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The NBA Playoffs Thread
- Thread starter StanFan
- Start date
Go C's!!!!!!
That was a great, exciting, physical game. The way basketball should be and the way I hope the rest of the series will also turn out.
That was a great, exciting, physical game. The way basketball should be and the way I hope the rest of the series will also turn out.
I'd say you're biased by the Eastern Conference (not to mention the team that knocked yours out of the playoffs) but I'm not going get caught calling a kettle black. I think the Lakers are a much better team. Again, Kobe is a better finisher than anyone else in the league, and certainly better than whoever the C's go to in crunchtime.
Sure, the Lakers need their role players to step up, but what they need more than anything is for Kobe to play like the MVP he is. I still maintain that I'd single cover him (with the same rotating help any other player would get) rather than doubling right away and try to lock down the other Lakers.
I am pulling for Boston in this series, but I'd be a little worried if I'm a Celtics fan after this game. Kobe will have a better game, the calls won't always go the C's way and they were getting killed by Gasol on the old Princeton pick and slip.
We'll see.
Pierce showed that he has the heart of a champion last night. After a weak 1st half he came out in the 3rd quarter scoring 8 points in 1:20, came back after tweaking his knee and hit those back-to-back 3's, quite a performance.
I don't think Boston played their best defense last night either, so LA may make some adjustments but Boston will too.
As far as the refs go....LA needs to just score more points, there were alot of ghost and non-calls on the C's too. For example, Garnett was fouled by Gasol on that slam dunk put back in the 3rd, no call.
Rondo had a good game too.
Only 3 more wins!!
I don't think Boston played their best defense last night either, so LA may make some adjustments but Boston will too.
As far as the refs go....LA needs to just score more points, there were alot of ghost and non-calls on the C's too. For example, Garnett was fouled by Gasol on that slam dunk put back in the 3rd, no call.
Rondo had a good game too.
Only 3 more wins!!
I don't know about that. If you check the old TB Playoff threads, you certainly won't find I supported Cleveland against SA last year. And When the Heat played Dallas, I certainly wasn't a Heat Homer. I've repeatedly said no team deserved a title less then that Heat team. And I criticized both teams, the Dallas Chokers, and the Miami Stern Poster-boys in that series. I've said from the All Star Break on that I felt the two best teams in the league were the Celtics and the Pistons. And I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind.
Kobe is a great finisher, But if the C's only have to worry about stopping one player they'll win. I recall it being within six points at spots last night in the fourth quarter, which TEAM finished better? The Lakers did not play one team in the west that plays D as good as Detroit or Boston. I'm not saying the Lakers can't win, but I think they have some serious deficiencies. They may be the worst rebounding team to get to the finals in a while. They don't have a genuinely tough player in the paint who knows how to work for rebounds or position. They have a lot of players they've depended on who are young and not used to the spotlight of the finals. I'm not at all saying the C's are perfect either, Again like a said earlier their were no great teams this year only about five pretty good ones.
The C's have trouble at the point, and they make some lousy game decisions. Sometimes the offense bogs down because Garnett doesn't want to go to work in the post (he reminds of Sheed sometimes in that way). They're only legitimate ball handling point guard is a questionable outside shooter (although he hit his shoots last night). I'm not sure the Lakers (unlike the Pistons) have the personnel to expose this weakness. They don't have any ball hawking PG's. Thats one of the reason Rivers was able to play Cassel as much last night. Also the Lakers don't have anyone who can expose Cassels defensive issues. In other words, The Lakers weaknesses play into the C's strengths, I'm not sure thats true the other way around.
As far as liking the teams personally, I'm not a big fan of either. The C's have benefitted from a very friendly whistle the whole season, and are a very physical team that gets away with a lot of bumping and grabbing. If my Pistons got the same whistle they might be in the finals. Also I'm sick of Boston everything in sports. Both teams benefitted from very generous and dubious trades with fellow GM's that had ties to their franchises. I doubt very much that any other team in the league could have gotten Garnett for Jefferson and a bunch of expiring contracts, and I personally think the league should investigate the Gasol trade. No other team in the league has ever gotten so much and given up NOTHING of significant value. Memphis was demanding Deng and Gordon plus a big man for Gasol from Chicago. That trade just smells. I don't LIKE either team, I respect both, and yes I respect the C's a little more.
You said Barry wasn't fouled by Fisher. I'm smelling some serious bias.
He certainly wasn't fouled in the act of shooting. That was the point I was trying to make. If he had even pretended to lob the ball in the direction of the basket he would have shot three. He dribbled after the foul/non-call. I agree with the NBA, he should have shot two. Weren't the Spurs down by three at the point?
I'm a Heat fan, I don't really care who wins this.
The majority of the "Baustan" fans in this thread are as bandwagon as they come. None of them were here last year when the Celtics won 20 games.
As far as the Lakers, LA as a city is as bandwagon as they come.
I am not a fan of either team, but I am on the Boston Bandwagon after the Lakers pummeled my Jazz. 
I'd be a little sour too if those "bandwagons" completely bypassed my state in basketball and every other sport.
The Celtics turned the D up in the second half, and that was the difference. For the Celts to with the series, they have to exploit their biggest advantage over the Lakers: the toughness and physicality of the front line. Garnett, Perkins, and Pierce are all strong, tough players who can defend and rebound. Gasol, Odom, and Radmanovic are all tall players with ball skills who can shoot, but who usually rely on others to set the table for them offensively. Garnett and especially Pierce can create their own shots, so while the Lakers have a 3 to 2 (or +1, if you prefer) advantage in offensive skills down low, the Celtics have a 3 to 0 (or +3) advantage in muscle/toughness. If they can use that to control the boards and contest most of the inside stuff, they'll be in good shape.
Also, what's up with Lamar Odom? Sometimes he looks incredible, and other times he looks as soft as Glen Davis' midsection. If he can't be more consistent, he'll be hurting his team.
Also, what's up with Lamar Odom? Sometimes he looks incredible, and other times he looks as soft as Glen Davis' midsection. If he can't be more consistent, he'll be hurting his team.
They were down two. And they didn't have any fouls to give. so he would gotten to the line at least with a chance to tie. And most refs would have given Barry the Continuation on that play. If you get fouled while pump faking, it's usually considered a shooting foul. That was actually a really dumb play by Fischer, the first thing a coach tells you in JV is DON'T FOUL a jump shooter in that situation. One thing is for sure, Barry didn't initiate the contact. I still think LA would have won the series, and I think the non-call is a symptom of the pathetic state of officiating more then a conspiracy in that case.
Obviously we need to keep our conversation to Basketball and not politics, because I agree with you again.
LA, will have to rebound better, I'm not sure they have it in them. LA's entire front line is finesse players, the only power player they have up front is Tiriaff who has limited skills. Actually as a three Odom is not bad, but he is very soft as a four. Odom is a real key for LA because Gasol still needs someone to get him the ball in the right spot, Odom possesses some ability to get his own shot. But he's not matched up against Oberto or Horry this series, and his softness can be exploited by Garnett or Perkins.
Yeah, But I'm still here and I'm a Pistons fan. Because, I'm a basketball fan. And the Wings already got the Cup. What else am I going to Watch? The Tigers? The WNBA?
That's the unfortunate story of Odom's career. Remarkably talented guy, but he takes games off.
+1 all the way on this one.
The Heat didn't make the playoffs this year and I'm here. We also had regular season NBA threads and the majority of these Celtics fans weren't participants. Just saying.
I must confess, last night's game was the first time I've ever seen Pau Gasol play.
And every time he got a rebound I found myself thinking "Huh? Talk about a gift!" It didn't seem like he ever actually worked for position, he just found himself in the spot where the ball eventually went. It was uncanny.
Now, I suppose that could mean he's an extremely talented player who's great at both anticipation and economy of motion. But to me it just looked like he was really lucky.
I'm a Miami/Ft. Lauderdale native myself. I haven't lived there much since the Heat came around, but I know how bandwagon-y South Florida sports fans generally are. Regardless of how Celtics fans might be on here, Boston fans are much more dedicated and consistent in general than LA and Miami fans, IMO.
