The OAO NBA Playoffs/Finals Thread

[bobobrazil1984 0]

^ the 3rd Quarter comeback was GLORIOUS! Big Ben just took over, hustling, blocks, even nailed like 3 key jumpers in a row. the others did good too in that stretch

 

Once you shut down NJ's fast break, they haven't got all that much else. At least not when playing against a good defensive team like Det.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Lawrence Frank is clueless. If the Nets want a coach who let's the players run the team, he's your man. If they want a coach who's in charge and has the players respect, try to lure Larry Brown away from Detroit.

[Guest TheArchiteck]

Well Chancey and Rip both got 28 points. Chauncey with the 13 assists...he schooled Kidd in everyway tonight.

[NoCalMike 0]

Go Kings......try to make it 2 for 2 in Minnesota~!

[alfdogg 0]

At NBA.com, there's a poll that says "how can the Lakers contain Tony Parker?"

 

One of the the options says "sap his energy by making him work harder on defense."

 

That's awesome.

[Guest OctoberBlood]

This is GREAT. Lakers down 0-2. Nets down 0-2. Now THAT makes me happy.

[razazteca 0]

Lawrence Frank is clueless. If the Nets want a coach who let's the players run the team, he's your man. If they want a coach who's in charge and has the players respect, try to lure Larry Brown away from Detroit.

The Nets will never win anything with Jason Kidd as the player coach.

[Paul Stanley 0]

Minnesota leads so far.

 

Screw you Bibby & Peja!!!

 

Hoidberg during a remarkable job tonight.

[Dangerous A 0]

T-Wolves have the lead at the half by 10. Kings need to hit some shots and Peja and C-Webb need to lay off the weed. I swear they are playing like they are on drugs right now. I am not surprised at this though as I knew Minn would respond well tonight.

 

Let's see what the second half brings us.

[Paul Stanley 0]

Wolves win!!!

 

As said before, Screw you Bibby & Peja!!

 

On to Sac-town.

[Guest Redhawk]

So will Sam Cassell get fined for the "big nuts" celebration? My co-worker says yes.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'd fine him simply for looking like the spawn of an alien and Emanuel Lewis.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I guess a win is a win, but the Wolves still haven't put together a truly good game since maybe Game 1 against Denver. They can get past Sacramento, but they don't pick up their game against the Spurs they don't stand a chance.

[Fökai 0]

 

...freak.

[razazteca 0]

I wonder how many flageant fouls will the Lakers attempt in Game 3. Will Karl Malone go rudo on the Spurs?

[Steviekick 0]

It's kind of funny. They FINALLY let Gary Payton start leading the team and setting up the pick and roll, and the Lakers start showing signs of being a good team.

 

I wouldn't want to be guarding Malone today. He's obviously upset since it's Mother's Day, and I would not want to get him in a bad mood.

[Guest OraleHolmes]

Holy Crap, ABC just played "Walk" -- RVD's old ECW theme

[Steviekick 0]

Holy Crap, ABC just played "Walk" -- RVD's old ECW theme

That's what I thought. Apparently they are appealing to the Pantera listening section of the NBA's target market.

 

Go Lakers!!

[Tony149 0]

Man, this is just like last year's game 3. In the back of every Spurs fans' mind, they knew this would probably happen. The Spurs still have a good shot at taking this one since they're only down 10 and the Lakers have gotten tired in the 4th the previous two games.

Edited May 9, 2004 by Tony149

[Steviekick 0]

The Lakers are doing everything right today...Karl and Kobe are playing nice, Shaq is being Shaqalicious, and they're letting Gary do what he wants.

 

As for this Brown/Thorn war of words, Larry freaking OWNS.

[razazteca 0]

I think it has come to the point to start shooting 3s at every position.

[Steviekick 0]

And Lakers win convincingly, 105-81.

 

I for one can't wait for game 4.

[NoCalMike 0]

Spurs shot very poorly tonight. All the Spurs really need to do is win one in LA, but at least this game gives hope to Sacramento/Minnesota, cause it shows that the Spurs can be vunerable to the pick and roll, as long as the team is also shooting well.

[Damaramu 0]

Eh......The Lakers are still finished.

[Ripper 0]

So...how do you stop Toni Parker?

 

Foul him when he comes in the lane and the refs not call it.

 

How do you stop Tim Duncan? Foul him when he touches the ball and not call it.

 

Now before someone jumps on me, yes it was a very consitantly called game. No team got the advantage in the calls..kinda.

 

But that "let them play" bullshit that was out there favored the Lakers greatly. One team has a smaller point guard that is blowing by slower defenders, eating apart the oppositions defense while the other team plays a slow grind it out offense that consist of alot of post ups. Who gets the advantage when the refs lift the hand checking rule(I have to admit, I kinda marked when I saw that they weren't calling it.)?

 

The Spurs have to hope that the game gets called by the rules or change their whole approach. If they are going back to the Let them Play philosophy in game 4, then you are going to have to bring in Malik Rose more, stay in that full court pressure, and make the Lakers pay the way that they made the Spurs pay in this style.

 

Just to make sure there is no confusion...i am not saying that the lakers "cheated" their way to a win or the refs gave them a game. They called a very consistant game, it just seemed to catch San Antonio off guard. If they are going to allow Parker to get bumped and pummeled like that they are going to have to start running him off screens to wear down the Laker guards( I do like how Brown and Parker saw how the game was being called and played defense with the same type of physicallity though..)

 

It will be interesting to see what adjustments come about now. If the Spurs could have hit one or two of those 1000 threes in the 4th, it could have gotten interesting.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

It bugs me that the press thinks Shaq's offense is the reason the Lakers won. He finally decided to move his fat ass on the screen roll and get off the ground for some blocks. What a shocker, Payton funnels Parker inside and O'Neal actually does his part, and they win?!

[razazteca 0]

So...how do you stop Toni Parker?

 

Foul him when he comes in the lane and the refs not call it.

 

How do you stop Tim Duncan? Foul him when he touches the ball and not call it.

Very simple put 4 players in the paint to block the Parker from making those highlight worthy layups. Once the Spurs could not play the offense thru Parker it went to the inside out game of giving Tim Duncan the ball every time and hoping that he can make a shot while being tripled teamed. Needless to say it did not work so well. When the team makes 6 offensive rebounds in a row and could not buy a shot something is very wrong.........Devin Brown can only make so many open jump shots before somebody notices.

[Ripper 0]

It bugs me that the press thinks Shaq's offense is the reason the Lakers won. He finally decided to move his fat ass on the screen roll and get off the ground for some blocks. What a shocker, Payton funnels Parker inside and O'Neal actually does his part, and they win?!

That had nothing to do with it.

 

you really are going to have to get over this "funnel" to the big man thing because that has NEVER worked in the history of organized basketball. thats not what happened.

 

Payton kept contact on parker(or bryant kept on him) ie: they handchecked him. Don't get me wrong...i am ALL for handchecking if you let it go on both sides(which they did) but handcheck slows him down some. So basically, the underneath d had more time to rotate over more than before. A good aggresive game.

 

What did the Lakers do? The FINALLy stopped being so hard ass and played a zone d and it helped stopp the penetration. IF parker could get by one agressive defender, he had a second layer...if he got by that, Shaq was the third. THAT was defense and THAT is why the Lakers won. That and the Spurs couldn't buy a open shot.

 

Now, here is the biggie. if the next game opens and the Spurs come out and try to play aggresive and the refs call it close, I might have to call bullshit. Last nights officiating was a complete 180 from what they had been calling(and I liked it honestly...PLAYOFF BASKETBALL) but they need to stick with it. When the spurs get aggresive, it turns to game one against Memphis...they can do it, they just weren't ready for it.

 

I said Spurs in 5 and I still say Spurs in 5. But the series just got interesting and I am still celebrating the return of the Hand check...if only for one game.

[Guest TheArchiteck]

Well that Nets/Pistons game was painful for me to watch (Pistons fan).

Nothing was really going their way, defensively or on offense. They just looked sluggish and got completely outplayed by the Nets. Sheed just took too many 3's, while he should have been in the paint on both sides of the court. Ben was the only Pistons who put forth an effort. Dude dominated the glass and was the Pistons leading scorer...but if your doing it alone, it doesn't make much of a difference. Especially when pretty much the Nets whole team was on fire. Even freakin Scalabrini was getting off.

 

The refs completely owned the game, they called like a million calls on both teams. Although a majority of them was right calls...cause they was starting to get intense.

 

Btw, I luv with Sheed taunts the crowd. He's over as a heel.

lol

[Ripper 0]

Well that Nets/Pistons game was painful for me to watch (Pistons fan).

Nothing was really going their way, defensively or on offense. They just looked sluggish and got completely outplayed by the Nets. Sheed just took too many 3's, while he should have been in the paint on both sides of the court. Ben was the only Pistons who put forth an effort. Dude dominated the glass and was the Pistons leading scorer...but if your doing it alone, it doesn't make much of a difference. Especially when pretty much the Nets whole team was on fire. Even freakin Scalabrini was getting off.

 

The refs completely owned the game, they called like a million calls on both teams. Although a majority of them was right calls...cause they was starting to get intense.

 

Btw, I luv with Sheed taunts the crowd. He's over as a heel.

lol

Scalabrini is the mutha fucking man.

 

Thats all I got.