NBA Playoffs discussion
April 17, 2008 by Evil E
Congratulations Boston! You earned it & deserved it.
This year’s playoffs are shaping up to be one of the most exciting of all-time.
I’ve changed this post and will simply update the photo (along w/ video in sidebar) as the playoffs go along and add my comments whenever I see fit. Feel free to comment on anything and everything in regards to the Playoffs.
Related posts:
- NBA Finals Discussion Your 2009 NBA Champions. Congrats Lakers. ...
Lakers rocked the Spurs. 4 – 1
That’s a ass whooping.
Gasol with 19 BIG rebounds. Kobe torched Bowen.
Beating the Spurs in 5 is pretty impressive. I was starting to warm up to Sasha after watching the sidebar video, but that 3 at the end was pretty uncalled for. All or nothing… It looks like Kobe’s going all the way this year.
I hate the Lakers.
I say Good Day.
Disappointing loss for Detroit. Except for that one game where he hit a bunch of threes, Sheed didn’t play very well at all. In fact, I think both McDyess & Maxiell outplayed him this series.
Oh well. Lakers vs. Celtics. Let the good times roll…
My prediction: LA in 6
Matchups
PG: Fisher v. Rondo. Advantage: Rondo, slightly
SG: Kobe v. Allen. Advantage: Kobe, hands down
SF: Imabitch v. Pierce. Advantage: Pierce, hands down
PF: Odom v. Garnett: Advantage: Garnett
C: Gasol v. Perkins. Advantage: Gasol
This series will be fun. If these teams had to play tomorrow, the Lakers would win easily. The fact that they start June 5, however, is HUGE. Also, I think the Celtics will have ways to contain Bryant….with Posey coming off the bench and guys like Pierce and Garnett being able to help seal the interior (don’t mind Imabitch inside, Odom isn’t much of a shooter), Bryant’s slashing abilities and points in the paint will be limited. Gasol will struggle inside against Perkins…I think the Celtics will win in 7….
Did you see you see how happy Pierce was after beating the Pistons??
You know why? He gets to light up Imabitch and Luke Walton in the FINALS!!! Dude is gonna have a blast!
I dont think the celtics will be able to limit or stop Kobe… he is too fast and athletic… did you see how he score against Bowen? how can you stop that scoring monster?
i am sure he can easily beat his defender off the dribble… and yes the other defenders will be waiting for him inside but the problem is Kobe can score anywhere on the court and he is a good passer too… you just can’t cheat your defense on him…
but it doesn’t mean that Lakers will win the series easily… its gonna be very close, down to the wire games…
Joe Dumars is really pissed off… he fired Saunders and put the entire lineup on the trading block… hahaha…
its time to get rid of the old players… maxiel on the starting 5! yes!
Hey Evil E… with the line Perkins had last night I would simply say that my chances of winning the Drive to the Finals game dramatically decreased…
Tough break Damian. You’re still beating me tho! Where do you rank overall now? I’m currently in the 94th percentile, 2169 overall. It will be interesting to examine the winners picks after this things over…
I’m thinking about Perk for Sunday…not too many options left.
overall I am in the 95th percentile – 1715 but as you said it was a tough break… 1 pt and 4 rbs was like nothing from Perkins…
the last two regular seasons I finished in the 99th (or maybe the 100th) percentile but winning is extremely difficult simply because of the number of participants… also I never sat down to examine the whole schedule and save picks for Thursdays and other days with not so many games…
HUGE game for Leon Powe!!! (Lamar Odom needs to step up).
Anyone know what Powe and future HOF tight end Tony Gonzalez have in common?
maaan fuck the Celtics…no, fuck those POS refs. WTF was up with all that BS.
..
evil, my friend told me they both played for california golden bears?
Why the lakers lost:
*Superb team defense especially against Kobe – Steve was correct Celtic’s will find ways to contain Kobe and they are doing a great job in forcing Kobe a jump shooter outside the paint. I was wrong when I said that the Celtics can not cheat there defense against Kobe… as I have seen they are letting him have the ball above the 3pt line… why? so that they can gang bang on him when he drives to the hoop… that distance will give them enough time for the interior defense to react if Kobe get pass his defender… they are cheating their defense vs Kobe… thou a lot of 3 secs defensive violation should have been called against Celtics especially on Game 1.
*Ray Allen vs Kobe – I would like to give credit on what Ray have done so far on Kobe on both ends of the court. I am surprised how well he defended him, he have done an excellent job denying the ball for Kobe as the Lakers have tried to post up Kobe a lot of times in game 2. Men! I tought Ray’s defense was a suspect before this series… again I was wrong…
And on the offense, have you seen how Ray gives Kobe a hard time in defending him against the screens setup for him by his team?
*Too many Lakers fouls – wow… too many unnecessary fouls early! this just showed how weak the defense of the Lakers… they are just slow and a step late to react on Boston’s offense or… was the officiating really a suspect here? hehehe…
*Too many free throws for Boston – Boston is really aggressive in attacking the basket! totally no respect for Lakers interior defense…
*Boston bench players vs Lakers – Cassel on game 1, Powe on game 2, quality minutes from PJ… hands down to the bench players of Celtics!!!
What the Lakers should do to win:
*Go to Gasol on the post – They haven’t gone to this option that much, I believe He can score against Garnett… have you seen the “in your face” dunk against Garnett? ouch! Garnett posterized!
*Have Kobe go thru screens – I think it would be better if Kobe will be coming off screens when receiving the ball below the 3pt line and immediately attack the hoop… this will prevent the Boston defense from setting up against him…
*Improved Defense (especially transition defense) – can they improved their defense???
*Imabitch (hahaha nice name Steve!) should make his shot or dont shoot at all? hahaha…
*Intensity and Aggressiveness! – I believe this is not the same Lakers team I have seen from the previous Denver, Utah and Spurs series.
just my two cents…
Anyone know what Powe and future HOF tight end Tony Gonzalez have in common?
“evil, my friend told me they both played for california golden bears?”
Yep. Powe and Tony Gonzalez were both badass power forwards for Cal. The football star was a key member of the ‘96-97 Cal basketball team that made it to the Sweet 16. Tony G was a beast in the paint. He was a rugged rebounder and had a solid offensive game to boot. I read somewhere that Antawn Jamison said Tony was the strongest guy he played against in college.
Sean “Kiwi” Marks (8 years in the NBA) and Michael “Yogi” Stewart (8 years in the NBA) also played on that ‘96-97 Cal team, but Gonzalez was more reliable and more valuable than both.
Another badass power forward on that ‘96-97 Cal team was Alfred Grigsby. I saw Al play several times in ‘92-93 when he was a sophomore and Jason Kidd was a freshman. Grigsby was athletic & chiseled, kinda like Powe. But then he suffered a myriad of injuries. Grigsby returned to the court in his 6th year at Cal, and in the Round of 32, played 39 minutes, pulled down 13 boards, and shut down Villanova freshman sensation Tim Thomas. Click here for a full bio on Grigsby (and a little bit on Gonzalez):
http://tightwad-hill.blogspot.com/2007/01/sweet-sixteen-16-alfred-grigsby.html
I just wanted to show some love to 2 badass Cal power forwards who never made it to the NBA.
After all, Gonzalez and Grigsby have appeared in the same # of NBA playoff games as Shareef Abdur-Rahim (played for Cal in ‘95-96). 
Jonny and all Lakers fans stop WHINING… during the last 10 years or so Lakers has definitely enjoyed a lot of love from the referees…
To be more specifc I will give you an exampe from this year playoffs… Lakers – Jazz series – 231 FT for lakers and 172 FT for jazz (three games in LA and three games in Utah)… game 2 of the series 43 FT for lakers and 16 FT for jazz…
so 43/16 or 38/10 is the same thing I believe…
What else do you need to stop whining…!?!?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2008/06/10/2008-06-10_exreferee_tim_donaghy_blows_whistle_on_n.html
Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series – and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales.
The bombshell allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy’s lawyer. It describes the “inner workings” of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games.
Donaghy, who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of betting on games he officiated, told FBI agents “league officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings,” the document said.
Donaghy claims he was told that two refs who were “company men†acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.
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Uh oh. The only playoff series to go 7 games that season was the infamous Lakers vs. Kings series. Obviously, it’s not hard for Donaghy to “blow the whistle” on the NBA like this and we can’t really trust anything he says, but these allegations are really bad for the league. Is David Stern no better than your average money-hungry CEO?
yup… these kind of things will hurt the image of the NBA as the no. 1 pro hoop league… which make me wonder if this Lakers vs Celtics reborned rivalry was really orchestrated from the start… from the Garnett & Allen trade to the the very controversial Gasol trade to the Lakers… is it really true that no other teams knew that Gasol was for trade until the Lakers got him?
Interesting suggestion dimebag…
The Celtic moves seemed legit at the time and still do in my mind, but I’m sure many people are still scratching their heads over the Gasol trade. Hmm… Jerry West stepped down as the Grizzlies’ president/ GM in June of 2007 and now one year later he’s in LA celebrating w/ Kobe & the Lakers…
I know, West wasn’t the man who pulled the trigger to land Kwame Brown, but he did sell his Memphis home to his former boss, billionaire Grizz owner Michael Heisley. So, I think it’s safe to say that West & Heisley are still on good terms. Was the Gasol trade a case of friendly collusion?
We don’t know, but we DO know that a trade like that would have been laughed at and vetoed immediately in almost every fantasy league out there. Yet when a billionaire owner, one of the most storied franchises in sports history, and one of the most popular sports leagues in the world are involved, then a trade like that just suddenly goes thru?
It certainly smells fishy, and Stern’s response to Donaghy’s recent allegations did nothing to make me trust the NBA Commish any more than I did before. He pointed out Donaghy’s lack of credibility, but he did NOT deny the accusations.
Honestly, I’m pretty tired of Mr. Stern running the NBA. Would anyone else like to see him be replaced?
Obviously, the health of Rondo’s ankle is going to be HUGE for games 4 and 5. Here’s what he said about it recently on Yardbarker:
If you were watching the game you know that I injured my ankle in the third quarter. It happened on a fast break and I rolled it. I think I may have stepped on someone’s foot, but I still haven’t seen the play. It’s a different feeling than I’ve ever had. I’ve injured my ankle before but this one is unlike the others. The pain is on the inside of my foot. All the other ankle sprains have been on the outside. I will be getting a lot of treatment tonight, tomorrow, Thursday to try to get it ready to go for game 4. I did try to go again in the fourth quarter, but I really couldn’t make any hard cuts. No one is 100% at this point, but I was probably 50%. Coach made the right decision taking me out because I didn’t have my quickness. E House did a great job filling in. When his name was called he was ready to play and that’s big for us.
Heading back to the hotel and will keep working on my ankle. Lots of ice and I’ll keep it elevated. I’ll have more later. Until then I’ll holla.
http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/Let_it_get_away/276688
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Eddie House? I don’t think so. I was watching when the dude dropped 50 in college, but I don’t think you can rely on him for 30+ quality PG minutes. Not in the NBA Finals. If Rondo can’t play effectively, that’s a major blow to Boston’s chances.
WOW!!!!!! Biggest choke/epic comeback ever. Incredible. I thought the LAkers were going to run them out the gym and win by 50. They were rolling.
Props to the Celtics. I thought they were bullshit, candy ass bitches but they are NO JOKE.
Destroyed a really good Lakers team. DESTROYED.
What the hell happened? The Lakers were up 22 and then I went for a quick run and swim. Got back and the score was tied.
Has Ray Allen stepped his game up or what? He was a liability earlier on in the playoffs. Does the season end on Sunday or does LA fight back???
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BTW, here is a very interesting article on the Feds investigating Dick Bavetta.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3439554&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
at this point ray allen is the series mvp. over the course of the entire series ray has been the best most consistent player.
this is a numbing humbling loss for me. i thought the celtics were frauds with a candy ass regular season schedule, shitty coach and no real chance. I really really thought the Lakers were the better team and would thrash them.
Celtics are just better. I NEVER thought any team was really just plain better..
we’ll see.
what a way to end the series… boston has completely devoured the lakers!
That was a Trophy winning exclamation point if I’ve ever seen one. Really happy for KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen, but also the unheralded bench crew: Posey, PJ, Powe, etc. It’s a nice way to send Sam Cassell off into retirement as well. What about Rondo? Man, if that kid had a jump shot he’d be an All-Star.
On the other hand…
What a way to go out, out like suckaz LA!!!
Kobe – You’ve done so much yet you still have so much to prove.
Odom – What happened to you bro?
Gasol, Radmanovic & Vujacic – You guys play horrible defense. Perhaps you should work on that over the summer.
The ‘07-08 NBA Season was a good one. Once I soak everything in, I’ll start looking forward to next season. Watch out for a bunch of quality featured & fantasy hoops articles over the summer. We don’t even get much time for rest, because the NBA Draft and the Olympics are right around the corner.
That picture of Bill Russell & KG is simply amazing.
I love this game!