This week in the NBA April 3-9

[Dangerous A 0]

Seems Alfdogg is asleep or perhaps reeling because he drew me in the playoffs of our WDINMBPit fantasy basketball playoffs, where he will be crushed.

 

 

Anyways, about 8-9 games left for everyone. Playoffs are starting to take shape, but spots aren't cemented in yet.

 

Cavs and Nets are smoking hot in the East right now and the Bulls are knocking on the Sixers door for the 8th.

 

Kings have a 2 game lead for 8th in the West and looking to stay there or move up, but I doubt the Lakers give up 7th because they have a lot more home games than the Kings.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Clippers come from 22 down to beat the Nuggets 111-109.

 

Nuggets scored 77 points in the first half on 81.6% shooting from the field.

 

with a minute left Melo gets fouled with a chance to tie the game and out of frustration, because of the defensive effort by the Clippers, punches the ball into the stands and gets ejected. His replacement then misses both free throws.

[Dangerous A 0]

That was a frickin amazing finish.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Bulls need to beat the Sixers twice, the Raptors, Magic, and Hawks. They never beat the Nets, ever, so I'll concede that one. Heat will probably win, as will the Wizards. It'll take a lot to earn getting swept by Detroit in the first round, won't it?

[Brett Favre 0]

Jamal Crawford > Cavs.

[mike546 0]

Lebron has to take that shot. He had an easy layup there.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Clippers beat Suns 119-105

 

Great win for the team

 

Brand was an animal and Livingston did a masterful job running the point with Cassell out

[Dangerous A 0]

Lebron has to take that shot. He had an easy layup there.

 

 

While I do defend LeBron a lot, I have to totally agree here. He should have taken the shot. It wasn't an easy layup because he was contested, but he shouldn't have passed out to Larry Hughes. Nothing against Hughes, but this is only his second game back from being off for over 2 months, so I don't think he was a good option. I get that he had a clean look at an open 3 to win, but I just don't think that was the right guy and the right time to put him in that position. LeBron should've shot or they should've drawn up the play where either Marshall or Murray gets the corner shot and not Hughes.

[Rendclaw 0]

Agreed. I defended him when he made that pass to Murray in the corner to win an earlier game, and applauded him when he sank that last second shot, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the highlight was that he should have taken that shot. He was in the lane and the shot was indeed contested, but it was makeable. Passing off to a rusty-as-all-hell Larry Hughes was not a good decision on his part.

[Dangerous A 0]

Melo has fucking ice water in his veins!

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Bill Simmons' article on the Clippers

 

Great look at this year's team from a season ticket holder

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/060407

[Fökai 0]

After reading that article, I'm going to cheer so hard for them in the postseason. ESPN Classic aired Duke/UConn from the '99 NCAA Finals a few days ago, and it was so cool to see a flashback of guys like Brand and Rip, two of my favorite players in the league, playing in a big-time environment. Hamilton has continued that success, and it's finally time for Brand to do so as well.

 

Too bad that the Clips are in L.A., but their fans have deserved a winner for so long that they could give a shit about bandwagon fans.

[Dangerous A 0]

I remember that Final Four and championship game very well. Although UConn was a powerhouse, Duke had talent to burn. I remember people calling it the Duke Invitational even. I just knew though if UConn could keep it close they'd have a chance to win because Rip and that pudgy little fucker Khalid El-Amin were just clutch.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

13th straight.

 

Nets are going to face the Pistons in the ECF, haters you mad?

[Ripper 0]

Suns are Limping right now, but the good thing is that they will probably get the Lakers in the first round, who they can take, and the Nuggets in the second round, who are their bitches, so they should make the West finals and hopefully have a healthy Kurt Thomas back to play some D and lock down the middle.

 

D'Antoni is really confusing me with his refusal to get Brian Grant and Pat Burke in there to mix it up with the bigs they have been facing.

[Brett Favre 0]

Jamal Crawford > Pacers.

[Dangerous A 0]

Kings with a big road win over the Clips (I believe that makes 12 in a row now) to break into a tie with the Lakers and since the Kings have a better division and conference record, they get the tie breaker and sit at 7th.

 

Kings finish the season with one more road game against Denver and have the Rockets, Suns, Hornets, and Sonics at home to finish the season. The Lakers have finished all their road games and finish the season with the Clippers, Warriors, Blazers, Suns, and Hornets.

 

While the Hornets are 2 games out of 8th and the Jazz are 3 games out, they both have 7 more games left as opposed to 5 for the Kings and Lakers. Still, if the Lakers and Kings both go .500, they should clinch although where that ends up is anyone's guess.

[naiwf 0]

Darko > Pistons, bwahahahaha

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Kings with a big road win over the Clips (I believe that makes 12 in a row now) to break into a tie with the Lakers and since the Kings have a better division and conference record, they get the tie breaker and sit at 7th.

You know, for all the talk on Kings message boards about how Kaman is a "Kings Killer," the Clippers are winless against Sacramento since they drafted him...

[Guest]

I want the Lakers to finish 8th, and Dallas to finish 1st. That's the only way the Lakers have a shot at getting out of the first round.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

The streak ended for the Nets today, but I view this as a positive.

 

Atleast now they can not focus on the streak, and focus on the playoffs.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

playoff brackets as of today:

 

EAST:

 

Detroit vs Chicago

 

Cleveland vs Washington

 

Miami vs Indiana

 

New Jersey vs Milwaukee

 

 

WEST

 

San Antonio vs LA Lakers

 

Dallas vs LA Clippers

 

Phoenix vs Sacramento

 

Denver vs Memphis

[jwpeer 0]

I was just reading the weekend dime on ESPN which featured a Tony Parker interview...

 

 

Doesn't it amaze anybody that the dude is only 23?!?! I mean, where does he go from here, his ability to navigate in the paint is amazing, he's become incredibly consistent... And he's a good defender. Very underrated player, but it's hard to assess anyones ability accurately who plays for a team like the spurs.

 

 

But it's amazing that he's so young, and clearly the most durable player on their team as well. Something to just marvel at, because in 5 years when Duncan might be really declining, TP is gonna be hitting his PRIME. That's nuts

[alfdogg 0]

Yeah, sorry about the thread, guys...I got net access at a nearby library while I was in St. Pete, but as luck would have it, TSM was blocked. As were the fantasy basketball leagues, meaning I probably got fucked out of those, too.

 

But anyway, the Pacers. Big win over Toronto to snap our five-game skid, and followed up with another loss to the Knicks. We're finished this season. Done. Jermaine needs to stop worrying about getting in game shape for a sweep at the hands of the Heat or Pistons and think about the rest of his career. And Anthony Johnson needs to keep the starting job for good this time, because Tinsley's been horrible since his return.

[alfdogg 0]

13th straight.

 

Nets are going to face the Pistons in the ECF, haters you mad?

Not at all, bandwagoners!

[bob_barron 0]

Wait,

 

EHME is a Nets fan? Damnit.

 

The Nets played well today, until Vince decided to throw the game away in the last 90 seconds. Had a turnover, missed two shots, missed a game-tying free throw and then took an awful three pointer.

 

The Nets are streaky, so I'm glad they got the loss out of the way before the postseason.

[alfdogg 0]

And yeah, I can't complain about a cupcake schedule this time. The Nets are definitely a threat now in the East, but I'm still unsure of how their frontcourt will hold up against the Heat or Pistons.

[bob_barron 0]

They went 3-1 against Miami this year, and 2-2 v. Detroit.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Hornets lose

 

Clippers clinch a playoff spot for the first time in nine years!!!!!!!!

 

 

[Adam 0]

playoff brackets as of today:

 

EAST:

 

Detroit vs Chicago

 

Cleveland vs Washington

 

Miami vs Indiana

 

New Jersey vs Milwaukee

 

 

WEST

 

San Antonio vs LA Lakers

 

Dallas vs LA Clippers

 

Phoenix vs Sacramento

 

Denver vs Memphis

 

As of this moment, the top 4 seeds in the East will all go through easily, but the Western top seeds would be worrying. I can see the LA teams and Sacramento all giving the top 3 teams a shake in the first round, at least to Game 6 in all three series.