Here are the new Phoenix Suns. Almost certainly the first time a team has their entire starting eleven at 70+ rating, and certainly for 74+. They did trade away a lot of depth, though:
The dynasty is for sure breaking up at some point. Jordan and Primo both warrant $45million contracts. Also with that many stars, someone is going to play less than they want. But also an injury or two would really mess with their playoff runs.
We need a tiebreak! It's reelworld II against Dan II.
reelworld II will join BenitwoSTARRLET, SebJr and Lil-Nut in the 2nd Round.
2nd Round - 2 advance
It's Lil-Nut and reelworld II in the Final Round! We'll either have a 3rd active 5-time winner, or a completely new winner. Exciting!
Final Round
Off to tiebreaks we go!
It's Lil-Nut with his first win! That's the first winner who isn't called BenitwoSTARRLET, Dan II or reelworld II since 2015. And who was that winner? Why, Lil-Nut's old man P-Nut, of course!
I seem to have taken back the role I had early in my career as a top defender and playmaker. Would be great if someone managed to stop the Suns, but most likely we are out against Clippers already so it wont be us...
My bet is on a repeat final from last year, that Suns team and Celtics picking up Wilt after going to the final last year...
Two relatively close games to get these playoffs going! weeweetee with the best Caf performance of the lot, though he's no doubt got even more in the bag.
The Cafites take the lead! Two Nil's injury should be a minor one, with luck. BenitwoSTARRLET is missing the start of this series due to a fractured finger, but she should be back soon.
Massive win for the Suns, but that's not too big of a surprise looking at those teams. Those Minnesota injuries aren't bit part players. Meanwhile, the Spurs are trying out the revolutionary 3 Center Strategy.
A performance worthy of the playoffs from Heine. Lil' V.O. does his best, but the Clippers roll over the Kings in game 1.
Not a game Pepper Bailly will look back on with fondness! 2-0 to Boston.
I guess Dan II was the one with more in his bag, as he drops a super efficient 30 points.
Oof, reelworld II is not having the best time here.
Another decent performance from Nobbers, but this one was quite a bit closer than game 1. Still, 2-0 is 2-0.
Sonius is playing really well so far! Dr. Junior with more fouls than points, and that's not going to win any sort of playoff game.
Heine with... 0 points? At least he still contributed offensively with his passing, and defensively with his everything else.
Much better from Lil' V.O., but it's not enough! The Clippers ran away with the 4th quarter.
Better from the Timberwolves, particularly old man Stobzilla II, but there are some seriously strong performances on that Suns team. That's a stupid starting 5.
Pepper Bailly avoids the 0 point performance, but the 6-1 ratio of fouls to points is still... not ideal.
weeweetee's strong showing is marred by a late game injury. Luckily for the Pistons, Dan II can't quite follow up his last scoring performance.
An overtime win, and the Knicks are back up in the series!
No defending allowed.
This just isn't fair.
A very close one, but the end result is still a 3-0 series lead for the Spurs! It's like I'm back in the old days. Skizzlet and Sonius both did their part this time. So did Dr. Junior, actually, it just wasn't enough.
Sweep, anyone?
Very strong from Lil' V.O., but the Clippers are just too strong! I guess they won those recent rings for a reason.
The sweep is in! The Phoenix Suns proved too strong for the Minnesota Timberwolves, as expected. It certainly didn't help that Minnesota suffered such a gluttony of injuries. And we are talking about the 8-seed here - so maybe this shouldn't be too much of a disappointment.
And another sweep! Dr. Junior did what he could do stop it, getting a quite efficient 22 points, but when some kid named Carlton Carrington drops 38 on you, you know you weren't meant to win. Skizzlet and Sonius are off to another 2nd Round, their first together.
The Mavs reject the sweep! Heine plays pretty well, but there were plenty of solid performances from Dallas to stop the humiliation. Jalen Green's 32 points in 27 minutes is quite impressive.
The sweep train won't stop! Again the resident Cafite, here Lil' V.O., did what he could, but again it proved insufficient in the face of a much stronger team. The Kings got very close to taking game 4, though.
No sweep for you! Pepper Bailly with a meagre 5 points, but somehow simultaneously a team high +/- of 21 in a 7-point game.
The Pistons take a commanding lead! A hobbled weeweetee provided a very healthy 24/9/8.
The Raptors even the score! Two Nil and reelworld II both have pretty decent games, as does most of the New York starting five, but Toronto somehow still take a relatively easy victory. It's a bit of a head scratcher.
3-1 lead to the Nets! BenitwoSTARRLET is back at a very reduced capacity, and provide fouls, blocks and points - in that order. Nobbers with a pretty good game, but it was more than enough to beat the Bulls in this case.
How often does a 15-point win come from overtime?
The Celtics win, as expected, but at least the Bucks avoid the sweep! You can't say that Pepper Bailly had spectacular playoffs, but he did his part. This one comes down to a simple team difference.
21 from Dan II, and this one isn't done yet!
The Raptors have turned the series around! Again reelworld II and Two Nil have good performances, but again Toronto somehow don't care.
The Nets are through to the 2nd Round, as expected. New signing Bones Hyland is proving an asset.
Heine and the Oklahoma City Thunder are victorious!
Good scoring from all the Philadelphia starters, but when the Pistons have bench players providing 20 and 14 points in 16 minutes each... yeah, that's a problem. Dan II and weeweetee have both had a good Round 1, but the former's journey ends here, while the latter's has only just begun. Maybe.
Now here's the upset of the round! On paper the Knicks were the smallest of favourites, finishing with only a single win more than the Raptors in the regular season. I still thought they'd win, though.
The sweep is in! The Phoenix Suns proved too strong for the Minnesota Timberwolves, as expected. It certainly didn't help that Minnesota suffered such a gluttony of injuries. And we are talking about the 8-seed here - so maybe this shouldn't be too much of a disappointment.
And another sweep! Dr. Junior did what he could do stop it, getting a quite efficient 22 points, but when some kid named Carlton Carrington drops 38 on you, you know you weren't meant to win. Skizzlet and Sonius are off to another 2nd Round, their first together.
The Mavs reject the sweep! Heine plays pretty well, but there were plenty of solid performances from Dallas to stop the humiliation. Jalen Green's 32 points in 27 minutes is quite impressive.
The sweep train won't stop! Again the resident Cafite, here Lil' V.O., did what he could, but again it proved insufficient in the face of a much stronger team. The Kings got very close to taking game 4, though.
No sweep for you! Pepper Bailly with a meagre 5 points, but somehow simultaneously a team high +/- of 21 in a 7-point game.
The Pistons take a commanding lead! A hobbled weeweetee provided a very healthy 24/9/8.
The Raptors even the score! Two Nil and reelworld II both have pretty decent games, as does most of the New York starting five, but Toronto somehow still take a relatively easy victory. It's a bit of a head scratcher.
3-1 lead to the Nets! BenitwoSTARRLET is back at a very reduced capacity, and provide fouls, blocks and points - in that order. Nobbers with a pretty good game, but it was more than enough to beat the Bulls in this case.
How often does a 15-point win come from overtime?
The Celtics win, as expected, but at least the Bucks avoid the sweep! You can't say that Pepper Bailly had spectacular playoffs, but he did his part. This one comes down to a simple team difference.
21 from Dan II, and this one isn't done yet!
The Raptors have turned the series around! Again reelworld II and Two Nil have good performances, but again Toronto somehow don't care.
The Nets are through to the 2nd Round, as expected. New signing Bones Hyland is proving an asset.
Heine and the Oklahoma City Thunder are victorious!
Good scoring from all the Philadelphia starters, but when the Pistons have bench players providing 20 and 14 points in 16 minutes each... yeah, that's a problem. Dan II and weeweetee have both had a good Round 1, but the former's journey ends here, while the latter's has only just begun. Maybe.
Now here's the upset of the round! On paper the Knicks were the smallest of favourites, finishing with only a single win more than the Raptors in the regular season. I still thought they'd win, though.
A low scoring game, but still a relatively comfortable win for the heavy favourites! Not the best games from either Skizzlet or Sonius. We know they've got a lot more in them. 12 turnovers from Michael Jordan, I'm not sure about this kid.
The Clippers take the lead! Heine usually isn't much of a scorer, so he needs Scottie Barnes or G.G. Jackson to go off for more than 26 points here. Particularly if they Clippers are going to have 4 bench players with double digits.
The Celtics take game 1! weeweetee was on track for a very good game, going 16/11/4 in just 19 minutes. Let's hope the injury doesn't hinder him too much.
Not an incredible game by any means, but the Nets take the lead!
Same story as game 1, and the Suns get away with an even bigger victory. SebJr may be long past his starting days, but he's having quite efficient contributions from the bench.
Only 8 points from Heine, but Scottie Barnes with 41!
The Detroit Pistons scored 69 points. In a playoff game. That's... not ideal.
Another comfortable win for the Nets, despite the minor injury to Keyonte George. Nothing more than a serviceable performance from Nobbers, but it was enough. Particularly when BenitwoSTARRLET goes off for 19 points from the bench.
Better from Sonius, but the Pistons have so far been unable to activate both him and Skizzlet at the same time, and they're most definitely going to need both to have any chance at all of beating the Phoenix Suns.
Another easy win for the Thunder. Have they cracked the code, then?
This is an improvement from Detroit, but it's still not enough to beat Boston. Clearly the injury is having some effect on weeweetee.
No defence allowed here! Funnily Nobbers goes 7-11 from 3 while BenitwoSTARRLET only goes 2-7, but when they're in the 3 Point Contest it's the opposite.
The sweep is in! Not a big surprise, to be honest. The Spurs would have to have monster games from both Skizzlet and Sonius, and even then it's unlikely they'd actually beat the Suns in a full series. There's just too much quality there for a 47-win team to overcome.
There's only one point in it, but that's 3-1 for the Thunder! Heine decided he needed to score big this time, and he wasn't wrong. 44 GameScore is very good indeed.
Another sweep. I would have expected the Pistons to take at least one game, but having their superstar injured so early on was clearly a big problem.
Nobbers with 30 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. BenitwoSTARRLET actually had a negative contribution as well, if we can trust +/-. I'm not sure I believe it, given she had 7 blocks and no turnovers, but hey. A win's a win.
The Clippers strike back!
The Nets are through to the Conference Finals!
As are the Thunder! Not a single bad performance from the OKC starting 5 this game.
There are clear favourites here, but I wouldn't be shocked if Brooklyn beat Boston. I'd be a bit shocked if Oklahoma City beat the absolute constellation that is the Phoenix Suns, but if Heine and Scottie Barnes go off... well, anything is possible.
The Suns take game 1, as expected, but it was only 10-point game in the end. That's not impossible to overcome, surely? Although that came with Heine having a good game, and Frank Jackson popping up with 22 points from the bench.
If the other was surprisingly close at 10 points, this one was surprisingly not close at 30 points. What happened with the Nets here? Shooting specialist BenitwoSTARRLET ending up with 0 points is not ideal, but it's not like Nobbers lit up the sky either.
Well, game 2 was closer than game 1, at least? Assist king SebJr with 3 assists in 7 minutes. If he had played the full game he would have had 21 assists, and I refuse to concede any part of that logic.
Scottie Barnes with the cool 8 turnovers. Although Dennis Schröder's 6 in 16 minutes is way worse.
From 30 points to 6 points, and this time in the right direction! Nobbers leading the way with 29/11/10, and much better shooting from BenitwoSTARRLET.
Yeesh. If Heine and Scottie Barnes are going to contribute a total of 32 points, the Thunder don't have a snowball's chance in hell at beating the Michael Jackson SebJr Suns. Except... yeah they won.
Another 6-point game, but this time it's back in Boston's favour after an Elton Brand masterclass.
Disaster for the Thunder, as Heine goes off with an admittedly minor injury in the third quarter. They were doing fine up until then. This series is in imminent danger of ending.
Nobbers does what he can, but it's not a good sign when BenitwoSTARRLET has the 2nd highest GameScore on the team, when she starts on the bench. It's an even worse sign that the third highest, and completing the trio of players with at least 10 GmSc, is Killian Hayes even further down the starting five.
The Suns take the series! The final series scoreline is 4-1, but it's been far from the domination that one could have expected from that. This particular game is a good example of that, as the Oklahoma City Thunder nearly completed a 4th quarter comeback. Admittedly that near-comeback was fuelled by some pretty horrendous shooting from Phoenix, which is a good sign for whoever ends up facing them in the NBA Final.
The Nets aren't done yet! Nobbers does his part again, but the true starlet of the show is BenitwoSTARRLET, who turns back the clock and finishes with an efficient 21/7/10, with five blocks!
Yet more good games from Nobbers and BenitwoSTARRLET, but the supporting cast just isn't up to snuff (with the possible exception of Bones Hyland, who drops 33 points himself). The Boston Celtics will represent the East in the NBA Final!
It's a rematch! And again there are no is only one Cafites involved. SAD (but not too sad because SebJr is there, obviously)
