NBA Playoffs

[RichardCranium]

Who else is watching? Detroit looks like Detroit always does come playoff time. ROFL at the Celtics going 7 with the friggin' Hawks. Lebron and Co. survived Round 1. The Hornets look great. Lakers too, although I think the Jazz will give them all they can handle.

Oh and if the reports are true and Kobe does win the MVP it's a fucking traveshamockery.

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

The Hawks would've given anyone a run with their play at home. No need to ROFL at 7 games there. Rondo needs to step up big time if the C's want a title.

[RichardCranium]

It was directed at the Celtics, not the Hawks. They have as much young talent as anyone in the league.

[Dwarven Empath]

As a Celtic's fan, I'm more than a little dissapointed. With that being said, WTF was Cassell doing playing the last two minutes of game six?

Rivers should of had Rondo in the game regardless of NBA EXP. Rondo knows the other four members of the team better then Sam ever will.

Oh BTW 13 minutes untill game time!

Medi/Matt

[Latrinsorm]

The Celtics got killed by terrible coaching??? Who would have seen that coming??????

LeBron destroyed the Wizards, and it really looks good for him to get back to the finals. Doc isn't suddenly going to learn how to coach in the next round, so that gets him to the conference finals. Even if the Pistons decide to show up, they're all a year older and he beat them last year with a significantly worse team. If the Magic pull off a miracle and get to the conference finals, then I dunno, but that's looking pretty unlikely.

The only things I care about in the West are Kobe losing (hopefully while averaging 40 points and 2 assists) and the Spurs losing (hopefully being swept). Tyson Chandler is my new favorite player (that isn't LeBron or Rondo). :heart:

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

The Celtics got killed by terrible coaching??? Who would have seen that coming??????

LeBron destroyed the Wizards, and it really looks good for him to get back to the finals. Doc isn't suddenly going to learn how to coach in the next round, so that gets him to the conference finals. Even if the Pistons decide to show up, they're all a year older and he beat them last year with a significantly worse team. If the Magic pull off a miracle and get to the conference finals, then I dunno, but that's looking pretty unlikely.

The only things I care about in the West are Kobe losing (hopefully while averaging 40 points and 2 assists) and the Spurs losing (hopefully being swept). Tyson Chandler is my new favorite player (that isn't LeBron or Rondo). :heart:

Wow you're out of luck. Just because you're jealous of the success Kobe has achieved, you suggest he isn't the MVP, and tremendous team-first player he has been all season? Expect Kobe to average 25 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds all series long.

Nobody cares about the Spurs, as they're just an older version of their team last year. They may aswell be the Pistons at this point. Lakers vs. Celtics, or Lakers vs. Cavs final, and you'd have to be extremely naive to think otherwise.

[Latrinsorm]

Jealous of an adulterer???? Nice try, and Kobe could play 48 minutes a game and not get 8/8, please.

[RichardCranium]

Wow you're out of luck. Just because you're jealous of the success Kobe has achieved, you suggest he isn't the MVP, and tremendous team-first player he has been all season? Expect Kobe to average 25 points, 8 assists, and 8 rebounds all series long.

Nobody cares about the Spurs, as they're just an older version of their team last year. They may aswell be the Pistons at this point. Lakers vs. Celtics, or Lakers vs. Cavs final, and you'd have to be extremely naive to think otherwise.


Would that be the part where he pissed and moaned and demanded a trade or the part where he threw his teamate under the bus and demanded they "ship his ass out of here"?

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

He had every reason to want out. Jerry West had shown a growing habbit of failing to surround Kobe with quality players, up until this year. Bynum was a project that is FINALLY paying off, but between Bynum, Vladi, and Luke Walton, they did little to give Kobe a solid team. Now that Odom is reliving his days with the Heat, Farmar is growing up, and Gasol is in the game, he finally has a team he can work with.

Honestly, Kevin Garnett was in the same position. Great players can't be surrounded by mediocre players with bad attitudes. Spree and Cassell were in their prime when they joined Garnett in Minnesota, and they still failed to accomplish what Kobe and the Lakers can, and likely will this season. Kobe had every reason to want out, with the Lakers' biggest addition before this year being a disgruntled pair of over the hill vets in Malone and Payton.

Either way, say what you will about his personal life, I couldn't really care less. He isn't out there shooting folks, and being shot at. He isn't out "making it rain" every other Saturday, nor is he a dogfighting kingpin. He's a superstar on the verge of his first MVP, and with the type of pressure he has outside of basketball, things like the Colorado situation are magnified by his notoriety.

The fact that folks are so quick to tear him down PROVES his success, and to those of you who can't handle it for whatever reason, too bad. The days of aging, slow, worn down half-court teams is over. Led by Kobe, the Lakers are proving that.

At any rate, get off the guy's back, and just admire what he does on the court. He's the best player my generation will ever see, and possibly the best of all time. Don't forget: Kobe is playing in a league with all of the top talent in the world. He's the single greatest offensive force in the game today, AND he's one of the best defenders in the game when motivated.

Jordan was a defensive liability, Chamberlin had crap for competition, and nobody else is even close. Just take a step back, drop your bias, forget everything about the man's moderately tame personal life, and you'll realize how right I am. Oh, and by the way, Kobe is currently leading his Lakers to a dominant game 1 win over the Jazz.


IN THE WORDS OF NELEK...



QQ NOOBZ.

[Methais]

Lakers vs. Celtics.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/games/drg000/g016/g0169881yk8.jpg
http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Lakers_Versus_Celtics_and_the_NBA_Playoffs_gen_Scr eenShot2.jpg

Anyone else remember being in awe at the fact that the coach would do stuff like pace back and forth on the sidelines, sit down, stand back up, etc.?

[RichardCranium]

He had every reason to want out. Jerry West had shown a growing habbit of failing to surround Kobe with quality players, up until this year. Bynum was a project that is FINALLY paying off, but between Bynum, Vladi, and Luke Walton, they did little to give Kobe a solid team. Now that Odom is reliving his days with the Heat, Farmar is growing up, and Gasol is in the game, he finally has a team he can work with.

Honestly, Kevin Garnett was in the same position. Great players can't be surrounded by mediocre players with bad attitudes. Spree and Cassell were in their prime when they joined Garnett in Minnesota, and they still failed to accomplish what Kobe and the Lakers can, and likely will this season. Kobe had every reason to want out, with the Lakers' biggest addition before this year being a disgruntled pair of over the hill vets in Malone and Payton.

Either way, say what you will about his personal life, I couldn't really care less. He isn't out there shooting folks, and being shot at. He isn't out "making it rain" every other Saturday, nor is he a dogfighting kingpin. He's a superstar on the verge of his first MVP, and with the type of pressure he has outside of basketball, things like the Colorado situation are magnified by his notoriety.

The fact that folks are so quick to tear him down PROVES his success, and to those of you who can't handle it for whatever reason, too bad. The days of aging, slow, worn down half-court teams is over. Led by Kobe, the Lakers are proving that.

At any rate, get off the guy's back, and just admire what he does on the court. He's the best player my generation will ever see, and possibly the best of all time. Don't forget: Kobe is playing in a league with all of the top talent in the world. He's the single greatest offensive force in the game today, AND he's one of the best defenders in the game when motivated.

Jordan was a defensive liability, Chamberlin had crap for competition, and nobody else is even close. Just take a step back, drop your bias, forget everything about the man's moderately tame personal life, and you'll realize how right I am. Oh, and by the way, Kobe is currently leading his Lakers to a dominant game 1 win over the Jazz.


IN THE WORDS OF NELEK...



QQ NOOBZ.


It's not even about his personal life. On the court Paul has had the better season, period.

Edited to add: Warrented or not ( it wasn't ), he is not the epitome of "team-player" this season like you would make him out to be. He is the best player in the league now, and has been for a few years. He's still not better than Jordan though. Regardless, it's called the "Most Valuable Player" Award not the "Lifetime Achievement" award and the fact is that Chris Paul was the MVP this season. And I wouldn't quite call that a dominant win, either.

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

Paul has had the better season by what standard? Having a worse team around him, thus having to do more? The MVP is an award that goes to the most valuable player on his team. Replace Chris Paul with a league average point guard, and his team would still be in the playoffs, with a decent chance to move. They'd just be the Atlanta Hawks. Take Kobe off the Lakers, and they'd be the Miami Heat pre-Shaq, or an even better comparison, the Phoenix Suns when Thunder Dan still ran the wood.

[RichardCranium]

You don't think an average 2 guard running with Gasol, Odom, Fisher, Radmanovic and Bynum when he was healthy would be better than an average point and Chandler, Stojakovic, West and Morris Peterson? Really?

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

Look no further than their backups.

Pargo is still a quality all around player on a quality team, when Paul isn't on the floor. His defense is nothing to be scoffed at, and he's a great third scoring option to Paul and Peja, alongside the many other quality scorers they have including MoPete, Tyson, Ryan Bowen, Bonzi, and David West. Vujacic is a spotty perimeter shooter and a defensive liability, in Bryant's place, and the Lakers show their inconsistancy whenever they rely on him.

[Latrinsorm]

He's the best player my generation will ever see, and possibly the best of all time. Don't forget: Kobe is playing in a league with all of the top talent in the world. He's the single greatest offensive force in the game today, AND he's one of the best defenders in the game when motivated.He's the best scorer. LeBron is already a better all-around player, and he's only 23 (23 FFS!!).
Jordan was a defensive liability, Chamberlin had crap for competition, and nobody else is even close.Jordan, the defensive player of the year in '87-'88 who led the league in steals three years, was a liability? (For reference, Kobe has never achieved either feat.)

If you want to control for Wilt's "competition", how can you not control for the rule changes that have made it (conservatively speaking) a billion times easier for a guy like Kobe in the NBA?
Paul has had the better season by what standard? Having a worse team around him, thus having to do more? The MVP is an award that goes to the most valuable player on his team. Replace Chris Paul with a league average point guard, and his team would still be in the playoffs, with a decent chance to move. They'd just be the Atlanta Hawks. Take Kobe off the Lakers, and they'd be the Miami Heat pre-Shaq, or an even better comparison, the Phoenix Suns when Thunder Dan still ran the wood.When Paul isn't on the court, the Hornets are -2.3 points per 100 possessions: equivalent with the Sacremento Kings (did not make the playoffs, fyi). When Kobe isn't on the court, the Lakers are 0.0, roughly equidistant between the 76ers and the Wizards (both of whom made the playoffs, fyi). You can continue to insist that the Lakers would be terrible without Kobe and that Paul didn't do that much, but the statistics demonstrate pretty clearly that (once again) you're talking directly out of your ass. (Bonus points for continuing to claim that everyone else is biased and you're the one that sees the truth. That's hilarious.)

But let's put that all aside. If you really want to do the MVP by value over the player's actual backup, let's look at that LeBron James fellow. The only two other small forwards on the Cavs' roster are Devin Brown (7.5/3/2 P/R/A) and Wally Szczerbiak (11.5/3/1), neither of whom are exactly defensive stalwarts. You really think the dropoff between Kobe and Sasha is that much greater than the dropoff on the Cavs?

[Latrinsorm]

If Detroit wins this game by 1 or 2 points, I swear to God.

[g++]

LOL at Chris Paul having more help than Kobe, have you even been watching the playoffs? Its funny that your so obsessed with Kobe you insult the team hes on in an effort to make him look better, just like Kobe would do. Hes the best shooting gaurd in the league, and occasionally has god like nights and child like temper tantrums.

Hes probarbly going to be MVP but he certainly doesnt have the Lakers on his back the way LeBron does and the only thing he does reliably is put the ball in the hoop. Most of the games he scored over 50 points he took obscene attempts and his team still lost. In normal games hes just an exceptionally good shooting gaurd. Thats it.

[Keller]

Why does Kobe/Chris Paul/Lebron have to suck in order for Kobe/Chris Paul/Lebron to be worthy of the MVP?

I don't get that.

[Lyonis]

Would that be the part where he pissed and moaned and demanded a trade or the part where he threw his teamate under the bus and demanded they "ship his ass out of here"?


Thank God he put a little fire under the ass of the front office and got us some big talent. <3 Gasol

If you're talking about Shaq's lazy ass, good riddance. Him going to Miami and losing a ton of weight and actually playing again only proved what he was doing in L.A his last couple of years was only due to his laziness. Argue about Kobe's talent all you want, but he comes in every game and plays his ass off. Rape trial or not.

I'm looking forward to a Lakers/Celtics, Lakers/Pistons finals, only if we win though. Or else I'm going to be a sad panda :(

[Lyonis]

Why does Kobe/Chris Paul/Lebron have to suck in order for Kobe/Chris Paul/Lebron to be worthy of the MVP?

I don't get that.


QFT

Those three guys are in a league of their own. Although Lebron last night....ooomph That was painful to watch.

[RichardCranium]

If you're talking about Shaq's lazy ass, good riddance. Him going to Miami and losing a ton of weight and actually playing again only proved what he was doing in L.A his last couple of years was only due to his laziness. Argue about Kobe's talent all you want, but he comes in every game and plays his ass off. Rape trial or not.(

No, I was talking about him ripping Bynum in front of some fans outside of a mall during the offseason on tape. Telling them that the front office should "ship his ass out of here" in a trade for Jason Kidd.

As far as Shaq is concerned well, how many rings has Kobe won without Shaq? Vice versa?

[Lyonis]

No, I was talking about him ripping Bynum in front of some fans outside of a mall during the offseason on tape. Telling them that the front office should "ship his ass out of here" in a trade for Jason Kidd.

As far as Shaq is concerned well, how many rings has Kobe won without Shaq? Vice versa?

Fair enough, and I'm so glad they didn't get rid of Bynum. Kobe isn't quite cut out for front office just yet and Bynum is the next franchise player for the Lake show.

Shaq's won one ring without Kobe, Kobe has yet to win one.(Soon though! If not this year we're going to be contenders for a few more years) Though Shaq's part in winning that ring in Miami is far less substantial than the part he played for the Lakers.

I don't hate Shaq because he was a lousy player, far from it. I hate Shaq because if he would have had the will to win that Kobe has, I think the Lake show would have had a couple more rings. That and the Flex-all commercials he put out about "playing through the pain" when I watched him sit out most of his last season in L.A for a big toe injury really irked me.

[Keller]

Fair enough, and I'm so glad they didn't get rid of Bynum.

I wish Donnie Walsh would've pulled the trigger on the Bynum for Jermaine O'neal deal. =(

[Bhuryn]

I wish Donnie Walsh would've pulled the trigger on the Bynum for Jermaine O'neal deal. =(

I wish they would stop clogging up SportsCenter with basketball highlights, no one cares :) .

[Keller]

I wish they would stop clogging up SportsCenter with basketball highlights, no one cares :) .

Have you ever noticed how ESPN tends to show the most women's billards reruns during baseball season?

[RichardCranium]

I fucking hate the Spurs.

All.

[g++]

Im still getting over the 8 on 5 Lakers Jazz game the other night. If the Lakers go all the way they should make sure to give the officiating crew that night MVP.

[Latrinsorm]

How ridiculous are these "Wipeout" ads insofar as ripping off MXC is concerned?

[Rimalon]

I still can't figure out how they get the two guys to blink at the same time in the split screen NBA Playoffs promos.

[Latrinsorm]

Celtics in 6.

It's not a report, and it's not a prediction. It's how it's gonna be, you heard it here first.

[Latrinsorm]

How do you have a 24 second violation coming out of a timeout? Seriously?

[Bobmuhthol]

Celtics in 2.

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

MXC = Japenese people doing stupid things.

Wipeout = American people doing stupid things.

Two very different things... and besides, they're both just watered down Ninja Warrior wannabes anyway.


Back on topic, Lamar Odom should be benched indefinately. He has been exceptionally lazy, and his motivation is entirely gone. His effort on offense is questionable, and completely gone on defense.

As if they Lakers would suffer at all from such a move, I can safely say they would not. Odom has proven to be nearly useless offensively, failing to create his own scoring opportunities again and again. His long, lanky defensive style was great against Boozer, Duncan, and Horry, but is failing him against the even longer Kevin Garnett and the much more intense Celtics front court. PJ Brown is the only man on the C's that I'd ever consider letting Odom guard.

The Lakers, really got screwed by horrible officiating early in game 2, and still came back. I can't see them dropping a single game at home, and they should manage to win one of the remaining two in Boston. It's hard to give Boston much credit at all in victory this time through, when the referees pretty much took the ball out of the Lakers' hands over half the game.

At any rate, with the heavily inflated play of Paul Pierce, and the overshadowed doubt in Kevin Garnett's eyes, the series is simply over unless Ray Allen goes on some ridiculous tear, and Eddie House gets playing time over Sam Cassell.

[Latrinsorm]

He's not supposed to create his own scoring opportunities. That's why you have a point guard. Do you really think Turiaf or Lil' Walton will give you better results?

edit: also, rofl @ any Lakers fan crying about officiating.

[RichardCranium]

...edit: also, rofl @ any Lakers fan crying about officiating.


xinfiniti

[Bobmuhthol]

<<I can't see them dropping a single game at home, and they should manage to win one of the remaining two in Boston.>>

Maybe you haven't paid attention to the Celtics' 8-2 record over the Lakers in the finals.