NBA '08 Playoff Thread

Does anyone think the West teams may be a bit softer than in the East?

Look at the Hawks for example - not very good, but they play a pretty tough style.

 

Jordan's shooting in NBA Finals losses --

Los Angeles
14-24 36 points, 2-point loss

Portland
16-32 39 points, 11-point loss
11-26 32 points, 5-point loss

Phoenix
19-43 44 points, 8-point loss
16-29 41 points, 10-point loss

Seattle
6-19 23 points, 21-point loss
11-22 26 points, 11-point loss

Utah
9-22 26 points, 11-point loss
11-27 22 points, five-point loss

Utah
13-29 33 points, three-point loss
9-26 28 points, two-point loss

 

I think, God forbid I say this, the Celtics may have actually just played really good defense on Kobe tonight.

Kobe isn't Jordan, of course, but I didn't feel Kobe didn't show up, I think he tried, but the Celtics were too good for him. Also, I don't think Kobe is as good as Jordan in taking a game over.

One day, Kobe may be on the level of Jordan, Magic and Bird in getting red-hot no matter the situation, but tonight was not that night, and the Celtics' defense was a reason.

 

135-299 (45 percent) for a 29.5 point average -- way beyond what Kobe did tonight.

 

Damn it. I thought by the thread's poll that the Mavericks were still in contention.

But then I saw how Buddha abandoned PhilJax tonight and it was back to reality.

 

Love it. Pierce has always been a gamer, and if the Celtics can finish off the Lakers, he would elevate his spot among the all-time greats to have ever played for the franchise. There aren't too many guys in the NBA that I really, really care to see win a championship, but Pierce is one of them.

That was great to see tonight, even if I listened more than watched because I was on deadline.

 

Pierce is an all-around classy guy and, from what I've seen, never whines or disrespects anyone and just plays the game. He'll easily go down as one of the Celtic's greats as just for his role with the Celtics either on or off the court.

 

Didn't realize this until just reading a column moments ago -- Kobe has six losses in his past seven NBA Finals games.

 

I'm a big C's fan and even I have to point out that I think you could certainly find a few people who disagree with your first sentence.

 

This may belong in the Donaghy thread, but then again it's specifically about last night's game. Here is the problem the NBA is going to face for a long, long time: Forget the C's were getting their asses handed to them and the Lakers were completely out-playing them -- there was plenty of sentiment at the bar I was watching the game that the refs were somehow handing the game to the Lakers. Obviously these were all ridiculous Celtics homers, but what really speaks to the perception problem the league has is that people could watch last night's game -- which was so clearly just an example of the Lakers out-playing the C's (at least early) -- and cry conspiracy. I actually had to stop my buddy mid-rant when they showed Odom's line: 7-of-7, 15 points, and ask him how exactly the refs had influenced that. He muttered something about "Yeah, but the refs got them going with a few fouls early" or something. Bottom line is that unlike any other sport the NBA is going to have to deal with this for a long time. Of course, everyone thinks their team is getting screwed by the refs, but the NBA has to deal with fans thinking the fix is in, which is a whole other level.

 

Boobie, I was thinking about that exact same thing yesterday while I was on the Donaghy thread and people went beyond the '02 conf finals and started getting very out there. But to be honest, it's the NBA's own fault. We just can't sit here and say in our heart of hearts that we can't see that league even thinking about trying to alter something for its own benefit. And now, fair or not, you're right -- they'll have to deal with this crap for pretty much every single big playoff series for some time.
It's similar to the baseball steroid mess -- every time a guy puts on five pounds of muscle and hits 30 homers, everyone asks the obvious question -- what's he juicing with?

As for the game -- wow. That's about all I can really say. It makes me want to take back everything I said about Boston's weak late game problems from the past few rounds. They went about it the right way, chipping away and chipping away all while playing outstanding defense on the other end. And Kobe was right about one thing -- they pissed the bed. But more specifically, he pissed the bed. As good as Boston's D was in the second half, how many times did you see him go down and take an off balance 20-footer after about five seconds had ran off the shot clock. It was ridiculous. I can only recall one sound move of his in the second, a running, hanging layup. That's it.
Give it up to Pierce -- and more importantly, give it up to Ray Allen. That's as good as I've seen him play in about five years.
We'll know after the first 20 minutes Sunday whether a parade will be going down Tuesday or not in Boston. In my opinion, L.A. has to come out take control early and often -- go wire-to-wire. If Boston's within three or four at halftime, it'll be boozing it up in the locker room afterward.

 

Jordan would've never let this happen -- but more importantly, Jordan's teammates wouldn't have let this happen either. Pippen wouldn't have disappeared like Odom did. Horace Grant wouldn't have said, "Fuck it," like Gasol did. And Bulls Phil Jackson wouldn't have just thrown his arms up and said ... "Oh well," like Laker Phil did.
Jordan and Kobe should've never been compared in the first place, and this is NOT the first instance of that. Kobe panics, Jordan overcame. Bottom line.