The Official 2006 NBA Playoffs Thread

[namkcuR]

The 2006 NBA Finals start tonight!

 

[LMP]

The 2006 NBA Finals start tonight!

Hell yes!

I still don't understand the 2-3-2 format.

Especially after the 2-2-1-1-1 is used for the first 3 rounds.

better fix that Mr. Stern.

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

I haven't a clue in how many but I'm going with Miami.

 

[impy13]

I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time.

 

[LMP]

I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time.

...my little green friend.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

now i don't dislike dwyane wade, persay... but the nba media machine is making me nautious. if i have to hear one more person compare wade to michael jordan, i'm going to throw something at my TV. you can't be michael jordan if you're not even the most important player on your own team... which is, and i don't care what anyone says, shaq.

 

[stammer476]

pistons in 3... i'd bet my next pay check on it

Go Knicks!

 

[speedracer]

now i don't dislike dwyane wade, persay... but the nba media machine is making me nautious. if i have to hear one more person compare wade to michael jordan, i'm going to throw something at my TV. you can't be michael jordan if you're not even the most important player on your own team... which is, and i don't care what anyone says, shaq.

There's one respect in which the comparison with Jordan is very accurate, and it's in the way Wade has expanded his offensive game.

Last year, Wade would attack the basket with reckless abandon. However, since he's a relatively small guy, he took a lot of hits and eventually his body completely broke down in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, allowing the Pistons to take the series.

This year, he's expanded his offensive game to include more midrange shooting, especially that unguardable 15-18 foot fadeaway jumper. As a result, he has more ways to score and can stay healthier. This is happening in his third year in the league; Jordan didn't start diversifying his offensive arsenal in this manner until quite a bit later in his career.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

that's a nice try but considering that no one rips on the knicks more than i do, it doesn't really work. sorry.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

There's one respect in which the comparison with Jordan is very accurate, and it's in the way Wade has expanded his offensive game.

Last year, Wade would attack the basket with reckless abandon. However, since he's a relatively small guy, he took a lot of hits and eventually his body completely broke down in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, allowing the Pistons to take the series.

This year, he's expanded his offensive game to include more midrange shooting, especially that unguardable 15-18 foot fadeaway jumper. As a result, he has more ways to score and can stay healthier. This is happening in his third year in the league; Jordan didn't start diversifying his offensive arsenal in this manner until quite a bit later in his career.

michael jordan averaged 37 points per game in his third season... without shaq.


for once i agree with mark jackson. wade is a stronger, slightly taller version of allen iverson.

 

[speedracer]

michael jordan averaged 37 points per game in his third season... without shaq.


for once i agree with mark jackson. wade is a stronger, slightly taller version of allen iverson.

I didn't say Wade was better than Jordan at the same point in their careers; I said that he was more versatile.

The balance of the game is much more shifted towards the defense today than it was back in the mid 80s as well.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

third year jordan would have averaged 47 a game in today's nba... he played in a time where if you scored so much you got sent to the floor and the guy didn't have to worry about being suspended for 5 games for doing it.

 

[namkcuR]

third year jordan would have averaged 47 a game in today's nba... he played in a time where if you scored so much you got sent to the floor and the guy didn't have to worry about being suspended for 5 games for doing it.

Ah, the good old days of the Pistons' implentation of the 'Jordan Rules'...and then the legendary Bulls-Knicks rivalry of the 90s...shit, even the Knicks-Heat rivalry of the late 90s was allowed to be waaaaaay more physical than anything in today's league.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

oh and i forgot to add that dwyane wade's jumper is not exactly stellar... he's very streaky. at times it's great, at times it looks god awful.

which again adds to the comparison mark jackson brought up... that he's a taller, stronger allen iverson.

if you had to compare him to someone from the past, i would guess you'd have to say he was a slightly quicker version of isiah thomas, although isiah was a better all around player.

it hurts just so say that

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

lol... all you need to do is run into shaq and you start to bleed

 

[speedracer]

Michael Jordan's scoring average went down after his third year as Scottie Pippen emerged.

Kobe's scoring average has gone up without Shaq by a full point (comparing his '00-'03 stats with his '03-'06 stats).

And defenses don't mug players nowadays the way the Pistons, Celtics and other teams did back in the day, but they don't need to. Physical play isn't the only part of defense -- quickness and brains are as well, and I think in general teams are smarter and more athletic on the defensive end than in the past. (Not that the Pistons and Celtics of the past weren't quick or smart, but such defensive prowess is more widespread today.)

 

[namkcuR]

I, too, agree with Mark Jackson's assessment of Wade being a taller, stronger Iverson. I really didn't want to have to agree with anything he said after the whole 'Kobe will be the best ever when all is said and done'(lunacy, pure lunacy) thing, but I have to agree with this.

 

[namkcuR]

isiah was a better all around player.

it hurts just so say that

So, am I to infer from this, that Isiah's performance as GM has been SO horrific, that it has begun to hamper your appreciation(if there ever was any to begin with) of his performance as a player?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

yes

 

[speedracer]

pistons in 3... i'd bet my next pay check on it

Did you recently quit your job?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

any of you experts want to wager a paycheck or 2 against the PISTONS, you let me know...they aren't even trying against Milw.

 

[namkcuR]

Ok, I have to say this: Isiah and Dolan have done the unthinkable...

...They've made me feel bad for Larry Brown.

I am no Larry Brown fan. I can't stand the guy. I never thought he was the right choice for the Knicks, and I still think letting him go, either by buyout or straight up firing, is the best way to go for the Knicks.

But as much as I can't stand the guy, I don't think he deserves what the Knicks' brass is doing to him right now. Either fire the guy or don't fire the guy, but don't make him sit through draft workouts for players he may never coach(well, he's LB, so he wouldn't coach a rookie anyways, but you get my point), don't make him show up for a job when the whole world knows you are probably going to fire him. It's embarassing. I actually almost feel bad for the guy, and I surprise myself for saying that. I surprise myself, because given the way LB publically embarasses his players all year long, I would've thought I'd delight to see him get a taste of his own medicine. But strangely, I'm not. Two wrongs don't make a right. The way the Knicks are treating LB right now is just mean-spirited, and there's no way around that. And, what's worse, not only are the Knicks treating LB like garbage, but they are also all but ensuring that NO coach worth his salt will EVER want to sign a contract with the Knicks EVER again.

Isiah and Dolan ought to be men and just step up and say 'We made a mistake hiring LB, it hurt the team, it could end up hurting the team some more, but we're going our separate ways now, and we're going to try to move on as best we can'. It's a shame they're more interested in power trips and how best to deflect blame - and ultimately hurt the Knicks' franchise not only in the short term but in the long term as well - than they are in running the organization in a classy, professional manner.

 

[speedracer]

Why doesn't Larry Brown just resign? If he still wanted to coach the Knicks after the season, he can't still possibly want to coach after dangling in the wind for so long, can he?

Maybe he's pretending to want to still coach just so he can swing public opinion on his side, but he still has way more goodwill on his side than the Knicks front office -- he can either quit or deliver an ultimatum and get away with it.

 

[namkcuR]

Mavs win Game 1...

 

[impy13]

Great game.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Why doesn't Larry Brown just resign? If he still wanted to coach the Knicks after the season, he can't still possibly want to coach after dangling in the wind for so long, can he?

Maybe he's pretending to want to still coach just so he can swing public opinion on his side, but he still has way more goodwill on his side than the Knicks front office -- he can either quit or deliver an ultimatum and get away with it.

if he resigns he gives up the 40 million left on his contract.

would you give up 40 million dollars when you know they just want to fire you anyway, meaning you could collect all or most of it?

the dolan camp is holding out to try and get brown to resign and/or make him wait long enough where he would be nervous that he couldn't get another job next year and just take a small buyout... it's obvious, brown knows it, so he's going to just hold on and force dolan to make a move. thus far larry brown has tried numerous times to have a face to face meeting with jim dolan. each one of those requests have been denied.

it's retarded.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

DALLAS -- Commissioner David Stern is appalled by the state of the game.

Not the NBA game, mind you, but the game as it is played by a significant percentage of young Americans who aspire to make it into Stern's league.

"There is something totally wrong with the development system for young basketball players," Stern said Friday at his annual NBA Finals news conference. "It historically has not been the place for professional leagues to do [something about] it, but on the basis of the consistent failures of everyone else to do it, we are at least thinking about it, and we'll be getting some dialogue with some interested parties to see if there's something that can be done here."

The subject came up at a Finals in which the Dallas Mavericks have become the first NBA team since the Houston Rockets a decade ago to be led into the championship round by a foreign-born player.

International players are flooding the league and now make up almost 20 percent of the NBA's player population, and scouts are increasingly turning to Europe and South America to find young players who have been developed with a focus on fundamentals rather than flash.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich summed it up recently by noting how his team usually has a choice on draft night between picking an American player who has been coddled by sneaker companies throughout his teenage years and a foreign player who has spent six or more years playing for his country's national program. And as we've seen with San Antonio's recent drafting patterns, the Spurs have been making the latter choice nearly every time.

NBA officials first broached the subject with other interested parties last winter at a meeting in Chicago that included: officials from Nike; current and former college coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and George Raveling; NCAA president Myles Brand; and representatives from AAU programs. A follow-up meeting was held recently, but no consensus has emerged as to how to address a problem that has been festering over the past two decades.

Twenty years ago, players typically honed their basketball and life management skills in college, then came into the NBA in their early 20s. Nowadays, however, the best American players are often identified before they even reach high school, and sneaker companies and AAU coaches often have a greater influence on those players than their high school coaches and hometown mentors. The end result has been a generation of players entering the league with enormous skills and potential -- but with a lack of comprehension of many of the intricacies of the game that are so important at the highest level.

"The roster of NBA teams is going to be enriched by huge numbers of international players, and it's going to happen," Stern said. "But I also believe that the production of American players and their development is going to go through a renaissance. If we have to fuel it ourselves, OK. Maybe we're viewing it as our obligation to become involved in something we never wanted to touch because it was both unpleasant and possibly deleterious to their academic health, but we're talking about it internally."

Incoming deputy commissioner Adam Silver expounded on Stern's statements in an interview with ESPN.com.

"As David said, from a college and NBA standpoint, it's often too late -- by the time the rules allow us to first engage the players -- to do anything in terms of skills and personal development," Silver said. "There's a morass of rules, some Byzantine, that we're just beginning to understand. We've never done that kind of a thorough investigation into the layered rules and don't yet have an understanding of what we could do, or what others could do.

"We're not as concerned that we get involved, as long as there's a system that produces American players that can compete at the highest levels by the time they're of NBA age. That's what our concern is," Silver said. "We just don't want to bury our heads in the sand and pretend [that] somehow players will arrive miraculously as fully developed adults when there's a screwed-up system all along the way."

about friggin time

thank you david stern

 

[impy13]

Well, I went up to the AAC today since it's the closest I'm going to get to being at the Finals. Mostly just strolled around the shop looking for this new shirt that has Avery in a general's uniform on it. I wanted to get a green Diop shirt to round out my collection (white Quisy, blue Mbenga) but the only green alternate T's they had were Dirk. I did buy an official Finals program though, so at least I'll have that.

I also got four tickets to Tuesday night's "Beat The Heat" watching party. Basically it's five dollars admission to watch the away games on the jumbotron in the AAC. It ought to be a good time, and if it is I'll probably get tickets for Thursday and Sunday's games as well.


I'm still dumbstruck about all this. I've had faith for years and years, but now that they actually made it here....unreal.

 

[namkcuR]

Well, I went up to the AAC today since it's the closest I'm going to get to being at the Finals. Mostly just strolled around the shop looking for this new shirt that has Avery in a general's uniform on it. I wanted to get a green Diop shirt to round out my collection (white Quisy, blue Mbenga) but the only green alternate T's they had were Dirk. I did buy an official Finals program though, so at least I'll have that.

I also got four tickets to Tuesday night's "Beat The Heat" watching party. Basically it's five dollars admission to watch the away games on the jumbotron in the AAC. It ought to be a good time, and if it is I'll probably get tickets for Thursday and Sunday's games as well.


I'm still dumbstruck about all this. I've had faith for years and years, but now that they actually made it here....unreal.

How long have you been a fan? Were you routing for the Mavs back in the days of Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, Jamal Mashburn, Jimmy Jackson?

 

[impy13]

Don't forget Kidd.

I was born in 87, so I obviously couldn't have been a fan in 88 when the Mavsies went up against the Showtime Lakers in the WCF, but for as long as I can remember, I've been a green/blue blooded Mavs fan. Throughout the 90's it sucked, especially when all your friends were rooting for MJ and the Bulls (as I'm sure you were, Ruck, but at least they're your actual local team).

So, yes. I've stuck with this team for as long as I can remember, and considering their track record, this is probably the most exciting time of my sports life.

I love the Horns for every college sport (obviously), but the Mavericks are my favorite team in any sport, pro or college. The Rose Bowl was incredible, but for me, it won't measure up to seeing Dirk & Co. parading that trophy around Big D, if indeed they win these Finals.


Oh, and a little FYI. Harper has been an analyst on our local Mavs network for awhile now. Love the guy.