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If I knew heartbreak was coming, I would'a set out running.
I'm sure this is why you agree it's been karma that Pierce's fat ass has fouled out half the games in the playoffs?
Re-#######-diculous. I wish JVG were doing the game.
It would be more fitting if he'd fouled out on the "fake the guy in the air and jump into him while taking a shot". Pierce is more of that kind of annoying than your standard issue Manu/Chris Paul/Battier "step into the lane and act like you've been shot" flopper.
Don't ####### tell me that Pierce doesn't love the drive, realize the guy has cut off his lane, and then flail terribly halfway into the drive. Don't ####### tell me he doesn't do that religiously.
A close cousin to the play I described; I can't deny he does that. Different kind of flop, though. Harden's flop was just like the type Manu does, hence the "karmic" aspect. Eh, whatever, they all flop.
Man, I still hate Derek Fisher.
And played every single minute. What an impressive performance.
The best part of it is Duncan looking at both of them like "what the hell just happened here?"
In general, OKC with only 8 guys logging minutes and Collison only getting 7 min. Brooks really shortened his rotations for the close-out.
This. I'm not a huge NBA fan, but this was sublime basketball.
And the way OKC just reeled off four straight against a team that looked nearly invincible a week ago? Holy crap, I'm impressed. This truly could be a big time dynasty in the making.
Never mind their best four players are 23, 23, and 22, and 22.
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The officiating down the stretch was terribly one sided. In addition to the other plays pointed out, Parker didn't even touch Westbrook on the and-1 at the end there. Westbrook literally fell backwards because he had to reach back to get the ball under the backboard. And it was Joey Crawford on the baseline that called the foul. Totally unacceptable.
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Never mind their best four players are 23, 23, and 22, and 22.
Most folks tend to think they're not going to be able to pay both Ibaka and Harden, even if they amnesty Perkins. So, enjoy it while it lasts.
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Multiple times throughout this series Marv would talk about the Spurs record and say "Due to a tiebreaker, the Spurs had the top overall seed over the Chicago Bulls." That was incorrect - irrelevant, but still wrong. The Bulls beat the Spurs (in SA) in their only meeting, and thus the Bulls had the tie breaker. Considering how the playoffs went this year (and last), I'm going to hang my hat on the top overall seed 2 years in a row and not even Marv ####### Albert can take that away from me.
* FWIW, my take is that that team would be a solid playoff team, but not a true contender. About on par with the Pacers, but with less room for internal growth.
Either you're criminally underrating one of Wade or Bosh or you're criminally overrating Anderson/underrating Turkoglu's contract's negative value. Everything we know about Orlando (and we don't know who the GM is) is that the owner does not want to rebuild and a team built around Bosh and Wade isn't that far from contention. I think I agree with your rating of that new Orlando team, but a higher ceiling than Indy because both Wade and Bosh are better than anyone on Indiana right now.
There are 28 other teams, all of whom would love to have Dwight in the middle. I'm not saying Dwight's impending free agency doesn't undermine the Magic's position: it obviously does, badly. In any two party situation, they're totally effed. But this is not that, and so they are only sort of effed. Off the top of my head, they can try to get an offer centered on Bynum and use that as leverage against the Heat; Daryl Morey will work feverishly trying to get a competitive package together; there has been internet speculation (which is all this is, after all. I don't know of any actual or even "actual" NBA sources saying a word to link the Heat and Magic.) about a Blake Griffin-centered package, too. There are all manner of possibilities, but I am not a GM and do not particularly want to go down speculative rabbit holes.
Look: my initial point was simply that I would be shocked if the Magic traded Dwight without including Hedo in the package. I think that given the sheer value of Dwight and the multilateral nature of NBA trade talks, they can swing that much.
The Magic were thisclose to trading Howard to NJ for a package that included Brook Lopez and Marshawn Brooks as the headliners without Hedo in the deal (and no pick, since NJ already dealt that for Wallace). How do all they all of a sudden have the ability to pull off that much better of a deal in nearly the exact same situation (it's better now since it's the offseason and the new team has Dwight all season, but now he's a FA and the new team can't even get the Chris Paul one year extra out of the deal guarantee)? If anything, I thought I was going to be criticized for having Miami give up too much, not the other way around.
And in none of the other potential deals are the Magic getting anyone nearly as good as Wade and arguably no one as good as Bosh (that caveat is for a Lakers deal involving Bynum and Gasol and I just don't know that I see the Lakers considering that). But where were all these other great deals this season when the Magic were working with the Nets? Dwight has leverage, he can control where he ends up (if the Magic want full value that is), so before any possible deal happens - including my Miami pipe dream - he'd have to sign off. ####, if he really wanted to go to Miami, he could potentially make it happen for less than what I'm proposing. The only reason I think Miami would even think about this for more than a minute is if they're trying to make a huge splash after losing in the ECF. I just cannot fathom how Orlando can be offered 2 All Star starters but have the ability to say "You have to take this horrible contract too". The trade machine sees my deal as a win for Orlando even, and that doesn't include the chemistry/role stuff I'm building into the deal to make it seem better from Miami's perspective.
Of course it was. Why he's still allowed to call Spurs playoff games considering his past history with that team is just mind boggling.
But congrats to OKC and their fans. Winning 4 straight against a team that had won 20 in a row and 31 of 33 deserves major, major props. I really thought they were done after game 2.
Here's hoping Durant, Westbrook, Beard, and co put an absolute beatdown on whichever form of evil makes it out of the east (and if Fisher has to get another ring in the process, well, I guess I'll just have to stomach that).
Wow! that's crazy. Unrelated: This thread is so good on game nights. Can't imagine watching playoffs without it now.
Kudos to all involved. PS I am drunk.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Crazy to think that the last Western team to make the Finals other than those 3 was the Jazz back in '98 during Jordan's last championship run. Seems like forever ago.
If Miami loses tomorrow night in part because the calls went against them, this thesis will be proven wrong.
As far as the Lakers, I have no idea what, if anything, they will do, but IMO the only way they would consider Bynum and Gasol for Howard is if Howard proves he is healthy and exactly the same as he was, and he says he wants to play in LA long-term. The first is unknown and the second is very doubtful.
from a pure measurements perspective, i think the things i'll be most interested to see are the height/wingspan of jared sullinger, and the wingspans of arnett moultrie and tyler zeller. i'm also kind of curious at what fab melo, festus ezeli, henry sims, and meyers leonard look like in the drills.
oh, and royce white. everything to do with royce white.
Durant, Westbrook and Harden could be Duncan, Parker and Ginobili if the Thunder evaluate talent well, and make the right drafts and trades. They've done fairly well with that so far.
IOW, it wouldn't surprise me if they let Ibaka walk or flip him for other pieces.
Soon, your journey to the
darkgreen side will be complete.(Note: Miami trade speculation should not be taken to mean that I think the result of tonight's game -- or the Finals, for that matter -- is at all a given. Very much up in the air, from my perspective.)
I remember last year a lot of people (including some in this thread) were discussing if OKC needed to trade Westbrook after he had a bad playoff series. The Spurs and Boston core have stayed very good far longer than anyone expected. I think if you have a core that you know can contend for championships (and Miami does), you keep it unless there's an overwhelming reason not to. I think the biggest thing teams can do wrong is overreact to a poor run in the playoffs. The teams generally don't have a ton separating them, and a few plays either way can swing it. Then again, I don't think there's anything magical about winning in the playoffs vs. the regular season for the most part.
Not at all. It's just speculation that if Miami chose to blow it up, what is the best trade possibility for them/creates the most interesting team. In my made up idea, I like the way the new Heat team fits together more than the current Heat, even if I'm not sure it's better or more likely to win.
The Heat are really limited in what they can add as supplementary pieces. They only have the veteran minimums and the the tax midlevel as they're well into the tax next year. Their only expirings this offseason are the current vet minimums (Howard, Curry) and rookie options (Pittman, Harris). If they let them go, plus use their amnesty on someone (Miller at $5.8mil or Anthony at $3.75mil), they still are over the cap but I'm not sure about the tax. They're going to need to be very creative (and Riley surely is that) and fortunate (ring chases; I've already seen some mentions of Andre Miller for instance). But you're right that this current team (healthy) could still win this year and could be good enough to win again next year.
I think the Howard trade would be good (if you think he's healthy, I don't know enough on that front), but obviously isn't going to happen.
Although this is going to sound way more judgmental than I intend it, I think I need to be convinced that I should be worried about Howard's back more than I'm worried about his back/his health for next year.
EDIT: While looking at the Heat salary stuff, I see all 3 Miami big 3 have 15% trade kickers in their deals.
Heh.
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Refs for C's/Heat tonight are Dan Crawford, Tony Brothers, and Tom Washington. Any pre-existing biases we can identify now?
I think that's probably true of real basketball fans, but I don't know that it's true from a ratings perspective. Boston has a very large fan base. Presumably bigger than Miami's, though I get the star power of the Heat. Tough call. I think the league is probably as happy as they can be with either of these scenarios in the absence of a Lakers-Celtics matchup.
Or Knicks/Lakers, I suppose.
I have heard Stern "joke" more than once that his ideal Finals, from a business perspective, would be Lakers/Lakers.
Well sure, or Tokyo-Mexico City, but I thought we were talking about things that could conceivably happen in the real world.
The Tokyo franchise will (in)appropriately be named the Jazz, too.
Not inappropriate at all. Their team mascot, Touchy, the tentacle rape monster, plays a mean sax.
Good call. Any Japanese team that didn't use some kind of giant radioactive monster as their mascot is really missing out on a great regional connection type of opportunity.
Too bad Godzilla is probably copyrighted...
This is amazingly awesome.
The numbering system is off by 50 now.
Are you in the beta or something? It's fine from here.
Will win: Celtics
Rooting for: Heat
On the will win question, please no wishy washy stuff. I don't care if you think a team is 51 percent likely to win or 95 percent likely. Just pick one. On rooting for, neutral answers like "I hope both teams get swallowed up in a sinkhole" are fine.
Not that I'm aware of. It's back to normal now.
Rooting for: Heat
Rooting for: Celtics
Will win: Heat, possibly on some very questionable calls, setting up an epic game 7.
Rooting for: the tentacle rape monster from above to devour both teams, after having it's way with them, of course.
Asking who I'm rooting for in this series is like asking if I'd rather be punched in the throat or kicked in the junk. Either way, go OKC.
Rooting for: Celtics
He's human.
Rooting for: Not heat. The Decision still annoys me WAY beyond what it should, plus I like KG (He is a punk, but as a season ticket holder during the Wolves KG run he showed up and worked his rear end off every single game. I admire that.)
Rooting for: Not sure. I want all the LeBron stuff to end, but I don't think it does this year even if they win. What I'm really rooting for is for Wade to get injured enough to miss the rest of the playoffs and then the Heat to win.
Rooting for: Celtics (officially, though I'm such a Lebron sympathizer at this point it's touch and go sometimes)
Rooting for: Miami
Actually rooting for: Debilitating 7th game.
Good job, good effort.
Nothing personal, Joe C. As I explained in the large market/small market discussion, I dislike most the "bling" teams. I didn't like the way the Celts could go from a last place team in 2007 to a champion in 2008 by picking up a couple of HOFers in the offseason without seeming to give up equal value in return, same way I didn't like that the Lakers could pick up Gasol for pennies on the dollar and become an instant Finals team, and the same way I didn't like the Heat picking up a couple superstars in the offseason and becoming instant contenders. Not all teams have the same opportunities to do this type of thing. That's why as soon as my team is out, it's much easier to turn my allegiances towards likeable small market franchises that built their team through the draft like the Thunder and the Spurs.
But the level of venom in 768 was exaggerated in an (apparently failed) attempt at humor. Even though I dislike both teams, I actually am looking forward to game 6 (and possibly 7). Should be an intense game.
1. Get blown out in game 6: worse showing than the Hawks, a mid range playoff team with injury issues every bit as bad as the Heat missing Bosh. Atlanta played game 6 down to the wire.
2. Lose a close game 6: tied with the Hawks, but a worse effort than 8 seed Philly who went to game 7 without benefit of home court.
I assumed it was because of the Lewis Scott kidnapping in the great American comedy film "Celtic Pride."
Rooting for: Celtics
Want to win: Linsanity, but barring that, tonight, the Cs, then OKC.
I dislike them because they have a very unlikable group of stars. KG's jack assery has been well documented here. Rondo just seems like a prick (and his halftime comments the other night didn't help), and Pierce is a drama queen.
Of course, Wade has pretty much moved into the unlikable territory for me this postseason, too. Here's an idea, Wade: stop ######## and get your ass back on D.
Yes! Scott was totally leading the Jazz to the title that season before those Celtic nutjob fans screwed it up!
Never actually saw that movie. The previews looked so awful that not even my Jazz pride was enough to get me to go.
Will win: Miami- screw it, this the game where Lebron wins everyone over! Wait, maybe that belongs under "rooting for"
f-l-o-p-p-ing is nannied now?
He's also on my irrational hatred list (along with Melo) for having the facial hair of an 8th grader. If you can't grow a real mustache, shave, dammit!
I hate the Cs, but for none of these reasons. I've always liked Pierce, KG has grown on me, and I liked HRondo's comments the other night.
[edit: Actually, "RHondo" would be better. Silent "H".]
I hear you. For a while I thought I was rooting against KG for the first time ever during game 5, but then I learned it was KJ, so I felt ok.
Rooting for: Celtic (Against any other team I'd be rooting for LeBron though. I am big on backlash against the backlash.)
Whining. He flops, and then he gets up and whines if he doesn't get the call. Which is the way to stop the flopping.
Of course, he can do whatever he wants because Lebron's going to take all the criticism no matter how poorly he plays
Rooting for: Dwyane Wade suffering a crippling injury and then LBJ and Bosh winning this series and an epic Finals matchup.
Rooting for : Celtics
No matter what happens in this ECF, the Eastern team is going to play the heels in the Finals, huh?
Rooting for: Heat
I like Durant a bunch as a UT alumni, but with the way the media is treating Durant and LeBron, I'd love to see LeBron pull a Jordan on Durant's Drexler.
*wipes tear* This is really all that I ask.
Rooting for: Celtics (lesser of two evils sort of thing; I'd want an OKC Finals sweep regardless)
Andre Miller is a very good player, but that seems like a bad fit for both sides. Miller cannot shoot at all, and he needs the ball in his hands to be effective. The Heat already have two elite ball-dominant players who aren't particularly good outside shooters. If Miller joins them, defenses will be able to clog the lane more, and there will be even more uncertainty and scrutiny regarding how to run the offense. Miller could instead go back to Portland or sign with an up-and-coming team (New Orleans) or a potential contender (Lakers, Bulls) that would allow him a more significant and defined role.
I think Marcus Camby and Chauncey Billups could be good mini-MLE options for the Heat.
As an aside, I think the interest in tonight's outcome is another example of how as things have turned out, the fornation of this team has been a good thing for the NBA. Almost every NBA fan seems to have feelings and opinions about them.
1. LeBron
[tremendous gap]
2. KG
3. Westbrook
People Left Who I Don't Want to see Win a Ring:
1. Kevin Durant
2. Rajon Rondo
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Pat Riley
5. Serge Ibaka
Really? Have you explained this somewhere and I missed it? I'm curious.
How could anyone not like Durant?
Edit: coke to jmurph
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