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MaRbUrYiSaKnIcK
Posts: 20319
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 8/15/2004
Member: #737
USA
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heard it was going be hot... nice graphics and SUPERSTAR PLAYS!!
anyone gonna buy it and take over the team and finally win a championship?
A Charity Case
By Brad Friedman
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The newest edition of the NBA Live series hits store this October.
Courtesy EA Sports
TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Aug. 10 -- You've heard of Hack-A-Shaq.
How about Hack-A-Sean?
In a free-throw fest Knicks rookie guard Nate Robinson called "one of the ugliest games ever," Denver rookie swingman Julius Hodge employed an intentional foul strategy to lead his virtual Nuggets to victory over Charlotte rookie forward Sean May¡¯s virtual Bobcats in the Finals of the 2005 EA Sports NBA Live 06 Rookie Tournament.
For his efforts, the winner received a prize package that included a Sony PSP system and five PSP titles, a Xbox 360 and the 2006 lineup of EA Sports games, and one of the two plush leather NBA-logoed couches the rookies gamed from.
"Had to use the intentional foul," Hodge said after the win. "Neither one of us was making free throws in the game. Sean, they swept us this year in the ACC -- NC State-Carolina -- but I got the last one."
The championship win was considered an upset for Hodge, who beat out 24 other rookies who were in town for the EA Sports Rookie Photo Shoot despite not having the gaming experience of some of his peers.
"I knew Sean was a better player," he said. "I usually play games like Lord of the Rings and Fight Night. This is like my third time playing NBA Live and I got the championship."
After a Raymond Felton three-pointer by May, Hodge found himself down 12-6 with just 1:14 remaining in the five minute contest. Tasting a defeat, Hodge hit pause on his game controller and turned to the audience of rookies behind him.
"How do I intentional foul?" he exclaimed.
Quick to provide instructions to Hodge was Portland rookie guard Jarrett Jack, who earlier in the day claimed to have scored 58 points in a contest with his virtual representation. From the start of Hodge¡¯s strategy, May knew he was in trouble, confessing, "I can¡¯t hit free throws!"
May made just one of his next eight shots from the charity stripe as Hodge evened the score at 13-13 with 16 seconds left. From there, May turned the tables on his opponent, employing "Hack-A-Julius" strategy to which the N.C. State product responded with a 1-of-6 free throw performance in three trips to the line.
At the 8.3 second mark, a Matt Carroll free throw put May's Bobcats ahead 15-14. Determined to protect his lead in the waning seconds, he turned to his peers and asked, "Do I play or do I foul?"
The rookies urged May to play it out, and he announced his intention to do just that. But when the clock ticked down to 3.2 seconds, the burly forward felt a sudden loss of confidence in his defensive skills, prompting him to send Denver's Carmelo Anthony to the line for a pair of free throws rather than letting him get off a field-goal attempt.
Hodge missed the first, but in a moment that will forever be remembered in his competitive gaming career, nailed the second to tie the game at 15 and force overtime before a hooting and hollering audience.
In the extra session the cheers continued, as did the sea of fouls, so much so that May's virtual representation even was disqualified at the 3:08 mark. Hodge clearly had the early momentum of the OT, but May battled back to even the score 26-26 with 1:20 remaining.
After Hodge made an Anthony jumper from the foul line extended at the 56-second mark, putting his Nuggets up two, May responded to an intentional foul with another pair of free throw misses with 30 seconds left.
Knicks rookie Nate Robinson, sitting on the arm of the sofa Hodge would later win, turned to May and earnestly asked him, ¡°How does it feel to miss every free throw?¡±
May didn't have much of a response. Not for Robinson's question or Hodge's play, giving the newest Nugget the game and tournament, 36-33.
"Yo Sean, good look!" taunted Hodge as he held up the new Sony PSP an EA Sports representative handed him.
"I had a couch," May uttered. "I'm mad!
"This is all sweet right here," Hodge glowingly said. "My mom's going to love this couch."
TRASH TALK
Hodge wasn't the only one talking smack during the festivities. Among the most vocal players was May's ex-UNC teammate, Rashad McCants, who was letting out roars and grunts after made baskets. Before he squared off with May in the semifinals, he teasingly accused May, 0-for-11 during his UNC career from beyond the arc, of cheating.
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According to Nate Robinson, Shaq is unstoppable in the new Live.
Courtesy EA Sports
"Check Charlotte¡¯s ratings. He (May) isn¡¯t that good. He¡¯s been shooting threes with himself!"
In the first round, McCants cruised to a 19-10 win over C.J. Miles, who Raptors rookie Charlie Villanueva picked to win the tournament. "He's throwing up prayers, ladies and gentleman," McCants, doing his best impression of a television commentator, bellowed during the blowout.
Robinson followed suit during Orlando rookie Travis Diener's 17-3 quarterfinal shellacking of Clippers rookie Daniel Ewing, interviewing the ex-Duke star mid-contest for NBA TV cameras while using his fist as an imaginary microphone. Diener on the other hand didn¡¯t have a word to say -- he simply turned to his peers and gave a big grin as the scoreboard came on-screen.
Diener remained quiet following the semifinals, too. After leading all game, he let Hodge pull out in front of him at the 1:14 minute mark, a moment which the winner celebrated by giving the loser a slap on his derriere.
"You lost," repeatedly chastised Golden State Monta Ellis in the background, still bitter about his defeat to Diener in the first round. "How does it feel to get hustled?"
Ellis' failure to advance may have been partly a result of an injury to Steve Nash in the Suns' 25-20 loss. Throughout the match, unknowing spectators continually asked Ellis, "Why do you have (Leandro) Barbosa in the game?"
TO BE OR NOT TO BE...
You'd figure that the rookies would play with their real life teams in the tournament, but that wasn't always the case.
"Portland for what?" Jack said. "I'm trying to win."
New York rookie David Lee had a disgusted look on his face checking out the Knicks' player ratings.
"They gave us the garbage squad," said Lee, who competed with the Knicks anyway and fell to May in the opening round.
"Who really picks the Knicks in video games?" Hodge, a New York native, responded laughing.
Boston rookie Gerald Green was contrastingly proud to be donning his own team's uniform.
"There should be a rule," he said as he dialed up Celtic green on the game's selection screen. "You have to play with your own team. You know what jersey I got. That's my jersey right there."
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Miles' title hopes were dashed when Nash got injured in Round 1.
Courtesy EA Sports
Maybe it wasn't such a wise decision. Indiana rookie Danny Granger, who's such an avid Madden gamer that he's even been ranked in the top 800 for that title in online play, defeated Green 26-18 in their first round match. Not a total loss for Green considering he started off the game so poorly that Diener said, "If you don't score in the first two minutes, you should be kicked off the machine."
ROOKIE TRANSITION
With only one PlayStation 2 console available, many of the rookies had to play on an Xbox system they were unfamiliar with. Game controllers differ, and many of the PS2 loyalists struggled.
"Don't write about me," joked Celtics rookie Ryan Gomes to a writer after losing in the first round. "Well, tell them (readers) I would have won if I had a PS2."
Ellis, who earlier in the day proclaimed, "I'll take on anyone on anything," before falling in his opening contest, laughed hysterically at Miles' own first-round exit.
"McCants set me up," Miles said, trying to defend himself. "He was acting like he didn't know how to play Xbox."
Jack, while awaiting battle with Memphis rookie Hakim Warrick, who claimed Xbox ignorance, was weary of the same ploy.
"He's trying to hustle me," he said with a grin. "He's going for the tutorial right now."
The player who summed it up best, however, was Granger, who quipped, "Xbox? What's that?"
thats just mean... about knicks comments...
Marbury is finally home at MSG!
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