Donatas g Lou Williams g Dwyane Wade f Trevor Ariza f Brandon Bass c Brook Lopez g Mario Chalmers f Ivan Johnson c Ekpe Udoh VS Jvu PG John Wall/CJ Watson SG Ray Allen/Courtney Lee SF Shane Battier PF Kevin Garnett/big smack biyombo C Jonas Valanciunas --------------------------------------- Jmcballer Pg Jose Calderon/ Devin Harris Sg Lance Stephenson Sf Paul George/ Alan Anderson Pf Tristan Thompson C Nikolai Vucevic/Zaza Pachulia VS Spooner PG Jrue Holiday/Jeff Teague SG Iman Shumpert SF Dorell Wright/Martell Webster PF Thaddeus Young C Al Horford/Reggie Evans
I'm surprised I got knocked out so early. But whatever it was fun. Time for me to go back to my busy life.
Thought long and hard about this one before voting. I choose Donatas. Wade can guard Wall. Allen has become for the most part, a spot of shooter. Williams can chase him around screens. I think the front courts are about even as far as rebounding is concerned, maybe slightly in Donata's favor given he has Ariza. I give JVU the edge on defense. He can cover Wade with Lee and Battier. and Garnett is waiting. Donatas on offense. I think Wade/Williams will have an easier time creating for Lopez and shooters than Wall will for Garnett consistently. Can't find a clear number two threat on JVU's team. For me it comes down to who makes plays between Wall and Wade and that's an easy choice at this stage in their careers.
Spooner. Spooner has multiple solid defenders on the perimeter and upfront (Wright is average/or less I guess... but Webster off the bench is solid). I think that could be enough to slow down a very balanced offense like Jmc's. Jmc would still score, Horford doesn't provide a lot of rim protection and Jmc has several guys who can get to the rim. But overall it shouldn't be easy. On the other end, Jmc doesn't have much defense outside of George. George can lock down Holiday who's already pretty inefficient. Spooner would probably go with Teague/Holiday here. Which should be fine. Holiday might have a harder time defending Lance Stephenson who's physically too powerful -- but there's no way Calderon can defend Teague, he's just not quick enough.
Jvu PG John Wall/CJ Watson SG Ray Allen/Courtney Lee SF Shane Battier PF Kevin Garnett/big smack biyombo C Jonas Valanciunas VS Spooner PG Jrue Holiday/Jeff Teague SG Iman Shumpert SF Dorell Wright/Martell Webster PF Thaddeus Young C Al Horford/Reggie Evans
I'd probably start a lineup of Teague, Holiday, Young, Evans, Horford for this matchup. Bring in Webster and Shumpert first off the bench.
Your team was better than Spooner's. I really don't think his team should be in the finals right now. This league is built on star power, and his team has no star. Sometimes the game can be that simple. People overanalyze it sometimes.
