^^
The league can impose a suspension for a flagrant 1. There was talk of Howard getting one for his F1 on Pierce.
There’s a point system - you get 1 point for a flagrant 1, 2 points for a flagrant 2. See here:
http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/04/18/flagrant.technical/index.html
This song is hilarious http://lebron-james-watch.si.com/2010/05/28/the-thonglebron-song/
Well, the NBA got what they wanted. I guess they’ll have to decide if they want the Lakers to win tomorrow or Monday.
Only a bit of sarcasm!
I would think they want Lebron vs. Kobe by this time. It seems increasingly likely that we won’t be getting that matchup anytime soon
I hate the Lakers.
I don’t even think he should get a fine. Dragic totally flopped. It was a good tactic. It worked. He sold it. He got some points, and he sparked a near-comeback, but it was still mostly a performance. It wasn’t that hard of a foul, and it wasn’t anything worse than a dozen things that happen in any game that don’t get noticed.
That was a nasty little flop. I can’t believe that with slow motion replay the refs still kept that as a flagrant.
You could see as he was going down there was absolutely no expression of pain in his face. His eyes were opened, they looked right (probably towards the refs) before he closed it gently like a baby going to sleep. And he got hit on the chin so there was no reason to put his hands over his entire face except to stifle a laugh that the refs were buying it
Don’t get me wrong, Sasha did a shit move and I hate dirty plays, but I think I hate floppers even more. If there really was animosity between the two, then stand up and take the hit, then yell at Sasha or slap him in the head, but don’t fall down like you’ve been shot by a sniper
Anyway, Lakers-Celtics again. I hope the series with the Thunder and the scare with the Suns put the Lakers in the right mindset to face the Celtics. They are not going to score over 100 in each game. This will be a defensive battle. There won’t be much transition and fast break opportunities. Don’t let the Suns’ test of your resolve make you soft. And above all else Pau and Odom and Bynum need to watch footage of Howard in the Orlando-Boston game 5. Pound the fuck out of these guys!
When Pierce and Artest started going at each other, Bill Simmons pulled a Dr. Samuel Beckett and leaped into himself in 1987. He never returned home.
I don’t know what that reference was to, but that was a hell of a game last night! They Lakers pounded the hell out of the Celtics and pushed them around like they did to us 2 years ago
REVENGE, BABY!! YEAH!!!
Since I just read like, 20 articles on the web breaking down that game, I want to say a couple of moments stood out for me:
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Ron Artest did a good job on Pierce and much has been made of their tussle 27 seconds in, but there was a sequence in the 4th quarter that scared me a bit but came out in favor of the Lakers. Artest blocked or stole a Glen David layup attempt, saved the ball inbound, and threw it to Farmar I think who passed it downcourt to a streaking Gasol for the basket. But Ron initially scared the crap out of me because when the tossed the ball to Farmar, he was very demonstrative. With him, I cannot tell if he’s happy or mad, so when he pumped his fists and yelled, I thought he was going to get a 2nd tech. Luckily that was actually happy-faced Ron
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Kobe completely ignoring Chris Rock. This guy is so focused he could cut diamonds with his stare. He’s not losing this series. Bring it home Kobe, get ring #5!
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It definitely wasn’t the rest, so it must simply be KG getting old. He blew a point-blank layout and the attempted putback. I looked at that ball and was amazed that it went straight up and down twice, KG didn’t even have the strength to nudge the ball forward! Whether that was good defense or bad offense, I’m glad KG was a shell of his self. He can’t blame it on fatigue since they had 5 days of rest before this game, Pau just wanted it more. Though I’m sure we’ll see the old KG back in the series for flashes or spurts, his impotence in the game bodes well for my Lakers
Kudos to the Lakers for scoring over 100. Celtics have great defense and it’s an accomplishment every time someone can do that to them in the playoffs.
Great job Kobe did defensively on Rondo. No triple-doubles, not even any highlight reel passes or scores. After Westbrook, Williams, and Nash, I’m feeling confident that the Lakers have a gameplan to deal with Rondo
Celtics showed a bit of defensive intensity during, I think, the 4th quarter where they swarmed and made the Lakers into a jump shooting team for a few minutes, but luckily that only lasted a little while. Even Farmar was breaking down the defense and penetrating. Do that one more time in game 2 and I can exhale a bit 
Looks like the Bulls got Thibodeauas their new head coach. Call me crazy, but if their push is to get Lebron, this probably won’t end well
Boston was a great defensive team because they had Garnett and he anchored the team’s defense. Even with Lebron, I don’t think they’re at Boston’s level, especially when KG is healthy
And correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Mike Brown touted as a defensive specialist? The Cavs were pretty high on the defensive end the last few years because they have personnel who were willing to work hard and get loose balls. The Bulls are constructed similiarly, with Noah as the Bulls’ version of Varejao. And Derrick Rose, for all his explosiveness, isn’t a defensive guard. I don’t see Lebron on the Bulls as any better defensively than he was when he was on the Cavs
What the Cavs lack, and what a new team needs to do, is to offer better options on offense. Mike Brown’s offensive gameplan was to dump it into Lebron at the top of the key and have him create something. Going 1 on 5 was ok during the regular season when 90% of the teams you faced weren’t as good as you, but against Boston this year and Orlando last year, the Cavs were exposed.
And I’ve soured a little on the Derrick Rose pairing. Both Lebron and Rose need the ball in their hands to do the work. With Lebron on the team and handling the ball so much, you don’t really need a traditional point guard, which is what Rose is shaping up to be. Remember the Larry Hughes experiment in Cleveland? That didn’t work out because Lebron would have the ball most of the time and not Hughes, and it turned Hughes into a spot-up jump shooter. His game suffered for that. I hope that same thing doesn’t happen to Rose.
Lebron needs a big man, which is why most articles I read have Bosh as the pivotal piece in the Lebron sweepstakes. Get Bosh, a big man who can space the floor but can also go in the paint, and you’ll get an effective partner for Lebron. Any point guard on Lebron’s team is just going to suffer.
Oh and by the way, GO LAKERS tomorrow!!!
Nice, all is right in the world. Allen breaks an outside shooting record, Rondo puts up a triple double and my team is headed back home to try and hopefully put this one away at home. (I would love it, but I feel this series will end in LA one way or another.) I have no desire to embarrass LA, they are my favorite opponent, I just want the Celts to raise banner #18.
They got an awful lot of help from the refs. That was one of the most lop-sided officiating jobs I’ve ever seen in the playoffs.
Well, sure a 41-20 free throw disparity (after removing the end-game intentional fouls) is a little lopsided, I’ll grant you. :rolleyes:
But I don’t think it determined the game.
But it’s always nice to have Lakers fans complaining about lopsided officiating in the playoffs. Is it time we just adopt that as the new definition of ‘chutzpah’?
[For the record, I didn’t keep careful count, but it appeared that there were about an equal number of bad calls each way in the backcourt/charging vs blocking areas. But the Lakers got the benefit of the doubt in the paint the whole game]
Ouch, bad loss. There goes homecourt. Lakers better take game 3 or they are toast 
Magic and the announcers mentioned it yesterday, but does anyone else know why Kobe and Ray Allen hate each other? What’s the story?
As far as I have been able to tell, it stems from this:
He’s probably right, but still, shut up Ray Allen
Has anyone made a Jekyll and Hyde joke about Ray Allen yet? Yes? I don’t care, I’m going to do it anyways 
Hey Ray Allen, Dr. Jekyll called, he wants his potion back. Seriously, no matter what I think of his age or how much I hate him, I wasn’t expecting this. Who almost sets 2 records back to back like that, best shooting and worst shooting? It’s like the real Ray Allen thought he was Tony Allen just like half the fans do. Come on, they do sorta look alike (and no, it’s not because they’re both black :rolleyes:)
But seeing as how the Celtics did exactly this in their series to Cleveland then won the next 3, I’m cautious about celebrating. True, the Lakers are better than the Cleveland Lebrons, but you’d think that Paul Pierce and Rondo are due for a breakout game sooner or later. Then again, so are Artest, Odom, and Bynum
For once, I hope a Paul Pierce prediction comes true: They won’t be coming back to LA cause LA takes it in 5
Game 2 wasn’t a breakout game for Rondo?
The Lakers defended him a lot more aggressively this time. They were going at him as soon as he caught the ball, and really contesting the shots. It wasn’t as simple as him gtting cold after being hot (though there was some of that too), Jackson adjusted the defense for him.
The Lakers did end up leaving KG more open and letting him have a good night, but his good night didn’t kill them the way Allen’s did.