2010 Toilet Bowl: The Golden Ticket

Despite a big slide at the end of the regular season and falling out of the playoffs, Thien really pulled his game together and ended up with a great consolidation prize: the number one overall pick in next year's draft. While he started off the playoffs a little slow, he picked up steam and dispatched his opponents 5-4, 6-2-1, and 7-2. The Toilet Bowl Finals versus Buffy looked like it might be tough matchup on paper, especially missing franchise center Andrew Bynum, but Thien's team handily won REB and BLK, along with just about everything else.

Roger's team had Marc Gasol and Randy Foye ailing, but Tim Duncan, Lamar Odom, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Boozer, and Danny Granger all had pretty full schedules. Buffy's deep squad came out of the gates stumbling and never recovered, opening the door for a pounding at the hands of the Golden Dragons / Hot Gems / Golden One (Thien changed his name during each week of the playoffs in an effort to sell more merchandise, savvy).

Leading the way for Golden One was Dwayne Wade (30.7 PTS, 6.7 REB, 4.3 AST, 1.7 STL, 1.0 BLK during the week), who gave everything he had during the season, avoided the injury list, and produced like the ultra superstar that he is. Co-captain Paul Pierce contributed mightily with an all around effort, notching 19 PTS and nearly 5 REB/AST per game. And while Mike Miller, Al Harrington, and Raymond Felton may not strike immediate fear into opposing fans, they all came through in dream fashion, contributing 3PT, STL, and AST across the board. And a special prize must go to Chris Kaman, who dominated the inside with 18.8 PTS, 12.5 REB, and 1.5 BLK over his past four games.

With this Toilet Bowl championship, Thien's team will be guaranteed a great player next season and will likely do better than this year's 9-9 record. Amazing job Golden Gem Dragons!

As a side note, with Trieu and Thien both winning during the playoffs, this must be the most successful GM sibling pair in league history. It's as if John and Jim Paxson had both collected championships during their front office tenures. Mama must be so proud of her boys! And insiders say that their older brother, Tony, is no slouch in the basketball department either. Triple threat!