Basketball: 2005-06 NBA Playoffs

hey all,
Sorry if I was vague on my comment before. The Clippers have never advanced out of the first round of the playoffs (as far as I know), and they hardly ever make it there. They've been mismanaged for years. So I think what I was saying is that it would be good for a Lakers vs. Clippers matchup; as the Clippers are like the "red-headed stepchild" while the Lakers are the favorites. Don't know if that answered any questions or made sense whatsoever.

Yeah, that clears up my question, thanks!

Adn the good news? Teh Mo!##@%ing Lakers are about to go down...

Lakers lost a close one. obe chose the wrong game to let his teammates try and do the majority of the work. When Kobe plays in his usual style of 35 PPG, then that's when the Lakers will get the extra bit they needed today, to come out with a series win. Otherwise, this could be a 5 game series win for the Suns, possibley a sweep. But that is only if Kobe does as he did today.

The Pistons pulled off the first win, of what will most likely be a sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks. It showed that the Bucks will play hard for every minute of every game, but it proves that even at their best, the Bucks can't quite handle them. Ben Wallace only had 4 points, but put in 17 rebounds. Rasheed had a game-high 22. The highest scorer for the Bucks was a mere 13 points by Bell. The pistons won 92-74.

Originally posted by GiantsFan
Just as I expected, LeBron James came up big in his first ever playoff game. I unfortunately was unable to see it as I had a double header in baseball this morning. But he had 32-11-11, for a Triple Double in his first ever playoff game. This is going to be a great series. Cleveland won 97-86.

You catch the second game? The Wizards are roughing up James more (Brendan Hayword had a hard foul on him). James still got 26 points, but only shot 7 for 25 and had 10 turnovers. I'm skeptical of he has enough maturity and experience to deal with the different defensive strategies employed in the playoffs. I'm curious to see how Cleveland alters their game plan.

Winning that first series in one's career can be tough to do. On PTI Kornheiser keeps saying that LeBron needs to step up and take charge in crunch time and that he must win to advance to the next level of greatness. On that show, they often compare him to Jordan (which I don't think is fair yet), and Wilbon accurately observed that Jordan didn't win a playoff series until his fourth season. In each of his first three years the Bulls were swept 3-0 in the first round. It wasn't until the Bulls got Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant that they were able to advance to the second round. Then it was three years of losing to the Pistons before they made it to a Finals in Jordan's seventh season. LeBron is only in his third year, so I don't think we should expect anything amazing yet.

Good point BtB, Lebron shouldn't feel pressured to win it all this year, he'll just burn himself out. Lebron's teammates are less skilled than Kobe's, so James would have to carry the team on his back to the next round, which would probably be against Detroit. It's a good series though, Arenas seems to match up well against Lebron in offensive prowess.

I caught a little of the Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls game tonight. Wow, the Bulls really spanked them hard, 109-90. They jumped out ahead early and never looked back. Shaquille O'Neal had what was probably the worst performance of his NBA career. In foul trouble the entire game, Shaq had only eight points--going 0-6 from the free throw line--and seven turnovers. Chicago was close the first two games, and after today's good performance, they have the momentum. If they tie it up at 2-2, I think they will win the series.

The Cavs pulled off their first road playoff game since 1995, by beating the Wizards 97-96. This was all behind LeBron James' 41 point performance, which was the most scored by anyone in their first road playoff game, including the GW shot with 5 seconds remaining. LeBron and Arenas had a classic hardwood battle, Arenas nearly being the hero with a and-1 foul, putting the wizards up one. LeBron answered 19 seconds later with a great shot of his own. (It also looked like he travelled ) I think the Wizards will get one more win out of this, and the cavs, playing like tonight and game 1 will advance to the second round.

Also, from what I've seen, the Kings are dominating the Spurs at ARCO Arena tonight. They lead 45-39, and are playing their best game of this series. The Kings are also welcoming Artest back after his one-game suspension, especially after hitting the Kings first 6 points of the game.

I just finished watching Game 3 of the Cavs-Wizards series. Cleveland won on a shot by LeBron James with 5.7 seconds left. The refs chose not to call him for traveling; one of the worst missed calls I have ever seen. James drove on Gilbert Arenas. AFTER he came to a stop, he changed his pivot foot twice, then took a third step and took off. He then shot the ball after he had come down! That was bad.

Yes, the traveling was an obvious miss, but it happens all the time in sports, so I don't think it's anything to get too mad over. Also, from the replays i saw, he got the ball of just before he came back down, so the only missed call there was the traveling.

Oh, I expect traveling to go unnoticed most of the time. No ref ever calls that by the book. However, that one was a gross violation, by far the worst I have ever seen. After seeing that replay, I could count four steps after picking up the dribble. I wouldn't have expected Michael Jordan to have gotten away with that.

Kings won one of the best games I have ever seen. In the last minutes of the game, San Antonio and the Kings traded baskets non-stop. Then after leading by 1 from a Finley 3 pointer, Artest dribbled off the foot to turn the ball over with 27.4 seconds. Then, with about 7 seconds, Ginobili lost the ball, Bibby passed to martin, who made a flip shot over his head, defended by Duncan, and sunk it to give the Kings a 94-93 win. If all had played out as it should have, the Kings would be up 2-1 in this eries. I expect the Kings to battle back even harder now. They have the confidence, and the Spurs just recieved a set-back. Maybe my Kings over Spurs pick isn't so crazy after all

This has been one of the best playoff nights I've watched in a few years. Hopefully the lakers game turns out just as good.

Lakers pulled off a 99-92 win against the Phoenix Suns to grab a 2-1 series lead. In all 3 games, the lakers have set the tempo, and I'm sure this will continue. Though many I know were against my Lakers over Suns pick, maybe tonights win has swayed them to my side. I have been consistent with my picks over the years, and i'm hoping this year isn't much different.

Maybe Kobe is taking personal offense to Nash winning the MVP. A lot of these series are close, and I still stand by Artest's statement that the Kings are going all the way, because it is absolutely hilarious and at the same time plausible.

Steve Nash has not won the MVP yet, so Kobe should not be taking offense to rumor. If Nash does win it, I expect Kobe to take his game to another level. I remember back in 1995 when the Rockets met the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. David Robinson had recently won the regular season MVP over Hakeem Olajuwon, but in that series Hakeem abused Robinson, dominating him and often making him look like a fool. It was almost as if he was saying, "You're the MVP?"

I watched the end of tonight's Spurs-Kings game. All I have to say is: What were the Spurs thinking on that last play? Tim Duncan had been great all night long. With San Antonio up by one, why didn't they get it to him down low? He would have either scored or gotten the foul. I don't have any idea why the Spurs had the ball in Ginobili's hands at that crucial moment.

The Lakers played some incredible team ball tonight. Kobe only had 17 points, but Smush Parker had 18, Luke Walton had 17 and 10 rebounds, Lamar Odom had 15 and 17 rebounds, and Kwame Brown had 13 points and 11 rebounds. If the Lakers can get team contribution every night like that, they can win this series.

Now my picks are starting to balance. I got kinda scared on the Kings-Spurs series. But after the win tonight, I realize that without Barry's lucky bounce, the Kings would be up 2-1 on them. So I'm hoping th Kings will pull out a win in the next game, because I can't see them winning 3 in a row on the Spurs.

You want to talk about lucky bounces? Kevin Martin got one lucky bounce tonight on that final shot. If that shot had rolled out, the Spurs are up 3-0. I think the Spurs were just getting fair turnaround after Barry's lucky bounce.

Yup... the Basketball Gods realized their error in Game 2, so they had to make up for it in Game 3. I loved seeing Martin make the GW shot, because it wasn't one of Sacramento's star players.