Four Cities. Two Teams. One Game.

Over the extensive history of the NBA, teams have set out to represent the city they are based in. Each franchise intends to weave itself into the fabric of that metropolitan area through winning and community involvement. However, there have been isolated incidents where a team has gone regional out of desire for a wider reach or out of necessity. Today, we spotlight two of these teams: the Kansas City-Omaha Kings and the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. These are the two teams that took a regional approach to franchising for two separate reasons.

In 1972, the Cincinnati Royals shipped off for America's Heartland after declining performance on the court and in the stands. Instead of going with one city, the newly-christened Kings (since there was already a 3 year-old Royals baseball team in KC) split their home games between 7,500-seat Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City and 9,300-seat Civic Auditorium in Omaha. The Kings moved into Kemper Arena in 1974 and dropped the "Omaha" from their name the following season. They stopped playing games in Omaha after the 1977-78 season, and moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985.

The New Orleans Hornets had arrived from Charlotte in 2002 after owner George Shinn could not get a new taxpayer-funded arena there. In the summer of 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and flooded much of New Orleans, temporarily displacing the city's sports teams. The Saints played games in Baton Rouge and San Antonio, while the Hornets elected to play most of its games in Oklahoma City. The Hornets would eventually return to New Orleans full-time for the 2007-2008 season.

I decided to run a simulation between the best editions of these two franchises: the 1975 Kings (44-38) that made the playoffs in their final year as Kansas City-Omaha, and the 2007 Hornets (39-43) who missed the playoffs as they were slowly making their way back to New Orleans full time. The Kings were designated the home team by virtue of having the better record. Here're the results:

This game was a close one down to the final minutes. Devin Brown hit a contested jumper to make it 94-93 with 2:13 left in the 4th. From there the Hornets held off the Kings at the free throw line.

Chris Paul had a monster game, logging a double-double in points and assists as well as 5 steals. Not to be outdone, Nate "Tiny" Archibald had a double-double of his own, but was done it by his 7 turnovers on the night. NOK overcame their deficiencies from three-point range by getting to the line for 33 free throw attempts and forcing 19 turnovers.

What do you think of the results? If you have anything to say about a young Chris Paul, the greatness of Tiny Archibald's career, the presence of future head coach Mike D'Antoni, or anything else, be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Big Game Predictor: Panthers (Hornets) vs. Broncos (Nuggets)

You can check out the video AT THIS LINK.

With the Super Bowl 50 fast approaching, I decided to make my prediction of who is going to win the game the best way I can: by pitting each city's basketball team against each other on a video game and recording the results. I present to you the Big Game Predictor.

With the Panthers and Broncos facing off in Santa Clara on Sunday, I used the Hornets and Nuggets to represent each contingent. On NBA 2K16, you can only play in a team's home arena, so no Oracle Arena for me. Instead, since the Broncos are the designated home team, the simulation takes place in Denver. The Broncos decided they will where white uniforms, so I let the Nuggets where their white sleeved alternate uniforms. By extension, the Panthers are going to wear their black home uniforms, so the Hornets wore their black sleeved alternate uniforms. From there it was time to kick things off.

The victor of this simulation is the team I was already expecting to win the Super Bowl anyway. The margin of victory surprised me considering how the flow of the game was going. Now, if the Super Bowl follows the same script in terms of momentum, I would be pleasantly shocked and mildly afraid of my predictive powers.

Also, this is my first video where I'm doing my own commentary. It was a blast to do and I hope you enjoy the game as well.

Looking Back at MJ's 1st NBA Game in North Carolina

Christmas Eve Eve, 1988: Michael Jordan's first NBA game in the state of North Carolina.

The Wilmington native and North Carolina Tar Heel was drafted 3rd overall in the 1984 draft. Four years into his NBA career, the two-time scoring champion and reigning steals champion was already wowing fans across the league. However, for all of the highlights and milestones, MJ had yet to return to his home state.

The arrival of the expansion Charlotte Hornets provided that opportunity in 1988. In front of a national TV audience on TBS, the new teal-pinstriped outfit was able to show off their sparkling new hive and raucous sellout crowd for all of America to see. It also gave the expansion team the chance to prove themselves against His Airness.

The game came down to the wire, with the Hornets pulling out the close victory 103-101 on a Kurt Rambis layup at the buzzer. It's funny he's the hero in this win after he blew a layup early in the game that led to a Bulls score. Kelly Tripucka led Charlotte with 30 points. The team forced 23 turnovers while only giving up 14. The Hornets bench also outscored the Bulls 38-19.

Michael Jordan was fantastic, pacing his team with 33 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 6 steals. However, he also had 7 turnovers in the losing effort. It was amazing to watch how acrobatic and nimble he was throughout the game. When the curtain closed on MJ's career, he had played 37 games against the Hornets. He would finish with averages of 32.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. Jordan was so good against Charlotte, he owns the team now!

Video courtesy of UndisputedGoldLion. Footage is from WFLD 32 Chicago (I wonder how a Bulls game would look now if they still did games). The late duo of Jim Durham and Johnny "Red" Kerr are on the call. Enjoy!

The NBA According to Scenarioball

Happy Monday and Happy Black History Month! I hope you had a great weekend.

A lot of exciting stuff will be coming your way this month, including my first video for the Scenario Mode YouTube channel. I'm still working on my rhythm from recording games to editing to posting. So as of this writing, my first video isn't ready just yet. In the meantime, I decided to give you a post that puts my new game Scenarioball into perspective. While I have done some tabulations for individual games, I eventually wanted to look at my game from a more macro level. The beginning of a new month seems like a good time to reflect.

Below are NBA team Scenarioball stats through January 31st. While the game can get much more advanced by tracking things such as ugly-looking shots and missed open layups, I figured I would keep it simple and look up the tracked stats that you can find in the NBA.com stats section.

It's really cool to see it all laid out in front of me. Here are a few loose observations I extract from the numbers:

• I'm not surprised that in terms of what I enjoy the most about basketball, the Warriors bring it the most and in spades. Every Warriors game I watch has been an event for me. I have been particularly enamored with the play of Steph Curry like almost everyone else, but Golden State's entertainment value is a team effort. I'm looking forward to seeing if they can cap off a historic season, dunking and dropping treys along the way.
• Depsite their underacheiving, the Rockets seem to still be entertaining to watch. I had been avoiding Rockets games up to this point because of the organizational and defensive mess they're in, as well as their outright refusal to play the raw but talented K.J. McDaniels. In the face of these stats, maybe I'll give them a look when they come back around on the national schedule.
• When Doc Rivers replaced Vinny Del Negro as coach of the Clippers in 2013, Blake Griffin quipped that Lob City "[didn't] exist anymore". Yet there they are, leading the NBA in alley-oops, propelling themselves into 3rd place in the Scenarioball standings. A few things turn me off from the Clippers. Among them are Doc's constant whining for calls (more than what's normal for NBA players and coaches), torpedoing his roster with each transaction, and the team's below-average logos and uniforms. Biases aside, there's no doubt the Clippers are fun to watch.
• It's hilarious that the worst team in the league are a Top 10 Scenarioball team, coming in at #9. We should get them a trophy! The Bulls, my favorite team, are all the way down at #20.
• The Brooklyn Nets are at the bottom of the Scenarioball standings with only 118(!) points. They're 48 games into the season, yet are barely over 100 points. If you doubled the Nets' point total, it would still fall short of the second-to-last Hornets. After all of the fanfare of moving into a cool, new arena in the heart of Brooklyn and paying big bucks to be an immediate contender, this franchise has stagnated. The team is attempting to transition with the removal of head coach Lionel Hollins and reassignment of GM Billy King. At this point in American history, however, the future is up in the air. They will be hard to watch for the foreseeable future.

There's a look at the NBA according to basic Scenarioball. Let me know what you think in the comments. Do any of these findings surprise you? Are their teams you enjoy or dislike that are in different places in the standings? I will definitely be updating the stats and adding some advanced categories at a later date. I also want to comb through the college ranks, too, but with 351 schools, that post will take awhile.