NBA Playoff Thread

Shelley Smith just now on SportsCenter:

"Bryant has a chance to do something Jordan never did. Win (an NBA title) in a Game 7."

Yes, I'm sure Jordan feels like that's the one thing missing from his legacy -- that his team was too dominant in the NBA Finals to be forced to a seventh game. Moron.

 

Smith is awful, but man, Doris Burke is just unbearable. Why her and Bucher aren't in switched roles is beyond me. Burke has to ask the most stupidest questions ever.

As for Game 7, I picked the Cs in 7 all along. But if they're going to win, they have to punch early and often because the Lakers will cower. Everything is favoring the Lakers, but if the Cs are physical and assert their will on the glass and defensively, I think they can quiet the Lakers pretty quickly.

 

If there's one thing the Lakers don't have, it's the killer instinct. Typically, they lack it when they're ahead -- in a game, in a series, whatever. A Game 7 in the Finals? No one knows since they haven't played one.

 

Akron holds "LeBron Appreciation day":

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Aq.m.oTWnEnJqAl0uhRQ._q8vLYF?slug=ap-lebronday

 

For sure, I've predicted Lakers win tonight, but 7 points is awfully high.

Nearly every time I've bet on a team to cover, but not win, it seems I've lost.
But here I'd go again if I were in Vegas.

 

Even though we shouldn't be in the business of predictions, what are your predicitons?
I predict Lakers, but Celtics beat the spread.

 

Lakers cover.

Perkins' absence will leave a big hole; Laker big men romp.

 

Predictions?

- Big Baby makes at least one face after making a big play
- Artest makes Lakers fans cringe more than once
- Nate Robinson's mouth matches his performance
- Odom disappears for long stretches
- Gasol does the same . . .
- because Kobe loses his head and tries to shoot too much
- Pierce has a great game
- Garnett beats his chest every single time he makes a play
- The announcers talk about Doc Rivers as if no one knew how good a coach the league's 2000 Coach of the year was until the Celtics got Allen and Garnett
- Allen comes up big in the clutch
- Kobe does not, for the seventh fourth quarter in this series
- Shannon Brown tries to shoot; Lakers fans scream "Noooo0!!"
- Artest does the same, with the same fan reaction
- We speak afterward about how great a job Rasheed Wallace did covering for Perkins
- Rondo hits a pair of clutch free throws
- The Lakers spend most of the game questioning each other.
- Bynum guts it out, plays with aplomb.
- Someone blames the refs.
- Someone else tries to research the three refs' histories to find any evidence of bias. The name "Donaghy" is invoked more than once.
- The Laker bench plays only slightly worse than Boston's.
- Idiots ask afterward if this means that Rivers is a better coach than Jackson, and if Kobe's legacy is "TARNISHED!!!" by this setback.
- Lakers fans commit hara-kiri after the game. Upon completion, they throw their innards in the faces of the victorious Celtics.
- Celtics fans/Lakers haters come out of the woodwork (weeds?) on this board.
- Elsewhere, fans of middling franchises such as the Jazz, Pacers, Suns, etc. bray about the wonderfulness of the Lakers losing.
- Simmons becomes even more unreadable.
- Gee gloats. I get tempted to argue, but instead slink away and hope that the U.S. soccer team can at least bring me a modicum of satisfaction tomorrow.

The Celtics dismantle, their short-term plan to contend having worked beyond their wildest dreams. The Lakers return almost everyone for one or two more shots. LeBron signs with Cleveland, and ends up in his mid-30s seeking a spot with a contender to win that ever-elusive title.

If the Lakers win, I know I'll be happy. But like MileHigh said . . . I've seen this script before. I'm hoping this is similar to Magic's second shot against the Celtics, after having been taught a hard lesson before. But we'll see. Good luck to all those who root for either team.

 

PR, you forgot, "Doc Rivers dunks his face into the Pacific and causes a bigger oil crisis than there is in the Gulf."

 

Well put.

 

- That Mustang commercial with the "You gotta go, you gotta go" line finally makes my head explode.