NBA Playoffs 2007: Conference Semifinals

[Guest George's Box]

It's hard to root for Utah to finally win it all years after Stockton and Malone have left. I'd be happy for Jerry Sloan, but this team is criminally dull, and up against the NBA's best story in years.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

What's a story about Oakland? Defeating a lame #1 seed is not a story.

[Guest George's Box]

With the rarity of any upsets in the NBA postseason, let alone 8-over-1, plus it being a team that hasn't been in since '94 and hasn't won a series since '91, I'd say that it's a pretty big deal. But please kindly direct me to anything more notable in the 2007 playoffs.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Derek Fisher says hello.

[Guest George's Box]

No, that's not more impressive than the Golden State Warriors rising out of nowhere to knock off the 67-win Mavericks. I'm obviously correct here, however, the Fish Swish from 2004 was pretty huge, though.

[Ripper 0]

How is beating a team you haven't lost to in 2 years "coming out of nowhere".

 

And there is nothing boring about Utah playing a uptempo team. It is just fun to watch

[Guest George's Box]

They came out of nowhere in the big picture. The Warriors have been a non-entity for years. Their franchise highlight from 1994-2006 was Latrell Sprewell having to choke a bitch.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

While Oakland's win was technically the greatest upset in NBA playoff history, it wasn't unexpected. They had Dallas' number before this series. Many thought the upset was possible.

 

Fisher is the story. That was some inspirational shit last night.

 

It's still better than the East... although watching paint dry is more exciting than CLE/NJ and CHI getting their ass kicked (like I called perfectly).

[Guest George's Box]

Fisher shouldn't have been in the lineup in the first place. Dramatic and rasslin'esque as it may have been, you should be required to have your active roster there before the game starts.

[jwpeer 0]

A.

 

I'd love to see Utah vs. Detroit, if Detroit has to be in the finals, I'd love to see them agonize as Okur hits dagger after dagger against them. Plus Utah has their number the past few years.

 

 

B. Kirilenko actually looked really good when he was playing semi-point for them, he doesn't make bad decisions, and he's SUCH a good passer, that it's sad he has to play in the utah offense. Him on the suns would be something unreal.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

You're all wrong. The big story is LeBron James ascending to Michael Jordan status, willing his team to the NBA finals... well that's what ESPN would want you to believe.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

You're all wrong. The big story is LeBron James ascending to Michael Jordan status, willing his team to the NBA finals... well that's what ESPN would want you to believe.

 

So true even though LeBron has had the easiest road to the conference finals of any team that is currently battling right now in the playoffs.

 

As a Utah fan it's rewarding to be up 2-0 since we haven't been in the playoffs in a few years and I had to stress myself out over the Houston series. Last night's game was so frustrating with Golden State constantly coming back with three pointers all over the floor but we were able to pull it out. I hope Dee Brown isn't too shaken up from last night though.

 

I was watching the game with a friend of mine from Oakland who roots for the Warriors and when Derek Fisher arrived in the arena he looked at me and said "What is this? Is Derek Fisher channeling Bill Goldberg or something?"

[Ripper 0]

A.

 

I'd love to see Utah vs. Detroit, if Detroit has to be in the finals, I'd love to see them agonize as Okur hits dagger after dagger against them. Plus Utah has their number the past few years.

 

 

B. Kirilenko actually looked really good when he was playing semi-point for them, he doesn't make bad decisions, and he's SUCH a good passer, that it's sad he has to play in the utah offense. Him on the suns would be something unreal.

 

 

I have been secretly wishing for a Kirilenko for Marion trade but didn't want to say it out loud. I know he does so much for the Suns but something about complaining about being underappreciated on the team where he is the highest paid player doesn't sit well with me.

[Guest George's Box]

I was watching the game with a friend of mine from Oakland who roots for the Warriors and when Derek Fisher arrived in the arena he looked at me and said "What is this? Is Derek Fisher channeling Bill Goldberg or something?"

This, combined with "Roger Clemens is in George's box!" is a harbinger of the impending transformation into sports-entertainment.

[Rendclaw 0]

I am shocked at how badly the Pistons are making the Bulls look. But then again this is like how they would handle the Bulls in 2004-2005. Force them to take bad shots and make young players mistakes. I have said it before and I will say it again. The Bulls need seasoning in order to make serious noise in the Central and the East. The players are too young to go further than the 2nd round. They overacheived by sweeping the Heat, which were ripe for the picking anyway.

 

That's what I thought. They seem like they are still two players away from making a real real real serious run. An inside defender/scorer and a good perimeter defender/scorer.

 

They aren;t going to get an inside presence as long as Ben Wallace has that contract. Hinrich could be that perimeter scorer and defender, he just needs a couple more seasons experience.

 

I love how people are pissing on the Detroit fans for booing Ben Wallace. I understand that a lot better than when they were booing Darko in the Orlando series. I'll break it down like this:

 

1. Ben Wallace was the face of the franchise, on the cover of magazines, video games and in commercials in Detroit. He was pretty much stood for what Detroit is all about: hard work and toughness. All that goes out the window when you leave the team and especially in the way that he did.

 

2. The writing was on the wall when he refused to go back in during that Orlando game. It doesn't matter if you think the coach is wrong in his play selection or you disagree about the way he is using you in a game. Its a pussy move and one you will have a lot of trouble living down. Ask Scottie Pippen about that. He did not give Flip Saunders any respect, but then again he had to know what Flip was about, who is much more of an offensive-minded coach. Ben Wallace is challenged offensively, and always has been dating back to his days in Washington and Orlando. He either refused or had a mental block when it came to developing his offensive game, so something had to give when it came time for him to re-sign. But...

 

3. He made a cash grab, which I don't blame him for. Any one of us would do the exact same thing, but sports fans are rather myopic that way. But the problem is....

 

4. He went to Chicago, which is Detroit's arch-fucking-nemesis. Its not as bad as say, New York and Boston, or even New York and Los Angeles, but its pretty bad. Chicago is a great town. Detroit, not so much. You have the Pistons/Bulls rivalry. the Red Wings/Blackhawks rivalry (though not so much over the years), Tigers/White Sox, and Lions/Bears (though again, not quite so much nowadays). Chicago as a city is what Detroit wants to be, but cannot be right now until they get their heads out of their asses politically. You have all of that simmering underneath the surface, and then one of if not the most beloved player in Detroit next to Steve Yzerman bolt to the enemy? And you have sports writers and the like coming down ont he Detroit fans for booing him?

 

Ben Wallace is getting what he deserves right now. And after his performance in games 1 and 2, I am convinced he is stealing money from Chicago.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No, he was hired to get them out of the first round, which he did. They just forgot there was three more rounds until the title.

[jwpeer 0]

I have been secretly wishing for a Kirilenko for Marion trade but didn't want to say it out loud. I know he does so much for the Suns but something about complaining about being underappreciated on the team where he is the highest paid player doesn't sit well with me.

 

 

That'd be an interesting trade. Marion is a better rebounder, but isn't the floor-wide defensive presence of kirilenko, and I honestly feel AK-47 is a better offensive presence (more potential for sure, and younger). That's hard to say who would win, but I feel Kirilenko is more of a team player (Remember when he was upset, it wasn't because he wasn't number one, it's because he didn't understand why they'd pay them all that money, and not play him).

 

I really just want to see the "Free AK-47" thing come true, because he's my fav player (And he's REALLY lifting his stock in the 2nd round so far, in a lot of ways showing just how valuable he is)

 

Course the real ideal would be marion and kirilenko playing together. (That potentyial number 4 draft pick + Diaw?)

Amare, Kirilenko, Marion, Bell, Nash.

 

Freaking Barbosa off the bench?!

 

 

Most stacked lineup ever.

[Guest George's Box]

The Bulls played the Pistons well in the regular season. I don't get what's changed. There are still four 12-minute quarters. The game still consists of shooting a ball into a basket. There's no excuse for Nocioni and company to look as thoroughly hopeless as they do. "They don't know how to play in the playoffs" always seems like lazy sportswriting to me.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Because they thought they could play the Pistons exactly the same way they did the Heat, forgetting not everyone on the team is a geriatric dinosaur.

[Guest George's Box]

That may be true, and that's a failure on Skiles's part to not adjust appropriately. Still, I just don't want to hear that "they don't know how to play in the playoffs," or "the Pistons have more playoff experience." Nothing's changed. It's still basketball. That's almost as bad of a copout as "we didn't have enough energy" or "they had a lot of energy." What is energy?

[MFer 0]

That may be true, and that's a failure on Skiles's part to not adjust appropriately. Still, I just don't want to hear that "they don't know how to play in the playoffs," or "the Pistons have more playoff experience." Nothing's changed. It's still basketball. That's almost as bad of a copout as "we didn't have enough energy" or "they had a lot of energy." What is energy?

It's not as if they've never played in the playoffs before either. I believe this is Nocioni, Deng, Duhon, and Hinrich's 3rd postseason and of course Big Ben and P.J. Brown have been in many.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

The Bulls played the Pistons well in the regular season. I don't get what's changed. There are still four 12-minute quarters. The game still consists of shooting a ball into a basket. There's no excuse for Nocioni and company to look as thoroughly hopeless as they do. "They don't know how to play in the playoffs" always seems like lazy sportswriting to me.

 

as much as a cliche it is, re-focusing your play to match up specifically with your new opponent is one constant of deep playoff runs - so I think it's accurate IN THIS CASE to pull out the ole "they dont know how to play in the playoffs" cliche. Each new series requires some ca-jiggering in style and intensity, suited to your opponent. Take the pistons, their style of defense is completely inverted from the Orlando series, where they were sending wave after wave of defender inside to clog up the paint, and now where they are focusing everything on the perimeter. That's where the Bulls have no experience since they've never been outta the first round - they were probably thinking the same thing "well it's the same game, it's the same opponent, we'll have as hard a time as we did in the regular season, we just gotta play our game." Playoffs are really about deep scouting and exploiting mismatches while regular season, nobody really scouts for individual games, they don't have time, many times they miss obvoius mismatches. The Bulls fronted the Pistons post guys each time during the reg. season - so for the series, the Piston guys sank back a bit and got open offensive rebounding opportunities because their defender was too busy fronting them. Gordon is the Bulls top scoring threat, so from literally the FIRST play, billups immediatly attacked him on offense. It was a strategic take-down - while the Bulls players were getting "bored" during their layoff, the Pistons took full advantage of the looong layoff and built a plan. What was the Bulls' plan? Did they have one?

 

With a win tonight, they can get right back into the series though, so maybe Skiles has devised something. They've had an extra day off, as well as home-court coming, so one would hope that they're making some adjustments, and making plans to attack some weak areas of the Pistons, rather than constantly being on the defensive. Their zone in the 4th was *somewhat* effective in stopping penetration - but the Pistons were hitting their outside shots. At the United center their percentage will probably come down so this is probably the time for the Bulls to work that zone now.

[alfdogg 0]

[bobobrazil1984 0]

well the Bulls certainly came to play, their D looks impressive.

 

Anybody see the clip of Bowen kicking Amare's ankle on that dunk? That's messed up and was clearly deliberate.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4yz__akIU

[Just John 0]

Nice resilient performance from the Pistons there. Or nice choke-job by the Bulls, whichever you prefer.

 

How many teams have swept someone, only to get swept themselves the series after?

[alfdogg 0]

Yeah. At least with the foot sweep, you could argue that those were accidental, even though it happened a lot to be a coincidence. I think this one is definitely fine-worthy, at least.

 

That aside, after reading Amare's comments, he's obviously just being a whiny bitch because the Spurs are getting physical with him. You can't say that the Spurs are a dirty team just because of the actions of one guy. And Ginobili didn't kick him on purpose, either, that play happens quite a bit. Not that any of this surprises me from either side, of course.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

The Bulls just got punked in the 2nd half. They got intimidated and rattled by the Pistons 3-2 zone. That same zone, btw, helped them overcome a 20 point deficit in a regular season game too.

[The Robfather 0]

Well, the Bulls can now say, someone has to be the first team to come back from 3-0... however, wasn't the Heat saying that also?

 

Bye bye Bulls. It's over.

[randomguy 0]

Anyone see the play where Ginobli fell down and then literally grabbed Amare's legs to keep him from getting a pass? I mean he had his arm wrapped around his leg with his hand clutching his calf muscle.

[alfdogg 0]

Yeah, I saw it. He was doing just what you said, trying to keep him from getting the pass. There should have been a foul on the play, but there was no intent to injure.