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.

'71 Milwaukee Bucks (78-18) vs '60 Boston Celtics (67-21)
Game 1: @ '71 Bucks 148, '60 Celtics 121 (MIL leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '71 Bucks 115, '60 Celtics 108 (MIL leads 2-0)
Game 3: '71 Bucks 124, @ '60 Celtics 105 (MIL leads 3-0)
Game 4: '71 Bucks 141, @ '60 Celtics 123 (MIL wins 4-0)
I don't think either team played very good defense overall in this series, but maybe that's just me. Russell seemed like he did all right on Kareem overall though through the first three games, but Kareem exploded for a 43-21 in the clincher. I don't think anyone could have stopped him that night. Oscar Robertson also had a solid series, notching a triple-double in the opener (18-10-15) but he still has a ways to go to catch up to the leaders.

'00 Los Angeles Lakers (82-23) vs '72 Los Angeles Lakers (81-16)
Game 1: @ '72 Lakers 123, '00 Lakers 105 ('72 leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '72 Lakers 106, '00 Lakers 83 ('72 leads 2-0)
Game 3: @ '00 Lakers 126, '72 Lakers 104 ('72 leads 2-1)
Game 4: '72 Lakers 122, @ '00 Lakers 112 ('72 leads 3-1)
Game 5: @ '72 Lakers 101, '00 Lakers 92 ('72 wins 4-1)
I thought this series would at least add a little more intrigue. The Shaq/Kobe connection never really got off the ground in this series, as Wilt did damage at both ends (plenty of rebounds for him) while Jerry West and Gail Goodrich did most of the main scoring. Game 4 astounded me though; Shaq went off for a 49-20... and they lost by 10! I had to dig to see where they could have possibly gone wrong, then saw Kobe's 3-14 line. Welp. In fairness to the Mamba, he did score 30 on a pretty good night in the finale.

To see the updated bracket, click here.

We're halfway through Round 2, and 24 teams still stand. 8 of them will fall by the end of next week, and we have some fantastic all time matchups looming for Round 3 in a couple weeks. Until then, I'm taking the weekend off (even though in a sense, some games yet to be simulated and other games already simulated will be "going on".) I'll be back on Monday morning with a look at teams that have won titles in the last 10 years.