Ep.7: A New Lob City

When the Toronto Raptors' big-three assembled, which was at the same time that Chris Paul left Los Angeles for Boston, everybody knew where was the new "Lob City." Having in their lineup Russell Westbrook, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, the canadian city was assured to have a lot of highlights.

Although, those highlight plays were the only good thing that was coming out from the team. Chemistry issues between Westbrook and McGrady regarding who should handle the ball in the clutch and lack of bench depth were burrying the fans' hopes.

The flashy cousins rejoined forces and formed a feared
big-three alongside Westbrook

Their start was awful: 1-4 after five games, and their sixth was match was against The Brotherhood, now the only undefeated team after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Lakers.

The 76ers started strong, as both Allen Iverson and new starter World B. Free lead the team to a comfortable 12-point lead after the first 12 minutes. However, the Raptors responded and slowly catched up.

The difference was only 4 points when the fourth quarter started, and a few minutes later they managed to take the lead with a three pointer made by Linas Kleiza. This was the moment when "The Answer" step up and led, once again, the Philadelphia 76ers to the victory.

With an unstoppable performance, Iverson single-handedly retook the lead and gave The Brotherhood a crucial 2-point lead. After trading buckets for a few minutes, a turnover by Jrue Holiday gave Russell Westbrook the chance of finally tie the game.

However, Allen Iverson almost instantly hit a turn-around jumper over McGrady, and, after a good defensive play by Alonzo Mourning on Andrew Bynum, posterized Andrea Bargnani to seal the deal. The Raptors collapsed to the pressure and a three pointer by Iguodala put the game out of reach.

It was the sixth victory for The Brotherhood in six games. The Raptors' chemistry issues once again proved costly for them, and rumours started to spread around the league, regardin a possible trade for Russell Westbrook.

Post-game stats:

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Ep.6: The Answer

If there was a team with a really good chance of beating The Brotherhood, it was the Boston Celtics. Their squad was full of history, featuring in the starting five legends like Bill Russell and Kevin McHale, and pairing them with stars like Chris Paul and Paul Pierce.

Bill Russell was back and ready to lead the Celtics
to more championships

Although, their start wasn't as good as they had expected, as their record before their fifth match was 2-2. Because of that, the match against Philadelphia was crucial, as a victory would put the team over 50% and could prove the world who was the east's best team.

The Celtics had an amazing start. With tight defense over Iverson and good plays set up by Chris Paul, the first quarter ended with the home team up by 8. However, at the start of the second quarter, The Brotherhood started to take more care of the ball and began a 12-4 run, thus ending the quarter 31-19. This advantage allowed the Sixers to go to the half with a 4-point lead.

During the third quarter, the Sixers' coach decided to give rest to the starting 5 and the bench took the relay. Although World B. Free, usually the best player coming off the bench, was struggling with his shooting, both Terrence Williams and Dell Curry step up, leading the 16-5 run that gave the Sixers a more comfortable.

In the fourth quarter, with Iverson still in the bench, the Celtics managed to retake the lead, and by half of the quarter they had a very good looking 7-point lead. But then Iverson came in. Starting the quarter with an already stunning 38-point performance, he scored the last 19 points of the Sixers and secured the win with a 7-point differencial.

Iverson's 57-point performance was a huge statement for the league: it doesn't matter if the team looks defeated. The Brotherhood would always have "The Answer."

Post-game stats:

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Ep.5: The Doctor

Julius Erving is a living Philadelphia 76ers legend. He led the team during their glory days in the late 70s and early 80s, reaching four times the NBA Finals and winning one championship ring. Thus, when "Age Away" came up, many Sixers fan thought that "Doctor J" would return to their squad.

However, when Allen Iverson tried to recruit him for "The Brotherhood", Erving declined the offer because he "wanted new challenges." Not long after, his deal with the New Orleans Hornets was made public. In the New Orleans team he could be once again the star of the team, and at the same time play alongside historic point guard Mark Price and promising rookie Anthony Davis.

Although being a 76ers legend, "Dr. J" accepted an offer
from the New Orleans Hornets to be their star player

Willing to keep their 3 games win-streak alive and going, Jrue Holiday again mastered the first few minutes of the match. Lead by the point guard's effort, The Brotherhood jumped to an early 10-point lead, as both Julius Erving and Mark Price were struggling to get going against the tight defense of Andre Iguodala and Holiday himself.

After three quarters, the Hornets looked dead as they were trailing the Sixers by 9 points. Although, two three pointers from Joe Johnson brought the game back to a 3-point differencial. Philadelphia then relied on the clutch performance of Allen Iverson, hitting a three pointer with Mark Price's hand on his face, and then performing a killer-crossover on Joe Johnson that was followed by a jumpshot, which gave the Sixers a 6-point lead.

Although two defensive breakdowns allowed Anthony Davis to score, the Sixers managed to answer back, and finally won the game by 8 points after the always tense free-throws game.

Besides the amazing performance by Joe Johnson, the whole Hornets team struggled with the Sixers' defence, as Anthony Davis, Mark Price and the team's star, Julius Erving, were all shut down by the incredible efforts done by Alonzo Mourning, Jrue Holiday, Serge Ibaka and Andre Iguodala.

It was the third straight loss for the Hornets, and the fourth straight win for The Brotherhood, who are now ready to go back to the east again and face one of the toughest teams of the conference: the Boston Celtics.

Post-game stats:

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Zoom In #1 - Lakers' Amazing Start

No one doubted that almost every Lakers' legend would try to return to the team after "Age Away" was made public. Even though they couldn't retain some legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who accepted a multi-millonaire deal with the Chicago Bulls, or Kobe Bryant, who went to Portland to form a big-three and chase for his sixth ring, the Lakers still have players like Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Elgin Baylor or Gail Goodrich.

Also, the team made a huge deal with Jazz historic power forward Karl Malone.

"I know everyone expected me to rejoin John (Stockton) in Utah, but this is my last chance of finally winning the ring I deserve, and honestly, I don't think that I could accomplish that staying with him in Utah." - Karl Malone

We're now five games into the Lakers' season, and they truly seem unstoppable. With their starting five being Magic, Goodrich, Baylor, Malone and Shaq every night, they won all five games and right now they're the only ones with a 5-0 record. Allen Iverson's 76ers and Kevin Garnett's Timberwolves are also unbeaten, both with 4-0 records.

Their awesome star and cohesive way of playing reflects on their stats: five players are averaging double-digit points while shooting more that 50% off the field.

Elgyn Baylor right now is averaging 17.8 points per game, being their highest scorer. Meanwhile, both Baylor and Shaquille O'Neal average more than 7.5 rebounds per game (Baylor 7.6, O'Neal 7.8), and Magic Johnson gives 6 assists per game while stealing 1.6 balls per game.

However, for some of the backups it's not being such a perfect life: players like Iman Shumpert (only averaging 3 minutes per game) or Metta World Peace (who hasn't played a single minute yet) are starting to speculate with their posibilities of being traded away. 

Ep.4: The Five Stars of New York

As told on the last episode, the New York Knicks had a big loss in their squad because Carmelo Anthony decided to terminate his contract with the franchise. Altough, the appeal that New York has for free agents attracted Atlanta Hawks' legend, Lou Hudson as a replacement. With the sign of the legendary small forward, the Knicks now had a big-three formed by Clyde Drexler and Walt Frazier. Also, their starting lineup had current star Amar'e Stoudemire and team's legend Willis Reed.

Walt Frazier returned to The Garden ready to lead
NBA's new super-team: "The Five Stars of New York"

Although being considered by many as a contender team, "The Five Stars of New York" started the season with a lot of chemistry issues. Amar'e Stoudemire and Willis Reed didn't get along very well and, added to the poor depth of the team's bench, the Knicks recieved The Brotherhood with an 0-2 record.

From the very first minute, it was only one man's show. Jrue Holiday step up and had an amazing performace, finishing the first quarter with 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The other starters catched up during a run in the second quarter, as the Sixers head to the half with a 13-point lead.

The Knicks' comeback efforts were lead by Lou Hudson and his amazing shooting. Slowly, the home team came back as they finished the third quarter only 7 points behind Philadelphia. A couple of good defensive plays plus an amazing three pointer by JR Smith put the game within 3 points.

However, the Sixers responded and both Allen Iverson and Jrue Holiday lead the run that ended with the final 11-point margin.

The next match between these two teams would be in only 24 hours, but some thought that the team that would travel to Philadelphia could be different: Derek Harper and Walt Frazier had an awful night, and a lot of people started doubting about Stoudemire's ability to defend Serge Ibaka and Alonzo Mourning. Sooner than later, trade rumours about Amar'e started to spread around the league. What would the Knicks do?

Post-game stats:

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Ep.3: Time for Payback

It all started with the New York Knicks. With all the legends coming back to the league, the Knickerbockers had a very serious task in hand: deciding wether to keep or waive the team's recent years star, Carmelo Anthony. The team did all what they could to convince "Melo" to stay in New York, but he opted out of his contract and became a free agent.

As soon as Anthony hit the free agency market, the Denver Nuggets offered him a max-deal, thus making Melo their franchise player. But sacrifices had to be made in order to have enough cap space for the deal, and the odd one out was Andre Iguodala. "Iggy" was waived from the team, and almost instantly resign with the Philadelphia 76ers, even though they had traded him just a few weeks ago.

Destiny wanted that the Nuggets and the 76ers faced against each other for their season opener. But Carmelo wasn't the only acquisition the Nuggets had made during the crazy offseason. Keeping 9 players of their current squad, including Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried and Andre Miller, they signed Dikembe Mutombo and Robert Horry. Also, Knicks' historic player John Starks signed with the Nuggets as he also hadn't room in the new NY squad.

Iggy wouldn't forgive the Nuggets for waiving him...

The game was played in the Wells Fargo Center the day of Halloween. For the first few minutes of the match, the Sixers' offense relied on their best player, Allen Iverson, as he single-handedly gave the team an 8-0 lead. Although, two deffensive breakdowns allowed John Starks to drain two three-pointers to bring the Nuggets back in the game.

However, another member of the Philadelphia 76ers started to step up in the final minutes of the first quarter: Andre Iguodala. Willing for payback, he shut down Carmelo Anthony, forcing him to end the first 12 minutes dry, with an awful looking 0-5 shooting. In the second quarter onwards, the combined efforts of Andre, Serge Ibaka and Alonzo Mourning completely shut down the Nuggets' offense.

The match was already out of reach for Denver at the end of the first half, with Philadelphia leading by 16. After reaching a 23 point-differential during the middle of the third quarter, the Nuggets tried to make a comeback relying on the sharp shooting of small forward Danilo Gallinari. Although, the Sixers' defense made the necessary adjustments to stop Denver's efforts. The game ended with an incredible poster of Allen Iverson on his former teammate Dikembe Mutombo.

The final result: 20-point win for the Sixers and an awesome game both by Iverson, who ended with a double-double, and by Andre Iguodala, with lockdown defence on "Melo" and great offensive plays.

As Denver left the Wells Fargo Center with a lot of doubts about how good was the decision of letting Iguodala go, the party continued for the Philadelphia squad. Four of the five starters scored double digits and their performance already had told the NBA that "The Brotherhood in the East" was hungry for an NBA title.


Post-game stats:

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Ep.2: The Brotherhood in the East

Soon after Tracy McGrady showed the world the magic powers of "Age Away", one of the recently-retired players who took the medicine was Allen Iverson. Considered as one of, if not, the best player to ever wear a 76ers jersey, he almost instantly signed a deal with the Philadelphia team, and started recruiting other legends.

Sadly for "The Answer", another legend of the team, Julius Erving, wasn't willing to accept his offer.

"I did all I could in Philadelphia. I won a ring and reached four NBA Finals. I love the fans, but at this point I want a new challenge." - Julius Erving 

The other 76ers' legend, Moses Malone, had previously accepted an offer from the Portland Trail Blazers, as he couldn't deny the oportunity of teaming up with Kobe Bryant and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Although Iverson had missed on the other two living legends of Philadelphia, he managed to bring back World B. Free and his 2001 partners, George Lynch and Todd MacCulloch. He also recruited Andre Iguodala, after he was waived from the Denver Nuggets because they wanted to bring back Carmelo Anthony.

Only four players agreed to resign with the 76ers: point-guard Jrue Holiday, power-forward Thaddeus Young, small-forward Dorell Wright, and center Spencer Hawes. Waived JJ Barea and Tristan Thompson also joined the team.

Afraid of again having to carry the team on his back, Iverson started to talk with other team's superstars, finally acomplishing to recruit former Defensive Player of the Year, Alonzo Mourning, and his friend and Hornets' teammate, Dell Curry.

Serge Ibaka was surprisingly waived by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the 76ers didn't miss the opportunity of signing one of the international players with most potential.

Finally, the roster was completed with the sign of free agent Terrence Williams for the minimum. Thus, the Philadelphia 76ers were again ready to bring back their previous glory, lost since the 1983 championship. Every member of the new assembled squad was ready for the challenge, and so "The Brotherhood in the East" started the training camp in order to prepare themselves to fight for the championship.

Allen Iverson was, again, ready to lead the 76ers to the Finals,
but now he wasn't alone...