BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, CYL, and CBA
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
14 April 2314
CBA Playoffs Preview: Conference Championships
A View of Basketball History in Boston
While I was well aware growing up in Diamond City about the history of baseball in Boston, it has been an interesting ride to learn about basketball. While the Boston baseball team was an abject failure, the basketball team was the opposite of that, winning more championships than any other team in the league that was mostly known as the National Basketball Association. According to Nate Howard, Boston's team, the Celtics, was still winning championships all the way until the end.
In exploring this history, I was struck with how the rising tensions of the 21st Century changed the structure of the league from a high of 32 teams starting in the 2026-2027 season all the way to contraction and only 12 teams playing by the 2076-2077 season. The last champions of the NBA? The Boston Celtics defeated the Chicaco Bulls, 4 games to 3. It was Boston's 31st championship in team history, beginning with the first one in 1957. As of the 2072-2073 season, the playoffs were made up of the first four seeds (two per conference) seeded regardless of conference. They just played regular season games versus their own conference.
The final standings of 2076-2077 looked this way with the six teams of each conference playing all regular season games between each other due to travel restrictions and costs:
Eastern Conference
Boston Celtics 41-11
Chicago Bulls 38-14
Washington Patriots 31-21
Kentucky Colonels 26-26
Cleveland Cavaliers 19-33
Hartford Guardians 11-41
Western Conference
Austin Outlaws 40-12
Golden State Warriors 36-16
San Diego Surf 31-21
Las Vegas Royals 24-28
Denver Nuggets 20-32
Seattle Supersonics 16-36
Playoffs
#1 Boston 3, #4 Golden State 0
#3 Chicago 3, #2 Austin 2
Boston 4, Chicago 3
CBA Playoff Preview
Now that I noted all my distractions in learning more about basketball for this playoff preview, it is noted that the CBA plans to lock into eight teams for now and the near future. There could be relocations/team name changes, but there will be no more than eight pro teams for now. If basketball takes off in the Commonwealth, there could be future expansion.
Playoff matchups are the top two teams of the NCC and SCC playing in a conference championship with the winners of those series moving on to the Commonwealth Championship series. This season, the NCC representatives are the #1 Salem Shadows and the #2 Medford Irish. In the SCC, representatives are the #1 Airport Aviators and #2 Southie Jammers. Higher seeds get home-court advantage with Airport holding the top record in the CBA.
NCC: #1 Salem Shadows (38-34) vs #2 Medford Irish (34-38)
The NCC was inferior to the SCC in the CBA's first season, but that does not mean these two teams cannot be dangerous. Salem won the NCC regular season crown, thanks in part to their 8-4 season record against Medford. In a conference decided by four games, the four-game series advantage was that difference.
The Shadows are led by a tough 1-2 punch of PG JB Letterhead (25.6 PPG) and Licker Sam Arnold (12.6 RPG, 7.6 APG). SF Jamal Pleick led the team with 1.3 steals per game, while C Armand Penn led with 1.0 blocks per game.
For the Irish, PG Junji Christie (25.1 PPG, 9.8 APG, 1.4 SPG) was the star with top contributions from C Jarian JaNian (8.4 RPG) and SF Sympath Wilder (0.6 BPG). Wilder (17.2) and Miracle Lucius (15,2) were the second and third scorers.
Looking at the team versus team matchups, Salem seems to have most of the advantages. The Shadows barely outscored their opponents (113.1-112.4), but Medford was outscored (107.4-110.2). Salem also has its biggest advantages in rebounds, outrebounding its opponents by 7.6 rebounds per game, while the Irish were outrebounded by 2.0 per game.
We are just going to go with which team seems to be better, and that team is the Shadows. We think they take it in six. Salem 4, Medford 2
SCC: #1 Airport Aviators (53-19) vs #2 Southie Jammers (41-31)
Airport surged ahead of the rest of the pack, winning an impressive 53 games in the 2313-14 season. Southie was no slouch, finishing only behind the Aviators in the standings. Part of that difference came from the Aviators' commanding 9-3 season record versus the Jammers. That includes a five-game winning streak in all five games played in 2314. Really, the Aviators never had true competition for the top spot. The assists leader was PG Brick Watson (6.7), and PF BB Whiteman led the team in steals (1.4). SF Fickle Fitzpatrick averaged nearly a double-double per game (15.9 PPG, 8.2 RPG).
The Aviators are guided by the superstar power of C DA Forte. While Forte is not considered to be an MVP frontrunner (that seems to be Boston's Tre Davis), he did lead the team in PPG (25.9), RPG (13.2), and BPG (2.1). Those numbers put Forte fourth in PPG and 1st in both rebounds and blocks.
For Southie, they were led by the double scoring threat of PG Vee Tsankov (24.1) and C Rhese Johnson (19.6). Tsankov also led in assists (9.8). Johnson also led the team in RPG (7.2) and BPG (1.2). SG Ritchie Kerr was the steals leader (2.0). PF Isaac Tibbetts (16.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.9 SPG) was also a top contributor on the team.
In the team vs team statistical comparisons, most categories go to Airport. The top-scoring team also had the greatest point margin of 8.1 points per game (114.8-106.7), while the Jammers outscored their opponents by just a point (110.8-109.2). Southie's best categories came in the turnovers department where they had a league low of 10.8 turnovers per game, while maintaining the top number of turnovers forced at 15.1. Airport only had a 1.6 turnovers per game advantage.
This matchup seems to be an easy one to predict, expecting that both the Aviators and Jammers perform as they did in the regular season. Southie just cannot match the intensity that Airport brings to the court. Airport 4, Southie 1