2015 FBA Finals
The 2015 FBA Finals is the championship series of the 2014–15 season of the Furry Basketball Association (FBA) and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The series featured the Santa Ana Spectrums as the Western Conference champions going up against the Albany Alphas as the Eastern Conference champions. Unlike the previous rounds of the playoffs, the Finals series were played in a 2-3-2 format where Games 1 and 2 are at home for the Spectrums as the team with the better regular season record, Games 3 and 4 and 5 at home for the Alphas, and Games 6 and 7 at home for the Spectrums. Game 1 was held on Saturday June 20th, while Game 5 was played on Sunday July 12th.
Background
Santa Ana Spectrums
Albany Alphas
Road to the Finals
Series preview: The GlassCougar versus The CoffeeHusky. A starting sophomore Sergeant against a rookie relief Corporal. Veteran snow-dipped paws taking on inexperienced pink lightning. Even though both teams have former champions on their squads, the Alphas have been on this stage before while this is the first ever Finals appearance for the Spectrums franchise. Santa Ana has remained consistently excellent all season, and throughout the playoffs they minimized their losses to within three possessions of their opponents, knocking out their persistent divisional rivals from Alaska to cement their title as Western Champions. Albany was a contender for the top spot in the East but slipped in the final month of the regular season, only to storm back in the playoffs and fend off a tenacious Pittsburgh club to emerge as Conference Champions. Will Zip-Nut once again deny a championship to the California club with the best record in the league, or can the equine half of the old Team Chopper do what the lapine half could not and win a ring on his first try? -P. Suarez
Regular season series
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Series
Game 1
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Santa Ana |
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Fresh off their grueling seven-game marathon with the Pittsburgh Keystones, the Alphas broke out to a small early lead. But when Rodger Umaechi (Husky, F) went ice cold halfway through the first quarter, the Spectrums emphasized why they were the top team in the league with dialed-in shooting from MVP Candidate Stephan Soro (Red Fox, G) and masterful rebounding from Justin Destrier (Stallion, C). The home team practically took over the game and never looked back from a double-digit lead that Albany could barely shave down, much to the delight of the Santa Ana fans. Besides the standard highlight-reel of dunks provided by both teams and of buzzer beaters to close out the first two quarters, the broadcast audience was treated to an "impromptu" between Donald Smith and Billy Fern held during halftime after guest color commentator Patrick Suarez provided his Halftime Trivia.
Game 2
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Santa Ana |
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Capsule goes here.
Game 3
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Santa Ana |
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Capsule goes here.
Game 4
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Santa Ana |
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Capsule goes here.
Game 5
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Santa Ana | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In this exciting thriller of a season finale, the Santa Ana Spectrums did start this game by showing continued dominance over their Eastern counterparts Despite not having home-field advantage, through the majority of this game, Santa Ana held off the Albany Alphas well. Jumping out 36-21 in the first quarter, Albany's usual power-play hustle strategy (led by Rodger Umaechi (Husky, F)) was reigned in - similar to the first game of the series. Both of Santa Ana's lead forwards, Caspian Rhos (Pembroke Welsh Corgi, C) and Ain Iannizzi (Cougar, F), found success early and shot for a combined 43 points.
In this game of must-win circumstances, the Alphas began to wake towards the end of the 3rd Quarter and managed to crawl within six. As the teams entered the 4th, and with Umaechi oddly on the bench, Jackson Nuez (Squirrel, G/F) managed to get the game within one possession. The game reached its first tie just under eight minutes to go, before Justin Destrier (Stallion, C) stole the lead back for a quick 10-point lead. René Lacoste (Jackal, G) and Stephan Soro (Red Fox, G) would trade some shoves in the heated match, but Soro would miss both of the technical foul shots. This set Albany up for the perfect comeback.
Umaechi returned to the ring, and Nuez tied the game up (94 all) with under 3 minutes remaining. "Zipnut" managed two more points after a Santa Ana miss to give the Alphas their first lead of the game - it would be the squirrel's last big move, however. Destrier, who would be later named the Game MVP, launched a turn-around dunk to tie the game again. An added two points by L.V. McDyess (Black Panther, G) put Santa Ana ahead 98-96.
In what would be re-run several times following the game, Umaechi's chance for redemption turned awry when he committed a "Volker" - failing the alley-oop - and this kept Albany behind by two with 1:04 remaining. However, a James Frestrikial (Brown Bear, C) foul (pulling on Destrier's mane) extended hopes and dreams everywhere, as Destrier missed both of his foul shots.
Abnormally quick play kept the Alphas in the game. Only ten seconds came off the clock when Soro missed a quick toss-up - this shot was recovered by Nuez and returned for a quick 2 points. Soro would, again, foolishly entertain a three-pointer shortly thereafter. This shot went wide (Alan Foster jumping up and down, visibly upset at this point), and following a timeout from Albany with 11.5 seconds remaining, Umaechi took it to the house with a 3-point zoomer that resulted in a rumbling crazy Alphas crowd. 101-100, and 2.5 seconds remaining. Seemingly, at this point, the Alphas had brought home another home win and kept their championship dreams alive.
Enter what I will trademark The "Miracle Shot".
Foster called for a time-out following Umaechi's 3-pointer, and an in-bound pass directly to Soro only gave enough time for him to turn to the hoop and shoot for the 3-pointer. Unreliable from this distance, but the fox had to go for it.
It went in.
As fairy-tale endings go, this game was one for the ages. Soro was immediately swarmed by the Spectrums bench, silencing the Alphas crowd. Umaechi, visibly crushed and lying down on the floor of the court, refused post-game interviews. Soro would be lifted up and carried out by his teammates - a heroic and legendary ending to an amazing season. It couldn't have ended any other way.
This game features Donald Smith as our host with color commentator Ada (Adabune) as himself.
Rosters
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| Point Guard | Shooting Guard | Small Forward | Power Forward | Center | |||||
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| 13 | Stephan Soro (Red Fox, G) | 10 | L.V. McDyess (Black Panther, G) | 20 | Anthony Rios (Raccoon, G/F) | 1 | Ain Iannizzi (Cougar, F) | 51 | Justin Destrier (Stallion, C) |
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| Guard | Bigfur | Guard | Guard | Bigfur | |||||
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| 11 | Aditya Anggun (Balinese Civet, G) | 55 | Gunther Klaus (Cougar, F/C) | 65 | Zack Plushpaw (Pine Marten, G) | 3 | Scott Parsons (Otter, G) | 7 | Daius Aurelias (Lion, F/C) |
| Reserves | Inactives | ||||||||
| Forward | Bigfur | Swingfur | Forward | Center | |||||
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| 0 | Terrell Vora (Honey Badger, F) | 14 | Crosby Sutters (Genet, F/C) | 35 | Kamakani Iona (Red Panda, G/F) | 23 | Urayak Monogoyak (Wolverine, F) | 50 | Rudy Pimona (Sea/River Otter Hybrid, C) |
| Starters | |||||||||
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| Point Guard | Shooting Guard | Small Forward | Power Forward | Center | |||||
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| 17 | René Lacoste (Jackal, G) | 23 | Jackson Nuez (Squirrel, G/F) | 9 | Rodger Umaechi (Husky, F) | 71 | Viran Kivar (Jaguar, F) | 76 | James Frestrikial (Brown Bear, C) |
| Bench | |||||||||
| Guard | Swingfur | Center | Forward | Forward | |||||
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| 31 | Apiatan Redmane (Water Buffalo, G) | 3 | Riley Forgets Nothing (Raccoon, G/F) | 20 | Friedrich Peschke (Cat, C) | 15 | Sasha Ivanovich (Lynx, F) | 31 | Lee Jin-Sung (Black Bear, F) |
| Reserves | Inactives | ||||||||
| Forward | Guard | Swingfur | Center | Bigfur | |||||
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| 18 | Seria Delgado (White Wolf, F) | 50 | Admiral May (Maine Coon Cat, G) | 69 | Doral (Gecko, G/F) | 46 | David Hodge (Maned Wolf, C) | 6 | Susan Kruegar (Raccoon, F/C) |