Alrighty, It's the 2012 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Lathum]

I'LL SEE YOU NEXT WINTER OLYMPICS!!!!!!

[Groundhog]

I certainly didn't imagine I'd be saying this when the 2011-12 season finally kicked off, but man, can anyone beat the Spurs? In the West they match-up very well with the Lakers and pretty well with the Thunder if Leonard can stick with the Durant, while in the East they are a nightmare for the Heat by being at least the equal of Dallas in 10-11 on D and certainly a lot better on O and the Pacers, as big a fan of theirs as I am right now, also don't figure to matchup so well with them.

[whomario]

Tim Duncan scored 21 points and Tony Parker added 17 as the Spurs moved on to the Western Conference finals with a 102-99 win (and a 4-0 sweep) over the Clippers. After the win, Duncan snuck off to the parking lot, sat in the back seat of his minivan, and filled a plastic cup to the halfway line with red wine. "This is your moment, Tim," he whispered to himself. "Enjoy." He took one sip, stared at the wine, and whispered, "don't be a glutton," before carefully pouring the rest back in the bottle.

never gets old Anybody else think that Duncan should do a Kareem (Airplane) in some totally weirded out movie at some point after his career ?

[Noop]

Tim Duncan is a bit weird I see. I am mad that he drives a minivan.

[stevew]

The scary thing with the Spurs is that they've reloaded on the fly and could easily be good for 5-7 more years. Replacing Manu and Duncan will be hard, but I'm sure they will figure it out.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by stevew

The scary thing with the Spurs is that they've reloaded on the fly and could easily be good for 5-7 more years. Replacing Manu and Duncan will be hard, but I'm sure they will figure it out.

I think they should make a play for Roy Hibbert when Duncan retires. The Spurs remind me of the Patriots minus the douche bag fans (Sorry to the FOFC Pat fans) and coach.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Noop

I think they should make a play for Roy Hibbert when Duncan retires. The Spurs remind me of the Patriots minus the douche bag fans (Sorry to the FOFC Pat fans) and coach.

I don't think the Pacers are going to let Hibbert get away. I hope so at least.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by whomario

never gets old Anybody else think that Duncan should do a Kareem (Airplane) in some totally weirded out movie at some point after his career ?

Originally Posted by Noop

Tim Duncan is a bit weird I see. I am mad that he drives a minivan.

I haven't followed the NBA strongly for awhile now. But this SI article from last week, on Duncan, was pretty good.

TIM DUNCAN is the most successful player of his - 05.21.12 - SI Vault

[stevew]

It will be interesting to see if Blake Griifin is the first player to turn down a max offer and play out a qualifying offer. The Clips can control him for 2 more years.

I suspect SA will get Bosh in 2014 to replace Duncan, as he would make a ton of sense for them. And Bosh would be in an ideal situation as one of the guys.

Hibbert's market this offseason is going to be 4 years at the max(14M+). The Pacers will probably have to match an offer. He's a better player than Deandre Jordan(who got 4/42) and is comparable to Marc Gasol(4/57ish).

[Chief Rum]

Keep in mind, it comes from Clippers radio, but I have heard indications there on more than one occasion that Blake is interested in signing an extension, and of course, Blake signing will go a long way to getting CP3 signed as well.

[Big Fo]

Orlando finally got rid of GM Otis Smith, that's good news. Van Gundy is gone as well, that isn't such good news. I know Howard hates SVG but I don't think he'll want to stick around with a different coach anyway.

[stevew]

Who's going to radically overpay guys now that Otis is gone?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by stevew

Who's going to radically overpay guys now that Otis is gone?

Detroit? The Knicks? The Nets?

[stevew]

Otis Smith once again shows that former NBA players make the best executives.

[Big Fo]

To be fair to Otis Smith, the Rashard Lewis contract was merely really bad for the first few years. It was only after Lewis got busted for PED usage that it became truly horrific contract, arguably one of the worst in recent times. Never would have thought a guy with his kind of game would rely on that stuff but man did his game ever decline after getting caught.

[SirFozzie]

so, seeing the 33-16 Free Throw differential in game six (I only got to see like the last quarter due to late night at work).. was the refs calling it differently for the two teams? Didn't seem like it on the bits I watched, the Celtics kept driving and making contact, and the Sixers were shooting jump shots.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

so, seeing the 33-16 Free Throw differential in game six (I only got to see like the last quarter due to late night at work).. was the refs calling it differently for the two teams? Didn't seem like it on the bits I watched, the Celtics kept driving and making contact, and the Sixers were shooting jump shots.

I saw some early and thought it was rather one sided. Sixers were getting mugged inside without a call.

Though it was that blown chance when the Sixers were shooting two free throws on a clear path call in which AI the second missed both free throws and then a lousy posession ended up with them still up 6 (instead of the possible 10 or 11) and then the Celtics seemed to turn it on from there.

[Young Drachma]

Where are all of the purported OKC fans tonight? a lot of empty seats in that building...

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Where are all of the purported OKC fans tonight? a lot of empty seats in that building...

really? I don't see one empty seat and looks like there is a huge crowd at a viewing party outside the arena.

Westbrook is unconscious right now.

[larrymcg421]

Why was Kobe on the bench?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Lathum

really? I don't see one empty seat and looks like there is a huge crowd at a viewing party outside the arena.

Westbrook is unconscious right now.

Nevermind. It was just the 3rd quarter fans going to the bathroom/drinking, etc. Seems they're all back now.

[stevew]

Ah, so this is what 16M in luxury tax gets you these days. Lakers have to part out Gasol this offseason. And I think they should keep the Amnesty handy for 2013-14 Kobe. No way is he worth 30M on a 60M cap. By the time they save luxury tax the move will be close to cash beutral(especially if someone claims him)

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Nevermind. It was just the 3rd quarter fans going to the bathroom/drinking, etc. Seems they're all back now.

You obviously missed all the bandwagons in the Parking lot.

[Groundhog]

Assuming Lakers go on to lose, I wonder if Brown gets the chop. Little unfair IMO given how woeful the Lakers bench in particular has been. If they are going to stick with Kobe and be in "win now" mode, they definitely need a shake up. Gasol and Bynum in the front court are two luxuries they probably can't afford given the state of the rest of their line-up.

[Danny]

Lakers are done.

[Danny]

Meaning they wont be winning a title in the immediate future

[Groundhog]

Depends on what they can get for Bynum or Gasol. If they can turn one of those guys in to 2 or 3 contributors - say, a decent draft pick and a starter - and pick up some depth in FA they can still be a contender, assuming Kobe has another 2 seasons left in him, which I think he does.

[korme]

If LAL fired Brown, I could see them going after SVG

[bhlloy]

If they have any sense they will do exactly that. It might not be all Brown's fault they're out of the playoffs but he's still a terrible coach.

[chadritt]

They might have to fight the Clippers for him.

[Groundhog]

Despite everything that happened this year, I still find it pretty amusing that the Clippers job is more attractive than the Lakers job.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by korme

If LAL fired Brown, I could see them going after SVG

From Dwight Howard to Andrew Bynum? Hmmmmmm

Edit: Actually from Shaq to Dwight to Bynum. Yeah it might be time to have a shot with a pain in the ass player on the wing or in the backcourt.

[Warhammer]

The way Gasol has been playing is precisely why the Griz got rid of him a few years ago. He is a very good player, but he needs to understand that and get out of his role player mindset.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

The way Gasol has been playing is precisely why the Griz got rid of him a few years ago. He is a very good player, but he needs to understand that and get out of his role player mindset.

He should be a top 15 player in the league, maybe even top 10 if he had that I want to be the man mindset.

[MrBug708]

They wont fire Brown this year

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

The way Gasol has been playing is precisely why the Griz got rid of him a few years ago. He is a very good player, but he needs to understand that and get out of his role player mindset.

I think this is a bit unfair. I know we had this discussion earlier this season and I don't have the time or the desire to go through all the numbers to see how they compare. To me, Pau Gasol got demoted this year to the number three guy on this team. And that is the way he played.

[stevew]

Pau Gasol is flabbergasted with the way you guys are talking about him. Look at that shock and outrage on his face.

[Young Drachma]

San Antonio v. Oklahoma City. That ought to move the needle.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

San Antonio v. Oklahoma City. That ought to move the needle.

It is all a part of David Stern's conspiracy against large market teams. Knicks, Lakers Clippers, Chicago. I see the pattern Mr. Stern, I see your game.

[molson]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

It is all a part of David Stern's conspiracy against large market teams. Knicks, Lakers Clippers, Chicago. I see the pattern Mr. Stern, I see your game.

You could also make the case he's conspiring against inferior teams, who seem to lose, more often than not.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

San Antonio v. Oklahoma City. That ought to move the needle.

I bet it does a huge share in places that are "Real Mmm'erica"

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by stevew

I bet it does a huge share in places that are "Real Mmm'erica"

That's true.

[cartman]

If the title game ends up being Thunder-Pacers, would that be the championship game of the 4 major sports that had the lowest combined population of the host cities?

[larrymcg421]

Stern must've lost control of his black helicopters, because if he really had the power to fix games at the level people suggest, surely he wouldn't let an Oklahoma City-San Antonio series to happen. However, I'm sure the conspiracy theorists will ignore that and come back in full force if Miami beats Indiana.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by cartman

If the title game ends up being Thunder-Pacers, would that be the championship game of the 4 major sports that had the lowest combined population of the host cities?

Just a quick look at the NHL gives us Carolina (Raleigh) vs. Edmonton as being lower at 1.145 combined vs. 1.410 for Indianapolis-OKC.

[whomario]

Propably the signature moment of yesterday´s game :



a problem of the Lakers also is that they don´t get many easy baskets. One, Kobe doesn´t open up space as much anymore as he´s defended (he´s definitely a "just let him get his, we´ll be able to survive that" player nowadays) with less and less help while Bynum still isn´t really getting established and their PGs still don´t create anything (Sessions was terrible). And their defense doesn´t force TOs, they managed to have the worst TO team in the league have a stellar series in terms of holding onto the ball (and were the worst team in the league forcing TOs in the regular season as well).
They also run pretty few Pick and Roll plays, just subjectively, at least "real" pick and rolls (they set picks for Kobe, but on 95% of them he shoots). I guess with the right PG both Gasol and Bynum could be pretty lethal in those situations.

[albionmoonlight]

Westbrook interests me. He ended up in the perfect situation for his skills, and he seems on pace to end up with several rings because of it.

Based on his style, he seemed destined to be a guy who played for the Hawks or Knicks or something and annually led all point guards in scoring and attempts while leading his team to a string of 7 and 8 seeds and playoff one-and-dones.

[whomario]

I would hold that thought as the Mavs as well as the Lakers haven´t really defended him well at all (and he really didn´t have to waste much energy on defense either), but it´s certainly impressive that he has only 14 TOs in 9 playoff games (and just 4 in the last 6 games)
He has more 1-or-less TO games in 9 playoff games (6) than he had the entire regular season (4)

It´s clear that the Thunder changed their sets offensively after last season and it seems to pay off now.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by whomario

Propably the signature moment of yesterday´s game :



a problem of the Lakers also is that they don´t get many easy baskets. One, Kobe doesn´t open up space as much anymore as he´s defended (he´s definitely a "just let him get his, we´ll be able to survive that" player nowadays) with less and less help while Bynum still isn´t really getting established and their PGs still don´t create anything (Sessions was terrible). And their defense doesn´t force TOs, they managed to have the worst TO team in the league have a stellar series in terms of holding onto the ball (and were the worst team in the league forcing TOs in the regular season as well).
They also run pretty few Pick and Roll plays, just subjectively, at least "real" pick and rolls (they set picks for Kobe, but on 95% of them he shoots). I guess with the right PG both Gasol and Bynum could be pretty lethal in those situations.

I would be very curious to see how that Lakers team plays with Steve Nash running the point. He's probably outpriced any midlevel exceptions with his continue strong play, so I doubt he would end up with the Lakers, but that would be an intriguing addition for the Lakers.

Well, on offense at least.

[whomario]

You can allways hide a bad defender in a good system imo, Nash´s problem in Phoenix has been that you can count the above average defenders he played with on one hand. I think Kurt Thomas was actually the best interior defender he played with and he was old even then and not much of a help defender, maybe Shaq to a degree (but he was such a bad fit everywhere else it hardly mattered) ... That´s it, isn´t it ?

I allways wonder what would have been if he had ever played with a Garnett, Duncan or or even a guy/player type like Hibbert or Marc Gasol. Heck, even guys like Dalembert or Camby.