Maybe Cleveland should stop fouling so much.

They have no offensive scheme whatsoever.

Good win tonight. Loved Gortat's two blocks on Lebron, Howard hitting some free throws, and Alston played well.

Turkoglu was only 1-12 from the field but was 11-12 from the line and had 10 boards, 7 assists.

Nice win for Orlando but 86 free throws (51 Orl, 35 Clev) is ridiculous in a conf final game. Nearly 70 combined fouls sucks all the enjoyment out of watching the NBA. Hopefully, we get to watch a little basketball next game and not a free throw contest. Just to check, here's the PBP for a 4+ minute span in the 2nd quarter:

5:43 Anthony Johnson misses free throw 1 of 2
5:43 Anthony Johnson misses free throw 2 of 2
5:43 Mo Williams makes free throw
5:43 Mo Williams makes flagrant free throw 2 of 2
5:22 Hedo Turkoglu makes free throw 1 of 2
5:22 Hedo Turkoglu makes free throw 2 of 2
5:03 LeBron James misses layup
4:47 Courtney Lee misses 20-foot jumper
4:31 Zydrunas Ilgauskas misses free throw 1 of 2
4:31 Zydrunas Ilgauskas makes free throw 2 of 2
4:22 Hedo Turkoglu makes free throw 1 of 2
4:22 Hedo Turkoglu misses free throw 2 of 2
4:00 Zydrunas Ilgauskas misses 24-foot three point jumper
3:56 Mickael Pietrus makes driving layup
3:50 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 2
3:50 LeBron James makes free throw 2 of 2
3:32 Rashard Lewis makes free throw 1 of 2
3:32 Rashard Lewis makes free throw 2 of 2
3:00 Rashard Lewis makes slam dunk
2:19 Zydrunas Ilgauskas makes 21-foot jumper
2:02 Hedo Turkoglu misses 24-foot three point jumper
1:39 LeBron James makes free throw 1 of 2
1:39 LeBron James makes free throw 2 of 2
1:27 Hedo Turkoglu makes free throw 1 of 2
1:27 Hedo Turkoglu makes free throw 2 of 2
So, basically, in a 4-minute window - we had 18 free throws and foul shots on 9 of 16 possessions. And unless you were shooting a 20+ foot jumper, a foul happened on 9 of 12 possessions.

The NBA, it's FANNN-Tastic!

I can't remember the last time a game this deep in the playoffs was played so poorly by both teams.

As long as the Magic let lebron get his, they'll be fine

Joey Crawford FTW!

Cleveland hacked the Magic like crazy throughout the game, if they don't want to play the sport correctly then Orlando should be going to the line that often.

But yeah there were some bad calls last night. Lebron's first half goaltend that wasn't called, Howard fouling out for cleanly stuffing Lebron's three pointer, Anthony Johnson assessed a flagrant foul for trying to make a layup, etc.

SVG was great in the press conference last night. When asked if he wanted to comment on the imperceptible fouls on LeBron, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy replied tellingly, "No, but you can. You write a column. The league won't fine you $25,000. You guys see it. Write what you saw."

The cavs looked like shit again. But its physical playoff basketball. I don't think I have seen a game called that closely before ever. But anyways. I can't believe how shitty bron played and still went over 40. If they aren't gonna play wally, they should have traded him.

Wow the Nuggetskicked the Lkaers asses out there rather surprising since I was expecting them to pack it in after lossing at home the other day. If I was a Lakers fan I would find it somewhat disconcerting that the Lakers really don't look like they want to advance othe rthan Kobe. Won't be surprised if they actually lose the next one at LA since everyone including there coach will tell them it is a gimme a t home though they were out played in both the previous games.

Not really. Most Laker fans feel that if Lamar is on, they move on. The Lakers bench has been non existant thus far. Everyone talks about how they look uninspired out there, but its more about pure execution and how most of the Lakers are unable to do it. Lakers still have homecourt, but at this point, shoot for wins in games 5 and 7 and just mail it in, in game 6. Kobe and Gasol are totally gassed. Kobe had an IV drip after game 3. Of course, I can't ever see Kobe not playing his hardest

I wonder if Nike would keep running those commercials during an Orlando-Denver finals.

If Cavs don't make it, I'm hoping the Nuggets get through in the West. I think Denver-Orlando would be an enjoyable series given the playing styles.

I would not look forward to a Orlando-Denver NBA Finals, though it'll be entertaining since they're both second tier cities.

That said, if both Kobe and LeBron miss out on the playoffs this year, watch out. Those Nike commercials of them living together, might not be far off...

Ah well, shouldn´t have let the Rockets series go to 7. Seriously, i still can´t get over the fact that the Rockets won 2 games with Yao (count McGrady and you have 35 mio out) out and Artest shooting like 20% from the field ...
Not that Kobe is the one to blame here. Phil Jackson is, however, for not making sure his guys knew that it was a bad thing to loose to those Rockets. "Ah well, we still got homecourt" my ass ... He is *coaching* like he´s about to retire or sth and just doesn´t give a crap.

And it doesn´t help that your starting PG shoots 28% (10-35) . The guard rotation as a whole is atrocious. Brown 6-19, Vujacic 4-17, Walton 3-12. Farmar´s 7-16 are the best they got.
That is a combined 30-99 = 30%

btw : What´s up with Melo exactly ? Ankle, flu or both ?

Mo Williams just guaranteed a Finals berth.

:D

YouTube - Guaransheed - Rasheed Wallace

Dante Jones was assessed a flagrant foul after his trip on Kobe Bryant wasn't called last night. It's his third of the playoffs so he will miss game five.

Kevin Garnett had surgery and should be good for the start of next season.

One more flagrant and he gets suspended

Ah, I must have heard it wrong on the radio.

Anthony Johnson had his flagrant foul rescinded.

The rules if you exceed 3 flagrant fouls so there seems to have been confusion

Personally that was as much a flagrant foul as Bynum's push in the back on Melo that was a no call and sent him to the floor.

I couldn't believe they almost tossed Johnson for that

I know I know. I am old and only remembering the good of the "good ole days" but is there more begging or desperation for players to be suspended today? IMO this seems just a small step down for wishing player X tears up a knee or something so the team you support has an advantage.

I thought Dwight Howard could not and should not get the ball in the post because he had no post game. He seems to have learned something as did his teammates. Real nice work by Howard down low.

Great assist there by James, even I had to smile after that one.

Big Z has absolutely no strength to post up Dwight Howard. There is no reason whatsoever from Orlando to even fake a double team.

I really think Szczerbiak shoulda been playin earlier in this series.

It seems like the Cavs always have 2 or 3 players on the court who are afraid to take shots all the time.

Big Z has a strong jaw.

SKIP TO MY LOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!

Weak

Hrm.

It was pretty borderline - but the way this game was headed, I can understand why they called it.

This is quickly approaching Kings - Lakers or Mavs - Heat in terms of postseason referring atrocities. wtf did Howard even do there?

He basically did a huge fist pump and "ARRRRR!!!!" in the face of Varajev (sp?).

I mean, it was certainly a slight taunting. Warranted a T? Idano - but again, based on the emotion that was quickly coming into the game I can understand why they called it.

I guess nobody should be happy when they make a nice play. He was fired up. Maybe in 50 years we can have an all-robot league to get rid of such disgusting displays of emotion.

The good Christian boy needs to keep his mouth shut.

If he would have waited until he turned around, it would have been fine. But he did it right in the face of Varajev after several emotional, pushy moments in the preceding minute or so.

How was the game headed? Were we headed for another brawl?


Not directed at you personally but I am pretty sure that is exactly what the refs were thinking at that point. They somehow have to prevent {insert the worst possible situation here}

I believe that the refs should soften their stance on celebrating/taunting in the playoffs. I mean you're in the Eastern Conference Finals, all this emotion and intensity, and you can't even fist pump. Just like the NFL and their ridiculous rules on celebrating.

Howard did nothing. It was the same as J.R. Smith getting a T for doing nothing after hitting a big 3 in the Denver-Lakers series. Players should be allowed to get fired up and taunt, it's good entertainment.

Yup. That's exactly one of the main jobs of the refs out there.

You somehow disagree?

Another infamous Howard elbow caught Z in the face, he was pissed, ready to retaliate. Varajev got away with a charge on the other end, Orlando gets pissed and starts getting pushy. Then Howard comes back, Varajev hangs on him like a 3 year old that doesn't want to let go of daddy, but Howard finishes.

Howard turns around and screams in Varajev's face.

It's not hard to see where this can easily go next.

Again, this is the refs jobs. You can not like it all you want, but if you want, "no blood, no foul" go to the playground.

Keep in mind - I don't 100% agree with the penalty. But you're just lying to yourself if you can't understand the reasoning behind it.

QFT.

Whether it should be called or not, it is being called and Howard is a moron for not figuring it out 5 technical fouls ago and shutting the fuck up. He's hurting his team.

JR definitely deserved a T for that. Big shot, but even without hearing what was said, you could tell from his facial expression that it wasn't exactly "Mr. Vujacic, I'm afraid you are simply not capable of defending me, sir".

Nobody was going to brawl. If a player is stupid enough to throw a punch in the ECF and get himself suspended for the rest of the series or playoffs, so be it. The refs are too quick to call technical fouls and it needs to stop. Howard should not have gotten a T there.

And then there's this.

Haha, seriously. That was one of the most serious taunts I've seen. Especially when he so clearly articulated the MFer part.

Cavs need to get the fuck going right about now.