SBNation.com NBA 3-On-3 Tournament: Conference Finals Set

In some bizarre, perhaps even petulant voting from our panel of experts, the Heat were barely considered favorites in this series, being given just a 53 percent chance to win any given game. But as has been the case throughout the tournament, the dice were once again very kind to the Heat, as the rolls came back 38 and 15.

In fact, in five series, all of which the Heat swept, only one out of the ten rolls that determined their fate was greater than 50. Which means that the Heat would have won at least four of those series even had they not been heavy favorites (which of course they were).

Well, it’s finally here. The long-awaited (and I do mean LONG awaited) Final of SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament. We started this thought experiment a little over a month ago, and now, after 30 separate meetings between fictitious 3 on 3 teams determined in part by random rolls of dice, we have finally reached the end.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

I was a little surprised at how relatively close my fellow panelists called this match. In fact, two of the five actually favored the Leftovers. But in the end, not a single panelist rated the Lakers better than a 75 percent favorite, so these rolls would almost certainly have doomed them no matter who was on the panel.

The Leftovers now move on to face the Heat in the Finals of this crazy 3 on 3 Tournament. No threesome from any NBA team could down the Lakers, and none could beat the Heat either. But maybe this trio of leftovers from three different teams is the group that can defeat the NBA champs.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

There’s remarkable symmetry to the four teams remaining. In a tournament that has been rife with upsets, two super teams that everyone suspected (some might even have dreaded) would meet for the championship are indeed still alive. Meanwhile, two teams that almost literally should not be here, those two after thought teams we needed to round out the bracket, are the other participants in the conference finals.

Here are the seedings and rosters for the four teams still alive:

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

The first two teams to reach the Conference Finals in SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament are both made up of players who were never supposed to be here. To fill out the Tournament bracket, Tournament Organizers (that is to say, pretty much me) added two extra teams to bring the field to 32. The extra teams, one per conference, were comprised of teams left off their own teams’ 3 on 3 rosters.

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

The SB Nation NBA 3 on 3 Tournament has entered the Conference Semi-Final round. So far one team has advanced to the Conference Finals, and it’s not one that anyone would have expected, nor really that should even exist. To round out the Eastern Conference field, we created an extra team from leftover players left off of their own teams. The conversation went something like this:

“Should we just give the number one seeds a bye?”

Last week in the second round of SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament there were upsets galore. The Conference semi-final round kicked off today, and sure enough, it began with another upset.

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

We’ve now completed the first two rounds of SB Nation’s completely hypothetical NBA 3 on 3 Tournament. From an initial field of 32 teams, only eight remain and there are some real surprises among the conference semifinalists. If you’re just joining us, you can head back to the beginning of the article stream to get the whole story, but to sum up, we at SB Nation were wondering what it might look like if every team in the NBA picked their best 3 on 3 team for a tournament. The NBA bloggers of SB Nation selected their teams, we added a couple of extra teams made up of players who were left off of other squads to round out a 32 team field (little did we know how important those teams would prove to be), and we’re squaring them off one by one. To add an element of randomness, after establishing a probability for the teams in each matchup, we’re using dice to determine who actually wins the games, best two of three to advance to the next round.

Here are the seedings and rosters for the eight teams still alive:

We’ve now completed two rounds of SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament and while the first round went very much as expected, the second round has been chock full of surprises.

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

The first round of SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament went almost exactly as predicted by our panelists with only one significant upset in 16 round one matchups. Six games into the second round, there have now been four upsets.

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

In the West bracket of SB Nation’s ongoing NBA 3 on 3 Tournament, the 3rd-seeded Los Angeles Lakers are facing the 11th-seeded Phoenix Suns in a series that looks like a huge mismatch on paper.

The Lakers, in case you missed it, added a couple of pretty good players to their roster this summer, and both of them are featured on their 3 on 3 team. Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard comprise a ridiculous trio -- three players who have defined their position in the NBA in recent years. Nash and Bryant are both a bit long in the tooth (especially Nash), which may be this team’s only vulnerability.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

The first round of SB Nation’s NBA 3 on 3 Tournament went mostly as our experts predicted it would. In 16 first round serieses, there was only one significant upset where the dice that determine the outcome had a different plan than our panelists. But so far the second round has been a different story.

For a complete look at the SB Nation 3 on 3 Tournament, check back with this StoryStream.

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments:

Let’s see what our panel of experts has to say.

Expert Comments: