It's the 2011 NBA playoffs! Mavs Win!

[Arles]

Great game by the Thunder, Harden was a beast. Still, I wouldn't be too worried if I were Dallas. Chicago and OKC have been very inconsistent to me in these playoffs. One game, they run their opponent out of the gym - the next they can't score in the fourth quarter. The one thing Dallas and Miami have is consistent veteran player leading the team (Terry, Dirk, Kidd and Chandler for Dallas and the big 3 for Miami). They may have 1 bad game, but they won't often do it together and won't shy away in the clutch. Even Peja has shot over 40% in all but 3 games this postseason. Westbrook, Maynor, Selfelosha, Ibaka and most of the Thunder are all over the map from a consistency factor. Even Harden (who's been easily their 2nd best player of late) will have the 5, 7 and 9 point stinkers every couple games. Chicago is kind of the same way.

I don't think it's a lot to ask for Dallas to take another road game if need be and Miami could easily win the next 2 at home if Deng, Rose and Boozer aren't all good either night.

[Cuckoo]

Big win for OKC last night and it's always nice to steal one on the road, but as Arles said, Dallas is a team very capable of getting that one right back.

Overall, I'm very encouraged by the series thus far. I'm surprised about the lack of overall defense, but the optimist in me was considering how well Nowitzki played in game 1 and the fact that the Thunder still had a chance to win. Then, to get game 2 gives me more hope than I had before the series started.

So impressed by the bench last night. Dallas has the better bench overall, so OKC will need more like that from Harden and Maynor. Still, Brooks' decision to stay with them took some big cajones, particularly with how well Westbrook was shooting.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Jerry West to the Warriors in a front office move. Am I just jaded for thinking that this is the best signing the team has made in my lifetime?

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Jerry West to the Warriors in a front office move. Am I just jaded for thinking that this is the best signing the team has made in my lifetime?

How old is West now, 95?

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Chubby

How old is West now, 95?

isn´t their GM or someone with similar profile like 25 ? That would make for a nice reality show, wouldn´t it ?

On the Dallas-OKC game : Dallas needs to play better defense, period. The offense has been fine, even in game 2 they had the looks eventhough they had some trouble adjusting to the OKC defense on Dirk. I thought Dirk waited a bit too long to take over (when he did, even with the great defense he got his points and provided plenty of open looks) and when he did the defense couldn´t get stops unfortunately and OKC actually executed (with Westbrook sitting, hmmm ).
Their bench was huge and Durant did a great job balancing his scoring with simply being a decoy that allowed the reserves to get open shots.

Terry lost his composure a bit and rushed into his shots, tried to create too much when the Thunder took away Dirk for a stretch. Also, a Stevenson P&R shouldn´t ever be a solution to any situation, just throw it to dirk and let him heave it from midcourt is propably more propable to produce points. I thought i´d loose it when Stevenson ran the P&R multiple times with plenty of time on the clock. Was Carlisle falling asleep or sth there ?

Don´t see a reason why the Mavs wouldn´t win a game in OKC, i just assume that both will be close and then one of them Nowitzki will get it going in the 4th.

but all props to the thunder, they took the game to the Mavs and the bench players were great, especially Maynor who bounced back after a terrible game 1 where he seemed to fall out of favour (didn´t Robinson play instead of him after first playing with him at some point in the 4th ?). One of the guys i really like to watch because he just gets it, very smart player.

[Young Drachma]

West is basically going to be a consultant. Isn't going to be a GM. Will live in LA and just meet with them a few times a year. I'm sure he'll help, but it's not like he's taking over the club.

[stevew]

This is good......

Lakers eye Mike Brown, sources say

By Marc Stein

The Los Angeles Lakers are taking a deliberate approach to their search for a successor to Phil Jackson, but NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com the team has added Mike Brown to its list of candidates.

The former Cleveland Cavaliers coach, now working as an analyst for ESPN, is expected to interview "soon" with the Lakers, sources say.

Brown would become the fourth known candidate for the job, along with former Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman, ex-Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy and Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, who is regarded as the only serious in-house contender to replace Jackson.

Brown is widely regarded in coaching circles as the leading candidate in Golden State to replace Keith Smart. Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird also said this week that he intends to contact Brown -- as well as Adelman -- to gauge his interest in returning to Indiana, where Brown worked as an assistant before joining the Cavs.

In Cleveland, Brown made one trip to the NBA Finals in 2007 and won NBA Coach of the Year honors in 2009 before his dismissal following Cleveland's second-round exit to Boston in 2010 and LeBron James' subsequent departure to Miami via free agency.

ESPN.com reported last week that the Lakers are "very interested" in Adelman. Sources say that Dunleavy, who began his head coaching career with the Lakers in 1990-91 and went to the NBA Finals in his first of two seasons as Pat Riley's successor, has maintained a close relationship with Lakers owner Jerry Buss and executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss and has also made it onto L.A.'s short list.

ESPN.com also reported in March that the Lakers have maintained a level of interest in former Rockets and New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy dating to last season, when Jackson also strongly considered retirement before deciding to come back for one more season.

Brown is one of a handful of candidates already interviewed by Golden State, along with Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Dwane Casey, Boston Celtics assistant coach Lawrence Frank, TNT's Kevin McHale and Shaw and fellow Lakers assistant Chuck Person.

Casey, McHale and Frank are the three finalists for the Rockets' job vacated by Adelman at season's end.

In Indiana, Bird has publicly acknowledged that interim coach Frank Vogel is the favorite to land the job as Jim O'Brien's full-time successor after Vogel posted a 20-18 record and helped the Pacers secure a playoff berth. But Bird also made it clear that the Pacers intend to interview other candidates as well.

[whomario]

Great first half for the Mavs and a terrible one for the Thunder.

Nowitzki not even much of a factor stats wise but opens up the court so much, but even with him on the bench they got good production which is unusual.
Thunder are doing their usual 4th quarter offense from the start this time and are on track for most possessions without a pass. But Mavs also with great defensive intensity

Also, does anyone find it amusing that the Thunder crow is basically wearing Mavericks shirts color-wise ?

[bhlloy]

lol... yeah that made me do a double take. Not the best planning from whoever makes the decisions to hand out the promo shirts.

[Passacaglia]

I think that happened for one of the games in Dallas, too.

[TroyF]

If the Thunder lose the series, this will be the one they regret. The refs did everything and I do mean everything to make sure OKC had a chance. Before the last minute fouls, the free throw attempts were split at 36 to 12 in favor of OKC. Dirk during that time took 1 FTA off a technical. That's right, Dirk did not get to the line one time with a call all night long. (he took the T and then was intentionally fouled late)

They allowed Collison to really get after him. (and by that I mean put two hands on him and hack him all night) Poor Bareja was getting called for breathing on Westbrook. I seriously doubt OKC is getting a split like that again this series. I also doubt they'll shot as poorly, but not having a 25+ FTA edge will kind of offset them being hotter from the floor.

I think there were three gutshot moments for OKC. With the score 84-78, Dallas went down and missed a shot. Westbrook fired up a wild three 6 seconds into the shot clock that missed. Dallas missed again and Cook fired up a three that wasn't close. Then Dallas missed again and Westbrook turned it over 5 seconds into the shot clock. There were three minutes left at the start of all of that and 2 minutes left at the end of it. Even one good possession during that stretch changes the final couple of minutes of the game.

Dallas had enough playing around at that point. They ran 20 seconds off the shot clock and Terry got loose and drilled a mid range J to put Dallas up 8 and essentially end the game.

Interesting to maybe only me:

At the end of the third to the first two minutes in the fourth, Durant hit 3 of 4 shots and looked like he was heating up. (he actually took five shots, but one was a 50 footer at the buzzer)

From the 10 minute mark of the fourth until the shot Terry hit to close the game, Durant was fouled once and took one other shot attempt. On this one, I'm not blaming Westbrook. He needs to demand the ball there. He may have been trying to back off because Westbrook seemed to be leading the team back, but he needed to impose his will too.

[Noop]

Westbrook might as well demand to be traded to Cleveland.

[whomario]

damn, thought i posted a long one directly after the game but aparently i killed it ...

Anyway, i was very impressed with the way Nowitzki responded as the game went on. He had by far his worst game of the postseason and couldn´t catch a break but still kept working hard on both ends, didn´t shy away from it and kept demanding the ball. Then managed to hit some huge shots in the 4th that killed the thunder momentum and opened up a few shots for others (including the Terry one that TroyF mentioned)
I didn´t like that he kept shooting 3s but then again it´s not like he wasn´t open.

perfect example of how Assist numbers (and TO numbers) can be misleading, anybody watching the game will tell you that Nowitzki had a huge impact on the Mavs offense in terms of opening the floor even though he had 1 to 7 (actually i counted 3 assists, but whatever).

watching the Thunder on offense is painfull. Yes, they do get points when they hit shots but they just don´t move the ball. The Mavs allways at least try to initiate ball movement along the perimeter before zeroing in on Nowitzki or a pick and roll, the Thunder again had an incredible number of posessions with 1 or even zero passes before a shot/drive.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by whomario

damn, thought i posted a long one directly after the game but aparently i killed it ...

Anyway, i was very impressed with the way Nowitzki responded as the game went on. He had by far his worst game of the postseason and couldn´t catch a break but still kept working hard on both ends, didn´t shy away from it and kept demanding the ball. Then managed to hit some huge shots in the 4th that killed the thunder momentum and opened up a few shots for others (including the Terry one that TroyF mentioned)
I didn´t like that he kept shooting 3s but then again it´s not like he wasn´t open.

perfect example of how Assist numbers (and TO numbers) can be misleading, anybody watching the game will tell you that Nowitzki had a huge impact on the Mavs offense in terms of opening the floor even though he had 1 to 7 (actually i counted 3 assists, but whatever).

watching the Thunder on offense is painfull. Yes, they do get points when they hit shots but they just don´t move the ball. The Mavs allways at least try to initiate ball movement along the perimeter before zeroing in on Nowitzki or a pick and roll, the Thunder again had an incredible number of posessions with 1 or even zero passes before a shot/drive.

Dirk seems to be able to do a lot of things on offensive, even if he's not scoring. Dallas and Dirk have been doing a great job all post-season in to keep adjusting to the defense.

[stevew]

Stern really wants Miami to win this one.

[stevew]

LeBron legitimately has about 8 hard fouls this game.

[RainMaker]

I know that travelling is sort of a laughable subject in the NBA, but he sure gets to do it a lot.

Miami has too much talent. Think the series maybe goes 6. They have 3 top players in a 30-team league. No one can beat that much talent right now.

[Noop]

I thought the Heat played fantastic defense tonight. Derrick Rose must know what LeBron felt like being in Cleveland because his team literally gives him nothing. The play of Bosh tonight was unexpected but I am happy he decided to another inspired performance tonight. Wade must have stayed out partying last night because he never seemed like he was in the game.

I think LeBron has bitch tendencies but wow when he sees blood in the water he goes for the kill. Although Bosh has the points tonight I though James was critical to our success tonight. If he can give us these type of performances from here on out then I like the Heat's chances.

Overall I am happy with this win but I am cautious about the next two. I have felt all year that Chicago was the one team that would give Miami problems.

[Noop]

As much as I hate Noah I really don't see the big deal with calling that fan a faggot. The fans last night were pretty rowdy and were even giving it to Charles Barkley during the post game. I question the decision by TNT to even have the post game out there.

[whomario]

really weird first half in game 4 of DAL-OKC. OKC actually moved the ball (14 assists ), got tons of easy shots and a lot in transition and didn´t individually attack the basket much (just 5 FTs), Dallas back to crappy defense like in games 1 and 2.
Nowitzki keeping them in this scoring 22 points on 6-7 shooting with 9-9 FTs.

[kingfc22]

So Kobe gets fined $100k, but Noah only gets fined $50k for using the exact same word?

Yea that makes sense Stern.

[cartman]

That was an unreal comeback by Dallas. Down 15 with 4 and a half to play.

[Young Drachma]

Wow. Props to Dallas.

[Cuckoo]

Just unbelievable... Clearly OKC is too young, not ready to handle the adversity to get to the NBA Finals level. I'm an optimist at heart, but this one's over. It'll be a learning experience for them, and if they keep up the improvement they've shown the past couple of seasons, they'll be right back next year.

[Neon_Chaos]

That was an insane comeback.

OKC had a 55-33 rebounding edge for the game.

[thealmighty]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

So Kobe gets fined $100k, but Noah only gets fined $50k for using the exact same word?

Yea that makes sense Stern.

Kobe got an extra $50K because his was also abuse of a referee.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

So Kobe gets fined $100k, but Noah only gets fined $50k for using the exact same word?

Yea that makes sense Stern.

It's odd, but it still costs Noah a much bigger % of his salary than it did Kobe's

[RainMaker]

I think Kobe's will be reduced since the league is technically not allowed to fine more than $50k.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I think Kobe's will be reduced since the league is technically not allowed to fine more than $50k.

i think the broadcast crew mentioned that they technically fined him 50K twice, once for the slur and then for it being directed at an official.

What a comeback, unreal. I have to admit that i was about to stop watching this morning (watched the first half live, then went to bed) with 5 to go but since i still was early for work i let it go on in the background. Then the broadcast crew got kind of excited and i rewound and watched it from the 5 minute mark again

Dirk was just amazing once more, at this point i´d say it´s every neutral fans duty to root for the guy And it´s not like in the Laker series where he gets everything he wants, Ibaka is doing a decent job and Collison is simply playing incredible defense. He hit half a dozen shots that were so difficult to pull off that other (even great) players would be happy to hit even one of them.
Watching Dirk and Collison do their thing is just as entertaining as watching Kobe and Battier a couple years back, would be instructional-video-material if Nowitzki´s style wasn´t so beyond emulating

This Dallas team keeps defying the perception people have. I must admit that i thought the Portland game 4 was their death sentence and would break them, for them to come back in that series, win at the rose garden, then punch the Lakers in the face early, then coming back from their first home loss and now mounting a comeback like that at OKC ? Unbelievably rewarding time for me as a fan/viewer

But yeah, the thunder also simply crumpled under the pressure and when Harden fouled out they were absolutely stagnant on offense.

Miami still worries me a fair bit because the Mavs 2nd unit is so important offensively yet has absolutely no shot at guarding James, Wade or even Bosh, but by now i think that it will be a close series regardless and have faith that in a close game the Mavs execution and Nowitzki can actually swing it in their direction.
And by now i think it´s save to say the Mavs have a better shot than most at overcoming home court advantage for the Heat.

[albionmoonlight]

That was an amazing display by Dallas.

[PineTar]

Bulls apparently not changing a thing on offense for game 4. Doesn't bode well for them.

[Groundhog]

Heat can't play much worse and are only down 9, that's a concern.

[stevew]

The Bulls ate pretty adept at that one play that leads to a shot clock violation.

[Young Drachma]

You're the MVP and you can't make the game winning shot with eight seconds?

[stevew]

Most Valuable Pretender.

[Groundhog]

Did Thibs watch tapes of Mike Brown-era Cavs for some of those last possessions in the 4th Q? I mean seriously, you need a basket and the best you can do is iso Rose two possessions in a row at the top of the key against LeBron, a bigger and more athletic defender, so he can shoot a bad jump shot? What an absolute joke.

[stevew]

Typical Derek Rose choke at the buzzer.

[MrBug708]

Mike Brown to the Lakers

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Did Thibs watch tapes of Mike Brown-era Cavs for some of those last possessions in the 4th Q? I mean seriously, you need a basket and the best you can do is iso Rose two possessions in a row at the top of the key against LeBron, a bigger and more athletic defender, so he can shoot a bad jump shot? What an absolute joke.

Yep. The people in the restaurant where I was watching it, we were all like WTF are the Bulls doing?

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by stevew

Typical Derek Rose choke at the buzzer.

He played very sloppy in the 4th and OT (I missed the first 3 Qs). The Heat were being very agressive on screens and really coming at him, and too many times he tried to dribble through the middle of two defenders and then have the ball knocked away. IMO they should've been rolling the screener with Rose then looking to hit him with a pass far more often than they did.

[RainMaker]

I thought the Bulls played pretty well. Tough game to lose.

[Suicane75]

It's gonna be left up to Dirk to play the lone gunman against the James Gang.

[RainMaker]

Cuban could actually sell that team if they rig another Finals on him.

[stevew]

*if* they rig the Finals? It's a forgone conclusion that the Mavs are playing the whole series 8 on 5.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

With a team as talented as Miami, anything can change. But it does seem like the Bulls will win this series.

Reason #274 why I don't bet serious money on sports.

[Arles]

You need to have the bacon and egg model to succeed in the playoffs - where the chicken is involved but the pig is committed. Right now, the Bulls have a lot of chickens and one lone pig (Rose). The Heat have a lot of pigs and are owning the end of games.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Arles

You need to have the bacon and egg model to succeed in the playoffs - where the chicken is involved but the pig is committed. Right now, the Bulls have a lot of chickens and one lone pig (Rose). The Heat have a lot of pigs and are owning the end of games.

I don't understand the metaphor, but it sounds delicious.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Mike Brown to the Lakers

I read this in the AM and thought you were joking.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Logan

I read this in the AM and thought you were joking.

Yeah. This is pretty awesome.

[cartman]

Woot! Another 4th quarter comeback by the Mavs to punch their ticket to the Finals.

But this Thunder team, if they can keep them together, is gonna be special. Hard to believe that Durant and Westbrook are only 22, and Harden is 21.