a season of association…
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| Even Oladipo gets the swarm defense treatment. No quarter given |
The Roanoke Railguns (17-6, including 3-3 record in computer-simulated games) are 2nd in the power rankings, behind Oklahoma City.
Team chemistry is rated at 34% ???
Everyone on the team seemed to be unsettled or plain ole angry and demanding a trade. Hey, we just wanted to play basketball, not be a babysitter. Don’t remember this kind of stuff from games in the 1990s and early 2000s… will let the computer deal with everything. Who cared who’s wearing the radioactive-laced jersey?
Still in the dregs. Just beating the NBA’s bottom feeders silly with open jumpers, and counting down until the playoffs. Like the best teams always do!… Railguns at the Orlando Magic. Victor Oladipo was the only recognizable name to the casual fan. Railguns, 78-48.
Toronto Raptors. #6 in the Eastern Conference, and coming to Roanoke. Looked forward to another dusting of a butterfingered opponent. But the Raptors were out front 12-5 in the first quarter. We got it back to 21-18 going into the second, and at the half, Toronto was only four points back. The team is a little too used to blowing teams out by thirty points… sounds like the real version of the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors… sleepwalking a bit?
This won’t be the TRAP GAME for the super-good team, which the Roanoke Railguns are. The home squad pulls away with a 26-11 3rd quarter… final: 81-58. Seventy wins is still possible.
We skipped the first meeting with the Washington Wizards. The CPU gave Roanoke the win. In this December meeting at D.C., the jumpers weren’t falling and the pickpocketing only collected a bunch of fouls. Held ’em to 8 points in the 2nd quarter, but we only scored 12…
Got ahead by 15, 61-46, then the Wizards were picking our pockets… what’s going on? suddenly it was 61-55. But Stevens and Panthro Wang (22 pts 7 reb) scored the next thirteen points… final: 74-57.
On to Houson to play the Rockets and our John Derry Stevens’s doppelganger. When you create players from scratch as we did, and then add them to an association file, those players are duped and spread among the league as free agents.Houston had a 98 rating as a team. Roanoke was 82… this was a step up from “the dregs” of the league we just buzzed through. The Rockets killed us on the boards and negated that with their buttery fingers. They stayed close all game but never could pass or tie the Railguns… final: 81-70.
That was ten straight wins. 21-6, 3-3 SIM. Roanoke was #1 in the power ranking for the league and there were no plans to lose that…
The second visit from Boston to Roanoke was next. We won by 45 last time, biggest margin of victory of the year. Stevens had 29, one point short of Panthro’s franchise record 30… the final: 91-48. Somehow our 11-game winning streak wasn’t the longest in the league–Carmelo and the Knicks were at 12….
Next, we got Memphis at home, and at first we planned to simulate it after whuppin’ them last time. But the “Grizzle” was rated 87 as a team, and Roanoke was 82. So… game on. Seventy wins was still possible. final: 86-54.
First L.A. Lakers meeting after Christmas. Similar to the real-
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| Joe Dumars: Threading the needle right past Kobe’s face for a layup |
life Lake Show, this version was 9-22 with a 68 rating. L.A. took a 9-2 lead and quickly crumbled. 87-51 as Kobe Bryant took his first of likely two stompings from the 24-6 Railguns.
Happy Trails, Kobe….
Another first as we visited the Clippers, to finish December. Our team chemistry was 19%, probably because Coach loved to run-n-gun. And using a seven-footer to bounce-pass was usually a bad idea… Otherwise. Seemed to be working well. “All in the timing.”
Tommy Heaton, the Railguns’ high-ceiling center, had a dupe on the LAC squad. Also, Blake Griffin did not punch anyone in the 2K
Tommy Heaton, the Railguns’ high-ceiling center, had a dupe on the LAC squad. Also, Blake Griffin did not punch anyone in the 2K
universe, as in real life. So he was in the game. Didn’t matter. 87-61.
Simulated a game with Toronto and the Roanoke Railguns won, 103-98… Nice challenging stretch coming up with OKC twice and GSW… who are the real splash brothers? We would find out quickly….
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