Game of the Week (1/21/07 – 1/27/07)
Written by Steve aka Boozers
The Killer Canadia vs. Snoop Dawgs

The game of the week is a matchup between two future playoff teams and possible contenders for the 4th Sweet Championship Title.  The Killer Canadia and Snoop Dawgs have two of the most powerful teams in the league.  The matchup between these two teams is a prequel to a very likely first round playoff matchup.  Beyond that, this matchup is a matchup of position.  Both, The Killer Canadia and Snoop Dawgs need a win to stay in the race for a playoff bye, particularly with Nothing But Nets playing as strongly as he is.  A loss for Snoop Dawgs would set him back to the pack of teams barely in reach of, in my opinion, the only bye still available.  A bad loss for The Killer Canadia could be devastating, possibly even knocking him from his current playoff position.  It will be interesting to see which team can progress against the other high caliber team.

The Killer Canadia has an ungodly amount of talent on his team.  His key players are Arenas, Battier, Wade, Dalembert, and Artest.  Beyond these guys, he has number of players who will certainly make their own impact.  On the other side of the ball, Snoop Dawgs has key players in LeBron, Howard, Biedrins, Chandler, and Bosh.  Again, he also has other impact players.  What is unfortunate is that Snoop Dawgs has been hit with a couple harsh injuries.  Both Pierce and Mo Williams have been sidelined until at least February, leaving Snoop Dawgs’ roster weakened.

Both teams are among the league leaders in most of the categories.  Snoop Dawgs has 5 what I will call definition categories (categories that define a team).  He consistently does well in FG%, PTS, OREB, REB, and BLK, currently placing in the top quarter of the league in all 5.  The Killer Canadia places the same in his definition categories: FTM, FT%, 3PTM, PTS, and AST.  During the week, with the exception of PTS, each team will likely take their definition categories.  The competitive categories are PTS, 3PT%, and STL.  The Killer Canadia seems to edge out Snoop Dawgs in 3PT% with the help of Kyle Korver and Battier.  Arenas and Artest, again, give The Killer Canadia an edge in STL.  Finally, Snoop Dawgs has the advantage over The Killer Canadia in PTS, however, without the services of Pierce, he’ll end up losing this category as well.  Final Score: 8-4
The Killer Canadia: 8
Snoop Dawgs: 4

Team FG% FTM FT% 3PTM 3PT% PTS OREB REB AST ST BLK TO Score
The Killer Canadia
0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
Snoops Dawgs
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Week 13 Game of the Week
written by Chris aka Nets

Nothing But Nets vs. Boston Saints
Nothing But Nets will play Boondock Saints in the 1st
of our bigtime games.  This could be the last chance
for the Saints to make a playoff push.  With Dribblin
Drummers playing Polly Urathane, Saints will need to
win big in order to keep up with the pace.  A big loss
and Saints could be done for the year.  Nets is the
same story, who finds himself now 10+ games back for
the 1st seed.  A big loss or even a close game against
Saints could lead to the Nets finding nothing better
than a 2nd seed going to playoffs.  For the Saints,
Kevin Garnett may be facing a suspension and Raymond
Felton is still battling injury, look for Nets to
exploit this.  I'll take Nets in the end, 10-2.

The Killer Canadia vs. Snoops Dawgs
Another important matchup, this time its the 3-4 teams
dueling.  When you see this matchup the first thing
that comes in mind is a matchup that looks like
Villanova vs Florida from last season.  Florida had
the bigs of Noah and Horford while Nova had the
explosive guards including Foye, Lowry and Ray.  In
this matchup Canadia plays the role of Villanova with
possibly the two most explosive pgs in the nba in
Gilbert Arenas and Dwayne Wade while Snoops Dawgs has a collection of bigs and should have no problem taking
blocks and rebounds and fg%, as usual.  Canadia's team
has been hot though.  Dalembert has been sizzling
since being acquired from Nets and Artest and Barnes
have looked good as well.  I'm going to take him over
Snoops in this one.  I'll take Canadia 7-5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game of the Week (1/29/07 – 2/5/07)

LakerFan vs. Boondock Saints

 

The game of the week is a matchup between two borderline teams fighting to claim playoff position.  This week’s game of the week is LakerFan versus Boondock Saints.  Boondock Saints, currently in 7^th place and has been struggling to keep his playoff hopes alive.  A much-needed win for him could possibly move him into playoff position, but more importantly keeps him in a group of teams, which are also on the bubble.  A loss could have the reverse effect, keeping him out of the postseason and sticking him a group of teams chasing the upper third of the league.  For LakerFan, his team needs to pull out a win in order to stay in contention for a bye in the postseason, as he is now 8 games behind Nets.  More realistically, LakerFan simply needs to keep pace with the bubble pack.  A loss could mean dropping out of current playoff position.

 

Each team has their own strengths.  Boondock has key players like Garnett, Mike Miller, Joe Johnson, Ray Felton, and Smush.  He also has some potential impact coming off the bench. On the other side of the ball, LakerFan has his own talent lineup consisting of Kobe, Iverson, Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, and Jason Kapono, who has been on a tear lately.  Each team excels in different categories and it should be interesting to see who can dig into each other’s stats.

 

Both teams have their specialties, which put them among the elite in the league.  Boondock Saints’ definition categories are in 3PTM, 3PT%, REB, and STL.  These stats put him in the top quarter of the league for each one.  LakerFan shows up in the upper quarter in his definition categories: FTM, FT%, PTS, 3PTM, and STL.  During the week, with the exception of 3PTM and STL, each team will likely take their definition categories.  In addition, LakerFan likely grabs FG%, despite being weak in the area.  The competitive categories are 3PTM, OREB, AST, STL, and BLK.  Based on season statistics, LakerFan takes 3PTM with a long list of contributors, including Kapono, Kobe, Q-Rich and others.  Also, Boondock Saints edges him out in OREB with big men KG and Jeff Foster.  The final three categories are unbelievably close.  The two teams have probably trading places in the head-to-head stats all season.  It is more likely that LakerFan takes AST and STL, with the newfound help of Baron Davis and Q-Rich.  Unfortunetly, for him in this circumstance, he gives up BLK, as he no longer has the services of Al Harrington or Jamaal Tinsley and despite acquiring Drew Gooden.  Forecast: Difficult matchup with lots of lead changes.  Final Score: 7-5

LakerFan: 7

Boondock Saints: 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game of the Week (2/5/07 – 2/11/07)

Boston Pimps vs. Snoops Dawgs

 

The game of the week is a matchup between two playoff caliber teams and possible contenders for the league crown.  The Boston Pimps and Snoops Dawgs have two of the most powerful teams in the league.  This matchup is most important for Snoops Dawgs.  Boston Pimps would like to increase his distance between Nothing But Nets, especially coming off a rare loss and a bad week.  However, Snoops Dawgs desparately needs to stay in the race for a playoff spot.  He needs to at least hold ground in this matchup as Boondock Saints, nipping at the heels, probably gets a good victory this week.  This has been a troubling season for Snoops Dawgs as he has dealt with injuries the entire season.  If healthy, Snoops Dawgs could easily make a dent in the playoffs and the matchup between these two teams is a prequel to a very likely first round playoff matchup. 

 

The Boston Pimps team is unparalleled in this league as evidenced by his record.  His key players are Nowitski, Butler, Billups, Ginobili, and Hamiton, though there are many others.  He has number of players who will certainly make their own impact.  On the other side of the ball, Snoop Dawgs has key players in LeBron, Howard, Biedrins, newly acquired Iverson, and Bosh.  Again, Snoops Dawgs has a couple all-to-familiar injuries, which might affect the outcome of the game.  Pierce who has been sidelined the majority of the season and Kwame Brown will both sit this one out.

 

Both teams are among the league leaders in most of the categories.  Snoop Dawgs has 4 definition categories.  He consistently does well in FG%, OREB, REB, and BLK, currently placing in the top quarter of the league in all 5.  The Boston Pimps has an amazing 8 definition catagories: FTM, FT%, 3PT%, PTS, OREB, REB, AST, and STL.  Unfortunately for Snoops Dawgs, whenever you play a team like the Boston Pimps, your definition categories become the competitive categories: FG%, OREB, REB, and BLK up for grabs.  Although close and even with the departure of Chandler, Snoops probably takes OREB, REB and BLK, three categories in which Snoops Dawgs Leads the league.  He clearly has a dominating big man lineup with the likes of Howard, Bosh, Biedrins, and James.  The final category is FG%, for which these 2 teams have probably been trading off for the entire season, separated now by only 0.002%.  The lean goes toward Boston Pimps though because of the addition of Iverson and the subtraction of Kwame and Chadler.  The Boston Pimps continues his usual domination.  Final Score: 8-4

Boston Pimps: 8

Snoop Dawgs: 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOW

 

2 Whiney bitches, 100$ and playoff implications and you got yourself a rivalry.

 

Boozers and Lakerfan face off in what has been the most talked about game in the last couple weeks.  This is a must win for Boozers as any loss now could put a damper on his playoff hopes.  The last time these two teams met Lakerfan won 10-2, with a better roster Boozers could put up more of a fight but lets not forget Lakerfan hasn’t been just sitting around either.  A win for Lakerfan would just about lock him into a playoff spot.  Lets take a deeper look shall we?

 

Lakerfan has made a series of trades to drastically alter his team.  It seems that hes made some trades to make Power Forwards and Centers the focus of his team.  With his latest trade with Drummers he now has two of the top six rebounders in the land.  Lakerfan has won 4 in a row including some high profile wins against Saints and Snoops.  Lakerfan will look to expose Boozers lack of guard talent in order to come out on top.

 

Boozers team has drastically improved since his first blowout loss to Cal.  Pau Gasol is back from injury, he has acquired Andre Iguodala and Emeka Okafor who have each broken out this year and has a team at 100%.  Boozers will need to play his strengths which are his big men, Pau Gasol and Elton Brand.  If Boozers’ stars can’t come up big this week it is going to be a long week for Boozers in this short week of action.

 

Because of the short week I can’t see this matchup being a lot different than the first one.  With already the stronger team Lakerfan also has more games (25) than Boozers (22).  When it is all said and done Boozers will have 100$ less in his pocket and playoff dreams destroyed.

 

Fg% Lakerfan

Ft% Boozers

Ftm Lakerfan

3pm Lakerafn

3pt% Boozers

Pts Lakerfan

Reb Lakerfan

Oreb Lakerfan

Asts Lakerfan

Stls Lakerfan

Blks Boozers

Tos Boozers

 

Lakerfan takes it 8-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOW

 

Snoops vs Dallas

 

This matchup may seem like a joke but theres a lot more on the line then there may seem.

 

In this matchup Snoops continues to hold onto his playoff hopes and will need to stretch his lead.  Boondock Saints is not far behind and plays the bottom 3 teams in his last 3 games during the regular season so if Snoops doesn’t extend his lead any further it could be costly to him and cost him a playoff spot.

 

Dallas continues to be one of the busts of the league, not as if his team is that young and this team could continue to sink further in the standings.  He has a few young guys that he will need to use as a core in Ellis, Granger and Roy and will need to build on that in order to be a contender in the future.

 

In this matchup it features a top rebounding team in the league and some would consider the top rebounding team still.  Snoops has too many studs for Dallas to handle.  Some could argue Pierce, Iverson, Bosh, Lebron and Howard is the top 1-5 in the league.  Snoops needs to win by a big margin here and if he didn’t Boondock will most likely catch him and do his annual chokejob by losing in the first round of the playoffs.  Luckily for Snoops though this will be no contest and should help him hold onto 6^th, at least for now.

 

Final Score – 12-2, Snoops

 

 

GOW

Week 18

Chiefs vs. Nuke

 

This is an important matchup because Chiefs needs a win to stay in front of Lakerfan and avoid a potentially tough matchup against the powerhouse Boston Pimps.  Nuke needs a win to have a chance at squeeking into the playoffs.  With the collapsing Dribblin team seemingly dropping out of the playoff race, Nuke has an opportunity to lock down that 6^th playoff spot.

            Chiefs is dealing with some injuries as Okur, Boykins, Gwall, and Diaw could all miss some time.  Then again, Nuke is without Dick Jefferson and Lue.  Nuke’s team consists of Amare, Ray Allen, and the emerging Josh Howard surrounded by a bunch of decent role player types.  Chiefs team is loaded with stars like Arenas, Odom, Artest, Dalembert and that’s not even including the injured Gwall and Okur.  Chiefs also has a deep bench with quality players right down to the final few players.  Chiefs team is guard oriented while Nuke’s team features a lot of bigs.  I can see Nuke’s bigs taking blocks, rebs, orebs, FG%, and TOs while Chiefs should take FTM, points, 3s, 3%, assists, steals. Im going out on a limb and saying Nuke takes FT% too in spite of his big man oriented team.  That all boils down to a 6-6 tie.  I don’t see it going any other way.

 

 

Week 19

Nets versus Chiefs

 

This is a likely round 2 playoff preview since the #2 seed faces the winner of #6/#3, a matchup either team should win easily.  There seem to be four true contenders: Nets, Pimps, Lakerfan, and Chiefs.  Pimps has separated himself from that group a bit over the last couple seasons while the other three have been jockeying between 2^nd and 4^th best teams.  The winner of this game firmly puts himself in that #2 spot both in the regular season standings and in the eyes of this writer.  It also virtually would guarantee a round 1 bye.  While the loser will have to face the #6 seed, likely Nuke or Boondock. 

Lets break down this face-off between two giants.  Both teams feature talented lineups of mostly guards.  However, Nets guards are just a little bit superior to Chiefs.  Nets, who just set the record for 3 pointers, should win 3s, assts, and steals.  Nets gets the majority of his big-man stats out of the Camby/JO duo.  Chiefs, on the other hand, only has 1 of those types with Dalembert.  Therefore, Nets ought to win rebounds, Orebs, and blocks.  Nets matches up very well against Chiefs because his guards are just a little better than Chief’s guards, and Nets Bigs are just a little better than Chief’s Bigs.  He seems to have all the production categories covered.  Lucky for Chiefs, he ought to be able to take the percentages and TOs since Nets has a lot of high TO, low percentage shooters.  Nets should prevail 8-4.

 

 

Week 20

Lakerfan versus Chiefs

 

            This week the top 4 teams all battle in what looks like some potential playoff previews.  Pimps faces Nets and Chiefs faces Lakerfan.  The Chiefs vs. Lakerfan matchup stands out though as the more interesting matchup.  Chiefs can basically lock up a week one bye in the playoffs with a win as Nets should have a tough week against Pimps.  This game is equally important for Lakerfan because if he wins there is a good chance for him to take the #3 spot and avoid a matchup against Pimps in round 2 of the playoffs.  Lakerfan also has an outside chance at getting the #2 spot and a bye if he can win big against Chiefs. And with any matchup with Lakerfan, it is important for bragging rights since Lakerfan has a memory like an elephant when it comes to past matchups that he has won.  The victor will be able to rub their win in the losers face until the next matchup. 

            Chiefs is going to win this one.  He may be without Odom but he just disposed of Nets and Nuke in the two previous weeks.  His big men will be able to stay competitive against Lakferfan’s big men.  However, his guards and SFs have a definite advantage over those of Lakerfan.  The way I see it, Lakerfan has Kobe, Mo Williams, Melo, Jamison, Hinrich, Chandler and a bunch of mediocre role players.  Chiefs has Wallace, Okur, Battier, Artest, Arenas, Dalembert, Marbury, Korver and some role players.  It tends to be the good players that determine the matchups and the role players on each team will cancel eachother out.  To break it down some lets assume Arenas=Kobe and Chandler=Dalembert.  Pound for pound, Lakerfan probably has the better remaining good players with Melo, Jamison, Hinrich, and Williams but due to Chiefs superior depth he has 2 extra good players and this will be the difference.  To sum it up, Lakerfan has starpower but Chiefs has comparable star power and greater depth. Chiefs win it.

 

 

 

Week 21

Nuke vs. Dribblin

Why is a matchup of two middle tier teams the game of the week, you may be wondering.  Two words (or three if you count compound words as two lol): Playoff Implications.  Dribblin is up by 4.5 games over Boodock for the 6^th and final playoff spot.  Ordinarily, when a team has a 4.5 game cushion and is facing a team that is lower in the standings you would think that cushion would be big enough to virtually assure their spot in the playoffs. For Dribblin, the situation is far from ordinary though.  After proving himself to be in the upper third of the league Dribblin was ravaged by injuries and determined that his team, as constituted, was not going to win a championship.  As a result, he decided to go the route of the youth movement.  He has since dismissed Nash, Jamison, Tinsley, Gooden, Hill among others.  So needless to say, this is an entirely different team than the team that got him into playoff contention.  At this point, Dribblin is not a legitimate contender. 

Nuke is a borderline playoff team that should be able to handle the dismantled Dribblin team.  Nuke just seems to be the superior team at this point and should win the majority of the quantity based categories aside from TOs.  I’m going to assume that Dribblin nabs one of those quantity categories as well as 3pt% and FT% since those are strengths of Dribblin.  That leaves Nuke with the 8-4 victory.

Unfortunately for Nuke, he is too far back to make the playoffs no matter how big he wins.  This is because Boondock, 4.5 games behind Dribblin, is facing an inferior Lakers team and should win big.  With Dribblin’s likely defeat and Boondocks virtual lock for a victory, Dribblin will just miss the playoffs and Boondock will face either Nets of Chiefs in round 1.

 

 

Round 1 Playoffs

Lakerfan vs Snoop

            This is gonna be a great matchup.  Snoops is loaded with studs like Pierce, Bosh, AI, Howard, Biedrins and James.  Snoops rounds out his team with a nice collection of solid 2^nd tier guys like Matt Carrol, Rajon Rondo, and Maggette.  Lakerfan isn’t too shabby either in the studs department with the scoring-machines Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony as well as some other fine players in Hinrich, Chandler, and Jamison.  While Lakerfan’s top guys fall a bit short of Snoops top guns, everybody on his roster will produce solid numbers largely due to some wise FA pickups. 

            So this is how it will happen, taking into account Krstic/stoudamire injuries as well as going under the assumption that Zo is gonna play.  Snoops will win FTM, Rebs, Asts, Stls, Blks, FG%, and 3% Lakerfan will win Points, 3s, Orebs, TOs, FT%.  How I got those numbers, you may be wondering.  I just went category by category and looked at the last month’s performances and based my predictions on that, a very quantitative prediction.  But if you look at the players, Snoop just has too many stars, and his depth is good too.  Calvin has good depth but I think the difference at the top level is the difference in the matchup.  So it’s a 7-5 win for Snoop followed by a pounding at the hand of Pimps next week haha.

 

 

 

Round 2 Playoffs

“God” vs. Chiefs

 

After a full season of completely dominating the inferior teams, the remaining four finally have some competition.  It is anybody’s game now and will likely be decided by which team is healthiest and hottest.  Lakerfan vs. Pimps should be a good matchup but the really intriguing matchup is God vs. Chiefs.  These two teams battled it out all season for the 2^nd bye spot, with Chiefs prevailing in the end.  But regular season standings often show no more than which teams can beat up on the doormats of the league. And this matchup is really up for grabs.

At first glance it looks like “God” is the better team.  He just has more top players and big names.  His lineup doesn’t have any real weaknesses and he has solid guys from top to bottom (well, except maybe foster lol).  Chiefs also has a star-studded lineup but he has a few more holes.  Guys like Diop, Boykins, Hayes, Ilyasova, and Calderon do not compare favorably to the depth that “God” has.  Chiefs does have the advantage of the Dwayne Wade injury though.  Chiefs team is just very well put together so that he is good in every category and his role players help to address his weaknesses. 

Ultimately though, even in spite of the Wade injury, “God” should win this one.  Both teams are comparable at the top of their lineups but the difference will be “God’s” depth.  The bottom thirds of the two teams are not really comparable with “God” still having stars occupying these roles while Chiefs has role players.  Any category could really go either way so theres no point in trying to break it down category by category.  It just seems like the majority of them will go “God’s” way.  Final prediction: “God” wins 7-5

 

Final Playoff Round

Lakerfan vs. Nets

 

Well, this is what it all comes down to.  Health is probably the single most important factor in this series, as it has been for the entire playoffs.  Luckily these two teams are pretty even in terms of health.  Nets will be without Redd and Lakerfan will be without Aldridge, who was red hot, and Chandler will probably miss a game or two. Ordinarily, it seems like Lakerfan would have the advantage with his bigs while Nets would have the advantage with his guards.  However, the absence of Chandler and Aldridge switch the advantage of the bigs to Nets favor.

 

With Nets enjoying the advantages in both areas, he should roll to victory.  Lakerfan should take points and FTM with Kobe and Mello carrying him there.  He should also takes TOs. Im also just going to assume he steals one other random category.  Nets should win take the rest.  It will be an 8-4 victory as Nets claims his first league championship while Lakerfan is the runner up for the second year in a row.