I was only able to follow along via my phone and the sports bar next door to my work. They reliably cheer when good things happen to local teams. I couldn’t get any feel for officiating or anything else, but it sure did seem like the Warriors went into complete defensive lockdown mode when the Spurs hit 84 points. (All game, really, 87 points and 36% shooting)
That was a really nice game. They were able to control Parker for the most part, only Manu shot well. Both teams shot like crap but SA’s 3s just wouldn’t go down. I was pretty surprised at the Warriors winning in OT though, since it looked like SA had all the momentum. But they couldn’t shoot worth a damn. I’m surprised the Warriors were able to grind out such a low scoring game and still win, that’s SA’s typical MO
I’m happy though that we have 3 lower seeds winning in the 3 out of 4 game 3’s. Makes the series more interesting. I think that of all the lower seeds, Memphis has the best chance of advancing, followed by GS or Indiana. New York is all about the outside shot and if they get cold, Indiana will upset them, but the Pacers don’t exactly have a stellar offense to take advantage of that.
Tom Thibedeau better get it into his guys’ heads that they can act all crazy and rough on the court, but that has to be an act. If they start losing it and getting techs and unnecessary fouls, they’re going to lose. They need to make Miami crazy, not be crazy themselves
Thibodeau, who was the one more recently fined for complaining about refs. Yeah, Jackson got fined, but not exactly for what the refs had done.
Today in Oakland we had a guy who was confused about which way the ball went, was making calls from an impossible position, and just was generally doing a poor job officiating. And Duncan seemed to get away with stuff that got called on anyone else.
Game four of Heat-Bulls was even more brutal than game two, if such a thing is possible. Hand hey, Dwayne Wade is banged up. The poor Heat! Imagine having an important player injured. Whatever will they do? The poor saps. Tears of sympathy are flowing in Chicago, Oklahoma City, New York, and Indiana, that’s for sure.
I think Memphis put the Thunder away last night. OKC had a big lead for a while, and Memphis slowly worked it down and won in OT. Durant seems worn out and even though Ibaka and Martin both played better last night, he doesn’t have enough help. I think Golden State-San Antonio is the most undecided of the four series at this point, so game five should produce some high drama.
I would not bet against New York/Indiana being a 7 game, knock-down drag-out brawl.
I was there, it was uglier in person I promise you. The Heat played like utter garbage and still won by 20. Nate Robinson may have had the worst single game a professional basketball player has ever had. Boozer came up really, really small as well, but at least we have come to expect that. It’s a shame since he actually shed some of that baggage this year.
Knicks are deep in the doo-doo. Melo has to shoot like 90% if they’re going to win the way they’re playing.
Memphis is either surprisingly good or the Thunder is surprisingly bad, I can’t decide yet. Still, I think the Thunder will take game 5 on their home floor but Memphis will close it out in 6. Memphis feeds off too much from the crowd at home and the Thunder really really misses Westbrook. I’m shocked really. I would have picked the Thunder in 6 but Memphis has basically been close every game, even in the one they lost. They look and play like the better team
I think the Knicks are done in the next game. Poor body language, players sulking and calling out others, and Carmelo is going to take it upon himself to shoot his way out of it. His coach needs to sit him down and tell him that the way to win the next game is if Carmelo gets a double double with rebounds and at least 5 assists. He can’t just keep shooting.
Memphis is really good. Their offense doesn’t set the world on fire, but it’s improved, and their defense is that good. Conley is kind of introducing himself to the public, and we know how good Randolph and Gasol are. Meanwhile, Durant is getting almost zero help and the bloom is really off the rose with Scott Brooks. He doesn’t know what to do here. Ibaka can’t defend Randolph or Gasol, their attempts to guard those guys with Perkins and others limit the offense even further, and he’s playing Derek Fisher a lot. It’s pretty bad.
You can’t get assists if nobody on your team can make any shots! The Pacers are good on defense and the Knicks are a hot and cold shooting team. If nothing else is working, of course he’s going to try to force it.
Slash and kick! There’s a few guys on the team that can create their own shots. Instead of isolation ball, they need to slash and find shooters on the outside, get them open looks. NY is not a terrible shooting team, and they’ve got some quick people who can create stuff out of nothing. But they’re just standing around watching Carmelo
No, they’re not a bad shooting team. Sometimes they’re a really good shooting team and sometimes they’re not, and for most of this series, they’ve been “not.” In the last game Smith went 3-10 on three-pointers and Shumpert went 0-5, and the whole team was 8 for 28. In game three they took way fewer threes but made the same kind of crappy percentage.
Indiana plays great pick-and-roll defense, so it’s not as simple a matter for the Knicks as not relying on isos.
This is just a bad matchup for New York.
Too bad Bulls lost, that was a good try by them.
OKC is getting killed, no answer for Randolph and Gasol and their outside shooters are not making anything. Durant looks frustrated. I’m pretty shocked. Even without Westbrook, I thought they’d at least dominate a few games. Even in the game they won, it was close. Memphis has outplayed them in every game
That changed quickly…2 pts down, 2 missed free throws, 10 seconds…I kind of want this to keep going
Grizzlies win! @_@
Durant had no help at all during that series. It was kind of sad to watch.
I bet they’re kicking themselves for keeping Ibaka over Harden. However, Ibaka is a big guy, plays close to the rim. I can see how they made that decision. However, given when I hear on sports talk radio, if they are correct, then apparently OKC didn’t have to make the decision to keep one or the other until this year but pulled the trigger a year early. Why? That’s the part that made no sense
Because a player like Harden has more value the longer he has in his current contract.
Because Harden’s rookie contract was up after this year. So if they kept him, he’d now be a free agent and they would lose him for pretty much nothing. Their choices came down to trading him in the offseason or trading him at the trade deadline, and the longer they waited, the less they were going to get in return.
Really? Hmm, didn’t know that. Were they not optimistic about being able to do a sign-and-trade? This way they should get good pieces in return, and the other team has Harden commitment that he wasn’t going to walk out after a year. I forget the details of the Houston trade, was that a place Harden settled for or was he fine with going there?
Too bad about the Warriors, I would have loved to see more of them. I’m not sure who to root for and who will win the WCF. Grizzlies beat the Spurs just a couple years ago, but then they got beat by the Clippers whom they got revenge on this year. I think its a bit of a tossup. Tony Allen can’t guard both Manu and Parker, one of them is going to heat up. Then again, Duncan can’t guard both Gasol and Randolph. I think I’ll give a slight edge to the Spurs, they win in 6 but it’ll be a tough 6.