When the NBA season was suspended on March 12th it would have been hard to imagine that over a month and a half later that the season still had not resumed. While basketball fans are eagerly anticipating some sort of continuation for the 2019-20 campaign, a sports simulation game company recently played out the rest of the regular season.
The Strat-O-Matic company based in Glen Head, New York, located about 30 miles north of New York City, produces and manufactures board and computer games for baseball, American football, basketball, and ice hockey simulations. The company began in 1961 was founded by Hal Richman who began by selling an early version of his baseball board game. Over the next several years as the company grew it began to add other sports to its repertoire. Today, their games are known throughout the sports community for their statistical realism and accuracy.
Their most popular game is their baseball game. It has been played by several former major league players as well as popular celebrities from sports broadcaster Bob Costas to filmmaker Spike Lee. Even yours truly has been a loyal fan of their computer games as a hobby for almost 20 years
So how exactly did the rest of the season play out according to SOM? Well on April 15th, they simulated the rest of the regular season from March 12th with all teams having between 15-17 left to play. Here’s their account of what took place.
“The Milwaukee Bucks, who stood at 53-12 when play was halted, went 14-3 down the stretch in the simulation to outpace the defending champion Raptors (58-24) by nine games for the best overall NBA record and top Eastern Conference seed. Toronto gained the #2 slot over the Celtics (55-27) and Heat (50-32). Rounding out the eight East playoff squads are #5 Indiana (50-32), #6 Philadelphia (48-34), #7 Orlando (39-43), and #8 Brooklyn (39-43).”
“The Western Conference shook out with the Los Angeles Lakers earning their first playoff spot since 2012-13, at 63-19, five games ahead of #2 Denver (58-24, including 10 straight wins to close the season), seven better than the third-seeded L.A. Clippers (56-26) and 10 lengths past #4 Houston (53-29). Utah (51-31), Oklahoma City (48-34), Dallas (45-37) and New Orleans (41-41, including a 4-1 finish) took the final four spots, respectively, edging Portland, which won seven straight late-season contests but went 1-3 in its last four to finish 40-42 and miss by a game.”
“Giannis Antetokounmpo was selected league MVP, with the Lakers’ LeBron James (26.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 10.6 apg), James Harden (34.6, 6.7, 7.6), James’ teammate Anthony Davis (26.0, 10.1, 3.1) and Denver’s Nikola Jokić (20.7, 10.9, 6.8) rounding out the top five in the race.
The first-round playoff matchups in the 2020 Strat-O-Matic simulation, best-of-seven series, in 2-2-1-1-1 home/away format, are as follows:
Eastern Conference
#1 Milwaukee vs. #8 Brooklyn
#2 Toronto vs. #7 Orlando
#3 Boston vs. #6 Philadelphia
#4 Miami vs. #5 Indiana
#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs. #8 New Orleans
#2 Denver vs. #7 Dallas
#3 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #6 Oklahoma City
#4 Houston vs. #5 Utah