Yay, It's the 2010 NBA Playoffs thread!

[DaddyTorgo]

Interesting stat:

LeBron James might have picked up the MVP trophy on Monday, but Rajon Rondo tied the Celtics' playoff record with 19 assists and created more points for the Celtics than Mo Williams and King James combined.

	Rondo	LeBron /Mo
FG	5-10	8-24
Points	13	28
Pts from Assists	46	25
Points Created	59	53

[MikeVic]

I don't know why, but something about Rondo just doesn't sit right with me. Like he's not good as his stats say, I don't know what it is.

edit: Or maybe it's... how is he getting those stats? Something just doesn't add up for some reason.

[RainMaker]

Rondo is the best player on the team. He's been the best player in the series. Don't tell that to ESPN though, they had the "Big 3" on the homepage yesterday after the win talking about how experience won them the game.

[whomario]

Rondo is basically the best Guard without a Jumpshot in the league. Now, if you view that as glas-half-full or glas-half-empty is another thing

He´s actually both better and worse than his stats at times. F.e. he does a ton of things right that don´t show up on the stat sheet and the stats he does put up are very meaningfull in the way that he´s doing it within the offense and rarely forces things.

On the other hand he has a tendency to get stale later in games when defenses key on him and adjust how they play him. Early in games when they give him space he still drives to the basket, but later in games when he gets space and the rotation come much faster from the other defenders he has a tendency to get passive, give up the ball prematurely and in general doesn´t pose much of a threat.

And he´s obviously way more important to Boston than he gets credit for, but i really don´t see how you could build a great team with him as your best player. His current role is just about right for his abilities and i really doubt he´s ever going to be a much improved shooter really, actually regressed from last season.

sure as hell does the best Hakeem impersonation in the leage as well, kobe be damned ...

[RainMaker]

He's a facilitator so he will always need a good supporting cast around him to get the best of his abilities. He's sort of a perfect fit for this team when they let him control the game. Boston goes away from him too much like they did in the 4th quarter last night.

I would love to see him on a team like Atlanta where he has the ball in his hands on every possesion. I also would have made a huge push for him if I was the Clippers last year when Boston was trying to dump him.

[Big Fo]

This isn't a bad way to set the tone for the series.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nice to see the Hawks competing so well on the road. Yikes.

[whomario]

Jazz keeping it close again but also have defensive lapses late like in game 1.

Kobe was pretty good, Gasol/Bynum/Odom as well.

For the Jazz Williams had a bad game scoring the ball, Boozer the same, got blocked repeatedly underneath. Miles with another good agressive game, Matthews solid again and Millsap with a great output.


Kirilenko will likely return for game 3.




be afraid Lakers

[Big Fo]

All-NBA teams were announced today:

1st team: Howard, James, Durant, Bryant, Wade
2nd team: Stoudemire, Anthony, Nowitzki, Nash, Williams
3rd team: Bogut, Gasol, Duncan, Johnson, Roy

Howard and James were unanimous selections.

edit: Howard is actually getting some questionable calls in his favor tonight.

[k0ruptr]

I always wished the NBA would stick with 5 positions (C, PF, SF, SG, PG) instead of 3 (G,F,C) when they do all NBA teams.

1st team has no Power Forward (or center, depending on how you view Howard) or PG

2nd team has 2 PGs

3rd team also has no PGs

I know its dumb, but it always bothered me a little. guess it doesn't matter that much.

[Big Fo]

Yeah, it is a bit uneven. Bogut, Duncan, and Gasol is a huge frontline as well.

18 first quarter points for Howard tonight.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Yeah, it is a bit uneven. Bogut, Duncan, and Gasol is a huge frontline as well.

I love drafting teams like that in NBA2k10. Frontlines with 3 7-footers. Play someone like Dirk at SF, get a Troy Murphy or something to be your PF and then a giant center. "Towers of Power" I always call it.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

I always wished the NBA would stick with 5 positions (C, PF, SF, SG, PG) instead of 3 (G,F,C) when they do all NBA teams.

1st team has no Power Forward (or center, depending on how you view Howard) or PG

2nd team has 2 PGs

3rd team also has no PGs

I know its dumb, but it always bothered me a little. guess it doesn't matter that much.

Apparently Kobe wasn't a unanimous selection, yet the second team doesn't even have SG on the roster.

Awesome!

[larrymcg421]

Um, so I'm at work. Is that score (and LeBron's total) real?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Um, so I'm at work. Is that score (and LeBron's total) real?

You mean LeBron 21- Celtics 17 at the end of Q1?
(and the rest of the Cavs 15)

That's the front page story on espn.com right now so I imagine it's true

[Arles]

The Suns and the Spurs switched jerseys this series. I was watching some left-handed guy score 20+ in the fourth driving to the rim and hitting 3s - could have sworn it was Ginobli.

[stevew]

The Spurs really must have pissed off the bookers, as they missed their opportunity to have a massive babyface run to the NBA title this year. "Los Suns" was a pretty good heel gimmick, requisite with the Sarver promo spot, but the Spurs just couldn't take advantage. They must have been fucking Stern's wife or something.

[whomario]

The Suns with an amazing game and series so far, hats off The bench really has stepped up, Richardson really can´t miss and thius they win in San Antonio with Stoudemire scoring just 7 points and Nash being good rather than brilliant.

Dragic with an absolutely unreal 4th quarter, wow.
So happy for him, really a hard nosed worker who has put in the time to develop his game the last 2 summers. Then Barbosa with his best playoff game, Frye for a change with a good road game and Dudley with one of the better 0-3, 0 points performances in history after totally changing the game in game 2.

And now to think that the Lakers biggest weakness is their 2nd unit ... But i shouldn´t get ahead of myself here ...

And Grant Hill is great to watch as well, the guy really know how to play basketball, doesn´t he ?

[whomario]

Orlando is looking mighty impressive again, honestly didn´t think they´d be that good and now i could see them sweeping the Hawks...

follow up on Dragic yesterday :

Since 1986 he is the only player to ever score 25+ in less than 20 minutes in the POs (next closest are 4 player with 21) .

[Warhammer]

Helluva last few minutes in the Lakers - Jazz game.

[JonInMiddleGA]

And in his infinite wisdom, The Invisible Man (aka Joe Johnson) decides to sound off to reporters after the game & say he didn't care whether the fans showed up for their games or not.

Yeah, he's out the door at the end of the season, hopefully taking the so-called coach with him.

[Danny]

Lakers-Suns and Magic-Cavs for the conference finals.

[stevew]

I can't believe the NBA had the nerve to give the Magic a second round bye.

[jbergey22]

I still think Spurs/Suns goes to 7 games. I know enough about the Suns to know that this is a situation they always stuggle with. They are so much tougher as dogs.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by stevew

I can't believe the NBA had the nerve to give the Magic a second round bye.

How did they give them a bye?

[stevew]

Hyperbole.

The Hawks are playing like the New Jersey Generals in this series.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

I still think Spurs/Suns goes to 7 games. I know enough about the Suns to know that this is a situation they always stuggle with. They are so much tougher as dogs.

Hmm, I disagree. Well, not the struggle/better as dogs theory, but that this series is close enough where that will become a factor. I just think the Suns are much better than the Spurs at this point. While I can definitely see the Spurs taking Game 4, this series is over when it goes back to Phoenix for Game 5.

[RainMaker]

The Hawks have a really shitty coach and need a PG badly. I do like a lot of players on their team. Josh Smith could be a top 10 player in this league if he gave a shit.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And in his infinite wisdom, The Invisible Man (aka Joe Johnson) decides to sound off to reporters after the game & say he didn't care whether the fans showed up for their games or not.
.

maybe it´s me misinterpreting it, but it sure sounded more like "we can´t worry about that but have to focus on us" rather than "i don´t need fans to be at our game"

Josh Smith had an absolutely embarassing game yesterday, absolutely mailed it in and all he did was put up some empty numbers.

But the Magic really are impressive and i also agree with the Hawks lacking in coaching. I´m sorry, but at some point i have to figure out a way to get my potentially best defender in a position to make plays rather than hang out at the 3 point line guarding Lewis ... Put him on Barnes or whoever is playing the 3 spot and let him roam, force Barnes to make them pay.

[TroyF]

Been away for a week, some quick thoughts from the second round:

Shocking. . . the Jazz haven't went to the line 50 times a game and are losing. The Lakers have had 1 guy in any kind of foul trouble the entire series. Fisher's slap on Boozer last night? That's a foul if it would have been Ty Lawson or Chauncey Billups. (the Jazz did get away with a tackle) The Jazz actually aren't playing all that differently from the Denver series. They are going up against a better team and they aren't getting to the line five zillion times.

I still think the Suns will beat the Lakers. They are playing crisply, getting production from bench players and even have Collins coming back for extra size. Imagine if they hadn't screwed themselves over multiple times by not signing Johnson and trading for Shaq and going into slowdown mode for two seasons.

Very good response from Cleveland in game three. The Celtics had actually been the better team for about 7 of the 8 quarters in Cleveland. That was the first time this post season I've looked at Cleveland and went "they could win it all" We'll see if they can repeat the process again.

The Magic? They are actually scaring me. They are too locked in now. Their defense is simply stifling, they have multiple weapons on offense (any of their big guns can score under ten points and they still have enough firepower to score enough to win) and Howard is actually staying on the court. While the Cavs looked terrific the other night, there is still zero doubt in my mind the best team in basketball resides in Orlando.

[whomario]

The Lakers also quite frankly are a bit better at defending than the Nuggets were in round 1
The problem is their lack of length up front and them not having a guy that can even remotely limit Bryant.
Matthews is a great story and a nice player, but Bryant is getting whatever he wants out there or forces help to come every play down the stretch. You think he´s glad to have the Thunder out of the way ?

If the Jazz had Okur i think they would win the series, him drawing one of their bigs away from the rim is really missing. Add to that that Bynum isn´t exactly moving around well right now ...
Kirilenko helped yesterday (and is just a great player to watch, so that helped me as well ) but Okur is the one that you need against a big front court.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I still think the Suns will beat the Lakers. They are playing crisply, getting production from bench players and even have Collins coming back for extra size. Imagine if they hadn't screwed themselves over multiple times by not signing Johnson and trading for Shaq and going into slowdown mode for two seasons.

Seriously? I cant imagine the Suns would give the Lakers that much of a series even with the Suns playing well. 3-1 on the season vs them and while the Suns are playing well, the Lakers are starting to turn in on as well.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by whomario

If the Jazz had Okur i think they would win the series, him drawing one of their bigs away from the rim is really missing. Add to that that Bynum isn´t exactly moving around well right now ...
Kirilenko helped yesterday (and is just a great player to watch, so that helped me as well ) but Okur is the one that you need against a big front court.

I think Okur would be a nice addition for the Jazz, but I don't think him alone would give the Jazz this series. IMO, the gulf is too wide, and not going to be bridged by Okur alone.

[larrymcg421]

"LeBron can't possibly travel, so there must have been a foul beforehand."

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

"LeBron can't possibly travel, so there must have been a foul beforehand."

seriously. monkeyshit.

[larrymcg421]

Are you fucking kidding me? Big Baby just got molested by the entire Cavs roster and they don't call a foul.

[whomario]

Damn, Perkins looks intimidated by Shaq ...
Rondo is impressive again, but remains to be seen how things go with Cleveland sagging off of him, at some point the Celtics may not make the right plays to still get him the lanes he needs, takes a ton of work for them to give him paths to the basket.
If that guy could shoot even a little bit better ...

Uh, that was nasty ... Seriously, James could easily be a major shotblocker if he ever was asked to.

[larrymcg421]

Please get Rasheed Wallace out. NOW.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Please get Rasheed Wallace out. NOW.

yeah, seriously. I mean, he had his good game, can´t expect another one in this series. Might as well cut your losses ...

[Scoobz0202]

Sick pass by Rondo on that break..

[whomario]

nice catch by Davis

[Noop]

Rondo is a hell of a point guard.

[Noop]

How was that a foul?

[DaddyTorgo]

triple double for Rondo

29-18-13

And the guy's 6 foot 1. Crazy.

[whomario]

you mean the one where Perkins ended up on the ground ? A Celtic player clearly pushed a cavs guy into him.

Awesome game by Rondo. Again, you won´t win much with him as your main guy, but giving him free reign in a balanced team he´s one of the best for that role.
29/18/13

Tony Allen was brilliant as well, not a good job by the Cavs failing to stall the Celtics offense with 2 non-shooters on the floor.

What´s with Brown calling a timeout down 9 with 15 seconds ?

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

And the guy's 6 foot 1. Crazy.

i remember back in College where he started a season averaging 10 RPG over the first 10 games or so, the guy just has a great ability to get into the gaps for rebounds, plus that great motor of his helps as well. Doesn´t seem to get tired, ever.

[Neuqua]

There are some really good Point Guards in the league right now, just makes the game a lot more fun to watch.

[jeff061]

How the hell did Rondo grab 18 boards?

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by whomario

The Lakers also quite frankly are a bit better at defending than the Nuggets were in round 1
The problem is their lack of length up front and them not having a guy that can even remotely limit Bryant.
Matthews is a great story and a nice player, but Bryant is getting whatever he wants out there or forces help to come every play down the stretch. You think he´s glad to have the Thunder out of the way ?

If the Jazz had Okur i think they would win the series, him drawing one of their bigs away from the rim is really missing. Add to that that Bynum isn´t exactly moving around well right now ...
Kirilenko helped yesterday (and is just a great player to watch, so that helped me as well ) but Okur is the one that you need against a big front court.

Actually, the Lakers really aren't defending that much better than the Nuggets. The difference is when Deron runs through the lane and throws his hands up, it isn't automatically two FT. Watching Korver repeatedly torch Artest last night? Please. Call 4 more offensive fouls on the Lakers through Jazz flops, give the Jazz 10 more FT attempts per game on 50/50 calls and they are winning this series at least 2-1, maybe 3-0. They got every 50/50 against the Nuggets, they are getting about 15% of them against the Lakers and are paying the price.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Seriously? I cant imagine the Suns would give the Lakers that much of a series even with the Suns playing well. 3-1 on the season vs them and while the Suns are playing well, the Lakers are starting to turn in on as well.

The regular season wins mean nothing without a frame of reference.

Game 1 - Suns are on a back to back, the Lakers have 3 full days of rest. Lakers win.

Game 2 - Suns are on a back to back, playing their 3 game in 4 nights. The Lakers have a full off day and are playing their 3rd game in 8 days.

Game 3 - Both teams playing 3rd in 4 nights with a night off before the game. Lakers on the road, Suns win.

Game 4 - Both teams fully rested, Lakers win by 6 points in a game that goes to the wire. (a four point game with the Suns ball with a minute left on the clock) Channing Frye is suspended by the league and doesn't play.

So really, we are using that to show how the Lakers are the better team? The Suns are locked in right now. If Lopez can play and give the Suns some extra size to deal with Pau, I do believe they'll beat the Lakers. We'll see if I'm right when the series begins.

[jbergey22]

Lucky for the Celtics/Cavs matchup as the rest of this 2nd round has been a complete joke.