NBA Tournament of Champions: Michael Jordan Bracket Finals

I know it's been like a month since I started this tournament, but I'm still kind of in mourning. I have a feeling somewhere, LeBron fanboys are going on about how "LeBron is the greatest ever! Michael wouldn't be able to take him!" based on the most recent Heat team taking out both the '92 and '93 Bulls (something my friend Nathaniel has also been lamenting). They get a totally different monster this time in one of the Celtics' 80's champs. Should be fun.

To remind those of you new to the process, this series will be a best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to see how we got here, first and second round results can be found at the provided links. Let's get cracking.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Larry Bird Bracket Finals

Much of NBA history is the history of the Lakers and the Celtics. With more than half the representatives in the Tournament of Champions between them, it's no surprise that a Lakers/Celtics matchup has occurred plenty of times so far. If you count one matchup where the Lakers were still in Minneapolis, we've had eight such showdowns between these two illustrious franchises, including six in the opening round. It seems only fitting, really, that in Larry Bird's bracket, we have a final between the Lakers and Celtics. Their ninth clash commences in a moment.

As a reminder, this series will be a best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Results from the first and second round can be found at the corresponding links. Let Showtime commence!

NBA Tournament of Champions: John Havlicek Bracket Finals

If you were to look at this field of 64 teams, and I told you to pick the 16 best teams out of that list, odds are you'd end up picking a lot of the teams that are still standing after 2 rounds of action.

Normally there would be an issue with having brackets have matchups so close together, but the theory behind spreading out the tournament as I have is to simplify my posting of the results while having the simulated tournament technically take 2 weeks per round, as the NBA does in reality (since there have been plenty of seven-game series). As such we get back to back posts about Hondo's bracket. Unfortunately for John Havlicek, his teams are out and he has to watch two much more recent squads battle it out to win this bracket.

To figure out the winner, we will play a best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. You can click on the corresponding links for results from the first and second round. Here's how the finale plays out.

NBA Tournament of Champions: John Havlicek Bracket Second Round

We're onto the final day of Round Two of the Tournament of Champions. Starting with the past 64 champs, 46 have already fallen in some great series with some instant classics were we actually playing these games in reality. Sadly, time travel doesn't exist and I'm stuck doing it this way. We have a couple more modern teams going up against a pair of Celtic championship squads from back in the day. Only two of the four can advance.

To determine that, we're doing best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court advantage going to whichever team has the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Last round's results can be found here. Let's close entry to the Sweet 16.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Michael Jordan Bracket Second Round

With two brackets to go in this round, we've already seen some titans fall. Other legends still stand, including a few strong teams in this bracket. Apparently WhatIfSports already did a heavy simulation series involving the last 26 NBA Champions and found this year's Heat team to be the best. But are they? They get tested again this round, so we'll find out soon.

51 sims of a ton of matchups is a LOT of work, so we're sticking to our guns: best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are still done by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to see how we got here, the first round results are here. Let's light this candle.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Magic Johnson Bracket Second Round

When thinking of namesakes for each bracket, this one was the hardest. I already had half the bracket named for Celtics and wanted to even it out some, so Magic got his name on one. He showed why he deserved it a couple weeks ago as his team was one of four in the bracket to advance, but new challenges await this week. A battle of 80's titans awaits, as does Seattle's lone title team coming back from the dead to face a juggernaut. Uh oh.

As usual, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Here are the results from last round. If you're ready, I am too. Let's go.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Tim Duncan Bracket Second Round

It was a fairly nice weekend of catching my breath from all the basketball chaos/trying to fight off the beginning of a cold which hopefully isn't as bad as I feared it was for part of Saturday. It won't stop me from getting back to the second round though.

This bracket is very recency-heavy, and probably had the best example of my dad's theory from the first round. When I set this bracket up, I was torn between naming it after Duncan and after Kobe. Considering the two Laker teams Kobe was the definitive alpha dog on that won titles are both still standing in this bracket, maybe I picked wrong. It's too early to tell though; Duncan's one remaining title team still stands, and on the other side, the most recent Texas title winner challenges Kobe and crew.

As a refresher, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court going to the team with the best overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to see how we got here so far, first round results are here. Let's get moving.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Bill Russell Bracket Second Round

Going in, this bracket was probably one of the more stacked brackets out there. The chaff of this bracket though was promptly taken out; however, only one of Bill Russell's title teams that showed up here remains, and it has a tough task ahead. The common denominator among the four teams left in this bracket is the all time great centers these rosters contain. Russell. Kareem. Shaq. Wilt. Only two of these pillars can support their team to the next round.

In order to get there, we will again play best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1 format). Home court advantage is determined by overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Here's how we got to this battle of titans. The time has come.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Larry Bird Bracket Second Round

Larry Legend got to have his name on a pretty good bracket overall, I'd say. Adding a couple Laker teams to the mix certainly helped this one gain some credibility, even with Bird's '86 team holding serve in Round 1. We also had what I pegged as one of the bigger upsets with Rick Barry's '75 Warriors team gutting out a Game 7 win over the '82 Lakers, setting up a fun series there. The other one sees a battle of all time great centers. Should be fun.

As a refresher, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court advantage going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to refer back to the first round results from this bracket, they're here. Let's get to it.

NBA Tournament of Champions: George Mikan Bracket Second Round

Maybe our viewpoint of today is right that contemporary athletes are bigger, faster, stronger, and all around better than the athletes of yesteryear (to paraphrase my dad); maybe they really aren't. If they aren't, the George Mikan Bracket certainly doesn't help that argument. Though the man inspired a drill all big men should take part in on a regular basis and forced rule changes in the old NBA (like the widening of the lane), his teams couldn't hang with the more modern champions, even if their ace did all he could (and really, he did). Still standing in Mikan's bracket are some teams that came around only a generation after his heyday, and a couple teams that came about during the golden era. Only two of these can advance.

As a reminder, all series in the Tournament of Champions are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1) with home court going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. If you want to see how we got here, here's the first round results. Let's play.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Bob Cousy Bracket Second Round

It's been two weeks, and half of the NBA Champions since 1950 have been eliminated from consideration for the greatest team of all time. I've reset the order in which I'm doing the brackets, hence why the Cooz gets another post despite being here on Wednesday. (Since a best of seven series would normally go 2 weeks, I wanted to keep the timeline consistent).

I've posted the results from each round on my Facebook once these posts go up, and it's garnered some interest among family and friends who grew up with basketball. While I certainly saw a tendency, I didn't really look too close into something my dad saw an interest in:

"One observation on your first round. We tend to view today's athletes as bigger, stronger, and faster (i.e. better) than their predecessors, and that was reflected in your simulations. The more recent team won 75% (24 of 32) of the series played."

I think the Mikan Bracket was an excellent example of this; 3 of his Lakers title teams were in there, and none of them advanced. As we get closer to the title round, I think era will matter less and less since we're weeding out the weaker teams now. A couple friends from my WONC days liked reading it too and we ended up discussing the merits of using simulations versus playing games out on the hardwood in reality. Obviously this would be my preferred way of doing this, but sadly time travel doesn't exist (as far as I know), so I'm stuck with this method. It may not be perfect, but it's the best we've got.

So onto the second round we go. My dad's theory gets put to the test immediately with two more modern teams going up against classic title squads. Same format holds true this round: all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format) with home court advantage going to the team with the better overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. For reference, here's the first round results. Let's move onward.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Michael Jordan Bracket First Round

It's been almost 2 weeks, and we're finally down to the end of the first round of the Tournament of Champions. 28 champions have already fallen. 4 more will fall today. How many will fall in the bracket of the Greatest of All Time?

My friend Nathaniel of Someone Still Loves You, Alberto Riveron fame was amazed by this bracket and how stacked it is. I do think the Russell Bracket is more loaded than this one, but MJ's is pretty top heavy. And we're going to lose a legendary team in the first round thanks to the matchup I couldn't wait for (but amazingly, the random number generator pushed this bracket to the end).

As a reminder, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court being decided by best overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. And the series I most wanted is the one on top. Let's get to it.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Bob Cousy Bracket First Round

I started Confessions of a Sportscaster back in 2011, primarily as a portfolio builder, but also because I wanted to do something with my love of sports, so I started writing about them. Any topic was up for grabs. Even starting to run simulations became a source of entertainment for me. And it's as part of one of these grand simulations (the biggest I've done) that I find myself on post number 200. Seems only fitting that it be in the middle of an exciting round of basketball.

This is a Celtics-heavy bracket with 4 entries from that franchise, including their most recent title, yet there's no time paradox here yet since there's no Celtic/Celtic matchup. At least, not yet. In order to find out if we do, we're doing best of seven series (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court being decided by the best overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Larry Bird Bracket First Round

The 1980's were a fun decade for basketball, weren't they? Granted, I was only around for less than 40 days of the 80's but still. Those Bird/Magic duels made for great theater, and hopefully this tournament idea is making for great theater for you.

Larry Bird gets two of his title teams into his namesake bracket, and gets a rivalry matchup for one of them. That all comes after the jump. As a reminder, these series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format), with home court advantage being decided by overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are once again provided by WhatIfSports.com. You ready? I am.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Magic Johnson Bracket First Round

We're halfway through the opening round of probably my biggest project thus far for COAS. Slowly but surely, we're weeding out the weaker of the NBA champions since 1950. Nothing really too shocking thus far though.

After a layoff for the weekend from posting, I'm back at it this week with the other 4 brackets that have yet to play (even though in reality, they'd be playing right now and would have over the weekend, which is why I'm stretching this out). Once again, these series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1) format. Home court is decided based on overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Bill Russell Bracket First Round

When I set up the NBA Tournament of Champions, I found that the fairest way to set everything up was to randomly seed all the title teams. Of course, this can set up some soft brackets (like Wednesday's) while also building some really tough brackets. This one definitely falls into the latter category.

Three of Bill Russell's title teams are here, as well as Wilt's second championship squad and Kareem's first. Some stacked squads here, so now we have to take these guys to the simulator and see what happens.

As in the other brackets, all series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1) with home court determined by overall record (regular season plus playoffs). All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's go.

NBA Tournament of Champions: George Mikan Bracket First Round

Back in the 1950's, George Mikan dominated the game with his interior presence and skill near the basket. Rule changes definitely made a lot of his style obsolete, though his offensive skill set is still taught today. But how would his Minneapolis squads fare against other title teams, both around his time and well after it? That's largely what this tournament was designed to find out.

Today we have four new matchups following the same pattern as the first couple days. Where applicable, I will try to adjust lineups to accurately reflect what they would have looked like in a situation like this (though yesterday I didn't really have to tweak anything). All series are best of seven (2-2-1-1-1 format) with home court going to the team with the better overall (regular season plus playoffs) record. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some basketball.

NBA Tournament of Champions: John Havlicek Bracket First Round

If yesterday's post was any indication, I think spreading this over 2 weeks was the right call. 3 of the 4 series went at least 6 games, so the parity is definitely there. You know, unless you're the 1978 Washington Bullets (though really, they were one of the weaker teams to win a title at least based on record). Today we go into the Celtic half of the bracket with a good blend of classic and modern teams assigned here. We also get a first glimpse at one of the most scrutinized athletes on a huge stage against one who is well-acclaimed, even if he lost a lot of big games. We also get a fun matchup from last decade that already kind of happened in the first round yesterday. A lot of fun in this bracket. Let's get to it.

Once again, these series go best of seven, with home court decided by the team with a higher winning percentage (regular season plus playoffs), and simulations are done by WhatIfSports.com.

NBA Tournament of Champions: Tim Duncan Bracket First Round

With a week to prepare, I'm ready to begin my most ambitious project in the NBA Tournament of Champions. An overview of what's going on, plus the field, can be found here. I'm going to go through each round in the span of two weeks, as if to simulate the flow of the actual NBA Playoffs, plus 32 series is a lot to go through in one post. As such, I'm going to go through a bracket each day for a few days each of the next couple weeks to get through Round 1, then move on from there.

Each series is a best of seven. Home court advantage will be determined by overall winning percentage (regular season plus playoffs) and will take shape in the 2-2-1-1-1 format. As with prior simulated tournaments, all results are provided by WhatIfSports.com.