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Post by John on Mar 28, 2008 1:38:51 GMT -4
well, the first game is in the books for the Celtics in the 2007-08 season...a win against the Indiana Pacers! the in-game summary tells a pretty good picture of the story... Rodney Keady, IND - 14 of 17 FT's Tommy Grandson, BOS - 25 minutes, 4 of 6 FG's, 3 blocks, 15 points in reserve role RECORD: 1-0
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Post by John on Mar 28, 2008 1:42:30 GMT -4
i'll try to sim 1-2 weeks at a time and see how that goes. i admit, i'm really not too into making game summaries and written expansive, creative stories. sorry! but i also don't think people give a crap really either. plus, DDSPB has a weird bug right now that makes looking at the play-by-play impossible. 11/2/07 - Game 2: Celtics 107, Houston Rockets 92 RECORD: 2-011/7/07 - Game 3: Los Angeles Stars 89, Celtics 83 RECORD: 2-111/9/07 - Game 4: Celtics 105, Kentucky Colonels 87 RECORD: 3-1well, the first week of games are done, and the Celtics have come out of the gate with a 3-1 record which isn't bad. they are pretty good at home, with 3 wins there, but it's too early to tell what kind of team it is.one thing i've learned is that my starting point guard, Paris Spruel is inconsistent, but my two big men - Anthony Lytle and Roy Wooley have not disappointed. Also, my two main offensive options - John Newton and Cameron Beasley have, for the most part, been doing their jobs.
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Post by John on Mar 28, 2008 22:37:58 GMT -4
ok, i figured it might a more efficient way to do this dynasty not to focus on every single box score but sim it along a bit faster. so i thought maybe i'd start simming monthly and then trying my best to recap the month. DECEMBER 1, 2007 10-4, 3rd place - Atlantic Divisionthe celtics have played well at home, going 7-1. the road has been a slight struggle though, going 3-3. the celtics have also been beneficiaries of playing quite a few games at home and so after a while, the celtics better learn how to win on the road if they want to remain competitive. point guard, Paris Spruel, is better than i expected. he's not the next coming of kevin johnson, but he's decent. he provides timely scoring, is always passing the ball and keeps his turnovers to a minimum. i didn't expect him to play as well as he has and only begrudgingly went with him as my starting PG to open the season because he was tied into a long-term contract. however, spruel did suffer a nagging injury, and i only had real confidence in one backup PG that i have, Chauncey Whitmore, who i couldn't trade earlier. Whitmore is a nice reserve, but i felt i should get a 3rd stringer. so i made a minor trade to achieve that. I had signed this guy, Ross Asbury, to a one year contract for little money thinking I wanted a lot of big bodies, but then I found I had a surplus of big bodies. So I traded him to the Denver Nuggets for a 2nd round pick to clear up a roster spot as I found a player in the DL, Greg Higgins, that I liked for a third guard who had good handling, passing and defense and wouldn't have to give up anything for him except a one year, minimum contract. Not too many big wins in the month, though did beat the Phoenix Suns, 108-79 at home. Cameron Beasley, the Celtics' best player, also had a season high so far of 41 points in this game. all in all, with a 10-4 record, it's better than what i was expecting. not sure what i was expecting, but i didn't expect Roy Wooley, my starting power forward at 7'5'' and 297 lbs. to work out so well there. i will be really interested to see how the month of december goes and to see if this relatively fast start was a fluke or not.
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Post by John on Mar 29, 2008 16:12:48 GMT -4
a person on another forum gave me a good idea of interspersing the team's statistics as a summary at certain points, and i really liked that, so i'm going to try to do that after each month to give a little review. well, the celtics' 10-4 first month record was sort of a fluke as they had a bit of a tough time on the road. the celtics went 8-7 in december and had to rattle off three straight wins to get to over .500. the road continues to be unfriendly to the celtics, as they were 3-5 on the road in december and have a 6-8 overall home record this season, but are 12-3 at home. here are the league standings: and here are the team statistics for the season, so far. Anthony Lytle is 2nd in the league in rebounds per game with 12.1. He is 5th in the league in blocks with 2.7 per game and 6th in steals per game with 1.7. Lytle is also leading the league in FG% with .612. Cameron Beasley is 3rd in the league in minutes played per game with 40.4. Paris Spruel is 7th in the league in assists per game at 8.3. David Kelly is 6th in the league in 3 point field goal percentage with .438. unfortunately though, Cameron Beasley leads the league in turnovers with 4 per game. Lytle is been above and beyond what i expected, but the team has weaknesses. the team turns the ball over a great deal and can't hit three pointers which probably allows the defense to collapse a bit. the team also doesn't keep teams off the boards as well as i'd like as the team gets 43 rebounds per game, but allows 39. both rank fairly high in the league, but it's not a great differential. but the team is also pretty good at other things like steals and rebounds. they also have a good +/-, scoring 100 points per game but giving up 92.8.
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Post by John on Mar 29, 2008 16:20:03 GMT -4
this is my top rookie, Tommy Grandison, drafted with the #4 overall pick in the draft before this season and as you can see, he hasn't been blowing the doors off. in fairness to him, not only is he not starting, since i didn't want throw him to the wolves right away, but he is the 2nd big man reserve behind Petrick Davis. so Davis is really the 6th man, and Grandison comes in after him, but Grandison is still averaging 19 minutes per game. i'm not sure if a player can improve in his ratings during the season or not, but i'd assume not. so i'm thinking Grandison may be a reserve next season as well, but it will be interesting if he improves this season or how his training camp next year turns out. either way, i'll definitely be focusing on him this season.
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Post by John on Mar 29, 2008 17:03:28 GMT -4
wow, the celtics just got absolutely crushed by the 25-5 Seattle SuperSonics, breaking up a 5 game winning streak that leaves the celtics at a decent 20-12 in january, 2008. the box score doesn't look THAT bad, but wow, the celtics got outrebounded almost 2 to 1! and how on earth does my power forward, Ray Wooley attempt NO FIELD GOALS when he's averaging 14.6ppg on the season! a strange sim, but hopefully the celtics can take revenge on another team soon.
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Post by John on Mar 29, 2008 18:41:19 GMT -4
well, good news for my #4 overall pick, Tommy Grandison - a torn tendon! I'm not sure what that means, but I have to think he'll be out for at least the rest of this season which is a killer.
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Post by John on Mar 29, 2008 21:39:31 GMT -4
so, the Tommy Grandison injury was pretty tough, but January was kind to the Celtics with an 11-3 record. amazingly the team won all five games on the road in the month to bring the season road record up to 11-8. the team has also won 9 out of its last 10 games. standings as of the end of january: team stats:the players in red don't show up well at all, so sorry about that. Grandison and Wooley are huge injuries as Grandison is out for the year (i think - the game doesn't tell you) and Wooley had a broken elbow, and he's been out for a while. Petrick Evans has done well to replace him though.
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Post by John on Mar 31, 2008 2:46:54 GMT -4
well, i simmed ahead two months, for february and march. the celtics are now 46-26 and in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division. i've realized that the depth of the team is good, but could be much better. starting power forward Ray Wooley suffered a broken elbow and missed about 20 games. this isn't a championship caliber team, but this team could surprise in the playoffs. losing rookie Tommy Grandison has been tough, but there have been other nagging injuries which has been annoying. This team has a solid 7-8 man rotation, so it is not deep. When there is an injury, it forces young players like Carson McMillan into action with extended minutes which isn't a great thing. Staying healthy will be a key thing, but it hasn't been something that the Celtics have been particularly good at.
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Post by John on Apr 5, 2008 13:48:33 GMT -4
i simmed to the end of the season, and while the Celtics had an ok season, they didn't win the championship. the team went 53-29 and got swept in the Eastern Conference Championship by the eventual champion, the 73-9 powerhouse Baltimore Claws. Here is the end of the regular season... and then the playoffs... It is interesting - DDSPB doesn't do normal playoff seeding where the division winners get the top seeds, and instead went by records. Not sure if I like that or not. In any case, the Celtics got the #2 seed in the East with the 2nd best record in the conference. In Round 1, swept the 41-41 #7 seed Pacers. In the Conference Semifinals, the 41-41 #6 seed Cougars took the Celtics to 7 games, but the home court advantage helped. Then in the Conf. Finals, the Claws destroyed the team. here is how the playoffs went for all of the teams. i'm not a big fan of how the tree is laid out, with no games shown for earlier rounds, but oh well...
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Post by John on Apr 5, 2008 13:50:41 GMT -4
here is the Celtics' 2007-08 player stats... The Celtics were 4th in end of the season power rankings, but no big player awards, though Anthony Lytle got Defensive Player of the Year and both Lytle and Cameron Beasley were named to the All-League 3rd Team. A bunch of Celtics were in the top 10 of various stat leaders, but Lytle led the league in field goal % which he did for the majority of the season with 56% shooting. In retrospect I'm very happy I made that deal to get him as he anchored the defense and shored up a big weakness. Maybe I could have made another move, but I thought the team was set up ok.
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