NBA Playoffs

[iggymcfly 0]

Mavs are going nowhere with Shawn Bradley on the team....maybe they can trade him for Theo Ratliff or one of the Blazers.

Hey, fuck off. Shawn Bradley's the man. He's really underrated as a defender and rebounder, and I have to just stop paying attention to what he does so I don't get pissed off about how little he plays.

 

I know it's kind of weird, but Shawn Bradley's still my favorite player in the NBA. I always look at Keith Van Horn, and for just a second, I get hopeful that they put Shawn in the game. Then, I realize this other guy's 8 inches shorter, and has speed and a jumper. Too bad though. I guarantee that if Shawn Bradley was starting , he would be able to run even with Yao Ming if he didn't completely outplay him.

[Dangerous A 0]

Kings deserved to lose that one, although I like that they kept fighting and made the Sonics sweat a little in the fourth. While I don't think the Sonics will allow another collapse of a 21 point lead again, I also don't think you are going to see Mike Bibby shoot so poorly again in this series either. Guys like him don't stay that way for long.

 

I am not giving up hope that the Playoffs won't have good games. Hell, the NCAA tournament this year took until day 2 to get the drama going and everyone was all bent out of shape because there weren't any close games on the first day. Fucking fast food nation we have here, I tells ya! Gotta have everything right now or else.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I am not giving up hope that the Playoffs won't have good games. Hell, the NCAA tournament this year took until day 2 to get the drama going and everyone was all bent out of shape because there weren't any close games on the first day. Fucking fast food nation we have here, I tells ya! Gotta have everything right now or else.

 

NCAA is single elminiation so a team can get its ass kicked and you don't have to worry about watching the same team get its ass kicked for a week because it's outmatched. That's one of the reasons why I feel they should go back to the shorter series in the first round. If a team won just one game, you'd have a series on your hands because they were pretty close to winning the series. I'm worried about watching a boring SERIES not a boring GAME.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Shame the Nets-Heat game is turning out to suck.

 

Nets looking way overmatched in this one right now.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That was a SICK no-call. Shaq brought his refs from LA over it seems, heh.

[JoeDirt 0]

For someone like me who has watched little to no NBA this year...can someone explain to me what Washington and Chicago did in a year to go from horrible to good?

[The Electrifyer 0]

For one, Chicago drafted Ben Gordon.

[Matt Young 0]

The Bulls have had foul trouble and trail by 2 at the end of one. It still remains to be seen how they'lll fare due to their lack of playoff experience, although the Wizards have the same problem. As long as the rest of the team can pick up the slack for the injured Luol Deng and, more importantly, Eddie Curry, I believe they can win the series. They need this first game at home, though. The crowd's definitely going to help fire them up since they haven't seen a playoff game at the United Center in 7 years.

[razazteca 0]

Larry Hughes and Gilbert Arenas were healthy.

[Matt Young 0]

Yes. And?

[razazteca 0]

Smaller divisions + weak conference = parity

[Guest news_gimmick]

Damn, this game is gonna be close all the way through. It could very well be the most competitive series in the first round (well I guess we haven't seen SA/Denver yet) but damn, I'm gonna love this.

[The Electrifyer 0]

Bulls up 1 at the half. This seems to be Ben Gordon vs. Larry Hughes all the way through. I have my faith that Ben Jordan will come through.

[Matt Young 0]

Bulls win! Bulls win! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BULLS WIN!!!!

 

103-94. Nocioni went for 25 and 18. Wow. Great game.

[Guest news_gimmick]

Very great game, just as I expected. Although a bit foul heavy at times, the Bulls defense put the clamps on when they needed to the most. And Washington just couldn't find the basket at the end, just brick and brick. And Kwame went down too, wonder if hes gonna make it back it or not for game 2. Woo, now on to SA/Denver!

[razazteca 0]

Hm, Andre Miller looks like he is too fast for the Spurs to stop...

[The Electrifyer 0]

Watching the Bulls was awesome. I felt a little wierd at first when they built up the playoffs, showed the United Center, then you heard Marv Albert commentating, but you didn't see Jordon, Pippen or Jackson on the court.

 

Sick game though... the Bulls' rookies once again showed up and delivered. Duhon, Gordon and Nocioni played huge. Ben Gordon once again scores 10+ in the fourth and Nocioni is just a pure battler. I never expected Nocioni to get such "Garnett-like stats" as Steve Kerr said.

[alfdogg 0]

Denver takes Game 1 in SA, 93-87.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Aah, our first major upset of the playoffs. (I dont consider 5 seeds beating the 4 seed a major upsest, they are so close in the standings, and 5s routinely beat 4, its practically an even matchup most times).

This will be interesting. One thing about the Spurs I've always wondered about is mental toughness, do they got it? They haven't really had any adversity this season and last season they crumbled after the .4 Fisher shot. I am NOT saying they don't have it, I'm just saying it'll be interesting to see how much of it they have.

[The Robfather 0]

Spurs deserved to lose that game. Hit a shot, please, somebody.

[Styles 0]

Bah, just watched the tape. The Wizards defense collapsed at the end there. Exciting game though, this should be a fun series...

Not good seeing Kwame limp off the court. It's a bruised right knee. Hopefully he'll be ready to go Wednesday.

[iggymcfly 0]

Considering that Duncan was rusty, and considering how hot the Nuggets have been, I actually kind of thought they'd take Game 1. This is another one of those series that I figure is going to come all the way down to the seventh game. I still think the Spurs will pull it out in the end, but it could easily come down to one shot.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm glad the Nuggets won tonight, hell I hope they win the series. It's not that I hate the Spurs really but I'm just bored as shit with them. I tend to notice the lack of toughness as well with the Spurs...sometimes they just seem to fold or not be able to do anything. I even thought that when they won the title in 2003, it's just then they didn't really play anyone who had their act together.

 

They desperately need to cut this opening round back to 5 games. Does the world really need to see the Bulls/Wizards go 7? What does that accomplish that wouldn't happen in 5? The 1 and 2 seeds are mostly doing jobber squashes anyway, does that garbage need to be longer than necessary?

[Guest news_gimmick]

They desperately need to cut this opening round back to 5 games. Does the world really need to see the Bulls/Wizards go 7? What does that accomplish that wouldn't happen in 5? The 1 and 2 seeds are mostly doing jobber squashes anyway, does that garbage need to be longer than necessary?

Well in regards to this, I think the Wizards/Bulls series will be the best 7 game series to watch if tonights game is any indication. I mean its going to be competitive as hell all the way through the series and is worth 7 games. Now compare that to the Pistons/76ers which really should be 3 games and done, and thats where you would be right in they need shorter series. So...as it is, just sit back and enjoy, maybe we will get better games to come in all the series.

[Ced 0]

They desperately need to cut this opening round back to 5 games.  Does the world really need to see the Bulls/Wizards go 7?  What does that accomplish that wouldn't happen in 5?

One or two more games out of each series, which equals 8 to 16 more games for the NBA and the teams to earn a little extra revenue.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Man, the next game of the Bulls series isn't until WEDNESDAY. Sweep this shit so that it doesn't last until May 8th. MAY EIGHTH. Jesus.

[NoCalMike 0]

Still holding out hope that the Kings can win their series if they take Game 2. Dangerous_A was correct though, if the Kings go down big again, I don't think the Sonics will go to sleep, although a lot of it had to do with poor shooting, which is a key factor into why the Kings got down in the first place. Were my eyes deceiving me or did Ostertag decide to show some presence in the middle?

[iggymcfly 0]

The problem with the playoffs isn't that the opening round is seven games. It's that every single game has to have exclusive national coverage.

 

Back when they'd show games simultaneously on TBS and TNT, the playoffs were way more fun to watch. If the Pacers are down 35 points to the Celtics on one channel, there's probably a good game getting ready to wrap up on the other channel.

 

And really, having rest between every two games is ridiculous as well. How are you supposed to get into the flow of a series when they never play on back to back nights? The way it's set up right now, the NBA playoffs last about half as long as the regular season. There's no reason on earth that the playoffs couldn't get done in 5 or 6 weeks.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

^ i agree. they should load up TNT and ESPN with the games. that would be much better.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well it's obvious that they added extra games to increase revenues, but god it makes the playoffs so boring. Did the NBA really need MORE games? There's also no rhythm to it...teams play, then rest for 3 days, then play, rest, etc. Compare this to the primo NCAA tourney scheduling where it's 1st round on Thurs-Fri., then 2nd round Sat-Sun., then rest, then do it again the next week. It's basically 3 weeks and it's over.

 

It seemed like a few years ago these things just moved faster. As in some awful Bulls/Wizards series, it'd be "Jordan squashes them twice in Chicago, they take a day off, squash them again. Series."

 

Last year I recall this really hideous Heat and Hornets series, two jobbers that somehow were the 4/5 matchup and it went 7. It was just awful, some of the worst games I've ever seen and yet they KEPT PLAYING.