NBA Playoffs 2012/13

Nuri Sahin

Great Pop gif

Paully D

It's about time Wade turned up to help his team, to be honest.

PizzamanIRL

I could watch Parker play all day. So slick.

Nuri Sahin

Fantastic first half, counter punch after counter punch. All tied up at 49 a piece.

padraig_f

Great game. For the Heat, it's all about pushing in transition and semi-transition, to get a shot before the Spurs defense gets set. The earlier in the shot-clock they get the shot up, the better shot it generally is.

Which makes turnovers are deadly for the Spurs, and they had 8, but nice rally at the end of the half. I was wondering where Diaw was.

Nuri Sahin

Btw, Bosh =

Dublin Red Devil

2nd half Lets go SA

Dublin Red Devil

Wade's shoes are bananas

GoldFour4

Neal has great range but taking a three that early in the shot clock is just an awful possession.

Nuri Sahin

When is the last time Wade had a 30 point game? Some performance from him tonight.

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

When is the last time Wade had a 30 point game? Some performance from him tonight.

Probably the best performance of this series so far. You can tell Parker is struggling a bit.

PizzamanIRL

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

When is the last time Wade had a 30 point game? Some performance from him tonight.

Just saw on twitter it was March 4th. Only his 8th this season.

GoldFour4

And I am now off to bed. Heat with a 15 point lead.

Paully D

**** it. Pressure is really on the Spurs now, they need to win their final home game on Sunday or they're done IMO as I couldn't see Miami losing two in a row anywhere, especially at home, as it hasn't happened at all since the beginning of January.

The only thing that would worry me if I was a Heat fan would be the fact it's very difficult to see Wade having anywhere near as big a game as he did tonight, same goes for Bosh. Spurs have had 19 turnovers too.

Heat continue their brilliant record of pulling off a win after a defeat in the playoffs, now 6-0.

Nuri Sahin

Hardly noticed Bosh helping himself to 20 points so far tbh.

ButtersSuki

Only posting now as I've been mad busy.....

Watched game 4 the ther night. I was curious beforehand to see if Pop would bench Parker and let him rest the hamstring but he didn't. After a pretty good first half Parker's output dropped considerably in the 2nd - not sure how much of that was hamstring related, tiredness, or Miami D though.

It was a real game until just after half-time. What was most interesting for me though was Pop essentially throwing in the towel when down 15 with circa 5 mins to play When he pulled out the starters. Almost a "you can have this one" play as he wants his guys to get as much rest as possible and be back and ready for game 5.

5 will be interesting. It's a must win for SA, and I see them getting it. If they lose however, I can't see them winning 2 straight in Miami. I don't see Wade exploding again like he did in game 4 (or Bosh to a lesser degree). A lot depends on whether Parker is healthy or not though.

leggo

Yeah I'm banking on the Spurs for Game 5. As you said ButterSuki, Pop didn't seem too affected by the loss, as his plan probably involved winning 2-1 in SA, so he'd have written that game off once Miami started pulling away.

On Sunday, Miami will need to have another big performance like that from Wade. And that performance was as close to 2006 Wade as we'll see again. Recent history has shown us that that Dwyane Wade can show up for the occasional game, but will then go missing again. It also tells us that Miami can't string two all-around team performances together against quality, healthy opposition. Take into account that Parker managed 31 minutes on Thursday and will have a further 3 days rest and it looks in the bag for them.

That said, if Miami do win then this is over on Tuesday.

Paully D

Looks like Doc and Garnett will end up with the Clippers. Cracking acquisitions for them if it happens.

Woj:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--celtics-in-trade-talks-to-send-doc-rivers--kevin-garnett-to-clippers-201709995.html

The Boston Celtics are deep in discussions with the Los Angeles Clippers on a blockbuster deal to send coach Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to Los Angeles, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The final hurdle of a deal centers on the Clippers' willingness to include guard Eric Bledsoe into a trade package with Boston, sources said.
Boston and Los Angeles are discussing a package that will send DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks to the Celtics for Garnett and the right to hire Rivers as coach, sources said.

Garnett will waive his no-trade clause to go to the Clippers, where he'll be reunited with Rivers. Celtics assistant Ty Lue also will likely join them in Los Angeles, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling is prepared to pay Rivers in the neighborhood of the $7 million annual salary he currently holds with the Celtics, front office sources said. Rivers has three years and $21 million left on his Boston deal.

Rivers could speak with Chris Paul as soon as Saturday about assurances that he will be willing to re-sign with the Clippers should Rivers and Garnett join him in Los Angeles, sources said.

The Celtics and Rivers want a finality to these talks, and there's pressure to complete a deal in the next two days or walk away completely, sources said.

EDIT - Although maybe this won't be happening. I think the sticking point was that the Celtics wanted Bledsloe included in any deal, but the Clippers weren't willing for that to happen. A Clippers beat writer has just posted:

Doc Rivers been informed Clippers won't accept Celtics offer. Rivers prepared to stay in Boston, sources.

padraig_f

If I was the Clippers, I'd do anything to make that deal happen, would turn them into an overnight contender if they got Rivers. Bledsoe wouldn't be a sticking point.

leggo

It'd be very LA Clippers if they let Eric Bledsoe get in the way of them bringing in a Championship-winning team. The bad side of LA Clippers, that is. The kind who'll probably run out of good options by the start of the season and end up re-hiring Vinny Del Negro. Christ.

kmart6

Hate the scheduling of The Finals...does not suit a Mon-Fri job!!

Paully D

I see there was also talk of a sign and trade with Howard going to the Clippers for Griffin and Bledsoe, but Woj said a source close to the situation told him ''that will never happen''.

He also says the reason the Clippers don't want to lose Bledsoe is because he's a ''trade asset'' and that ''Rivers wants to coach him with Chris Paul''.

leggo

I think we can narrow down the race to sign Dwight to the Lakers and Rockets at this stage.

Part of the reason I'll be gutted if the Doc/Garnett/Clippers trade falls through is because it kills the possibility of having both the Clippers and Rockets as legit contenders in the West. Add in Denver, Golden State, Memphis and a new-look Lakers into the equation (on top of SA & OKC of course) and wow...that'd be the most competitive conference we've had in forever.

We'll see how it plays out anyway.

kmart6

Paully D wrote: »

I see there was also talk of a sign and trade with Howard going to the Clippers for Griffin and Bledsoe, but Woj said a source close to the situation told him ''that will never happen''.

He also says the reason the Clippers don't want to lose Bledsoe is because he's a ''trade asset'' and that ''Rivers wants to coach him with Chris Paul''.

Don't think Woj needed to confirm that'll never happen!

Dublin Red Devil

It would be great if the Pacers could use Granger to get Paul

Paul
Stevenson
George
West
Hibbert

Thats a championship winning team right there.

Dublin Red Devil

Boston and Los Angeles are discussing a package that will send DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks to the Celtics for Garnett and the right to hire Rivers as coach, sources said. Garnett will waive his no-trade clause to go to the Clippers, where he'll be reunited with Rivers and likely Celtics assistant Ty Lue, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo

the sticking point is the clips will give jordan plus a 1st rounder but the celtics want jordan, bledsoe plus 2 first rounders


as a celtics fan garnett is not a big deal for me as were rebuilding anyway but to give up possibly the best coach in the nba for jordan plus a 1 would be crazy

ButtersSuki

Check back to my post on the 9th May on the proposed LAC-BOS trade and see how much it's moved since then:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84528771

It was Blake Griffin, Jordan and Bledsoe for Doc, KG and Pierce!

For me as a Celtics fan, it seems obvious Doc and KG now want to leave. If that's the case, let them go. But I'd want more than Jordan and a couple of pics for this.

BQQ

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

It would be great if the Pacers could use Granger to get Paul

Paul
Stevenson
George
West
Hibbert

Thats a championship winning team right there.

You'd need a LOT more than Granger to get Paul.
If Paul was traded to the pacers that lineup would never take the floor because at least one of those players would be part of the trade.

Not gonna happen in a million years anyway.

padraig_f

Spurs make a change to their starting lineup, Ginobili in for Splitter. Ginobili's had a nightmare finals, hopefully this might spark him into action.