Yay, It's the 2010 NBA Playoffs thread!

[Chief Rum]

I think they can get the flops against Okie City.

[TroyF]

They may get a few. But if you think Durant is going to pick up the cheap fouls Melo has got, I think you are crazy. Durant probably won't get 4 offensive fouls in a seven game series vs. the Jazz. And he could do the exact same things as Melo and still not get them.

[MikeVic]

This thread has depressed me about the NBA. So many ref/foul posts, they seem to outweigh the basketball posts.

I'm not saying they're totally unjustified, which is what makes it depressing.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by TroyF

They may get a few. But if you think Durant is going to pick up the cheap fouls Melo has got, I think you are crazy. Durant probably won't get 4 offensive fouls in a seven game series vs. the Jazz. And he could do the exact same things as Melo and still not get them.

So you saying Coach Phil was right?

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

So you saying Coach Phil was right?

Of course he is. Durant gets a boatload of calls on a nightly basis. The comical thing about a Thunder/Jazz series would be the one call this year he didn't get. A game winning three point attempt at the buzzer in Utah.

That would just serve the refs more.

FWIW: I wish to God Melo had the same attitude Durant has. If he didn't whine so much, maybe he'd get a call. Then again, Duncan used to whine more than anyone and he still gets calls.

[Neuqua]

Frustrating to see this Bulls team miss so many wide open shots. The Cavaliers don't have anyone that can keep up with Rose when he drives to the lane.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Frustrating to see this Bulls team miss so many wide open shots. The Cavaliers don't have anyone that can keep up with Rose when he drives to the lane.

Yeah, it's sort of been the story of the whole season. If we had someone who could shoot, we'd be pretty dangerous.

[Neuqua]

It'd be nice if Rose got some respect from the officials too.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, it's astounding how few times he goes to the line considering he takes a beating on each drive.

[RainMaker]

[Groundhog]

Nearly half-time and out of all players to hit the court, only J.J. Hickson has scored less points than LeBron (2) for the Cavs.

[RainMaker]

Rose has 16 shots and hasn't drawn a foul. Been hit a lot but can't get a call.

[Neuqua]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Rose has 16 shots and hasn't drawn a foul. Been hit a lot but can't get a call.

And now Brad Miller gets two fouls called for attempting to play defense on Shaq. Ridiculous.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

And now Brad Miller gets two fouls called for attempting to play defense on Shaq. Ridiculous.

Someone must have passed word on to the refs that Lebron needs to stay fresh for the later rounds. They don't want this to go too long.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

This thread has depressed me about the NBA. So many ref/foul posts, they seem to outweigh the basketball posts.

I'm not saying they're totally unjustified, which is what makes it depressing.

It's like the WWE. While you discuss the wrestling, the booking is almost as much fun to discuss. Plus I think the diehard fans would prefer it to be more like other sports.

[RainMaker]

That 6-point turnaround on the bad call probably does in the Bulls

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Perfect example. The non fan or the fan trying to defend the refs, will say that call had no impact on the game. The Suns blew em out, right? Well, first off, that call put the Suns in the bonus. Nash hit 6 FT on non shooting fouls in the final 5:20 of the quarter. Second, that was Camby's 4th foul. Being that the Blazers are shorthanded, Camby has to stay in the game. That impacts everything Portland does on defense and also takes away how hard Camby can go for offensive boards.

It was a 7 point lead when the foul was called. It was 18 by the end of the third quarter.

It's hard to argue that call wasn't a big moment in the game. I HATE Marcus Camby, but what did he do there? Went around Hill? After Hill did the same thing through Roy? That's a foul?

In a normal world, that's not justifiable. The call wasn't missed, Crawford had an easy angle to make it. He simply chose to call Camby for a foul, probably because Camby questioned another foul call. (and that call was likely BS as well knowing Crawford) Of course, if Portland throws a fit about the call, Stern will fine them 35k because of his own incompetence. Damn shame.

As I'm watching this game, I just watched Miller get his sixth foul for breathing on Lebron. God forbid you breathe on the king.

[RainMaker]

Well if Lebron gets into a Big Ben situation, the cops can swab the refs mouth for DNA.

[Neuqua]

Nice to see the Bulls making it as difficult as possible for the NBA/Cavs. If this is their last effort of the season, I'm proud.

[Neon_Chaos]

Nice steal by the Bulls. Make the Cavs sweat a bit.

[Neon_Chaos]

Well.

That didn't last long.

[Neon_Chaos]

Lakers are playing their best ball tonight. Let's go Lakeshow.

[TroyF]

Lakers are simply dominating.

One note on the Lebron injury: Carmelo had his elbow hurt in a similar manner early last year. It impacted him the entire year. His shooting was off for a vast majority of the year. Yes, he had his special games and he was still a special player, but it did impact him.

If Bron's injured that bad, it will impact him.

[stevew]

Lemme get you guys some tissues.

I've been mad about "the shot" since 7th fucking grade. I thought it would feel more special beating the Bulls in the playoffs, but I guess they're basically irrelevant now. Much like the Cavs will be on July 2.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Lakers are simply dominating.

One note on the Lebron injury: Carmelo had his elbow hurt in a similar manner early last year. It impacted him the entire year. His shooting was off for a vast majority of the year. Yes, he had his special games and he was still a special player, but it did impact him.

If Bron's injured that bad, it will impact him.

did he re-injure it or sth ? He injured it last game at the end of the first quarter from what i remember, but went on to go 6-8 on 3s afterwards, so i figured it wasn´t a big deal afterall

Didn´t yet see the Dallas-Spurs game (and couldn´t not look at the boxscore, damn it ...), but the big 3 all only playing 18-25 minutes indicates that Pop mailed it in pretty early.
Interesting decicion by Carlisle to bench Dampier (DNP-CD). He definitely was useless offensively (5 points in 4 games, not a single field goal, his only FT attempts being the 5-12 in game 1 when Pop let him get hacked), but was ok on the boards and played great defense on Duncan all things considered.
I guess Carlisles thinking is that Haywood can play comparable defense but actually do sth on offense. Worked ok last night it seems.
Butler finally with a big game (game 1 was ok), 35 points on 12-24 shooting.

Well, look what happens when Gasol/Bynum get touches. Combined 46 points on 18-26 from the field with 10-12 FTs.
OKC might want to consider starting Ibaka or Collison in place of Krstic or Green or just both. Ibaka and Collison have been worlds better than the 2 starters.

[Neon_Chaos]

The Lakers did everything right tonight.

Kobe did a great job of containing Westbrook and facilitating the Lakers offense.

Gasol and Bynum got their touches through great passing and not just by posting up.

The Lakers pushed the ball hard and early, not allowing the Thunder to set up on the defensive end and making the Thunder pay for crashing the offensive boards.

Artest and Fisher took good shots, and made open ones. Farmar and Brown had nice games.

But I think that the most telling stat of all is the amount of 3PTA that the Lakers had this game.

They only had 14 3PTA last night.

They were averaging over 24 3PTA per game this series and weren't really lighting up the scoreboard, and all those long misses fueled the Thunder fastbreaks.

Less threes, less long rebounds, less chances for the Thunder to run.

I hope they close out the Thunder in OKC and silence that great home crowd.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by whomario

did he re-injure it or sth ? He injured it last game at the end of the first quarter from what i remember, but went on to go 6-8 on 3s afterwards, so i figured it wasn´t a big deal afterall

Didn´t yet see the Dallas-Spurs game (and couldn´t not look at the boxscore, damn it ...), but the big 3 all only playing 18-25 minutes indicates that Pop mailed it in pretty early.
Interesting decicion by Carlisle to bench Dampier (DNP-CD). He definitely was useless offensively (5 points in 4 games, not a single field goal, his only FT attempts being the 5-12 in game 1 when Pop let him get hacked), but was ok on the boards and played great defense on Duncan all things considered.
I guess Carlisles thinking is that Haywood can play comparable defense but actually do sth on offense. Worked ok last night it seems.
Butler finally with a big game (game 1 was ok), 35 points on 12-24 shooting.

Well, look what happens when Gasol/Bynum get touches. Combined 46 points on 18-26 from the field with 10-12 FTs.
OKC might want to consider starting Ibaka or Collison in place of Krstic or Green or just both. Ibaka and Collison have been worlds better than the 2 starters.

Clearly something was wrong last night whomario. First off, he didn't shoot the ball hardly at all in the first half. I know he's done that before, but it's not like him to be that passive, even if teammates are on. He shot one FT left handed. We aren't talking about either of these things happening in a blowout either. He got some very suspect foul calls last night or his shooting would have been even worse. (take away three "soft" fouls on Miller and Lebron shoots 5-15 last night)

I'm not ready to say he's going to suck for the rest of the playoffs. On the other side, he either sandbagged last night to make it worse than it was, or there is something wrong. I wouldn't put it past him to sandbag. . . but if he did that, he's lucky they got the W.

[jbergey22]

Anyone ever wondering why home court is such a huge advantage in basketball? These home/road swings this year are simply amazing.

I can understand home field advantage in football but it just amazes me that professionals playing the game of baseball and basketball can play so much better at home.

The basketball court is the same size, the rims are the same size, the climate surroundings arent too much different unless you are playing in Denver.

Perhaps I just dont understand the game of NBA basketball because I cant believe players that play 41 games a year on the road and do this for a living should be this badly affected.

[whomario]

definitely one of the strangest thing.
Having played basketball and still playing soccer in a club i have wondered about that for years, but i´ve also seen how it happens. Of course, there´s different reasons there (like the very real possibility of a referee being afraid of oposing fans or oposing fans hurling umbrellas at you ... ) but it´s seemingly sth that is burned into the subconscience of most athletes on every level.


actually while the "same size" comment is correct, the rims itself are slightly varying ("hard" or "soft" rims) if i´m not mistaken (in how far is it regulated ? The NCAA tightened the range a few years back) . But yeah, overall that´s not the same as the different weather conditions f.e. in football.

It´s also psychological and whatnot. If you have homecourt advantage, win your first 2 games you do think about the fact that 2 rodad losses basically don´t nescesserily hurt you.

It is also a fact that referees get influenced by the crowd. Shouldn´t be that way, but is a fact and present in all sports and leagues that home teams get the benefit of the doubt more often than the road team (but the home team in general is also more agressive and more offensive minded in sports like soccer f.e.)

Plus players can claim otherwise all they want, there´s no way you aren´t affected by 20000 fans screaming and whistling against you. And if the reaction is only excessive nonchalance, that can hurt your game as well.


But yeah, overall it is surprising and those aren´t really hard evidence points , no doubt.

During the season the reason is simpler (road games are stressfull, even with all the comfort), although i do think that even with the added rest in the POs it is a factor wether you are living out of a hotel in a city you generally don´t know much about or if you can go home to your well known environment in between games.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Anyone ever wondering why home court is such a huge advantage in basketball? These home/road swings this year are simply amazing.

I can understand home field advantage in football but it just amazes me that professionals playing the game of baseball and basketball can play so much better at home.

The basketball court is the same size, the rims are the same size, the climate surroundings arent too much different unless you are playing in Denver.

Perhaps I just dont understand the game of NBA basketball because I cant believe players that play 41 games a year on the road and do this for a living should be this badly affected.

I think there are a few reasons. The first being that it's easier to shoot on a hoop and court that you're used to. When you play 40+ games a year on the same court with the same backdrop, you're going to shoot a little better. The other being officials. Home teams get more foul calls than road teams.

There is also a psychological element to it I'd imagine. Having 20,000 people screaming in your corner probably gets some juices flowing a little more.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Anyone ever wondering why home court is such a huge advantage in basketball? These home/road swings this year are simply amazing.

I can understand home field advantage in football but it just amazes me that professionals playing the game of baseball and basketball can play so much better at home.

The basketball court is the same size, the rims are the same size, the climate surroundings arent too much different unless you are playing in Denver.

Perhaps I just dont understand the game of NBA basketball because I cant believe players that play 41 games a year on the road and do this for a living should be this badly affected.

How far away the crowd is from the court/field is a big deal. It's one of the major reasons why basketball > football > baseball in home court/field winning percentages.

[TroyF]

Not sure what the policy on Insider articles is here, but Hollinger just posted one on the Nuggets/Jazz playoff series and the officiating. In short, Hollinger points out that under Dantley, the Nuggets have gotten a lot less whistles despite not taking different shots. And that in this series, Utah as a team is getting to the foul line at the rate of a typical top 20 NBA player per FG attempt.

He theorizes Dantley is the problem (and I don't disagree with that), but can't come to a conclusion as to why the calls have shifted so one sided. Again, Utah as a team is being treated as though they are one of the top 20 players in the game per FG attempt.

Interesting article for anyone who has access.

[MrBug708]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNBsg43cdTc

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Lakers are simply dominating.

One note on the Lebron injury: Carmelo had his elbow hurt in a similar manner early last year. It impacted him the entire year. His shooting was off for a vast majority of the year. Yes, he had his special games and he was still a special player, but it did impact him.

If Bron's injured that bad, it will impact him.

His elbow is fine. Was just milking it for some attention. He magically was able to play the whole series fine but after making his first free throw realize he can only shoot left handed now.

[jbergey22]

And the Bucks shock the disappointing Hawks in game 5. The end could be near and I would have considered this the 2nd biggest mismatch of round 1.

[larrymcg421]

Woodson better pack heavy for the trip to Milwaukee. I have to imagine that if the Hawks lose game 6, there won't be any reason for him to return to Atlanta.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

And the Bucks shock the disappointing Hawks in game 5.

No brain, no heart, no guts. Whaddya expect?

[RainMaker]

I'm glad the Bulls fired Scott Skiles and brought in Vinny Del Negro.

[RainMaker]

Bango has become my favorite mascot.

[jbergey22]

That 2nd quarter sums up the Nuggets to me in a nutshell. JR Smith is one of the streakiest shooters in the NBA and looks like he is on tonight however he cant seem to seem to get any shots up because mello wont pass and Billups dribbles the ball too much.

The veteran player Billups is you would think he would notice when JR Smith is on and how he can build on a lead and get the crowd fired up. They start building some momentum and will do something stupid to let the Jazz right back in it.

And now Nene is out for this game possibly longer.

Start the 3rd quarter with their high energy guys like Birdman, Affalo, Anthony, Martin, and Lawson to build a lead then bring in Billups to close it out. I am sorry but they lose all their momentum this series when Billups is on the court. Deron is teaching the old man a lesson.

[stevew]

LOL. Carmelo just tried to tackle someone.

[TroyF]

I wish I could say something like "see, I told you, if the refs simply give the Nuggets a fair shake, they'll slaughter the Jazz"

I can't. tonight it was almost like an apology to the city of Denver for the last three games. The good? The Jazz tried three early flops and none of them were rewarded. They stopped doing it and Melo stayed out of foul trouble. The bad? In the late third, early fourth quarter, if the Jazz players breathed wrong it was a foul. Boozer would get hit underneath, no call. Williams fouled by Lawson on a jumper, no call. milsap hammered? no call.

It was like the refs said, whoa, there is an article out there about how bad we've been this series, we'd better even things up for a game. And even it up they did. When the Nuggets needed a call, they got one. Their season will end in Utah on Friday night. I'm happy they at least played hard and gave effort. I also don't think Nene going down was the worst thing to happen to this team. He's been horrible this series. Petro doesn't have 1/10 the talent of Nene, but he's playing his ass off. Setting screens, playing hard on d, and even attacking the basket when the chance to do so opens up. All in all, i'd rather have a guy who acts more like a basketball player and less like a twelve year old girl on the floor. I hope Nene's injury isn't serious. I hope there isn't an operation headed his way. But I wouldn't mind it if he sat out the game Friday night.

[jbergey22]

Nuggets played well in the 2nd half. Good defense, decent passing, and they cut back on the bonehead mistakes. Perhaps they arent done just yet.

The Birdman played his ass of tonight. They are a better team with him in the game IMO.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Bango has become my favorite mascot.

His ladder dunk the other night was pretty sweet.

[Groundhog]

Did anyone even know "Bango" was his name pre-playoffs? I follow the Bucks fairly closely, and I had no idea.

[whomario]

Fear The Dear ! Great win by the Bucks



The Ladder Dunk : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3umt...eature=related

holy smokes

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Nuggets played well in the 2nd half. Good defense, decent passing, and they cut back on the bonehead mistakes. Perhaps they arent done just yet.

The Birdman played his ass of tonight. They are a better team with him in the game IMO.

What's amazing is that Bird was actually the second worst Nugget in the three losses. Horrible defense, wouldn't box out, wouldn't set a strong pick if he was paid extra to do it. Last night? He looks as hurt as I've seen him. (his left wrist is in really bad shape right now) Yet he played his best game of the series.

The good thing is the Nuggets stopped trying to force the ball into Nene and ran Pick and Roll almost exclusively in the third quarter. If the refs are blowing the whistle like they did last night and Denver keeps attacking the basket, Utah has zero chance of even controlling Denver, much less stopping them.

For Denver to beat Utah on Friday, they need everything to go their way. They have to get a fair whistle (I don't think that's likely), JR needs to keep hitting his shots (not likely) and the Nuggets have to keep attacking Utah and not get flustered when (not if, when) Utah goes on a 10-0 run. (I don't see this happening either)

One more thing: Deron, a guy I've always like (probably the only guy on the Jazz to be honest) started running his mouth the morning of the game. He talked about how he was now the best PG in the NBA. After he scored 34 and 10, he talked it up after the game as well. I hope he keeps blabbing. I thought his shot selection last night was putrid. He hit 5 of 8 threes, but three of those bombs he actually got to go in on bounces. (you know that's not common on threes, even for great shooters) He's been shooting it WAY above his average this series. One of the ways Denver can get this to a game seven is if he keeps thinking he's superman and keeps jacking up il advised three point shots. The odds are in Denver's favor he goes more like 2-8 or 2-9 and that does nothing but help the Nuggets.

I do agree with Deron though. . . he's clearly one of the top 3 PG's in the league and you could make a strong argument he's #1. (though a healthy Paul gives him one hell of a run) I'm just not sure yapping about it after a couple of strong games in the playoffs is necessarily the perfect timing to start talking about yourself vs. your team.

[DaddyTorgo]

don't talk shit about Birdman - he's awesome!!!

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by cartman

Erick Dampier is fined $35,000 for his comments criticizing the officials.

2010 NBA playoffs: Dallas Mavericks center Erick Dampier fined $35,000 by league for criticizing officiating - ESPN Dallas

I was stunned by this line from the article:



I believe that Crawford was the ref the other night in the game where Kobe didn't make a single trip to the foul line.

From a Simmons column today:

12. Danny Crawford
Just the facts according to our guy Alok Pattani. Starting with the 2001 playoffs:
A. The Mavs are 2-16 in playoff games officiated by Crawford since 2001 (including Game 3 of the Spurs series, a loss) ... and 46-39 in all other playoff games. They won their first 2001 playoff game with him (Game 5 versus Utah), so they've lost 15 of the past 16.
B. Against the spread, the Mavs are 4-14 with Crawford officiating ... and 45-40 in all other playoff games.
C. They averaged 21.9 free throws in the Crawford games; 27.1 free throws in the non-Crawford games.
So why does Danny rank so highly in the power rankings? Because any NBA official who can keep his job post-Donaghy with a documented history of bias against a particular team has to be commended. I'm being sarcastic. What a joke. The league could easily avoid these situations by admitting that, yes, from time to time, a team rubs an official the wrong way, and officials are human, and there's nothing we can do about this other than making sure the official and the team cross paths as little as possible -- like Crawford and Dallas, like Bill Kennedy and Boston, like Joey Crawford and San Antonio (1-4 in Crawford's five Spurs playoff games since he was suspended for ejecting Tim Duncan in 2007) -- but apparently it's easier to stick our heads in the sand and pretend this stuff isn't going on. You know, because Tim Donaghy's documented-by-the-FBI, staggeringly successful record of picking winners by playing on the biases of officials against certain teams didn't really happen. Even though it did. Let's just move on.

[TroyF]

One more quick note:

Nene took an MRI today, no ligament damage. Just a sprained knee. Glad he's ok, even if I'm not unhappy he'll be taking the next game or two off.