2013 NBA Playoffs thread

Exactly. Why does nobody think this when an MLB or NHL series has unpredictable twists and turns and goes seven games? It happens every bit as or more often in those league's post seasons, yet nobody says a word. But when it happens in the NBA the tin foil hat crowd is all over it.

 

The fact that there have been FOUR blowouts (two by each time) is highly questionable, in my opinion.

 

Jesus christ.

When the games are close, you hear the conspiracy theory about the league trying to manufacture close games decided in the final minute...

And when the games are blowouts, that's supposedly also "highly questionable" because .....well, I don't fucking know why. Please tell me, ND, why would the League want blowouts?

So close games are suspicious, and blowouts are suspicious, just what is the proper margin of victory to avoid suspicion here?

 

To ensure that it goes seven. If these teams were so evenly matched, how could there be so many lopsided games?

 

So Dan get out in front of this and tell us what is going to happen tomorrow night. No matter which way things go you will twist it into to an NBA conspiracy so let's hear it.

You knew it was going 7 so that means you just knew the Spurs would miss free throws and that Allen would hit a miraculous 3. If the Spurs had won you would have had some story about how that was predictable.

 

There's no need to fix anything anymore this series. It's gone the full seven and a massive audience will tune in. Mission accomplished.

 

Because weird shit happens, you moron.

Sometimes you just get red hot, the crowd and momentum get behind you, you get on a roll. Next game you're cold, the opponent makes defensive adjustments to take away what worked the prior game, you no longer have the home crowd, very different story.

The Spurs had those blowout wins because guys like Danny Green and Gary Neal just happened to have two of the hottest outside shooting nights of their lives. Do you think they're gonna do that every night? If there's some way to "rig" Danny Green suddenly drilling everything he throws up from nearly 30 feet out, I'd love to know what it is.

And, again, I'd point out that the same shit often happens in MLB and NHL post season series. One night a team's bats will get red hot and they win by a 10 or 11 run blowout, next night they can't hit anything and get shut out. Nobody thinks anything of it. So why such trouble believing an NBA series could also have unpredictable turns?

 

So why did the league allow last year's finals to only go 5 games?

The tin foil theory about the league supposedly trying to create 7 game series is woefully deficient on the facts. I believe only three finals in the last couple decades went seven games, meanwhile around 8 or 9 during that period were either sweeps or decided in only 5 games.

If the league's been seeking to artificially extend series length, then they've been doing an awfully shitty job of it.

 

palm beach post had story that heat would've protested had it lost because duncan entering game after review of allen's 3 should've been a technical. that would've been interesting.

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/heatzone/2013/06/19/gregg-popovich-evades-question-on-illegal-tim-duncan-substitution/

 

Again, I'm not saying it is fixed, just that there are calls made that seem to come out of nowhere. It isn't even the result(s) I have a problem with, but the foul calls that go to the wrong (and invariably less skilled) player, the runs of calls against one team or another (what was with the sudden flurry of calls against the Heat in the 3rd?). Situations seem to develop inorganically. It feels inauthentic. Not saying it is pro wrestling, just that it seems like pro wrestling at times.
As for why hoops and not other sports. Pitchers change game to game, weather changes game to game and hockey is hockey, a goalie can get hot, a puck can kick off a skate or take a weird bounce. Basketball is the most "stable" of the series. The players stay the same, only the venue and officials change.
And the truth is, I wish I could enjoy the NBA as much as the rest of you.

 

Heat would have had zero chance of winning the protest had they lost in OT, since you can only protest something that directly affected the game --- in other words, the Spurs' last shot in regulation. Once the Spurs failed to score in those last 5 seconds, the substitution did not matter.

But allowing a team to illegally make a substitution in the last 5 seconds of regulation is another nail in the coffin of the "Officials are not going to let the Spurs win the series!" nonsense.

Heck , the officials not only "allowed" Dallas to beat Miami two years ago, but they "allowed" them to do it in six games.

This will be only the fifth Game 7 in the past 29 years. So much for that theory, too. :

 

It was one of the more exciting Finals games I've seen in recent memory. Spurs should have had it. Up 5 with 28 seconds to play? Come on. Most important shot wasn't by Allen. I mean, sure, it tied the game. But LeBron hitting the 3 to cut it to 2 made everything else possible. He had just missed a 3 and I think Bosh got the board and kicked it back out. If he misses that 3, Spurs hit free throws for the final 20 seconds to ice it.

I have a hard time liking Bosh's game but he was clutch in the 4th, at the end of regulation and then was the star in overtime.

I feel bad for Pop. He was thisclose. I don't think they're getting it now.