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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.

I will be ecstatic if I can steal a game away from you so I can get paid for the third game! Honestly I think you will take the series in two games. My bench is nonexistent. I was looking all season for a very specific type of player to fill my bench but I was unable to find what I was looking for and decided to wait til next year (wasn't sure I'd be able to beat you or Donner Pass even if I did get who I wanted). As far as the match up goes, I would have rather pulled Donner because God only knows what you're going to try and run on me in game 1. I wish you the best of luck and hopefully it will be a good series.

Actually, a few seasons back (season 30) they changed the rules so that neither team gets revenue from game 3 of a finals series. This was because teams were going out of their way to tank game 2 so they could get the extra attendance sales. So instead of getting game 3 money, now both teams get a cash bonus after the series. It varies by division, but in D4, the reward is $100k for the winner, $50k for the loser. So we're gonna both get some solid income this week regardless of the outcome (loser will get about $180k just for playing)

About searching for players, I know how you feel. I know when I was first building up this team back in s32 and s33, I had a couple times where I got impatient of waiting for the guy I wanted and just threw some money at the closest thing I could find on the transfer list.

And on the matchup, I know you've been known to play a few different tactics yourself so I've been racking my brain trying to guess what you're gonna throw at me too. This should at least be interesting, if nothing else.

Yeah I've changed tactics like five times for game one already. It's hard to decide.

Last edited by Voc at 5/16/2016 7:53:53 PM

Well, I got the end result I wanted... The first quarter had me genuinely concerned. Your team was shooting significantly better, especially beyond the 3 point line; I was winning entirely because I was taking a lot more shots than you were. Thankfully my guys pulled it together later in the game. Patient was a good call; I expected an inside offense, and went with 2-3, so an offense that results in a lot of outside shots was basically exactly what I didn't need. and kwang going 6-12 from 3 point land is proof of that.

I checked our rivalry history while setting the lineup for game one; I didn't realize I'd never been on the road to your arena before. No way I'm going away with an easy win there. Good luck Saturday!