2008/2009 NBA Playoffs

Kinetic^

2 altercations already, both started by Nuggets. Scumbags.

Sea Devils

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Tbh, the entire playoff series needs to be looked at imo. 7 games per round is way too much. 82 games in a season is way too much. It gives no sense of value to the regular season when you have too many games. You should play each team home and away in the regular season. Then it should just be straight knockout in the playoffs, no second chances.....never mind 7 chances. :

Agreed but TBH they should never have switched from the best of five format in the first round as they did a few years ago. Apart from the Mavs and Warriors and now the C's and Bulls when has there ever been a classic first round matchup?. Also I read a article only a few days ago that Stern said he won't reduce the amount of games played because of the loss of income something the NBA can't afford in these economic times

I understand the NBA is a TV driven sport but they have to do something to not space the games so far out. You know the NBA is in trouble when WWE Monday Night Raw is getting higher ratings then an NBA Playoff game. I watch it from time to time but the fact that WWE is being watched more than any NBA playoff game is ridiculous.

Hopefully it shows that NBA Teams and/or games aren't enticing.

Kinetic^

Eh the rockets beat the Lakers............ok. Maybe Kobe was off his game after not winning the MVP.


Orlando beat Celtics, kind of knew that was going to happen tbh.

Liam O

Only have a passing interest in the playoffs now that my 2 favourite teams, the Bulls and the Blazers are out. Want an Orlando and Cleveland finals in the East and a Denver and Rockets (one can hope) finals in the west. I can't stand the lakers and I'm coming not to like the C's despite being really impressed by Allen and Pierce's ability to make the big shot.

eagle eye

Watched both games last night. Really disappointed with the Celtics who got back into the game which looked unlikely after the first two minutes of the third quarter when they were 28 points down. While they worked hard and got back into it, they seemed to waste time towards the end of the game and it ended up costing them. Especially from 2 minutes down, the clock management was horrific.

The Lakers were bad in the first half but improved in the second half, I was very impressed with Yao Ming again last night, he had an exceptional game. Artest was excellent also with his three point shooting giving the Rockets such a huge advantage and in the end creating space inside which was a major factor in defeating the Lakers last night. Kobe was very poor in the first half but was on top form for most of the second half. They just couldn't handle Yao, not as many second chances on offense as they would be used to, and their own shooting left a lot to be desired. Fisher has lost his confidence, you could see his head drop everytime he missed a shot.

I'm watching the Cavs/Hawks right now, Hawks started well but Cavs currently on a 13-4 run to go ahead. Its just so enjoyable to watch LeBron, its like watching fantasy basketball or something he is just so unreal.

eagle eye

Couple of words suffice here. Awesome Cavs, great offense, but as we all know at the very top of the game its all about defense and thats where they really are supreme right now.

I really should be in bed right now but I think I'm gonna stay up and watch the Nuggets/Mavs. Watching LeBron just gives me a huge appetite for Bball.

Sea Devils

I think one of the underrated aspects of this Lakers-Rockets series is the coaching. Rick Adelman is one of the most under rated coaches in this era and deserves way more credit than he gets. He is one coach who has, in a way, legitimately beaten Jackson in the playoffs if it wouldn't have been for the choke job of his players.

In Portland, Adelman and the Portland Trailblazers had the Lakers on the rope ready to give them the knockout punch but, for some reason, the players decide to take the last 10 minutes of the game off.


In Sacramento, Rick Adelman and the Sacramento Kings hold the key and fight plan for a TKO on the Lakers but some of the most unfortunate events occur and the Kings players choke away the series at the charity stripe.

He's had Jackson's number twice and his players failed him. He's very under rated.

eagle eye

Well the Celtics were amazing tonight. Rajon Rondo with a triple double and the last double was points and he got it with a hard dunk over superman, sooo sweet.:D

Eddie House could not miss either and Perkins really has settled into his role on defence keeping Howard very quiet. And Ray Allen was superb. Heard another funny one too, Scal wearing a headband has been nicknamed Jackie Moon.:pac: The other important thing tonight was that Paul Pierce only played around 15 minutes, he only scored one basket which was a three pointer and we still win big. Its huge for us to have a rested Pierce for our next game in Orlando, we have to take an away game now after the first night loss.

As I'm typing the Lakers are off to a hot start which I reckoned they needed after the performance of the Rockets the other night. Looking good for them.

Carcharodon

Only saw bits of the Celtics game and the second half of the Lakers.
Celtics looked very good, it was to be expected that they would come back though, too much quality in the team, should be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Alston might get suspended for the next game after slapping House around the back of the head, funny more than anything else.

Lakers v Rockets is going to be great series, great game/battle tonight between the two teams, it was an extremely physical game.
Rockets showed they will not be intimidated, i really hate the Lakers !!!! Odom and his **** talking and taunting, Scolla should of clocked him.
Fisher should be banned after that cheap shot at Scolla, he annoys the hell out of me.
Artest was unlucky to get ejected in my opinion, he probably should not of reacted that way but it was nothing really, technical at most. Bryant did catch him but it was nothing too major, just playoff foul that refs missed.

Adelman is a great coach, after the rockets went down a lot he apparently but on all the bench players and they brought it back.
He has been unlucky in the past, hope it changes.

Deadly Delta

eagle eye wrote: »

Well the Celtics were amazing tonight. Rajon Rondo with a triple double and the last double was points and he got it with a hard dunk over superman, sooo sweet.:D.

Ya they were good last night, but very inconsistent since Garnett got injured, I just don't think they can do it this year without him and Powe.

Hope i'm wrong!

Maybe they're stringing out these series in the hope Garnett will return.

eagle eye

Carcharodon wrote: »

Only saw bits of the Celtics game and the second half of the Lakers.
Celtics looked very good, it was to be expected that they would come back though, too much quality in the team, should be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Alston might get suspended for the next game after slapping House around the back of the head, funny more than anything else.

Lakers v Rockets is going to be great series, great game/battle tonight between the two teams, it was an extremely physical game.
Rockets showed they will not be intimidated, i really hate the Lakers !!!! Odom and his **** talking and taunting, Scolla should of clocked him.
Fisher should be banned after that cheap shot at Scolla, he annoys the hell out of me.
Artest was unlucky to get ejected in my opinion, he probably should not of reacted that way but it was nothing really, technical at most. Bryant did catch him but it was nothing too major, just playoff foul that refs missed.

Adelman is a great coach, after the rockets went down a lot he apparently but on all the bench players and they brought it back.
He has been unlucky in the past, hope it changes.

I watched the Lakers/Rockets game as well and I would wonder about Adelman after this game. The bench brought them back into it, and it was clear that Yao was not on his game/Lakers were prepared for him, but he leaves him on when its clearly not working. The Lakers speed was key to their success last night, all the breakaways negated Yao to a large extent as he is left trailing behind with a fast break. I was sure that he would leave out Yao when that happened.
I think Fisher misses a game for certain for his elbow. Artest was unlucky imo as well but he shouldn't really have got in Kobe's face over it after it was clear that it had been missed by the officials.
I actually think though that a suspension for Fisher is both an advantage to him and the Lakers. He is not at his best right now and sitting out might just fire him up.

Did you see that amazing basket from Kobe last night. I'll edit if I can find one of those vidpics.

Sea Devils

Damn...Cleveland isn't going to face a team that would have made the playoffs in the West until the Conference Finals:eek:

Ohh and Eagle Eye is this what you mean?

busted flush

Clevaland and Lakers final . James out of this world last night!

busted flush

Hey did any of you guys hear the latest on Dirk, apparently the cops arrested his girlfriend when he was up in Denver during the week . She is a griffter and wanted in 2/3 states on a series of charges. Apperantly Dirk tipped of the cops before he went up to the game as he had a pi do a trace on her when she gave him conflicting sur names! Now she is in custody and has released a statment claiming she is pregnant. Dirk looked like a broken man at his press confrence yesterday. Denver to prevail now for def espically with Howards ankle fooked too! Im putting a healthy size bet on the Nuggets for tomorrows game, even though im a Dallas fan!

Kinetic^

busted flush wrote: »

Hey did any of you guys hear the latest on Dirk, apparently the cops arrested his girlfriend when he was up in Denver during the week . She is a griffter and wanted in 2/3 states on a series of charges. Apperantly Dirk tipped of the cops before he went up to the game as he had a pi do a trace on her when she gave him conflicting sur names! Now she is in custody and has released a statment claiming she is pregnant. Dirk looked like a broken man at his press confrence yesterday. Denver to prevail now for def espically with Howards ankle fooked too! Im putting a healthy size bet on the Nuggets for tomorrows game, even though im a Dallas fan!

Ajhahahahahaha that's priceless!!!

Carcharodon

Sea Devils wrote: »

Damn...Cleveland isn't going to face a team that would have made the playoffs in the West until the Conference Finals:eek:

Ohh and Eagle Eye is this what you mean?

I presume that is the basket he is on about too, although I can't stand the man he has some talent in all fairness to him, great play.

Looking forward to the Rockets/Lakers, I think Alderman will adapt again and Yao will be effective. I think Rockets will win unless Kobe turns it on, who knows though.

Cleveland are getting a very easy ride to the finals, Hawks will probably take one game at home I say, its all a bit too easy.

Kinetic^

He was obviously watching Tim Duncan's highlights before his game. Timothy used to do this all the time.

Sea Devils

Watched the Lakers-Rockets last night. It was a damn track meet. 82 FG attempts and 33 FT attempts (although many were intentional fouls at the end) are a lot of possessions. Once again, the Rockets will not win that game, but I'm not sure how they stop it.

Gasol didn't play great but he was very solid on the offensive boards mainly because Yao (speaking of which I hope he's ok) was too deep in the paint that he couldn't box Gasol out and he could take what ever angle he wanted on the offensive boards.

Bynum was decent and was very active really . Artest caught him out a few times for easy buckets but if he plays like that for the reminder of the postseason thats big for the Lakers.

If the Lakers can continue that level of intensity they will win this series. I don't think the Rockets can hang with them because of the difference in foostpead.

Speaking of which on a completely unrelated note very sad to hear about the death of Chuck Daly winner of two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons and a Gold Medal winner with the Dream Team in 1992. Very sad news:(

Kinetic^

Yao is gone for the playoffs, bye bye Rockets.

busted flush

busted flush wrote: »

Denver to prevail now for def espically with Howards ankle fooked too! Im putting a healthy size bet on the Nuggets for tomorrows game, even though im a Dallas fan!

This nuggets side are very good guys , their defense is so so agressive ! I made a nice killing in the game but it hurts to back against your boys!

Sea Devils

Yeah it looked like Dallas had it won but then they let the Nuggets stay close with them and thats when the Antoine Wright mistake happenned. I thought he fouled Melo but the refs thought otherwise and let the play go through thus leaving Anthony to hit the three and go up by one with a second left.

My problem with the ending is if you're going to foul him then foul him hard don't do it softly like Wright did.Don't take his head off but foul him hard enough so that the Refs can see it. It's tough to see from the angles they gave on the replay. Also, the Mavs had a chance to win it, but they couldn't close it out.

It was funny seeing Cuban get upset again though. He pushed one of the camerman away at the end and when Melo made that shot you could see him cursing. And their leader, Nowitzki, walked away with his head down saying nothing. Not really something I want my leader to do.

Rockets are playing exactly like the team that won 22 straight without Yao

busted flush

Sea Devils wrote: »

My problem with the ending is if you're going to foul him then foul him hard don't do it softly like Wright did.Don't take his head off but foul him hard enough so that the Refs can see it. It's tough to see from the angles they gave on the replay. Also, the Mavs had a chance to win it, but they couldn't close it out.

It was funny seeing Cuban get upset again though. He pushed one of the camerman away at the end

cuban is a ledgend, he wears his heart on his sleeve, it was very funny to be fair!

Liam O

Rockets looking good at HT. Expect a blitz from the Lakers in the 3rd methinks, unfortunately

Sea Devils

busted flush wrote: »

cuban is a ledgend, he wears his heart on his sleeve, it was very funny to be fair!

It's owners like Cuban that I wish the Warriors had. He cares about his team and knows the League tends to play favourites.

Kinetic^

Rockets win and go 2-2 in the series.:eek:

eagle eye

Yeah Rockets were superb. Its interesting, I pointed out that the Lakers seemed to have it easy when Yao was playing in game 2 I think it was and when he went out for nearly the entire second quarter the Rockets turned it around but ended up losing with Yao playing pretty much all of the remainder of the game. I think against the Lakers he is too slow and doesn't get back often enough and leaves them wide open at the back, its basically a five on four on turnover plays.

I just watched the Celtics game and we lead by up to eight late in the game but went on a horrid run of no field goals for about 7 minutes or something like that. Anyways you just knew it was going to the wire with the lead changing hands by one point on a number of occasion in the last two minutes. So with eleven seconds remaining the Celtics have possession and trail by one. Whatever play was called did not work out and I was there thinking 'oh no', and then with just as time is expiring the ball ends up in Glen Davis' hands and I'm saying 'oh no, game over ' and it was he hits a buzzing beating two point jumper:eek:.\0/ Absolutely awesome. Celtics were better on defense tonight and Rondo had another huge game, aided by Pierce, and let me say it again Kendrick Perkins has come in and done a splendid job in the absence of our big defenders. There was very little help from the bench tonight, it was the starters who got it done. I'm really impressed with Glen Davis also, he seems to be hitting stride at just the right time.
I'm not predicting the outcome of this series yet as you just don't know for sure what the Celtics will be like on any given night but its great to make up for that home defeat, it really sets it up now.

busted flush

Glen davis should be a line backer he is fuc k ing huge! I tuned in for the last 3 minutes(which took about 10 minutes lol). How many points did Allen get i think the spread was 21.5 and i was thinking of laying it but never did?

Sea Devils

Dwight Howard: 8 games vs Bos/Philly: 11.6 shot attempts per game

Shaq:
2000 playoffs: 22 shot attempts per game
2001 playoffs: 21.5 shot attempts per game
2002 playoffs: 20.2 shot attempts per game

Rafer Alston has attempted more shots per game in this playoffs than Dwight Howard.

That's just unacceptable to not get him more shots.

He has a TS% (True shooting percentage) of 60%. He's the most efficient offensive player on the Magic. Get him the ball....

Lafortezza

The problem with Howard is that he has no jump shot from 10 ft. So If you give it to him in the post with his back to the basket he gets doubled really quick. He gets a ridiculous amount of his points from offensive rebounds and alley-oops and quick interior passing for dunks. He's still young but he needs to develop and shooting game to become truely unstoppable.
He shoot FT's as badly as shaq too.

Kinetic^

What lafortezza said. No mid range game is what's holding him back atm.