real quick one

don't know if you guys saw this. we may be losing one of our best announcers. now what happens if gundy gets lured outta the booth?!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3417029

if we lose gundy AND collins, i'm only gonna be able to unmute games when hubie is around.

"Flopping Sucks" - NBA Fan

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3416579

Finally, the league is doing something about the recent trend towards flopping. Now, I hate flopping floppers so much that I've even had to stop wearing my favorite summer footwear. What? Now, its not really the player's fault. When you get to be this competitive, you are almost obligated to exploit these dumbass officials. But at least the league is doing something about it.

Now, if they can just add another official...or use robots or something....

shmoey shmawford

ok this post covers a few topics so... shmoey shmawford was the best i could do. forgive me.


(in reference to the SAS-LAL gm 4 last night)
i thought doug collins summed it up perfectly with these 2 remarks (paraphrased):
1. the real difference was the energy/offensive rebounding in the first half. the lakers
were getting to all the loose balls and all the off boards.
2. it's a testament to the spurs defense that it was even a close game come 4th Q, because
wow did they suck offensively.

i think the lakers played way more focused and intense ball pretty much throughout the
entire game. i didn't think the spurs were gonna get out played like that, especially at
home (see my spurs in 6 prediction), but if timmy (and brent barry) are the only ones
that are going to show up, they are F'd. i know manu is hurting, but the spurs obviously
need more from their 2nd (?) best player if they're gonna beat good teams in 7 (see box
scores of all the games in this series-if manu AND timmy show up, they win. in fact, see
box scores of all the spurs games with a healthy timmy and manu). i think jeremy correctly
pointed out a few weeks ago that manu would be the real deciding factor. and i think we
are now seeing the truth of that. kudos to the lakers and phil for adjusting properly
when the spurs made moves to take over the game. and kudos to kobe for being a
stinking maniac. bruce played him VERY tight, and he still looked good.
and finally, kudos to fish. if he hadn't decided to jump on brent
barry at the last second, i would have no more ammo to throw at these STUPID FUCKING REFS.

get ready, you stupid horse. i know you've been deceased for some time and you have been
beaten relentlessly for years now, but i got a little something for ya!

when are they going to fix the reffing system? thats 2 times i can remember (you guys?)
in this post-season alone that we've seen terrible calls at the very end of a critical
playoff game that all but seal the playoff fate of the team in question. the spurs were
lucky as hell to be anywhere near the lakers at the end of that game, but who can really
disagree with these statements?:
1.the last play of the game was grossly miscalled.
2.if that last call was made correctly, it would have likely changed the outcome
of a CRITICAL playoff game, and possibly the series (the WC FINALS no less!)

so, do they never call fouls on the last play? (ahem, shasher!) why/why not? should they?

now, you KNOW that stern and his buddies are looking at this and thinking 2 things:
1.everything is falling into place just as we planned. soon, we will reap the rewards
of our labor and our precious celtics/lakers finals will be upon us! (ok, maybe not)
2.ok the spurs just got jobbed, and it was because our reffing system is broke.
how do we prevent that in the future?

at some point, changes are going to HAVE to be made. i think that much is certain. it's
like the camera men sitting on the sidelines right underneath the basket- at some point,
kobe or somebody is gonna break a foot on one of those bastards and then the league will
FINALLY get them off the floor. it's just a matter of time.

and one last thing-how the smell is joey fu#&*$ing crawford the lead official at a
spurs playoff game? can anyone answer that one? wtf?! i don't think they should have
reinstated him. but to reinstate him and the very next season there's blown call like
this in a huge, close spurs playoff game? come on man. come on. seems a little fishy (no pun
intended, i swear!) to me.

LAL-SAS

Game soon, time to get this up.

Well, i am not going against SAS again. So i pick Spurs. They seem to get better as the post-season progresses. JVG said, before lastnights game, that detroit is the best team remaining. I was shocked to hear anyone not from detroit, yet alone someone in media say that.

I would think for sure all media would pick LAL-SAS as good as those two teams have looked. I would say they have been consistant too. Sure, SAS went 7 games, but that was against a very very good team. LAL may not play defense as well as the other three teams, but they still play very good defense, right? And their offense is easily the most in sync. Really, i think i am rather inclined to pick LAL over SAS, but i cannot go against spurs and be wrong yet again.

miami?

so miami has a 25% chance to get the 1st pick this year.
that would put marion, dwade, and a #1 pick on miami next year.
if dwade is healthy, that seems pretty formidable.
thoughts?

Det-Bos

Ahhh, Det, Bos, Lakers, and Spurs. If spurs were, well, one of the teams LAL played every year (houston, pheonix), this would be a real 80s reunion.

=============

I think that somehow, being on the road team in this series is helpful. Here is how it woudl happen if pistons had home court. Pistons blow out game 1. Pistons stop worrying and give away the 2nd game--bolstering Boston's confidence, quelling any on-road doubts. and giving them homecourt for the last 5. Boston feeling good, wins two at home, and closes in 5 or 6.

Here's how it plays out if Boston has homecourt. Detroit steals one on the road. Boston no longer feels invincible at home. Detroit up 2-1 gets soft and loses game 4. Detroit feeling serious after losing at home, gets it back winning in Boston. Detroit goes back home and puts it away in 6.

That was not a prediction, jsut some fun. Of course, I firmly believe we are going to sweep them;D

==========================

Look for Chauncey and Stuckey to dominate Rondo and House, and maybe Cassell if they ever let him play again. Though House has looked really good the last two games, i gotta say.

Maxiell has been off and on lately offensively, maybe guarding Howard was wearing him down. Hopefully he can get his famous energy to return for his usual offensive rebounds and plays to the rim.

Chauncey said his hammy is 100%. But he is the kinda guy that is gonna say that everytime if he is playing. Plus he paused for like two seconds, thinking about it, before saying 100%, hehe. So who knows, we'll see how good it really is.

Boozer and Utah

During that series, especially the last game, he jsut never looked confident. He seemed to either be heistant with the ball, or else forcing up prayers in triple coverage. I was dissapointed, cause i like the booze man, and i wanted to see some higher quality game from him. I know that is largely due to LA defenders like the long and very athletic Odom(man, how times did i see Odom go coast to coast:D); but still, judging by confidence alone, you would think Brewer was the superstar and not Boozer (want is with the beer-themed names?).

I doubt it helped Boozers confidence for the Utah newspapers to have giant frontline headlines calling him out. If i was the head editor, I woudl save that for once Utah is out, if had any care to whether he actually played better or not. Of course, news media in general IS horrible.
=============

If Utah played the whole game like they did the last 6 minutes, that would have been a helluva game. Exciting ending, but i never thought Utah had a chance in heck until they were down by 3 at the very very end. I don't mind they out though. Tthey had to leave b4 the finals; Utah is the one team that ALWAYS destroys the Pistons.
=============
Millsap was awesome this year; jsut like he was last year. I'm still a big fan of him and look foward to watching his game develope some more.

20-1

I know everyone knows this already, but it still needs to be said. The home team is 20-1 in round 2 this year. That is one of the craziest thing i have ever heard. The detroit series had a clear favorite (well, less clear without Billups playing, but still), but in all the other series, before they started, i was not really sure who to pick as the winner, i think i predicted them all as 7 game series.

So, in the 3 series were the teams are relatively well matched, it seems like the only thing that throws off the parity is homecourt. And the games usually aren't event that close. It kinda baffles me. I know home court is big, but i never thoguht it was this big. Like, what is the deal? Why is everyone brick, brick, brick on the road? And swish, swish, swish at home?

Is confidence really that dependent upon homecourt?

Delonte West has forced me...

to retract my assertion that the cavs were better last year. he's just what they needed. kudos to whoever made that decision. that guy is bad ass.

Spurs Vs Hornets

What is up with this series? Every game is a blowout.

In game 4, the Spurs' defensive strategy was to let Paul get his, but shut everyone else down.

So, why didn't that work in game 5?

SVG

I have been a fan of this guy. But his constant crediting of the refs for his loss lately is driving me crazy. If you saw that last game, Orlando had so many silly mistakes in the 4th quarter. Running out the clock, intentionally, when they were behind. Bending over for a loose ball that Tayshaun dove for, and he was like 3 times further away from it. I silly frutration tech late in the 4th. It goes on really.

He is asking the league now for an explanation of a no call on a blocking foul on the last play of the game. True, in the reg season, it would have been a blocking foul; at least if it was earlier in the game. But these playoffs, no-calls on last plays have been the standard. I have seen the exact same no call a few times now. SVG shoudl know that. Even Lebron, on an extremely similar play had the same thing happen to him. Instead fo crying about it though, he said, i should have made the shot.

In all things, it is important to take responsibility for your current situation. SVG needs to grow up.

i want beantown

I said b4 the playoffs i don't want to play CLE, but now i really want Boston to win. I also really want it to go 7 games, so they still won't have a road win.

Boston's first series, i thought maybe it was just tough shaking off that rust from late season coasting. That, combined with ATL's athleticism. But dang, it seems like they can't ever close out a close game, or of course, win on the road. They can't even get the ball to allen or pierce in the 4th quater. Rondo had the second most shots in their last game; i mean, what are they doing? Where is the coaching to get those guys touches?

Pre-playoffs, i thought detroit would have a good chance against Boston. But now i really like our odds on them. We'd only have to steal one road game, and that'd be a wrap. And detroit plays well on the road. Last game's a good case in point:D
================
FYI-i don't think Billups will be back tonight, but i think he'll be back if it goes 6. Playoff injuries suck. Kobe looked like a cripple last game, albeit, on ethat is awesome at bball. Hope he is alright, too.

sorry

just screwing around with photoshop

Kobe or MJ?

So a lot of folks on the Radio are doing their thing were they say stuff to get a reaction. The latest hot topic is that Kobe is as good as or better than MJ. I call BS. Yet I was talking with a co-worker and he's not quite sure. So I pose the question out there. How does Kobe compare to Jordan?

Here are links to their career stats. I think people forget how good Jordan was during his prime.
http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JORDAMI01

http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BRYANKO01


If the Lakers win the championship this year, would he compare then? I say if the Lakers win the next 3 championships, then yes, he's as good as MJ.

Who ya'll watching?

I can't help notice no one is interested in discussing the playoffs any more-i mean, the actual games. I'm just curious what series yous are watching if any. I figure Jeremy is watching LAL, anyone else?

Musical Chairs

Poor Mike D’Antoni. He helped create one of the most exciting products the NBA has seen in the past 20 years (everyone read the Simmons article I assume) and now ‘meddlesome’ Steve Kerr is asking him to practice more defense in practice.

Word is that D’Antoni wants the Chicago job (he interviewed for the Knicks job to push the price up in Chicago). I thought it was pretty funny that they didn’t grant permission for him interview in Toronto (ex Sun’s GM Colangelo hired D’Antoni to begin with). Weird thing about the Chi-town position is that John Paxon is an ex MJ/PhilJ Bull like Kerr. He’s pretty well known to prize defense like Kerr but he still wants to pull the trigger to acquire D’Antoni. What’s Paxon gonna do when D’Antoni’s asking Deng & Heinrich to practice steals as defensive strategy (Karl-esque philosophy)? I’ve also heard that Kerr & Paxon are friends so you know they have to have had conversations about Mike’s recent views of Kerr’s so-called micromanagement.

Kinda goes back to the “Avery is out” post but…

As it seems D’Antoni is determined to flee (like his defense when guarding the lane), who do you think is best suited to take this team to championship level? Is there a better choice at all? Do you think your choice is the same as Kerr’s?

2nd Round predictions

Well, we tried to put a post for every series, but they get buried pretty quickly.

Post your predictions for the third round and finals as well.

Western Conference

SA vs NO
LAL vs Utah

Eastern Conference

Det vs Orl
Bos vs Cle

LAL-UTAH

i don't really got anything to say on this series at the moment, just thought we should get it on the boards since the game is about to start.

I'll say LAL in 6.

Mad Max

I'm sure you all have been eagerly awaiting my next pistons-loving post, so without further ado:

Man i love this guy. Maxiell. I still can't believe he came in 9th for 6th man.

I thought Detroit would have to do more doubling than they are used too with howard. They hardly doubled him at all. 4-5 bigs took turns on Howard last night, starting with Jason Maxiell, who i thought was great on howard. Yeah, howard beat him a time or two, but what other 6'7" player could guard Howard single coverage.

Then, in the 4th quarter, Max was doing his Rip impression, draining 15-17 footers.

Detroit was masterful with exploiting matchups, and getting to ball to the right guy last night. Lets hope they keep it up.

After such a good win, detroit better not go into cakewalk mood and make things close.

"Bandwagon Asscats"

Yup, i am on the Hawks bandwagon. ("Bandwagon asscats" is a from a Rasheed qoute last year, i guess he doesn't think high of people that wait for the bandwagons).

Of course they got guys like JJ and J Smith. But Childress has really caught attention for tons of clutch rebounds and some clutch drives to the hoop too. He has great control when he is flying to the basket and slipping around shotblockers.
And then, everyone's new favorite, Zaza Pachulia. Seems like a tough doood, a helluva scrapper, and also seems to be a (or the) emotional leader for the team. I heard last game his dad was a judo champ, so no wonder he doesn't back down from KG.

I think prior to the playoffs, this was the series people were the most comfortable perdicting a sweep in. And now, it is the only series that remains from the first round, the only game 7.

None of the games in boston have been close so far, but ya never know, crazy things can happen in a 7. If Boston moves on, they are gonna have a pretty intereting series with Lebron. I am not even sure which team to favor anymore. With starters like West, Szczerbiak, Old man Wallace, i never thought i would say that.

T-Mac is not Cursed

I know I joke around a lot about T-Mac being cursed but this loss was not his fault. First off, remember that the Rockets were without their highest scorer and starting center. Not having Yao meant that a team with already bad offense just lost a guy that was worth 20 pts and 10 rebounds a game. Not only that, but Rafer Alston was out for 2.75 of the games. Not only does he contribute 15 pts a game but he also helps facilitate the offense and plays good D.

Let's turn the tables for a second. Pretend Yao and Alston are both healthy but Carlos Boozer was out for the season and Deron Williams gets hurt after the first two games and can't play anymore. Is there any way the Jazz still win? Of course not.

Without their starting center AND point guard there's no way Houston can beat a team as good as Utah. No expert picked them to win. What's funny is that even a against a really good Utah team (that's ranked second overall in Hollinger's power rankings) the Rockets still went 6 games and maybe would have won had Alston played all the games. I still think Houston would have beat Dallas or Denver in the first round.

The second point that I would like to make though is that Tracy played exceedingly well this series and I don't think you can honestly blame him for this loss. His numbers for the playoffs were:

Points - 27
Rebounds - 8.2
Assists - 6.8

Compared with LeBron's averages for his series which were:

Points - 29.8
Rebounds - 9.5
Assists - 7.7

So basically Tracy played almost as well as LeBron James. I don't think you can fault him for that. In fact he was about 88% of a LeBron James. And when you look at how much his numbers improved compared to the regular season there is no room to complain. It's not like he's A-Rod, MVP every year in the regular season and then disappears in the playoffs. (Sorry for the baseball reference).

Once thing they mentioned last night is that Tracy in his 7 playoff series has never been on a team seeded above a 5. So, what you're saying is that his teams SHOULD have lost all 7 of those playoff series? They were always the underdog. Granted, this year and last year they actually had a better record than the Jazz. But this year they had tons of injuries and last year they went 7 games against the Jazz with a worse roster.

I don't know if Tracy will ever win a playoff series. Perhaps he is cursed. I would rather think that he's unlucky to keep getting in the playoffs on bad teams, or without a full roster. The Rockets as a team have also lost 7 playoff series in a row. Nobody has said that they're cursed. Is the player cursed or the team? They were losing playoff series before T-Mac got there.

I'm optimistic though. Tracy still has lots of time. Right now he's 28 years old. That gives him 5-7 more quality years. His scoring has declined recently but I think he has become a tremendous passer and plays very good defense (when he's trying).

If I were the other NBA teams I would be very thankful that the Rockets lost Yao Ming . They're going to be a force next season if they can keep this team together.

also, whats up with this bogus suspension?

http://www.nba.com/news/songaila_suspended_080502.html

for those of you that didnt see it, darius songaila was suspended for "punching" lebron in the face.
i was watching it and PLEASE!
i've seen harder hits with a no call, much less suspension.
whats more, it was OBVIOUSLY not intentional.
i think this is one of the stupidest moves i've seen, particularly in light of KGs non suspension for a more deliberate, and harder hit.
the only leg they have to stand on here is that the tap landed on lebron's face. lebron totally overreacted when it happened and so did the announcers (well, one of em). the guy kept talking about how bad of a punch it was, and i seriously thought it was a joke.
i'd like to know what you guys thought of that, cause i'm floored. if it was the other way around, and lebron had accidentally tapped Darius Songwhothehellisthisguya on the cheek, i am certain there is NO WAY he would be suspended. i call BALONEY BEANS!

not sure if you guys heard, but

jeffrey barnes just broke the world record for holding his breath.
he held his breath on the oprah show for 17 minutes.
17 minutes!

DET-ORL

Detroit in 5! Muhahahaha.


(more later)

Pity the Fool!

I keep seeing everybody dissing this haircut. So i had to chime in and say, except for the junk on the sides, that haircut is badass.

Kurt Thomas looks like Jeffrey Barnes

Or is that supposed to be with a "G."

I may be completely crazy, but something about kurt makes me think of barnes when i see him. Probably mostly the eyes. That, and they are both black?

**edit**i guess i shoudl have included a picture, well i am now.

wierd 4th-CLE-WASH

Cleveland was down at the start of the fourth. And near the end of the period, they had taken the lead shooting 18%. It was just freethrow this, freethrow that.