This is inspired by Detlef's report of an epic Tecmo Super Bowl playoff game here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34...niping-520780/

I always love telling people my amazing NBA game recaps whether they want to hear them or not. I'm assuming I'm the only one who will ever post ITT, so perhaps this should be expanded to all sports.

I've played seasons of NBA Live '95-'98 using the Knicks, 48-minute games, 82 game seasons. I began the epic quest in the cold winter of 1996 and do plan on continuing the dynasty eventually. I have also played a handful of shorter non-canonical seasons in several different games.

This post will focus on just one game though, probably the greatest regular season game in the history of the [fake] NBA. I dare anybody to top it.

It was the 1996-7 season and my Knicks probably had the best record in the league, but not close to undefeated. It was IRL the summer of 1999 after my senior year of HS. I had one of those stretches where there were a bunch of close games which fell both for and against me. In one particularly memorable one, up by 1 on the Pacers, Reggie Miller hit a (well guarded) 15 footer at the buzzer to beat me. This pissed me off enough to shelve the game for a month or two.

So now I'm up at college and it's late September. It was a lazy afternoon after classes, and I finally decided to continue my season. Game was at Charlotte (which incidentally had the prettiest court). My memory has not failed me; I checked the real 1997 NBA schedule today and these games took place on 1/23 and 1/24:

http://www.databasebasketball.com/te...K&yr=1996&lg=N

So the game is in its last 30 seconds or so and I'm down by 6, once again frustrated with my suckiness. I forget the exact action at this point, probably something like a lay-up by me and then a foul with them making both.

I'm still down 6 with under 0:10 to play. Allan Houston hits a 3 at the arc, but I'm still obviously screwed down 3. There must have been only around 0:05 left at this point. I go for the foul, but Houston manages to steal the ball on the inbound pass. At this point I nearly panic and shoot the wide open lay-up, but I regain my composure and realize that I really don't even have time to rush behind the arc and fire up a 3. My teammates are of course on the other end of the court.

All of a sudden, from out of nowhere and like a bat out of hell, PATRICK EWING comes barreling down the court, headed for the left baseline. Literally now at the last possible milliseconds, I throw the pass before Ewing even gets there, Ewing gets both feet behind the line, turns, jumps, catches, and shoots all in one motion at...the...buzzer...

BANG!!!!

Unbelievable...replays confirm that the ball was STILL on Ewing's fingertips at 0.01, so this literally could not have been timed more perfectly.

In OT I win comfortably, and this blows my whole season wide open and begins a long winning streak of something like 27 straight.

My only regret is that my suitemates were not there to see it.

Also please don't report games where computer assistance was on, or if so, specify.

Great story. I'll share too..

NBA 2k8. I'm in my 1st year with the Nuggets (original rosters so AI instead of Billups). Max difficulty/12m quarters/29 game season/best of 3 in the playoffs. Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals Against the Lakers (I'm up 1-0 ldo). Melo is injured in the third quarter and I'm losing. I really suck at scoring with AI, he's averaging like 15ppg or so. Can't really trade him either because he has a $22mil contract.

Anyway less than 30 seconds left in the fourth and I'm down by 8 but have the ball. I've already mentally given up at this point so I fling a 3 with AI (averaging less than 30% from downtown throughout the season) and he makes it. I come up with a steal on D and AI hits another 3. Like 3 seconds left now and I'm behind by 2. I foul someone I don't remember, he misses the first but makes the second. With almost no time left I make a half court inbound pass to AI, he stakes a step closer and shoots...nothing but net. I'm like wow nice.

In the last seconds of OT I'm down by 1. I hustle the ball upcourt with AI and he makes a contested jumper to beat the buzzer. We win the game and advance to the finals. Had I lost I would've had to play game 3 without Melo and I might have lost. Thankfully there was a week long break and he healed. I went on to to beat the Celtics 2-0 and claim the title.

Also I played this game at the same time LA and DEN were playing each other in the WCF IRL. Sweet.

****, obviously a better game then mine. Sick with the Melo injury looming. You need to do 7 game series though, what's up with that?

The injury angle reminds me of a non-canonical (not part of my "real" dynasty) NBA 2K season I played. It was on a Dreamcast owned by my suitemate in May of '01 in the common area, shortest season possible with short quarters, Knicks obv.

Got through the regular season and Eastern Conference just fine, met the Lakers in the Finals. They were quite formidable. I don't remember exactly how it went down, but it was maybe something like 2-1 them for the series, and I knew I was in real trouble.

In NBA 2K (and other games), any flagrant foul injures the receiving player, and FFs were way too easy to give. Now at some point when Shaq had the ball, I flagrantly fouled him. I do not know, or have blocked out in my mind, what my intentions were. Was I hacking-a-Shaq, was it an innocent foul, was I TRYING to hurt him because I knew it was my only chance? I don't know, and it's an area of myself I may be too scared to face.

So anyway, somewhere around Game 3 or 4, Shaq got hurt by my hand...as luck would have it, for the rest of the series. I won the series, but it was still tough and it still took 7 games. To this day I cannot fully enjoy the win and do not feel right about it. I know that some day, somehow, I must get redemption.

I must.

This is hilarious on so many levels.

"All the time you spend trying to get back what's been took from you, more's going out the door." - Ellis, No Country for Old Men

Twelve years after this post, 20 years after the events described, I have finally, just last week, received a used copy of NBA 2K1 for the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast, having lied dormant for 19 years, is still operational and is hooked up to a 14" CRT.

The Knicks roster is largely different in 2K1 vs. 2K; Patrick Ewing was traded. In order to get a purer experience, do I trade back for him and play things out the way the Knicks perhaps should have done in real life?

Do I again play a very short season, or do I go all out with 48 minute games, 82 game season? (Almost certainly the latter.)

Will this somehow, in an odd converging multiverse situation, serve as both the Shaq season follow-up AND a continuation of my NBA Live 95-2000 dynasty which I just wrapped up this pandemic?

Is there more to life than chasing down imaginary video game grievances from two decades ago, quixotic quests to relive and redeem things you did when you were 20?

Most importantly - will I get back to the Finals, and will a fully healthy Shaq be waiting for me?

I don't know. But we're gonna find out.

Awesome thread will stay updated

With my 2009 post I actually didn't realize how I should go about attempting to redeem the NBA 2K season. Like I may have thought I should replay the season? But that's stupid - the season happened as it happened, Shaq got hurt on a dirty play by me. Playing the 2K1 season (while of course rooting for a clean injury-free Knicks/Lakers Finals rematch) is so obvious, but it didn't occur to me until like 10 years after the fact.