NBA Basketball 2007-08: The Thread Part II

[Headache in a Suitcase]

hey who was the fat guy in the larry bird costume?

 

[randhail]

thankfully we never got to see what he looked like in the jersey during that commerical with magic.

 

[Diemen]

I'll chime in and second the notion that I've never really been a Celtics fan but can't help but feel happy for them after seeing the tremendous effort and execution they displayed. That's quality basketball.

Leon Powe's brother was pretty happy at work today, too.

 

[DaveC]

"Thank god for David Tyree or we would be listening to Boston fans bragging that this has been the greatest sports year a city has ever enjoyed.

And the worst part is they would be right." - Jim Caple

Being a fan of Philly teams makes this even worse. At least Boston didn't get the biggest one of all (but it had to be the fuckin' Giants, which is hardly any better). The Celtics definitely deserved this one though, the game last night was the most dominating performance I've ever seen in basketball (keep in mind I only ever watch March Madness and the Finals). Ah well, enjoy it while you can, Boston sports fans - hopefully at some point in my life one of my teams will win a championship.

 

[Mr. BAW]

I loved that KG was absolutely out of his mind at the end of the game. When he says he may not sleep for months, I tend to believe him. My favorite line was "I'm certified! I'M CERTIFIED!"

Yeah, I'm thankful he didn't tongue cleanse Michelle Tafoya ala Joe Namath as KG told her "You're looking mighty fine tonight!" (with his sweat dripping down her cheek!)

 

[arw]

as a Minnesota native, I am beyond thrilled that Kevin finally won a championship. He was our star for 12 years and, naturally, is truly missed around MN. Of course I'm a little annoyed that this win comes with another team and not with the Timberwolves but that's another story! Congrats Kevin!

 

[zonelistener]

pacers

hey who was the fat guy in the larry bird costume?

They should have had a Pistons fan launch a beer at him.



I bought season tickets for the Timberwolves after KG's first year in Minnesota. I absolutely LOVED having those tickets and watching him and what they attempted to build around him.

I could not be happier to see the Celtics win last night, and see Kevin be so happy. I hope he will continue to have success.

As for Michelle Tafoya, she was a local sportscaster in Minneapolis when KG was drafted into the NBA.

 

[No spoken words]

Fuck the Celtics.

 

[Dalton]

 

[Diemen]

Fuck the Celtics.

[Counselor Troi]I sense anger, Captain.[/Counselor Troi]

 

[No spoken words]

[Counselor Troi]I sense anger, Captain.[/Counselor Troi]

You do not need to be part Betazoid to sense my disdain for Boston area sports.

 

[RedRocksU2]

A few things, if I may.
First, there are millions of Celtics bandwagons out there......fuck all of them. You know who you are.
Second, there are millions of Laker fans that are jumping of the bandwagon.....fuck you as well. especially you.

I wore my Laker jersey today and I saw many true Laker fans out there in Laughlin and here in California on the way back wearing them as well. To those people, I salute you.

Am I dissapointed they lost, of course.
Are they coming back next year stronger with Bynum? You better fucking believe it.
congrats to KG and RA....PP can kiss my ass, that crying mf'r.

*damn, I sound mad*
Laker for life.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Btw, I might be going to Boston in November again, and I will post a picture wearing it.

Mark my words.

 

[Hewson]

as a Minnesota native, I am beyond thrilled that Kevin finally won a championship. He was our star for 12 years and, naturally, is truly missed around MN. Of course I'm a little annoyed that this win comes with another team and not with the Timberwolves but that's another story! Congrats Kevin!

In Boston that is known as Ray Bourque syndrome.

 

[Hewson]

They should have had a Pistons fan launch a beer at him.

It appears any beer launched at him would end up in his stomach.

thankfully we never got to see what he looked like in the jersey during that commerical with magic.

Those commercials were quite disturbing on both sides.

 

[CTU2fan]

i agree and disagree at the same time... if you gave each player on each team a video game rating and added them all up, there really wouldn't be much difference between the two teams. but for the celtics the whole was bigger than the sum of it's parts. the same can certainly not be said for the lakers.

synergy, it is a wonderful thing.

So is that on Phil or Kobe? I tend to lean toward Phil...there was a definite effort disparity there, and you'd expect a "great" coach to be able to get max effort out of a largely young team. But Phil has generally done better with stars and vets so maybe that's the problem. Not sure, but I'd have to say that Doc clearly outcoached Phil in this series, and if you told me that going in I'd have been shocked.

Oh and to be fair since I've been killing the Lakers' work during this series I have to say Jordan Farmar really went after it pretty much full time. And Kobe; I don't think Kobe was dogging it at all...but the rest of them? I half expected Kobe to punch Gasol right in the mouth, the way he played.

A few things, if I may.
First, there are millions of Celtics bandwagons out there......fuck all of them. You know who you are.
Second, there are millions of Laker fans that are jumping of the bandwagon.....fuck you as well. especially you.

I wore my Laker jersey today and I saw many true Laker fans out there in Laughlin and here in California on the way back wearing them as well. To those people, I salute you.

Am I dissapointed they lost, of course.
Are they coming back next year stronger with Bynum? You better fucking believe it.
congrats to KG and RA....PP can kiss my ass, that crying mf'r.

*damn, I sound mad*
Laker for life.

I agree with the bandwagon stuff. I can tell you that as a point of pride I always bust out a team hat or whatever after those tough losses (it's usually a Sox hat, it was a Pats one after the SB of course). I think the Lakers will be a better team next year with a healthy Wilt Russell, er, I mean Andrew Bynum. IMO then need an upgrade at small forward; we'll see what they do.

Oh, and apparently you can't handle The Truth

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

So is that on Phil or Kobe? I tend to lean toward Phil...there was a definite effort disparity there, and you'd expect a "great" coach to be able to get max effort out of a largely young team. But Phil has generally done better with stars and vets so maybe that's the problem. Not sure, but I'd have to say that Doc clearly outcoached Phil in this series, and if you told me that going in I'd have been shocked.

Oh and to be fair since I've been killing the Lakers' work during this series I have to say Jordan Farmar really went after it pretty much full time. And Kobe; I don't think Kobe was dogging it at all...but the rest of them? I half expected Kobe to punch Gasol right in the mouth, the way he played.

i think it has more to do with KG's influence than anything. Garnett brought his teammates together and truely made them believe in sacraficing for the greater good, and i'm not just talking about the above-average sized three.

Doc obviously did a good job and a better job than Big Chief Triangle did, but no matter what your motivational abilities are as a coach, if you don't get your big gun to buy in, you're not going to succeed.

I'm not sold that the Lakers will be better next year.
a) who knows what Bynum will be like after the injury,
b) Bynum has only played like, eh, 30 good games in his entire career... it's not like we're talking about Moses Malone here. He showed some serious flashes before the injury but he has to show it a little more still. at this time last year Laker fans all wanted him traded for Jason Kidd or some other vet as a way to apease Kobe... now he's a saviour? Maybe, maybe not.
c) i have no reason to believe that the team's obvious chemestry issues (coughkobecough) will be solved between now and then.
d) the hornets will be better, the jazz will be better, the spurs will likely retool, and then you have a team like portland, who just barely missed the playoffs (and would have made the playoffs in the east), are extremely young and primed for a break out season the same way the hornets did this year... and they're adding in Oden, for whatever that's worth.

 

[phanan]

congrats to KG and RA....PP can kiss my ass, that crying mf'r.

Here, have a cookie.

 

[gvox]

There is no bandwagon here, it's a fairly basic fact that once you get to the Finals, there are only 2 teams to root for..I went into the series rooting for old stalwarts by virtue of the name that I had respected as a child, ie the Lakers...Boston won my admiration and respect, and solidly. It wasn't a matter of being a wishy-washy fan or not supporting 'my team', because 'my team' was out of the playoffs. It was a case of being a fan of the game. And Boston epitomized everything that is beautiful about the game. The Lakers did not. Not even in the games they won.

 

[No spoken words]

i think it has more to do with KG's influence than anything. Garnett brought his teammates together and truely made them believe in sacraficing for the greater good, and i'm not just talking about the above-average sized three.

Doc obviously did a good job and a better job than Big Chief Triangle did, but no matter what your motivational abilities are as a coach, if you don't get your big gun to buy in, you're not going to succeed.

I'm not sold that the Lakers will be better next year.
a) who knows what Bynum will be like after the injury,
b) Bynum has only played like, eh, 30 good games in his entire career... it's not like we're talking about Moses Malone here. He showed some serious flashes before the injury but he has to show it a little more still. at this time last year Laker fans all wanted him traded for Jason Kidd or some other vet as a way to apease Kobe... now he's a saviour? Maybe, maybe not.
c) i have no reason to believe that the team's obvious chemestry issues (coughkobecough) will be solved between now and then.
d) the hornets will be better, the jazz will be better, the spurs will likely retool, and then you have a team like portland, who just barely missed the playoffs (and would have made the playoffs in the east), are extremely young and primed for a break out season the same way the hornets did this year... and they're adding in Oden, for whatever that's worth.

Oden's had 30 less good games in his career than Bynum, and he's coming off of surgery, too.

 

[thetitans2k]

I think that what the "whatever that's worth" comment was about. He certainly is not goint to hurt that team. We saw in college that he definetly has alot of game. If he comes back from the surgery alright, he should be a great player in this league.

 

[No spoken words]

I think that what the "whatever that's worth" comment was about. He certainly is not goint to hurt that team. We saw in college that he definetly has alot of game. If he comes back from the surgery alright, he should be a great player in this league.

"For whatever that's worth" is not a qualifier for Oden's injury/lack of experience. It's a way of saying "I'm tossing this info out there, who knows what it might mean to you". I am reasonably competent with our language, thanks.

I'm just saying that he has just as many "if's" as Bynum does, so to look at Oden as a positive but not look at Bynum as a positive does not register with me. For whatever that's worth to you.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

"For whatever that's worth" is not a qualifier for Oden's injury/lack of experience. It's a way of saying "I'm tossing this info out there, who knows what it might mean to you". I am reasonably competent with our language, thanks.

I'm just saying that he has just as many "if's" as Bynum does, so to look at Oden as a positive but not look at Bynum as a positive does not register with me. For whatever that's worth to you.

i'm not saing bynum won't help, i'm just saying it's a little premature to say that because bynum will (maybe) be healthy next year that the Lakers are mortal locks to return to the finals, as many both here and in the media seem to be suggesting.

my mention of greg oden was a throw away... nobody knows for sure what he'll be, but Portland has a very bright future with or without him. if he can be an all star caliber player portland could very well leap frog the Lakers next year, IMO. not to mention that the hornets and jazz could very well pass the lakers as well, especially if they add a piece or two.

that said, i was never that big on oden to begin with... and that was before the injury.

 

[No spoken words]

i'm not saing bynum won't help, i'm just saying it's a little premature to say that because bynum will (maybe) be healthy next year that the Lakers are mortal locks to return to the finals, as many both here and in the media seem to be suggesting.

my mention of greg oden was a throw away... nobody knows for sure what he'll be, but Portland has a very bright future with or without him. if he can be an all star caliber player portland could very well leap frog the Lakers next year, IMO. not to mention that the hornets and jazz could very well pass the lakers as well, especially if they add a piece or two.

that said, i was never that big on oden to begin with... and that was before the injury.

Dude, I'm with you re: the Lakers. I do not think that Bynum is the second coming, but, I eye Oden just as skeptically. I do like Portland overall, though.

Just thought that Bynum was not bigger or less of a question mark than Oden.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

he is, 'cause he's never done anything before, where as bynum at least does have those 30 good games under his belt.

 

[Mr. BAW]

Btw, I might be going to Boston in November again, and I will post a picture wearing it.

Mark my words.

You'll be safe..

I made it thru the Boston beer gardens and the arena wearing my USC hat but then I was hanging with Hewson who was attempting his best Joe Montana imitation wearing his green #3...Now that, was good times...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i have to hit up boston this summer some time

 

[Mr. BAW]

You definitely need to get out more often...

 

[CTU2fan]

Apparently Mark Cuban is whining abou the Olympics again...I generally like Cuban but jeez he's a fucking baby sometimes. I mean c'mon...wah wah Yao's illegal screens wah wah Dork might get hurt in the Olympics wah wah Don Nelson. Give it a rest.

Did anyone see the Brian Scalabrine postgame? Guy talks a lot of shit considering his role...at least Rudy had a sack in that game at the end.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Here, have a cookie.

Thanks P.
*feelsbetter*