NBA SIMS LEAGUE
NSL Insider - Portland V Minny R2 Previewby Rootsey, updated on Tuesday, May 17 2022, 02:42 am EST The western semi finals are here and this match up sees what I believe will be the NSL champion for this season no matter which team comes out of the battle alive in the playoffs, they will take the crown. It didn't take either team too long to reach this stage of the playoff race, with Portland dispensing of New Orleans without breaking a sweat. While Minnesota was pushed through a few close games early on, once their GM returned from a scouting trip in the middle of the round they found their form and took only 5 games to see Houston out the door. The Year to Date. These teams have faced each other 4 times in the year so far, and Portland has the advantage of the match up with a 3-1 series edge. The first two games were way back in November and Minnesota did not have Siakam available, while Portland didn't have Kawhi or obviously Durant at that stage. The third game saw another victory for Portland still without their third star shining, and Minnesota was trying to find the right formula for their team. The fianl game of the year saw Minnesota take the final game by the largest margin of victory between the two teams, but the asteriks for this game was the absense of Harden along with Durant. What can we take from these previous match ups, probably not alot. Portland are sure to be favourites but once the GMs can focus on a single opponent, anything is possible. Injuries? Well the biggest issue here for Minnesota will be the lack of their main scorer Khris Middleton. Putting up nearly 20 ppg throughout the year, but being limited to only 11 ppg in the playoffs against the Rockets, not having him in the line up should be an impossible mountain to climb for this team. Then again.... the T-Wolves found their rhythm once he was out of the line up. Does this make him a Ewing Theory candidate? Their highest rated, highest paid player sits and all of a sudden the team clicks? Chances are we wont see him all series. Which brings me to the X-factor for this series... Double Bigs With the Middleton injury, we saw Minnesota turn to the double big line up of Jonas Valanciunas and Dwight Howard really dominate the Rockets. Whether it was Dwight in the middle or JV and the other supporting. Rebounds increased and scoring was extremely efficient. You know who else has been at the double big well for as long as anyone, and also used Dwight Howard in a similar role in years past... Portland. This seasons double bigs for Portland are Hassan Whiteside and Andre Drummond, and they bring the rebounds and scoring efficiency as well as any duo in the league. They even go deeper with Hartenstein and Len off the bench to ensure any missed shots get put right back in. And Isaiah Stewart does his part off the bench for Minny. That's the x-factor, what about some star power. Stars in their eyes. The stars don't get much brighter than those in Portland, and while the Seattle Supersonics had these guys when they were little, they are all grown up and are near impossible to stop. No matter how much the media and fans can try bring down piggy Harden, snake Durant, or Russell Westbrick, this is 2k and these guys are unassailable gods. Durant can and will score on anyone all year round putting up 30 a night, Harden will be slightly less efficient, but still amazing with 24 a night, and Westbrook can't chuck up bricks in 2k when the opportunity is to jam in someones face. There is always talk about ratings and tendencies, and while Russ has seen his ratings plummet, his tendencies are still off the chart awesome. Compared to the Minnesota stars of Siakam and Ball whose tendencies are, shall we say, undercooked. Siakam has the ratings to show how effective a player he is, but you couldn't tell from his NSL output of 11ppg. Will he ever get a sufficient boost that will see him score as often as his NBA counterpart. Ball shares a slightly similar issue with his tendencies because he is a young player and there are tweaks to get a player of such a unique "build" just right in the game. If we left it at the stars, we could call this series 4-0 Portland over Minnesota, but we can't leave it just to the stars and the X-Factor, we have to take into account the GMs. Big Boy Pants. Both GMs have proven themselves to be epic team builders. Ethan has shown how quickly you can turn a team around going from the cellar to a few games short of the pinnacle of the league in one season, which has put him fairly in the running for GMOTY. Not only has he worked the phones and drafted well to create a roster that is elite, he has shown his ability to adapt to adversity and make coaching and line up adjustments on the fly that can turn his team from an also ran to a contender. You can't count this team out until the final whistle is blown. Jmac is a GM who needs no introduction, already a championship winning GM in the league and with sights set on becoming the first two time winner with a team that keeps shifting under him. Many may have guessed that with an year long injury to Kawhi, the league might see a down year for the team. They were wrong. They underestimated the tenacity that Jmac brings to the trade table, always able to squeeze just the right amount of juice out of every deal and then flips all the pulp and rind for a superstar. The real genius of this team build and play style is how Jmac maximises his minimum/low value contract guys. Check out that roster loaded with quality vets like Whiteside, Drummond, Len, Winslow, Satoransky, Gay etc. I understand you aren't trading your first born for these guys, but they are the epitomy of a team that can support his stars. Where can it be won or lost? Portland can trot out their stars and fantastic role players and waltz through this, the challenge they will have is the flexibilty of their roster. If Minnesota can somehow mind a way to flumox Durant and Westbrook, then chanllenge Harden with length then maybe, just maybe they can steal some wins here. Minnesota can potentially match up Ball and his length against Westbrook, he may not be able to stay in front, but he can force Russ inside to have to deal with JV and Dwight. Then Scottie Barnes or KCP can try slow Harden down some, once again trying to force him into mid range jumps shots rather than 3s or layups. Siakam has the biggest challnge of Durant, but somebody has to do it. Then it comes down to the X factor and the veteran benches to slog it out. I'm not about to count Minnesota out, but the challenge and the scheming has to be perfect for them to get the wins. Prediction Portand 4-1 |
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