Thursday, July 25, 2013

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.
 '69 Boston Celtics (60-40) vs '12 Miami Heat (62-27)
Game 1: @ '12 Heat 100, '69 Celtics 87 (MIA leads 1-0)
Game 2: @ '12 Heat 107, '69 Celtics 93 (MIA leads 2-0)
Game 3: @ '69 Celtics 99, '12 Heat 73 (MIA leads 2-1)
Game 4: '12 Heat 101, @ '69 Celtics 72 (MIA leads 3-1)
Game 5: '69 Celtics 101, @ '12 Heat 96 (MIA leads 3-2)
Game 6: '12 Heat 115, @ '69 Celtics 96 (MIA wins 4-2)
If this 2012 Heat team has a flaw, it's that they seem to take some nights off. I think Game 3 was their "off" night. Dwyane Wade went off in Game 1 while LeBron and Bosh were really good throughout the series. LeBron really stepped up in Games 5 and 6, scoring 35 in the loss and upping it to 37 (and finishing just shy of a triple double) in the Game 6 clincher. Watch out for these guys.

'74 Boston Celtics (68-32) vs '01 Los Angeles Lakers (71-27)
Game 1: @ '01 Lakers 123, '74 Celtics 85 (LAL leads 1-0)
Game 2: '74 Celtics 117, @ '01 Lakers 104 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3: '01 Lakers 111, @ '74 Celtics 93 (LAL leads 2-1)
Game 4: @ '74 Celtics 106, '01 Lakers 99 (Series tied 2-2)
Game 5: @ '01 Lakers 101, '74 Celtics 95 (LAL leads 3-2)
Game 6: '01 Lakers 111, @ '74 Celtics 97 (LAL wins 4-2)
As one could expect, Shaq feasted on the Celtics' interior defense. He had 85 points through the first 2 games, but predictably struggled with free throws. In Game 4 he missed 7 freebies, and the Celtics won by 7. John Havlicek had a really good series, getting to the line and scoring plenty, but he couldn't keep up with LA's firepower. Shaq was something, but Kobe had excellent games as well, including a 40 point outburst in Game 6. I'm looking forward to the final in this bracket.

To see the updated bracket, click here.

Only sixteen teams remain. I'm taking the weekend off (and so are the teams) but when I come back on Monday, we'll start going through the finals of each bracket, and I'll at least name an MVP of the bracket (and maybe the all-bracket teams, we'll see). Sit tight; the best is yet to come.

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