2008 NBA Playoff Thread

Off Topic
101

[quote]Tyler123 wrote:
Raptors are heartbreaking, as they always are. Soft, undisciplined, and no answer for Dwight Howard. With all that said, they should have won the game, both on that final shot by Bosh, and on the play before it where he drove on Howard and the refs didn’t call a foul (and somehow Howard got credited for the block, when he didn’t touch the ball).[/quote]

It actually looked like Bosh got fouled twice by Howard on that play. I know ORL gets that home cookin, but Bosh is a star and he easily deserves that call.

I do feel like the refs gave TOR a “makeup call” with that foul on Dooling though, so at least things did even out and TOR did get another opportunity.

102

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
No, the NBA wants Lebron James to win the series.[/quote]

No, he wants to win. He always plays a certain way when he feels slighted. He could single-handedly beat the Wizards if he wanted to, but he doesn’t have to because other players are actively stepping up when he’s on the bench.

There is no if. There is no chance. This series is over. O - V - E - R. When they’re healthy they still can’t beat the Cavs because they don’t have the heart. The Portland Trailblazers and the Sacramento Kings were deeper than the Lakers on paper, the Suns have more talent than San Antonio, Dallas dominated the regular season and had a totally balanced team and got bounced, etc. They’re not a better team because they are gutless. They have never done anything in the playoffs at any time. The person with the best resume of their big three is Caron Butler, and he was riding the coattails of Dwyane Wade. If any team played at 100% efficiency (which is what you’re saying by mentioning capabilities) they’d beat any other team–professional basketball players are good at professional basketball, even if they are on bad teams.

The Cavs pre-trade would beat the Wizards (and did), the Cavs post-trade will beat the Wizards (and are) and I don’t need to hear any reasons or any talk of what could be. 96% of the time the team that takes two opening at home wins the playoff series. The Cavaliers are not going to lose this because the Wizards have already been beaten, they were beaten before they even played. If the Wizards were healthy, if Lebron James had an ankle injury and Ben Wallace broke his leg they’d still lose because the Washington Wizards couldn’t close the door on a fucking refrigerator.

103

[quote]Dweezil wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:
No, the NBA wants Lebron James to win the series.

No, he wants to win. He always plays a certain way when he feels slighted. He could single-handedly beat the Wizards if he wanted to, but he doesn’t have to because other players are actively stepping up when he’s on the bench.

But, if the Wizards play the way they’re capable of playing they will beat the Cav’s. It’s a big if, and I’m not trying to make excuses for them, but when healthy they are a far better team. And IF they haven’t thrown in the towel yet, they’ll pull their heads out of their collective asses and do this.

There is no if. There is no chance. This series is over. O - V - E - R. When they’re healthy they still can’t beat the Cavs because they don’t have the heart. The Portland Trailblazers and the Sacramento Kings were deeper than the Lakers on paper, the Suns have more talent than San Antonio, Dallas dominated the regular season and had a totally balanced team and got bounced, etc. They’re not a better team because they are gutless. They have never done anything in the playoffs at any time. The person with the best resume of their big three is Caron Butler, and he was riding the coattails of Dwyane Wade. If any team played at 100% efficiency (which is what you’re saying by mentioning capabilities) they’d beat any other team–professional basketball players are good at professional basketball, even if they are on bad teams.

The Cavs pre-trade would beat the Wizards (and did), the Cavs post-trade will beat the Wizards (and are) and I don’t need to hear any reasons or any talk of what could be. 96% of the time the team that takes two opening at home wins the playoff series. The Cavaliers are not going to lose this because the Wizards have already been beaten, they were beaten before they even played. If the Wizards were healthy, if Lebron James had an ankle injury and Ben Wallace broke his leg they’d still lose because the Washington Wizards couldn’t close the door on a fucking refrigerator.[/quote]

You’re insane. Single-handedly beat the Wizards? Right…The Kings deeper than the Lakers? Dallas dominating the regular season? What league do you watch? The Cav’s beat an injured Wiz squad last year with an awful lot of help from the officials [anyone remember Lerons’ 5 step game winning layup?] and are beating an injured Wiz squad this year. If the Wizard’s pull their heads out of their asses, they will win. It remains to be seen if they’ll do that.

104

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
You’re insane. Single-handedly beat the Wizards?[/quote]

He single-handedly beat the Pistons, and during the best playoffs I and pretty much anyone I know has ever seen (a couple of years ago) the best series was the first-round match-up between the Cavs and the Wizards. You remember when LeBron went up to Gilbert at the line and said “if you miss these two, the game is over”? I remember. Gilbert Arenas remembers. LeBron James owns Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards, and they will never beat him in a playoff series.

If I’m insane then you are someone who doesn’t know jackshit about basketball, since you can’t remember recent history. The Kings teams with Bibby+Jackson/Divac/Stojakovic/Webber/Christie were always deeper than the Kobe and Shaq Lakers, their bench always had better numbers, their starting-five was always more balanced. The same thing was true with Portland, Wallace/Stoudamire/Smith+Wells/Pippen/Sabonis+Davis were stronger than the Lakers starting 5, stronger than their bench.

You know who won all those series? The Lakers. Why? Because they had SHAQUILLE O’NEAL AND KOBE BRYANT. Because they dominated those teams on a regular basis, because the entirety of the Trailblazers and Kings seasons would be dedicated to “maybe this year we’ll beat the Lakers,” while the Lakers didn’t give two shits, were thinking about SA and were wondering who was coming out of the East. The Wizards and the Cavaliers have consistently met in the playoffs recently, they are probably the most active rivalry in the East, and the entirety of the Wizards season is about “maybe this year we’ll beat the Cavaliers.” They never do, they never will.

I was watching the league last year. I believe it was called the “NBA”, or something like that. Sometimes it was on television. There were black people.

Beat. They beat them. It doesn’t matter who helped them. It doesn’t matter if Jesus Christ himself descended from Heaven with :15 to go in a 1 point game, struck Gilbert Arenas down with a lighting bolt and drove so hard to the post against Brendan Haywood that he sent him into the fourth row and flipped the ball in while yawning. They won. I do not care about stupid rationales, which is why I do not care about “OH MAN IF THEY JUST PLAY TO THEIR POTENTIAL LULZ!!” If people worked to their potential we wouldn’t have welfare.

They’re not pulling their head out of anything and you’re an idiot. It’s like every post is “yeah, the Cavs always beat the Wizards, yeah, the Wizards are injured, yeah, the Cavs are already up 2-0, yeah, the Wizards are playing awful, yeah, the Wizards look like they’ve already given up BUT IF THEY JUST PLAY THEY WAY THEY CAN PLAY BASED ON (worthless statistics and conjecture) BOY THEY WILL WIN!”

I feel like I’m reading some fucking second-rate ESPN the magazine article (they’re all already second-rate, make it third-rate) that talks about intangibles and magical possibilities. Fuck intangibles, fuck you, fuck the Wizards. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: if more than 75% of your post is dedicated to qualifying what it is that you’re trying to say then whatever it is you’re trying to say is wrong.

105


I think he needs to work on his traps …

106

Wednesday, 4/23/08 Recap:

  1. Pistons defeat 7) Sixers 105-88: Rip Hamilton scored 20 points, and three other starters had 16 points each, and the Pistons even up the series 1-1. Louis Williams and Reggie Evans had 17 and 13 respectively off the bench in the loss.

  2. Celtics defeat 8) Hawks 96-77: Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Celtics cruise to another easy victory and go up 2-0 in the series. Four Hawks starters scored in double figures, but were severely outmatched.

  3. Lakers defeat 8) Nuggets 122-107: Kobe Bryant scored 49 points and 10 assists, and the Lakers go up 2-0 heading to Denver. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 54 points, but it wasn’t enough to tie up the series.

Stud of the Night: Kobe Bryant. 49 points, including 20 in the first quarter, helped the Lakers gain a 2-0 advantage on the Nuggets. Kobe being Kobe. Enough said.

107

[quote]Dweezil wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:
You’re insane. Single-handedly beat the Wizards?

He single-handedly beat the Pistons, and during the best playoffs I and pretty much anyone I know has ever seen (a couple of years ago) the best series was the first-round match-up between the Cavs and the Wizards. You remember when LeBron went up to Gilbert at the line and said “if you miss these two, the game is over”? I remember. Gilbert Arenas remembers. LeBron James owns Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards, and they will never beat him in a playoff series.

No, the Rockest-Spurs series in '95 is the best series I’ve seen.

Right…The Kings deeper than the Lakers?

If I’m insane then you are someone who doesn’t know jackshit about basketball, since you can’t remember recent history. The Kings teams with Bibby+Jackson/Divac/Stojakovic/Webber/Christie were always deeper than the Kobe and Shaq Lakers, their bench always had better numbers, their starting-five was always more balanced. The same thing was true with Portland, Wallace/Stoudamire/Smith+Wells/Pippen/Sabonis+Davis were stronger than the Lakers starting 5, stronger than their bench.

Actually, I know quite a bit about basketball. You didn’t say recent history numb nuts. You just said the Kings. The starting 5 on those Kings squads, or Portland were not more “balanced” than the Lakers’ of that era. The Kings had a bunch of good individual players who played soft D [aside from Christie] and couldn’t figure out who their assassin was. Also, Jason Williams was their point for the majority of that rivalry. The Blazers? You’ve got a squad of b and c players who started pointing fingers and whining when they couldn’t close. The Lakers had two A+ players and a SQUAD full of those who knew their roles and played them to a t.

You know who won all those series? The Lakers. Why? Because they had SHAQUILLE O’NEAL AND KOBE BRYANT. Because they dominated those teams on a regular basis, because the entirety of the Trailblazers and Kings seasons would be dedicated to “maybe this year we’ll beat the Lakers,” while the Lakers didn’t give two shits, were thinking about SA and were wondering who was coming out of the East. The Wizards and the Cavaliers have consistently met in the playoffs recently, they are probably the most active rivalry in the East, and the entirety of the Wizards season is about “maybe this year we’ll beat the Cavaliers.” They never do, they never will.

Bryant and O’neal are the main reason the Lakers won, but without Horace Grant, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher,Robert Horry etc. playing their roles and stepping up the Lakers don’t get their titles. Also, the Lakers weren’t worried about San Antonio. They knew they were great, but I garauntee you they took each game at a time. The Cav’s and Wiz have played TWICE in the post season in recent years.

Dallas dominating the regular season? What league do you watch?

I was watching the league last year. I believe it was called the “NBA”, or something like that. Sometimes it was on television. There were black people.

The Cav’s beat an injured Wiz squad last year with an awful lot of help from the officials [anyone remember Lerons’ 5 step game winning layup?] and are beating an injured Wiz squad this year.

Beat. They beat them. It doesn’t matter who helped them. It doesn’t matter if Jesus Christ himself descended from Heaven with :15 to go in a 1 point game, struck Gilbert Arenas down with a lighting bolt and drove so hard to the post against Brendan Haywood that he sent him into the fourth row and flipped the ball in while yawning. They won. I do not care about stupid rationales, which is why I do not care about “OH MAN IF THEY JUST PLAY TO THEIR POTENTIAL LULZ!!” If people worked to their potential we wouldn’t have welfare.

You’re right. They won, but whether you want to admit it or not, The refs fucked the Wiz. Arenas missing those FT’s didn’t help.

If the Wizard’s pull their heads out of their asses, they will win. It remains to be seen if they’ll do that.

They’re not pulling their head out of anything and you’re an idiot. It’s like every post is “yeah, the Cavs always beat the Wizards, yeah, the Wizards are injured, yeah, the Cavs are already up 2-0, yeah, the Wizards are playing awful, yeah, the Wizards look like they’ve already given up BUT IF THEY JUST PLAY THEY WAY THEY CAN PLAY BASED ON (worthless statistics and conjecture) BOY THEY WILL WIN!”

I feel like I’m reading some fucking second-rate ESPN the magazine article (they’re all already second-rate, make it third-rate) that talks about intangibles and magical possibilities. Fuck intangibles, fuck you, fuck the Wizards. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: if more than 75% of your post is dedicated to qualifying what it is that you’re trying to say then whatever it is you’re trying to say is wrong.[/quote]

I’ll let you in on a little secret: Don’t argue about sports you’ve been watching for a coupla’ years. I’m not worried about intangibles. I’m not worried about anything. All I’m saying is what I’ve said repeatedly: IF the WIZARDS GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER, THEY WIN THIS SERIES. Now go back and re-watch those last 3 Lakers title runs so you’re a little better educated next time you try and argue about basketball.

108

Reading. Comprehension. I said “during the best playoffs I and pretty much anyone I know has ever seen (a couple of years ago) the best series.” Maybe I could’ve used a full stop, but it still seems to me that the meaning is pretty clear. The best playoffs (from a pure excitement perspective, with series going deep and games constantly going to the wire) was a few years ago. The best series from those playoffs was the Cavs/Wiz series in the first round. It doesn’t mean that it was the best singular series in the history of basketball.

For someone who’s talking about the Wizards starting five and the strength of their bench and how they have more talent than the Cavs you sure seem to be falling back on my argument–that the Lakers had two good players and a bunch of okay players. The Cavs have one good player and a bunch of okay to bad players. The Wizards have three good players. The Wizards are still going to lose, because LeBron James’ good is better than the Wizards’ good.

You cannot be serious. You, just… No. No. You cannot, in any world, compare Rick fucking Fox, HORACE GRANT, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry to the comparable fives+three of Portland and Sacramento from 00-01-02. I refuse to believe it because it is inherently absurd. Horry is clutch and Derek Fisher is passable, but for fucks sake, Derek Fisher was worse than Sacramento’s backup point guard, and if the Trailblazers didn’t have to collapse on Kobe Bryant constantly he would have never gotten any shots in any of their series versus Portland. The same thing is arguably true with Horry, because passes to the inside pretty much always resulted in a Sabonis/Davis + Wallace or a Webber + Divac collapse on Shaq, leaving Horry with two guards on the outside who were more concerned with Bryant and Fisher (he actually got some coverage from Christie, but it was limited since Christie was mostly dedicated to Kobe).

I was raised on professional basketball by a woman who knows more about the sport than most people in the front office for NBA teams. Blow me.

If the Wizards got their shit together they still wouldn’t win this series, because LeBron James alone is better than the Washington Wizards. LeBron James can score every single point in the fourth quarter for his team, and as long as they play some semblance of defense it’ll be enough to beat the Washington Wizards. You keep saying “will” win. They will not win shit. They have never closed anything, and the Cavaliers ALWAYS beat them. Always. The Wizards have been blown out multiple times, and they’ve lost in tight games multiple times, all in the playoffs and against the Cavaliers.

I love how you’re being dismissive of me when your entire fucking argument amounts to bullshit talking points I’d see on some 2PM ESPN2 show with ex-bballers who can barely speak English. Thanks, Tim Legler, I definitely give a shit about your opinion. Last time I checked, the Wizards haven’t had their shit together in about 30 years. It’s nice to talk about what’s on paper, especially when it backs up your argument. Unfortunately for you and the Wizards what’s on paper doesn’t mean shit, what happens on the court is all that matters. The Butler-Jamison-Arenas trio was the highest scoring trio in both 05 and 04 iirc, and they did not do shit (unless you think the semifinals are a big deal).

They lost a tight series to the Cavs, then they got blown out by the Cavs. Two in a row, two ends of the spectrum. Now they’re down 0-2, being absolutely destroyed, with a loudmouth attitude calling out one of the best players in the NBA who destroyed the reputation of the best defensive team in the East last year in one quarter of one game. They are done. I don’t care about PPG or what you see on paper, because they are mentally dominated by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The next time “you try and argue about basketball” maybe you should do it with someone who’s actually impressed by your “ability” to draw correlations from stats you grabbed off ESPN.com, because your entire argument is conjecture + regular season “achievements.” The regular season doesn’t mean shit, and the Wizards not only will not win this series but cannot win any series against LeBron James with their current group of players.

109

[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Wednesday, 4/23/08 Recap:

  1. Pistons defeat 7) Sixers 105-88: Rip Hamilton scored 20 points, and three other starters had 16 points each, and the Pistons even up the series 1-1. Louis Williams and Reggie Evans had 17 and 13 respectively off the bench in the loss.

  2. Celtics defeat 8) Hawks 96-77: Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Celtics cruise to another easy victory and go up 2-0 in the series. Four Hawks starters scored in double figures, but were severely outmatched.

  3. Lakers defeat 8) Nuggets 122-107: Kobe Bryant scored 49 points and 10 assists, and the Lakers go up 2-0 heading to Denver. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 54 points, but it wasn’t enough to tie up the series.

Stud of the Night: Kobe Bryant. 49 points, including 20 in the first quarter, helped the Lakers gain a 2-0 advantage on the Nuggets. Kobe being Kobe. Enough said.[/quote]

Well, the Nuggets played a little better tonight… and the Lakers looked a little bored at times, but they did what they had to do.

Too much Kobe, too much teamwork, just too much for the Nuggets. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Denver take one at home, but this series won’t go past 5.

Pistons righted the ship, but I’m looking for some fisticuffs in Philly.

Celtics-Hawks? If this was a fight, they would have stopped it.

110

I’m extremely late on this, but I didn’t make any predictions before the playoffs started, so I’ll just do it now. So here are my predictions… taking into account what has already happened:

Round 1:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 8) Hawks: Celtics in 4
  2. Pistons vs. 7) 76ers: Pistons in 6
  3. Magic vs. 6) Raptors: Magic in 5
  4. Cavs vs. 5) Wizards: Cavs in 5
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  5. Lakers vs. 8) Nuggets: Lakers in 5
  6. Hornets vs. 7) Mavericks: Hornets in 5
  7. Spurs vs. 6) Suns: Spurs in 6
  8. Jazz vs. 5) Rockets: Jazz in 4

Round 2:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 4) Cavs: Celtics in 5
  2. Pistons vs. 3) Magic: Pistons in 6
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  3. Lakers vs. 4) Jazz: Lakers in 6
  4. Hornets vs. 3) Spurs: Hornets in 7

Conference Finals:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 2) Pistons: Celtics in 6
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  2. Lakers vs. 2) Hornets: Lakers in 6

Finals:
Celtics vs. Lakers: Celtics in 7

By the way, for league MVP I would really like to see a co-MVP between Kobe and Chris Paul. If I had to choose one, I would say Kobe, but that’s mostly because he’s been snubbed in the past. They are both very deserving of it.

111

[quote]escot4 wrote:
I’m extremely late on this, but I didn’t make any predictions before the playoffs started, so I’ll just do it now. So here are my predictions… taking into account what has already happened:

Round 1:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 8) Hawks: Celtics in 4
  2. Pistons vs. 7) 76ers: Pistons in 6
  3. Magic vs. 6) Raptors: Magic in 5
  4. Cavs vs. 5) Wizards: Cavs in 5
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  5. Lakers vs. 8) Nuggets: Lakers in 5
  6. Hornets vs. 7) Mavericks: Hornets in 5
  7. Spurs vs. 6) Suns: Spurs in 6
  8. Jazz vs. 5) Rockets: Jazz in 4

Round 2:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 4) Cavs: Celtics in 5
  2. Pistons vs. 3) Magic: Pistons in 6
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  3. Lakers vs. 4) Jazz: Lakers in 6
  4. Hornets vs. 3) Spurs: Hornets in 7

Conference Finals:
EASTERN CONFERENCE

  1. Celtics vs. 2) Pistons: Celtics in 6
    WESTERN CONFERENCE
  2. Lakers vs. 2) Hornets: Lakers in 6

Finals:
Celtics vs. Lakers: Celtics in 7

By the way, for league MVP I would really like to see a co-MVP between Kobe and Chris Paul. If I had to choose one, I would say Kobe, but that’s mostly because he’s been snubbed in the past. They are both very deserving of it.[/quote]

That looks pretty solid all around. I would be surprised if the Hornets could take the Spurs though. They have the talent, but that playoff mental edge the Spurs bring might be too much.

Oh, and Lakers over Celtics in 7, says the Lakers fan. :wink:

112

I really don’t see the nuggets getting a win in this series, they have won zero games this whole year vs the lakers. They just can’t play defense, kobe is kobe. Yet it seemed like he could score ANYTIME he wanted to. I really hope Kobe gets the MVP, paul is deserving but kobe should have gotten it before and its more based on team play anyways and lakers were #1 seed in west.

113

The only reason I think the Nuggets could take a game is because the Lakers at times have lacked concentration. Obviously, I’m pulling for a sweep.

114

[quote]shizen wrote:
I really don’t see the nuggets getting a win in this series, they have won zero games this whole year vs the lakers. They just can’t play defense, kobe is kobe. Yet it seemed like he could score ANYTIME he wanted to. I really hope Kobe gets the MVP, paul is deserving but kobe should have gotten it before and its more based on team play anyways and lakers were #1 seed in west. [/quote]

I think Kobe will get MVP. He really should have probably twice before. I think it’s so close this year that the Lakers getting the #1 seed might actually be the difference, even though the Hornets finished just 1 game behind.

115

[quote]Blongo wrote:
I think he needs to work on his traps … [/quote]

He needs to work on more than that (those “biceps” could be brought up a “little” also)…1 thing he doesn’t need to work on is his game, the kid can straight rock.

116

[quote]Xeneize wrote:
The only reason I think the Nuggets could take a game is because the Lakers at times have lacked concentration. Obviously, I’m pulling for a sweep.[/quote]

Xeneize:

WTF I see you live in Texas but are a Lakers fan? They’re the bad guys. They’re Hollywood. What kind of Texan are you?

117

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
I’ll let you in on a little secret: Don’t argue about sports you’ve been watching for a coupla’ years. I’m not worried about intangibles. I’m not worried about anything. All I’m saying is what I’ve said repeatedly: IF the WIZARDS GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER, THEY WIN THIS SERIES. Now go back and re-watch those last 3 Lakers title runs so you’re a little better educated next time you try and argue about basketball.[/quote]

You do realize that the team you’re arguing is better has lost two straight series and is down 0-2 in a third to the team you’re arguing is worse?

It’s your position that’s on shaky ground, not Dweezil’s.

118

[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Wednesday, 4/23/08 Recap:

  1. Pistons defeat 7) Sixers 105-88: Rip Hamilton scored 20 points, and three other starters had 16 points each, and the Pistons even up the series 1-1. Louis Williams and Reggie Evans had 17 and 13 respectively off the bench in the loss.

1) Celtics defeat 8) Hawks 96-77: Kevin Garnett had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Celtics cruise to another easy victory and go up 2-0 in the series. Four Hawks starters scored in double figures, but were severely outmatched.

  1. Lakers defeat 8) Nuggets 122-107: Kobe Bryant scored 49 points and 10 assists, and the Lakers go up 2-0 heading to Denver. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 54 points, but it wasn’t enough to tie up the series.

Stud of the Night: Kobe Bryant. 49 points, including 20 in the first quarter, helped the Lakers gain a 2-0 advantage on the Nuggets. Kobe being Kobe. Enough said.[/quote]

After fifteen years of suckage from my C’s, I’m so happy that they’re finally on the good end of an ugly, overmatched 1-8 playoff matchup.

After years of celebrating mostly small victories and noting endless “baby steps”, I’m not above celebrating two blowouts over the Hawks!

YES!

I also really liked the Cassell vs. Acie Law matchup in the first half. Ain’t nobody playin no defense between those two!

119

[quote]Dweezil wrote:

Reading. Comprehension. I said “during the best playoffs I and pretty much anyone I know has ever seen (a couple of years ago) the best series.” Maybe I could’ve used a full stop, but it still seems to me that the meaning is pretty clear. The best playoffs (from a pure excitement perspective, with series going deep and games constantly going to the wire) was a few years ago. The best series from those playoffs was the Cavs/Wiz series in the first round. It doesn’t mean that it was the best singular series in the history of basketball.

For someone who’s talking about the Wizards starting five and the strength of their bench and how they have more talent than the Cavs you sure seem to be falling back on my argument–that the Lakers had two good players and a bunch of okay players. The Cavs have one good player and a bunch of okay to bad players. The Wizards have three good players. The Wizards are still going to lose, because LeBron James’ good is better than the Wizards’ good.

You cannot be serious. You, just… No. No. You cannot, in any world, compare Rick fucking Fox, HORACE GRANT, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry to the comparable fives+three of Portland and Sacramento from 00-01-02. I refuse to believe it because it is inherently absurd. Horry is clutch and Derek Fisher is passable, but for fucks sake, Derek Fisher was worse than Sacramento’s backup point guard, and if the Trailblazers didn’t have to collapse on Kobe Bryant constantly he would have never gotten any shots in any of their series versus Portland. The same thing is arguably true with Horry, because passes to the inside pretty much always resulted in a Sabonis/Davis + Wallace or a Webber + Divac collapse on Shaq, leaving Horry with two guards on the outside who were more concerned with Bryant and Fisher (he actually got some coverage from Christie, but it was limited since Christie was mostly dedicated to Kobe).

I was raised on professional basketball by a woman who knows more about the sport than most people in the front office for NBA teams. Blow me.

If the Wizards got their shit together they still wouldn’t win this series, because LeBron James alone is better than the Washington Wizards. LeBron James can score every single point in the fourth quarter for his team, and as long as they play some semblance of defense it’ll be enough to beat the Washington Wizards. You keep saying “will” win. They will not win shit. They have never closed anything, and the Cavaliers ALWAYS beat them. Always. The Wizards have been blown out multiple times, and they’ve lost in tight games multiple times, all in the playoffs and against the Cavaliers.

I love how you’re being dismissive of me when your entire fucking argument amounts to bullshit talking points I’d see on some 2PM ESPN2 show with ex-bballers who can barely speak English. Thanks, Tim Legler, I definitely give a shit about your opinion. Last time I checked, the Wizards haven’t had their shit together in about 30 years. It’s nice to talk about what’s on paper, especially when it backs up your argument. Unfortunately for you and the Wizards what’s on paper doesn’t mean shit, what happens on the court is all that matters. The Butler-Jamison-Arenas trio was the highest scoring trio in both 05 and 04 iirc, and they did not do shit (unless you think the semifinals are a big deal).

They lost a tight series to the Cavs, then they got blown out by the Cavs. Two in a row, two ends of the spectrum. Now they’re down 0-2, being absolutely destroyed, with a loudmouth attitude calling out one of the best players in the NBA who destroyed the reputation of the best defensive team in the East last year in one quarter of one game. They are done. I don’t care about PPG or what you see on paper, because they are mentally dominated by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The next time “you try and argue about basketball” maybe you should do it with someone who’s actually impressed by your “ability” to draw correlations from stats you grabbed off ESPN.com, because your entire argument is conjecture + regular season “achievements.” The regular season doesn’t mean shit, and the Wizards not only will not win this series but cannot win any series against LeBron James with their current group of players.[/quote]

First off, I didn’t get anything off of any website. This is all off of memory homeboy. I don’t give a shit who raised you, she obviously doesn’t know much about the game or you wouldn’t be saying shit like “Lebron is better than the Wizards”. Yes I did bring up those Lakers role players. To use your arguement, if the Blazers and the Kings did infact have a better squad they would’ve won. Guess what, they didn’t and they didn’t. I’m fully aware that what’s on paper doesn’t mean shit if it isn’t translated to the court, that’s why I keep saying “if”. And, the Wizards can easily beat the Cav’s with this current group of players. All they need is to be healthy as a squad and the Cav’s are toast. We don’t know yet if that will ever happen. I’ll put it to you like this: The Wiz made the playoffs as the 5th seed having gone 90% of the season without Arenas. The Cav’s don’t get in if Ilgauskas misses 90% of the season. Point being, the Wizards are still an overall better team than the Cav’s when healthy. They just haven’t been healthy.

120

Lakers need to learn to score against zone defense. It is probably their biggest weakness right now. All season long I’ve watched them blow leads and advantages because a team ran zone on them. Even the Nuggets were able to successfully keep LA out of the paint for a decent amount of time, and if it hadn’t been for the hot hand in Kobe, that game would have been a lot closer.

Fortunately, the Lakers have become one of the better 3-point shooting teams in the league, so teams are unlikely to try zone against them. But all it takes is an off-night with the shooters and LA is frustrated and put-down.