2015 NBA Tournament of Champions: Group Play Day 3

Two days in... 32 games played. The 2015 NBA Tournament of Champions is well underway.

So on Day 3, half of the teams will play their second game of the tournament. How many teams will get off to a 2-0 start and get a good jump on the elimination round? How many will fall into an 0-2 hole that they'll need to climb out of?

Again, because of the sheer numbers, we're splitting each round up over two days and using a random number generator to decide which groups are playing on the first day of each round. This will probably mean that some teams will have to play a back-to-back, but they would follow this up with at least one day off.

So today, Group D will play back to back, while Groups B, C and F are back at it following a day off. Once again, I'll include a link in each group header to the group page so you can see the schedule and standings. On those pages, the team on the right will be considered the home team for all games. All game simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. To view player and team stats for the tournament, click here. Let's take you to court level for the tip.

Group B

1971 Milwaukee Bucks 132, @ 1980 Los Angeles Lakers 129
In our second Kareem Paradox game, both Kareem's ended up having monster games. Defense went out the window for both teams, with each shooting over 50 percent from the floor, though the Bucks took advantage of solid three point shooting (6-11) in the game as well as a 42 point first quarter outburst. '71 Kareem shot 13 of 20 from the field and even hit a three, finishing the night with 42 points and 13 rebounds, while Oscar Robertson chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists. '80 Kareem put up a great fight in the loss, scoring 38, while Norm Nixon added 22 points and nine assists. Magic Johnson put up another near triple-double with 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

@ 1975 Golden State Warriors 129, 1965 Boston Celtics 100
Several Celtics, including Bill Russell, battled foul trouble, but they also struggled to control the glass and the ball, getting outrebounded by 20 and turning the ball over 22 times. Boston also had no answer for Rick Barry, who kept finding opportunities and scored 40 points while adding nine rebounds and four steals. Jamaal Wilkes added 20 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Russell led all rebounders with 17, but only managed nine points, while John Havlicek led the Celtics in scoring with 19 points.

@ 1966 Boston Celtics 118, 1985 Los Angeles Lakers 117 (OT)

What a game. Boston was able to control the game early on and led 62-50 at the half. The Lakers would not go away, however, as an eight point Celtic lead early in the fourth quarter disappeared. A late 8-0 Laker run gave them a 100-98 lead, but Sam Jones hit a jumper with 10 seconds left to force overtime. The extra session saw one tie and nine lead changes, including the teams trading baskets on the final four possessions taking up 20 seconds. John Havlicek hit a jumper from the left side as time expired to give Boston the win. Hondo finished with 25 points, including the game winner, plus 10 assists, while Bill Russell had 22 points and a game-high 29 rebounds. "Big Game" James Worthy showed up for this one, dropping a game-high 31 points while adding nine rebounds and six assists. Byron Scott added 21, Kareem had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Magic chipped in 16 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists.

1996 Chicago Bulls 106, @ 1968 Boston Celtics 91
Like in their first game, the Bulls had a little trouble with the Celtics, as an eight point lead after the first quarter was gone by the end of the third. The Bulls then proceeded to open the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run to erase any doubts about the game and make it three Group B teams to open the Tournament of Champions at 2-0. Chicago had a lot of trouble with Bailey Howell, who lead all scorers with 28 points, while Bill Russell had 13 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks and four steals in the losing effort. Michael Jordan led the Bulls with 22 points while adding nine rebounds and five assists. Scottie Pippen and Luc Longley each added 15, while Dennis Rodman chipped in 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Group C

1972 Los Angeles Lakers 104, @ 1992 Chicago Bulls 95
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. The Bulls didn't shoot particularly well (42.9 percent), were awful at the free throw line (9-17), and had to deal with foul trouble. Even with that, it wasn't even Wilt that was the problem (four points, but 15 rebounds and three blocks); it was Jerry West, who led all scorers with 27 while dishing out eight assists, with Gail Goodrich adding 22 points and Happy Hairston putting up 15 points and 15 rebounds. Michael Jordan led the Bulls with 24, but shot just 11 of 31 for the game. Scottie Pippen wasn't much better, scoring 22 on 9-23 shooting. No other Bulls hit double figures.

@ 1983 Philadelphia 76ers 126, 1993 Chicago Bulls 102

This was a tale of two halves; Chicago was in pretty good shape early on, leading by six after one and by eight at the break. The Sixers made halftime adjustments though, and destroyed the Bulls in the second half, slowly pulling away in the third before stepping on the gas in the fourth. Chicago was outrebounded and held to just 41.7 percent shooting. Moses Malone was the key for Philly in the win, putting up 30 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks, while Julius Erving added 26 points and a whopping seven steals. Scottie Pippen led the Bulls with 25 points, while Michael Jordan only managed 19, though he did have five steals in the loss.

@ 1958 St. Louis Hawks 106, 1954 Minneapolis Lakers 101
This was a very back and forth game, with both teams having big quarters that resulted in a two point Hawk lead going into the fourth, just in time for both offenses to catch fire. The Lakers held a small, brief fourth quarter lead, but the Hawks proved to be too much. Cliff Hagan led the way for St. Louis, scoring 25 points on 10-21 shooting (including 2-4 from deep) while Bob Pettit had 20 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. George Mikan led all scorers with 28 points (including a three!), while Vern Mikkelsen had 18 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

@ 1995 Houston Rockets 119, 1977 Portland Trailblazers 98
Portland battled foul trouble and turnover woes, as their 22 giveaways were too much to overcome. Houston built its lead up over the course of the full game and were able to call off the dogs by the fourth quarter. Hakeem Olajuwon led all scorers with 22 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists, while Clyde Drexler chipped in 20 points and 11 rebounds. Bill Walton led the Blazers with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Maurice Lucas had 15 and 12.

Group D

@ 2000 Los Angeles Lakers 107, 1959 Boston Celtics 91
This game kind of exemplifies a theme from the 2013 Tournament of Champions: teams of today tend to be bigger, faster, stronger and better than teams of yesterday, a theory I wanted to test with this tournament. This was a good example. The Lakers held Boston to just 36.5 percent shooting while shooting 48.5 percent on their end and despite getting outrebounded, seemed to control the inside. LA led 36-23 after one and withstood the second quarter counterattack of the Celtics to hold on for the comfortable win. Shaquille O'Neal led the charge with 38 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks while Kobe Bryant added 23 points. Tommy Heinsohn led Boston's attack with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Bill Russell pulled down 21 boards and chipped in 10 points.

2011 Dallas Mavericks 96, @ 1953 Minneapolis Lakers 79
The Mavs were able to jump out to an early 35-21 lead after one quarter and could largely coast from there, pretty much emptying the bench by the end of the game. The Lakers shot just 33.8 percent for the game, a tournament-low, and turned the ball over 20 times. George Mikan did lead all scorers with 25 points while also pulling down 14 rebounds. Dallas' Tyson Chandler had the game-high on the glass though with 15 boards, while Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 19 points.

1999 San Antonio Spurs 88, @ 2007 San Antonio Spurs 85
Both defenses came to play in this one, as neither team was able to top 40 percent shooting. The '07 Spurs seemed to rely way too much on the three however, making only six of their 25 attempts from beyond the arc, including several misses late. The '07 Spurs did control the game early, leading by eight at the break, but '99 Popovich made the adjustments needed to pull out the win. '99 Tim Duncan led the way with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Sean Elliott and Mario Elie each chipped in 13. Manu Ginobili led all scorers with 20 points, 12 coming at the free throw line while hitting just two of his nine treys. '07 Duncan had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

2013 Miami Heat 107, @ 2009 Los Angeles Lakers 103

This was a fantastic game. Both teams played each other fairly close, both teams shot fairly well, and despite trailing by six going into the final frame, the Lakers never faltered, taking the lead a few times before the Heat took it back and held on. Kobe Bryant was superb, scoring 34 points on 12-23 shooting then adding 12 rebounds and eight assists, all while defending LeBron the whole time both were on the court. Pau Gasol added 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Andrew Bynum chipped in 12 points and 12 boards. LeBron was clearly impacted by Kobe, taking only 13 shots and scoring just 15 points, but he had 13 assists to help five of his teammates also score in double figures. Dwyane Wade led the team with 21 points, while Shane Battier went 5-6 from beyond the arc for the Heat.

Group F

@ 1998 Chicago Bulls 93, 1956 Philadelphia Warriors 90
Despite opening up a nine point lead after one quarter, the Bulls couldn't fully contain the Warriors despite holding them to 36 percent shooting. The Warriors actually took a two point lead into the final quarter, but the Bulls used a balance attack to work back into the game and survive a last second three to move to 2-0. Michael Jordan led the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds, with all other starters reaching double figures. Dennis Rodman led all rebounders with 18. Neil Johnston nearly stole the game for the Warriors though with a game-high 32 points, including eight in the final frame, while Joe Graboski contributed 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

1994 Houston Rockets 107, @ 1988 Los Angeles Lakers 101

Despite his age at this point, Kareem was to a degree able to cancel out Hakeem, resulting in this being a tie game after three quarters. Hakeem took over late, however, hitting several free throws to ice a great contest. Olajuwon shot just 5-16 from the floor, but finished with 18 points. Kenny Smith also added 18, while Otis Thorpe and Vernon Maxwell each chipped in 17. Kareem struggled, managing just eight points and four rebounds, though he got support from guys like Byron Scott, who had 21 points, and Magic Johnson, who tallied his second straight triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.

@ 1960 Boston Celtics 127, 1961 Boston Celtics 115
These two members of the Celtics Dynasty seemed to have no problem running the floor against each other. The two teams combined to attempt 225 field goals and 72 free throws, with the slightly younger Celtics having more in the tank to pull out the victory. '60 Bill Russell led the way to victory, scoring 21 points and adding 19 rebounds and six blocks for the home team, while '60 Sam Jones added 19 points and nine rebounds. '61 Jones led all scorers with 27 points, with '61 Russell contributing 14 points and 22 rebounds

@ 1986 Boston Celtics 112, 2004 Detroit Pistons 100
The Pistons showed a lot of balance, with six players scoring in double figures, but they were outrebounded by 20 and couldn't contain the Celtics' balanced attack. Detroit actually led until late in the third until the Celtics went on a 15-4 run to turn the game around. Kevin McHale feasted on the Detroit frontcourt, leading all scorers with 29 points while adding 14 rebounds. Larry Bird had 21 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, while Dennis Johnson had 11 points and dished out 13 helpers. Rip Hamilton led the Pistons with 21 points, while Rasheed Wallace had 12 points and 13 rebounds.