Toilet Bowl Finals

#5 Hot Gems (9-9) vs #6 LA Buffy
The race is on for the number one pick next year. Recent hauls at the number one position have included Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley, with Durant vaulting the Sour Snails from a worst-to-first championship in 2007-2008. So this Toilet Bowl could have huge implications as the early clear prize is Kentucky's John Wall, a franchise caliber point guard. Of course, second prize might not be too bad either, as forward Ohio State's Evan Turner is a potential do-everything type fantasy player. So who will be competing for the honor of selecting first? It looks like it'll be Roger's Buffy from the Chamberlain Conference and Thiens' Hot Gems from the Russells.

After neatly disposing of non-contender Jedi Knights in RD1, Buffy faced division foe (and higher seeded despite the same record) Squirtle Squad. The Squirtles took out league weakling Fobstars easily but ran out of steam against Buffy, losing 2-6-1 as Shaun Livingston made an appearance for one game. Shaun Livingston! With Danny Granger heating up big time, Roger's team is poised for a Toilet Bowl win, one that could land them the perfect piece to go along their enviable big man lineup of Tim Duncan, Carlos Boozer, Lamar Odom, Marc Gasol, and Mehmet Okur. While old vet Andre Miller has been more than serviceable, getting a young stud like Wall could really top off an up and down season for Buffy.

Don't start the parade yet though, because the Hot Gems have patched things together after collapsing over the last few weeks of the regular season. Instead of being in the playoffs, the Gems slip slopped into the Toilet Bowl (allowing the Chunky Monkeys to sneak in and be on their Cinderella ride to the Finals) and barely dispatched the Human Amoebas and Funk Coalition. And they weren't pretty victories either, as they won by 3 PTS in their matchup against the putrid Amoebas and barely squeaked by the horrendous Funk. Led by Dwayne Wade and Paul Pierce, the former Golden Dragons are a little thin across the board and could be primed for an upset. A 26 PTS, 17 REB outburst by Al Harrington gave Thien's team the early week lead but there's still a lot of games to go. The big man duo of Chris Kaman and Theo Ratliff will really have to work the boards and protect the rim if Gems wants to win.

The good news for these two teams is that both Wall and Turner are slated to be superstars. While getting a point guard is priority one for both squads, I doubt Turner would be a bad consolidation prize. The 2011 Draft is shaping up to be Durant-Oden Part II so it'll be exciting to see who escapes with the first overall pick. Congrats to Hot Gems and Buffy for making it to the Toilet Bowl finals!

Championship Preview

#1 Sour Snails (16-1-1) vs #4 Chunky Monkeys (9-9)
With both teams emerging out of a fast and furious finish from the previous week, the dust settled (just barely) on Sunday night. By the time midnight rolled around, it was the Chunky Monkeys versus the Sour Snails. With both teams relatively healthy (the Monkeys are missing Harden and Chandler) while the Snails are missing Josh Howard, this will be a clash of the titan (and non-titan in the case of the Monkeys).

This match-up is a juxtaposition of opposites.

• 1 vs. 2. It features the first and second overall pick in Lebron James -- who's been in a stratosphere by himself this year and the incomparable CP3 -- a potential bust who's missed a large portion of this season with a serious knee injury.
• Perfect vs Perfect. 100% on Calc AB vs 100% on Calc AB (this is a private matter between Trieu and Evan)
• 1 vs. 8. Mostly importantly It features the first seed and the 8th seed. The Snails, who by and large cruised to one of the most dominant seasons in history, have been the run-away favorites all season. WIth the exception of a mid-season, asterisk highlighted all-star week loss to Buffy, the Snails never lost a game all season. Headlined by the ridiculous LBJ, the Snails feature athletic freaks like Crash, J-Smoove and unbelievable young funs including Steph Curry, Aaron Brooks, Darren Collison. Honestly, the team doesn't need much else. The question is whether the young bucks can keep it up for this last week. There are signs of slow down in Brooks, Collison is losing minutes to CP3 and Steph Curry has been undoubtedly knicked up these last several weeks.

On the other side of the table, the Monkeys limped in to the playoffs with little expectations. In fact, team brass, with CP3 out with a knee injury, basically admitted defeat mid-season with the trade of Danny Granger and Memo Okur for the then-injured BRoy and young but unproven talent like Wilson Chandler and Channing Frye. However, with some luck (Thien's team suffered an unimaginable choke-job from a 5-game slide) and some timely wins, the Monkeys found themselves as the final seed of the playoffs.

There are a few underlying stories in this matchup. This is expected to be Chris Paul's first full week back at full strength (as illustrated by his 15 point and 13 dimes effort last night). However, the counter to this is that the Snail's super sleeper Darren Collison has taken a big hit to his PT. While Collison has still been filling up the stat-sheet, it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. The Monkeys have had a few players step up in recent weeks including new starters, Jrue Holiday (thanks to doghouse bound Lou Williams) and Channing Frye (freak injury to Robin Lopez) while Snail stars Aaron Brooks J-Smoove have hit a bit of a rut.

That said, this is still a classic David and Goliath matchup. The mighty Snails are the unquestioned Goliaths. The Monkeys aren't even quite David's at this point. They are David's puny younger brother. The Monkeys will need their two captains in CP3 and BRoy7 to play like all-stars to have a chance. The Snails have 4-5 all-stars on their rosters alone so the Monkeys will need their entire lineup to step up if they are to have a chance.

[Editor's note] Both teams have been in the Finals before, with a similarly outmatched squad (on paper) from Season 1 for the Monkeys and a winning season from the Snails in Season 2. Back in 2008, they even met in the playoffs for a round. Is this the biggest rivalry in SlamNation? Let's find out who wins first eh?

Playoffs: Conference Finals

CHAMBERLAIN CONFERENCE
#1 Sour Snails (16-1-1) vs #3 Half Man Half ImAsian (11-7)
There was almost a major upset in SlamNation as the Sour Snails were tied with Fat Jubas heading into the last day of games. As it was, they barely won the 3PT, STL and BLK categories. Only a combined seven threes by Lebron James, Steph Curry, and Danilo Gallinari (plus a huge game winning block by LBJ in the closing seconds) enabled the Snails to move ahead. Whew, disaster averted! It must be troubling that the Snails were taken to the wire but the Jubas always play them tough so maybe their toughest competition is over.

Then again, they face a successful Cinderella this week as Half Man Half Amazing took down number two seed Korea! Korea! without breaking a sweat, neatly capturing six categories by a wide margin. It didn't help that Dwight Howard only played two games for Korea! and was outblocked 10 to 5 by JaVale McGee. The only players who remotely showed up to play for Steve's team was Manu Ginobili and Vince Carter, and they couldn't fend off an explosive Kevin Durant and Troy Murphy.

So what now? Do the Snails recover from a scare or do they have another unexpected fight on their hands? In their one regular season matchup, Trieu defeated Oliver 5-4 but by pretty wide margins in all the categories. They should dominate all the small ball categories and then it's up to REB and BLK to determine the winner. If McGee and Murphy keep throwing up double doubles for Half Man Half Asian, the Snails might be in trouble. And ho shit, what about Drew Gooden's 26 point 20 rebound effort on Tuesday night? Only to be somewhat offset by Gerald Wallace's 17-19. And what about Kevin Durant's 45 points on Monday? King James, Trieu needs you to power him into the Finals! This could be a real battle and both teams have their stars going a near full schedule. This is the marquee matchup of the week for sure.

RUSSELL CONFERENCE
#2 Bayside Bombardiers (11-7) vs #4 Chunky Monkeys (9-9)
Talking about upsets, the Monkeys pulled one off while the Bombardiers narrowly avoided falling victim to one. Let's start with the Monkeys, who cruised to a big upset over Nande by carrying their end of regular season momentum into the playoffs. As Mikey's team got decimated by injuries --six players felled, prompting him to ask for help from the league office to fill out games played -- Evan's squad took advantage behind Trevor Ariza (9 STL, 13 AST), Jrue Holiday (5 3PT, 8 STL, 18 AST), and Channing Frye (7 3PT). That's right, the stars of this team were nowhere to be found but Brandon Roy, Andrea Bargnani, and hypothetically Chris Paul will need to step up if they want to defeat the Bombardiers. Toppling a one seed was hard but they'll need more to do it again.

We saw Pierre's team as a potential upset victim because their #2 versus #3 seed matchup was a bit of a misnomer but they dispatched 100 Acre Wood Heffalumps through a hard fought week of 30+ games for each team. They squeaked out wins in 3PT and TO, while tying REB, on the way to a 5-3-1 victory. They have Pau Gasol, David West, and Jamal Crawford all playing well and Mo Williams returned for some big numbers. Center Samuel Dalembert is averaging nearly a double double with two blocks per game and if he can keep it up, he'll be a big reason for the Bombardiers' playoff success.

Generally speaking, this is a classic small ball versus big ball matchup. The Bombardiers are loaded inside while the Monkeys have smooth shooters as their big men. As it stands now, the fight could be over AST since the Monkeys are a little light in that department without CP3 at full strength. One of these teams will barely lose the PTS or TO category and that could be the cause of their defeat. This is going to be an intriguing matchup and the outcome could hinge on Paul returning for major minutes as soon as possible. Who will represent the Russells in the Finals? We can't tell either!

Playoff Preview RD1: Chamberlain Conference

PLAYOFFS
#1 Sour Snails (16-1-1) vs #4 Fat Jubas (9-8-1)
When the Jubas walk out on to the floor each night, the run into Lebron James, Josh Smith, Stephen Curry, Aaron Brooks, Gerald Wallace and recent super-star Darren Collison. OMG is probably the right term here. There's a reason why the Snails are the top dogs. GM Trieu built a developed a ridiculous team. Led by LBJ, J-Smoove and Crash - the top 3 picks have all performed like first rounders. Then add on super rooks Stephen Curry and Most-Improved Player Aaron Brooks - you got yourself the best starting 5 this side of the CBA (what great wall?? we have sour snails here!) For the Jubas, its a rock solid team led by a group of veterans. Their heyday was probably the 92 Olympics but the Jubas are no slouch. They gave the Snails a run for their money in their last match up. However, this is the playoffs. Look for the Snails to cruise on by the Jubas.

#2 Ko-re-a! (12-6) vs #3 Half Man Half ImAsian (11-7)
A great matchup featuring two rock solid teams. The Halfies are led by super stud KD and solid complementary players. Players like Russell Westbrook, Rip Hamilton, Andrew Bogut, and Kirk Hinrich might not strike fear for anyone but together, this team plays extremely well. Extremely balanced with no overt weaknesses, the team has had a solid run this season. The Korean crazed KO-RE-A! team, its about the wily vets. Outside of Dwight Howard, KOREA features Jason Kidd, Manu Ginobily, Vinsanity, Antawn Jamison and J-Rich. All 5 have performed extremely well this season - so much for those creaky knees. Even Big Z and Yao Ming are on the roster! Wow. This match up will be a toss up ... but we see KO-RE-A pulling this one out.


TOILET BOWL
#6 LA Buffy (8-10) vs #7 Jedi Knights (4-12-2)
Disappointment. There's no other way to describe the Buffy season. After a draft centered around veterans like Tim Duncan and Elton Brand, Buffy was projected to be a solid playoff team with unparalleled leadership. Roger then decided to further bolster the current line up by moving Brandon Roy and a few high flying projects for Danny Granger, Memo Okur and the magician, Randy Foye (because he disappeared so fast). While the team has had some wins including a monster season by Boozer, the roster has been very up and down. The Buffy is now focused clearly on winning the rights to John Wall/Evan Turner. On the flipside, the Jedi Knights have just had a very disappointing year. Besides the German bomber in Dirk Nowitzki, the team has had very little support on its roster. High risk, high reward players like Jose Calderon and Ronnie Brewer were really just high risk. The team does have a decent core of 3-4 solid keepers but will certainly look to rebuild next year. We look for Buffy to move on to the next round in this one.

#5 Squirtle Squad (8-10) vs #8 Fobstars (4-13-1)
Despite the presence of a few stars including Melo, ROY candidate Tyreke Evans, and newly acquired Joe Johnson, Squirtle couldn't find enough consistency to make the playoffs. Anthony Randolph turned out to be a bust, so did Blake Griffin and Baron Davis. Guys will be back but all next year. This will definitely be a team to watch next year once everything gets healthy. On the other side, the Fobstars are really just fobs and not so much stars. There are some good pieces here like Chris Bosh, Chauncey Billups, Rashard Lewis and Zach Randolph but the team will really look to rebuild this off- season. Age will be an issue so look for the team to look closely at the rookie crop next year. Melo, alone, might be too much for Fobstar - add on Ty-Ty and JJ, its all over. Squirtle moves on to the next round!

Playoff Preview RD1: Russell Conference

PLAYOFFS
#1 Nande? ReBuRonSAN (13-5) vs #4 Chunky Monkeys (9-9)
Nande has throttled the competition this year despite losing their first round pick, Gilbert Arenas, for the year. Having won four of their last five games, GM Mikey has shown that it's not just about the players but the man behind the scenes that make wins happen. The Monkeys have picked up steam by winning three of their last four and snuck into the playoffs on the heels of Hot Gems' epic collapse. While it would appear this matchup should favor Nande, the two teams have been playing even recently -- even if Nande won both regular season meetings handily. Nande will win REB, BLK, and PTS. They will lose FG%, FT%, and TO. So it comes down to 3PT, AST, and STL between these two teams. For the Monkeys that means Trevor Ariza might be the key here while Steven Jackson and Ron Artest would be needed to pace Nande in the STL and 3PT departments. Bigger question: Will Chris Paul return for a game or two? That could be Evan's best chance at an upset.

#2 Bayside Bombardiers (11-7) vs #3 100 Acre Wood Heffalumps (12-6)
The Bombardiers are limping into the playoffs a bit as they've suffered four losses in the last six weeks. Their two wins have been against non-playoff competition and they are quite far away from their undefeated January. Jose's Heffalumps actually have a better record than the Bombardiers but since they didn't win their division, they'll be playing an away week. The Heffas have been on absolute fire recently, with six straight wins before dropping one in the last week of the season. They have Kobe Bryant and Kevin Martin playing at full strength, and Jason Terry returns from losing an eye mid-week. Pierre's team will need everyone to step it up a few notches. A few more 40+ point nights from Luis Scola certainly wouldn't hurt. (Which shocked you more? Scola's 44 or Andre Miller's 52?) Unless Bayside has some more fight in them, we foresee a not so upset upset special here...


TOILET BOWL
#5 Hot Gems (9-9) vs #8 Human Amoebas (3-15)
The story heading into the back half of the season has to be the Gems (formerly the Golden Dragons) collapse into the Toilet Bowl. Just six weeks ago we said they were the third best team in the league. Five losses in six games later and they are playing for a top draft pick. What the hell happened? We can't tell because Dwayne Wade has been outrageous and it's not like there were too many injuries that befell this team. Unless you think losing The Truth for a few games really hurt Thien's team that much. As for upset candidate Human Amoebas, center Andray Blatche has been a revelation (24.5 PTS, 9.9 REB, 1.4 STL, 1.1 BLK) in his last fourteen games. With Monta Ellis back, the Amoebas could surprise. Of course, they lost to the Hot Gems 7-2 last week, but while playing eight less games. Can coach Eric-A steer his team to a big win this week?

#6 Morrie's Pogiboys (7-11) vs #7 Funk Coalition (5-12-1)
This one looks like a blowout. The Pogiboys have won five of their last six and have been on a tear. They waxed the Funk a few weeks ago and it doesn't look like they'll have a more difficult time in this matchup. Jon's team is on a four game slide and has lost Tony Parker for the fantasy season, center Joakim Noah is still out, and the trade for Al Jefferson was definitely a short term loss. Meanwhile, Alvin's team has Amare Stoudemire and Devin Harris (finally) playing like franchise guys and Hornet's shooting guard Marcus Thornton has added much needed scoring punch to the backcourt. Welcome to the second round of the Toilet Bowl Pogiboys.

Final Standings 2010

Congratulations on a great first season! Here's the link for the expanded final season standings as well as season stats. Also, final locked rosters.

Rule Addendums

To clarify issues, some additional rules:

• Roster locks occur before the first game of the playoffs, and then trades re-open post-Finals and up to the following year's draft. You own your entire roster until it's time to announce keepers (date to be determined).
• No waiver wire transactions can occur after the roster lock date, even though technically you could submit that transaction before the date. Waivers need to be fully processed before the lock day.
• If a player is on Injured Reserve when the roster lock happens, you cannot use him for the rest of the playoffs and Toilet Bowl.
• Playoff seeding goes like this: Division winners are #1 and #2 and for both the playoffs and Toilet Bowl, teams compete in their own conference first before the big Russell vs Chamberlain face off in the last week.
• Next year's Waiver Order will be reconsidered. In 2010 we did it #1-12 by initial draft order but it should be rediscussed again.
• Any post-game scoring changes will be adjusted and upheld by the ESPN system.

Playoff Tie-Breaker System

Power Rankings are basically rankings off of win-loss record. Tie-breakers differ depending on what you're trying to break (division rank, wildcard, overall, etc). If three or more teams are tied, H2H winning %'s among tied teams are used to break ONE team out of the tie. Then the tiebreaks reset for the remaining tied teams.

Overall Power Rankings (determine next season base Draft order)
1. Overall Record
2. H2H Record among tied teams. If more than 2 teams are tied, H2H winning % among all tied teams is used
3. Most Categories won for season. If H2H records are the same, the team with the most categories won among our scoring system for the year wins the tiebreak. This is similar to a weekly H2H matchup, except using category totals for the season.
4. Coin flip. If teams are still tied with number of categories won, a coin flip will be used. Specifics of the coin flip (depending on # of teams involved) will be decided at that time.

Division Rankings (to rank teams in a division to determine division champion)
1. Overall Record
2. H2H Record. If more than 2 teams are tied, H2H winning % among all tied teams is used
3. Division Record (record against divisional opponents)
4. Conference Record (record against conference opponents)
5. Most Categories won for season. If H2H, Division, Conference records are the same, the team with the most categories won among our scoring system for the year wins the tiebreak. This is similar to a weekly H2H matchup, except using category totals for the season.
6. Coin flip
[Changed to no divisons in 2019]

Conference Rankings (to determine Wildcard participants. Excludes Division Champions from the equation)
1. Overall Record
2. H2H Record. If more than 2 teams are tied, H2H winning % among all tied teams is used.
3. Conference Record (record against conference opponents)
4. Most Categories won for season. If H2H and Conference records are the same, the team with the most categories won among our scoring system for the year wins the tiebreak. This is similar to a weekly H2H matchup, except using category totals for the season.
5. Coin flip

Playoff Tiebreaks (to determine winner of playoff matchup should a tie occur)
This can be controversial, but in the playoffs, I've always gone with ties going to the higher seed. You've earned that right over the course of the regular season. [Update 3/18/24: We are officially going with "higher seed" wins a postseason tied matchup.]