This got started a bit in the last thread, but since Boston has finally decided to join the rest of us in Round 2, here’s a new thread.
Didn’t get to see my Pistons tonight as I was at class, so I can’t really comment apart from being happy to be up 2-0.
San Antonio is in trouble. I said after game one that they needed a new game plan to deal with the NO style, and if what I’m seeing here tonight is that plan, they fail. Hornets are currently up 21 pts with about 2:30 left. Is this the end of the San Antonio era? Could be, I haven’t seen them manhandled like this in the playoffs in a long time.
Well, my San Antonio “experience matters” Spurs pick from the last thread isn’t looking so good right now, but I won’t count them out until they are dead and done and I can witness the post-mortem.
I had Detroit in six, and I’ll stick with that. Recent playoff trends indicate that the Pistons seem to insist on knuckle-heading their way to two losses per series. But I’m tellin’ ya, if they don’t stay serious and choose instead to fiddle-fart around they’re gonna be sorry.
I was not impressed at all by the Lakers victory over the Jazz in Game One. Utah had a bad shooting night (day, actually), players in foul trouble, and looked somewhat befuddled (surprisingly so, for a Jerry Sloan-coached team). And they still kept the game close. I heard some talking head comment about how the Lakers “didn’t panic in the face of the Utah comeback”, to which I say one must recognize the difference between panic and overall intensity. The Lakers could have, and should have, ripped Utah’s lungs out in the third quarter, but failed to do so. All that said, Utah will not win this series, unless the Lakers allow them to.
Strange as it may sound, the Cavs may be a better matchup for the Celtics than were the Hawks. Much like their teams from the Wilkins era, Atlanta has perhaps the best track team in professional basketball, and the C’s probably look forward to dealing with a team that relies less on raw athleticism. The bad news for Boston is that Cleveland has the potential to hit outside shots with at least some degree of consistency. One could say that Cleveland has an advantage because they’ve been to the Finals, but I don’t know that they as a team really learned a whole lot from the experience (other than that San Antonio is really, really good). The King will play great, and his teammates will have their moments, but the Celtics are pissed-off and hungry and know their clock is ticking. I’ll take Boston winning in five close, mostly thrilling, games.
With Bynum ruled out for the year, the pickup of Gasol is looking even better than it did before- they’d be out this round for sure without him. I agree the Lakers were unimpressive in Game 1 and will need to step it up to win the Jazz series, but if they do, they’ll have a better chance beating the Hornets than they would the Spurs, assuming the Hornets don’t collapse- Pau can guard West or Chandler a lot better than he can guard Duncan. But next year a lineup of Odom, Pau, Kobe, Bynum and anyone else could make a run for best ever record.
Agai, Billups with the heroics. Of course, the guard play from Orlando made that game even close. Jameer Nelson had an outstanding game, but a costly turnover and fouling out in the last minute or so was the microcosm for the night. That’s about as good as the Magic can do, I’m afraid.
The C’s better win this series quick, because if I have to watch seven games of the LeBron rules, I’m going to have an aneurysm. I am quite happy with Rondo’s studliness thus far, though.
CP3 should have been the MVP, Kobe winning makes me sad inside.
End of 3 in Boston. Celtics lead 53-52. yes, you read that correctly. Lebron currently on the bench with 4 fouls, 10 pts, and something like 9 turnovers. This certainly wasn’t how I expected this game to go.
For the record, I didn’t mean to insinuate that these teams are stinking it up out there leading to the low scoring. From what I’ve seen, Cleveland and Boston are both playing fantastic defense. Like 2005 Pistons/Spurs defense.
Yeah, that second half turned into a HELL of a defensive game. The refs let them play for the most part - they weren’t giving out the free foul shots on those 50/50 calls that could go either way, like they did in the first half.
Doc, for some reason, keeps insisting on watching Rondo light it up during the first half and then barely playing him in the second half.
Are you serious? Other teams are beating the hell out of Lebron now, taking shots at his head regularly. If anything, he doesn’t get enough calls. I’m not a big basketball fan so I may be off, but is it common for stars to get beat up as much as Lebron?
What a weird game that was. If Lebron even has a mediocre night, Cleveland wins easily.
Lebron was just not sinking them. He had 3 shots that went halfway down and came back up. The defense might’ve been good at times, but he was missing open shots too.
My sportsbook has the future of Cleveland winning the eastern championship paying +2400 - meaning for every $1 wagered, you’d win $24. Are they that much of a long shot, or is that a good bet?
Considering Boston is supposed to stomp them at home, and didn’t…
Not just open shots…layups! Same for Boston. Wierd game. It was like someone installed B-ball kryptonite under the Garden’s floor last night. I can’t remember a lower-scoring game offhand.
I choose to believe it was some sort of flubber on the rims until proven otherwise.
So, one or two game into the 2nd round and:
The Spurs look old, slow, and tired.
The Hornets are the best team that no one really knows all that much about.
Chris Wallace will be deserving of a championship ring if the Lakers take the title.
The Pistons hired the Hawks clock operator.
ESPN Classic will not be airing last night’s game.
It’s kind of the other way around with regards to the clock operator. Mason was a morning radio DJ before he got the gig at The Palace, so he was already a known brand. He announced the all-star game a year or two ago as well. People have been copying him, not the other way around. We love him, and he loves us.
For the record, he didn’t always use *that * voice when running his morning radio shows.
Agree- trading Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown may go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history, epsecially when they could have gotten some combination of Deng/Gordon/Duhon/Nocioni for him from the Bulls a year earlier but were holding out for more.
Off-topic, but I’ve never seen the media make such a fuss over a less important shot. A game-winner would be one thing, but man…one three pointer that probably came .3 seconds too late at the end of the third quarter :dubious:
Oh, I don’t know about that. It was a close playoff game and a shot which should not have counted adding points to the winning team at home. Take away those points at that time and it has the potential to change the tenor of the game from that point on. It would be a minor issue if it was game 47 of 82 and both teams were clearly playoff bound. But, when it’s 1 game of at most 7 and both teams have a legitimate chance to win and advance then I think it’s pretty clearly a big situation worthy of much review and impact to future similar situations.
All that said, I still think the Pistons are the better and more like to advance team from this series, even if they had lost game two.
I can see your point of view, and I agree the incident should factor into discussions about the allowability of replay, etc., but I do think too big a deal is being made of it. A single 3-pointer, not even during the final period of the game, can only mean so much. It pales in comparison to suspending 2 of the Pheonix Suns’ best players during “Horrygate” last year (another event that seemed unfair even as it followed the letter of the rules), or some of the more important foul calls/no calls made in tight games. If game clock malfunctions started happening with any regularity I’d give it a :dubious: , but this one case doesn’t do it for me.
