Yay, It's the 2010 NBA Playoffs thread!

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I think that's crazy. The league is built for quick guards and Wall is the perfect player for that style. He is probably the best PG prospect we've seen in years.

You could argue Cousins as #2, but again, the league isn't built for guys like that. Throw in the fact that he doesn't appear to want to be coached and has major attitude problems and I just don't see it. I'd rather have Turner who has the versatility to play multiple positions.

That's where scouting comes in. His system isn't meant to replace or reduce the importance of scouts; it's meant to measure the overall talent of players in the draft. It's the scout's job to step in and say Cousins is a headcase or that it's a guard league right now.

Hollinger said himself that Wall is a perfectly fine #1 choice because of the things you mentioned above.

IMO, his system is better used to look for players that could be busts (in this case Davis, Whiteside, and Aldrich) or look for guys that are maybe being overlooked (Vasquez, Landesberg, Samhan) than it is to argue over whether the #2 or #3 guy should actually be #1.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

rose and james wouldn't work well together. rose needs the ball...james needs the ball. rose doesn't have the outside shot and the ability to play off the ball necessary to complement james.

Yes, this is pretty much the collective wisdom on James to the Bulls.

[whomario]

in case you want to be prepared for the "he has such great length" talks come draft day : DraftExpress: Pre Draft Measurements
(not dismissing it, but it went overboard a couple years ago ...)

Cousins body-fat % propably gives more fire to the guys questioning his intangibles and work ethic.

[DaddyTorgo]

strong first couple possessions for the C's on both sides of the floor - that's good to see after the long layoffs in the playoffs.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yikes! Magic with more turnovers than made FG's - 4/17 from the field with 6 TO's after the first period.

27-12 Celtics.

[Noop]

I respect Rondo. He is everything I would want in a PG.

[DaddyTorgo]

ummm wow...Rondo just outraced jayson williams (that is jayson right, and not jason? lol) into the backcourt, dove to the floor and took the loose ball, hopped up, dribbled around williams and layed it in.

this right after he drove in, faked the defense to sleep by making like he was going to pull out and then cut along the baseline and laid it on on the reverse layup with an "and one."

[DaddyTorgo]

This Celtics team, now that they're all healthy or whatever...really is the same as the the Championship team/last year's team before the Garnett injury/the team that started this year 23-5. They're just lockdown.

[jeff061]

Yeah. No way they keep this up though. Orlando I think will make a game out of this.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Yeah. No way they keep this up though. Orlando I think will make a game out of this.

I dunno. Orlando only rattled off those points they just did because Tony Allen (normally a lockdown defender) screwed up a couple times on Nelson. And there were a couple mistakes on the offensive end. I'd be somewhat surprised if it becomes much of a game (okay so it'll maybe be more of one than this, but I don't think it'll get down as close as Game 2 was for example).

[jeff061]

If they don't I'll feel more comfortable that they will win a championship . It just seems the intensity they play with either gasses them out or gets them in penalty trouble for the 4th.

[DaddyTorgo]

Magic Johnson: "Right now Rondo is the best all-around PG in the league, bar none. No question."

[miami_fan]

Really Orlando starters? 16-46 from the field? 10 free throws attempts combined? At least the talent deprived Heat(outside of Wade) were competitive. The Celtics are playing out of their mind but if the previous series was an indictment on everything about the Cavs, Orlando needs to start asking themselves the same questions starting with their star player.

[Sublime 2]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I'm not sure where this is coming from.

After the ridiculous shooting start from Orlando, they outscored Boston 70-61 from the halfway point of the second quarter to the end of the game. That last stretch wasn't 6 minutes either, they scored 41 points in the final 17 minutes of the game.

They simply played better defense and Boston's offense let them back in the game. The Magic missed a ton of open shots even in those last six minutes. (6-14 from the floor, including 0-4 from three point range during the stretch)

If Boston holds Orlando to 4-22 to start every game, they'll win the series easily. The fact the Magic probably had the single worst shooting game they will this series and just ran out of time at the end bodes well for Orlando.

That said, Boston is playing with confidence, Rondo never truly went off, I loved Doc's coaching moves in this game and Boston now has home court? They could pull it off. They are playing at a high level right now. I'm just not sure I'd even be slightly bothered if I'm Orlando. If they play he same game they did yesterday and hit the shots they usually do, I can't see how Boston will be able to keep up with them on the scoreboard.

Ehhh...not quite.

Game 1 FG%: 32-77 (41.6%
Game 3 FG%: 24-65 (36.9%)

Soul crushing Game 3 by the C's tonight. Lets end it Monday!

[Groundhog]

Crucial win for the Suns today. Channing Frye, "the X-Factor", is now shooting 1-20 over the first 3 games. Youch.

[RainMaker]

Stern sure didn't want another sweep.

[MrBug708]

It was bound to happen. Lamar and Artest can't have off shooting nights on the same night that Bynum trips on his shoes

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Stern sure didn't want another sweep.

I was just thinking that with all the sweeps in the 2nd round, plus Cleveland losing, then two 3-0 series in these rounds, we haven't heard many "NBA is fixed" comments lately...glad we're back on track.

[RainMaker]

It was more a joke than anything. I just found the foul discrepency funny, especially the first quarter which was something like 22-3.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I was just thinking that with all the sweeps in the 2nd round, plus Cleveland losing, then two 3-0 series in these rounds, we haven't heard many "NBA is fixed" comments lately...glad we're back on track.

Don't worry - if we have a Celtics/Lakers series then we'll really be back on track.

[Neon_Chaos]

Celtics looked sluggish tonight.

Should be an interesting Game 5.

I think the C's will wrap up this series in 6.

Of course, how horrific would it be for Bostonians if the Bruins and the Celtics lose both their series' after holding a 3-0 advantage?

[jeff061]

We'd deserve it. Can't believe everyone in NE is writing their ticket to the finals after the Bruins. Celts fans have become more arrogant than Pats ever were, but that's just what I see .

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by jeff061

We'd deserve it. Can't believe everyone in NE is writing their ticket to the finals after the Bruins. Celts fans have become more arrogant than Pats ever were, but that's just what I see .

Now that's just not true.

I think a lot of people (including all the analysts on all the networks) expected Orlando not to show up. Orlando showed up to play last night, and the Celtics looked very sluggish and didn't really play their offense (I didn't once see Rondo running the floor and pushing the play). Way too much iso-for-Pierce and slow movement of the basketball. Credit to Orlando, they came to play and figured out that staggered-screens would free up Nelson better. C's were uncharacteristic down the stretch though, turnovers in the 4th quarter and such.

[molson]

I imagine most fans are fairly confident if their team is up up 3-0, and have won 6 playoff games in a row. But I'd guess Boston fans are unusually pessimistic about such a situation. Both because of what happened to the Bruins, and also that's just kind of how they are (many on the SOSH are already declaring the Red Sox season over)

It was annoying to see the espn personalities all declare "series over" after two games. Have these people ever followed sports before?

[albionmoonlight]

With a 3-1 lead, Boston should, of course, still win the series.

But props to Orlando for not rolling over. I expected a Boston blow-out with Orlando's players all having that "I hope my travel agent was able to get me an ocean view for next week's vacation to Hawaii" look in their eyes.

Good for them going forward that they didn't quit.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by molson

I imagine most fans are fairly confident if their team is up up 3-0, and have won 6 playoff games in a row. But I'd guess Boston fans are unusually pessimistic about such a situation. Both because of what happened to the Bruins, and also that's just kind of how they are (many on the SOSH are already declaring the Red Sox season over)

It was annoying to see the espn personalities all declare "series over" after two games. Have these people ever followed sports before?

Well, they're right about the Red Sox, IMO. If the Angels were in that division, I would be saying the same thing about them.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Well, they're right about the Red Sox, IMO. If the Angels were in that division, I would be saying the same thing about them.

I agree. Sox season is over. In fact, I'd argue that it was over a couple weeks ago. I think they maybe have like what...a 7% chance of making the playoffs now? And even that would require a historic summer and a collapse by the teams in front of them for the Wild Card.

Call me a fair weather fan if you want, but I long-ago consigned this season to the scrap heap and reallocated my baseball-watching time to other pursuits. If there's no payoff then there's no rationale for investing hours and hours and hours of time into it.

[JPhillips]

I've become a pretty big Sox hater over the past few years, but they're only two games out of the wild card as of today. It's a bit premature to write them off in May, IMO.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I've become a pretty big Sox hater over the past few years, but they're only two games out of the wild card as of today. It's a bit premature to write them off in May, IMO.

Seriously. No team is "done" less than a 1/3 of the way into a season (except perhaps for small-market MLB teams). We see evidence of this almost any season, in every sport. No team is "done" after they're down 0-2 in a 7 game series, no matter how bad they look. I think Boston.com has already identified a half a dozen games Red Sox games as "must-wins" this season. No team is "done" in the first half of any game.

Would it really be THAT shocking if the Magic won two games and forced a game 7, winner-take-all-situation? Would it be THAT shocking if if the Red Sox put together a really hot month, and the Yankees and/or Rays slipped a little?

[sterlingice]

BP still has a 28% shot on the Red Sox to make the playoffs. Not great odds but 10x better than the 3% the Royals are carting around

SI

[Danny]

Originally Posted by molson

Seriously. No team is "done" less than a 1/3 of the way into a season (except perhaps for small-market MLB teams). We see evidence of this almost any season, in every sport. No team is "done" after they're down 0-2 in a 7 game series, no matter how bad they look. I think Boston.com has already identified a half a dozen games Red Sox games as "must-wins" this season. No team is "done" in the first half of any game.

Would it really be THAT shocking if the Magic won two games and forced a game 7, winner-take-all-situation? Would it be THAT shocking if if the Red Sox put together a really hot month, and the Yankees and/or Rays slipped a little?

As a Lakers fan, I'd love to see Boston have to expend more energy in the series.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Sweet Christ people, they're two fucking games back with what, 110 to play?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

Sweet Christ people, they're two fucking games back with what, 110 to play?

Holy Overreactions, Batman!

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Holy Overreactions, Batman!

Precisely.

[Neon_Chaos]

Wow. That was an incredible 2nd quarter. How many 3's fell for both teams? Damn.

[Neon_Chaos]

Kobe!!! Wow. 31 pts 7 reb 7 ast, end of 3rd.

[Blade6119]

SUNS!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

[Pumpy Tudors]

come on duwight

[Neon_Chaos]

Fun game. Game 5 should be awesome

[WSR]

I'm not a huge basketball fan, and I think I see why. The facts that the refs don't even try to disguise the fact that they are biased to the home team, even while in L.A., is so frustrating to watch.

I remember hearing years ago that the home teams in baseball, football and hockey win almost 60% of the time. But in basketball they win more than 75% of the time. That is not a coincidence IMHO.

As it is, the Lakers will win in 7 since they have home field advantage . . .

[korme]

home court in basketball is more important than any other sport, but it has a lot more to do with the arena + crowd than referee bias.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by korme

home court in basketball is more important than any other sport, but it has a lot more to do with the arena + crowd than referee bias.

I disagree completely and would argue it is the least important in basketball.

In football the road team has to deal with the crowd while calling plays, in baseball the home team gets the last AB plus each field has unique dimensions that the home team is much more familiar with, and in hockey the home team gets the last line change which is huge for match ups and their bench is closer to their zone in the first and third period.

[Neon_Chaos]

Basketball courtside seats are the best ones in sports.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I disagree completely and would argue it is the least important in basketball.

In football the road team has to deal with the crowd while calling plays, in baseball the home team gets the last AB plus each field has unique dimensions that the home team is much more familiar with, and in hockey the home team gets the last line change which is huge for match ups and their bench is closer to their zone in the first and third period.

In basketball the fans are right there, next to the court, in the direct ears of referees and players. You may have to put up with a wall of noise in football, but in basketball, things are much more in your face.

[DaddyTorgo]

HORRIBLE 2nd technical call on Perk there - Celts weren't looking too good before that, but that was the worst 2nd technical call (on a weak personal foul call anyways), so he's tossed.

C's are done for the night in this one I fear.

[Jas_lov]

Is that also 7 playoff technicals on Perkins so he's also suspended for Game 6? If so that's a horrible break for the Celtics on a terrible call.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

Is that also 7 playoff technicals on Perkins so he's also suspended for Game 6? If so that's a horrible break for the Celtics on a terrible call.

ridiculous call. utterly horrible.

no personal foul at all...and then Perk is WALKING AWAY from the ref and gets T'd up. That's absurd.

[SirFozzie]

You cannot convince me that the refs are not bribed/biased here.

That is utter crap.

We're talking Kings/Lakers Game Seven level bad

[DaddyTorgo]

seriously.

and yes it is Perk's 7th Technical, so unless the league rescinds it.

[Kodos]

What station is the game on?