He really does seem to be a nice guy – he was the target in one episode of that show “Punk’d” where they sent some kid acting as a fan to pester Nowitzki very badly while he was out eating dinner somewhere. Not knowing he was being caught on film, he never lost his composure no matter how much the kid tried, as far as I recall.
San Antonio vs. Cleveland for the championship. Book it.
this year or three years ago?
i mean if we beat the mavs that would be nice. but then phoenix or the non odens. then lala or potentially utah. both on the road. i mean i’ll take it but i stopped smoking crack a couple of weeks ago.
but i’ll buy off on the cleveland. especially if the king turns out to be a closet southpaw.
I don’t think the Bucks will end up beating the Hawks, the better team almost always wins a seven game series, but they should be very happy about pushing them to seven games without their best player.
I don’t know. Since game 3, the Bucks have done a pretty good job of frustrating the Hawks’ front court, and Jennings and Salmons are shredding them.
I wonder if the Magic would rather see Atlanta, even if Milwaukee is without Bogut.
I’m really really excited about all of these matches in the west. All 4 are going at least 6 games or more! When’s the last time that happened?
The Magic has been beating Atlanta by extremely large margins (being up by over 50 points on them on two different games in the past two seasons) for a couple seasons now. Their only loss in the last 8 games came on their fourth game this season. I still think they would rather see the Bucks though.
The Lakers are the favorites coming out of the west, but my gut tells me they’re vulnerable and that a rejuvenated Duncan will regain his old form enough to overcome Gasol/Bynum. These Lakers keep looking like they’re gonna lay down at any moment. The Rockets took them to game 7 last year without T-Mac or Yao. The 8th seeded Thunder are taking them to at least 6 games (it’ll go to 7 – book it).
GO SPURS GO!!!
Other than that, I’ve got nothing. I’m not a big fan of the NBA (or Ena-Bee-A, as the boards say*) but SA is my hometown, so I love saying it!
Besides, Timmy’s getting old, so I guess we don’t have much powder left in this gun, do we?
Dallas was looking like a serious championship contender after their mid season trades, another first round knock out has to be a huge blow for them.
well at least they made it interesting.
i actually like the phoenix match up. for some odd reason we seem to have success against them.
and whomever comes out of the other side of the bracket is going to be bloodied.
i assume lala wins but then they get most likely the jazz.
i’d love to see a finals of pop v sloan. two class acts that keep their teams competitive year in and year out without the hoppla surrounding a kobe or lebron.
of course duncan isn’t really much of a slouch.
For some reason, when I look at the Spurs, I think about the episode of South Park where they’re playing pee-wee baseball, and the parents are thrilled because they keep winning, but the boys are mad because they’re sick of baseball and just want to spend the rest of the summer doing anything else. That must be what it’s like to have a really good coach like Popovich. They have their system and it’s just a matter of executing it; Pop figures out the rest.
Poor Mavs. After the Lakers, they are my second favorite team and I like Mark Cuban as well. His passion as a fan is what all owners need. Jerry Buss may have given the city of LA a lot of championships with his moves, but it rubbed me the wrong way last year when the reporters said he was playing poker at a casino instead of attending the Lakers championship parade. Come on man, even if you’re tired of it after all these championships, at least pretend for one day.
Props to the Blazers who did so much after essentially having their entire staring line fall due to injuries. These guys are going to be great and fight Durant for the top seed in the West in as little as 2 years, provided they can stay healthy.
Suns vs. Spurs again. Damn, was it only a couple years ago that a first round, game 1 victory by the Spurs happened with 2 overtimes and a Tim Duncan 3pter? Suns look to be as good or better, and the Spurs seems to have lost a bit from that team due to injuries. That series never lived up to the promise of that game 1, hopefully this series makes up for it. Since this year’s West is so tight, throw out anything to do with seeds. This is simply one good team battling another good team and I can’t wait to see the result
Tonight, I think maybe the Lakers lose and have to win it in game 7. They’ve been inconsistent, battling injuries, and history has shown that only when pushed to the edge does their true talent come out. I’m hoping for a Lakers win, but expecting a loss.
I also think Utah closes it out against Denver tonight. Utah seems to Hulk up at home and turn into Bruce Banner on the road. Tonight should be no different. I can’t believe it took this many years for Deron Williams to get his first All Star, but given the way he’s played and how many great guards are in the West, somebody was bound to be short changed. Two years ago it was the consensus that Chris Paul was the best PG in the league. I think next year he’ll have to cede that to Williams. Or maybe Nash will drink some more of that youth serum he’s been drinking and beat out Williams for the start. That would be unfortunate though, Williams is a way better defender than Nash, he’s the whole package. Lakers better not underestimate the Jazz when they meet because Williams is going to be a tougher version of Westbrook.
and this is where it helps to be a small media market. san antonio closed out dallas on thursday. and phoenix closes out portland later that night. so they couldn’t very well have scheduled that series to start on saturday. but you have to have a marquee team on sunday so let’s push phoenix v sa to monday. basically gives the older legs an extra day off. that means a lot at this time of the season to the geriatric set.
At 10:30 PM Eastern, no less. What is the NBA thinking starting a playoff game that late? Maybe if you cut the east coast some slack on the start times your “small markets” might get some attention. Hell, the Spurs fans can’t be too thrilled either; it’s late for them as well.
a lot of sick time gets utilized in san antonio the day after these late starts. so most people will be whooping it up at a bar or at home until well after midnight. that makes for a short turnaround.
damn, nash looked freaking all nba all time last night. and georgie and dick looked like they have never seen a playoff basketball game.
this has the makings of a classic.
i mean the spurs were ahead by 1 (within 1 with 4 1/2 to play.
crap, nash has got to come to earth and georgie and dick will play better - they can’t play any worse.
but then stoudemire could also pick it up a notch.
but then ginobli or duncan could get rolling as well.
yep. this is the one to watch. especially if you are a night owl type.
the only thing that i really tips this to the suns advantage is that the spurs are (at least in the back of their minds) going what do we do with lala after this beast is over.
whereas phoenix would love nothing more than to get rid of the suns killer. anything else is gravy.
dammit he has walked off with my girlfriend one too many times. this time i punch him in the nose (pun kind of intended) kind of 'tude.
Well I guess the Magic ended the whole “rust vs. rest” debate tonight. Welcome to Round 2, Atlanta.
Orlando continues to look impressive, even the Bobcats are looking better in retrospect. Orlando won all four games in the first round by a total of 37 points, they won that game last night by 43.
Craaaaaaaaap! My stupid cable went out and I missed the Suns v. Spurs game! Also House and 24! Fuck!
I hope the Suns don’t get all happy and complacent. They’ve never really been at this point, being up a game, winning game 1, vs. the Spurs. It’s very easy to relax and let Spurs steal back homecourt
On the other side of the coin, good job Lakers! They are starting to play themselves into shape. Even though Utah’s injured, they dispatched the Nuggets with little effort but have serious trouble with LA’s size and length, like a tiny Filipino girl dating a big black football player 
Orlando looks dangerous. I’m glad I picked them to go to the finals. With what happened to Cleveland and it’s demolishing by the Celtics, that’s looking more and more likely. However, I also did think Orlando has the best chance to beat the Lakers, so in this case I want to be totally wrong and have them lose in the ECF. I want Lebron vs. Kobe, I want the puppets back!!