Primed to Ignite :: NBA Live 10 | Rockets fall into 1-3 hole

[cavs4872]

Rockets hold on against mighty C's
Boston 98 @ Houston 111

In their 67th game of the season, the Rockets were able to hold court against the second-best team in the league, the Boston Celtics, who dropped two games behind the Washington Wizards in a 111-98 loss tonight. It was a block party at Toyota, as the Rockets collected 18 on the contest: Boris Diaw led the way with 5, while Yao and Artest snared 3 each.

A totally balanced scoring attack was up for order by the Rockets: Diaw 21, McGrady 20, Artest & Battier 16 and Yao 14; every active player save Brian Cook played, and each scored a bucket. T-Mac grabbed an incredible 14 boards and dished out 7 assists, while the starting frontcourt of Yao and Diaw grabbed 9 boards each; a feel-good win for the Rockets - a rare instance where they were able to comfortably hold off an equally elite team in the league.

For the stacked Cetlics, their bench didn't do much, but their elite starting five was solid: in the least likely fashion, Rasheed Wallace and Rondo led the scoring column with 24 each, while mid-season acquisition Kevin Durant contributed 17. The remnants of the big three (Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen) were somewhat disappointing, combining for just 17 points. KG did snare an 11 & 15 double-double though.

The Celtics are in Dallas tomorrow, while the Rockets visit the Garden Sunday afternoon to tangle with the East worst 19-50 New York Knicks, who have a key injury to their best player Nate Robinson. The Rockets currently have 15 games remaining until the playoffs; as of today, they would enter a 3/6 matchup with the San Antonio Spurs (being the three). Despite a big deadline deal where the Trail Blazers packaged LaMarcus Aldridge for Andrea Bargnani, they still sit atop the West at 45-25, with the Rockets and Lakers each a game-and-a-half behind.

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T-Mac shows that he still has what it takes against one of the league's elite.


His Airness would finish a monster jam over Battier and Yao.

[cavs4872]

I almost forgot...

Simmed Progress

88-73 home win versus New Jersey (Artest - 24 points, 6 boards)
69-59 home loss versus Denver (Carmelo 18-5-5, Billups 16 & 5 dimes)
88-70 home loss versus Memphis (Mayo 23, Conley 21)

*Preceding Boston game (yeah, the sim engine is weird)

[cavs4872]

Centres really suffered in NBA Live 10's sim engine. Case in point, what do Dwight Howard's numbers look like right now in your season? He was a 20 and 10 player at that point, but he was generally putting up 12 and 12 in simulated games in NBA Live 10.

Yup; 93 overall averaging 11, 11 and 2 blocks (moved to PF after acquiring Brad Miller in deadline deal). Most dominant big is Pau Gasol averaging 17 & 10; shame they couldn't get it right. Yao will probably finish the season with 10 & 10, but I do have Artest and McGrady (with the point guard domination in Felton as well ).

[Andrew]

Awesome blocking numbers! Getting close to the record there.

Ah yes, the old centres being played at power forward. Once again, Shaq and Ilgauskas is my go to example there. At least Howard did play power forward for his first couple of years in the league, since the Magic had Kelvin Cato and Tony Battie.

[cavs4872]

A lot of bizarre lineups going on in the league: Mike Dunleavy at PF with Troy Murphy at C for the Pacers, and my next matchup will have Al Harrington starting at center.

[cavs4872]

Rockets fly to Chi-town for date with Bulls
March 22, 2010

The 37-32 Chicago Bulls are sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference after some drastic deadline moves, hosting one of the league's best (Houston Rockets) as they fight for their playoff lives. The Bulls have a healthy starting five of Hinrich-Vince Carter-Luol Deng-Josh Smith-Joakim Noah... a true team's team, with no clear leader (other than perhaps an aging Vince Carter), with an upbeat Tyrus Thomas coming off the bench. It will be Noche Latina Latin Night in the Windy City on Monday night.


Cousins never stop dueling.

Result: Bulls barely escape, 78-72

8 min. quarters in this one to ease me back into things (of course I wish I did longer), but the thing that kills is sitting down and playing a full 48 minute game without a save & quit feature in 2019. I'm definitely at least bumping up to 9, and hopefully by the playoffs (13 games away) I'll have something figured out.

The starters played the majority of this one for both teams as they ready to get into playoff shape. Boris Diaw lead the way for the Rockets with a 23 & 10 double-double, while Yao snared his own with a beastly 15, 17 and 4 blocks. T-Mac spent considerable time at the point tonight, as the Rockets ran a 2019 death lineup of McGrady-Artest-Battier-Diaw-Yao; T-Mac had 21 on an atrocious 9/30 shooting.

For the Bulls, newcomers Josh Smith and Vince Carter had 8 and 19 points respectively, while steady-hand Kirk Hinrich led the way with 21, and mainstay Luol Deng added 14.

A rough pill to swallow... 13 games away from the playoffs... don't know how many more I should play. The once-hot Clippers have plummeted out of playoff contention, I've already seen the Lakers enough times this season; it's looking like maybe host league-best Washington, visit KD & the Celts and then maybe finish the season in Phoenix. I could also go the other direction and play some shitty teams we won't see in the playoffs... time will tell.

Play of the Game

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Yao stuffs Vince, and then Diaw Monday-night quarterbacks it to T-Mac (this game still has fuckin' good animations).

Previous game (simmed): 92-47 W in NY (gotta love this sim engine, though we all know the Knicks were fuckin' trash at this time - Al Harrington at center and the shortest backourt ever in Nate Rob and Chris Duhon); T-Mac leads the way with 26.

ESPN

[cavs4872]

Fuck it...

Rockets finish the season 6-7 with a final record of 49-33

Awards

Wade MVP: 27-3-4
Augustin MIP: 21 & 6 APG
Josh Smith DPOY for not even that great of numbers...
Steph Curry ROY (they knew) - 14.5 PPG & 5.5 APG
J-Rich 6th man of the year for 10 PPG in 20 MPG for the Suns

ALL-NBA TEAMS








Doc wins coach of the year for leading the Celtics to 61-21


(accidentally simmed that first LAL/SAC game, but are we surprised with the result?)

Rockets get locked into classic 4/5 death matchup with Spurs... oy vey.

So yeah, Kings, Warriors and probably Pacers are our surprise teams. Warriors are kind of resembling the balance of the "We Believe" squad: 4 players averaging double-figures (Curry, Ellis, Maggette & S-Jax)... would love to meet them, but them making it to the WCF is more unlikely than me. Danny Granger and Kevin Martin are unsurprisingly leading their respective squads.

2 injuires in the playoffs: Rodney Stuckey will play with a sore knee for a week against Washington, while our own Brian Cook will miss a month with a dislocated shoulder. Devin Harris will spend his early offseason rehabing a torn achilles.

[cavs4872]

Round 1 Preview: (4) Houston vs. (5) San Antonio

The Rockets have the unfortunate pleasure of being that team who will get ousted by the Spurs (who will still be good for another decade)... nah, for real, this is gonna be a good series. The Spurs are probably the least fun team we could've matched up with, but this might as well be the WCF. Our series is definitely the best first round matchup, followed by Portland/Dallas.

Starting Lineups



Raymond Felton
Tracy McGrady
Ron Artest
Boris Diaw
Yao Ming

VS.



Tony Parker
Manu Ginobili
Richard Jefferson
Tim Duncan
Dan Gadzuric

[Andrew]

Best of luck in the Playoffs!

Those averages for Howard, though...once again, NBA Live 10's sim engine really was a letdown.

[Breems]

Rockets and Spurs are two of my favorite teams. Should be an enjoyable matchup.

[cavs4872]

Best of luck in the Playoffs!

Those averages for Howard, though...once again, NBA Live 10's sim engine really was a letdown.

Yao got it worse! Couldn't even average double-figures.

Rockets and Spurs are two of my favorite teams. Should be an enjoyable matchup.

Thanks man. Good to see you around. Any plans on continuing your story, or is rl getting in the way? Totally understandable.

[Breems]

I'm getting the itch.

I was previously playing during my daughter's naps or playtime, but now that she's mobile, it's tough to find time.

I'm trying to work it out, though. I may sim a few more games than normal to get more accomplished.

[cavs4872]

So months ago I played the first game against the Spurs and was obliterated 101-72, effectively losing all motivation to continue the story, but here I am again. T-Mac was the lone bright spot with 37-4-5. Tony Parker had some classic point guard domination with 32-6-7, Ginobili adds 26 & 7 boards and RJ & Duncan add 17 each with 9 and 8 boards respectively. An annoying as fuck thing about this game is you can't view the playoff box scores after the game so I had to go in the player stats.

My mantra for this story going forward is gonna be to take it slow: I feel like I rushed the regular season to get to the playoffs, and I'm going to play all games at 12 minute quarters going forward as well. The difficulty is a huge question mark; I'm gonna try All-Star again cause I hate making things too easy. Hopefully I don't get obliterated again.

Inspired by Thierry I considered doing the UBR but hate Windows software and it seemed like a total hassle for me to figure out (I don't even own 2K14 PC).

[cavs4872]

San Antonio escapes Houston 2-0 as Felton misses game-winning three

Artest wants to hear it from the crowd after sinking a big-time shot.

T-Mac had 22 points in the first quarter and finished with 41, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, but it wasn't enough as the Spurs narrowly escape Houston with a 123-121 win to take a 2-0 lead back home in this best of seven series.

Shane Battier was a bright spot, scoring 16 points off the bench. Rick Adelman has been toying with the idea of giving him the starting nod in place of Tracy McGrady so they can get Yao going at the beginning of the game and then T-Mac can provide a scoring punch off the bench. Right now, Von Wafer and Battier alternate as the bench leaders, and if Shane Battier is your go-to guy off the bench then you have a problem.

The whole McGrady thing I find humorous: he was an absolute afterthought when I started this story, and here he is leading the team.

I swear Richard Jefferson plays like Carmelo Anthony in this game; it's ridiculous. He had 36 points on 13-22 shooting, while Tony Parker continues to be dominant with a night of 37 points, 6 rebounds and 13 assists. Ginobili adds 22 as par for the course.

And for your interesting anecdote, for some reason George Hill has a lefty release in this game.

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[Andrew]

Unlucky there. Weird error with George Hill as well. Also, I'd forgotten he was around that long. I think his Spurs stint in general is forgotten, as is the fact they traded him for Kawhi Leonard at the 2011 Draft.

[kibaxx7]

Inspired by Thierry I considered doing the UBR but hate Windows software and it seemed like a total hassle for me to figure out (I don't even own 2K14 PC).

Oh, nice to hear I inspired you somehow. I've always wanted to check Live 10, but I was starting with 2K back then and never went back to it. I do have fond memories of Live 2003-08, though. Will follow this for sure.

[cavs4872]

Felt like I should make a little obligatory announcement here: I did change my username again for the 1000x (as noted in the off-topic section), this time going back to something old that I think people might recognize me more by?

[cavs4872]

Rockets stay alive in series with 107-97 win in San Antone

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T-Mac gets the nice and-one to go upon checking into the game in the second.

The series is now 2-1 in favor of the Spurs; the Rockets take care of business with a couple scares along the way. Rick Adelman follows true to his quote and brings T-Mac off the bench.

Literally an ideal game and masterful effort from the Rockets: they focus on Yao early and often with T-Mac on the bench, with scoring leader Boris Diaw particularly being the beneficiary. He had 25 points and grabbed 8 boards, scorching the nets from downtown on 5/6 three-ball shooting. This is exactly why the Rockets traded for him: an ideal fit alongside Yao Ming. Can play pitch and catch in the post with him and then stretch the floor when Yao is doubled.

Then there was Ron Artest: the supposed third of the "big three", adding 19 points, being solid as always and helping close out the game with 11 fourth quarter points. Yao had a 21 and 10 double-double (with 3 blocks) on terrific 9/12 shooting.

T-Mac subbed in midway through the second quarter and didn't leave the game until midway through the fourth, scoring 20 points and grabbing 5 boards in his new bench role. "I'll do whatever it takes to stay alive in this series", he said after the win. His shooting wasn't ideal on 8/23, but he was able to comfortably lead a stiff bench squad of Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry, Brenty Barry and Von Wafer -- Von Wafer is a bit of an odd man on this squad, as he and T-Mac are both on the second unit playing a bit of the same role. All is not lost as he's on a one-year deal and can learn and study behind the veteran McGrady as he's having quite the resurgence after battling some injuries.

Even though it was a double-digit win, the pesky Spurs did not go down easy. After a suspect Game 2, Tim Duncan bounced back with a 22 & 12 double-double, while Mr. "Point Guard Domination" Tony Parker continued his incredible series with a typical 32 points and 8 assists. Ginobili had a solid 13-4-4, but what the Spurs were missing was NBA Live 10 remembering Richard Jefferson is not Carmelo Anthony for a second: he had just 4 points and 7 boards on 1/8 shooting.

ESPN

[[Q]]

Man, I miss this game. It was a fun game to play.

[cavs4872]

Man, I miss this game. It was a fun game to play.

The one thing that continuously stuns me is how great the animations still are, and I lowkey have a bizarre love for these "plastic graphics". At the end of the day, there are still a lot of issues with it and it doesn't surprise me they decided to tear it down, but if you play sim ball it's pretty damn serviceable.

Something I hate is that rebound physics are literally non-existent in this game. You literally just have to be under the ball and hope your guy grabs it. The "Y" button always acts as shot blocking and will even do such when you're in position for a board.

[Murat]

Wow I realized that they used the same animations for NBA Live Mobile.

[cavs4872]

Rockets run out of fuel, fall to 1-3

Shane Battier was a bright spot for the Rockets; here, he can be seen slicing and dicing
between Spurs' pillars Duncan and Gadzuric for 2 of his 21 points.

The ever-experimental Rick Adelman toyed with his starting five once again, this time benching Raymond Felton and running T-Mac at the 1. The rotation was abbreviated across the board, mainly running with those six players (McGrady, Felton, Diaw, Yao, Artest and Battier). It was a pretty "team game" from the Rockets, but none of that matters when you're about to take an early vacation with a team that was supposed to contend.

Yao snared a 14 point, 18 rebound double-double (with an incredible 6 blocks), but even more impressively Boris Diaw contributed 6 blocks as well to go along with his 10 points and 9 boards. Shane Battier was the high-point man for the Rockets with 21 points and 8 boards, while Ron Artest had a nice 18 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. T-Mac posted 14 points and 5 dimes in his first game at point guard.

For the Spurs, the always-steady Richard Jefferson had 17 points, while Tim Duncan had an incredible night on the boards: 22 rebounds to pair with his 16 points. Ginobili had 18 points and 5 dimes, while Tony Parker was the high-point man with 32 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Toyota Center will have to bring their all in this "win or stay home" Game 5. After sweeping the Kings, the Lakers are already awaiting the winner of this series.

You wanna know how bad this game is? I forgot to check the final score before exiting the match, and once you do so you can't figure out what it was: all I can view is the playoff tree and averages, but the score was like 96-83 or something lol.

[Andrew]

Definitely a sign of frustration when you quit immediately without looking at any stats or the final score. Just like immediately going into instant replay to break down an unfair call or other BS moment frame-by-frame.

[kibaxx7]

I've always wanted to play this game. After checking some gameplay on YouTube, yes, there's that "plastic" but it doesn't look bad at all!

[cavs4872]

Definitely a sign of frustration when you quit immediately without looking at any stats or the final score. Just like immediately going into instant replay to break down an unfair call or other BS moment frame-by-frame.

Well, I did remember to look at the stats, because like I said, once you quit the game nothing is available except for the playoff tree, which is odd considering during the regular season you can view box scores for all of your team's games.

I've always wanted to play this game. After checking some gameplay on YouTube, yes, there's that "plastic" but it doesn't look bad at all!

Incidentally I like the "plastic"; I remember being excited by that when the game was revealed.

It's definitely an interesting game: I decided to play a few games outside of the story tonight (Hawks @ Celtics playoffs and Cavs @ Lakers) and man oh man is there a huge difference when jumping from Pro to All-Star in difficulty. All-Star is a slugfest where you can make no mistakes, while in Pro you can muck around and fairly easily win by double-digits.

There's a lot I wonder about this game... is the shooting really this randomized "dice roll" or is it actually based on being open/release? I remember I used to play this game online well after 2010 (heaps of fun and I would love if they brought the servers back... [fat chance]) and there was this one guy I would always play and he would be like "Lemme teach you how to use x team" after me losing to him with them... even breaking out the international teams was nice. Live was always able to bring something to the table that 2K couldn't.

But man, some of the stuff in this game is really nice. I've raved about the animations, but the crowds/atmosphere (especially in the playoffs) is unmatched by today's standards I believe. There's something about that paired with the Albert/Kerr telecast that makes it feel extremely authentic and warm. I even enjoy the pseudo-TNT scoreboard they were going for.