2009 NBA Playoffs

[Island_Style]

Well, I think it is safe to say that it will be Denver and L.A. in the WCF. No way the Rockets win without Yao. The only series that could be a series is Orlando/Boston.

Oops...

I thought the Lakers learned last year that they needed to be tougher this time around. It looked like they thought Houston would just fold up and quit. Hats off to the Rockets! They wanted it more and they earned a great win.

No, dont let this game fool you. This series is over. Well, that is the way I see it.

[tBBP]

Well, I think it is safe to say that it will be Denver and L.A. in the WCF. No way the Rockets win without Yao. The only series that could be a series is Orlando/Boston.

Oops...

I thought the Lakers learned last year that they needed to be tougher this time around. It looked like they thought Houston would just fold up and quit. Hats off to the Rockets! They wanted it more and they earned a great win.

No, dont let this game fool you. This series is over. Well, that is the way I see it.

You and most of L.A. (and probably the entirety of their bandwagoners).

Which is PRECISELY why the Lakers BETTER start digging a little deeper and quit thinking star power and Laker mystique is gon' carry them to the Finals.

The series is tied now...this thing could go either way. And, Houston done already won that first game--which, oh by the way, was in L.A. So the Lake show can forget about that "home-court advantage" psyche thing. Them Rockets is some scrappy little buggers.

[TFoA]

Bucco said it best: If the Lakers and the rest of their coughmostlykobebandwagoncough think that they're going to win this series simply becacuse Yao is gone, then they may be mistaken. Houston seems to be perfect at playing that gritty playoff basketball, even without Yao.

[Island_Style]

I am all Magic. I just find it hard to believe that the ROckets can do it without Yao. But hey, they are 1-0 without him.

[tBBP]

I am all Magic. I just find it hard to believe that the ROckets can do it without Yao. But hey, they are 1-0 without him.

No one thought the Hawks would take the C's thisclosetotheedge of the brink in their 7-game series in last season's playoffs, either. To steal a phrase from Chris Berman...THAT'S why they play the games!

Case in point: NEVER underestimate your opponent. Not even those young, scrappy, gritty Rockets. (And I'll take grit over flash anyday.)

[Island_Style]

Also, you cant blame people for feeling that way. For the last 10 years the Lakers are known for winning the West. For the last 10 years the Rockets have been losing in the first round. I am going for the Rockets, I hate LA and hope they lose. I just think picking the Rockets would be a sucker bet. We will see. Yao is a huge part of this team. Lets see how they do in LA with out him.

Oh yeah, GO MAGIC! People need to remember that Orlando is 4-1 against the Cavs and Lakers this year.

[tBBP]

Also, you cant blame people for feeling that way. For the last 10 years the Lakers are known for winning the West. For the last 10 years the Rockets have been losing in the first round. I am going for the Rockets, I hate LA and hope they lose. I just think picking the Rockets would be a sucker bet. We will see. Yao is a huge part of this team. Lets see how they do in LA with out him.

Oh yeah, GO MAGIC! People need to remember that Orlando is 4-1 against the Cavs and Lakers this year.

Oh so very true about the Lake Show, to a point. (Seem to remember this silver-and-black team having run a lil' bit of a dynasty in that time frame... )

About that bolded part: should the Magic advance on to the next round, I want you to blow that up and stick it in your sig as a reminder to Cavs faithful that ANYTHING is, in fact, possible--AND, if THEY ain't careful or look past the Magic (or whoever the Cavs may play in the next round, assuming they get there), they themselves could end up watching the Finals from home instead of the courtside bench.

[Drew22]

About that bolded part: should the Magic advance on to the next round, I want you to blow that up and stick it in your sig as a reminder to Cavs faithful that ANYTHING is, in fact, possible--AND, if THEY ain't careful or look past the Magic (or whoever the Cavs may play in the next round, assuming they get there), they themselves could end up watching the Finals from home instead of the courtside bench.

You clearly don't remember who the Cavs are playing. The Hawks will be lucky to win a quarter, let alone four games.

[TFoA]

Oh yeah. The Hawks basically played their best basketball during the 2nd and 3rd quarter of Game 3 and still got beat pretty badly. This series is ending on Monday.

[tBBP]

Oh yeah. The Hawks basically played their best basketball during the 2nd and 3rd quarter of Game 3 and still got beat pretty badly. This series is ending on Monday.

Ehh...was just trying to keep the probability factor in play here. I think we all know the Hawks are pretty much cooked.

(And, it was a fail-safe in case divine intervention sparks the Hawks and turns them into the 2004 Boston Red Sox--or whatever year that was then they came baack to sweep the Yanks in the AL pennant series. Not that that's actually going to happen, though. ;> )

[Cujo]

Awesome finish in Orlando.

Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winning jumper!

[TFoA]

Awesome finish in Orlando. Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winner!

And that's what I actually like about the Celtics: ANYBODY on that team can make a game-winner. All of those guys have stepped their game up with KG being gone. It's actually very endearing. Championship heart from those guys.

[Island_Style]

Awesome finish in Orlando. Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winner!

And that's what I actually like about the Celtics: ANYBODY on that team can make a game-winner. All of those guys have stepped their game up with KG being gone. It's actually very endearing. Championship heart from those guys.

I will never respect him after he cried when KG (I think) yelled at him. If it wasnt for basketball he would suck at life.

[MDC]

Awesome finish in Orlando. Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winner!

And that's what I actually like about the Celtics: ANYBODY on that team can make a game-winner. All of those guys have stepped their game up with KG being gone. It's actually very endearing. Championship heart from those guys.

I will never respect him after he cried when KG (I think) yelled at him. If it wasnt for basketball he would suck at life.

There's a reason they call him Big Baby!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzR60xPDLQs...feature=related

[NJTank]

Yeah Big Baby is the last player I would expect to win a game like that on the Celtics.

[FiddySicks]

Awesome finish in Orlando. Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winner!

And that's what I actually like about the Celtics: ANYBODY on that team can make a game-winner. All of those guys have stepped their game up with KG being gone. It's actually very endearing. Championship heart from those guys.

I swear when Davis hit that shot I felt the same way I did the first time I saw Gerald cross the finish line in Heavyweights.

[Burning River]

I think I saw a quick graphic the Houston is 4-0 now vs. the Lakers without Yao. I could understand losing a tough game to an inspired team that fought hard. The Lakers got TOTALLY wiped out and dominated. So, sure the Celtics and Magic could very well beat the Cavaliers. A team could lose (or win) a game at any time. I highly doubt the Cavs would overlook an under-manned opponent to a point where the get totally demolished like that. I say this now, watch the Hawks rip 'em open tonight!

Boston and Orlando is a fun series to watch. I like the fact that it will at least be 6 Games (for the Cavs' sake), most likely 7. I really don't know who has the advantage. Obviously, Home Court isn't much of a factor. Each team showed that they can lose at home in each round. Just because the Celtics have 2 of 3 at home really dossn't mean much. It will help in a Game 7... no guarantee though.

Another quick note...

I have seen the Carmello 3 a few times now. It's a situation where if Anthony missed the shot, the Nuggets would be crying "Foul!" Since he made it, Nuggets say there was no foul. The way I see it is that I think it was a bad attempt at an intentional foul by Wright. You can't bump, take a swipe and then pull your hands up as if to say "It wasn't me!" I mean heck, Wright sort of gave the Ref an out by doing that. Don't leave anything up to the imagination. The foul had to be enough to impede Carmello and not get a shot off.

[gingerbreadmann]

Awesome finish in Orlando. Of all people, Big Baby Davis with the game-winner!

And that's what I actually like about the Celtics: ANYBODY on that team can make a game-winner. All of those guys have stepped their game up with KG being gone. It's actually very endearing. Championship heart from those guys.

When he hit that, I literally froze for about 10 seconds with my jaw dropped. I have always disliked BBD and his jumpers. Maybe I should elevate our relationship to "love-hate."

[roxfan00]

Report: Mavs' Cuban confronted K-Mart's mom

ESPN.com news services

The NBA is reviewing a postgame confrontation between Mark Cuban and the mother of Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin during which the Dallas Mavericks owner referred to Martin as a "thug" or a "punk," according to a report in The Denver Post.

Cuban told the Denver newspaper by e-mail that as he walked off the court after the Mavericks' Saturday night loss in Dallas, he saw Martin's mother, Lydia Moore, as a fan was yelling that the Nuggets were "thugs."

"That includes your son," Cuban said to Moore, according to his e-mail to The Post.

Martin's agent, Brian Dyke, had a different take on the incident, The Post reported. According to Dyke, an unprovoked Cuban told Moore, "Your son is a punk."

Either way, NBA spokesman Tim Frank told the paper the "situation on the floor postgame is being reviewed."

According to The Associated Press, Frank said Sunday the league was still reviewing the wider postgame scene on the court, when Dallas' Josh Howard and Cuban were among those visibly upset after Carmelo Anthony hit a game-winning 3-pointer with one second to play.

The shot, which came after Antoine Wright's obvious attempt to draw a foul on Anthony, took the Nuggets from two points down to one point ahead, giving them a 106-105 victory and a commanding 3-0 lead in the second-round series.

Martin, a Dallas native known for his physical play, was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Monday, a day after knocking Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki to the court in Denver's series-opening win.

After the game, Nowitzki downplayed the contact as "just a hard playoff foul." The Mavericks All-Star has no beef with Martin, either.

"We both played hard, had some great battles and left it at that," Nowitzki said Tuesday. "We were laughing at one move that I made on the block where I had like 10 or 11 fakes and he was just standing there. He asked me what the hell I was doing?"

On the play in question, Nowitzki was off-balance when Martin put a shoulder to him, causing him to stumble and then slide across the lane. Nowitzki disputed that he made the foul look worse that it was.

"I don't think I really acted on that play," he said. "It was pretty obvious."

Nowitzki doesn't think Martin will change his style because of the fine.

"K-Mart is K-Mart. He's an aggressive player, an aggressive defender," Nowitzki said. "He goes to the basket hard. I don't think that's going to be in the back of his mind."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

ESPN

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

Tank,

Missed or rigged?

From Yahoo! Sports

?At the end of the Dallas-Denver game this evening, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony?s three-point basket,? Joel Litvin, NBA president of league and basketball operations, said in a statement issued by the league about two hours after the game.

NBA Admits Error at End of Nuggets@Mavericks

This is what hurts the NBA, no sport has worse officiating, what are the Mavs to do hang that apology on the wall, and say we won in our hearts.

no, there is no paid refs. No conspiracy theory. nothing. Its a clear and present example of the mavs finding some messed up way of choking in the playoffs. Its their tradition, it's what they do best. Once that team gets blown up in a year or two, then its back to 1996.