BuzzerBeater Forums

Ok before you have me outfitted for a tin foil hat and tell me to go sit in the corner with legendary Looney tunes like wolph and wardo hear me out.

The game has become sentient. Beneath these simple looking lines of code dictating statistical probabilities there is a life force capable of seeing the whole picture around them. Either that or this game is fixed in the spirit of 1980s pro wrestling where the "Booker" takes a look at the matchups and conjours up a appropriate finish. Either way this game, when the matchups are right, has a real flair for the dramatic.


Now now, get those guys with the nice starched white lab coats away, it will start to make sense here in a moment.

Entering the final game of the regular season in my league my conference had three teams sitting 16-5. All within reasonable PD of each other. My team sat 3rd with a PD of 212, the guy in front was at 244, the guy behind at 207. And those two were matched up at the guy with higher PDs court. I had a road game against a very solid #7 who needed the win to avoid the cellar and who has owned me at his place over previous seasons.

And now that you have the set-up here is the punchline.

In the battle between the two teams around me the one with HCA who had the higher PD survives 93-91. My team thanks to a sudden inability to keep opponents from decimating us on the offensive glass goes down 106-101. And here is where it gets interesting, the usual moddus operandi at the end of the game is for the team behind to just hack away even after the issue is decided. We have all had games where it was a one possession game wind up with a final margin high as 12 thanks to this bit of engine logic. But last night, with my game and the other that had impact on where I would finish both coming down the pike in near synchrony my guys missed a desperation three with :17 left but when the opponent got the rebound my guys just let the clock run out with the game ending on a steal as time expired. Normally there would have been a couple of more possessions and the final margin might gave ended at nine which would have dumped me to 4th. Had me feeling like Japan at the world cup.



A couple of other interesting sidebars that add a little bit more drama to my conference race. The #8 upset the #1 105-103 (who did stagger his lineup to try and avoid injury) and if I had won they would have escaped the cellar but alas the gutsy effort was for naught at they have officially been booted off the island. Also for our #1 he now has a first round opponent that is (to steal a line from former East Carolina football coach Steve Logan) a poor stylistic fit. As for me, it's another trip to play a guy who has been in my league since season 20, I have been in this league since season 30. Counting playoffs and a few scrimmages we have played thirty one times with my opponent holding a 24-7 lifetime edge, which is skewered by the fact he beat me EIGHTEEN straight times and held a 19-1 series lead at one point. But in recent seasons we have battled on even terms, this season I won by 4 at my place, he took me down by five at his just this past Tuesday. This is a rivalry game as for all but about two seasons in my league I gave drawn this guy as a rival.

My league I am sure is far from the best in USA d3 but this season has seen more drama than a Maury Povich baby's mama.



Last edited by Coach Lambini at 07/01/2018 09:21:32

I agree that it sounds implausible but alas I watched it go down just this way. Go check the replay. At the very least this was so out of character for the usual responses one expects that one has to wonder. If the other team had won in the game that had a direct impact upon mine perhaps those final seconds would have played out different.

I missed this thread earlier. I am pretty sure that what happens is that the engine calculated a steal occurring on that possession, so they didn't foul, but then the steal was assigned late enough that it happened at the buzzer. It's not that uncommon, unfortunately.

I also missed the playoffs my first season in III (season 19) way back when on point differential. It happened because of a buzzerbeater at the end of game 22, which turned a 22 point loss into a 24 point loss, putting me two points behind in point differential (and I had more points scored). It may be one of the few cases where a team is knocked out of the playoffs by a buzzerbeater that didn't actually change the result of the game itself.

I also missed the playoffs my first season in III (season 19) way back when on point differential. It happened because of a buzzerbeater at the end of game 22, which turned a 22 point loss into a 24 point loss, putting me two points behind in point differential (and I had more points scored). It may be one of the few cases where a team is knocked out of the playoffs by a buzzerbeater that didn't actually change the result of the game itself.

I was in chat with you when that happened LOL. Good times.

OK the conventional wisdom espoused does meet the litmus test of logic..... But my hypothesis is still more entertaining.

Alas no such scenario in place this season. We slumped all the way to 6th, but at least it appears we will easily avoid the gallows pole.

I missed this thread earlier. I am pretty sure that what happens is that the engine calculated a steal occurring on that possession, so they didn't foul, but then the steal was assigned late enough that it happened at the buzzer. It's not that uncommon, unfortunately.

It's funnier when it happens after 35+ seconds on the 24 second clock

I have the data on my team where Its Ramandon Hill and it could be a very suspicious game because of it. I however didn't juice my lineup and or have stat padding. I believe in the cap of the stat. If you seen what I seen in the same time frame you will be able to tell the difference too. Should be a fun game tonight with my playoff team and best one at that. Its gonna be even more entertaining tonight when every1 is wrong and I am right with the pick of 28-21 ECU.