This is SimCenter: Season 24, Sim 10

[Bowtothebill23]

SimCenter is posted. Please see the 3rd reply.

[ballsohard]

I'll write something with you be.

[ballsohard]

Ben*

[Bowtothebill23]

How’s it! Welcome to SimCenter! We got a packed show for you today, so let’s kick this off with some highlights of the key games from this sim from Bow.

Let’s jump right into it. We saw the Hawks travel to Washington twice as the top two teams in the East squared off. It was a tale of two games as the Hawks dominated the Wizards from the start in the first matchup jumping out to a 16 point first quarter lead, and ultimately won 112-90. Carmelo, Gay, and Nate Robinson combined for 74 points, but it was the Hawks defense that shined in this one as only three Wizards reached double figures with none scoring 20. The second game, however, the Wizards offense was on fire, dropping a ridiculous 79 points in the first half and 113 points through three quarters, winding up winning 142-122. Gerald Green poured in a monster 43 points on 16-20 shooting, while Mbah a Moute, Evans, Mcgrady, and Chandler combined for 72. Carmelo Anthony dropped in 41, but it simply wasn’t enough as the Wizards shot 56% from 3 and 61% overall.

In an always fun matchup, the Kings and 76ers met twice this sim with the Kings sweeping the series. In Philadelphia, Tyson Chandler had himself a night, hitting a clutch shot as time expired to send the game into overtime. In OT, the Kings dominated, outscoring the 6ers 16-6 to win 114-104. Collison, Chandler, and Foye poured in 85 points, while Tyson Chandler led the way with a ridiculous 30-17 stat-line to go along with 5 blocks. He went to the line an incredible 22 times, hitting 16 of them. Demarcus Cousins was neutralized, scoring just 14 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. The second game in Sacramento didn’t have quite the drama or monster stat lines as all 5 King starters scored in double figures. Parsons led the way with 23, but Tyson Chandler again was the star as he dropped in 19-10 with 8 blocks while holding Cousins to just 8 points, and the Kings won 109-100.

The Bucks traveled to Atlanta to take on the Hawks in a battle between the top 2 teams in the Central Division. There was no shortage of points as Boozer, Irving, and Walker poured in a combined 96 points. Walker shot 6-8 from three while Boozer had a near triple double with 31-15-8. But while Boozer put the Bucks on triple double watch, Joakim Noah had the entire league on quadruple double watch. He wound up with 6 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, and 12 blocks. Carmelo Anthony led the Hawks with 33 points, but like the earlier game against the Wizards, the Hawks were simply outscored as the Bucks shot 10-20 from deep and won 127-116.

While the Pacific Division is highlighted right now by the Warriors and Kings, the best two players in the division play for the Clippers and Suns. Love and Durant squared off in Phoenix in this sim. The game did not disappoint. Durant led the Clippers with 31 points, but received plenty of help as each Clipper started scored in double figures. However, the show was stolen by Kevin Love who scored 48 points to go along with 15 rebounds and 7 assists going 4-4 from downtown. Ultimately, Love was simply too much for the Clippers as the Suns won 118-115.

Lastly, we have a tank race battle as, coming into tonight’s sim, the Knicks had the worst record in the league while the Mavericks weren’t far ahead with the 3rd worst record. New York traveled to Dallas early in the sim. This was an ugly game as the teams combined to shoot 16-47 from 3. The motives of the 2 teams were encapsulated in a 4th quarter that saw the Mavericks outscore the Knicks 15-13. DeRozan and Reddick led the way with a combined 49 points while the Knicks struggled to see anyone score efficiently with no one reaching 20 points. At the end of the day, the Mavericks “won” 105-95.

We’re gonna keep it here with Bow as we highlight the star performers of the sim and of the past month.

Al Jefferson won Player of the Week after scoring 30 points in 3 out of 4 games. His highlight was a 43 point/16 rebound/7 block performance on 20/24 shooting in a loss to the Pistons.

Zach Randolph embraced his new team with 4 vintage performances. In consecutive games, Randolph dropped 39, 38, 39, and 34 points to win him Player of the Week.

Chris Bosh picked up Player of the Week after back to back 40 point performances. Bosh dropped 50 points in a loss to the Pistons.

Kevin Love also won Player of the Week off of the incredible 48 point performance against the Clippers. He also scored 46 in a loss to, yep, the Pistons.

Chris Bosh won Eastern Conference Player of the Month, winning Player of the Week twice. Over the month, he averaged 37 points with 5 40-point games including the aforementioned 50 point performance.

Amare Stoudemire picked up Western Conference Player of the Month after averaging 35 points over the month. Amare had 6 40 point games, scoring as many as 47 in a win over the Grizzlies.

Now let’s go back to Bow with some injuries and implications.

We saw the sim end with 5 new injuries, but overall, this wasn’t an awful sim for teams injury-wise. Quick hitters, Zach Randolph is hurt for 1 more day, but the Spurs don’t even have a game so he’ll be fine.

Serge Ibaka is hurt for 4 more days so he’ll have to survive 2 games, but nothing too worrisome.

Rudy Gobert is hurt for 12 more days with a broken finger. I anticipate he’ll be out next sim as he’s far too valuable to the Wolves future to risk further injury in a meaningless season. This probably hurts the Wolves lottery chances a bit as it will open the door for Lopez and Randolph to see more minutes, and they’re simply better players than Gobert at this moment.

In the most impactful injury of the sim, the Blazers lost Hamed Haddadi for 39 days. Haddadi is the Blazers’ starting center, and this is an especially painful injury as the Blazers have no depth behind their bigs. Darko Milicic and Kwame Brown will be looking at a minutes increase, but neither should really be seeing minutes in meaningful games. The Blazers have been hammered by injuries, and this one will drag on into the playoffs. If the Blazers can find a way to sneak in a series win, they could get back a hobbled Haddadi in Round 2.

In the longest injury of the sim, the Raptors lost Tiago Splitter for the remainder of the season. Splitter was playing about 13 minutes a night, and he’s a capable backup big. Terrance Jones will likely see an uptick in minutes, and Josh Childeress may have to see some minutes as a small ball 4, but overall, I think this is a minor problem for the Raptors. If need be, there are plenty of serviceable big men on the free agent market.

And now, let’s send it over to Garbageman who’s going to break down the sim from a playoff perspective, and let’s see the biggest movers and shakers.


With just a few weeks left in the regular season, the playoff picture is solidifying in both conferences, but by no means is the seeding—or even who's in and who isn't—decided. While we're pretty sure the Hawks and the Wizards have their divisions locked out East, we're still not sure who's going to lock up those bottom spots. Out West, there's a different story. The Pacific Division seems to be the only one with two veritable giants battling for supremacy.

The Warriors are on an incredible streak. They've won 10 straight to vault over the Kings for that first seed, and with a new and improved lineup thanks to some smart moves at the trade deadline, it's bombs away for them. At the bottom of the playoff pack, the Warriors' trade partners in San Antonio aren't getting the bump they expected from Z-Bo, who was sidelined with a bruised hip. They're holding the 8th spot, tied in terms of record with the 7th seed Trailblazers, but there is room for movement. The Rockets are missing one of their star players in Al Horford, and they sit only 2 games ahead of the Blazers and Spurs and need a strong finish. On the outside looking in, the Supersonics, who got off to a hot start this season, have been plagued by injury. Their lineup's finally healthy again, and they look to recapture some of the magic they had in the beginning of the season.

In the East, the Pistons have been on a tear, and they've managed to capture the eighth spot. Just a couple weeks ago, they were sitting at a measly 12. With a front court of Anthony Davis and LaMarcus Aldridge, we'd still expect them to be higher. The Cavs, Celtics, 76ers, and Magic still have a chance, sitting either 2 or 3 games from that last spot, but the window is closing. Those teams all remain healthy, however, and while the East has remained close at the playoff cut, they've also remained relatively consistent. Look for the Celtics to make a move. They've got a lot of home games coming up, and their schedule has a lot of winnable games. Look for them to try and gain ground on the aforementioned Pistons, who are tasked with the Wizards (twice), the Hawks, and a four game road trip to close out the season.

Thanks Garbageman. And lastly, as we’re nearing the end of the season, one of the most exciting races is always at the bottom of the league as teams jockey for lottery position. Let’s send it to Xist2inspire who’ll tell us a bit about how this last sim affected lottery odds.

Tanking. It's become something of a dirty word over the years, something teams know they will eventually have to do, but don't want to admit it. But for this upcoming draft, "tanking" is a word that 6 teams don't have to worry about at all. Of the 13 probable lotto picks before this sim, 6 of them belonged to just 3 teams: the Lakers, the Pistons, and the Knicks. 6 picks for 3 teams makes it tougher on teams with a single pick, as they would have to place very high in order to beat the odds.

The Knicks, who have the best odds of getting the 1st pick, lost a little bit of their insurance this sim, as their Mavs pick slipped from projected 3rd to projected 4th, swapping places with the Hornets, one of those teams trying to break into an NY/LA-dominated top 5. The Lakers' odds for two top-5 picks also dropped, as they and the Grizzlies swapped odds at 7th and 8th. A surprise came from the Pistons, who were set to receive two lotto picks this season, but a late surge has brought them out from projected 10th and into the playoff picture, though their pick from Seattle remains in 9th. This has opened things up for other teams in the low end of the draft, and taking over the 10th spot are the 76ers. At 13th before the sim, the 76ers now appear to finally be out of the playoff running after struggling to gain momentum all season. The same could be said for the Celtics, who are now in the 12th spot, which is great news for the Heat, who own their pick.

There is one team outside the lotto that's going to be very interesting to watch as the season winds down, and that's the eternally rebuilding Rockets. Currently sitting at 18, the injury to Horford makes them an easy out for the playoffs. In this case, at least, it would seem like shutting things down for the final few weeks of the season to reach for a lotto spot. But again, "tanking" is a dirty word.

And, as every SimCenter ends, let’s go to the top play of the sim with Bow.

Nuggets-Mavericks, 22 seconds left in regulation down by 3, Mavericks get the ball looking for the tie. Just before time expires, Grant Hill passes to Derozan who NAILS the buzzer beating 3 to send the game into OT. Mavericks win 107-104 in OT.




Thank you for joining us for this episode of SimCenter. Thanks to Xist and Garbageman for their help. Hope ya'll enjoyed!

[JNR]

Excellent stuff guys!

[IamQuailman]

Awesome!

[NOLa.]

Wow, this is fantastic and a lot of information for my favorite thing I do: sim league.


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[WigNosy]

Grant Hill passed to DeRozan? Color me shocked.

[NickMalone77]

Thank you Ben, Xist, & Josh for your media contribution. Here's +5 for your article.