Enter the Dragan [35-11] Final three games

20/11/19

Phoenix Suns [8-2] vs Indiana Pacers [6-6]

Young Pacers push reigning champions all the way in Phoenix



PHX - 30 25 31 19 105
IND - 22 29 22 25 198

Player of the Game: Nikola Jokic
(20pts, 10reb, 3ast, 2stl, 4blk)
(6-11 FG, 1-1 3PT, 7-7 FT)


Top Scorers
Marquese Chriss - 23
Devin Booker - 22
Markelle Fultz - 21
Victor Oladipo - 21
Nikola Jokic - 20
Wendell Carter - 16
Tim Hardaway Jr - 13
Jaylen Brown - 13
Jonathan Jeanne - 12
Al Jefferson - 9
Kevin Knox - 8
Marvin Bagley III - 8

Rebounds
Nikola Jokic - 10
Myles Turner - 10
Marvin Bagley III - 8
Wendell Carter - 8
Kevin Knox - 7
Marquese Chriss - 6
Jaylen Brown - 5
DeAndre Bembry - 5

Assists
Victor Oladipo - 8
Marcus Smart - 7
Markelle Fultz - 5
Marquese Chriss - 5

Steals
Victor Oladipo - 3
Myles Turner - 3
Wendell Carter - 3
Nikola Jokic - 2
Jaylen Brown - 2

Blocks
Jonathan Jeanne - 5
Nikola Jokic - 4

Simmed Game

SAC - 24 19 21 28 192
PHX - 31 27 25 28 111

POTG: Nikola Jokic (17pts, 10reb, 5ast)

Record: 10-2

This was another crazy back-and-forth game. A big third quarter gave us a seemingly comfortable margin heading into the fourth quarter.

But I couldn't buy a basket late in the fourth though and they fought back to challenge the lead again. Hardaway hit a corner three in the final minute to give us the cushion to win.

Tough call. I've let players go or risked losing them in the "re-sign" phase of franchise games to make a run at the big names, only to have them re-sign or quickly sign elsewhere. That's left me to re-sign the player I was willing to let walk, or worst case scenario, lose out on them as well.

None of them has shown brilliance in real life. I guess it comes down to how you feel to either one of them.

Realistically, the only free agents that I would be okay with losing Bender to get are Anthony Davis, Kawhi and Kyrie.

But there is no guarantee that Davis will even be a free agent. Kawhi will likely stay with the Lakers. And I don't really score heavily with my point guards in this game, so Kyrie really wouldn't be a big enough upgrade over Marcus Smart to justify the money.

Draymond, Butler, DeRozan and Love don't really fit with the age profile of my team. Drummond and Middleton play in positions that I already have covered.


Right now I'm leaning towards just waiting until the end of the season for both Bender and Chriss. I plan on re-signing Bender, but I'd like to keep my options open. I can only offer him three year extension at this stage anyway.

I may trade Chriss before the deadline or simply just offer him the qualifying offer at the end of the season and hope no one offers him a contract. If they do I'll just let him go.

Solid plan.

23/11/19

Cleveland Cavaliers [6-6] vs Phoenix Suns [10-2]

Booker and Jokic lead the way again as Suns escape from Cleveland with close win



CLE - 19 31 21 32 103
PHX - 19 29 25 35 108

Player of the Game: Nikola Jokic
(24pts, 18reb, 3ast, 1blk)
(11-20 FG, 0-1 3PT, 2-2 FT)


Top Scorers
Devin Booker - 27
Nikola Jokic - 24
Marc Gasol - 22
Isaiah Thomas - 20
Marquese Chriss - 19
Alec Burks - 15
Marcus Morris - 12
Tobias Harris - 11
Terry Rozier - 10
Michael Carter-Williams - 9
Kevin Knox - 9

Rebounds
Nikola Jokic - 18
Marc Gasol - 9
Dragan Bender - 7
Kevin Knox - 5
Alex Burks - 5

Assists
Marcus Smart - 10
Devin Booker - 7
Michael Carter-Williams - 6
Isaiah Thomas - 5
Andrew Harrison - 5
Alec Burks - 5

Steals
Marcus Smart - 4
Marc Gasol - 3
Kevin Knox - 2
Terry Rozier - 2

Blocks
Marc Gasol - 4

Simmed Game

PHX - 31 32 16 25 104
DEN - 17 19 20 20 176

POTG: Nikola Jokic (16pts, 15reb, 7ast, 1stl, 2blk)

Record: 12-2

It's not quite Shaq & Kobe, but the Booker and Jokic combination is working really nicely so far.

Damn... Cavs got redesigned again? We goin' Halloween.

Black on black didn't get confusing?

Now there's a beastly game for Jokic on the boards!

Jokic is killing everything on sight!

Damn... Cavs got redesigned again? We goin' Halloween.

Black on black didn't get confusing?

I might have downloaded a Cavs design that has the red and black uniforms, instead of the white home uniform. I'll take a look at it next time I load up the game.

Now there's a beastly game for Jokic on the boards!

Jokic is killing everything on sight!

Jokic is awesome. I'm really happy with how well he is fitting in with the team.

If he keeps up his current form he must be good chance to make the all-star game. Although the game always seems to find a way to overlook my players in that regard

29/11/19

San Francisco Warriors [10-4] vs Phoenix Suns [12-2]

Injury to Smart makes nail-biting loss even harder for Suns to take



SFW - 21 32 29 23 105
PHX - 26 26 27 25 104

Player of the Game: Stephen Curry
(36pts, 2reb, 5ast, 5stl)
(14-24 FG, 3-6 3PT, 5-6 FT)


Top Scorers
Stephen Curry - 36
Devin Booker - 24
Jonathan Jeanne - 17
Kevon Looney - 16
Nikola Jokic - 14
Kevin Durant - 14
Dragan Bender - 13
Marquese Chriss - 12
Aron Baynes - 11
Terrence Ross - 9

Rebounds
Nikola Jokic - 12
Jonathan Jeanne - 10
Aron Baynes - 9
Draymond Green - 9
Dragan Bender - 7
Kevon Looney - 6

Assists
Michael Carter-Williams - 7
Draymond Green - 6
Jerryd Bayless - 5
Stephen Curry - 5

Steals
Draymond Green - 5
Stephen Curry - 5
Kevin Knox - 4
Kevon Looney - 3
Tim Hardaway Jr - 2
Jerryd Bayless - 2
Terrence Ross - 2

Blocks
Aron Baynes - 4
Dragan Bender - 2
Jonathan Jeanne - 2
Marquese Chriss - 2
Kevin Durant - 2

Simmed Game

PHI - 16 16 24 29 85
PHX - 18 23 32 21 94

POTG: Ben Simmons (21pts, 9reb, 5ast, 2stl, 2blk)

Record: 13-3

Smart left the game midway through the second quarter with a knee injury. Luckily he'll only miss 1-2 weeks with a sprained left knee.

We could have won this game. I got a steal with 6 seconds left, but then totally lost track of the clock and ended up not even getting a shot up


If Smart hadn't gotten injured I'm pretty confident that Curry wouldn't have had such a big game and we may have won.

Tough loss, but just more fuel on the fire as far as the rivalry with the Warriors is concerned.

Looking forward to the inevitable playoffs series against the Warriors

1/12/19

November 2019 Summary




Division Standings

Eastern Conference











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Western Conference











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Playoff Seeds & Power Rankings

Eastern Conference





Western Conference





Power Rankings




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League Leaders

Points


Rebounds


Assists


Steals


Blocks




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Monthly and Weekly Awards

Players of the Week



Players of the Month



Rookies of the Month




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Rookies Ranking





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Injuries

Tough loss, but just more fuel on the fire as far as the rivalry with the Warriors is concerned.

Looking forward to the inevitable playoffs series against the Warriors

The loss of Klay and addition of Jokic has definitely evened things up.

Hopefully things will turn out differently if we face off in the playoffs for a third time.

Looks like an MVP season for Lillard!

Looks like an MVP season for Lillard!

If Portland finish on top of the western conference standings he should definitely be the favourite to win it. This game does love Westbrook's stats though.

Seattle are doing pretty well too. Anthony Davis might be a sneaky MVP chance.

Wait wait wait, when did Harden join NY?

Wait wait wait, when did Harden join NY?

He signed as a free agent this off-season. Houston don't have CP3 in this universe, so they missed the playoffs. Harden then decided to go play with Porzingis and D-Rose in NYC.

Also if you didn't know - Klay signed with the Bulls, LeBron signed with the Lakers, Kawhi got traded to the Lakers and Boogie got traded to the Bucks. It was a busy off-season

2/12/19

Phoenix Suns [13-3] vs Philadelphia 76ers [13-5]

Sixers come out on top in entertaining battle of the conference leaders



PHX - 31 29 28 33 121
PHI - 34 29 29 36 128

Player of the Game: John Wall
(29pts. 2reb. 8ast, 1stl)
(10-18 FG, 2-3 3PT, 7-7 FT)


Top Scorers
Nikola Jokic - 30
John Wall - 29
Devin Booker - 20
JJ Redick - 20
Ben Simmons - 20
Joel Embiid - 19
Dragan Bender - 18
Dwight Powell - 16
Jonathan Jeanne - 14
Marquese Chriss - 14
Robert Covington - 10
Dario Saric - 10
Kevin Knox - 9

Rebounds
Joel Embiid - 9
Nikola Jokic - 7
Dwight Powell - 6
Ben Simmons - 6
Dario Saric - 6

Assists
Jerryd Bayless - 9
Ben Simmons - 8
John Wall - 8
Michael Carter-Williams - 6
Jonathan Jeanne - 6
CJ Miles - 5

Steals
Ben Simmons - 2
Dario Saric - 2

Blocks
Nikola Jokic - 4
Dwight Powell - 3
Jonathan Jeanne - 3

Simmed Game

DET - 11 32 20 34 97
PHX - 28 27 26 18 99

POTG: Reggie Jackson (18pts, 4reb, 14ast, 2stl, 1blk)

Record: 14-4

Embiid picked up his fifth foul with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. He then fouled out with 1 minute left in the third. Jokic also fouled out in the final minute of the game.

Bayless missed an open layup with a couple of minutes left in the fourth that would have put us up by 5 or 6 points. They grabbed the momentum after that and I couldn't stop them.

Klay signed with the Bulls

Wow, GarPax doing an interesting move for once. Tough loss against the Sixers, even with Embiid missing the entire 4th

Jokic is looking great for you! Glad you signed him, looks like you guys are primed for that repeat!

5/12/19

Charlotte Hornets [5-13] vs Phoenix Suns [14-4]

Jokic produces a monster triple-double as the Suns comfortably beat struggling Hornets



CHA - 13 27 25 30 195
PHX - 22 34 25 25 106

Player of the Game: Nikola Jokic
(23pts, 19reb, 10ast, 1stl, 4blk)
(6-12 FG, 11-12 FT)


Top Scorers
Nikola Jokic - 23
Rodney Hood - 22
Devin Booker - 21
Dwight Howard - 21
Kemba Walker - 14
Christian Wood - 14
Dragan Bender - 11
Jonathan Jeanne - 10
CJ Miles - 10
Kevin Knox - 9

Rebounds
Nikola Jokic - 19
Dwight Howard - 13
Devin Booker - 7
Rodney Hood - 5
Christian Wood - 5
Jonathan Jeanne - 5

Assists
Nikola Jokic - 10
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist - 5

Steals
Christian Wood - 4
Dwight Howard - 4
Devin Booker - 2
Marquese Chriss - 2
CJ Miles - 2
Rodney Hood - 2

Blocks
Nikola Jokic - 4
Jonathan Jeanne - 3
Dwight Howard - 2
Dragan Bender - 2

Simmed Game

CHI - 18 22 30 27 97
PHX - 31 15 32 13 91

POTG: Kris Dunn (21pts, 3reb, 10ast, 2stl)

Record: 15-5

Ryan McDonough surely has the Executive of the Year award wrapped up already because of the Jokic signing alone..

Klay signed with the Bulls

Wow, GarPax doing an interesting move for once. Tough loss against the Sixers, even with Embiid missing the entire 4th

I really should have taken more advantage of him fouling out. I'll have to get them back in the return fixture.

Jokic is looking great for you! Glad you signed him, looks like you guys are primed for that repeat!

Things look good so far. But the west is super tight this season and one bad injury to either Booker or Jokic could put us out of the playoff race. Hopefully that doesn't happen though

The west definitely looks like a close race. However, if an injury does happen you guys might get lucky with your schedule and face a lot of the teams in the East for that stretch. Only 3 teams are over .500 and beside them, it appears you could beat the rest of the Eastern Conference teams with only one of your stars.

You simmed the Finals rematch?

You simmed the Finals rematch?

It slipped my mind that it was a finals rematch tbh

I just sim every second game. Maybe I should sim the first one and play the second in situations like that though.