2007-2008 NBA Playoffs Thread

[yudalicious]

Originally Posted by imnotmatt1189

^ boooooo. i HATE the wizards. i hate their un-classy-ness and their whole "lebron james is overrated" attitude. i hope the next game bron bron drops 50+.

How are they unclassy? The series has just been a really physical series, outside of that one Haywood foul there has been very physical play on both sides. If you haven't noticed, Celts/Hawks, Mavs/Hornets, etc. have all been very physical series. And the overrated thing, that was all Deshawn.

[Xandy Boosts]

unclassy? This is the playoffs man, where all the shit talking begins. That's the greatest thing about playoffs and rivalries!

[yudalicious]

Originally Posted by Xandy Boosts

unclassy? This is the playoffs man, where all the shit talking begins. That's the greatest thing about playoffs and rivalries!

And people thought the NBA of today is physical.... wait til they see tapes from games in the 90s. now THOSE rivalries were real rivalries.

[Xandy Boosts]

I remember Malone used to drive the lane with his elbows pointing out haha

[NiSmo240luvR]

Originally Posted by Xandy Boosts

WOOT Wizards extend series to game 6 back in DC!

i was surprised as hell! i think if varejao didnt miss so many easy shots the 4th quarter would have went very differently. its been a decent series so far, im anxious to see how game 6 in DC goes. id like to see the cavs advance to the next round.

Originally Posted by Xandy Boosts

I remember Malone used to drive the lane with his elbows pointing out haha

oh hell yea. in the 80's and 90's, games were ROUGH.

[WERDdabuilder]

jungle ball son. LEARN IT.

[Phlip]

Originally Posted by imnotmatt1189

^ boooooo. i HATE the wizards. i hate their un-classy-ness and their whole "lebron james is overrated" attitude. i hope the next game bron bron drops 50+.

One would need to come a little harder than that to be called "unclassy," seeing as how LeBron's jumpshot mechanics are still questionable, he stilll chokes free throws that matter and still seems to only have a passing interest in playing defense. Yet, it seems that everyone seems willing to ignore that because he is the next big thing. His game is far from complete and he will not win a finals in Cleveland until they get some real talent around him and he addresses those sore spots in his game.

[Rob's S14]

I don't need to watch tapes to remember the 90's, and they weren't even close to the 80's. The difference is imo, that there are less dirty plays. There are no more "Jordan rules" No star gets the kind of beating that he took. No more clotheslines on a regular basis. There are still the occasional excessive fouls but they get taken care of right away. The games get physical but are still under control.

[az_240]

I still cant believe some of these officials.... the suns/spurs series' are always terrible for that.
and then what nash pulls at the end... gawwwwd.... just no confidence at times.

Hornets better take care of SA for me....

[Rob's S14]

Yeah the officials are why Phoenix lost...cmon dude, they just can't hang with SA. They made a bad trade that didn't help. Worse is that they've been consistently giving their picks away for the last 4-5 years to stay under the cap, that's the real reason why they haven't improved.

[OptionZero]

suns fans are still whining about officials?

so what has to happen before they shut up? Maybe if Robert Horry won while playing them 1 on 5 next year...

...but that's assuming the Suns make the playoffs again.

[ziptiedae86]

Looks like detroit will close out tonight, can't wait for all the games tomorrow!

[Gnnr]

Complaining about officiating is pointless. Because if the team that lost would have played better offense and scored more points or better defense and kept the other team from scoring, it really wouldn't have mattered if a few calls didn't go their way. Best way to deal with officiating, play better basketball. Period.

[Rob's S14]

Well said...except for the Dallas/Miami series. That was just too obvious. When basically everyone on tv/radio agrees on it, something is wrong.

[s14_legend]

i think this is how its gonna turn out

west - lakers vs.utah = lakers = LAKERS
spurs vs. hornets = spurs VS.
east- boston vs. cleveland = boston BOSTON
magic vs. pistons = pistons

[az_240]

I never said it was the reason they lost.... But when both teams are playing good ball and the game is close you'd think the officials would be a little more careful about some of these calls. Some of them were clearly just bad calls sometimes even made up it seems in favor of the spurs and when its the same official making the calls I mean cmon It gets pretty obvious who hes rooting for...

Its sad the league lets things like that slip away... not much can be done about it....
Suns did embarass themselves a couple of times this series.... Just gotta gain confidence again, play better ball and make smarter decisions when it comes to trading players for next season. I cant wait to see what they are going to do as far as coaching goes...D'antoni needs to step up or get out....same with shaq

Either Boston OR Lakers are gona take it IMO... Hopefully Boston

[OptionZero]

If you're mike D'antoni, why would you want to stay? Your fans and management are doubting you, your roster is aging, your cap is fucked, you have no first round draft picks in 2 of the next 3 years.

Go to Toronto with your buddy Bryan Coangelo. Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Jamario Moon await you. You'll have some 3p shooters again! (Bargnani, Parker, Kapono)

[Gnnr]

Originally Posted by Rob's S14

Well said...except for the Dallas/Miami series. That was just too obvious. When basically everyone on tv/radio agrees on it, something is wrong.

What do you mean? In my mind it seems so long ago, and its late so I don't recall much of the series right now....

[yudalicious]

Originally Posted by az_240

I never said it was the reason they lost.... But when both teams are playing good ball and the game is close you'd think the officials would be a little more careful about some of these calls. Some of them were clearly just bad calls sometimes even made up it seems in favor of the spurs and when its the same official making the calls I mean cmon It gets pretty obvious who hes rooting for...

Its sad the league lets things like that slip away... not much can be done about it....

Why would the league or refs want the Spurs to win? Because they want to see the spurs in the finals again, so the finals can get the lowest number of viewers once again? Or maybe, is it because that there's bad calls both ways, and suns fans just remember all of them because the Suns consistently lose to a team that just executes better and smarter in crunch time? I wonder which is a more plausible explanation...

You're absolutely right that many of the games were very very close. The spurs just play better and smarter in those few possessions when the chips are down, when it counts.

[az_240]

do you not remember last season? The ref that was betting on games.... dont think he was the only one.

[yudalicious]

Originally Posted by az_240

do you not remember last season? The ref that was betting on games.... dont think he was the only one.

He, and if other refs are involved, reffed (and bet on) alot more games than just Suns/Spurs games. Doesn't it seem weird that the only fanbase that still has its panties in a knot about supposed biased officiating is the Suns fanbase?

But, to sympathize with you, I hated the move to suspend Amare/Diaw. Horrible basketball move. Could the Suns have won without the suspensions? Possibly. Do I personally think they would've? Based on SA's success against phoenix, no. To make matters worse, Stern suddenly decides to come to his senses and ditch the zero tolerance crap in favor of common sense when it comes to his Celtics. I sympathize with you in that I would like to see more consistency. Also, doesn't it bother anyone that the zero tolerance rule STILL exists, basically giving Stern and the NBA the right to use it when see fit and to abandon it when deemed not? If you're going to use common sense, get rid of the rule.

Like I said, I have a sneaky suspicion that the reason the Suns fans seem to remember so many "biased" calls is because they are almost always on the losing side to the same team. I've watched just about every Spurs/Suns game in the regular season and the playoffs for the past several years. Were there bad calls? Yes. Biased against the Suns? No.

Edit:
Since I feel weird for making a long rant without talking about the playoffs, here are my picks (objectivity aside):
Wiz over Cavs (since I love/currently reside in DC, and I'm intrigued by the side drama, I want to see a game 7)
Hawks over Celtics (again, game 7 would be nice, and I guess I'll cheer for my home team. Also nice to shut those loud Boston fans up, who were all but ready to crown Boston the champs when they haven't even won a playoff series yet.)
Rockets OVER the Jazz (I am an absolute Rockets fan. The Jazz are overrated, and I was guilty too of overrating them. They can't put away a team missing it's most efficient scorer and it's starting PG for the first 2 games, that's not gonna get it done in the playoffs.)

[yudalicious]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/080501

Usually don't really like Simmons, but the guy has got it right about the Suns and their downfall.

[ziptiedae86]

Nash finally became mortal and aged about 20 years in the last 2 mins of the series. As a Spurs fan, I respect the hell out of the guy. I hope he has gas in the tank for another season or two before he retires.


I would love to see the Hawks upset the Celtics run.
I can't bet against LBJ so I see the Cavs over the Wiz.
I love the Rox as well and hope to see them finally make it to the second round.

[az_240]

that article brings up some very good points.
Cant wait till next year to see what the suns will bring

[Gnnr]

As if you didn't see this coming, Jay-Z responds to DeShawn Stevenson

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv1-l1PoMcg[/ame]

[yudalicious]

I hope atl pulls this one out, absolutely hate how whiny the Boston fans are on realgm.com. A week ago they were saying sweep, meeting the lakers in the finals, championship, how great boston is blah blah blah. Now all they can do is whine and pout about the refs, citing the fact that Atlanta shoots way more FTs as evidence that the refs and the NBA are biased... I would love to see the hawks take a dump on their silly pride.

Edit: game 7 here we come. win or lose, this is already a victory for the young hawks.

[kouki_s14]

wow, Game 7 for celtics

NO ONE saw this coming....

[OptionZero]

ridiculous! That's the ideal "new age" lineup...tons of long, athletic dudes with versatile skills. Don nelson's wet dream, except they don't too many 3's

Josh Smith, Josh Childress are RFA's, i wonder if ATL ownership will spring to keep both (instead of just smith)

They didn't even play that well down the stretch, too much clock-killing on offense and they didn't foul when they were up 3. Stupid coach.

[Gnnr]

This is pathetic for Boston.

[yudalicious]

Originally Posted by OptionZero

ridiculous! That's the ideal "new age" lineup...tons of long, athletic dudes with versatile skills. Don nelson's wet dream, except they don't too many 3's

Josh Smith, Josh Childress are RFA's, i wonder if ATL ownership will spring to keep both (instead of just smith)

They didn't even play that well down the stretch, too much clock-killing on offense and they didn't foul when they were up 3. Stupid coach.

And Bibby's dumb play almost threw it away. Don't really like what he's brining to the team this series so far.