NBA Playoffs

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

I used to go watch Mario Elie play for the Patroons in the CBA (coached by George Karl at the time). Guy was a heck of a player but couldn't hit an outside shot which was why he wasn't in the NBA. Suddenly it clicks and the guy made a pretty good NBA career mainly as an outside shooter.

Mario Elie fit perfectly with the Spurs defensively.
That guy knew the Defense better than Popovich.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

I used to go watch Mario Elie play for the Patroons in the CBA (coached by George Karl at the time). Guy was a heck of a player but couldn't hit an outside shot which was why he wasn't in the NBA. Suddenly it clicks and the guy made a pretty good NBA career mainly as an outside shooter. More recently the Patroons had Jamario Moon. His first year there it was a running joke between me and my friends of how poor of a defender he was. His second year he won Defensive Player of the Year and was onto the NBA where he's primarily a defensive stopper. Weird how it just clicks for guys in basketball.

before Isiah killed the CBA

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by pgardn

The Spurs beat a bad Knicks team in 99,
a bad NJ team in 03, a decent Detroit team in 05,
a bad Cleveland team in 07. The Spurs have never
beaten a good team in any playoff.

We are not on the West or East coast, we cant be good.

The spurs have been the most consistently good team in the NBA over the course of the last 15-20 years. The team that lost to the Lakers in 04 should have won the title. In those years the spurs made it to the title round, getting past the western conference final was really the championship. They beat some tough teams those years.

07 was a funky year and the stars aligned. Golden State took care of the topseeded Mavs that year and then there was the controversial fight with Phoenix. I dont think anyone in their right mind would tell you that San Antonio was the best team in the west in 2007. It was a very weak year and in the east it was even weaker which resulted in the worst finals in recent memory...in my opnion.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

before Isiah killed the CBA

He has an amazing track record.

Originally Posted by dalakhani

The spurs have been the most consistently good team in the NBA over the course of the last 15-20 years. The team that lost to the Lakers in 04 should have won the title. In those years the spurs made it to the title round, getting past the western conference final was really the championship. They beat some tough teams those years.

07 was a funky year and the stars aligned. Golden State took care of the topseeded Mavs that year and then there was the controversial fight with Phoenix. I dont think anyone in their right mind would tell you that San Antonio was the best team in the west in 2007. It was a very weak year and in the east it was even weaker which resulted in the worst finals in recent memory...in my opnion.

People said the same thing about all of those playoffs
that I mentioned. Everyone of them. When they beat NY
in the shortened season, Phil Jackson said put an * next
to that championship.

The series with Detroit was a disappointment ratings wise
so the teams were both obviously bad. You have to beat
a good LA team or a good Boston team to be considered
legitimate champions.

Conclusion:
The Spurs got lucky every year, one way or another.
Just not flashy enough. That does not work in this NBA.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by pgardn

People said the same thing about all of those playoffs
that I mentioned. Everyone of them. When they beat NY
in the shortened season, Phil Jackson said put an * next
to that championship.

The series with Detroit was a disappointment ratings wise
so the teams were both obviously bad. You have to beat
a good LA team or a good Boston team to be considered
legitimate champions.

Conclusion:
The Spurs got lucky every year, one way or another.
Just not flashy enough. That does not work in this NBA.

Oh I think the whole "our team doesnt get the credit it deserves" thing is pretty bunk. San Antonio got a ton of respect those years. In 05, they were favored all year long in the future books to win the title and the pistons were the defending champs. The spurs could play any tempo and win...kind of like this laker team and most good championship teams. Its just the 07 team just happened to be the weakest championship of the dynasty and to me the weakest in my lifetime. It doesnt take away from the accomplishments of the other teams and that team certainly can't be criticized for winning a title. Either way, that team has nothing to do with any of their other teams.

Originally Posted by dalakhani

Oh I think the whole "our team doesnt get the credit it deserves" thing is pretty bunk.

So you think the Spurs on the West coast or East
Coast would be treated the same...
I say no way.

Duncan would be a God in Boston.

Last night they crew on ABC/ESPN went
through the best big men in the past 3 years.
Garnett, Gasol, Shaq and Howard.

No mention of Duncan.
Obviously the votes
for all star donts see it like this nor do the coaches.

Sure, its all bunk.

[horseofcourse]

Originally Posted by pgardn

So you think the Spurs on the West coast or East
Coast would be treated the same...
I say no way.

Duncan would be a God in Boston.

Last night they crew on ABC/ESPN went
through the best big men in the past 3 years.
Garnett, Gasol, Shaq and Howard.

No mention of Duncan.
Obviously the votes
for all star donts see it like this nor do the coaches.

Sure, its all bunk.

beating Cleveland in '07 is the same as beating NJIT pretty much. I'm surprised the record books acknowledge that year even took place.

(Duncan has never put stickers on backboards in slam dunk contests. how good could he be??)

Originally Posted by horseofcourse

beating Cleveland in '07 is the same as beating NJIT pretty much. I'm surprised the record books acknowledge that year even took place.

(Duncan has never put stickers on backboards in slam dunk contests. how good could he be??)

New Jersey was worse than Cleveland imo.
But they won two games in the series. 1pt and 2pts.
The 4th quarter of the last game of the series
I believed showed the true Nets. 19-0 zip Spurs run
when it was close. NJ just folded.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by pgardn

So you think the Spurs on the West coast or East
Coast would be treated the same...
I say no way.

Duncan would be a God in Boston.

Last night they crew on ABC/ESPN went
through the best big men in the past 3 years.
Garnett, Gasol, Shaq and Howard.

No mention of Duncan.
Obviously the votes
for all star donts see it like this nor do the coaches.

Sure, its all bunk.

I dont think with Duncan it has so much to do with geography as much as style. I love him but he is BORING. His nickname is "the big fundamental". How boring is that? There is nothing exciting about his game. He is simply great and for my money will go down as the best power forward of all time.

As for ABC/ESPN, i think they meant centers. All the guys named were centers.

Originally Posted by dalakhani

I dont think with Duncan it has so much to do with geography as much as style. I love him but he is BORING. His nickname is "the big fundamental". How boring is that? There is nothing exciting about his game. He is simply great and for my money will go down as the best power forward of all time.

As for ABC/ESPN, i think they meant centers. All the guys named were centers.

Give Duncan Turkeyglue and Lewis and he Magically becomes a center.
Give Duncan Scola and Battier and he Rockets to the center position.
I think its a fairly silly designation as I have stated before.

Although the Spurs used it to get him starting in the Allstar game
because Yao got the most votes. (I personally dont give a flying flip
about the NBA allstar game, its an act of masturbation for the players)

And here we go again.
From ESPN; that is E as in EASTERN...

They had the second-best player in the league (Kobe), the second-best center (Pau Gasol), a talented forward with a unique set of skills (Lamar Odom), a breakout swingman (Trevor Ariza), a terrific leader and character guy at point (Derek Fisher), and that's about it. They caught three breaks from February on -- Kevin Garnett's knee injury killing Boston's season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 -- and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs -- the cream of a flawed crop of contenders.


Dala you have the 2007 Spurs.
Phil has the 1999 Spurs.

No respect for one of the best team franchises in the history
of modern sports.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by pgardn

And here we go again.
From ESPN; that is E as in EASTERN...

They had the second-best player in the league (Kobe), the second-best center (Pau Gasol), a talented forward with a unique set of skills (Lamar Odom), a breakout swingman (Trevor Ariza), a terrific leader and character guy at point (Derek Fisher), and that's about it. They caught three breaks from February on -- Kevin Garnett's knee injury killing Boston's season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 -- and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs -- the cream of a flawed crop of contenders.


Dala you have the 2007 Spurs.
Phil has the 1999 Spurs.

No respect for one of the best team franchises in the history
of modern sports.

I have to say you win here. To say the 2005 Spurs were flawed is simply a bad opinion. To me, they were the basketball version of the patriots.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by pgardn

And here we go again.
From ESPN; that is E as in EASTERN...

Simmons has lived in LA for the past several years.

Originally Posted by pgardn

We are not on the West or East coast, we cant be good.

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Simmons has lived in LA for the past several years.

Same difference.
East or West as previously posted.

Just not the middle of the country.
No good teams in the middle.

[dalakhani]

the greatest sports thread of all time!

[King Glorious]

Late

First round
Chicago in 5
Miami in 4
Boston in 6
Orlando in 7
SA in 6
LA in 4
Dallas in 6
OKC in 5

Second round
Orlando over Chicago in 7
Miami over Boston in 6
OKC over SA in 6
LA over Dallas in 7

CF
Miami over Chicago in 5
LA over OKC in 7

Finals
LA over Miami in 6

That was what I had prior to the playoffs starting. After round one, I picked
Atlanta over Chicago in 6. I just don't think Chicago is that good. To me, they were outplayed in the first four games by Indiana and Atlanta is a much better team than Indiana and is on a high with their confidence right now. They have too much overall athleticism for the Bulls.

Miami over Boston in 6. Neither team looked particularly good in round one but Boston was especially bad, having a ton of trouble with a severely depeleted Knicks team. Without that inside defensive presence of Perkins, they will need Garnett to play more minutes and be more of an enforcer and I don't know that he can still do that. James and Wade will both be dialed in extremely high for this series as it's personal to them and the fact remains that they are the two best players on the court and two of the three best in the world.

OKC over Memphis in 6. I really like Memphis but I think that the young athleticism of OKC wears them down a little. As Dalakhani said in another thread, Harden is on/off and when he's on, it makes them hard to beat. If he's on three times in this series, I give OKC two of those games. The brilliance of Durant will come out in at least one more and that will be three. Memphis needs huge games from Randolph everytime to have a shot and with Ibaka and Perkins down there, you have to figure that they slow him a couple of times.

LA over Dallas in 7. I had Dallas winning game one and then LA taking one in Dallas to make it a best of three at the end. I really with Caron Butler was playing here. I'd take Dallas then but without that scoring option, Dallas is just going to be too limited and I only think this goes seven because the Lakers allow it too. Nowitzki's big advantage has always been his quickness over the opposing big forward but with the Lakers, they can throw out Odom and Artest and negate that advantage. Terry can be defended by Bryant or Brown and I think Brown and Fisher can do a good job on Kidd since he's not that quick, penetrating type of guard that gives LA trouble like Chris Paul or Aaron Brooks or Deron Williams. The key will be keeping the games close for Dallas. If they do, Kobe tends to forget about passing the ball and the Lakers size advantage goes out of the window.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

Late

First round
Chicago in 5
Miami in 4
Boston in 6
Orlando in 7
SA in 6
LA in 4
Dallas in 6
OKC in 5

Second round
Orlando over Chicago in 7
Miami over Boston in 6
OKC over SA in 6
LA over Dallas in 7

CF
Miami over Chicago in 5
LA over OKC in 7

Finals
LA over Miami in 6

That was what I had prior to the playoffs starting. After round one, I picked
Atlanta over Chicago in 6. I just don't think Chicago is that good. To me, they were outplayed in the first four games by Indiana and Atlanta is a much better team than Indiana and is on a high with their confidence right now. They have too much overall athleticism for the Bulls.

Miami over Boston in 6. Neither team looked particularly good in round one but Boston was especially bad, having a ton of trouble with a severely depeleted Knicks team. Without that inside defensive presence of Perkins, they will need Garnett to play more minutes and be more of an enforcer and I don't know that he can still do that. James and Wade will both be dialed in extremely high for this series as it's personal to them and the fact remains that they are the two best players on the court and two of the three best in the world.

OKC over Memphis in 6. I really like Memphis but I think that the young athleticism of OKC wears them down a little. As Dalakhani said in another thread, Harden is on/off and when he's on, it makes them hard to beat. If he's on three times in this series, I give OKC two of those games. The brilliance of Durant will come out in at least one more and that will be three. Memphis needs huge games from Randolph everytime to have a shot and with Ibaka and Perkins down there, you have to figure that they slow him a couple of times.

LA over Dallas in 7. I had Dallas winning game one and then LA taking one in Dallas to make it a best of three at the end. I really with Caron Butler was playing here. I'd take Dallas then but without that scoring option, Dallas is just going to be too limited and I only think this goes seven because the Lakers allow it too. Nowitzki's big advantage has always been his quickness over the opposing big forward but with the Lakers, they can throw out Odom and Artest and negate that advantage. Terry can be defended by Bryant or Brown and I think Brown and Fisher can do a good job on Kidd since he's not that quick, penetrating type of guard that gives LA trouble like Chris Paul or Aaron Brooks or Deron Williams. The key will be keeping the games close for Dallas. If they do, Kobe tends to forget about passing the ball and the Lakers size advantage goes out of the window.

I am pretty much in agreement, I think Memphis may well take OK City to game 7 but in the end Durant and company have a little to much firepower for the young Memphis squad. Miami outplayed Boston twice in Miami but it will be interesting to see if they can do same in Boston...if they win one then the series probably goes 5.

[herkhorse]

LA, DOA, LOL, bye bye

[GPK]

Originally Posted by herkhorse

LA, DOA, LOL, bye bye