NBA 2008 - the home stretch

[Steviekick 0]

As a Jazz fan, I think its safe to say that the Spurs are going to win tonight. Utah hasn't won a game in San Antonio since 1999.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

East picks:

 

Celtics in 5.

Pistons in 4.

Raptors in 6.

Cavs in 7.

 

Yes, I said Raptors in 6. It's partly bias and partly the fact that I believe Toronto could actually take the series. It all depends on Kapono, Bargnani and Delfino. If the Raptors 3 point game is on, they can use their shooters as screens and open up the floor for Bosh, Ford and Calderon. The Magic have no one who can keep Ford from driving the lane or who can contain Calderon as a shooter and Bosh always plays very well against Howard for whatever reason. I think this is a very winnable series and I was really hoping that Raptors would get the Magic and not the LeBron's.

 

AWARDS:

 

MVP - Chris Paul. He's turned one dimensional David West and, even more one dimensional, Tyson Chandler into premier front-court players. He's rejuvenated a very washed up Peja Stojakovic. He's led a team no one expected to do anything more than scrape into the playoffs to a #2 seed (after holding the #1 seed for a while). His numbers are out of this world. He is the MVP.

 

Coach of the Year - Rick Adelman. No one has done more with less. He has two superstars who can't stay healthy (and both are also maddeningly inconsistent when they are healthy) and a bunch of role players and cast offs to work with and he's got the Rockets in the playoffs fighting for home court.

 

6th Man - Manu Ginobli. Given the general definition of the 6th man award and how it has been handed out in the past, Ginobli is the only choice.

 

Rooke of the Year - Al Horford. I give more credit to someone who is a major part of a playoff team than someone who scores a lot on a terrible team.

 

Defensive Player of the Year - Kevin Garnett. Same reasons as everyone else.

 

Most Improved Player - Andre Miller. He went from being washed up and trade bait to the driving force behind this season's biggest surprise playoff team. He deserves SOME recognition.

 

All NBA Teams:

 

1st:

C - Dwight Howard

F - Kevin Garnett

F - LeBron James

G - Kobe Bryant

G - Chris Paul

 

2nd:

C - Amare Staudemire

F - Tim Duncan

F - Carlos Boozer

G - Manu Ginobli

G - Steve Nash

 

3rd:

C - Chris Bosh

F - Paul Pierce

F - Antawn Jamison

G - Deron Williams

G - Allen Iverson

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Most Improved Player - Andre Miller. He went from being washed up and trade bait to the driving force behind this season's biggest surprise playoff team. He deserves SOME recognition.

Bah!

 

Turkoglu is putting up career numbers across the board, and is almost the singular reason why the Magic are going to the playoffs... It's already bad enough that he got snubbed for the All-Star game.

[Ripper 0]

Why is Manu not a sixth man? He started more than a 3rd of the games he played this year. How can you be a sixth man when you are starting? JR Smith, Josh Childress, Lou Williams, Kyle Korver are guys that are ACTUALLY non starters that contribute to the team.

 

if you start 23 out of the 73 games you play, and get in within 2-3 minutes of most of those 50 you didn't start, you on the bench is nothing more than a gimmick. Its diminishing what true bench players are doing. Coming in relatively cold night in and night out and contributing to the team consistantly.

 

Not trying to diminish Manu at all. I think he is clearly the second best 2 guard in the game, but he is no 6th Man.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

Here are East picks: Boston in 5, Detroit in 5, Orlando in 6, Cleveland in 6. It would be better if all those were just sweeps though, get rid of the dreck and get the East down to the 4 that matter. Then Boston over Cleveland in 6, with Detroit having to go 7 against a game Magic team. Celtics over Pistons in 7 games, home court ends up paying off.

 

I'm bewildered at NBA fans who think another Spurs/Pistons Finals would be a good thing. That series was one of the all time clunker snoozefests with either total blowouts or low scoring brickfests.

 

Ideally the playoffs would come down to Celtics/Pistons in the East and Lakers/Suns in the West. Boston vs. either of them would be an exciting Finals.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Scott Skiles's name is being bandied about as a possible coach of the Knicks?!? That's the opposite of a good idea.

[Brett Favre 0]

Play time is over. They need a guy who will make them cry.

[Detox 0]

Does anyone else, but me think that the West is going to be so competitive that the eventual Western Conference final will be fatigued, and have a hard time standing up physically to the Eastern Conference Champion?

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Play time is over. They need a guy who will make them cry.

"You want me to do WHAT? Nah."

[alfdogg 0]

Defense is optional in Indianapolis tonight.

[alfdogg 0]

Jason Kidd with 27 points? Is this 2008, or 2002?

 

Dallas locks up the 7th seed, as Kidd also records his 100th triple-double, and first since going back to Dallas.

 

So that means Lakers/Nuggets and Hornets/Mavs in round 1.

[CanadianChris 0]

So that means Lakers/Nuggets and Hornets/Mavs in round 1.

That's good. I didn't want any part of Dirk in round 1. The Nuggets should be a pretty easy test.

[Brett Favre 0]

Nuggets are dangerous, and I think the Mavs will beat the Hornets. Kidd will smack Paul around.

[CanadianChris 0]

Nuggets drew a horrible opponent. I don't think the Lakers have anything to worry about.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Outlaw sends the fans home happy.

 

Oh, and L.A. should demolish Denver. I think they probably would've had an easy time of it with Dallas, too- The Lakers have had a really good track record against them for quite some time now. Denver's even easier.

[alfdogg 0]

This is really quite infuriating knowing that as great as the Pacers played down the stretch, that blown TJ Ford game-winner resulted in the Hawks having one more win than us. Then again, if we could beat the fucking Bobcats at home, that becomes irrelevant.

[Ripper 0]

You know, they determined that horford did touch that ball...or at least that is the NBA's stance. There shouldn't have been a shot in the first place.

 

Anyway, Mike Woodson closes out the season with quite possibly the worse coaching job in the history of the NBA.

 

You actually saw players mouthing "What the fuck is he doing" as they were subbing for each other and heat players laughing with the Hawk players as he brought his fucking starters back in the game with 4 minutes to play in a meaningless game that featured the HEat just taking alot of threes. Jason Williams was taking threes from 3-4 steps inside half court just for the heck of it. I think Mark Blount took like 8 threes.

 

And this fucking dumbass refuses to play his bench.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Western Conference Play-offs are set

 

1. Lakers v. 8. Nuggets

 

4. Utah Jazz v. 5. Rockets (Rockets with Home Court)

 

3. Spurs v. 6. Suns

 

2. Hornets v. 7. Mavericks

 

 

[Precious Roy 0]

Why is Manu not a sixth man? He started more than a 3rd of the games he played this year. How can you be a sixth man when you are starting? JR Smith, Josh Childress, Lou Williams, Kyle Korver are guys that are ACTUALLY non starters that contribute to the team.

 

if you start 23 out of the 73 games you play, and get in within 2-3 minutes of most of those 50 you didn't start, you on the bench is nothing more than a gimmick. Its diminishing what true bench players are doing. Coming in relatively cold night in and night out and contributing to the team consistantly.

 

Not trying to diminish Manu at all. I think he is clearly the second best 2 guard in the game, but he is no 6th Man.

 

First, saying he comes in 2-3 minutes into the game on average is a complete fabrication/exageration/whatever. It's more like 4-6 minutes into the average game, and I wish I could find a log of that to definitively kill that argument but so far I can't find one. But just using common sense, do you really think Pop is yanking Finley two or three minutes in unless he gets into quick foul trouble? That completely defeats the point of starting him.

 

2nd, he played 50 games off the bench, that's almost 70%, how can you say he's not ACTUALLY coming off the bench? The NBA's rule is I believe more than half of the games coming off the bench to qualify, so it doesn't really matter if you think he shouldn't count because he started two dozen games. McHale started 31 games the second year he won the award. Ricky Pierce also started 31. Darrell Armstrong started 15 out of 50 in the holdout year. Plus, a lot of the games Manu started in was because Parker was hurt.

 

I can't believe you're seriously advocating Kyle Korver. Do you know why Korver didn't start a single game this year? He's completely one dimensional. A dimension the Jazz needed, but the guy scores about 10 per game on jump shots and does nothing else. Ditto JR Smith. Just because they never started (again, a reason for that) they should get the award over a far, far superior player?

 

Ginobili is a "starter" coming off the bench and as I said before the term and the award were created to honor exactly that. You're talking more about a "7th man" or "under 25 minutes per game" award, and that's not what this award is.

 

[teke184 0]

The NBA owners just approved the Seattle Supersonics' move to Oklahoma City, pending resolution of the outstanding lawsuits involved.

 

 

I think there's a chance that Seattle wins the one on the Key Arena's lease, but I don't see Mr. Starbucks winning his suit to overturn his sale of the team to Clay Bennett due to fraud on Bennett's part.

[teke184 0]

Isiah Thomas is officially out as coach of the Knicks, which comes about two years too late.

[Damaramu 0]

The NBA owners just approved the Seattle Supersonics' move to Oklahoma City, pending resolution of the outstanding lawsuits involved.

 

 

I think there's a chance that Seattle wins the one on the Key Arena's lease, but I don't see Mr. Starbucks winning his suit to overturn his sale of the team to Clay Bennett due to fraud on Bennett's part.

 

Woo-hoo! I get to see the Celtics live twice a year! Or is it once a year?

[Maztinho 0]

The NBA owners just approved the Seattle Supersonics' move to Oklahoma City, pending resolution of the outstanding lawsuits involved.

 

 

I think there's a chance that Seattle wins the one on the Key Arena's lease, but I don't see Mr. Starbucks winning his suit to overturn his sale of the team to Clay Bennett due to fraud on Bennett's part.

 

Woo-hoo! I get to see the Celtics live twice a year! Or is it once a year?

 

Home and Home... you get them once.

[CanadianChris 0]

The lease is almost certain to be enforced in court, which could (hopefully) give some of the Microsoft money guys a chance to save the team.

 

Clay Bennett is right behind Jeff Loria as scummiest owners in sports.

[Precious Roy 0]

Isiah Thomas is officially out as coach of the Knicks, which comes about two years too late.

 

Better late than never.

 

For now he's remaining with the organization and reporting directly to Walsh in an advisory/scouting role, but that's just semantics at this point. He's owed something like 18 million on his contract, the Garden won't out and out fire him because of that, either they're quietly negotiating a buyout down the road or have to be hoping his ego can't handle the diminished role and he requests a buyout. But then again, it's not like there's too many doors open for Thomas at this point and it's not like his ego can take much more of a beating than it already has. If he gets paid 18 million to basically do nothing, so be it, I couldn't care less about the Dolans losing money at this point.

 

I'm excited to see who the Knicks draft and who they hire to coach the team, but most importantly I never want to see Stephon Marbury in a Knicks uniform again. Please just pay him to sit at home too.

 

 

[Damaramu 0]

David Stern's comments about the Sonics deal is amusing me. He's basically telling the government in Seattle to suck it up or they'll never get a team. I take it they're pissing him off with all the litigation.

[teke184 0]

David Stern's comments about the Sonics deal is amusing me. He's basically telling the government in Seattle to suck it up or they'll never get a team. I take it they're pissing him off with all the litigation.

He told them that BEFORE they sued.

 

 

I think he got sick of them dicking around with Schultz on a new arena before he sold to Bennett.