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The league wide NBA 3 on 3 tournament running at SB Nation comes to a close for the young Utah Jazz squad. The experts did not give us much of a chance to win (24%), but because the games were determined by random result (based on the odds, but not directly dictated by them) the best of three series was pretty close.
Their review of Day 2's game can be found here (different link than the one up above). Here's an excerpt from Steve Perrin's post:
"Out West an even more impressive group of orphans, James Harden, Zach Randolph and Pau Gasol, was put up against three Utah Jazz youngsters, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors. The experts gave Utah just a 24 percent chance of winning. The first roll came up 87 giving the Leftovers a 1-0 lead. But the Jazz won the second in the equivalent of overtime with a roll of 24, forcing a game three showdown. The final score was close, but the last roll of 30 gave the West Leftovers the win, and they move on to face the San Antonio Spurs in the second round."
- Steve Perrin, SBN, @ClipperSteve
Amazing. As SBN Spurs blog Pounding The Rock 's main man, J.R. Wilco, explained to me that last roll of the die (30) was really close to being another Jazz win. (We needed it to be a 24 or lower) If the 5 experts gave 6 more chances in 100 for a Jazz victory then we'd be advancing. Btw, J.R. was the only of the 5 experts to predict a Jazz upset. In addition to be smart, handsome, and helpful -- he's also a really great guy too! I think both of us would have wanted to see Spurs vs. Jazz in the second round. (They easily handled their first round opponent) Sadly, the rematch of this year's playoffs was not meant to be.
Please check out the rest of the 3 on 3 tournament, Steve has done a great job organizing this. Check it all out here:
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2012/9/3/3288705/nba-3-on-3-tournament
Today's match-ups are the Portland Trail Blazers against the Los Angeles Clippers, and Atlanta Hawks against the Toronto Raptors.
This is probably going to be the last post by me on this subject . . . so here are all the other links for our Jazz fan memories:
- FIBA considering 3 on 3 tournament for 2016 Olympics
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Voting for 1st Pick (winner: Derrick Favors)
- Voting for 2nd Pick (winner: Gordon Hayward)
- Voting for 3rd Pick (winner: Alec Burks)
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Voting Results in handy chart form (showing how close 'Sap was to being picked)
- The "Play in" game vs. a more veteran team selection (comprised of Mo Williams, Paul Millsap, and Al Jefferson)
- And a breakdown of our 1st round match-up vs. the SBN Western Conference Nonsense team.
Thanks against to Steve and the rest of the guys for organizing this. And hey experts -- next year you're all going to apologize to Burks, Hayward, and Favors. They'll show you how good they are with their play this year. They'll show ALL of you! *runs to my room to cry, in the SBN blogger basement or something*