Fire & Ice: Speed Y4 1-1

[Oznogrd]

Lindsey Hunter announces He Will Retire at end of year
Not really huge news (so little so that it didnt make the front page): bench warming PG Lindsey Hunter that the Speed acquired from the Bulls for Donyell Marshall has said "Age has caught up with me and Its time to pursue some new Challenges" Hunter is a 17 year veteran who won a NBA championship in 2002 with the Pistons and was on 2nd Team All Rookie in 1994. Most of his and the best part of his career was with the Pistons and it is expected for them to sign him to a 1 day deal in the offseason so he can retire as a member of the team he won a championship on.

Dr Gonzo, The Speed GM, stated "Well, its sad to see anyone retire but Lindsey is a good guy. Ive watched him closely. Often times he helped me eat what room service brought up." Gonzo is notorious for running ridiculous room service bills in each city while the Speed are in town. "He's definitely not a narc"

[Fresh8]

I didn't even know he was still around.

Also Chris Whitney's name popped up in my mind too. LOL Random I know!

[Oznogrd]

Speed's hot start ends with a lukewarm blowout
St. Louis 85 - Warriors 110

For the first time in 7 games, the Speed came out of gate hot. Living up to their name, shot after shot fell, boards were made, steals, and 3 pt shots sunk in the 1st quarter. The Speed thought they had the Warriors on the ropes up 25-13 at the end of the first. Then, the rest of the game happened. For each of the successive quarters, the Speed never managed to hold golden state below 30 points. The warriors eventually cruised to the win with 6 players in double digits.

"We felt good tonight" said Warriors Rookie Stephen Curry (a controversial pick since the Warriors already had a very similar player Montae Ellis) "at least, after the 1st. We hit our shots and picked up our D. The rest fell into place."

Coach of the Warriors Don Nelson "I blame that 1st quarter score solely on me. I told the guys to take it a little easy thinking we'd breeze by. But when St. Louis and Coach Duke came out gunning for the win, I knew I had to tell our guys to do a little shooting of their own. Luckily, it worked."

This young St. Louis Speed team was becoming a media favorite early in the season. Now they've lost 7 straight. When asked about it most of the players say "next" and the coach has actually taken to violence against reporters that ask this. Several court cases are being filed. When asked what they plan to do Coach Duke replied "Well, I hate toadvocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. Maybe we aren't doing enough of those things and too much of other things. I just dont know."

Many wonder if Coach Raoul Duke will keep his job after this mid season collapse. Dr. Gonzo (Duke's attorney and also GM) said he's perfectly safe. "I wont cut him up man. All i might do is carve a little z in his forehead"

The press are quickly learning to avoid interviews with the Speed front office.

Player of the Game
Andris Biedrins
16 pts 10 boards 2 ast 3 stl 5 blk
Just beasted all the hustle stats. Truly earned it.

Speed Notable Performances
Stromile Swift 29 pts 7 reb 1 ast 3 blk
Chris Mihm 17 pts 10 reb 2 blk 1 stl
Rashad Mccants 11 points
Ricky Rubio 4 pts 17 asst

Warriors Notable Performances
Stephen Curry 21 pts 6 ast 1 stl
Kelenna Azubuike 17 pts 4 ast
Biedrins-listed above
Montae Elis 15 pts 9 ast
Corey Maggete 10 pots 1 ast
Raja bell 10 points 1 reb 1ast 1stl

Screenshots or it didn't happen images of the game


The Speed study a good jumpshot..you know, one that goes in


Rashad Mccants said it was like looking into a mirror. Chapel Hill called and asked if they could strike his name from the records he went there.

Up Next: The Lakers...Will Kobe go for the scoring title against an obviously pathetic speed team? Or will he not play long enough to matter?

(out of story note: Suggestions for anything you guys want to hear/see out of this dynasty as far as my team goes? Just curious if you guys are good with just the recaps or what. Obviously nothing crazy but player evals, season stats etc. Im not going through and posting all the crazy stats this game keeps up with unless its relevant to the team im using lol.

[Fresh8]

Just recaps are good. Maybe add player stats and league standings when the time comes around.

Doing solid job with the bare minimum.

And you got better jerseys than the Stealth.

[Mark.]

Yeah I like how you are keeping it simple yet effective. BTW where is Ariza? did I miss something? Im sure you traded for him.

[Oznogrd]

Yeah I like how you are keeping it simple yet effective. BTW where is Ariza? did I miss something? Im sure you traded for him.

he's been around, just woefully ineffective since i moved up difficulties

[kibaxx7]

Rubio's not scoring at all, but close to 20 assists, that compensates.

[Oznogrd]

Lakers easily handle Speed
St. Louis 64 - Lakers 95

There were several reunions occuring during pregame. Ricky Rubio and fellow Spainard Pau Gasol exchanged hugs, handshakes and laughs. Former Lakers Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza greeted their old team cheerfully as Juan Dixon stayed as far away from the Speed bench as he could.

"They shipped me out of town fine, it doesnt mean i like it." said the former Maryland standout.

Despite the good feelings out of everyone but Dixon, the Lakers quickly dispatched the St. Louis Speed: outscoring them by 22 in the first half alone. This was in large part due to rebounding numbers by the Lakers Bigmen Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The Speed only managed 4 first half rebounds. Not 14, not 4 for one player: 4 for the entire team. Behind all the 2nd/3rd chances of the Lakers and their own lack of them, the Speed for all intents and purposes took themselves out of the game.

"That was just bad" said team leader and veteran Stromile Surge Swift who has been the teams leading scorer since their losing streak (now up to 8 games) began. "We didnt keep Andrew and Pau out of there. Even though Ricky told us exactly how to stop Pau, we just didn't execute."

While the team did get pretty beat handily, The Speed have to be proud of improved ball control out of their rookie Spanish Point Guard Ricky Rubio. He lowered his turnovers from 6 the past 2 games to 3.

Player of the Game
Andrew Bynum
16 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast 2 stl 4 blk
Part of the early go ahead lead for the Lakers wins him the nod on a night when no one else really stood out.

Notable Speed Performances
Stromile Swift 24 pts reb 1 ast 1 stl
Luke Walton 10 pts
chris Mihm 10 pts 5 reb 1 blk
Trevor Ariza pts 6 reb 1 ast
Ricky Rubio 4 pts 3 reb 14 ast

Notable Lakers Performances
Kobe Bryant-16 pts 4 ast 7-9 shooting
Lamar Odom 16 pts 6 reb 1 ast
Pau Gasol-8 pts 7 reb 1 ast 1 stl 1 blk

Screenshots or it Didnt Happen Images of the Game


BRAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINSSSSSS


Shannon Brown decides to warm up for the dunk contest


The leaning tower of ariza

Up Next: Utah Jazz: can the Speed end this loss habit against D-Will and Boozer?

[Fresh8]

Ya, Lakers killed you good.

[Oznogrd]

Utah hands Speed their 9th straight loss
St. Louis 79 - Utah 102

Deron Williams and Dee Brown were seen around Salt Lake the night before the game smiling and having a good time in town. Another reunion for the Speed team, Dee and Deron played together in college and for some time in Utah.

"He's like my brother man, its hard to play against him. But off the court, he's still one of my best friends" said the always smiling 3rd string PG for the Speed. "I just wish he had taken it a little easier on us in the game" Brown said jokingly.

"Playing Dee always brings out the best in me whether with him or against him. He just challenges me and makes me work" said Williams. It showed as Deron and the Jazz delivered the 9th straight loss to the expansion St. Louis team. The Jazz jumped out to an early lead as the Speed committed 7 team fouls in the 1st quarter: ending up keeping team leaders (and leading scorers) Stromile Swift and Chris Mihm off the court as they rode the pine with foul trouble early.

"Its tough to play when you're go to guys arent out there" said starting rookie PG Ricky Rubio. "We did well all things considered."

"We have so much work to do but at this point maybe its time to start planning for next year" said Coach Raoul Duke "Its obvious this new trend of losing isnt going to fix itself." The Speed have fallen from division and league leading best record to one of the least feared teams in the league.

Player of the Game
Deron Williams
32 points 1 reb 3 ast
Not the greatest PG numbers but he led the charge against the Speed with the game high of 32.

Notable Speed performances
Stromile Swift-23 pts 4 reb 4 blk
Chris Mihm 18 pts 6 reb 2 ast 3 blk
Desagna Diop 12 pts 3 reb 1 blk
Luke Walton 10 pts 1 blk
Ricky Rubio 2 pts 2 reb 21 ast 1 stl 1 blk

Notable Jazz Performances
Mehmet Okur 13 pts 5 reb 2 ast 1 blk
Carlos Boozer 13 pts 6 reb 5 ast 1 stl 4 blk
Cj Miles 11 pts 2 ast 1 stl 1 blk

Screenshots or it Didnt happen images of the game


Mirror Match...FIGHT!


D-Will being D-Will


Walton does his best Jabbar impersonation

Up Next: Detroit Pistons...Can the speed rebound and prevent a double digit streak of losses against a fellow worst team in the league contender?

[kibaxx7]

Ouch man, told you to play with a higher difficulty and they're killing you! 9 straight losses!

[Oznogrd]

Ouch man, told you to play with a higher difficulty and they're killing you! 9 straight losses!

Yeah i told you guys i sucked. my 1st loss was on rookie after all lol

[megarover]

Man your GM and Coach are crazy! But Hilarious. Dont hit 10 losses in a row.

[Oznogrd]

Trevor Ariza Injured

Today the Speed's 3rd leading scorer Trevor Ariza (due in large part to a great early part of the season) suffered a strained MCL in practice.

"I just tweaked it a little trying to cut around Ricky. Stuff happens when you play this game hard. Its not great but I can play." said Ariza
Trainers said this injury will affect him for as long as the next three speed games against the Pistons, 76ers, and Nuggets.

"This sucks. Trevor may not be scoring like he used to but we still like to have our guys at 100%" said coach Raoul Duke "We'll just have to adjust"

In other Speed News, in the new efficiency report 2 Speed players cracked the top 10. Stromile Swift placed #5 in the league with a 22.6 while Chris Mihm came in at #10 with a 20.7 "It's great to have numbers to quantify what we're doing since the win column isnt really showing it" said Chris Mihm. "I'd still like a couple more wins though"

[Oznogrd]

Speed "turrible" in Pistons Defeat, lose 10th straight
St Louis 74 - Detroit 99

When a Press Conference was called by 7-11 convenience stores as this game drew to a close many media outlets were confused. "We just wanted to ensure that no one associates the Speed's atrocious records and lack of quality with our convenience stores" said the President of the company. After tonight: no one could really argue.

The St. Louis Speed just couldnt seem to get going in the 1st half tonight: shooting a paltry 23%. Rookie Ricky Rubio kept making his passes and holding onto the ball, but his teammates shots just wouldnt fall. "Its tough when you shoot that badly. You start letting it get to you, you start forcing, then more dont fall. Your team falls behind and you start blaming yourself" said team leader Stromile Swift. "We just had an awful first half shooting the ball. I'd like to think if our shots were falling this could've been close, we had fewer turnovers, fouls, and werent too far off in rebounds and other stats. This game should've been way closer than it was" said the Speed's leading scorer Chris Mihm.

"it was ugly out there" said Speed Coach Raoul Duke "Im gonna have to start having whiskey on the end of the bench if we keep playing this."


Player of the Game
Rodney Stuckey
17 pts 1 reb 5 ast 1 steal
Led the Pistons early as they got ahead and then cruised to victory

Notable Speed Performances
Chris Mihm 23 pts 9 reb 1 blk
Stromile Swift 19 pts 4reb 1ast 2 stl 1 blk
Luke walton 12 points 2 reb 1 steal
Ricky Rubio 2 pts 3 reb 15 ast 1 blk

Notable Pistons Performances
Ben Gordon 18 pts 2 reb 3 ast
Ramon Sessions 12 pts 3 ast
Matt Carroll 10 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 stl
Rip Hamilton 6 pts 3 reb 6 ast 2 stl

Screenshots or it didn't happen images of the game


Chris Mihm's dunk is better than the entirety of the dunk contest last night


Sessions Phone Home

Up Next: 76ers. Can the Speed handle A.I parts 1 and 2? probably not

[Martti.]

Wow, the difficulty change has had an effect. Although it is more realistic this way.

[kibaxx7]

Chris Mihm's dunk is better than the entirety of the dunk contest last night

Indeed

[Oznogrd]

Speed Drop 11th straight to Sixers
St. Louis 83 - Philadelphia 103

The home St. Louis Speed fans are nothing if not loyal. Their new expansion team they fought with Russian Billionaires to get moved to their city flat out stinks. Why do we say this you may ask? Because they dropped their 11th straight game to the Sixers at home last night. While not as bad as a blowout as Speed fans have seen recently, its still a disappointing turn for a team that looked very promising (we even had the mistake of having them in the top 5 power rankings) in the first part of the year. Even during certain quarters in their recent losses they've looked as good as many elite teams including the Magic, Lakers, and Suns. But last night they looked lost as the Sixers ran play after play sinking bucket after bucket. Limping into 3 more games before the All-Star Break: the Speed players are ready for a respite from losing. In post game press conferences, they're becoming less and less vocal, often times mumbling answers. Even team leaders Stromile Swift, Chris Mihm, and Ricky Rubio are frustrated.

"I left Europe to have a chance to win. That doesn't seem to be happening. I know its my first year and all but damn this is getting old" said the rookie out of Spain. "I've stepped up my play, where is everyone else?" Rubio has recently upped his assists while lowering his turnover ratio that was sometimes atrocious earlier in the season.

"We'll get through this" said team scoring leader Stromile Swift "but we just gotta put our heads down and plow through. We can't lose em all right?"

Coach Raoul Duke after the game actually had a small z shaped cut on his forehead. "Me and gonzo made a bet. I lost. That's pretty much it. I believe Beck said it best...."Soy un perdidor" Thats what we are right now. But we'll keep playing as long as the fans are here."

Some wonder how long the fans will stick by this expansion team. They may just be dreaming of the draft lottery and beyond at this point.
Player of the Game
Andre Iguodala
32 pts 2 reb 3 ast 1 stl
The guy shot 16-18. Its really hard to argue with that

Notable Speed Performances
Stromile Swift-33 pts 5 reb 1 ast 2 blk
Chris Mihm-24 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 stl 2 blk
Ricky Rubio-2 pts 3 reb 20 ast 1 stl 2 To

Notable Sixers Performances
Allen Iverson 16 pts 18 ast 1 stl
Elton Brand 12 pts 5 reb 2 ast 2 blk
Thaddeus Young 12 pts 4 reb 2 ast 1 blk

Screenshots or it Didnt Happen Images of the Game


Iverson pays tribute to Michael Jackson in his own way


Trevor Ariza trying to prove he's not injured....he missed the shot by the way


Desmond Mason practices his ballet positions


Up Next: 9-11 Nuggets...can the Speed get another win this season or are they throwing in the towel to try get the #1 pick? Will other teams actually trying to win but sucking beat them to it? Stay tune

[Oznogrd]

Teamwork and Blocks help Nuggets stymie speed
St. Louis 92 - Denver 107

The Speed gave their homecrowd something to cheer about. That is, for 24 of 32 minutes. At the end of the third the St. Louis Speed Coliseum (no company has sponsored the arena yet), there was an energy that hadn't been felt since early in the season. Turnovers were being minimized, the scoring was there, even a good amount of rebounds were to be had. Yet the Speed slowed down in the 4th enough to be outscored by the Nuggets by 11.

"We were a little worried we were become that team that goes down to the one of the the worst teams in the league. I told the guys that after the third. They were determined to not be that. We were in the western conference finals last year for a reason. We just didnt show it till the fourth" said Nuggets George Karl.

Player of the Game Nuggets Kenyon Martin stated "Yeah we were a little scared but we managed to hold them off. It was a good win but they played hard. We weren't expecting them to be that good."

Several factors came into the Speeds eventual failure to win this game. The first was 11 blocks made by the Nuggets.

"It didnt matter if we faded away or hooked it or posted up, they were everywhere ready to swat it done. It was like they had canoe paddles to swat us." said Speed team leader Stromile Swift.

The second was 3 turnovers by backup PG Dee Brown "It was just really bad timing for that" said Brown, who known for his smile and energy with the fans looked dejected tonight "I know I messed up. I just hope I keep getting the opportunity to show I'm not a liability to this team." When asked about Dee's performance Speed Coach Raoul Duke said "We all have bad nights. Some nights you ride that edge between careening off a cliff and a high speed chase. Tonight Dee went off the cliff. It happens to the best of us."

Having Dropped 12 straight the Speed are absolutely reeling trying to find any success with their players. Many are unsure of the safety of the Staff's jobs and are unsure how long this expansion team will last. An anonymous fan said "It's bad when people say you're worse than the Clippers"


Player of the Game
Kenyon Martin
21 pts 11 reb 2 ast 1 stl 1 blk
A beast on the boards tonight and shot 10-11. That gets him the nod over Chauncey and Melo

Notable Speed Performances
Stromile Swift 27 pts 8 reb 2 ast 1 blk
Chris Mihm 20 pts 4 reb 1 blk 1 stl
Rashad Mccants 16 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 blk
Luke Walton 16 pts 1 reb (only played 8 min)
Trevor Ariza 2 pts 3 reb 2 ast 3 stl
Ricky Rubio 2 pts 3 reb 15 ast 1 stl

Notable Nuggets Performances
Chauncey Billups 22 pts 4 ast 3 stl
Carmelo Antnoy 19 pts 1 reb 3 ast 2 stl
Nene 14 pts 4 reb 2 ast 3 blk

Screenshots or It didnt Happen images of the game

Rashad Uses Chauncey as a vaulting point: something he learned in gymnastics in college


While Melo Dunks, the guy 2 over from the right on the bench calls for the ball.


Up Next: 6-14 Minnesota Timberwolves. Can the Speed rebound against the bottom of the Northwest division?

[Mark.]

Hahahaha @ that last pic. Tough losses, but its realistic, I like it

[kibaxx7]

Win a game man, please.

[Oznogrd]

Win a game man, please.

Lol you think im not trying? I told you guys i sucked. Don't know why yall didnt believe me I need an in between pro and all star setting. I barely won my pro games. I could always go back to pro. Thats probably the only way im gonna win. Its weird. On all star the computer isnt that bad, then in the 4th they just tear me up. Part of that is the weakness of my bench (Dee Brown), part of that is fatigue, part of it is i just suck. Maybe one game by the end of the season. But odds are I wont be #1 in lottery the Knicks and a couple of other teams are worse.

[kibaxx7]

Maybe if you play a couple of games in pro, if you win like 3 in a row switch back to Superstar

[Oznogrd]

Maybe if you play a couple of games in pro, if you win like 3 in a row switch back to Superstar

best part is? im ont even on superstar. This is all star whupping my ass.

[kibaxx7]

Maybe if you play a couple of games in pro, if you win like 3 in a row switch back to All-Star

Fixed it, then.