Ripper

If you were to say that the basketball was square right about now it wouldn't suprise me. Because the things you pretend are even remotely true when it comes to basketball are laughable. First of all, Marion signed that deal 4 freakin years ago. There was no D'antoni, no Nash, no stoudimire. Second, how in the hell does the running game change the fact that Marion is pulling down nearly 12 boards, two steals and two blocks a game. The guy is in the top 10 of three stat catagories....THAT is why the guy isn't over paid. Yes, they want to avoid the luxury tax, but what alot of these articles forget to mention is that Kurt Thomas is making a boat load of money and will be off the books when they have to pay Barbosa and Diaw. At most they will be over the luxury tax for one year. Plus they will be adding two guys at rookie salaries this year giving them the ability to cut James Jones or another player loose. All you are reading are a bunch of people making wild speculations. You don't break up a championship caliber teams core when you are within grasp of a NBA championship, which is why you have heard everyone in phoenix say over and over, no they are not going to trade one of the best rebounders, and defensive players in the league for a over paid skinney kid with bad hands and no offensive game whatsoever who averages less blocks and rebounds than Marion(Chandler), or a guy that averages about a point more than Shawn while shooting at a much lower percentange and can't guard anyone (Lewis) If the suns do break the team up, it won't be this year. Barbosa and Diaw are both still playing their rookie deals next year. If they don't resign them this offseason, they still got another season of them and the SUns are very confident that they will be there for the championship next year. No reason to change that belief now.

I also would like to add that if my friend hadn't cried at Tom Hanks losing Wilson in Castaway, it probably would have gotten me. But seeing her crying, the realization that it was a fucking vollyball hit me and I could only laugh inside at her.

I have to agree with Armageddon. The scene with Bruce Willis telling Liv Tyler that he wasn't coming back....nearly got me. The Green Mile of course. Oh, Wade dying on the hill in Saving Private Ryan...just plain sad. Robert Downey Jr. dying in Less than Zero...and Ewan McGregor sobbing over Nicole Kidman at the end of Moulin Rouge...thats about it. Plenty of TV shows have almost gotten me (Ryan Chapplle not being able to kill himeself on 24 will get me to this DAY) but not many movies.

Like I have said, Marion just does too much to be traded. I mean, when he is having bad offensive games, like last year against the Spurs in the WCF and everyone said he was playing like crap. He was till averaging 12 rebounds, 2 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. A guy like Rashad Lewis, while a good player, isn't half the rebounder or defensive player that Marion is. Basically what I am saying is that if they throw Ray Allen in that trade then maybe but the Sonics would have to be freakin retarded to do that.

No he is good at what they were making him do. Then came that Jets game where he played like crap, the press jumped all over him (they won the fucking game by the way) so he goes out and decides he wants to be dan fucking Marino, has a big game against the Dolphins (which they barely won) which lead to him actually believing that he could be Dan Fucking Marino. So Atlantas coaching crew, being the bitches that they were, bent over and gave Vick all that he wanted, changed the play book from their grind it out running game (you know, the one that had them leading the division, the one that lead them to the NFC Championship game the year before...the one that was leading the league) and let Vick air it out, which lead to alot of 3 and outs and bad field position and lots of points put up on the defense, which looked worse than it was because of the sucky offensive play. What makes Vick special is the fact he can run a 4.4 and can make people miss AND he has a rocket for a arm. Take one of those things away and are basically saying "Hey, let me be like everyone else." Thats like Kareem not doing the sky hook because other players couldn't do it. Basically, Vick and the coaching staff let sport writers punk them into throwing away the second half of last year.

I think the Falcons are rated too low. I think strenghting the offesive line, put in Abraham on the other end opposite Kerney and adding Lawyer Milloy to the defensive Secondary is going to be huge. Plus the returning Ed Hartwell bolstering the already strong linebacker corp, I think they are in for another great year. Ripper - awaits the OMG VICK IS THE SUXORS!!! comments.

EFA Best edit for accuracy I have seen.

Why the fuck not. Mitch gave the Kings everything he had for what, 7 years. Then they traded him. After resigning to that sorry ass team that refused to add a single fucking piece around him to help them to the playoffs. Even after watching Gary St. Jean lead one of the most incredible second half of the season collapses I have personally ever seen, he still was out there gunning for them. Mitch deserved a ring more than alot of the other superstars from his time, mostly because people still remember them. Mitch gets completely forgotten. Well...at least he gets to look at his ring.

^ beat me to it. Bush is an asshole. He knows full well he could cool the earth because he is the President of the United States of America. Asshole.

If you didn't get a warm feeling inside watching Mitch Richmond knock down a jumper in the waining seconds of one of the Lakers championships to end his career with a ring there is something wrong with you. Mitch Richmond....the single most underrated player in modern basketball history.

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof. Their performances in "A hole in the World" in the final season of Angel and in "Not Fade Away" as Denisof's character is dying are two great examples of incredible acting. James Marsters might well be my favorite actor, but the closest thing that he has done that came close to this was his performance at the end of "Beneath You" in season 7 of buffy. But that was more of a Shakesperian monologue than what Denisof and Acker were doing.

Actually, they are playing in the Vegas league

Did you not notice Dirk waiting for the ball after the first screen...then the second one. Terry dribbled away alot of seconds before putting that shot up. There were 10.3 seconds left. How is that not enough time for a play. 10 freakin seconds? Terry dribbled the ball all the way down to like 5 seconds when he shot. That play was not for him at all.

They used to play in the Moutain, but I looked at the teams in it this year and I didn't see their name (although I did see the Hawks so I will still be checking out the games) I am going to assume they are in the Long Beach one.

...okay...let me simplify the last post. The final play WAS FOR DIRK. If you want to call the Lob boneheaded, go right ahead, but you are one great play by Dwayne Wade from calling it a incredibly great play by the Mavs. Dallas stopped playing Zone because they were giving up layups in the Zone. So Wade wasn't scoring. The rest of the Heat were getting layups because of his passing ability and the inability of bigs to rotate and the Wade was still penetrating against the double team/zone where ever he attacked. A contest Wade shot is better than a wide open layup for anyone else. What did work was the sporatic doubling of Wade but Riley called a TO and they adjusted to it. Miami small lineup also came with the quick double which is why there were no Dirk Layups. They didn't play him one on one the way the Suns and the SPurs did thus he couldn't dominate the same. Most people downing Avery's coaching in this series honestly haven't brought up anything to make me think otherwise. Riley didn't do a thing but give the ball to wade and let him go....amazing coaching.

He had some hell of some years with the Clippers too. The thing is, Lamar Odem should have the ball because he makes teammates better, he is the biggest mixmatch on the court for the lakers, and he needs it to be effective. Kobe can be a effective scorer if he showed up drunk and was blindfolded. He doesn't need the ball in his hands. People look at the record the Lakers have without Kobe and say they did horrible, but if you watch the games, the offense moves freely, and smoother. Thats because Odem has the ball in his hands. If Phil weren't so stubborn he would look at the year Lamar had with Dwayne Wade and realize that the guy can have the ball for 3 quarters and it will keep him good and the rest of the team looking good, and defer to Kobe when they are in the need of someone taking over. But Phil is a little too stubborn for that. In completely unrelated news, Amare Stoudimire will be playing on the Suns summer league team starting next month.

You know, I am a little late and missed the chance to reply, but alot of people in this thread are showing the difference between being a fan and a good coach. The final play was a screen and roll with Dirk. Terry is a better ball handler against a double(which was surely coming). You don't give the ball to a 7 foot tall guy to dribble against two defenders, you give it to a ball handler. They ran a screen and roll, kinda. Dirk just kinda stopped moving and started dropping bombs on people to get Terry open. But if they went under the screen, Dirk would have rolled to the three point line and taken the shot with only one guy in his face. But they didn't go under the screen, they tried to go through it, which led to the Dirk bomb dropping. Terry got a good look, and the jersey pull was pretty much non important (if you ignore the Wade "foul" that won the game before). Avery Johnson was actually the best coach of this series. Great adjustments, did a good job of limiting Shaq, Wade was just too good and got to the line too much. And he sent everyone at the guy and noone had any luck in stopping him. I saw a great coaching job out of the guy.

You do know that it is summer time and Movie Studios are releasing hit movie after hit movie every week? Look at this week, the top 3 movies all made over 25 million dollars. There are what 5 movies in the top 10 that have made over 100 million dollars. 2 have made 200 million. There is a ton of competition. That has nothing to do with it. The movie that has made 215 million dollars in the US alone and is about a month old should still be on number one. Its the word-of-mouth thats stopping it from happening.

Actually if you notice, alot of the times when a guy blows a layup, he probably traveled. seriously, if you take a 3rd step you are coming off the wrong leg. Same with most SPECATULAR shots. They look so amazing because the guy came off the wrong leg.

Anytime I would travel it would throw everything off. I would be jumping off the wrong leg, it would just screw up the shot. I don't see how people do it either.

I think it should be noted that no one really cares about that he took 4 steps after catching the ball. If they had called it I would have said BS on that too, but seriously, dude...put the ball down. Funny though, on one of Wades great moves last night he took 5 steps which now puts him on the most steps I have ever seen list. A lot of people were tied for the lead with 4 and I thought Amare Stoudimire had it one time, but alas, he only had taken 4 steps, but now Dwayne wade is on top of the list with getting away with 5 steps.

Josh Howard asked his coach if he should call a time out, he didn't ask for one. And still frames make things look alot worse than they were or alot better. Still frames of the Stackhouse foul on shaq look like a blocked shot. So devin Harris TOUCHED dwayne wade on the way to the basket. That same call could be made on every single basket of the game. There is no foul there, let alone a send him to the line with 1 second left foul. Plus the Backcourt, plus the timeout, Dallas has a right to be pissed. I mean honestly, James Posey and Haslim stand infront of the cameras and say "Well dirk is tough. I am just trying to push him, bump him, get physical with him to throw him off his shot" and the guy isn't going to the line. Dwayne wade is the recipient of 6-7 iffy calls a game now. And I STILL think the Mavs are going to win...Just in 7 now.

The Bulls offered him millions of dollars a year if he took the heart test and it was found he couldn't play. The Bulls wanted him too. Trading for Francis gives the Knicks flexibility to get rid of Marbury (because Nate Robinson is a backup point guard) and start over. I didn't like the Curry trade because I didn't see anything in him that I didn't see in Sweetny honestly, But the guy is a proven contributor.

Why would he dog it on a team that only lost 12 more games than the Sixers last year.... And Iverson has never demostrated the type of character to be the guy that would dog it in a losing situation.

Oh no doubt writers went through great lengths to show that Longshots powers were actually cool, but I am sorry, his powers were fucking lame. Then of course the added the all powerful enhanced agiltity to make him more usefull. But seriously....His power was that he is lucky. Gambit's powers are basically longshots with the kinetic charge thing.