Dangerous A

I thought NJ/Ind would be playing game 5 tonight, but I was wrong. That turned out to be a dandy of a series. Wouldn't that be something if the Bucks can tie the series tonight? I doubt it, but it'd show the parity in the playoffs if both East and West favorites get locked up in 7 game wars with 8 seeds. Still, the defending EC champions get no respect with their game being put on NBA TV. I feel for the Grizz a little bit. They gave game 3 away and what was sad was it looked like no one on Memphis wanted the ball down the stretch except Chucky Atkins and that will simply not work. I sort of hope they get a playoff win before being eliminated, at least for the mental sake of guys like Battier and Gasol. Staples will probrably be really buzzing for the Clips for the first time ever as they go for the kill against the Nuggets. I have written off Denver judging from their body language and 4th quarter play in game 4.

Diaw deserved it. I think he had 3 triple doubles on the year and flirted with several more, plus he did it while playing the Center position at 6'8.

From an in ring standpoint, Test can do more. Steiner happens to have a better personality and marketable character who can talk.

One of the better analagies I've heard is the Clippers come off like a franchise whereas the Lakers are a brand. A brand is much easier to sell and market. The Clippers are pretty much just there. The Lakers have a brand identity. About the refs favoring the Lakers/LeBron/Stars: It's still about the scoreboard in the end. Yes, calls may or may not go your way, but if you're team really is the better team, they wouldn't be in a position to have a ref determine the outcome of the game. You have to credit the Lakers or whoever for putting themselves in the situation for the game to even be close. I've heard, well calls don't go a certain team's way in the fourth at home and yada yada, but if you're the better team, you play through that shit and find a way. Simple as that. You can say refs help home teams/Lakers in the 4th, but if your team is up by a wide enough margin, then the refs don't mean a thing.

The Clipper/Nugget series was over in the 4th quarter of game 4 when the Nuggets, Carmelo in particular, stopped competing and packed it in. I'm happy for the Clippers advancing. They're toast in the second round, but you gotta take baby steps. I like how Dunleavy is giving Livingston some good minutes even though he is still learning how to properly run an NBA offense. This will help his growth as a player tremendously.

I hope they keep the TV format of 2-3 matches with some meat to them rather than the breakneck pace of 4-5 matches and maybe one match in non squash. I like the card for Sacrifice, but I don't like how the main event tag match will not come to form until the Thursday before the PPV. I feel Joe finally getting to mix it up with guys like Jarrett and Steiner should have more than 3 days build. They should've had Joe get introduced as Sting's partner this week and the show before the PPV, you have Sting and Joe clean house or tease dissension or whatever story they want going into Sacrifice. Observer this week said that they are eventually building to a Joe/Steiner one on one match. It has intrigue for all the right (believability that these are 2 badass dudes who are going to lock horns) and wrong (Steiner can do damn near nothing in the ring and may single-handedly ruin the match) reasons.

You are right, the Suns aren't done yet. It's not Wednesday. LA vs LA will be intriguing because both teams share the same arena. There'll probrably be a TV piece or two about how the arena is different for the other team because blah blah blah. There is no difference. Lakers beat the Clippers in 5. I'm calling it.

Stop being modest Laker fan. The Suns have no heart and they are done. They walked off the floor with their heart and pride cut out. They don't have the resolve to win another game. The Suns are finished on Tuesday. I don't think Nash has an injured back. I think he sprained his pussy. As Jim Rome says, scoreboard. While I think either a foul or timeout should've been called on the Walton jumpball, Nash shouldn't have choked up the ball in regulation for there to be OT. Simple as that. Stop kidding yourself about a competitive LA series. 5 game Laker series, max.

Uh, Cassell is a fucking cripple. Smush Parker and Sasha will have zero problems with him. Livingston can barely run the team. Clips have no answer for Kobe or Lamar. I'm sorry, Cuttino and Maggette don't cut it. They are disgustingly inconsistent, especially Maggette. Brand is going to have problems with Kwame. On the other end, I'm sure the Clips will put Kaman on Kwame and that will be poster material for Laker fans. I don't like the Lakers (Kings fan) and I am pulling for the Clippers to win, but I am a realist and the matchups scream 5 games series in favor of the Lakers, max.

Kings making it interesting in the 1/8 matchup. Spurs have been known to let teams back into a series when they're up 2-0. I still don't like our chances unless we take game 5. LOL at Laker fans trying to say the series isn't over. Did you see the Suns leaving the court? They are done. They have no heart. They are the walking dead. Move on to the LA series. LOL at whoever said the Clips/Lakers will be a war. A 4 game sweep is a war? You've gotta be kidding me? Not sure if you've checked the lineups, but there isn't one matchup on the floor the Lakers don't have a position advantage at. Clips/Lakers will be lucky to go 5 games. Lakers in the WCF. Quote me on it.

Let me tell you something. I think the Lakers will beat the Clippers 4-1, if not sweep them. The Clippers are the walking dead. It wouldn't surprise me to see a Mavs-Lakers WCF, especially if SA gets into a war with Sac trying to advance.

Hence me saying the Lakers are already in the WCF. It's just a matter of Spurs or Mavs.

The league doesn't pick their MVP. Sportswriters do.

Nash shouldn't have coughed the ball up in regulation for there to even be OT. That didn't help matters at all. That last possession before the jump ball was Nash getting jobbed, no doubt. Still, the Suns are done on Tuesday. You're fooling yourself if you think otherwise. The Lakers are going to the WCF at least. I don't think they'll come out of the West entirely this year because I don't think they'll beat the Mavs or Spurs in a series. However, you are smoking much crack if you think these officials and this league will let the Clippers of all teams beat the Lakers. Not going to happen.

I don't know what this Kobe24 or Ripper are talking about with Kwame's elbow. I saw the Raja exchange, but I'm not talking about that elbow. I'm talking about the Kwame elbow that floored Diaw and then Kwame stood over and mean mugged him. That should be grounds for a suspension since he intentionally threw a shot that had nothing to do with going after a loose ball.

Beat me to it.

Yeah Kings. The Spurs will let teams back into a series. Kings just have to capitalize. And yeah Ripper, I promise you the league does nothing to Kwame or Luke Walton. They'll be lucky to get fined. Perks for being part of the purple and gold I guess.

I bet dollars to donuts nothing happens to Luke Walton for that foul on Tim Thomas. Even though everyone else in the league are getting suspended for less, Luke Walton will play on sunday. Bank on it.

ESPN.com is reporting the Texans have signed Mario Edwards as the Number One pick. As I said in the offseason thread, didn't see that one coming.

It's on ESPN.com' breaking news section. Mario Edwards has been signed as the number one pick of the Texans. Didn't see that one coming.

I like it except the part where RVD loses. Even in screwjob fashion. Screwjobs are now such an ingrained part of finishes, that now they don't mean anything. If anything, you are seen as outsmarted if you get screwed since that's now the norm. RVD has to look strong going into ECW as the new face of the promotion. You can't have a guy be proclaimed as champion with those circumstances because I think it hurts the guy and worse, hurts the title. If screwjobs meant something in this day and age, I'd agree. But since every show has at least one screwjob finish, if not several, I'd say you don't have RVD lose anything going into a new promotion.

Yeah, Vince could buy out a bunch of ROH or IWA-MS guys and kill a promotion that way, but it would cost him money. Money paid to guys that he probrably has not intentions of using. However, if he runs shows opposite those groups and takes fans money that would normally go to those shows, he doesn't have to A) take on a bunch of indy guys he really doesn't want to pay and B) makes money off his ECW show in the process. I don't really believe Vince is sinister with this (hence the oliver stone reference) however I could see this ECW revival biting into some of these glorified indies business.

And we get more twists in this story. From ESPN.com...

I loved Robocop 2. Fuck all who don't.

While that is a good point and I agree to a certain extent, I think Vince's intentions are a little more sinister: He's trying to kill off smaller groups like ROH, IWA-MS, and the new TNA house shows by creating his own little startup promotion and labeling it ECW. They have the power of WWE TV and the WWE website behind them. With ECW doing their house shows in smaller venues, it could start to take money out of small venue promotions like ROH. Although territories are dead, I think Vince wants to now kill indy promotions and this is how he plans on doing it. [/oliver stone]