards.

Parker, Duncan combine for 68 as Spurs beat Pacers

The San Antonio Spurs are still looking for their shape this season as they are only 10th in the West at 7-10. Now the team of Coach Gregg Popovich has a good chance to start a streak as they blew out the Indiana Pacers on the road 125-99.

Tim Duncan, who seems to be in the second spring of his career had 37 points and 6 rebounds and Tony Parker added 31 points shooting a combined 26-38 from the field.

The Pacers took a hit in their struggle to stay above .500%. The league's 2nd best scorer Danny Granger only hit 2 of his 13 shot attempts and scored 14 points. Roy Hibbert had a team-high 19 points.

Lakers lose first game with Steve Nash, drop to .500 as Blazers claim top spot in the West

Just two days ago, Steve Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a pretty lopsided deal as one might say. Last night, he had his first chance to prove worthy for the struggling Champion from last year, when the Lakers faced the Blazers the Rose Garden.

The Lakers were down by 13 after the first but rallied back and tied the game in the fourth quarter. Brandon Roy than took over and scored six points in the last two minutes to give the Blazers a 98-104 home win. Portland leads the West now with 11 wins and 4 losses, whilst the Lakers drop to 9-8.

Nash had 10 points and 6 assists looking pretty good on the court with Kobe Bryant (28 points) and Pau Gasol (22p/19r). LaMarcus Aldrige was Portland's team-high man with 23 points.

Rockets beat Grizzlies in fight for 2nd seed

The Houston Rockets were able to come away with a 118-113 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies to secure the 2nd seed in the West at 11-5. The Grizzlies dropped to 11-6 after the game.

Terrence Williams had 22 points on 9-11 shooting and also added 8 rebounds, Luis Scola had a double-double with 21 points and 10 boards as the Rockets closed out the game 36-32 in the fourth.

Rudy Gay was the game-high man with 28 points and Mike Conley managed to snatch a triple-double with 13 points, 10 boards and 13 dimes.

Dirk's 34 and 10 lift Mavs past Warriors in OT

Dirk Nowitzki scored 8 of his 34 points in a broad 11-1 overtime period as the Mavs came away with a road win over Golden State.

The Warriors were missing Stephen Curry, David Lee and Tracy McGrady because of injury, leaving Coach Keith Smart with only 10 healthy players.

Free Agency signing Shannon Brown had a team-high 24 points and added 6 boards and 5 steals. For Dallas, Jason Terry showed great support hitting 5-9 from down-town en route to 26 points.

[Houndy]

Nice recaps. Steve was quiet in his first game

[hova-]

October/November Recap Part I


Team Standings


Leading the league by far: Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh & the Miami Heat

A bit more than a month played in the NBA and it's time to look back on October & November and the current NBA standings. The Miami Heat are on top of the league already four games in front of the 2nd best teams, Chicago and Portland. The big three from Southern Florida combine for 72 points per game this season (you might compare that to 89.6 points per game - the average score of the Charlotte Bobcats so far) and also have the best defense in the league only allowing 85.4 points per game after 18 matches played.

The current Champion Los Angeles Lakers are still struggling and find themselves on the 9th spot, their worst ranking since the days when Shaquille O`Neal left them. Led by Phil Jackson in what should and probably will be his last season as a coach, the Lakers also lost their first game since acquiring former All-Star Steve Nash. You still should not count them out, as they now have four All-Stars and a couple of borderline All-Stars on their roster.

A bit surprising is the fact that the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics have had an underwhelming season so far. Boston lost the last two games and at 7-11 the Celtics have to watch out that they don't lose homecourt advantage when the Playoffs come. A few losses in the early going can really hurt you later in the postseason. Boston was really missing Glen Davis at the beginning of the season who was out with an injury.

The Spurs have managed to bounce back from a tough start into the season and have won four out of their last five with Tim Duncan putting up great numbers. Still, the window's definitely closing for the Texas franchise, a rebuild in the next season seems unevitable.

Let's check the standings Division by Division:

Atlantic Division: It's surprising to see two top-rated teams having problems at the beginning of the season. Boston has been struggling on offense (94.6 ppg - 23rd in the league) and could not compensate that with the usual intensity on defense. The New York Knicks, a dark horse for Eastern Champion before the season, have really suffered from Chauncey Billup's broken wrist. Rookie big man Lance Meredith had a tough start into the season, but seems to have stabilized his game lately (22.3 points per game on .48% shooting in the last four games).
Now who profits? The Philadelphia 76ers play good team basketball (no scorer over 17 points per game - six guys in double figures) and have claimed the top spot in the Division.
The Nets are not yet clicking and lack consistency despite a great season from Deron Williams (19.8 ppg/8.7apg) and Brook Lopez (20.1ppg/10.3rpg).
Toronto is still stuck in rebuild mode.

Central Division: Thanks to Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls are the 2nd best team in the league right now. Rose's numbers scream "MVP" (24.2ppg/7.4apg) and he is the key reason for the Bulls to stay on top of the Central Division.
Apart from the Bulls, the Pacers look pretty good out there above .500% and on a Playoff spot in the East. One guy seems the key reason here, too. Danny Granger is second in the league at scoring at 26.2 points per game and plays good defense. Milwaukee was hoping to play a bigger role in the East, but inconsistency keeps the Bucks away from the 8th seed right now.
The Cavs and the Pistons are just bad, especially Detroit looks like it takes another shot at the number one pick.

Southeast Division: I've written enough about the Heat - the South Eastern powerhouse. But how about the Orlando Magic? After losing three straight without Dwight Howard, who injured his achilles tendon, the Magic came back to win three of the next four with one guy leading the way, who has been totally forgotten by many guys (including me): "Hibachi", "Agent Zero", Gilbert Arenas!. The ex-Wizard guard scored over 30 points four times this season and had 29 points twice. He had 35 points, 7 rebounds and 7 dimes in a win over A-T-L last match. Seems like Orlando's deal to acquire him has finally paid dividents.
Trailing are the Atlanta Hawks, the Washington Wizards and the Charlotte Bobcats. The Hawks' collective does not look good at all, but with their pure mass of quality players, they should prevail. For Washington, John Wall has been big, the Bobcats actually have the worst roster in the league but totally rely on Tyrus Thomas' All-Star season (20.9ppg/10.6rpg).

Northwest Division: Three of the top seven teams in the West come from the Northwest Division. The Blazers lead the West right now with their great mixture of athletes, scorers and defenders. The Thunder haven't been as good as last season so far, but Kevin Durant is still delivering (read more about him in the upcoming Race2MVP).
The Denver Nuggets are a little bit of a surprise, but team basketball has kept them in the race to the Playoffs. Minnesota sees Michael Beasley taking over on offense (21.5 ppg) and is looking good out there, justifying many moves that looked bad on paper (sry, David Kahn). Utah looks a bit outside of the picture, but still the Jazz can play. Seems like a bit of a conservative rebuild in Salt Lake City.

Pacific Division: Los Angeles and it's basketball team number one ... the L.A. .... Clippers! The Clippers split their series with the Lakers so far and are first in the Pacific Division. Many of that should be contributed to clever moves (getting Mo Williams and Stephen Jackson) and the upped play by Blake Griffin (19.3ppg/10.4rpg).
The Lakers trail the Clippers (I really wrote that? - goddam, what time are we living in?) and will look to gain the top spot after acquiring Steve Nash.
Talking about Nash: The Suns are still the worst team in the league but now won four of their six games under the rule of coach Kuester. Golden State is really missing Stephen Curry (out with knee injury) and David Lee (broken finger) and further Tracy McGrady is out with back spasms (but he isn't missed).
Seattle also had to deal with injuries and looks like a lottery candidate once again.

Southwest Division: The Houston Rockets and the Memphis Grizzlies are tied for first in the South West. Both are getting solid numbers from a various of players, let's mention two guys: Rudy Gay is averaging 21 points and 9 boards per game this season, Kevin Martin is the Rockets' top scorer with almost 23 points per game.
The Mavericks are still missing Jason Kidd although Rodrigue Beaubois has looked pretty well out on the court (16.3 points/6.4 assists per game). San Antonio is looking to regain their mojo after losing six of their first 10 games.
Let's talk about the poor Chris Paul in the statistic's leader section.





Individual Statistics


The last time LeBron led the league in scoring was in 2007-2008 with the Cavaliers.

Poooooor Chris Paul. The Hornets are at 6-11 and struggling once again - and all that with "CP3" putting up big numbers as usual. Paul is averaging 17.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He only turns the ball over 2.1 times in 38.1 minutes per game. He's shooting .546% from the field, .381% from down town and .883% from the charity stripe.
He's fifth in the league in true shooting (.649%) and 1st in pure point rating (10.7). But the Hornets still play bad.

Apart from Paul's greatness, it's good to see some fresh faces on the rebounding and blocking list (although Dwight Howard's injury absence could be a reason for it). Javalee McGee is playing well for the Wizards so far and his team mate John Wall has sneaked his way up to third in assists per game.
Shocking: "The Hibachi" back at sixth in scoring - is the real Arenas back?

Check the stats below.

[shadowgrin]

Danny Granger, blocks, whoa.
Dwight nowhere the rebounding leaders.

[Valor]

Haven't seen these in a while, keep saying it but totally loving how awesome your recap looks

[puttincomputers]

Looks like there are typos in the Blocks section

[Fresh8]

I wish Pau did grab 12 boards a game in real life. haha

Nice recap and your team still stinking it up. Love how crap you are.

[kibaxx7]

Great recap Hov Spurs struggling... but nice to see Maggs in the FG% leaders.

[Axel The Great]

As Valor said, love the recap. Great to see my man K-Mart having a good season for the Rockets, and CP3 having an excellent all-around season like in my story.

[Houndy]

LeBron's still LeBron

[hova-]

shadowgrin, those three guy below the leaders in blocks are typos. Forgot to change them. This is a template from my Bobcats D. Dwight did not qualify because he's injured at the moment.

Valor, thanks man. Appreciated

puttincomputers, as I said, typos.

Sit, yeah, the Sonics suck too much. Good that Gasol is not playing like that IRL.

Thierry •, Spurs are getting old, Maggette and the Bucks aren't good either.

Axel., thanks. Yeah, Martin and the Rockets are having a great season. I find CP3's numbers phenomenal, even for 2k11, a guard shooting .54% from the floor isn't too common.

Houndy, he is, and the Heat are nasty.

Thanks for all the comments guys, I hope I can up the R2MVP today, but I'm a little bit busy at the moment with the semester beginning.

[Fresh8]

Stealth >>>> Sonics

Looking forward to R2MVP

[Cruzerr]

CP3 is awesome like always, but i somehow want him to leave the hornets I love the Hornets irl, but sometimes, i think he needs a better team. Lebron leading the points is not so unusual, but Danny Granger is :O

[Lamrock]

Fuck yes. Oden leading Blazers to the top record in the division.

[hova-]

Monthly Recap: March/April Part II


Race 2 The MVP


Rudy Gay for MVP? Not yet - but the Grizzlies All-Star keeps improving his game steadily.
Coming back in style
By Russ Welluable, NBA.com
Posted on November 30th 2011 3:51


I must admit, I wrote this one right after Dwight Howard went down with an irritation on his left achilles tendon and the Magic dropped two games in a row after looking great in the first games of the season. So it was a clear thing to me that "Superman" - as they call him - was the reason for the Magic to drop those next two games and fall down a bit in the Eastern race.

Although his numbers are down from last season, Howard's influence of the defensive end can't be ignored. I felt like the Magic had no chance of playing good defense without Howard. But they were also missing his presence on offense, where he is the focal point of a team stacked with good three point shooters.

What happened then was somehow unbelievable, looked retro and felt good. Gilbert Arenas, who had already been playing quite well this season as a supporting scorer for the Magic, stepped up his game. Stepping up is not the right term. He looked like the old "Agent Zero" - like "Hibachi".

Arenas scored 30, 31, 26, 30 and 35 in five games, Orlando won four of these. He handled the ball like he did in 2006, he shot threes like in 2006 (5-13; 5-11 in two games) and that in some ways made him look and feel confidence like in 2006.

Remember: In 2005-2006, the man they called "Agent Zero", scored 29.3 points per game, shot .447% from the field and .365% from down town, went to the line 10 times per game and also added 6.0 assists and 2.1 steals while being on the court.

While his knee and the gun drawing incident definitely cost him a lot, right now Gilbert's stats are looking almost as good as five years ago.

He is shooting more efficiently, .474% from the field and an enormous .455% from down town (50-110 in 18 games), scoring 25 points per game. He also adds 4.2 boards and 3.4 assists as well as 1.5 steals per game. Is this guy on his way to a comeback after having a poor season last year with the Wizards, his first 80 game season since 2005-2006?

Let's hope for it, because we were really missing the confident, almost cocky "Gil" of that time.

Actually I wanted to talk about Rudy Gay and the Grizzlies in here (which explains the picture above), but give my man "Hibachi" some respect for what he's doing right now. He's not in the race, but I feel like the longer Dwight takes to get back on the court, the higher are Arenas' chances to make it to my ranking.

[Houndy]

Nice Race to the MVP, And Gil has been playing fantastic

[Justine.]

Arenas is a beast in the game, he's the leading scorer for the Magic in my story. Cool to see those updates, always love them

[kibaxx7]

Hope to see Arenas next month

[Lamrock]

Great to see Gil doing so well! Gay's solid play is surprising, considering how detrimental to the team's offense he is IRL.

[Cruzerr]

Love the preview !

[hova-]

Big D in Seattle Part I
November 30th, Before the game against Dallas

....

The radio was playing, I was standing at the window of my office. "half past 11", I mumbled as I had a look at my watch.
Work once again kept me away from home, although I promised my girl that I was back around midnight.
"No chance", I thought and pulled out my cell phone to call here and tell her that I was going to sleep at my office.

The radio just played a decent Ryan Leslie song when the program changed to the 11:30 news.
I held on for a minute as the news started.

"The Seattle Supersonics will host the Dallas Mavericks tomorrow in a game that could already be decisive for Executive and Coach Chris Hova", the news reporter said.

"Oh c'mon, already those rumours", I said to myself while looking for my girl's number in my cell phone.
The news ended and the nightly radio show continued.

"Coach Hova? Have you ever seen a choker like Hova? We even lost to the goddam Mormones two days ago!", the radio mod said.
"Fuck you", I said and switched off the radio.
As I wanted to call my girlfriend, my cell phone rang - I did not know that number.

"Hova?", I picked up the phone.
"Chris Hova?, Cuban here", the voice on the other end said.
"Oh, Hi there, Mr. Cuban, what's up?", I answered pretty surprised.
"Good that you are still up", he said.
"Mr. Hova", he continued, "Our teams are gonna face each other tomorrow night and we are already in town", Cuban said.
"So ...?", I was a bit impatient as I wanted to finally get off my work and go to sleep on my uncomfortable office sofa.
"Well, I wanted to ask you if we could meet before tomorrow's game. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow at a restaurant of your choice", Cuban wanted to invite me.

"Meet? What do you want from me?", I asked directly.
"Well, I have a trade proposal for you and I thought we could use our game to meet face-to-face", he answered.
"A trade proposal? What's with Donnie?", I knew that usually Donnie Nelson was doing those roster moves.
"Donnie? Ahh, well, he's sick, he did not even travel with the team. I'm doing this stuff for him this week", Cuban responded.
"Okay ... well what about that offer? Any details?", I wanted to know if it was worth meeting with that rich prick.
"I don't want to go into detail but I know you're gonna like it", the Mavs owner answered. "Hey it's late right now", he went on. "Let's just meet tomorrow 9 a.m. at the Starbuck's near the Hilton Seattle Hotel", Cuban forced an agreement.
"Hm, I will see what I can do", I answered as I was quite curious. "9 a.m. - Starbuck's Hilton Hotel", I confirmed.
"See you there, howdy", Cuban hung up the phone.

"This guy just knows how to make business", I thought.

Suddenly my phone rang again. I took a look at the display. It was my girl.
"Oh shit ..."



...