So without any ado, The following teams are playing off for the big prizes: In Premier League, its <a title="Run TMC (Owen Beebe)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=19&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Run TMC[/url] (Owen) v <a title="Jasmines Mob (Jasmine Johnson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Jasmines Mob[/url] (Jasmine); Division 1: <a title="Crossy Crusaders (Jesse Cross)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Crossy Crusaders[/url] (crossy) v <a title="Linsanity 17 (Stephen Nilsson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=4&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Linsanity 17[/url] (Steve); and Division 2: <a title="Team Farken White (Chris Farken White)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=7&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team Farken White[/url] (Jet) v <a title="Team Travysboys (travis hewish)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team Travysboys[/url] (travyboy11). Good luck to everyone involved.

We also have some big matches going on in regards to promotion/relegation too. Firstly, the aforementioned Division 1 granny is also to decide who joins <a title="The Jug-O-Naughts (Kristian Collins)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=2&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">The Jug-O-Naughts[/url] (fez) in being promoted to Premier League next season. And it is still undecided who will be swapping places with them as dabombers has hit some form and has made it to the Consolation Ladder Granny against fudge, and a win for him will save him from the drop and send maggots on his way down to Division 1 - along with <a href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?teamId=2&amp;leagueId=23530">Too Seriouseses[/url] (walesy) who is already a certainty.

The players being promoted from Div2 to Div1 are now decided and the players swaping with them from Div1 to Div2 are set too. So dropping down are <a title="CK Nicks (Costa Kastanis)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=12&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">CK Nicks[/url] (costak), <a title="Nahla Vs LittleDee (Paul Rodgerson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=6&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Nahla Vs LittleDee[/url] (rodgo), <a title="Doobia Dominators (Andrew Doobs)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Doobia Dominators[/url] (Doobs) and <a title="Everton 149ers (Scott Minetti)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10094&amp;teamId=8&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Everton 149ers[/url] (Rev); while the teams replacing them will be <a title="Team Travysboys (travis hewish)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=9&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team Travysboys[/url] (travyboy11), <a title="Team Farken White (Chris Farken White)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=7&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team Farken White[/url] (Jet), <a title="Team 726 (Sam Lee)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=6&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team 726[/url] (minis) and <a title="Broady Broncos (nick somerton)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=10201&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Broady Broncos[/url] (nicksnow). However I think we need to change the rules next year as smokinjoemisiti is really unlucky i reckon as he finished the regular season as the highest point scorer in Division 2, but could not gain promotion.

Last week, we had the semi finals. The highest scorer for the week was Steve in Division 1 with a score of 1803, while the lowest score out of all live games was Karlos in Premier with 1090. The highest scoring loser was HEAVER in Premier with 1718 and he was missing Derrick Rose all matchup too. And the closest margin was between Fez and Crossy in division 1, where Crossy won by just 7 points; while special mention should go to the game between Doobs and Stowie where Doobs had to win to keep his hopes of avoiding relegation alive but lost by just 9 points .

Now join us over the break for the reviews of the semi finals:::::::::::::

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PREMIER LEAGUE (by anthak):

<a title="Run TMC (Owen Beebe)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=19&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Run TMC[/url] (Owen) 1776 v <a title="Team HEAVER! (Dave Tong)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=13&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Team HEAVER![/url] (HEAVER) 1718

Last years pace setter v this years pace setter. Big match. Both Owen and HEAVER have been really consistently good over both seasons. Last year Owen did not make the granny and now he has made up for it after this win has obviously put him in the decider. This was a really high scoring and close game and its a shame that Derrick Rose was out of action for the whole matchup as he may have made the difference. As it turned out HEAVER used all 5 acquisitions to Owens 1; however still came up 3 short in the total games played for the week. Although the margin wasnt as close as last week, Owen once again came from behind on the last day to snatch the win. This time round, he was down on HEAVER by 42 going into the last day, but massive games from Pau Gasol (71), Granger (65), Camby (55) and Nate Robinson (45) helped him outscore HEAVER (who had solid scores from 6 of his 7 players on the day, but noone over 57) by 100 on the day and win by 58 overall. The best scorer over the whole week was Ty Lawson for HEAVER with 219 (from 4 games), and he was supported by JSmoove (188 from 4) and IThomas (169 from 4); while best scorers for Owen were Pau Gasol (210 from 4), DCousins (208 from 4) and GWallace (203 from 4).

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<a title="Jasmines Mob (Jasmine Johnson)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=5&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Jasmines Mob[/url] (Jasmine) 1623 v <a title="Kings of Karlos (Sean Minetti, Leigh Walles)" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/clubhouse?leagueId=23530&amp;teamId=10&amp;seasonId=2012" target="_top">Kings of Karlos[/url] (karlos &amp; Lethal) 1090

Both last year and this year, Karlos managed to finish with the 2nd best record in the whole league; however both seasons he has not been able to turn that into good post season form. Jasmine has also been super consistent both seasons, finishing top 4 in each, and this season she has been in awesome form at the right time of the season as she is currently on a 7 game winning streak and absolutely smashed Kings of Karlos in this semi. Jasmine used all 5 acquisitions this week; however still only managed 46 games played - which is a lower total than both teams in the other semi. Karlos and Lethal only used 2 acquisitions but were out of this contest early and could be excused for shifting their attention to SC half way through the week. CP3 scored a massive total of 266 points from his 4 games for Jasmine and nobody else scored above 200 in the game. The next best was Rondo - also for Jasmine - with 187 from 4, with Jasmines 3rd in line being West (152 from 5). Best for KoK were Durant (157 from 3), Duncan (141 from 3) and Batum (134 from 4) - they only had 1 more score over 100 which is not good reading really.

Well done to the two finalists. Good luck to you both!

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DIVISION 1 (by Steve):

Crossy Crusader’s (Crossy)   1379   v   The Jug-O-Naughts (Fez)   1370

This match was a real last man standing affair.  Both teams had key players missing on different days of the matchup which was evidenced by the low scores compared to the other final.  At the start of the final day, Fez had a lead of 152 and 4 players playing compared to Crossy’s 8 players lining up.  It all came down to the very last game of the matchup where Crossy had Lee and Jenkins up against Fez who had Bynum.  But unfortunately for Fez, Bynum sprained his ankle in the first quarter and was only able to manage a score of -1 and Crossy was able to sneak over the line and win by 9pts.  Fez still had one acquisition to use for the matchup but decided not to use it.  It has been truly a remarkable season for Fez as he went through the minor round undefeated which meant he gained automatic promotion to the Premier League.  He clearly had the best team in Division One this season.   The leading scorers for Crossy were Lee 190, Griffin 181 and Aldridge 144.  The best players for Fez were Cousins 208,  J Smoove 188 and Lebron 160.

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Linsanity 17 (Steve)   1803   v   Get Knicked  (Liquid_Sixx)   1632

L6 got off to a flyer in this matchup and after day 2 was leading by over 200 pts and I thought I was in real trouble.  But from the next day on, I kept chipping away at his lead each day whereby heading into the last day I had a lead of 28.  Once Westbrook scored 71 in the early game on the last day I was feeling reasonably confident that I had done enough to hold on.  It has been a huge effort by L6 to make the finals considering his record was 1-3 after 4 rounds.  He beat some very good teams along the way to make the finals and recorded a close win last week against the Rangers in the first round of the finals.  Both teams used up all of their 5 acquisitions for the round and I even offloaded Felton and Linsanity as I had to chase points to catch up to L6.  The leading scorers for Linsanity 17 this week were Carmelo 217, Wallace 203 and Westbrook 198.  For L6, the best players were CP3 266, Jennings 193 and Millsap 156.

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This now leads onto the grand final preview.

In the earlier matchup between Linsanity 17 and Crossy’s Crusaders, Linsanity 17 was able to win a close match by 29 points and I expect it will be another close game this time around as well.

Looking at the schedule this week, a lot of the NBA teams are only playing 3 games this week which will impact on the scores for both teams.  However, both the Kings and the Grizzlies are playing 5 games each.  Crossy has Randolph from the Grizzlies and Thompson from the Kings.  While I have Thornton and Thomas from the Kings so that evens things out from that perspective. Crossy will be desperately hoping that Rose returns to the court this week as well.

It is safe to assume that the FA list and Waivers will get a fair workout this week to see if someone can gain an advantage over their opponent.  As I type this I see Crossy has already made 2 acquisitions, lol.

The winner of the grand final will join Fez in moving to the Premier League next year.

Good luck to you Crossy (not too much luck though) and let the sledging begin!

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DIVISION 2 (by smokinjoemisiti):

Team Travysboys (travyboy11) – 1537 defeated SmokinJoe Misiti – 1459

A close matchup here with Trav using his 5 matchup acquisitions and me not using any (which proved quite stupid and costly). Trav had to forget about Stoudemire who missed the whole week through injury but DeMarcus Cousins produced a good week with 208 points from 4 games to lead him to the win. Smokin got 193 from Brandon Jennings’ 4 games and 190 from David Lee’s 4. Injuries to Kevin Martin, Mike Conley and Dwight Howard hurt. The final day saw Dwight miss his first game of the week and that was almost the difference. In the end though Trav was too good, so well done and good luck in the grand final, and hopefully Ryan Anderson doesn’t miss any game time with his ‘apparent ankle injury’.

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Team Farken White (Jet) – 1576 defeated Team 726 (minis) – 1321

Minis came into this matchup with the higher playoff seed but it was TFW who led from start to finish. Jet used 5 acquisitions compared with Minis 1. Carmelo Anthony found some much needed form for Jet after a pretty disappointing season thus far. Melo top scored with 217 points from his 4 games to lead Jet whilst point guards Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas produced brilliant weeks compared to their normal scores. In comparison, Minis had Jeremy Lin out for the week whilst getting 259 from Kevin Love and 203 from Gerald Wallace. Well done to Jet, but the question is: Can Carmelo produce some big scores for the grand final or will he struggle like earlier in the year?

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