I´m devestated right now... Yeah, the Lakers would have won most likely regardless, but the guy just deserved to have a great and healthy run here ... He is like the most likeable player in the league all things considered, pure class act and terrific competitor. Means he played the 2nd half with that type of injury ...
Guys that big aren´t build to play 82 game seasons in the NBA ... :( Add to that the commitment he is making to his national team (not just the big tournaments but even asia champioships and all with long training camps) and the fact that he has to work harder than any other player to keep/get his continioning up to a level to be able to run with guys at least 5 Inches smaller and 50 sth pounds lighter.

Maybe in his later stage he can make an Ilgauskas type of career playing 30 minutes a game with lesser duties alongside a real star player. Ilgauskas is also the one guy that makes me hope year in and year out that it might work out for Yao. The guy was basically injured for years and then sth changed and he has been out there without problems ever since.
But again : Being 7´6 isn´t just a nice thing, more of a curse than people can even begin to imagine.
Get better soon Yao !

Dang- that's it for us. :(

It's been a really fun season and I can't wait to see what we do in the offseason :)

SI

Don't forget the conspiracy to extend the Mavs/Nuggets series with a bad no-call.

Oh wait...

It was nice of David Stern to give up that extra money so we could all see Mark Cuban get mad enough to push the cameraman.

Yeah, by issuing a statement about the "missed" call.

I'm hoping for statements about the two hooking fouls not called on Jason Kidd, the scrum that should have been a jump ball that resulted in two Maverick FT, the steal by Anthony Carter where he was beyond half court when they call a foul on Birdman and somehow it turns into a defensive foul sending the Mavs to the line for two FT or the fact that the Mavericks went to the line 33 times in the second half while the Nuggets went to the line 16 times despite being the far more aggressive team driving the basketball, or better yet watching Brandon Bass take 14 FTA when he'd had 6 FTA in his 114 previous minutes in this years playoffs.

If Dallas would have won the game, the Denver fans (of which I am one) would have railed at the horrific decisions in this game.

Having said all of that, I wish they would have called the damned foul. Melo hits last second jumpers on a pretty high percentage of his attempts. I'd have rather seen him hit/miss and Denver to finish off the Mavs in 5 games anyway. The better team is going to win this series regardless, it would have been nice to do it without the controversey.

Denver vs. Lakers? I don't see how the Nuggets can overcome the Lakers size. Their depth doesn't scare me. I'll take my chances with JR, Birdman,and AC off the Nuggets bench against Bynum, Walton and Vujavic.

What I don't like is the Lakers size. The Nuggets don't have a true 7 footer in their rotation. The Lakers have two. That size causes so many mismatches on the offensive end that it's a nightmare for the Nuggets to defend. I don't think the Lakers sweep through the Nuggets, but I don't think the Nuggets get 4. Lakers in 5 or 6. (God, please oh please let me be wrong)

That confused me. The statement clearly indicated that the refs missed an "intentional foul." So the NBA is saying that Denver should've gotten two shots and the ball. Is that really what the Mavs were going for? Of course not.

again, there is no such rule in the rule book. There are clear path fouls resulting in that penalty and there´s away from the ball fouls in the last 2 minutes (ala Hack a Shaq) that result in 1 FT and the ball back.
There is no special treatment for an intentional foul unless it´s ruled a flagrant foul, which that obviously wasn´t.
There is no punishment for intentionally fouling in late game situations, it is simply the common term for this kind of foul late in a game. You want to foul, thus it´s intentional.

NBA.com - RULE NO. 12-FOULS AND PENALTIES

No Yao no problem thus far.

Fun game so far

Good start by the Rockets. The Lakers were caught sleeping in that first quarter. Should be a fun game when the pace slows down in the 2nd half.

It's basketball.

Lakers will win by double digits.

'mon Rockets!

LOL at the shots of Yao and T-Mac in suits on the bench while the Rockets are destroying the Lakers. Rockets without Yao > Rockets with Yao. Artest getting to chuck up more shots is a win for everybody except the Lakers.

I know sports fans, including myself, are fickle, but you just take it to a whole new level. Whatever is happening at any given moment becomes the rule to you. If you were an NBA GM, and somebody showed you that clip of Jason McElwain (the autistic kid) hitting all those threes, you'd probably take him first overall.

The Rockets are not better without Yao.

Kiss of death for Rocket fans.

lol

I know, I was joking. Which is why I included the comment about Artest. Every time he chucks the ball up I realize that the Lakers will win this game easily.

They aren't better without Yao (McGrady is another story). But isn't there a bit of a history in the NBA where a team loses a star and they go out and win right off the bat. Kind of an FU game to the people who wrote them off. Never seems to last but they get a good win off of it. The Magic were dominate without Dwight Howard in their playoff game.

Can we get Phil Jackson equiped with a mic at halftime ? He should go ballistic on how little effort the Lakers show. wow are they flat ...

You say so many idiotic things, but this takes the cake.

That being said, this has been an inspired performance by the Rockets. Hopefully, they can finish out the game strong.

So, i got bored during halftime and cause i again got to apreciate the awesomness that is named Chuck Hayes, some little and disturbingly odd facts about him :

Did you know that he in this season in 12 MPG averaged 1,3 PPG ? Which is about 1/3 of his rebounding output ? That he shot 37% from the field and the Free Throw Line ?
That he has as many Assists as Field Goals ?
That he shot 74% from the FT Line in College ? :eek:

Seriously though : If a guy that "unproductive" gets into and stays in the league on a playoff team than that guy sure does a lot of things well that the casual fan doesn´t see. Now today some may see it. I hope.

A lot of Rockets players are ill-equiped to play in a slow pace alongside a post presence, but still this is likely a fluke game. I think the Lakers figure that out by next game. It´s a huge adjustment for them not centering their Defense around Yao, too.

Artests´s shot selection is so bad it should be used in a campaign against bad shot selection, show as a bad example in high school classes ...

Wow, WTF is going on here ? Lakers don´t know what´s hitting them ... If only they played this confident in game 3 and 4 ... Up 27 ! TWENTY SEVEN

The Lakers are ridiculous. This teams seems to have huge character issues. Sorry, but the way they lost leads against a Jazz team in a sorry state, the way they lost game 1 seemingly not even having prepared mentally and now today this ...
The Rockets just scored on a alley oop out of bounds play with 0,7 s left from behind half court. To a 6 foot PG receiving the lob ... That disgusts me.

The Lakers are pulling a 76ers in round 1. The opponent's big star is out and they lose miserably. They've decided that they have home court and that's why they've given up today.

The examples here are dated but....I give the Ewing Theory 101.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1193711

Meh, so much for in 5

too little too late here by the Lakers. But it still irritates me how extremely the Rockets play to maintain instead of just playing, everytime they are up in the 4th quarter.

there's still hope, the league will find a way to make it happen

Are you just joking, or are you and RainMaker in cahoots?

Boy, people are out on a limb when they suggest the NBA fixes game :rolleyes:

SI

No, this is what Rocket fans refer to as the "Kiss of Death" ;)



SI

The Ewing theory.

Entertaining game so far in Orlando.

Is there a superstar in the league who touches the ball less in the half court offense than Dwight Howard? It is amazing how many times he does not get a touch.

Good acting job Glen

my favorite sports moment ever.

Yao Ming might rival him. :)

Unlike Yao though, Dwight doesn't really have any post moves other than trying to use his speed and athleticism to try and get a dunk. He's far better when he catches the ball in a position to finish, or from offensive rebounds.

Gotta question Van Gundy's coaching here. Celts big men in foul trouble early, but the Magic keep playing an outside game, shooting a bunch of wild threes.

Pierce picks up his 5th foul on a mysterious call.

lol at that 5th foul on Pierce. He ran into a guy.

C's are down ANOTHER big man.

Perkins left with an injury. Without him, the Celtics are finished. Especially because that means Mikey Moore gets more playing time.

How many traveling calls is that on Davis? 4? 5?

At least. And he's missed just as many free throws. He's worthless. Here's what the Celtics need to do- Get the ball to Pierce and watch him win the game.

Nice shot by "worthless" Davis.

Down to one shot here. Who takes it?

Lewis

Turkoglu will take the shot. Hopefully Baby Davis gets the rebound this time.

Pierce will take the last shot.

Celtics turn. Pierce, Allen, or Option C?

Or they could go Option C- Big Baby Davis.

Now then, the ball will be in Pierce's hands. Force him to go left and don't double off of Allen. Make one of the other three hit a big shot

Nice game winner by Davis.

I was right! Option C!

Surely it's Ray Allen.

Worthless FTW!

lol. Damned delay.

Wow nice shot. Did he just run over a fan?

haha indeed he did.

haha, he took that kid out!

Just watched it again. Bill Russell gets up to congratulate Davis when he runs into the stands.

No excuses for the Magic if ESPN's shot chart can be believed. A total of three shots in the paint in the 4th qtr? With all the foul trouble the C's big men had?

Here's what was running through my mind in the last play..

"Geez.. Pierce is messing around.. make your move.. he's going to be doubled...shoot it... he passed TO DAVIS? NO!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!"

I was wondering what the hell Rondo was doing taking so long to get it to Pierce.

I actually thought the first option was to see if they laid off Rondo to make sure Pierce and Allen was covered, and Rondo would see if there's an easy drive to the hoop.

Dola: My brother was watching the Sox game on ESPN. He says that when Davis hit that shot, enough of the fans at Fenway started going bonkers (even without the shot being shown on the Jumbotron), that it spooked the hell out of the Rays batter at the plate.

Jas_lov FTW!

wooo!!! BIG BABY!!!!!

wow, i can't believe how close they let it get to the end before shooting. Very rarely do you see true buzzer beaters like that.

And I have a bad feeling that either the Magic or Celtics will take the Cavs in the next round. They've both been fighting it out every game this post season(boston moreso), and the Cavs haven't played a meaningful game(with any kind of adversity) in over a month.

If the Cavs didn't have LeBron, I'd agree, but I think he is going to will his team to a title this year.

I love how everyone on the Celtics bench cringed before the shot went in. :D

This is why you don't have fans on the sidelines practically on the court. I am waiting for the NBA to fine him for touching the ref right before that...

LOL.

this re,minds me of a recent Bill Simmons piece or rather mailbox, where he made a list of game winning celebration stages.


Bill Simmons: The Sports Guy answers key questions about the 2009 NBA playoffs - ESPN

at the very bottom

for Davis it would be more like :

"I am so taking all that ridicule i´ve gotten into this celebration and just ramble down the court punching and screaming at everyone until someone stops me. Yeah i´m going to look hilarious but who cares ?"

:popcorn:

Seriously though, the guy really is growing on me...

What was Howard so upset about btw ? Looked very much like a complaining gesture toward someone ?
(couldn´t see the game, had to get some good sleep time for once)

Davis is just a hard-working kid, and it's nice seeing someone who doesn't have like the prototypical nba physique or whatever have some good success.

i liked the pick of him when they made it - always thought he had the potential, but it's nice to see him developing into a solid option.

He's never going to be Garnett (either defensively or with his ability to shoot perimiter jumper's), but he's a wide-body defensively who is willing to take a charge, and if he has the space (because he doesn't elevate well) he can knock down those jump-shots on an improving basis. he'll never be a superstar/#1 option because he can't elevate to create his own jumpshot and he's too short in the post, but he's a very solid complimentary-player and his play down the stretch and in the playoffs has to have earned him a nice payday from the C's. He does the little things well, and every NBA team has room for guys that do the little things well.

I think the Celtics will be pretty good in the future with a combo of Davis and Powe at that spot.

yep! looking forward to it! team has a good young core (rondo, perk, davis, powe, potentially giddens and/or walker)

I do wonder about the market for Davis during the summer. Hopefully the Cs don't get priced out.

nooooo - lock his ass up!

I think he is going to get a very lucrative offer, it will be interesting. I don't get too much into the stories of guys from down here, but I know his mentor and have heard nothing but great things about Davis so he has become one of my favorite players.

I think he would have been a hell of a DT for LSU if he played.

I think he'll get a decent offer, not great though. The NBA economy isn't all that rosey these days. Still, it's tough to find a big body like that who can step out and hit a jumped. I'd love to have him setting picks for Derrick Rose.

MLE for 3years is probably the upper limit of what he will get. Boston can match any offer as well. It will basically come down to how much luxury tax they want to pay.

I don't know if they'll lock both Powe and Big Baby up. Both are FAs this summer, so it will be interesting. Powe's injury may scare enough teams away though, that the C's may be able to keep him cheap, and then divert more funds to keep Baby.

When I said very lucrative, that is about where I was thinking of as well. 3 years for 15-17 million which is a very nice pay day in comparision to his first deal.

Is the max an RFA can receive equal to the MLE? I've heard that they started doing that not too long ago, but I've never really seen anything else on it.

Yes, only because he falls under the Gilbert Arenas provision which applies to RFA with 2 or less years of experience.

The maximum the year one salary can be is the MLE, then I believe the year 2 salary can be as much cap room as the offering team has. The Gilbert provision was more about making sure a team could match if they had no space available(as long as they kept their MLE available).

But yeah, 3 years 15m seems like a likely point where someone will offer.

I'd probably rather pay that to Davis, then whatever god knows what Anderson Varajao's agent holds out for. Andy's like the quintessential 6m/year player, and it might get ugly like it did last time.

Magic Fan Calls Davis 'Raging Lunatic,' Demands Apology

Orlando Magic fan Ernest Provetti is demanding an apology from Boston Celtics player Glen "Big Baby" Davis after Davis' buzzer-beater shot won the game Sunday.

Provetti said Davis shoved his son Nicholas, 12, with such force after Davis made the game-winning jumper, that Nicholas' cap was tossed into the air and his son pushed into his courtside seat.

Provetti sent an e-mail to the NBA League office Monday morning, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

"The NBA makes it clear to not cross the sideline," he told the newspaper. "If I cross that line, the NBA will take away my tickets. It's a double standard."

In the e-mail, Provetti said Davis conducted himself like a "raging animal with no regard for fans' personal safety."

"How do you like to be a 12-year-old and see a raging lunatic coming at you?"

Provetti said he used to be a Celtics fan because admired coach Doc Rivers.

LOL that's absurd. Get a life dude.

Good lord, the kid wasn't thrown to the ground or anything.

"Oh no! My kid's hat got knocked off, I demand an apology." STFU idiot.

If I was that 12-year old kid I would think getting run into by an NBA player was the coolest thing EVER.

Of course, that 12-year old kid is probably rich and spoiled, and totally jaded by such things.

He doesn't want an apology, he wants a settlement.

I'm with molson

SI

They should pull the dudes tickets.

I was going to post the latest stupidity found on the interwebz but I see you've already discovered Mr. Provetti.

Good thing there wasn't a loose ball play over there I guess, he'd be looking for part ownership in the team.

I say we let him know he's an idiot.

hxxp://www.facebook.com/people/Ernest-Provetti/755143435