PBL Playoffs

Semifinals
The New York Gothams handily defeated the San Francisco Sea Lions, as expected. The 4 game sweep was never close, with Gothams winning every game by at least 20 points and the Sea Lions never having the lead in the second half. The other semifinal series got off to a more evenly matched start, with the teams splitting the first 2 games in LA. However, in Game 3, Los Angeles Jets center David Greenwood blocked Boston Shamrocks rookie William Bedford in the closing seconds to seal the 2 point victory. Jets star Michael Jordan then put up matching 40 point games to seal the series.

Finals
The New York Gothams picked up right where they left off against San Francisco winning a pair of blowouts at home despite many predicting a closer series. The series tightened up when it moved out West with the Gothams requiring overtime to win game 3. However, a dominant performance by league MVP Michael Jordan in game 4 ended the Gothams hopes of a sweep. Game 5 was also close, but the Gothams pulled away at the end to become the inaugural PBL Champions.

Semifinals
E1 New York 4 W2 San Francisco 0
W1 Los Angeles 4 E2 Boston 1
Finals
E1 New York 4 W1 Los Angeles  1

Last edited by sportsfan7 (11/17/2020 4:13 pm)

CBA Season Preview

The CBA lost 9 teams that had played in the 1985-86 season, including 5 of the 8 playoff teams. The Tampa Bay Thrillers, Florida Stingers, Bay State Bombardiers, Toronto Tornados, Detroit Spirits, Wisconsin Flyers, La Crosse Catbirds, Wyoming Wildcatters, and Maine Windjammers all folded in between the end of last season and the beginning of this one. They have been replaced by 7 expansion franchises; the Jacksonville Jets, Pensacola Tornados, Fort Wayne Flyers, Quad Cities Catbirds, Houston Spirits, Dallas Wranglers, and San Antonio Wildcatters. This also means a new divisional alignment. The Baltimore Lightning and Albany Patroons will be joined in the East by Jacksonville and Pensacola. The Cincinnati Slammers and Evansville Thunder welcome Fort Wayne and Quad Cities to the newly formed Central Division. The defending Champion Kansas City Sizzlers are joined out West by Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.

As defending Champs, the Sizzlers seem to be the favorite to take home the title this year. The only other returning playoff teams, Cincinnati and Evansville, also appear capable of making a run. After just missing out on the playoffs last year, the Baltimore Lightning look to finish the deal this time. The last returning team, Albany, seems likely to come up short again. Not a lot of conclusions can be drawn from the 7 expansion franchises, but of them the Jacksonville Jets seem to be in the best position to make a run.

Last edited by sportsfan7 (12/07/2020 7:44 pm)

CBA Playoffs

Semifinals

Despite being billed as the worse of the two semis, the Jacksonville-San Antonio game was remarkably average. The Jets could never quite put the game away, but the Wildcatters could never quite take over, leading to a 108-99 victory for the #1 seeded Jets.

In the other semifinal, the Sizzlers showed why they were the defending champions, thrashing Cincinnati in their own house. The Slammers never led in the game, but managed to stick around for most of the first half, being down 52-41 at the half. However, Kansas City went on a 23-4 run to open the second half and kept their foot on the gas, winning 116-82.

Finals

The best-of-3 finals were to be played entirely in Jacksonville and the Jets were the #1 seed, but it was the Sizzlers who attracted most of the, limited, media attention. The defending champs had to deal with questions about the team’s future as rumors swirled about a potential ABL or PBL franchise in Kansas City. Once the teams stepped on the court, the Sizzlers made a compelling argument for why they should remain by blowing out the Jets in game 1. Game 2 was a much closer affair, but the Sizzlers pulled away late to win their second consecutive CBA championship.

Yeah, so this is dead. I've been more focused on another project lately and combined with going back to work this weekend and going back to part time in-person school, I don't see a way forward for this. If I could do it over again, I would've written out the posts as I went through the seasons, instead of doing it after the fact.

However, I do have the completed results of the series done (standings, playoffs, leagues, etc.,) through the end of the 2019-20 season, as well as a full statistical compilation from the series that will be linked below. These links will use the original names for teams, some of which I changed when posting.

Part 1 (1985/86-1989/90)
Part 2 (1990/91-1994/95)
Part 3 (1995/96-1999/2000)
Part 4 (2000/01-2004/05)
Part 5 (2005/06-2009/10)
Part 6 (2010/11-2014/15)
Part 7 (2015/16-2019/20)
Stats

Last edited by sportsfan7 (1/14/2021 4:21 pm)