As Ray Allen dribbles out the clock on his days in Seattle before making the trek east (cue the Ray Allen/Allan Ray jokes already), he has to make a pit stop and play in the second round of our tourney. The schedule had Allen slotted in for the final match-up of the round, but with the draft day trade, it makes sense to move him and his dancing partner up a week. So who does Ray go toe to toe with? Read on to find out.

The past edition of our tourney updates received a record amount of page views for its first week, which means the ratio between reader votes and lurkers is insanely low. So hopefully these new match-ups more than meet your fancy, and you can shed the shy guy persona and make yourself heard!

Happy Canada Day!

The premise: (if you know how this tourney operates, feel free to skip down!)

The rules are simple. 32 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. Suppose these players play each other in a game of one-on-one: games to 11, two points for a three-pointer, and winners out. You can make your comment after each article, or if you like, send me an e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You can now also make your comments on our Facebook group discussion board. 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!

Review of last week’s matches:

Round 2, Game 3: Chris Bosh vs. Tony Parker

Sarge: “Bosh is my winner for the first round, simply because I hate Tony Parker; nowhere in the rules does it state that pure bias cannot be a part of the voting. Plus, Bosh can actually hit mid-range jumpers - probably better than Parker, in fact. Also, Tony would likely have to forfeit this round because he’s ####-whipped and Eva wants him home for the day…” Sarge in full effect, ladies and gentleman: pure bias followed by some logical analysis and a slap in the face to a celebrity he’s never met all in three sentences. Awesome.

Will, a regular contributor to our tourney: “...I think Bosh would win…Bosh has the ability to play off Parker. With this, Parker’s blinding speed has much less effect as Bosh has some time to react…And Parker playind D on Bosh? No contest.”

Four Twenty: Our #1 fan figured this and the next match-up were pretty straightforward so he spent the rest of the week trying to goad Sarge into reaching mad dog status by getting him started on country music.

Zack Francis: Zack also goes with Bosh. “Usually the smaller, qucker guy wins in 1 vs. 1, but Parker doesn’t have a good enough outside shot to win it. He’s good in the paint, but Bosh won’t let him get near the basket. Also, Bosh is quick enough to at least sort of keep up with TP.

It looks like Bosh and his game are much respected within our community. His combination of size, quickness for a big man and deft shooting touch with decent range has proven too much for two elite guards in the game, first Steve Nash and now, Parker. As long as Bosh uses his size advantage to the max, and does not fall in love with staying to the outside, he should control the play against Mr. Eva Longoria. As a Raptor fan, I cannot wait for CB4 to go heads up against the rest of our “elite eight” next round. Winner: Chris Bosh.

Round 2, Game 4: Tim Duncan vs. Dwight Howard.

The sentiments on this game were similar across the board. Perhaps Zack’s comments can sum it up for everyone. “...although Howard has the showstoppin’ dunking ability, Duncan will be dunkin’ too (lame, sorry). Duncan will dominate inside and will cruise to a victory.” Sarge asked to make this a free-throw shooting contest. Even then, Duncan and his brick-basket-brick-brick-off-the-glass-lucky-in-brick-brick-lucky-swish-then-another-then-brick-basket (that’s 5 for 11 for those that had trouble deciphering that one) would be enough to takes this cake and eat it too. The Spurs backlash was only strong enough to eliminate Parker this week. Winner: Tim Duncan.

Patrick, I did see your vote from last night. Like you, I always try to defend the underdog. Neither Bosh nor Duncan would win without breaking a sweat, but for now, they do seem to be the clear winners. Give Dwight even a couple more years, and the voting will be much closer. And now on to this week’s matches. With Wade, Kobe and now CB4 and TD punching their tickets for the next round already, these next four players all hope to move on. That’s an awesome quartet; who will join them?

Round 2, Game 5: Ray Allen vs. Ron Artest

The sweet-shooting Allen will team up with Paul Pierce next year in an attempt to return Boston to glory. After the draft, fellow writer Ron Chow and I used ESPN’s Trade Machine to try to get KG in Boston as well. Theoretically the presence of perennial all-star Allen in the fold might change things for KG, right? Doesn’t a lineup of Allen, Pierce and KG plus twelve scrubs (we assumed Al Jefferson would be the centerpiece of any realistic deal) have a chance at the Eastern Conference finals next year? Alas they already traded the fifth pick that was Jeff Green to Seattle as part of the Allen deal. I digress.

Ray sank enough shots to defeat Joe Johnson in Round 1, though Joe garnered a lot of support from some of our readers. Meanwhile Artest surprised a bit when he blanked some guy, what’s his name, used to play for Toronto. Now our Tru Warier gets another guard, and this one is more automatic from the outside, more likeable, and does not suck out. However, two knee surgeries might limit Allen even when in the best of health, and Artest could be in full craziness for a tourney like this. I like this match-up a lot.

Round 2, Game 6: Gilbert Arenas vs. Andre Iguodala

Agent Zero was given the nod over Allen Iverson in Round 1; perhaps it was A.I.‘s well-known aversion to practice (Practice? We’re not talking about a game, we’re talking about PRACTICE) that led to his downfall. But when it was game time, Arenas was tagged as the winner. Now he sees “The Other A.I.” before him, and unlike Iverson, Iggy is just starting to enter his prime. Dr. A from Rotoworld has him in his top 12 projected rankings for fantasy production next year. Andre has the edge in size and hops, but Arenas is bigger than Gilbert Grapes where it counts. So you the readers are to decide if it’s the beginning of a new dawn, or HIBACHI!

On a separate note, I just saw a banner ad featuring Gilbert Arenas and Kevin Durant as the new faces of EA Sports’ NBA ‘08. Oh boy. Will this derail Durant’s career before it even begins? I wrote about this jinx last year. Tracy McGrady, who will be in one of our final match-ups of the second round next week, was the cover boy last year and played 71 games, which was up from 47 games the year before. All in all, T-Mac had a successful fantasy season and owners might have been able to draft him at a discounted price, but his injury time plus the games where he left the game early might have cost many a fantasy title in the end. Here is hoping Gilbert makes a full recovery and Durant rips it up in his rookie season.

See you next week! For those just joining us, you can follow this link to a previous post for access to all of the first round match-ups and the setup to Round 2. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.

Round 2, Games 3 and 4

Peace.