dlpin

same could be said of Boston, as they let Gordon take that 3 pointer in game 4, and today Doc put in Tony Allen with 2 minutes to go after the line up on the court went on an 18 point run. In fact, that is the underplayed aspect of this series: it has been so entertaining because the two coaches are god awful game managers who let the game flow even when they are up with a few seconds to go. I mean, how many times did a team get to the end of the game without time outs? Either team had a decent game manager for coach and this series would be over long ago.

yeah the heat are a bad basketball team. But even bad basketball teams win when they shoot 58% from 3 points. I can't think of any teams who ever lost a game after shooting 58% from 3s... and it's not like they were wide open 3s. Wade had a hand in his face in all the 3s he hit. I mean, what do the Kings victories over the lakers and denver, the Clippers win over Portland, the Thunder win IN San Antonio and Minnesota's win IN Utah have in common? The bad teams shot over 40% from 3 point land. Point being, in this league the absolutely worst teams can beat the best ones if they get hot from the field, and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Only reason why Atlanta was outrebounded was because Miami wouldn't miss, so there were fewer defensive rebounds to be had (Atl got 20 of 26 on its end, 13 of 47 on miami's end). Atlanta had fewer turnovers, more points off of turnovers, and more second chance points than Miami, which shows that they out hustled miami. When Udonis Haslem is hitting 20 footers with a hand in his face, when Wade is hitting fade away 3 pointers with 2 on him, there is nothing you can do about it.

Im not a hawks fan, as some of you know, but I watched the game. While there were some bad plays on the Hawks part, fact is that it is very hard to win when the other team is so hot from the field. I mean, there was one possession when the hawks played perfect defense and Wade threw a hail mary of a shot to avoid a 24 sec. violation and it went in... those sorts of plays completely demoralize teams... especially when they come as the team is starting to fight it's way back into the game. I doubt the heat will be able to keep shooting like that, just as I doubt the bulls will continue to continue shooting like they have. And if they do, props to them, nothing much you can do. Part of what makes the game so exciting.

Other networks praise everything in order to get and maintain access to the teams. TNT is not a sports network so they can point the flaws of the teams with more consistency. Personally I prefer to watch the TNT guys bashing any team than to watch the ESPN guys praising teams just for the sake of praising teams. I mean, I watched the ESPN broadcast of the first SAS-DAL game and they were treating Barea as an all star, and all because he had 13 points (on 6-14 shooting) and 3 assists off the bench...

He was the 21st pick, which the suns "sold" to the celtics. Say what you want about Ainge, but the man knows how to draft. He traded away every single top 10 pick he ever had, but with picks in the lower teens and up he picked quite a few gems. I know not every pick here was a celtics pick, but they were all acquired draft day, which means that he knew who to pick I mean, look at the team that started yesterday: Rondo- 21st pick Davis- 35th pick Perkins- 27th pick add to that: Powe - 49th tony allen - 25th pick And the ones who he picked but eventually traded away: Al Jefferson - 15th Delonte West- 24th Ryan Gomes - 50th As much as it sounds kooky and far fetched, there seems to be some validity to the whole "brain doctor" approach to the draft that he has.

I think they are negative about everyone. Heck, Barkley has ripped Lebron and Kobe, so they do it to everyone. The did it to last years Celtics and lakers too. And you know what? That is what I like about them. They are a bit hypocritical at times (they never talk badly about anyone who does ads with them), but I prefer the negativity in general. Much better than the ESPN halftime show, where they try so hard to promote the game that it's like every game, every player is the best of all time.

Tyrus Thomas played out of his mind as well... 16 points on 66% shooting, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks on 28 minutes, including some huge shots late in th 4th and in OT.

Pitino is not an NBA coach, and I have no idea why someone would try to bring him back into the NBA. His abrasive style and micromanagement makes most pros tune him out after a while. He is a lousy talent evaluator and he loses his temper really fast if the fan base isn't as supportive as the fan bases he encounters in college. Oh, and the bulls team he took to 6 was the bulls team who was still 2 years from a title, with Pippen and Grant in their sophomore seasons. When he left the celtics, the celtics immediately became a playoff team with Jim Obrien, who is no phil jackson himself. The same team Pitino failed to make the playoffs with is the team that Obrien took to the ECF.

mine are Cavs over Pistons Boston Over Bulls Orlando Over philly Atlanta over miami then Boston over Magic Cavs over Hawks then Cavs over Boston On the west: Lakers over Utah Denver over Hornets SA over Mavs Portland over Houston then Lakers over Portland Denver over SA then Lakers Over Denver Then Lakers over Cavs I think this is going to be a boring playoffs... teams with homecourt will win every series but the final.

The thing is that Orlando has been struggling mightly as of late. If this was one month ago, I would agree with you. But Boston finished the season 8-2, and Orlando went 5-5. In any case, we'll see. I just don't think it changes the dynamic of the playoffs. Garnett is a great player, but I think Boston is good enough to beat Orlando without him, and bad enough that they wouldnt beat cleveland even with him.

I think the biggest mistake Doc Rivers ever made was taking that winning streak in december too seriously. Garnett had been complaining about his knee since early in the season. She should have been shut down in november and had the surgery he is likely going to have now so that he could be ready for the playoffs. At the very least he shouldnt be playing 30+ minutes a game. Word out of Boston was that they knew this all along and were holding off to boost playoff ticket sales and season ticket sales for next year. To be quite honest, I think this doesnt change much in playoff terms. I think Boston will still be favorites against the bulls and magic, and will still be an underdog against cleveland. Of course, now they are going to be much less likely to upset cleveland, but i didnt think it was going to happen anyways. The lakers who must by upset by the news. They are going to coast through the western playoffs, and if cleveland had to go 7 with boston it would have been a huge advantage for them

I think the odds of Lebron NOT playing in the finals is minimal. We've always known that stars get preferential treatment. But Lebron at home this season has been ridiculous. I've never seen someone get so many calls. The guy went 5 games without a single foul the other day, playing almost 40 minutes a game and averaging over a block and a steal per game.

Anyone has any doubt that its Lebron vs Kobe in the finals? Lebron gets all the calls not only on the offensive end, but also on defense. The guy went five straight games without being called for a single foul the other day.

I think Boston lost the championship this season when Doc Rivers played everyone so much in order to extend that december winning streak. MPG for celtics starters are all way up this season. With an average margin of victory of 8 points, no need to play them that much.

Whether it was actually a foul or not Im not sure as I didnt see the replay, but he intended to foul him. The hawks had a foul to give so they were trying to cut the time the celtics had available, and Rondo recognized the foul coming. The shot came out with 2.7 seconds left, so it wasnt a shot to end the quarter, he just realized that the hawks were going to foul to cut the clock.

A lot more entertaining. In part because the dunks back then meant something. Dunking on someone meant dunking on someone who was standing there pushing you off. Now, people try to get out of the way so they arent on the restricted zone and foul.

I was looking at the stats the other day. Jordan got one free throw every 2.79 FGA, while lebron gets one every 2.38. If you only look at the last 4 seasons, Lebron gets a free throw every 2.2 shots. If Jordan got the same calls, he would have shot almost 2500 more free throws during his career. Jordan never got that. Wade goes to the line one every 1.96 shots. Now, obviously Jordan also got the star treatment. But things have gotten completely out of hand recently. I completely agree with Bill Simmons. With the backlash against the celtics and the showboating of some of their players, I have no doubt that the finals this year will be Kobe-Lebron. Espn and the NBA have been pushing the Kobe-Lebron thing since the summer. This year alone Lebron is getting a FT every 2.13 shots, more than Jordan ever got.

Well, there is a very large number of NE natives here in the ATL. If I remember correctly, about 70% of emory students, for example, are from the north east.

I don't think its disrespectful to say that you don't think team A or team B is not a rival. Im sure most celtics fans would say the same with regards to Orlando, and maybe even the Spurs. Real rivalries are either between cities that have teams that face each other all the time in multiple sports (NY-Bos- Philadelphia, Detroit-Chicago) or teams that face each other all the time in the playoffs. Hawks fans might not like the celtics, but they've faced each other in the playoffs what, 3 times the last 30 years?

Clippers were also a young team on 05-06. I won't get into this discussion, but I think that using average age to indicate youth is meaningless. And its even meaningless as an indicator of future. Bibby is 30, flip is 29, and JJ is 27, and none of them is signed for more than 2 years.

Kings, Wizards, memphis, okc, and most of the bad teams do better in the 4th than in the 1st quarter for a reason. cavs, celtics, lakers, magic, spurs all do worse in the 4th quarter than in the 1st.

6th man eligibility is determined by games started, not minutes played. If I remember correctly, the only requirement is to have started less than half the games the player played int. Ginobili played 31mpg last year when he won it and Barbosa played almost 33 when he won it.

Given that the Hawks would only face the celtics or the magic in the conference finals, their injury situation means relatively little for the hawks in terms of doing a deep playoff run. The match up against Cleveland is the key, and I don't think Ben Wallace would see a lot of playing time anyways against the hawks. He is only really needed against teams that score a lot in the paint, like the celtics.

Meanwhile, over at the celtics forum I read, in a poll of all potential first round opponents, the hawks have been voted who celtics fans would least like to see in the first round. As a celtics fan, the only team I fear more than the hawks are the cavs. Not that I think the hawks would be favored, or even likely to win it all. But if any other team (other than the cavs) beat the celtics, I would be shocked and it would be a major upset. Hawks, not so much. And I think the hawks match up really well against the cavs. Unfortunatelly, I think that given the celtics recent unpopularity, I think the NBA is really, really pushing for a Lebron vs Kobe final. Endings like what happened the last hawks vs cavs game will be all too common, I fear.