Elton Brand signed his big contract with Philadelphia earlier in the week, and now must suit up for quarter-final two-on-two basketball! It might not be Federer vs. Nadal in the Wimbledon Final, but an interesting duo awaits Mr. Brand Name.

The premise: (Feel free to skip down if you have been here with us before!)

The rules are simple. 64 of today’s biggest stars, plus some fantasy forces and a few players of the “x-factor” ilk have been chosen to participate in this exercise. Assume each player is in perfect health and in peak condition, based on their current age and abilities, as well as their ability to work with a team mate. Players are teamed up randomly and each match-up is also determined randomly. Suppose these pairs of players play each other in a game of two-on-two: games to 11, two points for a three-pointer, and losers out (this is a change from last year’s one-on-one tourney where it was winners out). You can make your comment after each article. Please vote just once for each match-up. If you are so inclined, feel free to make up an imaginary commentary of how you see the battle going down and I will try to include your input in future articles. You have one week to vote, then the results will be published and a new pair of match-ups will be announced. So check back here every week! The players will randomly get a new team mate each round.

Last year’s one-on-one champ, Kobe Bryant, has not been included in the field of 64. Due to his one-on-one prowess, it seems too likely that a Kobe-Player X team would always win. So Kobe, hit the sidelines. I’m sure if Kobe knew about this, he might be a bit miffed at the lack of an invite, but surely he has bigger fish to fry than us!

Review of last week’s match-ups:

Round 3, Game 1: Manu Ginobili/Allen Iverson vs. Dirk Nowitzki/Tony Parker
Round 3, Game 2: Andre Iguodala/Yao Ming vs. Antawn Jamison/Dwyane Wade

Thanks again to Sarge for his comments. Sorry to hear your initial comments were lost in transit, but your efforts in reposting your comments are much appreciated. Here’s what Sarge had to say.

“I’m going to answer the second one first…Wade/Jamison, easily.  Both players are too versatile, too quick and are just both better than Iguodala at this point.  Yao’s lack of tenacity won’t help matters much.”

“And now that I had a minute to think about it, I’m going with manu/AI.  Dirk is really good in this format, but I think that if anyone can keep up with Parker on the D, it’s Iverson.  Add in AI’s game on the offensive side, and these two pull it out in a close one…”

The first game here is TOUGH for me. I agree with Sarge in that Iverson could definitely keep Parker in check, at least enough so that they have a chance to deal with the big presence of Dirk. They would have to rely on quick hands leading to timely steals or forcing Parker into taking tough shots. Parker and Dirk would have problems containing Manu and A.I. when playing D. Over ten games, it could very well end in a saw-off. In the end, I guess Dirk does not have the imposing defensive presence that say, Kevin Garnett would bring to go along with his offensive game. During this tourney, sometimes the bigs have been the difference maker, and sometimes the nod has gone to the smaller, quicker guys. Winner: Manu Ginobili and Allen Iverson.

Sarge has a good read on Game 2. Jamison is versatile enough to guard Yao, at least in short spurts. His outside shooting range would draw Yao out to the perimeter, opening up lanes for Wade to drive on Iguodala. Iggy and Yao are a solid defensive pairing with a size advantage, but overall skill trumps the cards here. Winner: Antawn Jamison and Dwyane Wade.

And now on to this week’s match-ups:

Round 3, Game 3: Chancey Billups and Shaquille O’Neal vs. Elton Brand and Marcus Camby

Elton Brand made a big summer splash with his move to the Eastern Conference. Assuming Iguodala re-signs, they definitely can make some noise in the East as soon as this season, quick a nice turnaround after starting over when they traded Allen Iverson. Of course, Iverson is already through to the next round in our tourney, and it’d definitely be fate if he and Brand meet up at some point. Teaming with Camby here gives us a preview of the Sixer frontline where Brand will line up beside Samuel Dalembert, who was eliminated in the first round. These two can double team Shaq Diesel. Billups and his game have proved favorable in this tourney so far. As the only guard and the only player with three-point range in this game, will he be able to dart into the lane and create enough offense to move on, or will Brand and Camby swat him away like a fly?

Round 3, Game 4: Kevin Garnett and LeBron James vs. Lamar Odom and Rashard Lewis

KG and ‘Bron might be regretting the fact that they team up now, instead of the semi-finals. On the other hand for this tourney’s sake, at least they aren’t facing each other. Would the parents of Odom and ‘Shard even vote for them in this game?

See you next week when we hit the semi-finals!

Previous match-ups:
Round 1: Games 1 and 2
Round 1: Games 3 and 4
Round 1: Games 5 and 6
Round 1: Games 7 and 8
Round 1: Games 9 and 10
Round 1: Games 11 and 12
Round 1, Games 13 and 14
Round 1, Games 15 and 16
Round 2, Games 1 and 2
Round 2, Games 3 and 4
Round 2, Games 5 and 6
Round 2, Games 7 and 8
Round 3, Games 1 and 2