NBA PLAYOFFS!

[steadyb]

...12,

[RaGe]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!

[dj_rumble]

i gotta cheer for Toronto, but they're pretty frustrating to watch =) I'm pretty sure that no matter what happens, the western conference team will smash the eastern.. and yes, i'd love to see Utah win one.. Stockton "deserves" one and that Nash.. from the 20 minutes i saw early on, he was schooling the Timberwolves by himself.

[Magpel]

Portland has got to be the most heartbreaking and heartbroken team of the modern era. It's an anti-miracle, the way they failed to ice that game, and they've done it so many times before. Pulling defeat from the jaws of victory and all that.

 

I'm trying, desperately, to believe that any one of these teams can hang with the Lakers. The only optimistism I have is the Mavs, not because they match up well with LA but because they just play their own extreme, crazed game, and matchups are almost irrelevant. Finley will be as good as anyone at chasing Kobe around, and Lafrenz will pull Shaq out of the post, but that's immaterial. Dallas doesn't go in the paint anyway.

 

The problem with the Mavs is that they may well lose to the Kings, and the kings won't beat the Lakers. Nor the Spurs. Nor any team in the east. Cursed Lakers. I hate them as much as Steadyb loves them.

[steadyb]

Originally posted by Magpel:

I'm trying, desperately, to believe that any one of these teams can hang with the Lakers. The only optimistism I have is the Mavs.

 

The Mavs??? 1 and 3 against the Lakers this year, and 4 and 40 over the last ten...I guess you're counting on them making a last minute trade for Jordan, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus.

 

The problem with the Mavs is that they may well lose to the Kings, and the kings won't beat the Lakers. Nor the Spurs. Nor any team in the east. Cursed Lakers. I hate them as much as Steadyb loves them.

I love watching team after team (and their fans) get their hopes up, thinking they'll beat the Laker just because their team goes up by a couple points (or ten,... or 15,...), but it just ain't gonna happen. The Lakers did yesterday what champs do...win, even when it seems impossible. (even I was worried when we were down by 5 with 30 seconds left). Enjoy the Mav's next series...it's the last one they can even think about winning this year.

 

When will these silly billionaires ever learn...

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Originally posted by steadyb:

I guess you're counting on them making a last minute trade for Jordan, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus.

In as much as I try to avoid encouraging steadyb's Lakerphilia, I have to say that was one of the most accurate and hilarious things I've read so far this week.

 

Then again, the week is young.

 

- Jeff

[Magpel]

Hey, I'm not a Mavs fan. I don't even have a team anymore. It would be classless of me to jump back on the Celtics bandwagon, although I was huge Boston fan in the 70s and 80s. After Bias, and Regggie, and M.L. Carr, and the premature physical deterioration of Larry and Kevin, something happened and I stopped following my beloved Celts. Perhaps I'll move back over slowly and cautiously. So in this team-less purgatory, I root politely for the team whose arena is closest to my house--The Nets.

 

Well, to me the Lakers look beatable. The problem is that I just don't see a team out there that looks any less beatable, that has the maturity or critical mass to do it. There's just no really coherent, together, mature team. The level of play coast to coast is erratic, sloppy, artlessly thuggish and driven by superstars in diapers. Detroit is fun 'cause their best player doesn't score and they win ugly like a good Detroit team should. The Nets are fun because Jason Kidd is a throwback and an artist. The Mavs are fun the way that Loyola Marymount was fun in the Paul Westhead days. There are a handful of truly great players: Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, and on the rise McGrady, Piece, and Nowitski. But none of these teams inspires any confidence. None is consistent. I think the Lakers are going to slide through this year, a bit of unfocused, a bit beat up, not really a great team this time around. Too bad there's not a legitimate foil for them out there. But as you know, Steadyb, the NBA is never any fun unless there are two really good teams around...Ah, for the 80s. Right?

[steadyb]

Originally posted by Magpel:

But as you know, Steadyb, the NBA is never any fun unless there are two really good teams around...Ah, for the 80s. Right?

Maybe the east could just send the Eastern Conference All-Star team...then they'd only lose in 6. (or 5)

[Magpel]

There's no telling how good the Magic might be if Grant Hill weren't vaporware...

[steadyb]

if.

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if.if.if.

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if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

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if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.if.

 

.............................................if only the Lakers weren't in the NBA.

 

p.s. The Lakers will win this one for Chick Hearn.

 

This one's in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jello is jigglin'!!!.

 

Slam dunk.

[Roto]

Originally posted by Rabid:

This is no worse than the NCAA tournament schedule. What idiot fixes a schedule so two east cost teams start a game at 10:30 PM EST but two west cost teams start at 7:30 EST?

 

Robert

NCAA? I don't follow high-school basketball

[surfjunkie]

Originally posted by steadyb:

.........................if only the Lakers weren't in the NBA.

then what would you have to talk about, Logic dongles?

[steadyb]

good one?

 

...still won't tell us who your favorite team is, eh Wager?

[RobT]

The Raptor showed some gonads the other nite on their home court. Detroit and Toronto looks like it might have some drama.

 

I still wish Vince Carter was playing. Somebody in the east is gotta come thru!!! The Trailblazers have gotta be the most heart wrenching team in the west. Looks like it might be Lakers vs San Antonio or Dallas in the west.

 

RobT

[RobT]

Originally posted by Magpel:

Detroit is fun 'cause their best player doesn't score and they win ugly like a good Detroit team should.

Spoken ... er ... written like one who played close attention to the Boston vs Detroit battles of the 1980's. LOL!

 

But as you know, Steadyb, the NBA is never any fun unless there are two really good teams around...Ah, for the 80s. Right?

Just like any sport, he who has the deepest pockets come home with the prize. There are some teams who are close but I don't know if they can really bring it home. I really rooted for Philly last year. I think they suffered from big game nerves more than anything and beat themselves.

The Spurs and Trailblazers seem like they have the talent to unseat the Lakers in the west. But when it all boils down to it Showtime New Millenium Style is very hard to beat.

 

RobT

[steadyb]

Originally posted by RobT:

Just like any sport, he who has the deepest pockets come home with the prize.

only in baseball.

 

The NBA's deepest pockets are in Portland and Dallas, not L.A.

Jerry Buss is a poor cousin compared to most of the other NBA team owners.

The highest paid player in the league plays in Minnesota and just got swept out of the first round...again.

These billionaires like Paul Allen and Mark Cuban think they can buy a championship, but that's not how it works. The Lakers have built this current dynasty the way they built the last one, with smart trades, and drafts, and unselfishness.

So did the old Celtics, Pistons, and Bulls (yes, Bulls).

The other wannabes in the league should learn a lesson or two from them.

If money was all it took to win, the Blazers (or Mavs) would be going for the 3-peat, instead of going three and out.

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

Originally posted by RobT:

Just like any sport, he who has the deepest pockets come home with the prize.

Wrong!

 

Case in point: the NHL's New York Rangers. Highest salary in the league. Didn't even make the playoffs.

 

- Jeff

[Steve LeBlanc]

Originally posted by steadyb:

Originally posted by RobT:

Just like any sport, he who has the deepest pockets come home with the prize.

only in baseball.

 

The NBA's deepest pockets are in Portland and Dallas, not L.A.

Jerry Buss is a poor cousin compared to most of the other NBA team owners.

The highest paid player in the league plays in Minnesota and just got swept out of the first round...again.

These billionaires like Paul Allen and Mark Cuban think they can buy a championship, but that's not how it works. The Lakers have built this current dynasty the way they built the last one, with smart trades, and drafts, and unselfishness.

So did the old Celtics, Pistons, and Bulls (yes, Bulls).

The other wannabes in the league should learn a lesson or two from them.

If money was all it took to win, the Blazers (or Mavs) would be going for the 3-peat, instead of going three and out.

HAHA...damn...you went a bit TOO far there Steady...while most everything you say is true you're leaving out a very important fact. LA and Chicago are big markets...the big markets always get preferential treatment from the Refs.

 

The sport is corrupted by money as much as any sport out there.

 

But yeah...other than that you're right.

[meccajay]

Funny how predictable Basketball is....everything coming together just the way I thought it would. Iverson rebounds to rescue the Sixers in game 3, Portland finding a way to lose when all seem to finally go there way. Garnett getting his ass handed to him....again, and again, and again...and....

 

Dallas has a great chance to beat Sacramento, Im really starting to believe the theory that Sacramento is just a regular season team....like some many others. We'll see if they can close tonight.

Dallas could beat them or Utah, and make the LA series somewhat interesting. You figure that they dont have to waste time worring about defensing Shaq, just let him get his 30 points, D-up Kobe as best as you can(not that easy for Dallas), shoot well to get Shaq out of the paint which will give Nash the lane(if he wants it) and just play your game baby!! That should make it a 6 game series with the Lakers winning it. I really dont doubt LA winning it all, I just doubt if the whole damn thing can keep me awake.....tooooooo many soft soft teams! BTW, since were talking about the Lakers...

 

I hate the Lakers!!

 

No not really, I just hate Kobe...but weve been here before...right?!

 

Having said that..

 

It's a Steadyb time of the year.....a holiday time for cheer!! I guess every dog geets his day! Laker fans have waited a long time for this mini-era to come, nothing to do but just let them enjoy there little show for now.....This sure beats baseball!!!!!

[steadyb]

Originally posted by Steve LeBlanc:

LA and Chicago are big markets...the big markets always get preferential treatment from the Refs.

As evidenced by all the NBA titles won by the New York Knicks in the last 30 years.

[steadyb]

Hey,

When are we (The Keyboard Corner) making another CD???

[steadyb]

It could be another cover CD.

 

Side one : Covers of "Another One Bites the Dust"

Side two : Covers of "We Are the Champions (again)"

[FrankieP]

Originally posted by meccajay:

No not really, I just hate Kobe...but weve been here before...right?!

Ditto!

 

GO CELTS!!!

[Griffinator]

Shaq ruined the game, folks.

 

Used to be that if you didn't shoot 90% from the line, you didn't get into the NBA.

 

And look at the truly vintage big men - Kareem built his career on the skyhook because they weren't allowed to dunk back then.

 

All Shaq can do is get away with charging every time down the court and then dunk.

 

P.S. It's so nice to say this after 10 years...

 

GO CELTICS!!!!

 

http://www.nba.com/media/celtics/Celticslogo90black.jpg

[Magpel]

Well, the architect of the Lakers has just signed on with the Grizz, a team that seems seriously committed to building something, so this ought to test the big/small market theory.

 

The salary cap is supposed to level the field, and does to an extent, but the big markets are obviously still attractive to the big stars. Thus the Lakers built this dynasty on one huge free agent signing, a man who had long ago dmeonstrated he would endorse venereal disease if the price is right. What better home than LA for the ultimately merchandised athlete? Orlando offered him the world and space mountain to stay, and they had already been to the finals as a very young team, so if winning was his aim, he might well have chosen to stay there. Fact is he didn't like sharing the limelight with Li'l Penny, and LA promised him he would be media king of the highest mountain. Little did he know what threat to his ego and dominance lurked in the offing. Luckily, it turns out there's enough soda and burger spots to go around.

 

But Kobe, you got to give Jerry and the boys props on that pick. It was risky and brilliant. And now Kobe finally seems to understand that he's better off with the Big Plotinus. He gets a free ride compared to what Jordan encountered everytime he penetrated the paint. Phil Jackson told Kobe that. Kobe listened. Crickets chirped. Coyotes circled the canyon. The two headed snake danced backwards.

 

As for Shaq, he proabably feels he could win with any decent scoring guard back there, and he's probably right. There's no answer for the "Shaq question," and as much as I find his style of dominance aesthetically and athletically dubious, he is the NBA right now and will be till we start drafting Venusian giants.

 

Well we've still got the glowing if distant memory of that true low-post artist Hakeem dancing circles around The Big Euripides in the finals. It's a bitter and small consolation, to be sure, but we Laker haters must hold on to some kind of hope.

 

BTW, I like Steadyb, like his music, like his sports enthusiasm, but should something miraculous happen this year, the boy is cruisin' for a mighty bruisin', and we'll let him hear it, won't we, fellows? Nothing personal. Go Mavs. or Kings. Or whomever...

[steadyb]

Wow Mag,

 

That was as bitter and jealous as I've heard from you in a while.

 

The fact is that the the Lakers have the two best players in the league, by far. And if tomorrow they announced that Shaq and Kobe were being traded for Duncan/Smith or Webber/Peja or Walker/Pierce or Garnett/Wally or on and on etc., OVERNIGHT the fans in those cities would become instant Shaq/Kobe fans because they'd know they finally have a chance to win it all.

You've never really come out and said who your favorite team is (should I check The Weather Channel?), but whichever team it is, if they suddenly had "The Big 1-2", you'd be doing cartwheels up and down your street.

 

I didn't just become a Laker fan, I've always been one. So go ahead, be brave, put yourself on the line and commit to supporting a team.

 

And try not to sound SO jealous. It's just sports.

 

BTW, if you want to talk about players leaving teams to go the the big market looking for a ring and big $$$...that would be the Yankees.

 

Other than that, I think you're pretty OK too.

[Magpel]

I'll field the Yankee challenge after this meeting I'm about to attend, but as for my fanship it is lost in the middle of one of my posts above:

 

Early 70s, when all my mates were Clyde Frazier fans, I rather arbitraily selected the Boston Celtics because I liked John Havlicek. Little did I know of their tradition at that point, but I stuck with them, got to enjoy the 2 Havlicek/Cowens championships and then was a very passionate Celtics fan throughout the 80s. The baby hook broke my heart, but it bears remembering that Kareemed missed a key free throw and McHale fumbled the rebound out of bounds. Otherwise there might have been no baby hook, and the series, and the greatest decade in bball history, might have come to a different conclusion. Damn, though, Steady, *that* was a great Laker team.

 

Why I stopped following the Celtics, I will never know for sure. All my other allegiances--Yankees, NY Giants, Syracuse Orangemen--are for life and beyond. And the Celtics were as big to me as any of them. Bias dies, Reggies Lewis dies, Bird and McHale had their careers ended by chronic injuries, KC Jones gives way to M.L. Carr. Next thing I knew, I was rooting halfheartedly for the locals, the Knicks and Nets. Because I have some integrity, I'm not jumping back on the Celtic wagon just yet, after straying for so long. We shall see where my fanship goes. Right now I'm rooting for the Nets because I have been following them for years and it's a nice turnaround engineered by Eddie Jordan and Byron Scott. I don't think they'll get out of the 2nd round, though.

[Steve LeBlanc]

Shaq ruined the game, folks.

 

Used to be that if you didn't shoot 90% from the line, you didn't get into the NBA.

oh lord...you just had to.

 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????

 

Look up Wilt Chamberlain's Freethrow percentage...you should really think about what you type before hitting that Reply button.

 

Saying Shaq ruined the game is stupid enough...pretending he's the only great player with a low FT percentage is fucked up stupid.

 

We've talked about Shaq's game to death last year...despite the differing opinions I think we all agreed he's a great basketball player with skills that just continue to improve.

 

If the Refs called the game by the rules Shaq would put Wilt's numbers to shame...he'd score 150 in a game.

 

Pshaw!

[Steve LeBlanc]

Here, I looked it up for you...

 

Wilt's Stats:

http://wiltfan.tripod.com/totalstats.html

[Magpel]

Originally posted by Steve LeBlanc:

Shaq ruined the game, folks.

 

If the Refs called the game by the rules Shaq would put Wilt's numbers to shame...he'd score 150 in a game.

 

Pshaw!

Argh, you were doing all right till you said this, Steve. That's some West coast propaganda right there. Poor Shaq. The fact is he presents a bedeviling challenge to rules and rule interpetation. To my mind, he's repeatedly guilty of uncalled charges (every time he lowers his shoulder and drives). To others', he's the victim of myriad uncalled fouls. If I were a Lakers fan, I'd happily call it a wash and keep my mouth shut.

I mean, that new "no charge zone" in the paint might as well be called the Shaq Exception. The league knows where its burger is buttered.

 

And BTW, Alien Specimen that he is, Shaq will never be 1/10th the athlete that Chamberlain was. Yeah, Shaq has finally mastered the 5 foot hook and has learned how to pass out of the paint. Wilt led the league in assists one year. Give me a break. Watch some footage.