Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Live 98

In October of 2005, over 5 years after finishing NBA Live 97, I felt the urge to continue with an "official" full-length Live 98 season. This was encouraged in part from my excitement over the real-life Knicks hiring Larry Brown as coach that summer. I could not find the game disc in my apartment, and had a vague memory of possibly having left it to Colin as a gift after he defeated me in our short season. He confirmed via email that this was the case - I no longer owned it.

This was easily remedied though, as I re-bought the game for around $3.50 including shipping.

By Halloween of 2005, I was 1-0. By 9:30 PM on November 1st I was 3-0, and apparently had off from work that day as it was a Tuesday. This is of course 12 minute quarters with an 82 game season.

On November 13, 2005 I wrote the following in an email to Steve and Colin:

NBA Live '98 [sic - the apostrophe is incorrect] on Friday...I was 11-0, still hoping to go undefeated.  Against the Wizards I was down 1 within the final minute twice, and Starks scored both times.  They had final possession but I stole the ball with 2 seconds to play...Knicks win.  Skip to tonight when I was 13-0.  Against Detroit, I was leading most of the game, they made it a close 4th quarter.  I wind up going down 6 with half a minute to go.  Starks keeps missing 3's but getting the rebounds...finally I hit one...down 3 now with 6 seconds.  I go for the foul/steal, but it takes too long...eventually the guy gets forced out of bounds.

So now I have possession with 0.6 remaining, down 3.  It's not hard to hit a buzzer beater like that, I've done it at the end of quarters.  I pass it in though and muff the stupid controls, and the buzzer goes off without me getting off the shot.  Ugh...I probably would have hit it.  So now I'm basically never going to go undefeated...it's devastating.  80-2 in '96...so close.


Sorry!


At some point my dedication went off the rails, because in an email to an ex-coworker dated May 16, 2007 (almost two years later), I mentioned being 29-1. I worked with him when I had first started the season back in '05, and used to give him updates in person.

In Live 98, the name of the game is penetration. If you get to the rim and push a button, much of the time you will automatically dunk or shoot a layup. For the first half of the season, Allan Houston was the clear MVP candidate. As the season progressed though, I began to play a more methodical offense. Fast breaks whenever possible, and if not, have Chris Childs bring up the ball and find the best play.

That summer I became more dedicated, grinding through like a warrior. In a forum post dated November 6, 2007, I posted that I was up 2-0 on the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. This was shortly after I left Long Island. I spent most of that November in Raleigh before moving on to Austin at the end of the month. I took some time settling in at Austin but eventually got back to the playoffs. On January 17, 2008 I wrote an email to Steve and Colin with the subject line "A Loss":

I am pleased and delighted to report that I have lost a game in the 1998 NBA Finals.  Phoenix pulled away in the 3rd quarter of Game 2, and I never got closer than 8 or 9 in the 4th.  They won by about 20.  I immediately played a second game and demolished them by 72, so the series is 2-1.  The fact that I lost a game is unfathomable.

Maybe it's a good thing I hadn't gone 82-0 in the regular season. If I had, how devastating would that one random loss in the Finals have been? New England Patriots-esque.

At that time I was living in a beautiful suburban house in Austin with one other poker player (I was, by the way, a professional poker player). The house was owned by other poker players who lived a few blocks away in what we called a "mansion". My house was sort of the minor leagues, but I was well on my way to the big time. Normally I would play online poker for most of the night, putting in a good 8-hour workday, and then unwind after that. My final game of NBA Live 98 was played in the early morning, around 6 AM perhaps, which was really my late night. I did not feel like a bum with this schedule, as I was dedicated to putting in decent workdays and was doing quite well.

January 30th:

I won the championship this morning, 4-1.  Chris Childs was the MVP (in contrast to Allan Houston in our previous season).  In the latter half of the regular season he really came into his own and dished out tons of assists, and I thought it was going to be pretty close as to whether him or Houston would be named MVP.  Charlie Ward was the Sixth Man, Chris Childs Defensive Player of the Year.

So ends my official 98 season - 8 years after the 97 season.

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