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The NBA Playoffs Thread

#46
mike_v_s said:
I'm from Ann Arbor and a Detroit fan, but I'm not sure that loss was as much a wake up call as it was a sign that they like to play hard when they want to. I hate to agree with the sports pundit off the radio, but Detroit does seem to like to turn their game on and off. Sooner or later this habit is going to bite them in the ass, if it hasn't already.

Mike
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I don't disagree - it bit them last year in the east finals. I just think the east outside Boston and Detroit are at such a deficit that it doesn't really matter. I'm not sure a single east team outside Boston/Detroit would have even made the playoff in the west. If the Portland Trailblazers played in the east they would have been a 4-5 seed.
 
#47
aborgman said:
I'm not sure a single east team outside Boston/Detroit would have even made the playoff in the west. If the Portland Trailblazers played in the east they would have been a 4-5 seed.
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I hate that argument of people saying "If (western team) was in the East they'd be #?? seed." IMO, it is just an assumption based on their record. Chances are if you take a team and put them in a different conference or division, their lineup would be fairly different in order to best match up with teams you are competing for a playoff spot. There is no way of telling how Portland would be facing mostly East teams or how Philadelphia would be playing mostly West teams. I'm not trying to argue it, but I've heard lines like that being said all season long by supposed experts.

Anyways, boy do the Raptors have a mountain to climb (Mount Howard?? :D). At least the second game looked like they wanted to win outside of another awful first quarter. :hmm:
 
#48
All I can say is it is rockin' here in New Orleans. Chris Paul is destroying the Mavs. Kidd is powerless against him. I was at game 2 the other night and he split their double teams so many times it was just amazing.

My other observations are boy did the Suns miss out on some good opportunities. I don't know how you guys feel, but the "hack-a-shaq" is getting ridiculous. It just kills the entertainment value of the game.
 
#49
NOLA Bass said:
My other observations are boy did the Suns miss out on some good opportunities. I don't know how you guys feel, but the "hack-a-shaq" is getting ridiculous. It just kills the entertainment value of the game.
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I definitely agree. The Spurs are good enough to not bother fouling Shaq all the time and I guess it's perfectly legal, but they (the league) should modify that rule. Not sure how as of now though.
 
#50
StanFan said:
I definitely agree. The Spurs are good enough to not bother fouling Shaq all the time and I guess it's perfectly legal, but they (the league) should modify that rule. Not sure how as of now though.
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Yeah, I wasn't impressed by that, am I'm not sure it was necessary. Having said that, you can stick a fork in the Suns. Although they'll keep it interesting in six.

Nolabass All I can say is it is rockin' here in New Orleans. Chris Paul is destroying the Mavs. Kidd is powerless against him. I was at game 2 the other night and he split their double teams so many times it was just amazing.
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No surprise there. If I could start a team with any one player in the league it would be Chris Paul. The Kidd trade was a desperate move by a desperate team. The window for the Noshowupski Mavs is now closed. The similarities between the Sacramento Kings of the 90's and the Mavs of this era is uncanny. Both had superstar players who didn't show up in big games Weber and Nowitski. At least the Kings could blame the refs. Kidd is not the player he was before his injury. His lateral movement, and ability to go the basket is suspect. And he never could hit a jump-shot. Now his deficiencies have become liabilities.

aborgman I still think it's Detroit and Boston in the east finals. In fact, I think losing game 1 may have been the best thing possible for Detroit.
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The Pistons smoked the Sixers tonight. The difference was defensive effort. I'm not surprised they lost game one, they haven't had a reason to show up in two weeks. I still think it'll be five and done for the Sixers.

As far as the comments about the West. While, no doubt the west is stronger. Some of the playoff western teams are defensive nightmares. Cleveland, Orlando, and Toronto, all play better defense then Denver, Phoenix and Golden State. And Dallas can be marginal on D. So the East teams when they play each other face tougher defense as a rule.

Look at the records of Boston and Detroit against the West, they both played almost .700 ball against the west, almost the same record they had against the east. The reason, they got much better shots against western teams. Detroit put up 140 against Denver, it looked like a scrimmage, a few of the Pistons players looked embarrassed they were so open for shots. The eastern teams are still more physical, like the old days, so the records can be deceptive.
 
#51
NOLA Bass said:
I don't know how you guys feel, but the "hack-a-shaq" is getting ridiculous. It just kills the entertainment value of the game.
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It's been ridiculous for 15 years now. It's ridiculous when they do it to Dwight Howard, Ben Wallace and Lebron, too. Apparently it's preferable now to rough up a 70ish %FT shooter and hope he misses one of two.

If the penalty for fouls like that was two shots and the ball back (just like "clear path" fouls) it'd stop quick. That might allow the referees too much discretion, though.
 
#55
Pretty lame attempt last night by the Hawks to try and get Boston off their game by getting physical. Good luck with that against a team with guys like Big Baby, Powe, Garnett and Perkins.

Pierce is a warrior, it'll take more than that to take him out of his game.

Another weak game from Bibby, but he can talk!

14 more wins.
 
#59
Eric618 said:
Shaq has never been a shooter though, from anywhere on the field. He's essentially a big dumb monster that powers his way inside and puts the ball in the basket! That's not talent, that's physicality.
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Come now, Shaq does have skills. There has probably never been someone Shaq's size, let alone with his speed and body control.

Sure, when he gets tired, he often just plows his opponents over...But to say that he doesn't have talent, but just physicality is SILLY.
 
#60
Lorenzini said:
Come now, Shaq does have skills. There has probably never been someone Shaq's size, let alone with his speed and body control.

Sure, when he gets tired, he often just plows his opponents over...But to say that he doesn't have talent, but just physicality is SILLY.
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I certainly exaggerated, sure. But his shooting skills, especially from the perimeter, are horrific.
 

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