2010 NBA Finals and beyond

[lazarus]

Nothing would make we wish that I was a Lakers fan, though if I was ever in LA, I would love to go to a game. Laz's hero, Stevie Spielberg, got a shoutout last night.

Too bad Scorsese wasn't there to strangle him with a Knicks jersey while Spike Lee and De Niro kicked him a la Billy Batts.

Notice that Nicholson has never worked with S.S.

 

[LMP]

They were busing stopping at Spike's Mom's house to get a knife to finish off De Palma.

Noted.

EDITED because Spike's obviously Pesci in this analogy instead of Scorsese.

 

[No spoken words]

Shane?

 

[namkcuR]

Looks like Tom Thibodeau has been offered the Bulls' head coaching position, and has turned down the Hornets' and Nets' offers to accept it.

I like it.

 

[Imperor]

Whoever wrote that article is a an overweight glob of grease.

dallasbasketball.com is my go-to source, but yeah, Fish and I have a big love-hate relationship. Either way, the article isn't really calling out the Magic. Just saying the criticisms constantly lobbed at the Mavs are easily applicable to a lot of other team. I mean, we're talking about a league in which the majority of all-time championships resign in LA or Boston. There are a lot of have-nots.

 

[LMP]

dallasbasketball.com is my go-to source, but yeah, Fish and I have a big love-hate relationship. Either way, the article isn't really calling out the Magic. Just saying the criticisms constantly lobbed at the Mavs are easily applicable to a lot of other team. I mean, we're talking about a league in which the majority of all-time championships resign in LA or Boston. There are a lot of have-nots.

Oh, without question, I just found the tone of the piece to be petty and aggressive.

The larger markets will always thrive even with the revenue sharing in the current CBA. Speaking of which, I can't wait for the lockout after next season!

 

[namkcuR]

World Wide Wes has been telling everyone that he believes LeBron James(notes) is leaning hard toward signing with the Chicago Bulls. No one can be certain if basketball’s most famous middleman has been whispering honest insights to friends or amping the anxiety of Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert. Just know this: It wasn’t until Tom Thibodeau – who swore he never again wanted an agent – signed with William Wesley’s CAA that the Chicago Bulls grew serious about the coach’s candidacy.

NBA stands at LeBron's beck and call - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

 

[No spoken words]

Way too many fucking whistles, especially down the stretch.

 

[lazarus]

Chanting "airball" at a guy who just broke a record for three-pointers? Pretty stupid.

 

[No spoken words]

Chanting "airball" at a guy who just broke a record for three-pointers? Pretty stupid.

It's pavlovian: you see it, you chant it.

 

[lazarus]

Officiating really was horrible, both sides should have reason to be angry.

Also, Bynum earn anyone's respect yet?

 

[Hewson]

I'll give Bynum his due. He's playing quite well.

You ready to give props to Rondo yet?

 

[Diemen]

Wow were there a lot of shitty calls. Most favored the Celtics tonight.

Bynum was solid tonight. Definitely way more active than he has been of late. If he can keep that intensity up, he's going to create serious problems for the Celt bigs. The Celts defense kept the Lakers out of sync tonight, but you know the Lakers will make adjustments, and there's no way Kobe is going to allow himself to be as relatively quiet offensively as he was tonight.

3 straight in Boston ought to make this a very interesting series.

 

[dan_smee]

<----- hells yeah.

Few lucky calls, but you cant say they didnt deserve it. Rondo with the triple double, allen record for 3's..

Big positive for the c's was garnett and pierce really misfired. They didnt need to fire with allen and rondo playing so well, but positive signs,and perfect timing to get the series back to boston.

 

[LMP]

How many triple-doubles does Rondo have in the playoffs? Is it as much as Kobe's near triple-doubles?

 

[powerhour24]

Rondo is an alien, end of story.

 

[Diemen]

How many triple-doubles does Rondo have in the playoffs? Is it as much as Kobe's near triple-doubles?

Heh.

 

[No spoken words]

I was actually impressed with Davis' 2nd half effort...dude was playing his heart out.

 

[No spoken words]

How many triple-doubles does Rondo have in the playoffs? Is it as much as Kobe's near triple-doubles?

I'm trying to convert this into a "9/10 of a triple double joke" but am having issues choosing the exact wording. The thought will have to suffice.

 

[LMP]

I'm trying to convert this into a "9/10 of a triple double joke" but am having issues choosing the exact wording. The thought will have to suffice.

That's alright. Rondo's the Wooden Sjips to Kobe's Steve Pole Bathtub in this analogy it seems.

How awesome was Doc's timeout in the last 2 minutes? I'd kill to see Stan Van Gundy do that.

 

[Diemen]

dude was playing his heart out.

Definitely. Van Gundy was right in pointing out the lack of lift and length compared to Bynum, though Davis pretty much made up for it in effort.

 

[dan_smee]

Two incredible blocks/steals from rondo late in the game too. Game changing moments

 

[lazarus]

I'll give Bynum his due. He's playing quite well.

You ready to give props to Rondo yet?

When did I ever question Rondo's talents?

 

[Imperor]

3 straight in Boston ought to make this a very interesting series.

Awful format, by the way.

 

[dan_smee]

Awful format, by the way.

I think the format is fantastic for the final.

Obviously they have the 2 best teams there, so It provides an advantage to both sides. Side A gets home court. Side B has the opportunity to go 3-2 up going on home court and only need to win 1 away to take it out.

Record in the regular season shouldnt mean too much in the finals, the playoffs are long enough to be an indicator of ability in and of themselves.

 

[phanan]

The format sucks. It gives the team with home court advantage an even bigger edge, because it's very difficult to win three games in a row against any team, no matter where you are. People are dreaming if they think the Celtics are going to win the the next three at home - it's not gonna happen.

Take the extra days off if needed (not like the NBA doesn't do that already) and stick to the same format as the other rounds.

As for the game, I agree the officiating has been questionable, for both sides. I'm kind of surprised that the Celtics were able to pull it out despite the huge free throw discrepancy.

Also:

Also, Bynum earn anyone's respect yet?

I'll give Bynum his due. He's playing quite well.

You ready to give props to Rondo yet?

When did I ever question Rondo's talents?

We're not questioning Bynum's talent (although I think he is still wildly inconsistent with his game); we're questioning how you continue to harp on the fact that with Bynum healthy, it puts the Lakers over the top in this matchup, while not considering how much of a better player Rondo is compared to two years ago. I think it cancels out any contribution Bynum can add to this series (and in a game where he was at his best, the Lakers still lost).

 

[Hewson]

The dumbest thing about the 2-3-2 format is the fact that they start the series on Thursday.
If they started it on Tuesday, there'd be some logic to it, as in both cases the travel between cities would come after a Thursday game when there's 2 off days before the Sunday game. But as it stands both teams have to travel 3,000 miles after a Sunday night game and play again on Tuesday, twice assuming the series gets to 6 games.
Mind boggling. How difficult would it be to tighten up the overall playoff schedule enough to start the Finals 2 days earlier and at least make the 2-3-2 somewhat more sensible.

 

[Hewson]

When did I ever question Rondo's talents?

I don't recall you praising them.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

if mccutchen or callahan is on game 2, bet the celtics hard. salvatore or bavetta? go lakers.

hiyo!

Looks like Tom Thibodeau has been offered the Bulls' head coaching position, and has turned down the Hornets' and Nets' offers to accept it.

I like it.

the hornets and nets never really made official offers, so he didn't quite turn them down... he stopped negotiating with them to finalize the boston deal. symantics, yes... but anyhoo.

you always worry about a coach like thibodeau getting a head job in that he's been an NBA assistant for a long long time and consistantly didn't get job offers because there are a lot of people out there who believe that thibs is built to be an assistant coach and doesn't have the persona to be the big cheese.

that said, he certainly deserves a shot to prove those naysayers right or wrong. he clearly knows the game as well as anyone, and it'll be interesting to see if he can transition himself ino a succesful head coach. considering how long he's been around the league the managing of the ego's shouldn't be as big an issue as it would be for, say, a college coach. i think he'll do fine.

as far as the WWW/LBJ connections to the deal... i dunno. there are a lot of people represented by CAA, doesn't neccesarily mean anything. WWW was hanging out at knicks training camp last summer as well, and he's close with alan houston who's in the knicks front office now... he has so many contacts in some many places that you could pretty much tie him to every organization with cap room.

that said... i wouldn't pretty much hand over control of my organization to what amounts to a glorified street agent. i've said it a million times... i'd more than welcome lebron james to the knicks. obviously... would be silly not to. but if you told me, right now, today... you won't get lebron, but you can go out and sign two other free agents and next year we'll gaurantee you carmello (with curry's expiring contract), i'd sign up for it in a heart beat.

Officiating really was horrible, both sides should have reason to be angry.

Also, Bynum earn anyone's respect yet?

it's all about how the game begins which will tell you how the game is going to go... if they're calling it tight right from the opening whistle, advantage lakers. yesterday they let both teams play from the start, which plays into boston's hands.

because of the rules in the NBA re: playing defense, mainly the ludacris defensive 3-second rule, ANY team that rotates as well as the celtics do is going to create a physical confrontation with the offensive player... it's just too far away for them to go to not create contact. some refs see that as just being part of the game (which it is), some see it as a foul. if those bumps off of rotations are consistantly called as fouls boston doesn't have a chance. last night they weren't called that way.

as for bynum... his length creates a ton of problems for boston. but he has zero ability in the low block right now. for him to be the "dominant" player that people think he could become, in the triangle offense, he needs to be a more skilled offensive player. otherwise he's just a more athletic version of chicago's 3-headed monster from the 90s. he's active, he's big... they can toss him some lobs and he can go get the ball, but right now he's a roll player and not someone you can build around. if he's not active, he's not effecient at all.

Definitely. Van Gundy was right in pointing out the lack of lift and length compared to Bynum, though Davis pretty much made up for it in effort.

he was right, but davis has to finish some of those shots. the celtics missed a TON of layups, especially in that third quarter. yes, the lakers length is troublesome for a team with undersized or aging bigs, but they missed a ton of shots that they shouldn't have. that one posession with oversized infant gave me charles smith flashbacks. he wasn't the only one, of course... but that one posession was the worst of it.

bad angles... finish higher off the glass.



the defense on jesus shuttlesworth in the first half was absolutely atrocious. derek fisher has baisicly become manu ginobili with all the flopping he does. and you put him on ray allen? nobody in the league runs off a screen better than ray allen, and everytime fish hits a screen he flops around like, well, a fish, which is the absolute worst thing you could possibly do with ray allen if the refs aren't buying it. and the refs weren't buying it. notice in the 2nd half he completely stopped doing it and just stayed in allen's hip pocket around screens.

the best player for the lakers yeterday?

unbelievable... he single handidly gave the momentum of the game back to the lakers in those last 3 minutes of the first half. holy crap, i can't remember someone being that god awful in a while. wow, awful. the celtics would have been better off with williams' wife out there.


on the lakers side, pao has been terrific thus far. there's always been two versions of pao... the incredibly skilled one, and the one who disapears when someone gets physical with him. i was expectnig the second one to show up, but man was i wrong. he's really played well.

as far as KG? he needs to find something in the tank here... the gruelling nature of the playoffs and the physicality of the past few serieses looks to have really taken a toll on his old legs, as he's been completely ineffective through 2 games. they need him to show up eventually or LA wins the series.

i think boston wins 2 out of 3 at home, probably games 3 and 5, with LA taking the middle game. this format is stupid, if for no other reason than that they don't use it for any other round of the playoffs.

the 2-3-2 was created at a time when teams worried about travel costs. with travel costs obviously not an issue anymore, the 2-3-2 should be abandoned.

 

[Diemen]

the best player for the lakers yeterday?

unbelievable... he single handidly gave the momentum of the game back to the lakers in those last 3 minutes of the first half. holy crap, i can't remember someone being that god awful in a while. wow, awful. the celtics would have been better off with williams' wife out there.

My favorite of his plays was when Pau made that under-the-basket move and Shelden basically guided the ball into the basket for the and-1.