The comments were closed on the last thread this evening - not sure why, but I was planning to get a new one up today anyway, as the mammoth first matchup has come to a close. 13 days it went for and was exciting for every one of them - well for me anyway.

In the NBA itself, the Hornets and Lakers have started of their seasons well and are both undefeated to date! Whereas Toronto, Charlotte, Minnesota and the Clippers have started the worst with 1 and 6 records. There have been a huge amount of assists dished out, with Rondo the best of the lot, averaging a huge 14.7 apg. Noah is leading the rebounds with 14.2 rpg. And Monta Ellis is averaging 27.8 ppg which is top of the league. And on the negative side of things, rook John Wall is leading the league in turnovers with 5.8 pg, and there are 3 players who have been ejected so far, scoring -10 for each occasion under our scoring system, in Jason Williams, Craig Smith and Aaron Brooks.

The poll that we have had going is a tie at the moment, so Im going to take it upon myself to decide which way we will go out of the two winning options. The poll was set up to decide an extra trophy for us to compete for, and the two winning options were “The Dirk Diggler Award”: For the team with the longest win streak, and the “Itchy Trigger Finger”: the person who trades of the FA list the most, both with 5 votes each out of a total of 17 votes submitted. So Im going for the easy option - partly because I cant be fooked checking the acquisitions each week, but mainly because I liked the Dirk Diggler award from the first moment it was suggested and I was actually surprised it wasnt an option for one of the automatic trophies I set up. Because of the nature of the award, Im not going to award it this week, but whoever wins 2 from 2 will get the award next week.

On the topic of trophies - 4 have been awarded this evening. The Biggest Loss of the round goes to Pikus United; the Fewest Total Points of the round goes to Elbonanzas; the Biggest Win goes to Stowie; and the Highest Score of the round goes to Micka and Westside Hardcore.

As for the games in our league, I somehow ended up tipping 7 out of 10 :lol: , which was mainly due to luck i suppose, as I obviously didnt put much thought into it. We had some awesome games! Some really close ones, some big comebacks, and some blowouts too!

Now for the review of each game, and previews of matchup 2 - have a look over the break:::::::::::<!--more-->

First up is <a title="Team Stowie (Daniel Stow)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=8&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team Stowie[/url] 1741 defeated <a title="Pikus United (Adam Ziegler)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Pikus United[/url] 1206<a title="Pikus United (Adam Ziegler)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">
[/url]

This match saw the biggest margin in the league with a whopping 535 points separating them. PU was hit hard by injuries, particularly with Rush, Mike Miller and Kmart not playing a single game during the matchup. This resulted in a huge difference in total games played between the two teams with Stowie having a cumulative total of 72 games compared to 46 of PU. Stowies best contributor was JSmoove, with 358 points, who I have mentioned a few times that he grabbed him with the pick immediately before I was planning to draft him...  Im obviously still hurting haha, but I promise Ill shut up about it from now on! :lol:

<a title="Kings of Karlos (Sean Minetti)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=10&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Kings of Karlos[/url] 1545 defeated <a title="Doobia Dominators (Andrew Dubowik)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=20&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Doobia Dominators[/url] 1362<a title="Doobia Dominators (Andrew Dubowik)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=20&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">
[/url]

This was a fairly close game as I predicted, however I have a feeling that Doobs didnt show his head around the team much as he only had 10 players that played for him, resulting in 10 less games played and a 183 point loss. Afflalo continued his good preseason form and Howard came up big with 45 ppg also helping Karlos to the win over DD.

<a title="Stevos Nuggets (Stephen Nilsson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=12&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Stevo’s Nuggets[/url] 1727 lost to <a title="Run TMC (Owen Beebe)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=19&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Run TMC[/url] 2148

In a high scoring affair, Owen and Run TMC (Rondo) were too good for Stevos Nuggets. Rondo scored a massive 461 points and Andre Miller backed him up with 336 to carry the rest of the team over the line in this one. Steve played the fixtures well, using 17 players in total and 9 more games played in total than his opposition, and had a respectable score of 1727, however it was always going to be tough to beat Run TMC the way Rondo started the season.

<a title="Ruddys Cavaliers (Peter Rudd)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=14&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Ruddy’s Cavaliers[/url] 1523 lost to <a title="Dannys Lebronts (Danny Smith)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=18&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Dannys Lebronts[/url] 1773

This was another close game - neck and neck for a while before Danny began to pull away mid matchup only to see Ruddy make a late charge on the final day, but it was already lost by that stage unfortunately. The final margin ended up at 250, which was fairly respectable for Ruddy with the amount of injuries he had early on and the fact that Dannys #1 draft pick - Lebron James - played 7 games and averaged nearly 47 ppg. I think both of these teams will be forces to be reckoned with over the remainder of the season, when their players are firing as both have great rosters IMO.

<a title="Wade Machine (Daniel Laengst)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=15&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Wade Machine[/url] 1908 defeated <a title="Fudges Sixers (Jim Tsilikas)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=16&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Fudge’s Sixers[/url] 1782

Well, well, well... Those "second stringers" came up big :lol: . Dan threw his lineup around a fair bit, using 15 players - amazingly 4 for only 1 game each, and he seemed to find the right combination in the end as he pulled away over the last couple of days to win this one by 126. This match was the closest of all. Right throughout the 13 days there were minimal points separating them - quite amazing actually, some days only 1 or 2 points between them! It all finished with a bigtime clutch performance by Wade Machine: over the last 2 days, WM outscored FS 310 to 195 which won them the game at the death!

<a title="anthak" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=1&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_blank">Team anthak[/url] 1461 lost to <a title="Too Seriouseses (Les Wales)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=2&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Too Seriouseses[/url] 1492

Very close in the finish, but I was chasing Walesys tail right from the end of the 2nd day. I was pretty happy with the start as I was ahead 86-2 after the first day, but my mob must have gotten ahead of themselves, as we were outscored 182-308 on day 2. Walesy went further ahead after that, but my team rallied for a few days there and got the margin back to around 100 points with 3 days to go, but TS stepped up and increased the lead to 157 going into the final day, before team anthak had one last surge - catching up 126 points in the final minutes. But it wasnt enough. I should add that it was very low scoring game too.

<a title="Team El Bonanzas (Al Lee)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=3&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team El Bonanzas[/url] 1109 lost to <a title="Team Fezkat (Kristian Collins)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=17&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team Fezkat[/url] 1603

Seems as though Elbonz still isnt back, as his team hasnt been touched since draft day. As expected El Bonanzas finished with the lowest score of the round, and he only had 6 players score points for him out of a total of 37 games - half of what most other teams were producing. Fez didnt show him any disrespect though and fought just as hard as EB would have expected, scoring a respectable (but only just) 1603. I was really interested to see how, journeyman, Pietrus ended up playing and he finished with a total of -8 points from his 4 games! :lol: . Cant see him finding a 6th home unless its the waivers!

<a title="Adelaide Maggots (Cameron Sears)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=4&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Adelaide Maggots[/url] 1616 lost to <a title="Team HEAVER! (David Tong)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=13&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team HEAVER![/url] 2029<a title="Team HEAVER! (David Tong)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=13&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">
[/url]

Heaver led this one from start to finish, and finished with 4 players who scored more than 222 points, with Kobe and Al Horford the best with 313 and 324 respectively. Whereas Cameron only had CP3 and Garnett up to the same standard, with 388 and 231 respectively. If Chris Paul can stay healthy he may end up a good value pick at #3 haha. Looks to be the best player so far at this early stage, as he, Rondo and Pau Gasol are the only players averaging more than 57ppg and are all above 64.5 ppg. Im tipping CP3 to keep it up for longer than the other two.

<a title="Jasmines Mob (Jasmine Johnson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Jasmine’s Mob[/url] 1782 defeated <a title="Under Achievers (Richard Chambers)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=11&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Under Achievers[/url] 1718

Wow! What a come back! I spoke earlier about the clutch performance of Wade Machine, however this one will have some outdoing. After being down 438 - 255 after day 2, and then 974 - 809 with 6 days remaining, Jasmines Mob put on a display! Despite not scoring, and UAs putting up 102 points on Nov4, Jasmine outscored UA by 229 over the final 6 days - including clawing back 79 points on the final day to win by 64! Awesome effort! . UAs had the most Portland players in our league and they were playing the most games out of all teams this matchup with 8. Camby and Batum did the job he would have hoped for from them with 251 and 205 points respectively, however Mathews disappointed with only 75 points. UAs has obviously had enough of his Portland players, as he has traded 2 of them today. More than likely tactical though.

<a title="Westside Hardcore (Michael Walters)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=6&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Westside Hardcore[/url] 2257 defeated <a title="Do Something Knicks (Chris Riches, Steve Smith)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=7&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Do Something Knicks[/url] 1801

Wow again! Westside Hardcore certainly came to play. Probably spurred on by my prediction that DSK would win "in a canter", theyve come out and smashed all other teams scores with a massive 2257. DSK didnt go down without a fight either, they put up 1801 of their own - the 5th best score in the league - but they were smashed by 456! Micka had 3 players score more than 290 (2 over 300) with another 2 in the 200s, whereas Smitty and Chris didnt have a player top 300. Westside Hardcore have certainly set a high standard with this performance. And Micka is also the first to win 2 trophies with the 2nd for the highest score of the round. It needs to be noted that the 1st trophy was for selecting big Shaq in the draft and unfortunately he has just dropped the big fella a few days ago.

There we go!  a big first matchup!

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Matchup 2 goes for a more respectable 7 days, from the 8th to the 14th November. Most teams play 3 or 4 games each, however the Hornets only play the 2. Now for some quick previews of the upcoming games:

<a title="Kings of Karlos (Sean Minetti)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=10&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Kings of Karlos[/url] (1-0) v <a title="Team Stowie (Daniel Stow)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=8&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team Stowie[/url] (1-0)

Both teams had good wins in the first matchup, so it will be interesting to see who keeps the streak going. Both Karlos and Stowie have picked up some free agents ready for this matchup in T-Mac and Duhon respectively. Duhon started last match and may keep his spot after a good performance which will help Stowie, but I dont think hell need it. Im tipping J-Smoove to keep up his good form and for Team Stowie to win this game.

<a title="Pikus United (Adam Ziegler)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Pikus United[/url] (0-1) v <a title="Stevos Nuggets (Stephen Nilsson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=12&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Stevos Nuggets[/url] (0-1)

Both teams are coming off losses, however in very different circumstances. I hope Steve has given his team a talking too about not taking PU lightly because there is no Rondo, as theyve got another young pg of their own in Curry who is coming back from injury but should provide plenty of spark. However Im tipping Stevos Nuggets to get up in this one.

<a title="Doobia Dominators (Andrew Dubowik)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=20&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Doobia Dominators[/url] (0-1) v <a title="Ruddys Cavaliers (Peter Rudd)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=14&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Ruddys Cavaliers[/url] (0-1)

Another game where both teams are coming of very different types of losses. You dont hear of coaches not showing up on opening night, but Doobs has admitted that he forgot to sort out his team last round; whereas Ruddy gave Danny10 a run for his money and after a big trade bringing in Camby and Barbosa, Ruddys Cavaliers should be too good in this one.

<a title="Run TMC (Owen Beebe)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=19&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Run TMC[/url] (1-0) v <a title="Wade Machine (Daniel Laengst)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=15&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Wade Machine[/url] (1-0)

One of the matches of the round, sees Rondo and Miller of Run TMC up against Dirk and Wade of Wade Machine. On the back of Rondos super impressive start to the season, Owen put together a great score; And Dan put his doubters to shame by putting a good team performance together, however I reckon hes in for a shock this week against Rondo and co, and Im tipping Run TMC to win well!

<a title="Dannys Lebronts (Danny Smith)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=18&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Dannys Lebronts[/url] (1-0) v <a title="Fudges Sixers (Jim Tsilikas)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=16&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Fudges Sixers[/url] (0-1)

Both teams to have very good lineups and this should be a very close encounter! Hard to pick a winner, however I think Fudges new recruit Corey Brewer will be a great inclusion and, along with David Lee and Wilson Chandler, will see Fudges Sixers over the line here.

<a title="Team El Bonanzas (Al Lee)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=3&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team El Bonanzas[/url] (0-1) v <a href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=1&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_blank">Team anthak[/url] (0-1)

Elbonz is presumably still "away" as his team hasnt been touched since draft day. He was completely open about the fact he would be away and hoped we could have the draft before he left, although, at the same time, he understood that majority should win out. We tried to see if it was possible to have the draft on the 23rd Sep, but more than 1 said they would not be able to make it on the 23rd, so we kept it on the 30th and Elbonz is the only one suffering. I have the capability to adjust any of our rosters, so Im going to go into his team and make sure that when players have games scheduled that they are not on the bench for a fair way into the future. Hopefully he is back soon to make some trades and grab some FAs. I do not want to set a precedent here and be expected to do this for other teams when their GM is away. I think this is a special circumstance that I feel i need to get involved. Despite all this Im still tipping Team Anthak.  [Edit: <a href="http://tooserious.net/?p=2129&amp;cpage=1#comment-75458" target="_blank">have a look HERE[/url]]

<a title="Too Seriouseses (Les Wales)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=2&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Too Seriouseses[/url] (1-0) v <a title="Adelaide Maggots (Cameron Sears)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=4&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Adelaide Maggots[/url] (0-1)

Walesy just pipped me in the end last round - got of to a good start and did enough to hold me at bay in the end. The Maggots star player CP3, has only the 2 games this matchup and Belinelli of the Hornets is also in the lineup so Im tipping Too Seriouseses to keep their winning form going.

<a title="Team Fezkat (Kristian Collins)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=17&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team Fezkat[/url] (1-0) v <a title="Jasmines Mob (Jasmine Johnson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Jasmines Mob[/url] (1-0)

Fez had an interesting game first up and did enough to beat the injury plagued El Bonanzas; Whereas Jasmine came storming home in her matchup to get over the line at the death! Jasmines Mob are hot at the minute and Im tipping them to get the W in this match.

<a title="Team HEAVER! (David Tong)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=13&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Team HEAVER![/url] (1-0) v <a title="Westside Hardcore (Michael Walters)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=6&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Westside Hardcore[/url] (1-0)

I didnt show Micka any love last preview when I predicted DSK to win "in a canter", and lately Ive literally given Heaver all the love I have had. That love did well for him too, to the tune of 236 points. This week I reckon I gotta even it out a bit, and show some love for Westside Hardcore.

<a title="Under Achievers (Richard Chambers)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=11&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Under Achievers[/url] (0-1) v <a title="Do Something Knicks (Chris Riches, Steve Smith)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=7&amp;seasonId=2011" target="_top">Do Something Knicks[/url] (0-1)

Both teams coming of first round losses, however both scored well, especially DSK with the 5th best score of the round. Altough their games played out quite differently: DSK were smashed by Westside Hardcore and UA were over run by a rampant Jasmines Mob. UnderAchievers has made some interesting trades over the last couple of days, doing quite well out of them too, but not sure if they will help enough. I hope Im not going to put too much pressure on Do Something Knicks, as they obviously cant handle it :lol: , but I have to tip them in a close one!

Have a fun week!