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NBA Playoff thread 2012

Chris Fitzgerald

Chris Fitzgerald

Student of Life
Staff member
Administrator
Gold Supporting Member
Oct 19, 2000
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38,514
Louisville, KY
www.chrisfitzgeraldmusic.com
#1
I'm not a huge fan, but I always enjoy catching a few playoff games, and I love watching the last three series every year (or as much of them as my schedule lets me catch). So, I thought to start this thread and hear from my fellow TBers who like to watch the playoffs what their thoughts are.

Note: if you fall into the "I don't like the NBA anymore for reasons X, Y and Z" category, that's cool, but please don't post that stuff in this thread. An "NBA H8ers thread" would be a great place for that, and if you start one of those, I promise not to pop in and defend the league. :)

Overall, I'm pulling *against* the Lakers and Heat simply because as great as they are as players and as much as I respect them on the court for their skills, I can't stand Kobe or D-Flop. I don't know why, really. It feels like a "WWE bad guy syndrome" thing. Whatever. For whatever reason, they get on my nerves. Plus they are the two showtime franchises that are all about glitz and glamour, and I hate that. So anybody who beats either of these teams is great with me.

As for the teams I like and am pulling for:

EAST

Boston: even though they're past their prime and without enough help. I love Rondo's pure point guard game, and it's the last hurrah for the former "big 3".

Indiana: they've been playing gutsy ball lately, and are a team on the rise.

Chicago: A front runner I'm not crazy about, but if Rose gets healthy, I like them a lot. If they end up facing the Heat in the East finals, they'll be my favorite team for as long as that series lasts.


WEST

San Antonio: have reinvented themselves and are seriously ballin' this year. When they get rolling, they are something to watch. I like their blue collar role players as well.

OKC: I don't have strong feelings about them, but that much youth, energy, and enthusiasm makes for some breakneck basketball, and they always entertain.

Dallas: mostly because they gave me the best finals in years with last year's championship season, and I've always thought Dirk was a classy player. This year, without many of the key pieces from last year (Barea, Chandler, etc.) they won't do much, but still a sentimental fave. Did I mention they swept the Lakers and then dumped LBJ and D-Flop out of the finals last year?

Looking forward to it all getting started.
 
#2
Wow Chris, I'd love to tell you I'm excited about this, but todays NBA is leaving me cold. The Walkout, combinned with the continued rich get richer despite a cap is beginning to get on my nerves. The other issue is my current team sucks and I have no reason to believe they will even be competitive in the near future.

As far as this years playoffs. With the Bulls evidently losing Rose today (he was carried off for an MRI), I'm not sure I see anyone in the East stopping Sterns favorites the Heat. UUUUGH!:eyebrow:

Perhaps the Thunder or Spurs from the West can do it, but todays NBA has a bunch of mediocre teams, none could compete with the Bulls, Pistons, Celtics or Laker championship teams.

And speaking of the Lakers, does anyone really want Meta World Peace to get another ring? Dallas is finished without Chandler to cover up for Dirks (your poster boy) defensive deficiencies.

After Odoms stint in Dallas, should he change his name to Kardashian?:D

I guess I'm for the Thunder just because I'd rather see a good small market team like Oklahoma City win, than the Bulls who got the advantage of Sterns rigged lottery or the Knicks and Linnsanity win (nothing against Linn-but the Knicks have two of the most selfish incomplete players on the planet in Stoudomier and Anthony).
 
#3
Dirk is not "my poster boy". I just think he's a classy player, along the lines of several of my other favorites who let their games do the talking (Ray Allen, David Robinson, etc.). Dallas, as I said, is a sentimental choice, and I don't expect much from them.

As you say, the Pistons do suck, don't they? :D

As for the rest in the East, I still think Boston, Chicago, or Indiana *could* beat the Heat. I just doubt they will. I actually have a lot of respect for LBJ's game. I just don't want to watch Wade flop his way to the foul line every 54.3 seconds.

Agree that the Knicks stink because of selfish play. But what do you expect when you get Melo, Amare, and J.R. Smith on the same team?

Hibbert and West are playing well tonight for the Pacers.
 
#4
I have been a Laker fan since the 80's, but they don't have a chance this year.

So I'm pulling for the Spurs. They really are an amazing team to watch. Teamwork, hustle, and no overblown egos. Plus I really like Tim Duncan (and Tony Parker).

In the East I would be happy with anyone besides the Heat for reasons already mentioned.
 
#6
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Boston:[/B] even though they're past their prime and without enough help. I love Rondo's pure point guard game, and it's the last hurrah for the former "big 3".
Click to expand...
Your Kentucky is showing.;) Of course Rondo's a pure point, he can't shoot!:D He's also a knob, I've always disliked him. I used to be a KG fan, but his behavior's gotten so ridiculous the past few years. And this is coming from a guy who rooted for the Celtics in the 70s and 80s (via my dad) before my home state of Florida had NBA teams.

I'm rooting for the Heat, they're from my hometown. LBJ, despite the sizable mistakes of the past, is a guy I'd like to see shake the bad rep. I think Wade's flopping tendencies are overstated, but that's an argument no one can prove one way or the other. And Udonis Haslem is my guy.

I'd love to see the Bulls in the mix, too, but it was clear from early on that is just wasn't their year.

In the West, I'm glad to see the Spurs in it. I've always respected Timmy, Parker and Manu. And Popovich is one of the greatest coaches of my lifetime.

OKC's a lot of fun, and Durant seems like a good kid. If Westbrook can avoid reverting to his chucking ways, they could go really far.
 
#7
East has been completely ravaged by injuries in just the past week alone, much less the last three months. I would love to have seen how competitive Chicago, Boston, even New York would have been with their full rosters...but now? Meh. I've completely lost interest in what happens, just because it seems like it'll be completely unrepresentative of what could have/should have happened.

It'd be awesome if San Antonio makes it to the finals again. It'd be even more awesome if they then stomped the crap out of Miami.
 
#8
Dallas is done. Utah is essentially done. New York is about to be done, and Orlando will be done soon. Celts showed some moxie in beating the Hawks without RR, then he comes back with a triple double. The guy's a tool, but then so was MJ. Both can flat out play. Bulls are in trouble and will have to endure a serious gut check to advance. The Pacers have the talent to cause trouble, but they've melted down at the end of games twice already, splitting the pair of games. Their roster is solid except for Paul George, who is wildly inconsistent in the games I've seen. If they play their best, they could give the Heat some trouble. If not...

OKC looks ready to take on the Lakers, and that will be a fun series to watch if the Lakers take out the Nuggets as expected. The Spurs look like a juggernaut so far. I could see either them or OKC taking out the Heat. Boston is a wild card.
 
#9
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Dallas is done. Utah is essentially done. New York is about to be done, and Orlando will be done soon. Celts showed some moxie in beating the Hawks without RR, then he comes back with a triple double. The guy's a tool, but then so was MJ. Both can flat out play. Bulls are in trouble and will have to endure a serious gut check to advance. The Pacers have the talent to cause trouble, but they've melted down at the end of games twice already, splitting the pair of games. Their roster is solid except for Paul George, who is wildly inconsistent in the games I've seen. If they play their best, they could give the Heat some trouble. If not...

OKC looks ready to take on the Lakers, and that will be a fun series to watch if the Lakers take out the Nuggets as expected. The Spurs look like a juggernaut so far. I could see either them or OKC taking out the Heat. Boston is a wild card.
Click to expand...

Actually this is pretty much right on. Kind of how I see it too.
 
#12
Didn't get to see the games, but: Celts move on, Lakers have to play a game 7. Faried punked Bynum and Gasol, outscoring the pair of them by himself. Nice to see a kid rewarded for hustle when the stars are resting on imaginary "laurels". Bynum is the perfect Laker (of the variety that I can't stand): tons of talent, very little character. As little as I like Kobe, I have tremendous respect for his game. The guy's a warrior. Bynum and Startta World War, not so much. The Heat will have to go through the Pacers and probably the Celts to get to the finals, where they'll almost certainly meet either the Spurs or Thunder if they make it that far. I like it so far. :)
 
#14
MakiSupaStar said:
The Lakers are not looking very good. Last night and game four was pathetic. :scowl:
Click to expand...

Amen to that. Lately I can barely stand watching Laker games because I just want to come through the screen and slap a bunch of the players, especially Baby Huey Bynum.

Oh, and I gotta take my hat off to Chicago. They limped and hobbled all the way through the season, and still got a 1 seed. Limped and hobbled through the opening round, and still forced a game 7 and was in it until the closing seconds. How you go about losing your superstar, and subsequently your 2 next biggest players and still do anything at all is beyond me
 
#15
Re: the Indiana/Miami series, the "gamesmanship" has begun:

Frank Vogel said:
Though the Pacers are new to the playoffs, coach Frank Vogel pulled a veteran move after Thursday's practice. He called the Heat the ''biggest flopping team in the NBA,'' perhaps trying to plant a seed in the minds of the officials before tipoff.
''It'll be very interesting to see how the referees officiate this series and how much flopping they reward,'' he said.
Click to expand...

This should be fun. :)

And again, can we please change the rules to mitigate offensive players intentionally drawing contact while obviously looking more for a foul call than for their shot? Of all of the things I dislike about the league, this flop & whine tactic is probably #1 on the list. With replay, this would be easy to clean up with after the fact fines for obvious flops, and the understanding that the "boy who cried wolf" factor would come into play over time. I want to see one team play another, not get a clinic on how to game the system/rules and get away with it.
 
#16
Miami and their flops....aaaahrhhghgh the flops! Especially Bron Bron! And what ticks me off the most is when he does one of his uber-flops and gets a whistle for it, he jumps up and starts celebrating and going "neener neener neener" to the opposing team.
 
#18
People can hate on the Heat all they want, but when it's all said and done, they still have the best talent imho and they just might win it all this time around. They got close to winning it all last year. It's a good thing that Stern vetoed the Chis Paul trade to the Lakers, or it would have been lights out. But in the meantime, " Go Lakers ".
 
#19
macaroni tony said:
Miami and their flops....aaaahrhhghgh the flops!
Click to expand...

Miller had two spectacular flops, one of which was actually meaningful. Chalmers had another at halfcourt. D-flop got 10 of his 14 free throws using his patented "drive and flail" technique. What I like about James' game is that he doesn't do this at all that I can see - when he's going toward the basket, his intent is to put the ball in without giving an oscar-worthy performance for the refs. The problem yesterday wasn't really the free points that D-flop and the Heat got from these fouls, but more the foul trouble the Pacers got their starters into as a result of the old drive-and-flail.

On another note, it was good to hear Stern discussing the issue of possible review and fines. It sounds like he knows it is a real problem. I also saw two no calls on the Fake-and-Flop jump shooting tactic, which is encouraging.

All that said, the Pacers need to learn how to close. They controlled much of the game but faded at the end. That's the mark of a young team. If they are going to seriously challenge, they need more out of their bench defensively, and Granger is going to have to show up on the offensive end.
 
#20
I didn't catch the Miami-Indy game yesterday...well I did, but only got glimpses. But Bron Bron most certainly does flop, he just doesn't do it when he's driving. He does it standing still - picking up his dribble because of a double team, pump faking along the baseline, and the like.
 

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