THE NBA THREAD - THE N STANDS FOR

[Geggy]

hell yeah, dee brown and rick fox were great together, as well as reggie lewis (rip). i probably can understand your pain watching your former hometown hero being in the finals on a different team. same thing happened with antoine walker with the miami heat with their tainted championship.

are there any other anti-celtics or obnoxious lakers fan in here that i could have fun with?

[Geggy]

oh yeah, and i just remembered rick fox won it with the lakers. i played against his brother aaron fox back in the high school days. dude, motherfucker could fly! he made us all feel insecured on the court.

[pac-man]

What the fuck is up with Detroit's firing of Flip Saunders? Bad call, imo.

[Pentegarn]

Originally Posted by pac-man

What the fuck is up with Detroit's firing of Flip Saunders? Bad call, imo.

It might have been a good call had they someone in mind that makes more sense than Flip. As it stands they do not seem to though.

[WhiteRat]

Flip deserved to get fired. 3 straight conference finals? Pfft, that shit is bush league and the Pistons made the right move.

[pac-man]

I have a lot of respect for Joe Dumars as an exec, but firing Flip at this point is like taking the a multi-core processor out of your PC in a world where the only replacements are 64-bit. Or for those who don't speak Geekinese, it's not a smart move.

[pac-man]

Fantastic game 1 of the Finals. Not a homer for either team, so I think I was fairly objective. Dick Bavetta and his crew did a great job officiating a very physical game. The energy from Boston and the effort from their bench was the kind of stuff that championships are born of. They didn't show that at all times during the early rounds, but I think Doc Rivers, KG, Pierce, and the crowd at the Garden know how big this is for themselves, the franchise, and the city. That's not to downplay the Lakers performance. Both teams put their bodies on the line, and role players came up huge. Kobe never took charge, and he'll recognize that and play up to his level in future games. ABC played up the rivalry between the franchises, but they didn't overdo it thankfully. Good game overall. Would not be suprised if this thing went 7. What'd you guys think?

[pac-man]

Doc Rivers said all that needed to be said about the Celts performance in the 4th. They simply got overconfident which lead to them trying to be cute and showy. The Lakers obviously came into this series with a little overconfidence themselves, which is why the Boston bench (props to "The Show" Leon Powe) has shocked them.

I said that the Lakers will win in 6, but I will likely be wrong. I thought that their bench and Kobe's skill would be too much, plus the fact that the Celts struggled with Atlanta, while the Lakers handled the defending champs. The Celtics defense is outstanding, and Paul Pierce may get a finals MVP award. Fuck what the haters say about the injury in game 1. The man got stabbed and almost died, so I'm not questioning his toughness.

LA should still take 2/3 at home, but if Kobe can't make more shots fall and the Celts keep blocking, rebounding, and getting to the line like they have, then Boston will win this thing in 6 or 7.

[Pentegarn]

It is looking like it might be Celtics in 6, maybe 5 or heck even 4 if the Lakers can't get their act together. You can't let a guy who averages 4 points a game manhandle you like that, not in the finals, not if you want a chance to win it.

[Geggy]

I think the series will go into 7 games, both team winning every home game.

[pac-man]

Kobe jumps over faster cars than that!

[MLE]

That's what you get for painting over your windshields.

[Geggy]

i wouldn't be surprised if it was already like that when they decided to paint it over. mass has the worst drivers.

[pac-man]

Does anybody believe Tim Donaghy's accusations that the NBA fixed playoff games in '02 and '06? He didn't name names as far as the teams involved, but everybody has pretty much surmised what the series in question are. The '02 series had to have been the Lakers vs. Kings series, which even at the time people thought that Sac got swerved in game 6 by the refs. The '06 series was the Rockets vs. Mavericks series in which Mark Cuban blew his top over how Yao Ming got no-called on questionable screens after Dallas was down 2 games to none; they came back to win. I'm almost inclined to believe what he's saying. Sure, Donaghy's credibility is shot, but his balls are to the bandsaw. If he lies about this stuff and the prosecution can prove it, then he's gonna get more time in the hoosgow. The NBA and basketball in general is probably the most "fixable" of major American sports, so is it or has it been rigged?

[Pentegarn]

Where there's smoke there's fire

[Geggy]

Oh my god.. did you guys watch the game tonight? That was so magical, man. This one is for the books.

I'm just happy I decided not to go to bed at half time when the celts were down by 18.

[pac-man]

Ditto. I had all but written them off at 9 minutes in the 3rd. History suggests that Boston has won this series, as no team has ever come back from 3-1.

[Pentegarn]

LA will win the next one and Boston will win game 6 at home.

[Geggy]

Celtics should have won game 3, in my opinion.

I've been complaining about doc rivers all year despite the 66 wins in the season but he pulled it off beautifully last night, going with the small unit and putting in eddie house instead of sam cassell. that's what i love about the celtics, you just never know who is going to step up in each game, may it be a starter or a bench player. just wow. i'm still in state of shock. the memory of vujacic slamming his fist on the bench chair and crying is forever etched in my mind.

I don't like the 2-3-2 format in the finals (an idea invented by Red Auerbach), i'd rather they follow the playoffs format where the team that has home court advantage play at home in game 5. It would be nice to see them win at home, but i want to see them wrap it up on sunday night so i can go back to my normal sleeping pattern.

[Geggy]

The lakers played a solid game last night despite blowing a 20-something point lead in the 2nd quarter again. The celtics have been missing kendrick perkins's defensive presence. they gave away too many offensive rebounding and kevin garnett played like crap. they had a chance to tie it up with few remaining seconds before fisher stole the ball from pierce. oh well. at least they celts will have a chance to end it all in front of their hometown crowd.

[Colonel Flagg]

Actually, they'll have TWO chances.

[WhiteRat]

I predict at least two monster windmill/somersault combo dunks by Kurt Rambis...with glasses off!

[pac-man]

Bah, McHale will shut him down.

[ItalianStereotype]

well, grats Boston

[Geggy]

Wow last night's game was pretty ridiculous... celtics couldn't have done it better in closing out the series as well as the season with a good old fashioned blow out. It happens when everyone is playing so well as a team like they have all year. The lakers were nonexistent. Last night felt like it was just another game and it hasn't hit me yet, not even when they were handed the trophy. I'm sure it will as the day goes on as I read articles written by the majority of sport analysts and critics who picked the lakers over the celtics.