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The TB NBA Playoff thread

#221
burk48237 said:
The other problem is the bet wouldn't be fair. I'm a scotch drinker and a bottle of Macallan 18 cost a lot more then a six pack of whatever.:D

If my Pistons were in the hunt (no chance with the current bunch) I'd be in on it. But I didn't even have cursory interest, because I'm not personally committed to anyone left in this race. Just a fan of the game when played and officiated right, but no real dog in the hunt.

While I'm not a Lakers fan I don't really "hate" them. In fact I have no great warmth for Orlando either. I must admit, I'm getting a bit tired of King James ( no one should be a King till they win SOMETHING). But I think both Lebron and the NBA share the blame for that one.:rollno:
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Fair enough. Cheers. :)
 
#222
Gard said:
I'm bettin' another reason is the infatuation with Kobe.

They'll fix that for you as well soon...



....the Orlando Magic, saving the NBA for the fans of the game, from the evil forces of marketers...

:ninja:



;)
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I like Kobe, on the court. He is really good.

It will be cool to see Rashard get a ring though. That will make everyone up here angry since he dissed the Sonics.

-Mike
 
#223
burk48237 said:
I would suggest that you reread the Rosen article. His argument was not that totally blaming the Cavs for that arrogance.
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Yeah, I skimmed the piece, but that's primarily because I just don't care for Rosen's writing.

And I just don't think there was anything other than the Magic being the completely wrong matchup for the Cavs. Had they played Boston instead (or anyone else in the East) they'd be in the finals now. Yes, the Cavs are a flawed team, but EVERY team in today's NBA is a flawed team in some way.

The Laker's flaws are that they STILL (and this is going on a decade now) can't defend PG pick and rolls, get inconsistent efforts from some of their most talented players (Odom in particular), have inconsistent outside shooting, and are a bit of a finesse team.

Still, they are a bad matchup for Orlando who I think will only win one game this series.
 
#224
burk48237 said:
Great, but long article by Bill Simmons on the issues with NBA officiating. Worth a read by all NBA geeks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090528&sportCat=nba
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article said:
Back in Jordan's day, you fought like hell to control the paint on both ends. Now? You run high screens, jack up 3-pointers or tell your superstar to go one-on-five. That's it.

In that respect, Jordan was both the best and worst thing ever to happen to the league. You know the good things he did, but he also paved the way for a generation of one-on-one players who careen toward the basket in big moments, create some form of contact and hope officials will bail them out. With four seconds to play in Game 4 and his team trailing by 2, LeBron put his head down, dribbled as fast as he could and prayed Michael Pietrus would either bump him or trip him. If you watch the clip, he's moving so fast that it would have been humanly impossible for him to make a shot. That wasn't his goal. He wanted a call. And he got one. Their feet got tangled, LeBron lurched forward, and the refs bailed him out.

Dwyane Wade won an NBA Finals for Miami that way. Three years later, LeBron nearly saved Cleveland's season that same way. It's a reprehensibly effective strategy that has nothing in common with anything we would ever see on a playground, an intramural game or a one-on-one battle in someone's backyard. I have been writing this column for 12 years dating back to my old Web site. Never have I received as many "I hate the referees" and "I hate watching these guys drive to the basket and get bailed out" and "Why can't they just let these guys play basketball and act like human beings?" e-mails as I did this spring.
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Pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. It's the single reason I never much liked MJ, D-Wade, and Kobe. At one point in the article, he writes:

article said:
Today's games should be easier to call because they're more predictable. Teams run the same play five or six straight times down the stretch. For Cleveland, it's the high screen with Ilguaskas and James. For Boston, it's the high post play with Pierce. For the Lakers, it's the "Let's run the triangle for 42 minutes, then we'll just clear out for Kobe for the last six" offense. For Denver, it's either a high screen for Chauncey or a clear-out for Carmelo. Only the Magic (God bless them) seem interested in playing a style that doesn't revolve around the same guy hoisting 3s or barrelling toward the basket again and again.
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Amen. And much as I think LBJ is a great athlete and a very likable spokesperson for the NBA, I hate the fact that you're not allowed to play defense, especially near the end of the game. It makes me want to stop watching. I loved the Celts last year because they played great defense, especially in the finals. *Old school* defense, with Perkins glaring, KG yapping and blocking shots, Rondo making big steals, and bodies flying all over the court. This year, Cleveland seemed to play great defense until they met Orlando. Houston played great defense. I'd like to see some of that come back. As I've said before, probably even in this thread, the two things which are ruining the NBA for me both involve offensive players trying to create calls instead of making big shots: The "barrel into the lane and fall down" syndrome, a la Kobe, Lebron, and D-Wade; and the "fake a guy up into the air and then jump into him and flop", practiced by the same three guys plus Pierce, Baron Davis, and a host of others. Yuk. Every time it happens, I just want to turn off the TV. It's "letter of the law" instead of "spirit of the law", and if it's gonna get the calls, players will keep doing it. Time to change the rules again, as the article suggests.
 
#225
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. It's the single reason I never much liked MJ, D-Wade, and Kobe.
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Forgot to thank Burk for that article. I love Simmons as a writer. Funny, but also a lot more insight (especially about basketball) than he gets credit for.

Chris, I'd put LeBron James into that category much more than Kobe. Sure, Bryant gets away with more whining to officials about missed calls than any other player in the game, but he's FAR more than a put my head down and barrel to the basket player. He's got the most complete offensive repetoire of any wing in the game and is one of the most effective scorers the NBA has ever seen, from all over the court. I'd even say he is a more SKILLED offensive player than Jordan ever was.

But LeBron's game really hinges on him getting calls on bailout drives. If you look at his stats in the playoffs, his shooting outside of the paint is horrendous, especially in the Orlando series. But he's got that freakish combination of speed, size, skill and strength that lets him get into the lane at will. Make no mistake, he's an enormous talent and a great (and willing) passer to boot. But when he gets in that attack mode he's just not fun to watch.

On a much lower level, I get frustrated watching my team (the Kings) because their leading scorer (Kevin Martin) makes his living in exactly that way. In his case he's just lightning fast and built so slightly that all contact to him is magnified.

When I'm trying to explaing basketball to people (read: primarily disinterested girlfriends) I always say not to follow the ball, but to take in the whole scene. What is the offense setting up? What's the defensive gameplan? Except these days, if you aren't watching the ball, there's often very little to observe, which is a sad commentary on today's NBA offenses.

I can say this not as a homer, but as a player and fan of basketball my entire life, but I really wish a team would come along like the early 2000's Kings again. They didn't clear out the side to let one guy work - they played team basketball with the motion offense, princeton principles and beautiful passing. I think I enjoyed watching them play at their peak more than the Showtime Lakers, which is really saying something.
 
#226
Gard said:
Laugh now, cry later, when you're packin' up that beer to send me.

Magic OWNED the Fakers this season, won both games easily.

If the Magic split the first two in El-Lay, it's over.

:smug:
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People tend to ignore the fact that the Lakers got beat both times against the magic and tend just to sit there and roll their eyes like Kenny or EJ during the after game show when the Magic won the ECF despite their blatant haterism. Jameer was our top scorer in these games, but we have had other players step up now.

Magic deserve the win more than the Lakers, everyone has been saying no, they can't do it. They said it about us against the Sixers, Celtics, Cavs and now they are saying it about the Lakers...

The only person who showed them any love on TNT is Charles and he has called it right since day one... Watch out Lakers. :D

/Rant.
 
#227
jazzy grille said:
People tend to ignore the fact that the Lakers got beat both times against the magic and tend just to sit there and roll their eyes like Kenny or EJ during the after game show when the Magic won the ECF despite their blatant haterism. Jameer was our top scorer in these games, but we have had other players step up now.

Magic deserve the win more than the Lakers, everyone has been saying no, they can't do it. They said it about us against the Sixers, Celtics, Cavs and now they are saying it about the Lakers...

The only person who showed them any love on TNT is Charles and he has called it right since day one... Watch out Lakers. :D

/Rant.
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ehem...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549005

:eyebrow:
 
#231
TheBigO said:
Forgot to thank Burk for that article. I love Simmons as a writer. Funny, but also a lot more insight (especially about basketball) than he gets credit for.

Chris, I'd put LeBron James into that category much more than Kobe. Sure, Bryant gets away with more whining to officials about missed calls than any other player in the game, but he's FAR more than a put my head down and barrel to the basket player. He's got the most complete offensive repetoire of any wing in the game and is one of the most effective scorers the NBA has ever seen, from all over the court. I'd even say he is a more SKILLED offensive player than Jordan ever was.
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Agreed - I meant to put LeBron on that list, and also to mention that they're all fantastic players.

I can say this not as a homer, but as a player and fan of basketball my entire life, but I really wish a team would come along like the early 2000's Kings again. They didn't clear out the side to let one guy work - they played team basketball with the motion offense, princeton principles and beautiful passing. I think I enjoyed watching them play at their peak more than the Showtime Lakers, which is really saying something.
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+1. That team was fun to watch, even with DiFlop manning the middle - when he wasn't falling down, he was a great passer. :)
 
#232
another tangent while we wait for the finals...

IMO Lebron went out like a buster after losing to the Magic. He's a tremendous talent and I had a lot of respect for him this season, all of which was lost after his quick exit. His lame excuse made it worse.

i like this guy for having the guts to call Lebron out:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#233
bwv1013 said:
another tangent while we wait for the finals...

IMO Lebron went out like a buster after losing to the Magic. He's a tremendous talent and I had a lot of respect for him this season, all of which was lost after his quick exit. His lame excuse made it worse.

i like this guy for having the guts to call Lebron out:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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What a GREAT article!
 
#237
bwv1013 said:
another tangent while we wait for the finals...

IMO Lebron went out like a buster after losing to the Magic. He's a tremendous talent and I had a lot of respect for him this season, all of which was lost after his quick exit. His lame excuse made it worse.

i like this guy for having the guts to call Lebron out:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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That's for sure, at least Kobe was man enough to cry like a little girl in front of the cameras when Detroit beat the Lakers in the 2004 finals.
 
#240
Eric618 said:
I can't tell if you are serious or making light. What's wrong with crying about losing the finals?
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A bit of both. I applaud him for not hiding from the camera, doing the interview, and letting it all hang out for all to see. OTOH, I'm ribbing him for crying like a girl on national TV :p

FWIW, I'm a big fan of the Lakers and of Kobe. I get that he's not eveyone's cup of tea. Sure, he was a bit arrogant in his early years and the "changing his number from 8 to 24" thing was a bit douchey but it seems that the Kobe Haters refuse to realize that he IS one of the greatest basketball players of all time. When he's on, it's a thing of absolute beauty. It's like watching Van Gogh paint or listening to [insert your choice for "greatest bassist of all time] play bass

Lebron is also great player, no doubt. But I get the impression that his humble, "aw shucks" persona is just a ruse, perpetuated by his handlers to maximize his earning potential. I could practically see him biting his own tongue to keep himself from screaming "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" "EAT THIS YOU PUNK #######!". I'm guessing the facade is getting a little too much to bear without a ring.
 

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