Yes, the Lakers were pretty significant favorites to win in 2008.
The Nuggets just don’t have the offensive fire power to win a 7 game series against the likes of the Lakers. They don’t have a Kobe Bryant who can carry the team on his shoulders. It would be nice if Gallinari would be that guy, but he’s clearly not.
Coincidentally, Karl’s best team in Seattle by far was the 93-94 team that won 63 games and was stunningly upset in the first round by…Denver, a team that snuck into the playoffs barely over .500. That was when the first round was best of 5. Seattle was a huge favorite to win it all, since that was the year of Jordan’s first retirement. But yeah, he should have won a championship that year.
For about 6 games, they did keep up though. MWP, even though he was bricking most of his early shots, really took out Gallinari and Andre Miller. That strip and steal near the end of the game on a driving Gallinari was just spectacular oldschool Ron Artest defense. If he can slow Durant, Westbrook, or Harden down, the Lakers have a small chance to beat OKC I think.
I don’t think Indiana can beat Miami four times even if Bosh is out for the series. Miami’s the best remaining team in the East even without him, although obviously they are not as good. I assume the vague statement that he is out “indefinitely” means he may be lost for the series or longer.
Tough day for the Pacers. They should have had that game with Bosh going out. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s game. If they win that one, they have a chance.
Great job by the Clipps to take game 7 on the road. Very impressive.
I did predict, a couple weeks ago, that both LA teams would make it to Round 2 before getting knocked out. (I’ve been watching the NBA a long time)
One would think that he’d be used to it by now, based on his track record.
With or without Bosh, I don’t think the Heat will have much trouble with the Pacers. I hope that they’re at full strength the rest of the way, so they don’t have any excuses when they lose to the Spurs in the Finals. (I also hedged a little with the Thunders, but I bet the Spurs win it this year)
Karl’s teams are postseason underachievers
Karl’s career winning %
.595 regular season
.436 playoffs
Lakers have a good chance in Game 1, because the Thunders have a ‘rust disadvantage’ due to the long layoff between series
Thunder are stomping the crap out of the Lakers right now.
Imagine the score if the Thunder weren’t rusty.
Very odd to see Derek Fisher not only not in a Lakers uniform, but playing against them.
What an ugly game…
You guys saw that look that D-Fish threw at the Lakers bench after he made that jumper?
I’m rooting for the Clippers to win it all. I’m a huge Nets fan and I have to support my boy K-Mart, hoping that he’ll win a ring.
Last night’s East game was tight! One point decision.
The West game … wow. I guess one might call that a statement. 29 points.
I guess I’ve somewhat recovered from that shellacking the Lakers took last night. If that’s the Thunder firing on all cylinders, I think they or the Spurs would definitely be the favorites to win the title. I just hope the Lakers can bounce back. There was several instances where the Lakers were just slow and tired and didn’t get back on defense. With the tight schedule, and a fucking back-to-back (seriously Stern? WTF is that?) this weekend, I can only hope that it was an emotional exhaustion from the Nuggets series rather than physical, because they’re not going to be getting much rest
In other news, Rose is going to be out 8-12 months! Damn, I thought you could recover from an ACL tear in 6 months, isn’t that what many athletes do? I can’t remember exactly, but I could have sworn that a few NBA stars have returned sooner.
This is an interesting article, it talks about Gallinari and how he’s really taking that game 7 pretty hard, especially after his performance. I like the guy, I remember when he was in NY and put up solid numbers. Its rare these days to see a star care so much, so I hope he puts it behind him and work to be a better player next year. Hawks fans probably wish Joe Johnson would care even half as much
Celtics and Sixers looks like its going to be a really close series. Something weird about this series that I don’t remember ever seeing: both teams were the underdogs in the previous series. When was the last time 2 lower seeds met each other in the playoffs? I’m sure its happened somewhat frequently if we’re talking about the 5th seed upsetting the 4th, but the 8th seed has only beaten the 1st seed like 4 times. I doubt we’ve ever had a 7 vs. 8, but maybe a 6 vs. 7?
Hopefully the Clippers put up more of a fight against the Spurs tonight. But word is Blake and Paul are still a little hobbled by their injuries, so I’m not expecting much. They have to play a back-to-back this weekend too, that’s BS. But then the Spurs are the older team so maybe what hurts the Lakers will help the Clips? Can’t get my hopes up too much though…
Right now the Miami and Indiana game is on TV. Why do some teams name themselves after the state and some the city? Weird. Oh, and looks like Bosh is out indefinitely, so maybe if the Pacers steal a game here, they can be in control going back to Indiana. I would be soooo happy if the Heat can get knocked out of the East. Go Pacers!
Yeah, Pacers! I know most people still don’t give them a shot in this series even if Bosh is out, but I think the Pacers have good enough bigs (Hibbert and West) to stay competitive and maybe take the series.
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of guys rush back after an ACL and do fine (wasn’t Wes Welker back with the Patriots in like 4 months?), but my Dr. said it’s really 12 months before you can really, fully trust that knee again. It’s a horrible injury.
In California, there are two LA teams, a Sacramento team, and a team named after the nickname of the state. Yeah, it’s odd. And let’s not forget all the moving around that negates a perfectly cromulent name. Lakers? Jazz? In the NFL, there is a team named after the city AND the state, the Houston Texans.
It’s just marketing.
If the Pacers play big like last night, I would still expect the Heat to win, but I wouldn’t be shocked of the Pacers end up advancing. I caught the 2nd half of that game and apparently both Lebron and Wade were exhausted by the end of it. If they can wear out the Heat, that would be their best shot to win it. Lebron, as much of a physical freak as he is, can’t run back and forth for 40+ mins every game like that trying to score and defend.
That reminds of me a stat from a long time ago. Apparently, in one season, Wilt averaged 48.5 mins; he never left the game and played in all the overtimes. Of all of the insane stats that he holds that will never be broken, that one is not talked about as much as his scoring and rebounding. Imagine never coming out of a game for the whole season, that’s unheard of now
I hope they are simply overestimating Rose’s injury. I’d hate to have to wait until the next playoffs to see him, and with the way his team lost, they better get him back during the season if they hope to make the playoffs next season. I do think Chicago will definitely try to pick up another PG during the season to help them weather this storm. Any good free agent PG’s this summer?
Tell that to the Spurs. Eight days off and gave a good thumpin’ to the Clippers.
GO SPURS GO!!!