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Sorry I'm so late getting around to this; I'm a college student and this happens to be my final exams week, so I've been quite busy. But as always, we have a lot of exciting postseason games coming up.

Since I'm going into the playoffs as the #1 seed, I'd like to invite others to make their own predictions, to counteract my bias.

With that out of the way, let's get started.

Relegation Series:

6(B8) Italian Mobsters (6-16) vs 7(G8) Brooklyn Ascension (5-17)

These are two teams that have been sitting in the bottom of the barrel all season, and in all honesty their being here is no surprise to anyone. This is their last shot to prove their worth, and they're actually very evenly matched. They've produced similar numbers on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, with the Mobsters being more of an inside team and the Ascension being better on the perimeter. Unfortunately, at this level of play, trying to play the outside offense is tough, which is why the Ascension lost to the Mobsters by 14 in the swamp in March. And why I think they'll lose this series.

PREDICTION: MOBSTERS

6(G8) Jazzsoul (6-16) vs 7(B8) Chixhunter (4-18)

Jazzsoul's team went bot recently. Since the bots have been known to sometimes struggle heavily with setting good lineups, this series is now much more difficult to call. Chixhunter is last in the league in both scoring and rebounding. Jazzsoul, meanwhile, has no control whatsoever over what their team will do in the next game. Their team is balanced, but weak. I don't have a clue how this series will play out, but I'm gonna give it to the bot.

PREDICTION: JAZZSOUL

Playoffs:

Great 8:

(1) Muffin Men (19-3) vs (4) Pittsburgh Justice (12-10)

Through solid management, the Muffin Men have raised their team to a level that the rest of the Great 8 just isn't quite ready to compete with. Pittsburgh has made some improvements of their own in terms of overall skill level. However, they've struggled all season against the league's top teams, going 0-5 against the teams that finished with 15+ wins, and I expect this game to be no different.

PREDICTION: MUFFIN MEN

(2) Horsham Hatters (13-9) vs (3) Miami Nike Elite (12-10)

This will be a display of offensive firepower for the ages, as both teams have solid perimeter offenses and not much on the defensive side. The Hatters being a mid-season addition, they haven't had as much time to build up, and so I think their team is weaker overall. However they have the home court advantage in their favor, which is pretty big in BuzzerBeater. This will be a very close game, I think. But in the end, I think it's Miami's game.
PREDICTION: NIKE ELITE

Big 8:

(1) Those Guys (21-1) vs (4) Rockéts (13-9)

I'll try to be brief with this one. Rockéts are basically a new team that simply hasn't had the time to prepare for a big time playoff match. There's just not much they can do about that.

PREDICTION: THOSE GUYS

(2) Donner Pass Cannibals (21-1) vs (3) Wings Elite (15-7)

The league's top scoring offense, Donner Pass is a staple at the top of IV.47's Big 8 standings, having finished in the top 2 for 8 consecutive seasons. And their plan of action has been the same the whole time: overwhelm their opponents with their high-octane perimeter offense. And their consistently high win percentage speaks to the fact that the plan works.

Their opponent, Wings Elite, is the one of the league's rising stars of the season, having made big strides in improving their team's overall skill level. They're also one of the best in the league at both three point shooting and three point defense (3rd in each category)

This has the potential to be a good one. But the Wings have their work cut out for them in Cannibal Hall.

PREDICTION: CANNIBALS

Of course, as always, regardless of my predictions best of luck to the 11 other teams involved in postseason games!

Another quality write up! Thanks for taking time to do this.

Thanks! I enjoy doing them! They help keep the rest of the league engaged in conversation and people seem to like reading them.

No problem. As a college student myself I know how hard it is to manage your time. Sometimes it's hard for me to find time to even set my tactics for games. So thanks for taking the time, during finals no less, to make a postseason write up.

Well, Pereira and Vertolone both got hurt only 9 minutes into the game. Should be fun rest of the playoffs without my starting C and SF....

...I'm seeing no injuries when I look at your roster page. I think they both just had a one game injury

Appears that way I was assuming the worst

Well, the first round is in the books. First a recap of Tuesday's matches:

In the Big 8, Wings Elite gave Donner Pass a bit of a challenge, especially in the second and third quarters. But with a 31 point effort from Roca that included 6 threes, the Donner Pass Cannibals blew the game open in the fourth to come away with a 107-88 win. Meanwhile, Those Guys tried out a new offensive scheme against the 4th-seeded Rockéts and it seemed to do the trick. The home crowd went home happy after watching their team take a 135-74 win.

In the Great 8, the Miami Nike Elite and Horsham Hatters combined to produce the highest-scoring non-OT game this league has seen since October 13, in season 32 (85587958). In the end, Miami used a 49 point effort in the 4th to pull away for a 148-130 victory. In the 1-4 game, the Muffin Men suffered two injuries in the first quarter, but the remaining 6 players worked together to overcome that issue and walk away with a 14 point victory over the Pittsburgh Justice.

Now, on to our conference championship games!

SEASON 34 CONFERENCE TITLE GAMES:

GREAT 8:

(1) Muffin Men (20-3) vs (3) Miami Nike Elite (13-10)

Neither of these teams have been around buzzerbeater all that long, having just 5 full seasons of play between them. But they've found their way to the top of their conference. Yes, this is partly because the relegated team from division 3 was a bot-replacement team that quickly went inactive, leaving an opening at the top. But it's also partly because the two managers are the kind of new players we need in Buzzerbeater: the kind that are active, willing to learn, and will work to make improvements over time.

As for the matchup itself, the Nike Elite have tried to make a name for themselves as a team that lights up the scoreboard with their outside offense. And to their credit, they're 3rd in the league in scoring with 112 ppg. All that firepower comes with a price, though; their defense is 15th in the league in points allowed at 104. No other playoff team allows more than 93. Muffin Men, on the other hand, is more of an "all-around-solid" team, ranking in the top 4 in the league in scoring offense, FG%, assists, scoring defense, rebounding, blocked shots, steals, and turnover margin.

When these teams met for their season finale, Muffin Men jumped out to a 19 point halftime lead before coasting to a 26 point win. And given what we know about the teams I don't see why that wouldn't happen again.

PREDICTION: MUFFIN MEN

BIG 8:

(1) Those Guys (22-1) vs (2) Donner Pass Cannibals (22-1)

These two teams have built up a rivalry to remember atop the IV.47 Big 8. This is the third straight season that the two have finished tied atop the conference, with a combined record of 120-12 in the regular season during that time. This season, After this game, the two will have a combined 50 wins against division 4 teams, with just three losses. Who did they lose those 3 games to? Eachother. The series is tied at 5 games apiece between them, and this game could be the last meeting to break the tie.

Donner Pass, as per always, comes in with a fast paced, high scoring, outside-based offense designed to overwhelm opponents. They're the best around in terms of three point shooting, at 43.5%, overall scoring at 124.5 ppg, and turnover margin at -5.2 to/gm. Those Guys, on the other hand, lead the league in scoring defense by a wide margin, allowing just 73 points per contest, 20 below the league average. They also lead in overall FG%, rebounding, and turnovers committed.

As with every season, this is the usual "Unstoppable force vs immovable object" matchup, and should be an incredibly entertaining game. But the last four times they've played in The Arena, Those Guys have come out on top by an average of 19 points. They'll have to give it everything they've got to make it 5 in a row, but I think they should pull it off.

PREDICTION: THOSE GUYS

As per always, I would like to wish all the other teams competing Saturday the very best of luck with their matches!

Great write up! Good luck to everyone playing on Saturday!

And then there were two...

The two regular season champions showed some signs of weakness in their conference title games, but by the end of their respective contests, they each showed definitively why they were at the top.

In the Big 8, Those Guys got off to a very slow start, especially on the defensive end, and fell behind 34-27 by the end of the first quarter. However, they got on a huge offensive roll in the second quarter, and played shutdown defense in the third, outscoring the Cannibals 63-37 during that time. From there, they were able to coast to a 19 point victory, 117-98. MVP of the game goes to Pekka Tuokko, who managed 21 points, 21 rebounds, and 5 assists in 35 minutes

On the Great 8 side, 1 seed Muffin Men did not get off to a slow start; instead steadily building up a 12 point lead by the half. However, they had to sustain that lead through a late run by the Miami Nike Elite, who cut the lead to just two posessions. But through one last late surge they were able to shut down the upset bid and win their first division 4 conference title. It's tougher to pick an MVP for this one, but I'm going to give the honor to Jimmy Pereira, who earned a triple double with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.


In the relegation series, quick shout out to the Brooklyn Ascension, who clearly played at a higher level in their series than they had for most of the season and easily earned their right to stay in IV.47 for another season with a 2-0 sweep over the Italian Mobsters.

And now, for the final series of the season:

SEASON 34 IV.47 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

(1 [B8]) THOSE GUYS (23-1) vs (1 [G8]) MUFFIN MEN (21-3)

These teams have a lot in common. They both sit at or near the top of the league in a wide variety of stats. They both have been known to switch between different offensive and defensive schemes depending on the opponent. They both faced an outside-heavy offense in their conference title games, and they both made over 53% of their shots on the offensive end in those games. They also worked their way to the top of their respective conferences in just a few seasons.

Honestly, this matchup is the one that made me most nervous going into the playoffs, simply because they are less predictable than the Cannibals. The Muffin Men also have shown a habit of making steady improvements, and seem to be stronger than they were the last time they matched up against Those Guys. They have three different players averaging a double-double, and players with the ability to put up big numbers scattered all over the court.

However, Those Guys have an X-factor, in the terms of their sheer numbers of strong players. Those Guys work to make sure every member of their 10-man rotation is good enough to compete with any player they may be asked to match up against, and to that end they spend more on their second-string players than any other team except Donner Pass, over twice the league average. As a result, injuries, foul trouble, and players getting tired simply don't affect this team as much as it would others. If someone has an off night, there's more than enough other players available to pick up the slack.

Those Guys are already at a team-record 29 wins on the season. And Muffin Men aren't going to make the finals easy. But they're gonna need a pretty special week to stop their opponents from taking the title.

PREDICTION: THOSE GUYS

Of course, as always I wish Voc the best of luck this week, and since I'm obviously biased I invite any other managers in the league to give their take on the matchup.