It's done, the league title is crossing the Atlantic ...

[atom2030]

... and boy what a ride it has been. Skandery gave us a great series that went all the way to the final games on the final day.
Props to him for making this so tough I had to stay up until 5:30am yesterday to make the final lineup adjustments)

After playing from behind for the past 8 days, some miracle did save our season and lead the Vienna Visionaries to their first ever Fantasy League title ... and in such a great, active, and competitive league it's truly something special !

Yea, the miracle: with us down 5-6 before Wednesday, down by 3 in blocks and by 1 in TOs, we needed to turn to unlikely heroes - since, as expected, Dwight and Amare hardly played. The five-some of Peja, Dwight, Maxiell, Noah, and Battier combined for 6 blocks (2 by Peja !!! early, forcing Skandery to act) and only 3 (THREE!) turnovers (two of those by TO-machine Dwight in 12 minutes).

And by the time Rudy Gay recorded his 5th giveaway for Archangels midway through the game, celebrations started all over Europe. gosh, I wish you could have seen that, people dancing through the streets from Rome to London, from Paris to Moscow, and of course all over Vienna ...


So once again, thanks to everybody for being very helpful in the early goings here, and hope to see you again next season for some title defense ...
 


(btw, was getting ripped for drafting Monta Ellis, Peja, and KMart's body early, but they all were huge part of this run with great consistency. On the other hand, keeper Deng - you expected - and 2nd rd pick Felton - nobody expected - were complete busts. Who would have predicted ... )
 

[Derek Bodner]

that was one of the better finals I can remember.  Very close, and very well played.

[Skandery]

That was well-played.  I figured my time had come.  I had won like two weeks in the regular season by a singular block, so I'm telling myself how long will I keep skating by these ridiculously close 6-5 victories.

I knew that to have a chance to win before the week started I simply HAD, HAD TO win FTM and Points because there was no way on earth I was winning TOs or Blocks.  With the yearly trends I was comfortable in my team winning FT%, 3PM, 3P%, AST.  Pts and FTM would make the 5 and 6 categories.  My team, as it is ever year, is TO city and they just don't really get blocks.  Points would be a dogfight!   The week started out crazy with me being up in all the categories I shouldn't have been (rebounds, blocks, and Turnovers) and losing categories I should have been winning 3P% and FTM.  I knew that would haunt me especially with two days of nobody scheduled, and sure enough rebounds were overtaken.  And then disaster strikes with Kevin Martin (my FTM, Points Machine) getting injured on Friday and putting up a 0 statline for Saturday.  Scheduled to play Monday AND Tuesday but injured, my fate was sealed in FTM and points.  Not able to comfortably play a decent lineup on Wednesday, I toed the line by trying to start only guys that get blocks (since I was desperately holding on to a tenuous lead) and curb TOs.  Rudy Gay goes and has 3 TOs in the 1st quarter, when he got the 4th just after halftime, I knew it was over.         

I with two weeks to go in the regular season I had an inkling that Amare Stoudemire and Monta Ellis were going to carry Vienna to the championship and they pretty much did.

Congratulations Tom P (Vienna).

[atom2030]

I would still be interested to find out why you removed Samy from the starting lineup half an hour before tipoff. He and LaMarcus were your best bets in the blocks - and low TO - department, and you knew i had to do something being behind. But when 7pm passed and Dalembert still didn't play i knew i had a chance, since you now HAD TO get Rudy in.

But still I had all stars aligned for me yesterday. Dwight only playing 12 minutes (and "only" 2 TOs) ... Amare (2.8TOpg) projected to miss the game which had me play Battier and Noah ... Peja with 2 blocks (probably the most amazing stat last night), so you had to get Aldridge AND Rudy in ... Ruy with those early TOs allowing me not to play Monta Ellis (hoping for a block) ... and finally Battier+Noah+Peja combined zero TOs in 100+ minutes of court time. Won't happen again. Probably ever.

So this could have easily gone your way too, and it would have been just as deserving. But luck was on my side (of the ocean) this time.

(of course i could have made my life easier if i didn't switch Amir Johnson for Maxiell at the last second. I missed out on a 4 block zero TO performance here)


Now let's head back to sim league action ... and a lot more sleep at night !!!
 

[Skandery]

You had Amare at Util.  So I thought you were going after blocks with JUST Amare.  What is the chance that Amare gets 3 or more blocks against Sammy getting even 1 turnover.  So I sat everyone.  I then drove home from work (and that took 20 minutes) after I logged on again, I realized you actually started D. How (more blocks!!), Peja (he won't get any blocks), and Maxiell (even more blocks!!).  So I put in the only people on my bench that get blocks and hadn't started the game (Gay and Aldridge), and just hoped those two would get less TOs than all the people you decided to play.  When I saw Peja getting 2 blocks, I had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be my night.

[atom2030]

You had Amare at Util.  So I thought you were going after blocks with JUST Amare.  What is the chance that Amare gets 3 or more blocks against Sammy getting even 1 turnover.  So I sat everyone.  I then drove home from work (and that took 20 minutes) after I logged on again, I realized you actually started D. How (more blocks!!), Peja (he won't get any blocks), and Maxiell (even more blocks!!).  So I put in the only people on my bench that get blocks and hadn't started the game (Gay and Aldridge), and just hoped those two would get less TOs than all the people you decided to play.  When I saw Peja getting 2 blocks, I had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be my night.

the problem with Howard in the past weeks was that he averaged less than 1 block but 3.5 TOpg. Sure I hoped for better times but even playing him in my situation was overkill.

And Peja I did get in for only one reason: to give me a last chance in 3p%. I thought if he reverts from his 2-11 3pt night on tuesday, goes 5-7 AND rudy was doing bad there (the Nuggets still had something to play for and he DID bad there) AND Battier added a few too, maybe just maybe ...


Lots's of bad decision almost killing my chances ... but turning out good.




But the worst part came afterwards. Getting in bed at 5:30am (+6 hours time diff here) my little son was getting up at 6:10. So I'm still trying to work trhough the day on 40 minutes of sleep ... but it was worth it, and the nextweek or so will be payback to my family.

[Ted]

I know I probably sound bitter for finishing 7th, but . . .

That was the soupiest victory post ever. 

Congrats to Vienna. I'm going to Wendy's to celebrate my 7th place finish with some freedom fries.