Bynum’s nice too—the Detroit version, I mean. Good sixth man. I can’t figure out what happened to Amir Johnson and Maxiell though. I swear they regressed this year.
The AI-Billups deal had great playoff implications, didn’t it? The team that got AI got swept and the team that got Billups won a game by 58. I don’t think the Nugs do that without Chauncey. I’ve always disliked AI, Tracy McGrady, and Stephon Marbury type players. They put up great individual stats, but don’t add anything to the team, in fact, I would argue make their teams worse. Nugs get rid of AI and finish with the #2 seed and the Rockets lose McGrady to injury and they look like they will finally make it to round 2(although, I hope not, being a Blazer fan.)
Ataraxy: Your T-Mac gripe is valid—his track history in the playoffs proves it, including the damnable (and probable) proposition of a Rockets series win, which he’s never accomplished. But Iverson pretty much carried a mediocre clan of role players to the NBA Finals (guys like Matt Geiger and Eric Snow were getting serious minutes on that squad) and shocked the Lakers in Game 1 before, of course, losing the whole series. But you can’t write him off as “not adding anything to the team” or somehow making his team worse. There’s simply no argument that that Sixers squad could have made the Finals without Iverson, let alone the playoffs.
Seconding what Birdmonster said. Iverson has been a ballhog and adjusted poorly in Detroit (or maybe he got frustrated with coming off the bench for a team that was not going anywhere), but he’s a future Hall of Famer and deservedly so. He did not make his Philly teams worse.
I love AI. He’s a warrior who plays with tremendous intensity and passion. During his short stint in Denver, I got to see him a few times and he’s a super-fun individual to watch. But for all his gifts, he is not a teammate. He operates by at ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ basketball principle. He certainly deserves a spot in the hall based on his raw talent and love of the game but he is an individual first and a teammate second and in professional basketball, that doesn’t work (2004 olympics, anyone?). I’m not saying he makes his teams worse, necessarily. There’s always a place for talent. But he has to be used in the right way, and letting him loose to shoot at will isn’t it. True, the Sixers would’ve been much worse without him, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t have been better with someone else.
Enter Chauncy Billups. Chauncy’s got really good individual game (saw it when he put 36 on Paul and co.) but his first priority is to make his team better. George Karl refers to him as a “coach on the court”. He can reign over a his players and keep immature talent like Carmelo and Kenyon Martin in check. Admittedly I didn’t follow him that closely in Detroit (or even at CU when he was in college) but from what I’ve seen since he’s been here, I’ll take him on my team over three AI’s.
Spurs joined the Pistons on Summer vacation. Blazers survive another game. It’s not surprising that the Spurs are gone, but I thought home court might send them to round two at least.
Dwight Howards crazy elbows might cost the Magic their two best players for game 6, ouch.
I think the Spurs should take a run at Rasheed Wallace. Duncan-Parker starting, with Rasheed-Manu off the bench? That’s a tough team. Whatever they do they need to get a big because Duncan shouldn’t be playing more than 30 minutes a night during the regualr season.
Looks like Dwight Howard’s crazy elbows did cost them both Lee & himself. Guess this is going seven. Unless that Gortat guys goes bananas. He’s alright, don’t get me wrong, but Game 6 is probably going to be a hideous masacre.
So long Hornets. New Orleans may be the most disappointing team this season.
So Nugs knock of NO in 5 and are set to meet Dallas, who they swept this season. I’m thinking they get cocky and drop game one, then go on to win in 5 to meet the Lakers.
The Spurs need to get younger. Their core is aging quickly and the are desperately in need of some younger talent. At 34, I’m not sure Rasheed has a whole lot left in the tank anyway.
Bad coaching job this year. New Orleans has GOT to get rid of the coach.
I thought Toronto was even more dissapointing than the Hornets. They scrapped through the season with injuries, made the playoffs, and just sort of broke down in the last month. Toronto plain stank from the drop and their talent suggested a 4 or 5 seed in the East, not a lottery team.
Either way: Denver looks like it can rough up LA a little bit. I wouldn’t be shocked to see that series go 6 or 7. The Lakers can be bullied and Denver can score. The Nugs looked surprisingly good, I thought.
Probably not, but if they can get him for 2 years and bring him off the bench for 25 minutes a night, I think he can still be effective.
The Boston-Chicago series is insane. What’s the over/under on number of overtimes for Game 7?
Fine. How about the never-ending Bulls v. Celtics game 6?
Absolutely insane. Excluding injury, Rose is gonna be a force for many years to come.
Yeah, I’ve not really been a fan of Basketball since Jordan retired, but man… even I had to keep checking and watching the score of this game while studying. I figured I’d just watch the last min.
And then the last min of OT.
And then I missed the double OT, and was bummed. Only to be told it went into triple OT!
So then I had to watch the Triple OT’s last 2 mins. Good times.
I’m glad the Bulls are up to something again… though I don’t think they can beat the Lakers/Lebron, but a guy can dream I suppose.
I don’t think any series has ever had 3 overtime games let alone 4, two of those multiple overtimers. Ridiculous.
Plus, the Rockets advancing without Knee-Mac is making me happy in a schadenfreude flavored way. And it’s not like they beat up on a bunch of scrubs.
These two teams have already played more playoff periods than any team has ever played in an entire postseason, and it’s still the first round. Let that marinade for a minute.