NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

Kind of late to the party, but man did the Hawks get a beatdown tonight courtesy of the Magic. 114-71.

mostly just following the Duke players, which gives me a few teams to watch

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

You, me, and possibly itvnetop are probably the only ones watching the NBA playoffs

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

^no way! Go Celtics! I have been a Celtics fan for a long time, I watch a ton of NBA.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

go lakers!

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=skinsfanthru&thru;698390]go lakers![/quote]


Boo! This thread was going so well up until that post.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

this is only vauguely related, but i met kevin durant on monday night at the harris teeter in alexandria. he bought two full carts full of food. nice guy, and insanely tall. i am 6' 3 and felt like a little kid standing next to him. okay back to basketball banter, just wanted to share.

the magic straight up embarassed the hawks last night. that wasnt even a game.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=skinsfanthru&thru;698390]go lakers![/quote]

:Flush:

There goes the thread.


I was hoping the Thunder would finish the job against them.

Looking like Magic vs. whomever wins the Suns/Spurs series.

OH, and (for a Gay magazine):

[IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0134802f972f970c-800wi[/IMG][IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0133ecfff7b8970b-800wi[/IMG][IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0133ecfff5a4970b-800wi[/IMG][IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef01348058b73d970c-800wi[/IMG][IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0134802f97ab970c-800wi[/IMG][IMG]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0134805e9493970c-800wi[/IMG]

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

Once and I know it will happen the Celtics are gone I wanted to cheer for the Hawks but they have been a big disappointment come playoff time. So then I guess I will just cheer not LA.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

haha to follow up on those kobe pics, deadspin held a photoshop contest. what insued is too funny.

[url=http://deadspin.com/5531060/gallery-a-roundup-of-kobe-bryant-photoshop-humor/gallery/]Gallery: A Roundup Of Kobe Bryant Photoshop Humor - Kobe Bryant - Deadspin[/url]

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

It seems like the popular thing nowadays is to hate on the lakers so it's all good. I'd have figured more hate on here for the cavs but I guess not.

On a side note, I have no flippin clue what Kobe was thinking about with the all white clothes, but he must have owed someone a huge ass favor haha.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

How bout the Orlando Magic. It's nice to finally have a team in the playoffs. Anyone catch that blowout last night?

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=WaldSkins;698644]How bout the Orlando Magic. It's nice to finally have a team in the playoffs. Anyone catch that blowout last night?[/quote]
did you not even read the first post? :silly:

suns putting it down on san antonio right now, well.. just won

go grant hill

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=johno;698457]this is only vauguely related, but i met kevin durant on monday night at the harris teeter in alexandria. he bought two full carts full of food. nice guy, and insanely tall. i am 6' 3 and felt like a little kid standing next to him. okay back to basketball banter, just wanted to share.

the magic straight up embarassed the hawks last night. that wasnt even a game.[/quote]
local kid yep.. that's pretty cool

I'm glad that you guys can recognize all of these people, I'd probably not recognize most of them, though I've seen em on TV a million times

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=tryfuhl;698676]local kid yep.. that's pretty cool

I'm glad that you guys can recognize all of these people, I'd probably not recognize most of them, though I've seen em on TV a million times[/quote]

yeah, i recognized him and then immediately thought, there is no way that is actually kevin durant. i looked down and he was wearing OKC basketball shorts and that sealed it for me. i didnt know he was a local guy until i did some internet research when i got home.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=skinsfanthru&thru;698637][B]It seems like the popular thing nowadays [/B]is to hate on the lakers so it's all good. I'd have figured more hate on here for the cavs but I guess not.

On a side note, I have no flippin clue what Kobe was thinking about with the all white clothes, but he must have owed someone a huge ass favor haha.[/quote]


No it has pretty much been that way for a long time. Lakers = Yankees of basketball

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

The only similarity I see between the 2 teams is a bunch of championships. The yankees have essentially tried to buy championships the last 2 decades whereas the payroll of the Lakers is right on par with almost every other team still in the playoffs except the Jazz.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=skinsfanthru&thru;698780]The only similarity I see between the 2 teams is a bunch of championships. The yankees have essentially tried to buy championships the last 2 decades whereas the payroll of the Lakers is right on par with almost every other team still in the playoffs except the Jazz.[/quote]


I don't know what to tell maybe growing up in Boston jaded me but most folks I know hate the Lakers. It doesn't help that Kobe is the biggest d-bag ever.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=mredskins;698784]I don't know what to tell maybe growing up in Boston jaded me but most folks I know hate the Lakers. It doesn't help that Kobe is the biggest d-bag ever.[/quote]

It's actually pretty funny, when I was a kid I loved both the Lakers and Celtics when it was Magic vs Bird, but once Bird retired I stuck with Magic and the Lakers even when we sucked at times. I love Kobe the player, but I would have to agree that he is a giant d-bag as a person, but I don't think I'd have him in my top 5 d-bags in sports.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=mredskins;698784]I don't know what to tell maybe growing up in Boston jaded me [B]but most folks I know hate the Lakers.[/B] It doesn't help that Kobe is the biggest d-bag ever.[/quote]Count me in. Go Celtics.

Great win to stay alive today. Great performance by Rondo. If he learns how to shoot consistently, he will be the best PG in the NBA.

Couple of other random thoughts:
- NBA officiating is horrendous. Watching the game reminded me so much of the Jordan era where he could walk up to someone, hit them in the head with a tire iron, and no foul call....yet don't brush up against his jersey or invade his personal space and there goes the whistle. Really bad today, a lot of phantom calls for the Cavs.
- Jackson and Van Gundy are a good announcing team.
- Did I say I hate the Lakers.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;699733]Count me in. Go Celtics.

Great win to stay alive today. Great performance by Rondo. If he learns how to shoot consistently, he will be the best PG in the NBA.

Couple of other random thoughts:
- NBA officiating is horrendous. Watching the game reminded me so much of the Jordan era where he could walk up to someone, hit them in the head with a tire iron, and no foul call....yet don't brush up against his jersey or invade his personal space and there goes the whistle. Really bad today, a lot of phantom calls for the Cavs.
- Jackson and Van Gundy are a good announcing team.
- Did I say I hate the Lakers.[/quote]

I'm not a big fan of the Celtics but I would rather see them win than Lebron James. If Lebron has a good game they blow him and if he has a bad game it must be his ailing elbow. I cant stand him or the random's that are put together to play with him.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

I'd love to see Phoenix go all of the way so that Grant Hill could get a ring, really like the way Nash is playing too, not that that's uncommon for him.

Celts and Magic also have Dukies, of course so does the Jazz but they're not advancing.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;699733]Count me in. Go Celtics.

Great win to stay alive today. Great performance by Rondo. If he learns how to shoot consistently, he will be the best PG in the NBA.

Couple of other random thoughts:
- [B]NBA officiating is horrendous. Watching the game reminded me so much of the Jordan era where he could walk up to someone, hit them in the head with a tire iron, and no foul call....yet don't brush up against his jersey or invade his personal space and there goes the whistle. Really bad today, a lot of phantom calls for the Cavs.[/B]
- Jackson and Van Gundy are a good announcing team.
- Did I say I hate the Lakers.[/quote]

It is a complete joke so much that when the Celtics won back in 08, I was kind of like happy that a WWE superstar won, I wasn't postive if it wasn't staged.

I love Rondo probaly my favorite Celtic after Pierce.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

Orlando does not look like they'll be stopped.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

i like Lebron, but understand the comments about officiating....
dont like the Celtics but glad Garnett got his ring.

would like to see the Suns beat LA for sure. hoping for a Cavs-Suns finals, i'd be okay with either team winning it all.

oh, and Thomas the Trash Guy who collects trash from our office... he's always coming out with this obvious stuff that he says with some out-on-a-limb prediction tone... today he said "i think Orlando is gonna sweep atlanta!"
really Thomas? y'think?

wait, is the sun gonna set?

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

are they still going on? is the NHL's? dang I miss football.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

Big-time LeBron choke last night in their 32-point loss to Boston.

3/14 shooting, as many turnovers as made shots. UGLY. Injured or not, it didn't look like he was even trying and he had zero leadership qualities on display.

Anyone else think tanking this series might make the chance that he leaves Cleveland even greater? I do. They picked up some great complimentary players in trades and FA this year...Shaq, Jamison, Moon, Telfair...still fell short. This might make it tempting to try somewhere else for James, even though he's from Ohio. He has a personal goal of being the greatest ever and playing in Cleveland will likely limit him from achieving it, because to be in consideration with the greatest players ever, he's going to need to win a lot of rings. Yes, MJ won them later in his career, but he was also a better all-around player in total.

No, there will never be another MJ...not even LeBron.

[IMG]http://badgerandblade.com/vb/macskin/misc/progress.gif[/IMG]

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Buster;700441]Big-time LeBron choke last night in their 32-point loss to Boston.

3/14 shooting, as many turnovers as made shots. UGLY. Injured or not, it didn't look like he was even trying and he had zero leadership qualities on display.

Anyone else think tanking this series might make the chance that he leaves Cleveland even greater? I do. They picked up some great complimentary players in trades and FA this year...Shaq, Jamison, Moon, Telfair...still fell short. This might make it tempting to try somewhere else for James, even though he's from Ohio. He has a personal goal of being the greatest ever and playing in Cleveland will likely limit him from achieving it, because to be in consideration with the greatest players ever, he's going to need to win a lot of rings. Yes, MJ won them later in his career, but he was also a better all-around player in total.

No, there will never be another MJ...not even LeBron.

[IMG]http://badgerandblade.com/vb/macskin/misc/progress.gif[/IMG][/quote]Go CELTICS, they've got their foot on the Cavs neck, now just crush it, blow them out in Game 6. :woot:

I think physically LeBron is better than Jordan, and not just the physical size. He has better range than Jordan at similar points in their careers. LeBron just doesn't have the killer instinct Jordan had. Jordan was obsessive about winning/competition, I don't see that in LeBron.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;700545]Go CELTICS, they've got their foot on the Cavs neck, now just crush it, blow them out in Game 6. :woot:

I think physically LeBron is better than Jordan, and not just the physical size. He has better range than Jordan at similar points in their careers. LeBron just doesn't have the killer instinct Jordan had. Jordan was obsessive about winning/competition, I don't see that in LeBron.[/quote]


I am excited for the Celtics as well but I just know deep down they will find a way to lose and break my heart.

I have more faith in the Bruins actually making a run at it then the Celtics this year. Speaking of we need a win bad tonight I don't want to see a game seven.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=mredskins;700577]I am excited for the Celtics as well but I just know deep down they will find a way to lose and break my heart.

I have more faith in the Bruins actually making a run at it then the Celtics this year. Speaking of we need a win bad tonight I don't want to see a game seven.[/quote]I don't normally follow hockey, but I've been keeping an ear posted each morning for the Bruins. If they close out this series, I'll start watching.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;700579]I don't normally follow hockey, but I've been keeping an ear posted each morning for the Bruins. If they close out this series, I'll start watching.[/quote]


Well thanks to Versus and the NHL it is difficult to follow any out of town hockey even during the playoffs!

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=mredskins;700577]I am excited for the Celtics as well but I just know deep down they will find a way to lose and break my heart.

I have more faith in the Bruins actually making a run at it then the Celtics this year. Speaking of we need a win bad tonight I don't want to see a game seven.[/quote]

Flyers are going to take that series. My crazy Sharks/Flyers Stanley Cup Finals prediction is looking very possible.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=Buster;700766]Flyers are going to take that series. My crazy Sharks/Flyers Stanley Cup Finals prediction is looking very possible.[/quote]


I think the Bruins pull it out but it may just be their last win of the season. The Habs are red hot. I am sorry if you beat Pitt and Wash in back to back series without home ice advantage, you are playing so damn good hockey.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

LeBron will get a lot of grief for tonight's game and rightfully so. He's having a barely average game, but he should be having a dominant game. You look at some of the other series and superstars out there-Kobe, Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash had no problem leading their teams to easy series victories. But LJ is getting no help at all from anyone of his teammates (except for Mo Williams briefly), and worst of all has been Antawn Jamison. He's really been terrible.

I hope the Magic handle the Celtics easily in the next round. Never liked the Celtics (even less so now that I'm up in New England) and I know a lot of people inside the NBA don't care for them either. That said, I'll give them their props for what they've done in these playoffs.

I'll be rooting for Suns vs. Magic in the playoffs with the Suns winning it all

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=SmootSmack;700890]LeBron will get a lot of grief for tonight's game and rightfully so. He's having a barely average game, but he should be having a dominant game. You look at some of the other series and superstars out there-Kobe, Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash had no problem leading their teams to easy series victories. But LJ is getting no help at all from anyone of his teammates (except for Mo Williams briefly), and worst of all has been Antawn Jamison. He's really been terrible.

I hope the Magic handle the Celtics easily in the next round. Never liked the Celtics (even less so now that I'm up in New England) and I know a lot of people inside the NBA don't care for them either. That said, I'll give them their props for what they've done in these playoffs.

I'll be rooting for Suns vs. Magic in the playoffs with the Suns winning it all[/quote]

Cleveland was down by single digits with a minute plus to play, and didn't even foul when Boston had the ball. They literally quit. Lebron had a triple double... actually almost quadruple double if you count turnovers. Plus he shot terribly, and as usual he spent 10x more time whining for calls than he did leading. I am SO happy to see them go down. Mike Brown will be fired tomorrow.

My fiancee is from Orlando and is a huge Magic fan, and Dwight Howard may be my favorite NBA player right now, so I'm pulling for them big time.

It was so nice seeing Queen James and the Cavs go down. They are just a notch below the Penguins, Cowboys, Yankees, and Tennesse Vols as my most hated sports teams. Sayonara Lebron James.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=SmootSmack;700890]

I'll be rooting for Suns vs. Magic in the playoffs with the Suns winning it all[/quote]

yessir!

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

brown is horrible.. no adjustments.. poor late game mgmt etc

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=tryfuhl;700895]brown is horrible.. no adjustments.. poor late game mgmt etc[/quote]

Cleveland is younger and more athletic than Boston, and yet over and over again Mike Brown was content to run that slow, half-court offense. They should have been pushing up and down the floor and rotating guys like Mo Wiliams, Delonte West, Anthony Parker, and Booby Gibson to try and tire out the older Celtic stars. Instead their rotation was poor, and played right into the Celtics hands.

And quitting at the end of the game by not even fouling to try a last ditch desperation effort to save their season was flat out deplorable. If I'm the Cavs owner, Mike Brown is already fired.

On a side note, Rajon Rondo is special. Big fan of his game.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

[quote=GMScud;700898]Cleveland is younger and more athletic than Boston, and yet over and over again Mike Brown was content to run that slow, half-court offense. They should have been pushing up and down the floor and rotating guys like Mo Wiliams, Delonte West, Anthony Parker, and Booby Gibson to try and tire out the older Celtic stars. Instead their rotation was poor, and played right into the Celtics hands.

And quitting at the end of the game by not even fouling to try a last ditch desperation effort to save their season was flat out deplorable. If I'm the Cavs owner, Mike Brown is already fired.

On a side note, Rajon Rondo is special. Big fan of his game.[/quote]
Agreed, thought that it was a joke when he got coach of the year last year too.

Rondo is one of those guys you have to like no matter what, agreed.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

I did not understand the anti-Lebron statements after game 5; I thought it was stupid and just the media making up a story. Let's be honest, there hasn't been much excitement for the playoffs until this "Lebron might be a failure" angle. I thought that was a poor way to treat a guy who is such a talent.

But, after tonight's game, I'm not sure what to think. I felt like the coaching decisions were horrible. I thought Jamison didn't fit in with what they were trying to do. O'Niel was playing so many minutes when it has been years since he could play on that level for 30+ minutes a game.

It looks like it might just be a repeat of last year's finals. This offseason for the NBA is the one that everyone has been talking about; let's see if it lives up to its hype.

Re: NBA Playoffs anyone?
 

Jamison's lack of defense is anti-thetical to what makes the Cavs go. His help/man defense leaves an entire baseline open for any forward with a semblance of offense. Mo Williams is inconsistent when it comes to the playoffs. Shaq clogs up the middle (in a bad way, nowadays)- and Mike Brown's "system" of letting Lebron dominate the ball on every possession clashes with the big man's presence.

This implosion was basically all of Cleveland's doing... Ferry kept making bonehead moves in a win-now mode, meant to keep Lebron happy. Trading a first for Jiri Welsh? Signing Mo Williams to be James' sidekick a few seasons after LJ singlehandedly carried a bum squad to the NBA finals? Adding an old Shaq was the last sign of desperation. Add Mike Brown's rotations (second worse only to Eddie Jordan) and you get great regular seasons... but 2 and out playoffs.

Looking at the future roster for Cleveland, I can't see any way for Lebron to believe he could actually stay and win a title. In this series, I think he just became tired of willing the team to even striking distance of the Celtics every game.

He needs running mates that have the talent/desire to win- and I think the Bulls have that. Derrick Rose is a bonafide wing scorer, but he's unselfish and without ego- he'll work perfectly with James (who wouldn't have to do everything by himself alongside Rose). Noah is basically Varejao with a skillset and a passion to win. There's some young talent for possible trade bait. I could see a S&T to bring another big name from that FA class, creating a dynasty in Chicago.

Brooklyn is a better destination than the Knicks, imo... Lopez, Harris, Lee, CDR and a top pick- plus plenty of cap to bring a stud in. Although the Knicks have a bunch of space, there's no one on that squad that's a building block (David Lee's probably gone).