NBA '08 Playoff Thread

[Michael_ Gee]

Lexington High has one of our state's top basketball programs. Conference champs every year, record ranging from 17-3 to 19-1, able to compete with the city schools. And every March, as sure at St. Patrick's day, they lose in state tournament to Central Catholic. Nobody knows why, but CC just has hoodoo on the home town team.
So it is with the Suns and Spurs. After gacking away Game 1, Phoenix knew it was done, and so it is. Shaq is still valuable, but he's not able to rally anybody past their collective neuroses anymore.

 

[Tripp McNeely]

... and these guys have it dripping out of their old asses.

Maybe the grossest thing ever typed on SportsJournalists.com

And, I'd have to agree. The Spurs look awful good. I'm a Laker fan, but I just don't know if the Lakers are healthy or experienced enough just yet. Now, if Bynum were back and healthy, it'd be a different story. That Laker team would just be too much, I think. But I think the Spurs look like they have one more run in them.

 

[rube]

I see the Pistons are again making things more difficult for themselves than they need to.

Has this just been something that has happened under Flip Saunders? Because, say what you want about Larry Brown, I don't remember his Pistons teams playing this uninspired in the playoffs.

Rasheed Wallace. 32 MIN. 1-6 FG (0-3 3PFG), 0-2 FT, 4 RB, 2 PTS.

Gonna yuck it up in the Sixers huddle tonight, Rah-Weed??

I smell a ridiculous guarantee from Rasheed for game 4 -- where he'll shoot 1-of-15 and get tossed as his teammates bail him out and the Pistons win by a score of 69-68.

The Pistons-Sheed romance will end very badly, and likely very soon.

Blazer Sheed has been reappearing more and more frequently. Although anybody who ever expected anything different has to be a terminal idiot.

The Sheed romance amongst true Pistons fans ended when he couldn't get his ass over to cover Robert Horry on that inbound pass late in Game 5 of the '05 Finals.
After that, he's barely showed up, gotten technical after technical in terrible situations and pretty much ran his mouth without ever backing it up.
I personally wanted him moved last year.

 

[rube]

Shaq has spent a lot of time since that threepeat pissing all over the Los Angeles Lakers in interviews.

And Oz, as a fan of a great program like Kansas, surely you can appreciate this: Shaq wasn't the first great player to win a title with the Lakers, and he won't be the last. Yay for the titles . . . . now take your share of the blame for the fact the whole thing fell apart.

As someone who never was (too) bitter at Roy Williams when he left Kansas without a national championship after 15 years in Lawrence, I don't get it. Even without a championship banner, I wished Roy well elsewhere.

Root for your team, of course, but at least respect what the guy did for your franchise. At least, that would be my approach.

I hear what you're sayin, bro, but Shaq did so many little things during his time here that the media (locally and nationally) let slide, while Bryant was constantly roasted (most of the time deservedly so).

"If you don't feed the big dog, I'm not gonna guard the house." (i.e. give me the ball on offense or I ain't playin defense) -- the media thought that was hilarious. Imagine if Bryant had said that?

"I got hurt on company time, I'll have surgery on company time." (that was when Shaq waited to have surgery right before the season started instead of the offseason).

And, no matter what he said, he was never willing to share the spotlight with Kobe the way he did with Wade (at least temporarily) or Nash (currently).

It's also no coincidence that whenever he leaves a team, he leaves behind at least one teammate who he's feuded with publicly (Anfernee Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, and now half the Miami roster plus Pat Riley).

I appreciate those Laker teams, but I think Shaq receives TOO MUCH credit. Bryant did a lot of heavy lifting, especially during the Western Conference playoff series'. Then, in the Finals, Shaq usually faced an East squad with no center and dominated and earned the Finals MVP honors. Also, guys like Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Ron Harper, Brian Shaw ... they all made so many shots.
Don't get me wrong. Shaq made things so much easier for players like them. But people like 93Devil who say Shaq was the central figure and really disregard Bryant's role in those title runs aggravate me.
Shaq is a great player, but I also think he's a big time phony.

And let us not forget about how he STILL benches constantly after MULTIPLE league rules have been altered or outright scrapped/added for his success. We finally saw someone call an illegal free throw on his fat ass last night, the Shaq circle's been added and they've made it so you can't foul his fat ass during the final two minutes of a game because he refuses to learn how to make a free throw consistently.
"I'll hit them when they matter," he always says ... news flash douchebag ... they're free, and free always matters.

 

[Tripp McNeely]

Shaq has spent a lot of time since that threepeat pissing all over the Los Angeles Lakers in interviews.

And Oz, as a fan of a great program like Kansas, surely you can appreciate this: Shaq wasn't the first great player to win a title with the Lakers, and he won't be the last. Yay for the titles . . . . now take your share of the blame for the fact the whole thing fell apart.

As someone who never was (too) bitter at Roy Williams when he left Kansas without a national championship after 15 years in Lawrence, I don't get it. Even without a championship banner, I wished Roy well elsewhere.

Root for your team, of course, but at least respect what the guy did for your franchise. At least, that would be my approach.

I hear what you're sayin, bro, but Shaq did so many little things during his time here that the media (locally and nationally) let slide, while Bryant was constantly roasted (most of the time deservedly so).

"If you don't feed the big dog, I'm not gonna guard the house." (i.e. give me the ball on offense or I ain't playin defense) -- the media thought that was hilarious. Imagine if Bryant had said that?

"I got hurt on company time, I'll have surgery on company time." (that was when Shaq waited to have surgery right before the season started instead of the offseason).

And, no matter what he said, he was never willing to share the spotlight with Kobe the way he did with Wade (at least temporarily) or Nash (currently).

It's also no coincidence that whenever he leaves a team, he leaves behind at least one teammate who he's feuded with publicly (Anfernee Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, and now half the Miami roster plus Pat Riley).

I appreciate those Laker teams, but I think Shaq receives TOO MUCH credit. Bryant did a lot of heavy lifting, especially during the Western Conference playoff series'. Then, in the Finals, Shaq usually faced an East squad with no center and dominated and earned the Finals MVP honors. Also, guys like Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Ron Harper, Brian Shaw ... they all made so many shots.
Don't get me wrong. Shaq made things so much easier for players like them. But people like 93Devil who say Shaq was the central figure and really disregard Bryant's role in those title runs aggravate me.
Shaq is a great player, but I also think he's a big time phony.

And let us not forget about how he STILL benches constantly after MULTIPLE league rules have been altered or outright scrapped/added for his success. We finally saw someone call an illegal free throw on his fat ass last night, the Shaq circle's been added and they've made it so you can't foul his fat ass during the final two minutes of a game because he refuses to learn how to make a free throw consistently.
"I'll hit them when they matter," he always says ... news flash douchebag ... they're free, and free always matters.

You, my friend, are no rube.

 

[bostonbred]

This Atlanta shot clock debacle is a joke.

 

[rube]

This Atlanta shot clock debacle is a joke.

Come on BB, surely that's not the reason why your Celts are down 10 heading into the fourth?

 

[Tripp McNeely]

This Atlanta shot clock debacle is a joke.

Come on BB, surely that's not the reason why your Celts are down 10 heading into the fourth?

Yeah, I hope that's not the excuse, considering they've also turned of the Hawks' so neither team has the advantage.

 

[rube]

Celts getting a little exposed here from an athletic standpoint. They're missing shots and not getting back.
They need to finish strong win or lose here, and minimize any momentum Atlanta might take into Game 4. They've clearly awoken.
Oh and PS to Doc Rivers, get Cassell the heck out of there ... good God.

 

[friend of a friend]

unreal

 

[Tripp McNeely]

unreal

Nice.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

They took the game off. It happens, even in springtime.