NBA Playoffs Thread

Laughably false, provably untrue, and . . . yeah, he is.

Anyway:

Not sure about Staples' atmosphere these days, to be honest.

But one source of pride for Lakers fans is that the PA guy, Lawrence Tanter, doesn't try to make himself part of the game. So many of these idiots, with Orlando's 1990s guy and Chicago's 1990s guy (during intros, at least) scream and yell, with the game presentation a constant barrage of telling the fans when to cheer. At some of these places, you almost feel like watching the game is the distraction from the "ENTERTAINMENT!!!!"

So, yeah, very glad the Lakers' guy doesn't have to scream "TTTTRRRRAAAAVVVVVEEEELLLLIIIINNNGGGGG!!!!!" every time someone does the bunny hop in the pea patch. And he has a nice, lecherous sound when he says "Laker, GIRLS."

 

That's pretty much how it works.

And everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.

 

I'm not sure anything I wrote could be interpreted as Pau hate. I'm just disappointed he didn't take the next step with his game that he showed he was capable of last year. He's actually my favorite Laker in many respects, and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed taunting my punk Celtics friends last year when he went right back at Kevin "Playground Bully/Studio Gangster" Garnett, especially since they claimed the Lakers would never be able to down the Celtics after the way Garnett punked Gasol in 2008.

He's been wildly inconsistent all season. He tries to back guys down when he should be facing them up, he disappears on defense, and he still gets his shot blocked or can't finish around the rim way to much for a guy that skilled. He was a killer in the Finals last year, and it was like he was on a mission to prove he wasn't going to be anyone's bitch. This year, I just feel like he has long stretches where he's longing for summer vacation.

 

Pau isn't having a bad series, but he could be doing a lot better. He seems to have lapses of focus, i.e. missing chippies at the rim, playing lethargic defensively. He just seems out of sorts. Yeah 14/10 is damn solid, but he could easily be around 20/13 or so. He seems to be getting pushed around. AGAIN.

 

The whole team looks like they're under the impression that, at long last, they can finally act tired in the playoffs.

They just look like a tired team, a group that looks like they're thinking more about getting a nap than a victory. I'd be angry as a fanboy, but again . . . they just cashed in a pair of rings that I never thought they would while Kobe still played.

Plus, when I pulled some bitchiness on Facebook after the first game, a friend from Cincinnati reminded me that he has seen four playoff appearances total between his hometown's two pro teams in the last two decades.

Bynum can trot out some line about the team having "trust issues!" and Bill Simmons can grasp at the idiotic straw that "The Lakers still don't know who their best five ARE!!!!" all they want. If it is over (and with their best players other than Bynum all on the wrong side of 30, it likely is), this group has absolutely nothing to apologize for.

Now I'm off to WishList the 2010 title collection DVD on Amazon, in anticipation of it finally dropping in price.

 

Pau's not terrible. But definitely a disappointment. For the first month or so of the year, mainstream NBA writers were saying he was the perhaps the MVP - of the league. After that start he slowed down and the season's been up and down since but has really tailed off - from what he's been in the past - the last few weeks. DD said it - he looks confused with the ball, not knowing when to just shoot a jumper, when to attack, when to pass. I'm not surprised at all when he gets double-teamed and has it stolen, or when he tries bullying someone into the paint and throws up a helpless shot. If you listen to Stephen A. Smith - and I know you do - it's because he's having relationship troubles with his lady.

So he certainly has to turn it around. Then again, if the Lakers would have made just two of their first 14 3-pointers last night - instead of none - they would have been tied with seven minutes to go. Someone has to knock down some shots.

Looking at the numbers again, there have only been 18 times when the home team has lost the first two games. Three times the team's come back and won. That percentage is actually a lot better than the overall rate of teams being down 2-0. Overall it's happened 238 times and only 14 times has a team come back. And it sort of makes sense that the percentage would be higher - you'd assume that if a home team loses the first two, they're still the better team in the long run, since they would have had a better regular season record. Of course when the teams have the same record, as Dallas and LA did, that part is probably moot.

Anyway, we'll see. And now I'll watch the 1985 DVD Return to Glory, better production values than the 2010 DVD and superior, over-the-top writing.

 

I do have the 1985 one . . .

But the 2010 one has the press conferences. Artest after game 7 is worth the price tag by itself.

 

All I was saying is that while Pau has not been great, he is getting a disproportionate amount of criticism vs. some players who aren't playing to their potential as well as he is. I mean, in Game 2, he was clearly better than Lamar Odom and it was supposed to be Odom who was their answer to Dirk. Fisher's been bad. Artest has been horrible and stupid. But it's Pau that gets booed?

I mean, you say he's not passing well, but he had seven assists in Game 1.

 

My issues with Pau -- and I assume STG issues aren't dissimilar -- have as much to do with his uneven play in the regular season as they do the playoffs. I never expect Odom to consistently be great. Too much depends on how he's able to channel his sugar high or reality TV responsibilities or general basketball schizophrenia. And Fish, christ, Fish is my favorite hood ornament. Artest, outside of his unintentional comedy last year, is probably my least favorite "important" Laker since Glenn Rice. But Pau showed me last year he could be as good as any second banana in the league, and I sort of hoped he might be more 1A this year instead of option No. 2. (Some nights, he seems to think he's option ocho.) He's too talented to be a guy who almost never dominates.

 

Long NBA layoffs between games suck. Hockey plays back-to-back some nights :/

 

I support a coat-tail riding, attention-whoring douchebag being deprived of the NBA championship he seemingly assumes is his by some sort of divine right. No more, no less.