>STARTING LINE-UP:
>
>PG - JOHN STOCKTON
>All-NBA 1st Team ('94, '95); All-NBA 2nd Team ('88, '89, '90,
>'92, '93, '96); All-NBA 3rd Team ('91, '97, '99), All-NBA
>Defensive 2nd Team ('89, '91, '92, '95, '97); 10-Time
>All-Star; Olympic Gold Medalist ('92, '96); one of NBA's 50
>Greatest Players.
>
>SG - RICK BARRY
>Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1987);
>NBA champion (1975); NBA Finals MVP (1975); All-NBA First Team
>(1966, '67, '74, '75, '76); All-NBA Second Team (1973); Rookie
>of the Year (1966); 8-time NBA All-Star; All-Star MVP (1967);
>One of NBA's 50 Greatest Players.
>
>SF - GLEN RICE
>3-Time All-Star; All-Star MVP (1997); NCAA Championship
>(1989); NBA Championship (1999).
>
>PF - TIM DUNCAN
>All-NBA 1st Team ('99-'05); All-NBA Defensive 1st Team
>('99-'03, '05); NBA MVP ('02, '03), NBA Finals MVP ('99, '03,
>'05); 7-time NBA All-Star, NBA Champion ('99, '03, '05).
>
>C - DIKEMBE MUTOMBO
>NBA DPOY ('95, '97, '98, '01); 7-Time NBA All-Star.
>
>BENCH:
>
>PG/SG - PAUL WESTPHAL, All-NBA 1st Team ('77, '79, '80);
>6-Time All-Star, NBA Finals Appearance ('76).
>
>SF/PF - ROBERT HORRY, NBA Champion ('94, '95, '00, '01, '02,
>'05); Has appeared in the playoffs all 13 NBA seasons and has
>never been knocked out in the first round; Ranks third in NBA
>playoff history in games and ranks second in three-pointers
>made; Holds the NBA playoff record for the most 3PT-FG made
>without a miss connecting on 7-of-7 from downtown at Utah on
>5/6/97; Set a Finals record for the highest 3PT-FG percentage
>in a seven-game series with a .484 (15-31) mark in 2005; Set
>the NBA Finals record for the most steals in a single game
>recording 7 at Orlando on 6/9/95.
>
>PF/C - BEN WALLACE, NBA DPOY ('02, '03, '05) All-NBA 2nd Team
>('03, '04); 4-Time All-Star.
>
>OVERALL GAMEPLAN:
>
>If you couldn't guess from the roster, this is a slow-down,
>half-court, defensive team. The offense really begins with the
>low-post threat of Tim Duncan. Stock and Timmy can pick and
>roll at almost any time and generate a good look for either
>one of them. If anyone is foolish enough to offer help, there
>is Rice and Barry spacing the floor just waiting to sink a
>jumper. Once Duncan has the ball in good position in the
>low-post it's as good as a made basket -- any help will be
>exploited because everyone (minus Mutombo) can hit a jumper,
>and any single coverage will be abused by The Big Fundamental.
>Once my team gets into its half-court set, it WILL generate
>buckets.
>

u forgot to mention that in order to be a slow down half court defensive team u have to have enough speed to stay in front of whoever is on offense. with ur visbily slower and older starting line-up your chances of trying to stop fast break points will be greatly diminished when u realize that ratliff is as good of a rebounder as there is in the NBA, that rasheed wallace will draw duncan outside to prevent him from rebounding, and that kobe and AI will be looking to cherry pick on every offensive failure your team has via long utlet passes to open court layups. late in game when your squad is tired of shooting the ball due to lack of being able to get past their man and into the paint for layups, they will undoubtable be met by ratliff, artis gilmore, or walton ready to take their head off if they attempt to go inside.

>Also, let's not forget that there is a good amount of
>rebounding skill in every player (minus Stockton), especially
>matching up against low2behold. There will be PLENTY of
>offensive rebounds grabbed, and I'm perfectly okay with
>backing the ball out and setting up EVERY time I get one. If I
>have a 3-pt lead I might take a full minute on some
>possessions just to add two more points.
>

your mentality on this point alone should grant u a failing grade. nobody concocts such bullshit. do u honestly think slow ass deke and frail ass duncan will play volleyball on the backboard for an entire 2 minutes before either rasheed throws a tantrum and proceeds to pummell duncan into the floor boards or ratliff decides to go back to his streetball day of being "the rattler" when he went up for everything and was the only one to come down on 2 feet. also u assume that u will even hold the lead which shows to me that ur gameplan is one dimensional. u dont even explain how u would get a 3 point lead and how u plan to score "two more points." i suggest you do more research as to what it takes to win a NBA basketball game, not what it takes to win a harlem globetrotter game.

>And the 4th quarter is mine. I could spot most teams 10 pts
>and still win the 4th. As long as I save my fouls I can
>completely disrupt any opposing offense when my team puts its
>mind to it, and with hot hands and deep threats like Rice,
>Horry, Barry, and Stockton I can DEFINITELY put runs together.
>If I DO have the lead in the 4th, it's as good as done. This
>is a possession oriented team that WILL milk clock and slow
>everything down. Most games will end in the 80s or 90s, I
>don't care how loaded these rosters are. The paint is going to
>be PAINFUL for the opposition in the 4th and I will NOT be
>taking shots with over 10 seconds on the shot clock.
>

if u think the 4th quarter will be sometype of offensive struggle then u have failed to realize that kobe, ai, wallace, and even stoyakovic are great clutch players and they have the offensive talent to show for it. granted the 4th quarter will probably be all about bigs as i mix and match ratliff and gilmore with wallace playing the small forward for defensive pressure and defensive rebounds or walton, gilmore, and wallace for offensive pressure and offensive rebounds. i will also make sure i match the taller and stronger peja stoyakovic on glen rice in order to utilize the stop n drop, pump and roll, pump n draw, and various screens in order to score.

>We're basically a Bad Boys Pistons squad, only with better
>offense and a bigger, more athletic D. This IS the formula
>that kept Jordan from his first championships, recently upset
>the Lakers in 5 games after people were hollering about
>"Lakers in 3" and helped Tim Duncan earn 3 titles with minimal
>help. It's a proven winning formula, ESPECIALLY come playoff
>time.
>

first of all the bad boy pistons of isiah thomas's era were actually good and the name wasnt literal. your squad is vastly overmatched not due to lack of strategy, but due to lack of ways to implement that strategy. your idea of grabbing a lot of offensive rebounds falls short because u dont have the big men coming off the bench to back up your assumptions and the bigs that u do have as starters arent as talented as u might think. my strategy of keeping duncan away from the basket will undoubtably spell the end of ur run since he seems to be ur answer to all doubt in the universe.

>MATCH-UPS:
>
>STOCKTON v. AI -- While I respect that AI is a quick little
>motherfucker and can always grab himself some steals by
>jumping the passing lane, he's unfortunately going against one
>of the greatest passing PGs in the history of the NBA, if not
>THE greatest. John Stockton will not be turning the ball over,
>even if it is AI jumping the lanes. AI's on the ball D is
>nothing to get too worked up about either, so Stockton will
>pretty much have his way with this match-up on the offensive
>end. On defense, AI will be able to get by Stockton, but he will be
>running into one of the biggest, most effective shot-blocking
>front lines in the entire competition, and we WILL be playing
>TEAM defense. The lane will not be kind to AI and he will be
>largely relegated to jump-shooting. His frustration will also
>lead to poorly advised jump-shooting. Stockton also happens to
>have more steals to his name than any player in NBA history,
>and he will surely be picking off his share of lazy and
>ill-conceived passes from AI. It's basically fundamentals v.
>insane streetball talent, and I'm going to pick fundamentals
>here.

john stockton has been maimed quite a few times by quite a few point guards and ive even glimpsed some games when allen iverson has made the short shorts look like a woman's thong. iverson will run stockton ragged around screens and will undoubtably demoralize him and render him too tired to play effectively on offense. stockton's game is half court and theres nothing in the mold of this game that says he wil spend any considerable time setting up guys in the post. he will undoubtably be containded in the corners of the offense and once he gives up the ball it will be a guaranteed 6 seconds off the clock before anybody has time and patience enough to get the ball back to him due to iverson's off the ball persistence. iverson wil probably drop 30 points on stockton because that what he always did when they played each other in actual games. FYI:: most of AI's game is not "streetball talent," he went to georgetown under the watchful eye of john thompson and before that he was a champion QB... so talk fundamentals out ur ass to somebody with lesser knowledge of the sport.

>BARRY v. KOBE -- Fine, Kobe will be able to score a few
>points.
>
>Kobe will NOT be able to stop Rick Barry, though. Barry is my
>Super Rip Hamilton, he'll be running through screens on nearly
>every set and the slightest bit of separation means a made
>jumper off a Stockton dish. There's no good reason why Barry
>can't be getting 40 with Stockton feeding him the ball. This
>dude is bad, and I don't care, NO ONE in this competition can
>slow his game down, definitely not Kobe.
>

if u thought arizin was slow compared to glen rice, then can u imagine what barry would look like playing against bryant?? first of all barry wont be able to do anything on defense or offense because to be honest today's althlete is 10x more intense than those of yesteryear and what we call a C game today is what guys like rick barry in their primes would call an A game. nuff said. rick barry would shit himself like a confederate soldier fighting against a navy seal.

>RICE v. ARIZIN -- Come on now. Here's a link to Arizin's bio:
>http://www.nba.com/history/players/arizin_bio.html
>
>He's small, he's slow, he plays the old game, and he is
>getting lit the FUCK UP by Glen Rice. It's 6'8" v. 6'4", Rice
>can shoot wherever and whenever he wants, and god forbid he
>takes the little kid into the low post. Rice will be making at
>least five 3-pters a game with this kid covering him. Any time
>we get tired of controlling the game through Duncan and Barry,
>Rice can step up and reel off 10 straight points without even
>trying.
>

too bad rice is playing against stoyakovic or this point might actually make sense. stoyakovic will be draining 3's over the shorter rice and will undoubtably draw him into the air on a few timely pump fakes and either draw the foul or drive past him for the layup. glen rice was never fast or a lockdown defender so expect peja to have a heyday picking apart shrimp fried rice.

>DUNCAN v. WALLACE -- Is this the same Rasheed Wallace that a
>less than 100% Tim Duncan just won Finals MVP against? Oh, all
>right, I'm not too worried about it then.
>

rasheed doesnt need to do much in this matchup aside from what he regularly does which is score, rebound, score some more and draw duncan away from the paint so AI or Kobe will have enough room to navigate. FYI:: tim duncan is the best "role player" in the league. he does his job, he doesnt motivate his teamates to play harder, he is in games like a transmission is in a car. he makes the team go forward (pun intended), but he will demand the ball for 50% of the game to get rolling and when it comes down to clutch time, he will opt of out taking the big shot. he wont be a factor on the boards because he and sheed are evenly matched in size and rebounding ability and duncan will undoubtably be nowhere near the paint on defense unless sheed is backing him down to under the basket.

because to be honest, rasheed wallace does a helluva job getting his man out of position.

>MUTOMBO v. GILMORE -- We all know Mutombo isn't even really
>here to match up against the other Cs, but we also know that
>he's not about to get abused. Mutombo is going to hold his
>position, clean the glass, and make Gilmore work for each and
>every bucket. If he's ever in trouble 1-on-1 we can get the
>quick-handed Stockton in to help create TOs or we can have
>Duncan rotate to close down the lane. Gilmore might get 20,
>but he'll have to work hard for them, and it will just further
>feed into my slow-down tactics.
>

i dont know if u realize this, but mutumbo couldnt score 20 points if they took out the 3 second rule. his defense will undoubtably be neutralized once he gets called for his 2 foul in the first quarter. duncan wont be in the post to help him rebound on defense because sheed will be positioned on the wings when my team decides to slash kobe and ai through the middle. ratliff will undoubtably have a gangster lean on mutumbo and will look to strip the long uncordinated african of the ball everytime he receives it in the low post. trivia:: the sixers were above 70% on the season with ratliff in the lineup and went barely over 50% for the rest of the season when mutumbo was bought to the squad.

that translates to game tempo. lets face it, mutumbo is slow and has poor offensive minded court awareness. he will undoubtably hurt your team with his lack of more dimesional ball playing more than anything else. ratliff will easily be able to push the skinnier mutumbo out of the paint for a quick AI layup or to just get the board mutumbo was going for. Ratliff also has been defensive player of the year and all defensive team in his prime as well and once averaged almost 4 blocks a game in 2003.

>BENCH v. BENCH -- First of all, Walton and Ratliff are
>redundant. There's no good reason to put Theo on the floor
>unless Duncan has gotten the front-line in real trouble. And
>Peja Stojakavic? Are they really subbing him in for Kobe when
>Kobe is sucking air like it's going out of style after chasing
>Rick Barry like a madman for the past 20 minutes? And then
>Peja is gonna D someone? Rice, Westphal, and Barry can all
>light Peja up with minimal effort. Each and every minute Peja
>plays should be high comedy, as he worries about breaking his
>pinky nail trying to actually play some tough-nosed b-ball.
>Peja just further underscores how my team WILL win EVERY 4th
>quarter in this series.
>
actually since u jumped to conclusions and found urself out of position (like your game strategy will end up too), gilmore is coming off the bench to provide continued scoring in the paint, walton is going to be subbed for wallace to provide rebounding and to take hard fouls, arizin will be subbing in for Stoyakovic, and Kobe will move to the small forward position with AI at the point.

gilmore will probably grab just as many rebounds as he would as a starter and his points will probably dip 4 or 5 points. in other words expect gilmore to have a double double (15-10) coming off the bench and expect walton to manage his fouls for key defensive possesions. Arizin will be used to spread the offense because as "the father of the jump shot", people will need to respect his sharpshooter capabilities. he will be used mainly as a kick out option because more than likely all the attention will be going to doubling the A-Train in the paint.

>As for my bench, I've got Westphal who is instant an offensive
>threat, Big Ben who can guard either Sheed or Gilmore, not to
>mention the paint, when I need him. Horry is there to give
>minutes and space the floor. This is the playoffs, remember,
>so whoever is covering him HAS to get out to the 3-pt line,
>meaning even more space for Duncan to have his way in the low
>post and more room for Wallace or Mutombo to grab offensive
>boards. Don't sleep on Horry's D either. He takes it SERIOUS
>when crunch time comes, no matter what his physical talents
>may be. Every guy can play multiple positions, so it will help
>keep rotations fresh and foul counts low. Every guy on this
>bench will be getting 20-25 minutes a night, and my slow-down,
>possession oriented gameplan will always be safe in their
>hands.
>

i cant wait until westphal enters off the bench so i can take advantage of his 3.5 turnovers per game and promptly sic my dogs on him. first of all if u wish to maintain your rebounding presence, it wouldnt be a good idea putting westphal into the game unless u are opting for offense. lets face it, here are the similarly listed players as derived from basketball reference.com::


Rolando Blackman, Jeff Malone, Kevin Edwards, Jerry Stackhouse, Gus Williams, Kevin Johnson, Walter Davis, Mitch Richmond, Fred Brown, Derek Harper, David Wesley, Sleepy Floyd, Terry Porter, Ricky Sobers, Freddie Lewis, Terry Porter, Byron Scott

another thing about westphal is the noticeable dip his points and career stats took in the playoffs.

ben wallace is nowhere near the defensive stopper u think he is. when u consider that his only help on the offensive boards would be robert horry who is known to disapear when the rough gets going, u realize that he will more than likely be overmatched by the duo of walton and gilmore if he doesnt already have his hands full playing against ratliff and the man who made ben wallace fanous:: rasheed wallace.

>CONCLUSION:
>
>I'm willing to admit that AI might black out steal one game
>all by himself, a la the Finals against LA, but that's it.
>Kobe and AI might have high point totals at the end, but real
>observers know they are just going to get frustrated and shoot
>the team out of every game. low2behold's FG% should be right
>around 40% for the series, and in a slow-down, possession
>oriented game that means disaster. Although my team might not
>be winning games by huge margins, we'll do everything when it
>counts and end up on top when the clock reads zero. Afer AI
>steals his one Hail Mary game, Kobe shoots the team out of the
>first 3 quarters, Peja cries about getting sexed against his
>will by Mutombo, and Duncan shows the MVP form he's always
>capable of, my team wins the Series 4-1.
>

the conclusion is that there will be so many open court fastbreak points that our feild goal percentage should be right around 50% and that percentage might even be supplemented once my squad goes into a half court offense. We'd drop it down to the post to let rasheed abuse duncan and let Kobe and AI foul out your bigs via driving to the lane. stockton will undoubtably be called for a few bump and touch fouls due to his inability to stay in front of AI and AI will look like an 8 year old locked overnight in a toys-r-us super store. Rasheed will also be looking to trail plays to cap a 3 pointer on the lack luster wing defense of tim duncan and artis gilmore coming off the bench will have no reply to his 15-10 game as gritty bill walton hustles, tumbles, and grunts his way to 4 offensive rebounds off of casual misses. stoyakovic and arizin will be in games to keep the defense honest. they will promptly be called upon to shoot the wide open 3 pointer or mid range when celery tries to double down on AI, Kobe, Sheed or Gilmore.

on defense with rasheed drawing duncan out of the paint, duncan will become unusable and will be knocked off rythm early. this will leave the lane open for minimally contested layups as mutumbo is boxed out effectively by the wider ratliff. iverson will be looking to exploit the slowed gameplay of celery's squad by roaming the passing lanes and timing steals perfectly with momentum changes. ratliff will be doing some roaming of his own in the paint as he dictates the other team's method of scoring to be solely dependent on jumpers and fade aways. walton will probably end up fighting wallace for boards and will defer to gilmore to block anything that come towards the middle. Kobe will provide AI with wing support as he and AI effectively muddle up any clean passes to teamates and wide open jumpers john stockton or rick barry have. peja stoyakovic will utilize his height advantage on glen rice to make sure he doesnt have a clean look and to prevent any attempted post up move glen might try to reel off.

in the end, the result from the faster offensive power horse versus the slowed down defensive half court squad would probably fall on a few factors::

1. my squad has better bigs who can score more and rebound just as well as ben wallace and mutumbo.
2. my squad has guards that have been shown to be unstoppable offensively offense and solid on defense.
3. my squad has a bench that maintains the scoring consistency and rebouding pressure that will be established throughout the game.
4. my squad is faster on and off the ball and there are just as many shooters as their are finishers and just as many shot blockers as there are rebounders and players who disply superb on ball pressure.

im looking at a 4 game sweep in my favor.
with rasheed wallace and allen iverson sharing co-MVP and artis gilmore being sixth man.

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IG: mike_gx
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