OKC: Part III - Tough ending in Milwaukee

Good luck Phil. Cool looking uniforms

Cool touch with the new uniforms and them being "leaked".

Good luck Phil. Cool looking uniforms

Felt appropriate to make some new uniforms with a new era beginning.

Now to play some games

20/10/20

Los Angeles Clippers [0-0] vs Oklahoma City Thunder [0-0]

Clippers fight back from massive deficit to win season opener against Thunder

LAC | 18 | 24 | 34 | 37 | 113 |
OKC | 33 | 26 | 23 | 27 | 111 |

Player of the Game: Paul George
(22pts, 4reb, 6ast, 6stl, 2blk)
(8-20 FG, 2-3 3PT, 4-4 FT)

Edwards scores his first NBA basket

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Simmed Game

SAC | 19 | 29 | 29 | 34 | 111 |
OKC | 31 | 30 | 38 | 34 | 133 |

POTG: Jabari Parker (26pts, 6reb, 7ast)


Record: 1-1

We started on a 23-5 run. Adams (7p/5r/5b) was a defensive wall in the first quarter, whilst Jabari (5p/4r/5a) ran the offense.

It was a disappointing collapse, but at least we proved that we can match it with a contender. Hopefully next time we face them SGA has a better shooting night.

Unfortunate loss to the Clippers, but just a preseason warmup. Not SGA's best game either, and it was still close at the end.

Yeah, that's the positive. Once SGA and Edwards can consistently knock down their shots we'll hopefully have a Dame and CJ type of scoring backcourt.

My next two played games are against the Lakers and Warriors. A tougher start to the season than I would have liked

25/10/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [1-1] vs Los Angeles Lakers [1-1]

Thunder push defending champions all the way in entertaining contest

OKC | 40 | 32 | 34 | 31 | 137 |
LAL | 36 | 35 | 39 | 32 | 142 |

Player of the Game: Chris Paul
(26pts, 9ast, 2stl)
(9-15 FG, 3-4 3PT, 5-5 FT)

Simmed Game

OKC | 32 | 24 | 32 | 25 | 19 | 132 |
TOR | 31 | 33 | 32 | 17 | 11 | 124 |

POTG: Anthony Edwards (32pts, 7reb, 1ast, 1stl, 1blk)


Record: 2-2

Good effort against the defending champs.

It was a fun game, but in the end they just had too much firepower to contain.

I think CP3 wanted to prove a point after I didn't properly utilise him last season.

1/11/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [2-2] vs Golden State Warriors [3-2]

Thunder youngsters get the job done against the Warriors

OKC | 35 | 31 | 32 | 28 | 126 |
GSW | 26 | 29 | 24 | 32 | 111 |

Player of the Game: Anthony Edwards
(23pts, 2reb, 6ast, 2stl)
(7-12 FG, 1-4 3PT, 8-9 FT)

Simmed Game

OKC | 33 | 25 | 28 | 12 | 98 |
SAC | 11 | 12 | 25 | 27 | 75 |

POTG: Steven Adams (15pts, 19reb, 2stl, 2blk)


Record: 4-2

Edwards got injured halfway through the third quarter and had to be subbed out.

Luckily he came back in the fourth quarter though and helped seal the win.

Warriors clearly aren't quite the same without as many guns at their disposal.

5/11/20

Charlotte Hornets [2-6] vs Oklahoma City Thunder [4-2]

Anthony Edwards proves a point to Charlotte after they passed on him on draft night

CHA | 20 | 27 | 29 | 32 | 108 |
OKC | 31 | 34 | 30 | 34 | 129 |

Player of the Game: Anthony Edwards
(33pts, 6reb, 9ast, 2stl)
(13-20 FG, 0-1 3PT, 7-8 FT)

Simmed Game

WAS | 27 | 21 | 30 | 26 | 104 |
OKC | 21 | 23 | 26 | 32 | 102 |

POTG: Bradley Beal (29pts, 7reb, 3ast, 2stl, 2blk)


Record: 5-3

Jeff Teague suffered a torn left calf muscle in training the day before this game. He will be out for up to 8 weeks.

Warriors clearly aren't quite the same without as many guns at their disposal.

This version is still better than the IRL version because Klay is back from injury. But yeah, they miss Durant and Cousins.

The game might have been closer if the AI hadn't decided to play D'Angelo Russell over Curry for most of the second half. I was happy to see him sitting on the bench though

Looks like they're about to lose him in real life as well. Are you going to make that trade for them if it happens?

I think this in-game universe has diverged too far from real life to be able to copy every trade now. But I'll certainly look at implementing some of them if they still make sense.

Russell is definitely someone I've thought about finding a trade for. I'll probably just wait to see if a trade happens and then use that as a guideline for his value.

That's fair enough. At a certain point, I do think a franchise game's own continuity/reality has to take over, though it's not a bad idea to use some real moves early on as you have.

Russell for Wiggins does work. It would kind of suck for Dennis Schroder though. He finally got a starting role back and has the Timberwolves playing well so far this season

9/11/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [5-3] vs Dallas Mavericks [3-6]

Mobley stars off the bench as Thunder take care of Mavericks

OKC | 35 | 32 | 30 | 42 | 139 |
DAL | 37 | 27 | 22 | 35 | 121 |

Player of the Game: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
(29pts, 1reb, 9ast, 5stl)
(10-17 FG, 1-2 3PT, 8-8 FT)

Simmed Game

CHI | 30 | 25 | 27 | 32 | 114 |
OKC | 29 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 199 |

POTG: Wendell Carter Jr (18pts, 13reb, 8ast, 2blk)


Record: 6-4

Mobley scored 19 points off the bench in the first half. He really kept us in the game.

Porzingis and Marjanovic were insanely hard to stop due to their height, especially when on the court together. Thankfully Doncic had a quiet game though.


After the game Terrance Ferguson suffered a twisted right ankle and will miss 2 weeks.

Bad luck with Ferguson and the Bulls loss. In this reality, GarPax must be doing something right.

14/11/20

Houston Rockets [6-5] vs Oklahoma City Thunder [7-4]

Thunder come out on top in entertaining battle of the backcourts

HOU | 31 | 38 | 29 | 29 | 11 | 138 |
OKC | 38 | 33 | 27 | 29 | 20 | 147 |

Player of the Game: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
(37pts, 4reb, 7ast, 2stl, 2blk)
(12-18 FG, 2-2 3PT, 11-13 FT)

Simmed Game

OKC | 28 | 25 | 24 | 37 | 114 |
MEM | 24 | 22 | 29 | 30 | 105 |

POTG: Anthony Edwards (27pts, 5reb, 3ast, 4stl)


Record: 8-4

Edwards made a 3-point play with 20 seconds left that put us up 127-125 and got Harden his 6th foul.

Westbrook then sank a one-footed stepback off the glass to tie the game 127-127 with 1.7 seconds left.

Edwards missed a fairly open look at the buzzer. But he then scored 11 in overtime to make up for it.


Mobley had another amazing game off the bench. I could start him, but I think he is more useful with my bench rotation.

Need to come up with a nickname for SGA and Edwards. Just a heads up though, Orange Juice is taken.

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I followed back up, and I really like the Anthony Edwards pick up from Georgia. He's a good kid from what I've seen. Big guard too, so him and SGA should (and are) be pretty hard to handle. I also like Mobley too, he's obviously doing damage as a replacement for Melo being a big forward off the bench. I think you've done a great job rebuilding.

As far as nicknames for the trio, I (non-ironically with my profile pic) like the Avengers (at least for what announcers would call them). Anthony Edwards already has the nickname of Ant-Man, SGA has a long name and can easily be developed with a similar theme, and Mobley can develop a nickname quick to fit the theme as well. They are bringing back OKC to prominence regardless of what you call them.

Are you expecting a come down anytime soon with these guys being so young? I don't know if it is just the sliders I've been using or my lack of talent at 2K, but with 2K19 I noticed after a big game, the defense clamps down on my star(s) pretty quickly the next game. For young guys (like during a test, I had Pascal experience this), they typically rack up a lot of turnovers after a big game due to their lack of the Championship DNA badge (I assume) and the other team starts the game doubling them quickly. Are you expecting that with these guys soon, or have you felt like they really can take over the league with what you're seeing?

16/11/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [8-4] vs Golden State Warriors [7-5]

Edwards seals thrilling win over Warriors with last-second dunk

OKC | 25 | 34 | 33 | 35 | 127 |
GSW | 25 | 31 | 36 | 34 | 126 |

Player of the Game: Isaiah Mobley
(39pts, 4reb, 3ast, 2stl, 2blk)
(14-22 FG, 11-14 FT)

SGA steals the ball and then puts OKC up by a point

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Edwards seals the win with a dunk in the final seconds

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Simmed Game

OKC | 18 | 40 | 26 | 14 | 198 |
NYK | 37 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 108 |

POTG: Dennis Smith Jr (27pts, 2reb, 6ast, 1stl)


Record: 9-5

SGA stole the ball and scored to put us up 125-124. Then Russell scored to put them back up by 1 with barely 5 seconds left.

I just attacked the rim with Edwards hoping to either get a dunk or at least get fouled.

For some reason Golden State had Russell on to close out the game instead of Curry again.

Need to come up with a nickname for SGA and Edwards. Just a heads up though, Orange Juice is taken.

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I'm not really good at nicknames, but a quick google seems to suggest that Edwards goes by "Ant-Man" thanks to his dad.

Apparently Lou Williams gave SGA the nickname "Slinqq" when he was at the Clippers. I think I'll just stick with Shai or SGA though.

I followed back up, and I really like the Anthony Edwards pick up from Georgia. He's a good kid from what I've seen. Big guard too, so him and SGA should (and are) be pretty hard to handle. I also like Mobley too, he's obviously doing damage as a replacement for Melo being a big forward off the bench. I think you've done a great job rebuilding.

As far as nicknames for the trio, I (non-ironically with my profile pic) like the Avengers (at least for what announcers would call them). Anthony Edwards already has the nickname of Ant-Man, SGA has a long name and can easily be developed with a similar theme, and Mobley can develop a nickname quick to fit the theme as well. They are bringing back OKC to prominence regardless of what you call them.

Are you expecting a come down anytime soon with these guys being so young? I don't know if it is just the sliders I've been using or my lack of talent at 2K, but with 2K19 I noticed after a big game, the defense clamps down on my star(s) pretty quickly the next game. For young guys (like during a test, I had Pascal experience this), they typically rack up a lot of turnovers after a big game due to their lack of the Championship DNA badge (I assume) and the other team starts the game doubling them quickly. Are you expecting that with these guys soon, or have you felt like they really can take over the league with what you're seeing?

I'm loving Edwards so far. He's almost a mini-LeBron with his strength, and he also doesn't have a reliable jumpshot yet. Mobley is looking like the steal of the draft so far. He is performing better than every rookie who got picked outside the top 2.

I'm sure our form will slow down at some point. We are relying on a lot of young guys and fatigue has been building. I might have to start rotating the starting line-up every few games to keep everyone fresh.

I don't know about taking over the league, but we are well placed to be a contender when guys like LeBron, Durant, Curry and Harden retire or slow down. Of course we'll still have to compete against Giannis, Simmons/Embiid, Zion, Doncic etc. Ideally we would draft an offensively gifted center who can take over from Adams to complete the team.

Oh, I meant a duo nickname, for the two of them collectively.

Nothing was stopping Edwards on that drive.

[Charles Barkley voice] MOBLEEEEEYYYYYY!!!

Great win for the team. Looking at the video, I can definitely see a freight train type from Edwards. The defender backed away immediately to avoid that contact. He and Shai fit as well as you would expect from the draft hype around Edwards.

Ideally we would draft an offensively gifted center who can take over from Adams to complete the team.

This is really interesting. I actually would think you guys needed a more low-maintenance center like Adams, who is more defensive focused, just younger. A Bam comes to mind here. Why do you think an offensive one would fit more around these guys?