2014 NBA Playoffs thread

The official cause, per the Lake County, Ill., coroner, was "natural causes" -- heart attack.

 

Wizards have something going.

Imagine a Finals with the Clippers v. Wizards.

 

What the Wizards have is a backcourt combo that blows the Bulls out of the water. Hinrich and Butler can't keep pace with Beal and Wall. Augustin is scoring, but he's not going to be able to guard these guys. This is the matchup where the loss of Rose really, really hurts.

Plus, you have to account for Boozer's annual playoff disappearance.

 

Woj reports Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner got in a knock-down, drag-out fight in practice before Game 1.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pacers-fight-each-other-on-eve-of-playoffs--finally-take-swing-at-hawks-in-game-2-062419341.html

Turner is a head case in his own right, but as much as I love Stephenson's game sometimes, there is a part of me as a Pacers fanboi looser that doesn't want me to watch the team give him a four-year, $50 million deal. His personality is still too up-and-down, he can be even worse than Paul George in playing heroball, and I don't think he's ever going to accept being Robin to George's Batman. The upside is still high on Stephenson, but there's still a considerable downside, too.

 

" ... have something ... " in the sense they're building something good, it seems.

 

"Stephenson's relentlessly irritable nature" is a very skillful euphemism for "what a fucking asshole."

Isn't Stephenson just an all-around bad person start to finish? Some criminal charges, plus no school wanted to touch him even for a year.

 

People around the Pacers talk a lot about "Good Lance" and "Bad Lance," though often the way he plays is "FreeLance." He's produced way better than you could expect from a second-round pick, so he's a bargain at less than $1 million per season. But he also was a second-round pick because of his "Born Ready" diva-ness and his arrest record/general comportment, so once you start paying him $10 million, you could have bigger problems.

This isn't an excuse for Hibbert, because he's had all sorts of shooting and rebounding struggles independent of this. But it doesn't help that Stephenson refuses to pass to him, and seems to take particular pleasure in taking rebounds away from him.

 

Really? That is outstanding. I am going to have to catch some Pacers games and see Stephenson rip the ball away.

 

Well, not just Hibbert. Once Stephenson got a couple triple-doubles early in the year, he decided to keep going for them. Actually, Stephenson is a great rebounder for a guard, in part because he's 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds. But he's not always one to get out of the way when a teammate has a line on a board.

 

For the 1980's drama/thriller genre on here....whenever I see or hear Tom Thibodeau, "Benny" from LA Law flashes into my head...

 

Benny!!!

 

Trading for Turner has been the turning point in the Pacers' season.