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This is where it begins! the real fights.

no offence meant to the other teams, but the 4 teams who remain in the hunt for the title are the teams that stood above the other teams this season.

it all comes down to the next 4 games.

Angels - Falco
The long awaited and predicted conference final. Altho presidents from both the Angels and Falco's fanclub were cocky enough to dub this game the 'real' final of the II.2 division, many consider this to be the first real test for both teams. In the regular season, the mission for both teams was not to lose any unnecessairy games, something in which Falco did a better job than the Angels ( this is based upon the fact that Falco has a 17-3 record against all other teams, where as Angels have a 16-4 record against the other teams). However, when facing eachother in the individual match-ups, Angels ended up taking home the victory on both occasions in this season. The first game was won by 88-77 on Falco's turf ( where Marichal had a mounstrous double double by grabbing 11 rebounds and dropping a franchise high 63 points!). The second game was also won by the Angels, this time beating Falco by 94-80, the game in which both teams played all their starters to ensure getting HCA through-out the PO's.

If we include the rich history between both clubs, well noticed that both clubs have faced eachother 16 times! of those 16 games, 14 were league games, 1 cup game and 1 PO game. As it stands now, all of the Angels 8 victories have come from league games against Falco. Falco has won 6 league games against the Angels, but the most important games (being the Cup game and the PO game) were both won by Falco.

It must be said that Angels are 6-2 in the last 8 games against Falco, and the 2 losses comming from the season in which they went down from the BBBL to ease up the training of Marichal and J-J.

When comparing both teams, you'll see that Falco have a 5 starters and 1 big for rotation. That means that if they are to win, they'll need to get huge preformances from all their starters. for this to happen, it means that all starters have to stay out of faul trouble. That will put an enormous pressure on Falco to play. Angels on the other hand have 7 worthy starters on their team, which 3 guy's worthy of comming off the bench. Since the last game, Angels have strengthened their frontcourt with Karmanas, who will be bringing more experience to this already very seasoned Angels team. However, this doesn't change a lot to the team. It merely provides more rotation for the bigs, something which they have been missing since the injury wave hit them late this season, which forced them to miss Bari for 4 games and has forced Vanhauwaert to sit out these PO's due to injury. Falco will be counting on their big 3 consisting of guards Ulrap and Kazenbeais allong with PF Tiber, where as Angels will be countering with a big 3 of there own, with NT star Marichal in the lead, followed by Former NT and homegrown SF Ottevaere with Bari anchoring the defense.

For both teams, it's a do or die scenario. Falco has an aging squad and needs the better financial state of the BBBL to rejuventate his team. Angels need promotion to keep Marichal happy in both the financial and competitive departement. The game is expected show and in a little over 9 hours, we'll know which team will represent the conference in the divisons final. Both teams deserve the spot, however, only one will be able to go thru to the next round. the other team will be forced to take some harsh financial and competitve decision...

the other conference final sees 2 equally fine teams ( which less cocky fanclub presidents) facing eachother:

TBS Wolves vs SK Wabeke

There is no love lost between these 2 teams. Since season 19, these teams have always met eachother in the PO's! in seasons 19 and 20, they faced eachother in the conference semi-finales, games in which SK Wabeke was both victorious. However, since season 21, the Wolves seems to have gained the upper hand against SKW. First by defeating SKW on their homecourt in last seasons conference finales, and this season, TBS Wolves has won both league games against Wabeke.

If you have a quick look at both teams, then TBS should be the obvlious winner in this confrontation. Wabeke is missing their best bigman due to an injury, something which they would need against the Wolves. It's a well known fact that the Wolves have a strong outside rotation, yet they aren't very deep in their frontcourt.

However, upon looking closer to both teams, you shouldn't count Wabeke out just yet. The Wolves could end up losing a game they should win if they don't give it their all against Wabeke. Wabeke has outstanding form, where as Wolves are missing their offensif superstar Beykan ( the one who dropped 70 points in 35 minutes before fauling out against Tool Belgium!) He's the division leading scoorder, but has had some trouble with his game shape as of late. With Wabekes guards in prolific shape, you have to wonder who will be able to make the points for the Wolves. Wolves hold the slight advantage by having HCA, but any underestimation from the Wolves could prove extremely costly for their chances of reaching the Divisions finals.



predictions:
Angels - Falco ==> Angels win by 10
Wolves - Wabeke ==> Wolves win by 15

situation analysis
In the event that the Angels win, then Angels will have HCA in the finales. With their large rotation, there should be no question that they are the favorites due to their deep team. However, with the recent injury wave that saw several players key players bench, it is rumored that Revo wants to win these PO's in as few games as possible. he fears for injuries potentially decreasing his PO chances and thus wants this to be over with.

In the event that the Angels lose against Falco, then the outcome of the other game decides who gets the HCA. Due to Wolves trashing of Laeken in their last game, they have managed to get a better point diference that Falco, thus enabling them to get HCA in the event of an Angels loss. However, if the Wolves underestimate Wabeke and go easy on them, they will probably pay the price for underestimating their opponents and that would see Falco having HCA against Wabeke in the finals.

So several options are possible. Choice will have to be made by all managers, but as it stands now, the managers of the Angels and the Wolves will have the largest amount of pressure on them. They have all the tools to make the right decisions. If they make the right decisions, it should see them thru to the division finales, regardless of the choices made by the other managers. That means that those managers have the most to lose in tonites games. Should be interesting to see how things will unfold from here on out.

Another interesting analysis indeed.
If you promote, II.2 will surely lose it's finest forum entertainer!

May the best win tonight!

Well, i'm surprized by how i overclassed Falco. I gotta give it to Falco, i wasn't expecting the 2-3 zone, but i fear that Falco doesn't understand how the 2-3 zone works. i know for a fact that his bigs don't have the skills required to play a 2-3 zone.

anyhow, congratulations to Coach Steven. thank you for being such a good opponent. I like facing Good opponents. And now, i've got TBS as my opponent. Heyland, best of luck on tuesday.

you've got a good team with an unpredictable player on that squad. i'm not looking forward to face Beykan. I still don't understand how on earth he was able to drop so many points in several games.

Allright, we're getting some finals action this season. The first time for us.
Beykan is already preparing to drop another 70 :-) If we may believe the analysis, our team only has 1 player who makes a real impact. Lately he has cooled of though, which means others have taken over! Beykan's good, but not the only good player on the team.

Congrats to the MVP Marichal! Good luck in the finals, however our guys are not planning on letting go easily.

Allright, we're getting some finals action this season. The first time for us.
Beykan is already preparing to drop another 70 :-) If we may believe the analysis, our team only has 1 player who makes a real impact. Lately he has cooled of though, which means others have taken over! Beykan's good, but not the only good player on the team.

Congrats to the MVP Marichal! Good luck in the finals, however our guys are not planning on letting go easily.

you've mistread my statement. I see Beykan as a threat. i know who he was facing when he dropped 70 points and the explanation of how that is possible with his salary eludes me. Therefor i fear him and my attention is focused upon him.

You've got other fine players too. But those, i should be able to match defensifly :D the fact that Beykan isn't in good shape is convenient for me. means i don't have to fear him that much. Still, he's your number one producer in points in general.

i'm surprzied about the MVP tbh. Coecnk seemed to have bagged it, with the fact that he lead the league in RB and was 2nd in points. guess the MVP does award a player who's got a more all round game and who does it all, including dishing out assists, not turnging the ball voer, and getting more steals and blocks per game :D

the MVP trophee is a trophee i've longed for 18 seasons. one that i've chased actively in previous seasons. yet it always eluded me. However, now i've finally managed to get it. Yet the Trophee won't mean a thing if i can't secure promotion to the BBBL, cause failing to do so will nearly force my hand to part way's with Marichal.

damnit damnit damnit.

i changed from PO Normal to 1 hour before the game started. i shoulda stayed with my first option. i was nearly sure you'd be throwing away game 1. Still doesn't change a thing for me. unless the GS update would convince me otherwise, then i intend on finishing it in 2 games.

Round 1 is for you, congrats.
Looking at the score I can not help but wonder how on earth we can close such a gap?

round 2 is yours.

you forced my hand here. your GS was so overwhelming that i changed my line up 2 hours prior to the game. reckoned i couldn't win it at your place this time around. So tomorrow we'll get the Tie Breaker. Should be interesting to see who wins their. Both teams have trashed eachothers B-teams. (you can't possibly claim that you were playing at your best in the first game. not with the GS you had then). Game 3 will be exiting. i get back HCA, but it's the first time we'll face eachother seriously this season.

Make no mistake, you can argue that it would be better for my economics to have this 3rd game, but i would have prefered it to be over in 2 games. That way, i would have been able to add 1M to my bank account and have secured promotion. You forced my hand on taking me to game 3. gratz on that achievement. But do know that i won't be holding back in game 3. i'll be using everything that i got, and i'm expecting the same from you.

Our league game was a warm up round for both teams. None were at max power back then. i didn't have Bari, and you didn't have your new Guard.

Our first PO round was thrown away by you. the enthusiasm used kinda gave you away there...
Our Second PO game was a forced forfait from me because of being outmatched GS wise.

So Game 3 should be the real game. the one game that we should be able to enjoy to the end. May the best team win.

I like the idea of making it to the third game, and also the cash is very welcome.
Guess we'll see tonight who's going to take the promotion. We are obviously the underdog here, playing on your court,
but you never know!

I like the idea of making it to the third game, and also the cash is very welcome.
Guess we'll see tonight who's going to take the promotion. We are obviously the underdog here, playing on your court,
but you never know!

i'm giving both teams equal amount of changes. you've got the better enthusiasm. you've got the better shape. i've got the HCA and the deeper team. I really wanted to finish it off in game 2, but with the GS update, i just didn't see it happening.

a lot is on the line for me. i need that promotion big time.