2007-08 NBA Playoffs thread
 

Games start tomorrow, can't wait.

I thought this was funny.

Predictions for First Round
 

Eastern Conference

Celtics vs Hawks=Celtics in 4
Pistons vs Sixers=Pistons in 5
Magic vs Raptors=Magic in 6
Wizards vs Cavs= Wizards in 6


Lakers vs Nuggets=Lakers in 5
Mavs vs Hornets=Mavs in 7
Suns vs Spurs=Suns in 6
Rockets vs Jazz=Jazz in 5

C'mon Orlando! Hopefully they win their first-round series before bowing out to the Pistons in five or six.

This is the most interested I've been in the playoffs since around 1992. Most of that is the Celtics winning 66 games, but even beyond that, the whole league has just clicked for me this year.

Same here. I always get interested in the later rounds, but this is the earliest I've been interested in the playoffs. Plenty of interesting matchups and storylines this 1st round. This Cavs/Wizards game has been fairly entertaining. Looking forward to seeing LeBron step it up in the 4th.

I want to see him pick up his second T. :)

Nice that the Wizards are getting to see how overrated LeBron is. ;)

Stick a fork in them, they're done.

Too bad, the Wiz could have won this game. But hibachi didn't show up in the clutch.

Lol. And James misses two clutch free throws that would have sealed the win.

5 points, 20 seconds. Been done before. Let's see what happens.

edit:

D.West finishes this one off with two free throws.

Pretty move by Parker but four fouls or not, Shaq has to make him shoot free throws on that one.

Even if Shaq is on another team than the Heat, I still hate the Hack a Shaq strategy.

I love the Hack a Shaq strategy. Force them to take him out. It looks like it's working.

That was an awesome block by Shaq just stuffing the ball back in Ginobli's weaselface.

These first two games have been everything I was hoping for today. I'm not as enthusiastic about tonight's games, but looking forward to seeing if Phoenix can pull it out in this OT.

No Stoudemire, Shaq has 5 fouls, and Tim Duncan is making 3 pointers. I don't think the Suns will pull this one out.

Holy lord was that an entertaining game. Tim Duncan for three? Nash with the running sideways fade? Wow. And that was game 1.

I am very impressed by the Hornets performance tonight. Chris Paul seemed to turn his game up even more.

Funny, I always heard that Spurs games were boring.

Agreed, one of the best games I've seen Chris Paul play this year. Excellent job for a young guy to step up in the playoffs.

As much as this loss stings as a Suns fan, you have to tip your hat to SA for their ability to hit clutch shots. Should be a great series.

What's the over/under on the number of players getting into a fight and ejected in the Rockets/Jazz game?

The officiating is just horrid. They need to get control of this game.

funny moment: Bobby Jackson turns the ball over, and Rafer Alston makes a "ball" motion from the bench. :D

Tonight was the first time I've watched an entire basketball game- simply not a fan, but wanted to watch the Hornets play, I had seen the last few minutes of a few games, watched the 2nd half of the game against the Lakers last weekend, and was very impressed / entertained- so tonight, we got some boiled crawfish and watched the entire game- for all of us there it was the first time watching an entire game and we all thought it was a great game- and a great performance by Chris Paul- he is good.

Only one thing could make the Spurs-Suns series any better: bar Shaq from speaking in public.

I hope the Mavs lose in the first round again. I'm tired of Dirk flopping around like a little girl all the time.

Agreed, I hate Dirk NoWINski. Can't wait to hear the local sports talk homers find some way to spin this on Monday.

I also think it'll be funny when T "I've never seen the 2nd round" Mac and the Rockets get bounced in the first round.

Hippy...

I found it amazing that noone pointed out how many bricks Bobby Jackson shot. He just kept throwing them up.

His turnovers were worse - that one right at the end of the second half where he bobbled it when he had a wide open layup to end the half.

As great as the Spurs/Suns game was, I'm stunned at how few of people are talking about the reasons the Suns lost this basketball game. I mean the real reasons.

Let's look them over:

1) Pop simply outcoached D'antoni. I mean crushed him. It was the biggest mismatch on the floor. The three Finley hits to send the game into OT was made mainly because Grant Hill wasn't in the game defending. Instead you had a small PG who had no prayer of getting a hand in his face. It was horrible strategy. The Hack a Skinner and Hack a Shaq moves that each were a turning point. And of course, the TD three. More about that in my next man to blame slot. . .

2) Shaq. The media sure loves to fawn over him, don't they? OOOHHHH, look at that block on Timmy D. That was clutch. And Shaq sure loves to use excuses. The floppers won, huh Shaq? Well, yeah, SA flops. But as long as you have Amare, I really don't want to hear a lot about flopping, ok Big Diesal?

Yet lets look at the reality of this game now. The highest paid player on the court had to be taken out of the game for four minutes of the fourth quarter because he couldn't hit a FT. When he got his 5th foul, Manu attacked him and scored repeated layups because Shaq didn't want to get a 6th. This is even counting late in the first OT when the Suns had a good sized lead. They couldn't get the critical stop because Shaq didn't want to get a 6th foul.

This is no more evident than on the three pointer by Tim Duncan. There is one thing the Suns couldn't afford to give up there. A wide open three pointer. To anyone. That's the only thing that can hurt you. The first mistake the Suns make there is not fouling when Manu starts dribbling. That's one of the single worst coaching moves we'll see this postseason. Words can't even describe how idiotic that was. This was compounded by Shaq staying in the lane to prevent a Ginobili drive on a two point shot with under 5 seconds left. Instead of saying "gee Manu, take the two, we've won the game, Shaq decides to D up on him instead of running out to put a hand in TD's face. I don't care how you slice this, it was lazy and stupid basketball. (I'm a Nuggets fan, I know stupid and lazy basketball when I see it) And it's made by your highest paid player, the one you traded for to win a title.

Getting back to the coaching, why was Shaq even in there? What good was he going to do for the Suns at that point? Stop a two point shot you wanted the Spurs to take? Maybe get the rebound so he can get fouled, miss two shots and give the Spurs a second chance to win the game? The guy had 5 boards in 30 minutes anyway.

The Suns have a chance to win the series and recover from this. But they'd better damned well have their coach get his head out of his ass and their 20 million dollar player to stop bitching about the flops and instead maybe run out at a three point shooter who is in the process of tying up the basketball game.

Agree completed on the Grant Hill point. Having Barbosa (6-2) guard Finley (6-7) on a final shot was stupid. Amare also killed the Suns by sagging on Oberto instead of doubling Finley on the screen.

Shaq only played 4 minutes in the first and got his 4th 25 seconds into the 3rd. And, given 2 of those 4 fouls were obvious flop, it's not surprising he made some comments. I suppose if Duncan played 4 minutes in the first half because of flops he wouldn't have made any comments?

As to the 3, you tip your hat. The Suns should have fouled Manu when he drove inside the lane. But, Duncan would probably have been the preferred person to shoot the 3 when compared to Finley, Manu, Barry and others. If Duncan bricks that shot, everyone is talking about how Pop blew it on the final possession.

Did you see Shaq's two blocks on Duncan and 2 rebounds in key spots? Heck, if Amare stops and shoots the jumper from 7 feet instead of barreling over Kurt Thomas, Shaq is the hero.

Yeah, that was the big mistake.

The Duncan shot was a rotation issue where Bell was late. Shaq hedged on the screen to double Manu - remember when the screen was set, Manu was in 3-point land. Are saying Shaq should have left Manu open and ran back to Duncan to protect Duncan's 3?

Shaq rode him out to the center and forced Manu towards the hoop. That's where Nash or Amare should have fouled him. Then, Shaq was a good 20 feet from Duncan going the other direction. Bell should have closed on the 3, but that would have left his man open. Given the foul was not taken on Manu, there was no way for any of the other people to get to Shaq without leaving a better 3-point shooter open. Shaq was too far away (going the other direction) forcing Manu off the line to get there.


I agree that Shaq should have been on the bench for a better defender. I'm not sure they had a chance to sub, but if they did, he should have been out.

Mike D made some mistakes, but blaming Shaq is silly. If you would have told me that the Suns would win game 1 in SA if Duncan misses a 3-point shot with 3 seconds left, I would have gladly taken it. The Spurs hit two tough 3s to win the game, that's life. I agree with the fouling and subbing for Hill, but there's a very good chance one of those two doesn't go in and the Suns are heros. Also, the comments on flopping are just frustration. You give Duncan or Manu the foul situation Shaq had (with atleast 2 flops) and compound it with a tough loss and you would see all kinds of complaining on their end too. Honestly, I wouldn't pay it much attention.

We'll see what happens in game 2, but the Suns have to feel pretty good about themselves. I doubt Shaq plays 4 minutes in the first half of game 2 and Nash plays less than a day after being bed-ridden with the flu. In the end, the Suns are in a solid position - they know they can win in SA, they just have to have better offensive possessions in crunch time.

Can you really complain about Shaq not being able to hit a free throw at this point in his career? He has not been able to do so for 15+ years. I would think the Suns would have already taken that into consideration and planned accordingly. As far as TD's three pointer, yes the smart play would have been for them to stay at home and give up the two. Actually you are right. The smartest play would have been to foul. However if you had told D'Antoni that on that play he would have had Duncan shooting a three at the buzzer, he would have taken his chances. I can't really beat him or the team up over that one. My main criticism of Shaq and the rest of the Suns would be passiveness at the end of the game defensively. According to the Suns, Shaq was brought in for rebounding and low post defense. At some point during the 4th qtr and the overtimes, Shaq has to throw caution to the wind and actually play the aggressive defense in the paint they expect him to play. If he fouls out, he fouls out. However, at the very least you ask the Spurs to hit at least one pressure free throw as opposed to layup after layup after layup. Shaq playing passively is the equal of him fouling out. He does the Suns no good that way. Now, if you make the decision that Shaq is too valuable to your team to foul out as it seems D'Antoni did, then someone else has to step up and play that aggressive D. A quick look at the play by play shows that other that the two free throws that were intentionally given to Brent Barry at the end of the second OT, the Spurs last shot free throws with about six minutes left in the 4th qtr. There is something wrong with that picture when Manu is driving at will and Tim Duncan is taking it to the basket from the post.I am not saying they should have been like the 90's Pistons but you can not allow a team to know they can drive to your basket unchallenged.

4th quarter:
1:15 Ginobili Layup Shot: Missed Block: O'Neal (3 BLK)

OT:
1:57 Duncan Jump Shot: Missed Block: O'Neal (4 BLK)

0:29 Duncan Turnover:Lost Ball (4 TO) Strip: O'Neal

I would say three key defensive plays in the last 2 minutes of the 4th and OT is making a pretty big impact on defense. Shaq blocked Duncan and stripped him in the final 2 minutes. After the second one, Phoenix had the ball and a 3-point lead with 30 seconds left. Amare got the stupid charge foul with 12 seconds left. If he just grabs the ball at the top of the key, wait 3 seconds and shoots - the Suns probably win. O'Neal wasn't the reason they lost, two bonehead plays by Amare (charge and fail to double Finley on the first 3), poor matchups by Mike D and Nash's inability to foul Manu were the 3 reasons. But, again, none of that matters unless a career 19% 3-point shooter (16% postseason) who was 0-4 in the entire 07-08 season hits a 3 with 3 seconds left. Coaching is mostly setting up your players to have the best chance to win and I can't really think of a higher % chance that Duncan from 3 for the Suns to get a win. It didn't happen, like Amare said "Happy Birthday Mr. Duncan."

Not so, see the series two years ago against Dallas. Other than a couple comments by Duncan milder than what Shaq said(something like there were an awful lot of whistles) in the middle of the series, there was pretty much no post-game complaining and most of them went out of their way to say that wasn't an issue. Shaq is simply doing here what he's always done: demonize and disrespect the opponent. He's done it his whole career, going back to his first Finals in Orlando when he went up against Hakeem. He's bashed Olajuwon, Mutombo, Wallace, the list goes on and on, accusing them all of being floppers. It's vintage Shaq, and the main reason why I personally dislike him as a player -- I wish he'd just be willing to respect his opponents win or lose like most guys do.

As far as the series goes, the Suns still have a great chance to win IF they can come back mentally from this. As it was last year, the only thing stopping them from beating the Spurs is whether or not they really believe they can do it and having the mental toughness to execute in key moments. They've had a more talented team than SA for quite some time now.

So are people finally seeing what a crappy, petulant person Shaq is after 15 years? Honestly, it's amazing the ridiculous love this guy gets with all the shit he pulls.

Really? I am all for sportmanship but he doesn't have to show them any respect. If anything they should be doing their best to make him show it.

You know that quote... "Respect isn't given it is earned" learned that playing youth football.

Spurs win Game 1. Respect earned.

Shaq should have learned this playing youth basketball.

Eh. Not really.

Barbosa has the wingspan of a 7 footer, fwiw.

Your ass got beat, and you don't give respect? Sorry, but that's BS. Anyone who gets beat putting out their best when the stakes are highest and doesn't give respect to the ones who showed up and beat them doesn't deserve to offer their opinion about what constitutes deserving respect.

I dunno, it's pretty hard to be more successful than the Duncan-era Spurs have been. By this logic you would have to say nobody in the modern era other than MJ deserves Shaq's respect, which is ridiculous I think. I mean seriously, what franchise deserves his respect if SA doesn't?

None of this changes how outstanding Shaq's career has been. But the man even admitted he was a hypocrite when he came to Miami and did a 180 on his opinion of Zo, and he explained why, which is exactly what I said: he demonizes and disrespects the opponent, the only way he can get fired up to play. I'm just saying it's too bad he has to be that juvenile about it, since the rest of the top players in the league(not just Duncan) aren't for the most part. For all the hate towards him, listen to the respect Kobe had for Phoenix after they beat the Lakers in the first round two years ago. In this aspect he's light years ahead of Shaq, and pretty much always has been.

In a twisted sort of way, when Shaq says these types of things it's actually his way of showing respect, as he doesn't say this crap about just any team. It's always when the stakes are highest.

Did anyone listen to Shaq the other day when he was praising Tim Duncan and talking about how he is one of the best players in the game? It didn't sound like he was demonizing or disrespecting Duncan.

He called Hakeem the greatest center ever before his first Finals too -- and then didn't have another decent thing to say about him once the series started, it was all flopper and coward and the like. All par for the course really.

(a) I don't remember that at all. In fact, he still calls Hakeem one of the greatest players ever...he said it again last week, I believe.

(b) How the hell could he try and talk smack about Hakeem when The Dream outplayed his ass in that series?

Yeah, I don't remember him saying one bad word about Hakeem that entire series. Of course, my memory could be faulty since it was 13 plus years ago.

How about that Gasol? 36 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists.

It's Shaq and everything he says has a reason. Him praising Hakeem has more to do with being a shot at Robinson more then it did as praise for Hakeem

If he plays like that, the Lakers walk into the NBA Finals

Most impressive performance of the day, so far.

I'm pleasantly surprised that the Sixers are hanging with the Pistons.. here's hoping they can steal this game.

Terrible miss by Iggy, but after his performance in the 2nd half, it's forgivable as long as the Sixers still win ;)

Not getting the live feed over here, but go Sixers! What a year for the Sixers and Andre Miller.

Assuming you don't mind spoilers since you are reading this thread, it is now 88-86 with 11 seconds left. Sixers are leading! :)

Rasheed missed a wide open layup! Iggy gets the board and is fouled!

This time he hits both FT's to give them a 4 point lead. :)


Edit: Sixers win 90-86. :) Piston's fans (some anyway) booing their home team.

Wow. Sixers continue to overachieve. I have a soft spot for the Sixers because I cheer for any team that Andre Miller plays for. A class player.

Celtics up 9-2 early. Hawks look tight and Pierce is shooting the lights out

I think the Celtics are going to blow out the Hawks every single game of this series.

I'd have booed them too, had I been there. Sheed goes for 24/9/7 and it should be an automatic win. Great job by the Sixers, and the Pistons need to start making free throws and layups and generally pulling their head out of their behinds about how good they think they are(boxing out might help too).

Are you talking about the team or the player? Because I don't respect the bench player who doesn't do anything but the team will get respect and Phoenix didn't get their ass beat more like they blew it.

I was talking about individuals not the team.

Granted Shaq made the comment about flopping, but he also said:

"We had a lot of opportunities to win,'' O'Neal said. "You can't make mistakes against a team like that especially here in this building.''

Seems like he's giving SA some respect there. I don't remember Duncan going out and saying "Man, that Dirk is the best player on the floor and we should be honored to be playing with him" after a loss to Dallas in the playoffs. In fact, I remember this comment after the early playoff loss to Dallas in 2006:

"One play either way, one call either way, whatever it may be, it came down to that," said Duncan, who was visibly upset and hardly spoke to reporters after the game.

Yeah, blaming the refs when you get beat shows great respect. Let's also remember that Duncan has never committed a foul in his own mind in his NBA career:

It's ridiculous to claim that in that quote Duncan was blaming the refs for the loss. He's simply saying how close the game was. A whole lot different from what Shaq has consistently said throughout his career("The Spurs are a great WNBA team" ring any bells?).

Edit: Want an example of a player blaming the refs? Try on this:

"I thought the referees did an awful job tonight. I felt like they cheated tonight. And you can quote me on that. And if David Stern and them want to fine me, try to control people with money, they can take double and take triple, but you can’t control me with no money. I’ve been taking this same abuse for seven years. So **** them, I don’t care. Fine me. Period. That’s all I’ve got to say"

Shaq is a very good quote, and nothing he says, or has said, would surprise me.

The point is rarely does a team that loses a hardfought playoff game give a ton of credit to their opponents. They often focus on their own mistakes, while conceding the opponents were tough. That's what Shaq did after the game. Now, was he frustrated about the flops? Sure, and his comments on that lacked a little class. Still, it's not like every other good player gushes about their opponent after a loss and Shaq doesn't. He's probably closer to Sheed than KG on a "class" level, but it's not a big issue to fans not from LA or for the opponent he's playing - and it's not unlike most stars in the game today.

This is not the type of chatter I expected going into what is supposed to be a great NBA Playoffs with tons of talent and evenly matched teams. Interesting.

Gasol was nuts today, very entertaining.

This I agree and don't have a problem with.


I don't think most stars are like Shaq and it bothers at least me more than you state -- to take different team's examples, when he talked about Mutombo when they played in the finals, or referred to Sacramento as the Queens, etc. it annoyed me just as much.

But enough of that :).

Go out on a limb much? ;)

Yeah, you have a point. Still, with Nash, Hill, Diaw, Barbosa and others - the Suns had enough "good statesmen". Shaq was brought to Phoenix to give them a bit of an attitude (not unlike Sheed in Det or Kobe on the Lakers). So, he's kind of doing what he was brought here to do, but I can see how it would grate some people.

That Lakers game was insane. It wasn't just Gasol. Odom, Radmanovic, Vujacic, Farmar... they exploited mismatches everywhere, Anthony Carter suffering the most beating. The Nuggets post defense was porous, at best. The only good thing the Nuggets did defensively was put KMart on Kobe, but even then, the match-ups favored LA, and Kobe eventually got his points via the free throw line.

Karl needs to play Kleiza more, and Anthony has to play defense if the Nuggets are going to get back in this series.

A Utah-Lakers semis would be very interesting. AK47 (and Harpring, to an extent) did a hell of a job on McGrady in the 4th Q of game 1 (he'll have that assignment all day for the rest of this series if the Jazz are smart) by completely stopping his penetration - TMac just couldn't get around him. Be very interested to see if he could do that Kobe. Looks like his motivation is through the roof right now.

Would be an interesting battle between the bigs too, especially if Bynum is back at even 75%. Jazz are a dangerous squad IMO - a real wildcard. There isn't a team in the league they couldn't beat in a 7 game series if the shots fall their way.

I just realized while watching the Lakers that they may be the whitest team in the playoffs. They have 5 white guys in their rotation.

The Lakers have Vujacic, Radmanovic, Farmar, Walton, and Gasol.

The Jazz have four right now, Kirilenko, Harpring, Korver, and Okur.

Meh...not sure how much that applies. Farmar is actually at least half black, maybe more. I forget the breakdown. And three of the others are European. There's a difference between European white and American white. ;)

So the Jazz "win" 2-1, with Harpring and Korver.

Lol. I hope Mihm gets tossed back into the rotation, to make the tie.

How about that old Jazz team with Hornacek, Stockton, Keefe, Foster, and Ostertag? :)

Farmar's mother is Jewish :)

Lakers do have a fair collection of Euro's though. Turiaf is from France. Vujacic is from Slovenia. Gasol is from Spain. Radmanovic is Serbian. Mbenga is from the Congo. (Not Europe but still foreign)

Yup, and his biological father is black. So he's quite the eclectic combo. ;)

I wouldn't be surprised to see Denver get sweeped. They play like a high school team in some respects because it is basically a two-man game between Melo and Iverson. All that talent being underutilized...

In my opinion they need to start Smith and have Iverson play PG.

I find it a little amusing about Shaq bitching about people flopping when the NBA refs allowed him to run over people for the better part of his career and look the other way.

1) When Shaq doubled on Manu and Manu went inside the three point line, Shaq needs to go off of him and take the open shooter. He wasn't 20 feet from TD when Manu started his drive, he was about five feet. He chose to go the other ten feet into the lane to guard a 2 point shot that he didn't need to defend. That's lazy, stupid basketball.

2) Yo show how Shaq made a handfull of blocks in the final minutes of the fourth. What you don't show is all of the Manu and TP drives for layups where Shaq backed off because he was scared of picking up his sixth foul. Those layups cost the Suns the game as much as anything. If Shaq wasn't willing/able to defend, he shouldn't have been on the floor.

3) Gasol had a great performence, but let's not get carried away. The one Nugget who could truly defend Gasol wasn't on him. The oft bashed Kenyon Martin was busy frustrating Kobe Bryant for most of the night instead of on Gasol. Camby is a horrific man to man defender. (he's one of the single best weakside, help defenders in basketball, but he can't guard his man straight up worth a crap) Nobody else on the Nuggets has the size or speed to defend Gasol. (OK, Nene does, but he's injured as usual)

I'm not saying Gasol didn't play well. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve praise. Nor am I saying the Lakers can't win the title (I think they are the favorites at this point in the west) I'm just saying let's not give the guy a medal for trashing an interior defense that's not exactly dominating to begin with.

If George Karl doesn't get his head out of his ass, this is a four game sweep for LA. Anthony Carter needs to be on the bench. JR Smith needs to play a hell of a lot more than 23 minutes. They need to play more zone and they need to hit their damned FT. (lost in the 14 point Lakers win was 14 missed Nuggest FT, if they hit even 8 to 10 of those, it would have been a game late.

GK loves Anthony Carter though. Putting him and AI together on the floor so the Nuggets have massive mismatches at both ends of the floor really excites him for some reason. . .

If you want a goat in game 1, Amare's a much better choice than Shaq. Amare got the idiotic charge on Kurt and decided to stay on Oberto on the block instead of pop out on Finley on the screen for the first 3. As to Shaq, if he doesn't ride Manu past the 3-point line, Manu stops, dribbles back and pops a 3 at the top of the key. So, what are better odds? Manu at the top of the key or Duncan from 3?

Duncan's 3 was just a tough possession for Phoenix. If Shaq or Nash foul Manu as he went past the free throw line, he throws it up and maybe gets a 3 point play. If Bell runs out to cover Duncan right when he gets it, Udoka is wide open in the corner. The Suns did a decent job of making a tough shot beat them (Duncan from 3) - I can live with that more than Amare dropping to cover Oberto on the screen while Barbosa fights to cover Finley. Even if Oberto got the pass - it would still have been a 12-foot baseline shot down 3. Amare just goes brain dead at times and that may be the reason the Suns never win a championship.

I saw this mentioned on espn.com, a Bob Ryan column about the Hawks Eastern Conference semi-final loss to the Celtics 20 years ago.

Here's just a snip from it, helpful for those who don't remember it.

Be assured that pro basketball doesn't get any better than it was on that glorious Sunday afternoon. Here was a 118-116 Game 7 in which the Celtics and Hawks combined for 59 percent shooting while turning the ball over a scant 15 times. The Celtics were able to overcome 47 points by Dominique Wilkins because Larry Bird scored 20 of his 34 points on 9-for-10 fourth-quarter shooting. Their little Gunfight at OK Corral duel in the fourth quarter, when Larry had 20 and 'Nique had 15 and in which they had one stretch of three consecutive possessions when each scored, never has been surpassed.

What people in Boston don't realize is just how utterly devastating that loss was to the Hawks. A victory that day would have put them in the Eastern Conference finals for the only time since the team relocated from St. Louis in 1968. It would have validated professional basketball in Atlanta in a way that, curiously, still never has happened.

Darned good piece about something that I believe played a big role in the mess that the Hawks subsequently turned into.

Wiztards are getting LeBrwn'd again. Maybe having Soulja Boy courtside will make Deshawn Stevensuck play better in game 3.

Things can't be good when Stevenson is among your leading scorers with 12 points.

The Rockets are looking aggressive on offense so far. When they settle for jumpers is when they get in trouble...

The Nuggets have to be one of the most frustrating teams to watch. I just do not understand how they can play as poorly as they do. Their talent is above and beyond many of the teams in the league, but for whatever reason, they simply do not play as a team on either end. The offense is one pass, dribble around and launch a jumpshot. Their defense is porous unaccountability defined. If they would execute the way the Spurs and Jazz do, they could be scary good, but why they can't is a mystery to me.

Fucking missed layups. Fucking Okur...

fucking missed free throws

Fucking Flopilenko

No shit

A couple points here. One, talent alone only means so much. The question is complementary talents. On offense, the one commodity you need the most with scorers like AI and Melo is guys who can shoot. The Nuggets have few, and none of them particularly reliable. Plus AI has always been a player that has to dominate the ball to be effective, which makes it impossible for them to executive above a certain level as a team. Offense is actually their biggest problem.

Defensively, they are a lot better than they are given credit for. Denver is NOT a bad defensive team. Read that as many times as you have to until you accept it. They tied for ninth in the league in defensive efficiency this year, in a group of teams tightly bunched from 5th on down(behind Boston, Houston, SA, and Detroit, the elite defensive teams) that includes LA, NO, Orlando, Dallas, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the Nuggets. Not a whole lot of difference in how those teams performed defensively this year. It's their inability to get good shots, particularly when one of the two stars is out of the game/having a bad night that kills them.

Actually, Denver is only a good defensive team when the opposing team decides to run at the same pace that they do. They are better at creating turnovers and mistakes at that pace.

In a seven game series, I doubt the opposing team is going to fall for that quite often.

Tony Brothers is the worst ref in the league. He's continually snowed by floppers (he called two fantom flops against Shaq on Sunday). It would be one thing if he was on the take like Donaghy, but he is just terrible on his own. That call on Houston might have been the worst I have seen in years (even worse than the Donaghy call from midcourt on the Ginobili layup last postseason). How do you take the ball from the players in the final minute for a play (even if it was a foul, which it wasn't) nowhere near what was going on in the game?

Sadly this game was classic Pistons. I hoped that with last year's loss to Cleveland that this year they would actually take the games seriously but there's no change. They go out there acting like there's no chance in hell they could lose the game and then they're surprised that they do. It's just a total lack of concentration and focus. How does the 2nd best free throw shooter in the league miss THREE free throws down the stretch?

Maybe its because they've become a fixture in the Eastern Conf Finals but they're out of excuses in my mind. They're not tired (Flip did a great job managing minutes), they're in the "underdog" role again since Boston is the one seed and Flip is not the problem - Flip's not drawing up missed layups or wide open shots in the huddle.

I really like this team - they've been so successful and have given us so much to cheer about in Detroit but it's really to the point where the fans aren't satisfied with another trip to the ECF - we want another title and we expect the players to act like they want it too and they just don't look like they do. They'll win this series but I could see them losing to Orlando and as much as I hate to say it I would not have much hope of them beating Boston. They're capable of beating any team in the league but if trying to flip the switch didn't work against a pretty average Cleveland team last year it's not going to work against a better Orlando team and a far better Boston team this year either.

Avery Johnson, you are now officially on the coaching hot seat.

I gave these Hornets no chance. Very impressed with how they've played.

The Suns are just no match for the defending NBA Champions. Who said the Spurs were washed up? I can't wait to see Spurs-Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

I never thought Popovich would actually resort to Hack-a-Shaq. Blah. The Suns look tired and dejected. They just collapsed in the 3rd quarter and never recovered.

Spoke too soon. :) Here we go.