Anything Goes 2013 Playoff Banter

Anybody else catch Andre Miller in Denver's last second win over GS? I caught the entire second half and Miller was spectacular. He had 18 points in the fourth quarter, including a drive to the basket for the game winner with 1.5 seconds on the clock. Bogut tried to get over to block the shot, but Andre stretched way out to the side and got the shot off. Bogut previously had a couple of big blocks on other Denver players in the fourth. The entire Denver team mauled Andre at the end of the game. Denver is playing without Gallinari and Faried, so it was a hard fought win. On GS side, Lee left the court in the second half and is uncertain health status going forward. He's having a MRI today.

Although Denver is our long time nemesis, I am rooting for Denver over GS, those $%#$^@#^ that tanked last season to steal our draft pick!!! I also kinda like the win without a superstar nature of Denver's team.

For the first time that I can ever remember, I found a very small part of me actually wanting the Lakers to win as I watched them play against SA the other day. The reason? I would think it's funny to see the Lakers play better as a team without Kobe. Of coarse, seeing Metta W.P. out there running around brought me back to reality and helped me remember that Kobe isn't all that I hate about the Lakers.

zero24gravity wrote:

For the first time that I can ever remember, I found a very small part of me actually wanting the Lakers to win as I watched them play against SA the other day. The reason? I would think it's funny to see the Lakers play better as a team without Kobe. Of coarse, seeing Metta W.P. out there running around brought me back to reality and helped me remember that Kobe isn't all that I hate about the Lakers.

Maybe both Kobe and coaching contributed in some way to the Lakers' underperformance early this season relative to talent, but Kobe was playing pretty unselfishly right before he got hurt, having five games in the last month and a half with double digit assists and one game with a triple double. The Lakers only lost one regular season game in April. Speaking of triple doubles, Gasol had three of them in the last six games.

With three guys capable of putting up double digit assists --- Nash, Kobe and Gasol, two guys capable of triple doubles --- Kobe and Gasol, and a monster center capable of 20/20, it is hard to believe the Lakers didn't do better this season, although they were dealing with two different coaches, new players and injuries.

With the Lakers' top four guards out last night, Kobe, Nash, Blake and Meeks, they were shellacked in game three of their first round matchup against the Spurs. This first round matchup of Lakers versus Spurs is uncompetitive and uninteresting. Imo, it probably would have been interesting if Kobe and some of the other guys were playing. Too bad the Jazz aren't in there instead. We wouldn't have won, but I think we would have made it more interesting than the Lakers have.

With Westbrook out, the Spurs have to be the favorite to come out of the West, although they are now missing Splitter and Diaw. Both of them could be back though.

The most entertaining first round series has been Golden State versus Denver. I've been impressed with Harrison Barnes, the pick GS robbed from us. He has really stepped up his game since David Lee went down in the second half of the first game. Of course with other great shooters on the court like Curry and Thompson drawing attention, Barnes gets quite a few open looks. He has been knocking them down.

Nice video highlights of tiny Nate Robinson lighting up Deron and the Nets for 23 points in the fourth quarter in an improbable Bulls comeback. They were down 14 points with 3:45 left in the regulation and came back to win.

https://jazznation.forumotion.com/post?t=592&mode=reply

It's amazing how going big and putting Josh Smith on George has completely changed the Hawks-Pacers series. The Pacers look lost out there and George has all but disappeared forcing them to rely on Hibbert as their primary offensive weapon. That is a bad thing, and the Pacers are in real trouble.

Is anyone else feeling a strong sense of schadenfreude regarding the Lakers (and especially their fans)?

I mean, seriously, the Lakers don't actually have any real fans, so they probably are just moving on with their lives. In fact, they collectively all just dug in their closets for that long lost Clippers jersey they use for just such "special" occasions. Seriously, what percentage of Laker-nation has converted to Clipper-nation in the past couple of days? My estimate is 95%.

thejazzkickazz wrote:

Is anyone else feeling a strong sense of schadenfreude regarding the Lakers (and especially their fans)?

I mean, seriously, the Lakers don't actually have any real fans, so they probably are just moving on with their lives. In fact, they collectively all just dug in their closets for that long lost Clippers jersey they use for just such "special" occasions. Seriously, what percentage of Laker-nation has converted to Clipper-nation in the past couple of days? My estimate is 95%.

They are mostly a bunch of front runner fans. They are only loyal to the Lakers as long as they are winning.

I am hoping the Spurs toast the Warriors in the next series. I am still mad about the Warriors' tank job two seasons ago --- although I could still be mad about the Spurs tank job in the 96-97 season, where they then added TD to David Robinson and beat up on Malone two against one. Guess I will go with being mad about the most recent tank job. LOL. It could be an interesting series though. Bogut is starting to get his mojo back and I remember he had some surprisingly good games against TD early in his career. Parker and Curry will be running wild.

Crunchtime1 wrote:

I am hoping the Spurs toast the Warriors in the next series. I am still mad about the Warriors' tank job two seasons ago --- although I could still be mad about the Spurs tank job in the 96-97 season, where they then added TD to David Robinson and beat up on Malone two against one. Guess I will go with being mad about the most recent tank job. LOL. It could be an interesting series though. Bogut is starting to get his mojo back and I remember he had some surprisingly good games against TD early in his career. Parker and Curry will be running wild.

D rob was hurt year before they got Duncan and i thought they still just missed playoffs and won the lotto from the last spot kinda like the spot the jazz are in this year? Where's are stat guys hinding? I'm to lazy to look it up right now just going off my memory. Ok i looked it up.. http://www.nba.com/history/standings/19961997.html

Ok my memory sucks. Them basturds!

Richardale wrote:

Crunchtime1 wrote:

I am hoping the Spurs toast the Warriors in the next series. I am still mad about the Warriors' tank job two seasons ago --- although I could still be mad about the Spurs tank job in the 96-97 season, where they then added TD to David Robinson and beat up on Malone two against one. Guess I will go with being mad about the most recent tank job. LOL. It could be an interesting series though. Bogut is starting to get his mojo back and I remember he had some surprisingly good games against TD early in his career. Parker and Curry will be running wild.

D rob was hurt year before they got Duncan and i thought they still just missed playoffs and won the lotto from the last spot kinda like the spot the jazz are in this year? Where's are stat guys hinding? I'm to lazy to look it up right now just going off my memory. Ok i looked it up.. http://www.nba.com/history/standings/19961997.html

Ok my memory sucks. Them basturds!

Many years ago I made an argument on the Yahoo NBA boards that after Robinson didn't start the season, that the Spurs kinda threw the towel in on the whole season, but the Yahoo NBA boards and everybody's old posts were recently wiped out with one days' notice by Yahoo, so I can't pull it up. But there was stuff like Elliott playing only 39 games; Charles Smith only 19 games and Chuck Person deciding to have elective surgery that he could have had in the summer, after he noticed Robinson wasn't playing. Robinson himself only played in six games because he was having "back issues". There were arguments as to whether he could have come back and played later in the season.

But even if I am completely off base with my speculation that the Spurs didn't do their best to field their best team and win as many games as they could, the entire episode makes my blood boil anyway because it defeated the purpose of the draft. The draft is supposed to reward the weakest teams in the NBA with the highest picks, or at least make a very strong team like the Spurs give up a star player or two to trade up to get that number one pick. The Spurs were coming off two successive Midwest Division titles over the Jazz, winning 59 and 62 regular season games in the two prior seasons. The Spurs 62 win season was tops overall in the NBA and the 59 win season was third overall in the NBA. And one year after their latest division title, and still having pretty much the same players, they were able to get the number one pick, grabbing another big man MVP to play alongside the big man MVP that they already had. The Spurs acquired this number one pick, Tim Duncan, without giving up a damn thing.

I think there should be a rule that a team only one year removed from a division title is ineligible to get the number one draft pick, unless they acquire that pick by trade. JMHO.

Heat were beastly tonight. Made the Pacers look like the JV team and George disappeared on the big stage. The Finals are going to be a true contrast in styles.

zero24gravity wrote:

Heat were beastly tonight. Made the Pacers look like the JV team and George disappeared on the big stage. The Finals are going to be a true contrast in styles.

This kinda reminded me of the last time the Bad Boys got the best of Jordans Bulls, before Jordan took off.

Mutangclan wrote:

zero24gravity wrote:

Heat were beastly tonight. Made the Pacers look like the JV team and George disappeared on the big stage. The Finals are going to be a true contrast in styles.

This kinda reminded me of the last time the Bad Boys got the best of Jordans Bulls, before Jordan took off.

Jordan never disappeared like that in the playoffs. Ever.

TheMagnus wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

zero24gravity wrote:

Heat were beastly tonight. Made the Pacers look like the JV team and George disappeared on the big stage. The Finals are going to be a true contrast in styles.

This kinda reminded me of the last time the Bad Boys got the best of Jordans Bulls, before Jordan took off.

Jordan never disappeared like that in the playoffs. Ever.

Yes, I know. But, hah, if you think I was comparing George to Jordan, maybe I have to re-type that. I just mean, it appears that this was George's coming out party but it's not quite his time to do damage. The big bad Heat got the best of them again, but while the Heat have peaked, this Pacers team with the same personnel will be better next year. So if it went 7 games this season, what would happen next season??

Mutangclan wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

zero24gravity wrote:

Heat were beastly tonight. Made the Pacers look like the JV team and George disappeared on the big stage. The Finals are going to be a true contrast in styles.

This kinda reminded me of the last time the Bad Boys got the best of Jordans Bulls, before Jordan took off.

Jordan never disappeared like that in the playoffs. Ever.

Yes, I know. But, hah, if you think I was comparing George to Jordan, maybe I have to re-type that. I just mean, it appears that this was George's coming out party but it's not quite his time to do damage. The big bad Heat got the best of them again, but while the Heat have peaked, this Pacers team with the same personnel will be better next year. So if it went 7 games this season, what would happen next season??

That Pacers team is more like the 2011 Memphis Grizzlies than the old Bulls, and next year is all they got before the new Luxury takes takes them off at the knees.

But you know who George actually reminds me a lot of? Scottie Pippen.

The biggest problem with George is that he's not a naturally agressive scorer. It's the same problem that Iggy has, which I why I don't think George will take that next step to super stardom. George shoot's a lot of jumpers for a guy with his size and athletic ability and he draws astonishingly few fouls. In his 3 years in the NBA he has never drawn more than a shade over 3 FT's a game. That jumped up this post season to near 6 per game, but I think that had as much to do with the crazy physical play as it did with George.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he figured it out this post season and next year he comes back and starts getting to the FT line more. He's still young, and he definitely could. But if he doesn't, and his game remains largely jump shooting and facillitating, he's simply never going to get to the next level.

Don't believe me? Think I'm putting way too much stock in his ability to draw fouls and neglecting his other skills? Maybe that's true, but you have to see this...

I'm going to give you two lists the first is players that averaged more than 17 points, 5 reb, and 4 ast per game for a season, and shot 5 or more FT per game. Don't worry about the numbers as much as look at the names on the list.

List #1, More than 5 FT/game


Now here's a second list, of players that scored more than 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, but shot less than 4 FT's per game.

List #2, Less than 4 FT/game