2023 Round Robin Sim Semi Finals / Final 4
#1 CFF vs #6 theswitch
theswitch wins 3-4, 4-2, 4-3 in Act 1, loses 4-3, 0-4, 3-4 in Act 2, and wins 4-2, 4-2 in Act 3 to take the series and the round in a major Jimmy Valvano level upset.
Westphal finally comes alive this series and is player of the game twice in Act 1. In Act 3 Penny leads the team flanked by JO and Westphal, who previously was not usually a top 3 player on theswitch. JO is not his usual alpha self but still plays well, Penny is huge, and the rest of the starters + Granger step up game to game to provide enough support to get by. The starters for OKC were often quiet in this series, bothered by the length/athleticism of Toronto's defense. Kemp and Howard were unusually muted at times, with Peja forced to be OKC's alpha. It didn't work.
It was hard to label the series MVP. Westphal was the surprising MVP of Act 1, Penny in Act 3 and those are the two that won it for Toronto, but JO was the #1 or #2 guy for most games of the entire series, which is something neither Penny or Westphal can say. Pick 2 and call em co-MVPs.
#4 SAB vs #5 Roy Hobbs
In a reprise of their Bracket battle in round 1, this time in the Round Robin semi finals, Roy wins 4-3, 4-3 in Act 1, and loses 3-4, 2-4 in Act 2. In the pivotal 3rd Act, SAB won out 4-1, 3-4, 4-1.
Series MVP was TMac as he was the primary driver of every game SAB won, which in wins translated to 20-30 points and a typical stat line of 27-8-7 with 3 stocks. However, Lanier was Player of the Game with monsters in both Act Clinching Game 7's, and the entire team needed to ball out to win the series, from TMac to Big 4 to Nance, 6th-7th men, and entire bench mob.
Iggy bothered TMac at times. Brand was great, as he has been all year as an MVP contender, with Manu and Iggy contributing significant secondary offense and Mookie/Deke playing all around ball. The SAB Big 4 all produced. Deron (triple double and 19-4-10, 19-5-7 games in W's), Thompson (often the #2 scorer right there with TMac including 28-7-5, 24-6-3, 20-7-6 in wins) and Lanier fueled the SAB offense, plus a great scoring series from Nance, punching above his offensive role. Strong benches continued to add points in bunches for both teams from loaded supporting casts (with Blake, Brad D, Wall, Hawkins, MRR for SAB and IT, AK47, Mash, Cousins for Roy).
THE FINALS - #4 SAB vs #6 theswitch
Sims to come...