Ripper

The Celtics have nobody to blame for firing this team of guys up but themselves. All that shit talk at the end of game 2 pissed these kids off. They got over the whole "we need to look respectable agains them" and got to, Fuck these guys we are giong to kick the shit out them.

You know, it sucks that I couldn't get my tickets for the Hawks game because of all the "fans" showing up from nowhere. I am usually in the box, but I wasn't able to get to any tickets before the game so I looked for regular seats. And I couldn't because they were sold out due to all the FANS down here. Anyway...good half.

Yeah, but cabbageboy, the only way to see most of those 90's teams was if they were playing the Bulls. (and I am talking early 90's here). Around about 92-93 we started seeing others, but from around 88-93, it was all Jordan all the time. By the time the 3-peat came around people were just tired of the bulls. Then Jordan retired and was able to renew intrest in himself when he came back. The reason that we don't have a "jordan" now is because Kobe was a kinda rapist, threw bitchy fits in front of the camera and has routinely been called selfish and that whole break up of the Laker dynasty unfairly got pinned on him. Lebron won't be it, simply because Lebron is ugly. Jordan was a all around marketing guy. Nobody wants to look at stills of Lebron James. I think dewayne wade has the most possiblity for this current crop to be THE Jordan.

Now I might actually lhave to buy this now. Dumb video reviews. I swear, it looks like they took some of the targeting for Saints Row and True Crime: Streets of LA (the one great quality about that game was the targeting system), with a great cover system that these games greatly needed and put them together. Between this and SR2 this summer...I am going to get out of shape.

I have a couple problems here. First of all, I find it hard to believe that the concept of talented athletes trying to win at all costs did not exist prior to 1990. Second of all, you call this a backlash, which has a distinct negative connotation. I want a league where the best are playing their hardest. Why should anyone settle for anything less? I don't think the bar is impossibly high. Replacement-level talent plays to win at all costs. Why shouldn't superstars? My spin on Rendclaw's point is moreso that the league wants to find their Jordan sequel for marketing purposes. Jordan was an unbelievably talented SG/SF who had the ability to carry and take over for his team. The league made a lot of money being Jordan-centric, and apparently Stern and his marketing guys are like someone who can't get over an old girlfriend. Endorsement and promotion wise, they favor any superstar level SG/SF, like Kobe and Lebron, and the lesser ones like Wade, Carter and McGrady (and we'll throw Carmelo Anthony in here for the hell of it). They always get compared to Jordan, and the media covers them accordingly. Denver, Lakers, Miami and Cleveland each had twenty nationally televised games this season. Everyone wants a league where the players are playing their hardest. So if your going to be labeled a Jordan-esque player you have to play accordingly. If you can deal with that, you'll be fine, like Kobe and Lebron. If you can't, you become the BUTT of everyone's jokes, like McGrady and Carter. I agree with everything you said. Magic, Bird, and Erving might have saved the NBA, but Jordan made the NBA successful beyond its wildest dreams, and Stern and his comrades want the next cash cow. Stern made the NBA about the players and much less about the teams, and its not going back. Promotion of the players takes such a high precedence, it borders on the ridiculous. That's why I laud the Pistons' win in 2004; they were a team and they won as such, not because they had one player dominating the scoring and headlines. The thing is, now there are 5 versions of "that guy". What made the Jordan thing so amazing (and annoying) was that he was THE guy. The league practically ignored the rest of the NBA and shoved Jordan all day down your throats. You guys are complaining about seeing the same 5 teams all the time on National TV now? It used to be the bulls versus someone ever week. Thats it. Bulls vs somebody. All they talked about was Jordan. If the bulls lost, every highlight was still Jordan(which is still one of the more ridiculous things ever). He was the perfect marketing tool. The league even went through great lengths to make sure his gambling, temper and stripper fucking never touched the light of day. Its the reason to this day people don't realize how good Scottie Pippen actually was, or how incredible guys like Wilkins, Barkley, Drexler and others were, because the league was like "Fuck those guys...whats Michael going to sell now". It was a somewhat genius and somewhat flawed move though. On one hand, it made them alot of money. On the other...he had to eventually retire and they are never going to find a combination of looks, interview skills, and silky smoothness to the game and maintain a firm grasp of the medias balls to make another Jordan.

Let this be a lesson to you. If a van pulls up in front of you and a man pulls out a gun and points it at you and guys get out the van with guns....you shouldn't try to get away. Because it is probably the Police, and they want to ask you a few questions.

I have this strange feeling of not worriedness right now. Oh well. Great game by the Spurs.

I good number of these shots aren't even open. much like Jeff Van Gundy said, once guys get a rhythm, it just doesn't matter what you do anymore.

HEY!! They called the flagrant on Shaq. He is arguing be cause they never call it. But yes Shaq, you have to make a play on the ball.

I was all amped over that until I saw that hillary Goldstein did the rating. i will offically wait for a revieew from someone who doesn't suck ass at reviewing games. But this game does look awesome. I will get it eventually. its just that while i did love Vice City, I didn't like san Andreas. What I did like was Saints Row and it looks like this Grand Theft Auto kept the things i liked in the previous versions, but also borrowed some of the better features from Saints Row to make one heck of a game.

Nah. They would give him a season with Shaq to try and make it click. And I think he has about 1-2 more years of this window anyway. He will be gone when Nash retires.

I don't think Tmac makes that team better. I think a more focused approach on certain players offensively insted of spreading the wealth would actually help them more. But yeah, I think that Tracy McGrady's injury problems are the biggest thing. He would be one of the best in the league and healthy McGrady is good enough to be THE guy on a championship team. He is a superstar. he just can't do it by himself. I personally think Vince Carter is over bashed mostly because of how he treated Toronto on the way out. Of course ignoring the Toronto press accusing him of faking injuries and booing him while he played hurt MIGHT have had something to do with that.

Well....I get to go to bed earlier.

Come on Al. Every year the story of a Tracey McGrady team going to the playoffs is that he hasn't been out the first round. He gets ALL the criticism. When they went on the 22 win winning streak it was "The Rockets banded together without Yao and went on this winning streak" He doesn't get the superstar success aclimation but he does get the superstar criticism and its not even accurate criticism. And he averaged 28 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assist in the year he "quit" on the Magic. That is still taken from a interview where his comments were taken completely out of context. He said his heart wasn't in it and he wasn't giving his everything ont he court. The next line was about how the night he score 60 something points that season, his heart wasn't in it that night. He found it hard to leave everything on the court while you were losing. he was being honest, but its not like he was out there playing like crap. He put up better numbers stats wise than he has in Houston.

Why do people hate T-mac again?

I am not a kenyon Martin fan or anything, but I can't be the only one impressed with the decent job he has managed to do on Bryant considering he is a PF.

I personally don't think the lakers can win consistantly like this. Even if they dodge the bullet tonight if he keeps this up in the second half, it won't bode well for them in the rest of the playoffs.

Well, yeah, but its still Missouri. I would think you would want to be associated with something.

Oh fuck Mike Bibby and his pictures of Mike Woodson fucking the owners daughter or whatever the fuck he has that allowed him to have such firm grasp on Mike Woodsons nuts and keep him in the game when Acie Law was CLEARLY outplaying him and they made their biggest move in the game with him at the point. Although what he said was true, having a shittastic game like he has had the first two should mean you aren't allowed to randomly talk shit about the crowd. ANYWAY. I expect the Hawks to play well at home. Tehy have been a bad road team all year, but played well at home.

Eh. I guess its all personal opinion. But Kentucky doesn't feel shit like Alabama to me but they are both unmistakenly southern. Same for plenty of parts of Flordia. Vita, I gotta draw the line somewhere around LaBelle. I don't think you can argue the stuff above that being southern as hell. I can make a argument for some places below there, but I would probably lose. LaBelle and up...country as all hell.

I don't care about running up the score, I care about all the elbows and forearm shivers and shit talking and Perkins jumping up and cheering because Josh Smith hit the ground hard. Sure the Hawks were chirping back, but show some fucking class.

The Left Coast: Gayer than you. Thats same sex couple households. Not total percentage of people considering themselves gay.

Okay, so what is the qualifier for south then Milky? What. An accent? Because I will be damned if you are going to try and pretend that Avon Park, Moorhaven or Lakeland aren't southern as all hell. And have sadly had to spend large amounts of time in all three. And seriously, lake placid isn't southern now? Dude...it wouldn't wet the bottom of the bottle. If i was annoyed I wouldn't post in the thread.

Bull fucking shit florida isn't the south. Just because they have cute little cities like Miami and Orlando there, there are just as many bumpkin ass cities like Moorhaven and and the counties around Orlando and Miami where it is pure redneck. Shit, Atlanta isn't bumkinville, but I will be damned if gerogia isn't the south.

Leon Powe is on Al Horford. Ray Allen is on Marvin Williams. And they are going to Josh Smith/garnett. The only non mismatch on the court. Has a coach ever been fired mid game in the NBA?