2011 NBA Playoffs

[Lights Out]

It's pathetic because they should be ensuring success by concentrating on front-office moves and team operation instead of making bets with their fanbase.

[The_Admiral]

I don't think they'd do B if they weren't already doing A.

[Brendan]

It's pathetic because they should be ensuring success by concentrating on front-office moves and team operation instead of making bets with their fanbase.

It shows they care and WILL focus on front office moves to make their team better.

[dfwabel]

Owners of Golden State Warriors make "guarantees" concerning 2012-13 2011-12 season.

• THE CLUB will reach the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
• THE CLUB will have a player participate in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando.
• THE CLUB will win 25 or more home games at Oracle Arena.
• THE CLUB will honor a Risk-Free Renewal, with a 5% Interest Guarantee Option for the 2011-12 NBA season.
• If Term 1 is not attained, season ticket prices won't go up for the following season.
• If Term 2 isn't reached, season ticket holders will get some autographed All-Star stuff and be entered into a contest to win an All-Expenses paid trip to that season's All-Star game in Orlando.
• If they fail on Term 3, the season ticket holders will get a 2-hour autograph session with the entire team. Term 4 is already guaranteed.

It's not a money-back guarantee like what the Hawks foolishly did back in 2002-03, but it's a pretty bold statement for the club coming from new ownership. Definitely makes the Warriors a team to watch next season (whenever next season may be), just to see if they can come through on the guarantees.

It may come off as a little desperate to some, but I like it. At least it says that the ownership wants to win and is willing to put its money where its mouth is.

It is not desperate and they do not want to win, even with new ownership. Since the NBA could be locked out, so why not give a guarantee in an attempt to sell more season tickets and try to get former Raiders seat holders (also in a lockout) at the same time? All they want to do is to get as much money in the short term if a lockout is very long. Notice that their "agreement" has no mention of what will occur when there is a lockout or if there is no CBA but for the 5%. This is carefully crafted since they know that they may make more than 5% over the time they have your money.

The Warriors have been top ten in attendance since 2006. It is more to the fact that ownership really is not that akin to knowing how to run a team. Larry Riley is the GM, but he is 66. The newly hired VP/Basketball Operations is a 36 year old former agent, and the Director of BB Ops is the primary owner's 23 year old son. That is why they had to make a move and get Jerry West on staff. West is outspoken already, so there is already a three way power struggle with Riley/West/Myers on the team's future.

[CS85]

The Bulls are fading, the Heat are surging. Who knew that a team with 3 all-world stars in their prime would be good? The Bulls have absolutely no size, Boozer is a complete liability, and Rose just can't do it all by himself anymore.

Hopefully Dallas can deny Miami and their Triad of Toolboxes a title, otherwise we can all look forward to an offseason of Favre-like worship of the Heat from all espn coverage.

[pmoehrin]

If there was a case to be made that Tom Thibodeau shouldn't be coach of the year, this game was it.

His rotations for this series seem to be set in stone. The result Kurt Thomas played as many minutes as me dispute having a thin front court due to Asik's absence, meanwhile 1 for Korver as I'm starting to call him now continues to play valuable minutes and pick up more fouls then field goals.

The result was an exhuasted Bulls team in OT, and its probably going to cost them the series.

[MDC]

The Bulls are fading, the Heat are surging. Who knew that a team with 3 all-world stars in their prime would be good? The Bulls have absolutely no size, Boozer is a complete liability, and Rose just can't do it all by himself anymore.

Hopefully Dallas can deny Miami and their Triad of Toolboxes a title, otherwise we can all look forward to an offseason of Favre-like worship of the Heat from all espn coverage.

I'm all for ripping on the Bulls right now, but not for these reasons. The Bulls actually have WAY more size than the Heat, and routinely do better in the paint, like tonight. Boozer was 20 and 11 tonight, and was absolutely not the problem this series.Rose really just gave this game away. These inexcusable giveaways at the end of the game are just ridiculous. It's either that or a stepback jumper over Lebron. How about you drive and kick/score? Its what won you the MVP award for crying out loud! Ugh, Luol, Booz, Joakim, and even Bogans were having solid nights offensively. FIND THEM

[TFoA]

It could be argued that this game was either a defensive masterpiece, or an offensive crapfest. Considering the fact that both teams just decided to play iso ball near the end there, I'm leaning towards the latter. LeBron did a great job defending Rose at the end of regulation, but a mid-range Rose jumper should NOT be Chicago's play at the end of the game.

Still, the Heat are showing some toughness, & I think Haslem showing up earlier in the series has inspired em. We're definitely looking right down the barrel of a Heat-Mavs finals.

[dfwabel]

The Bulls are fading, the Heat are surging. Who knew that a team with 3 all-world stars in their prime would be good? The Bulls have absolutely no size, Boozer is a complete liability, and Rose just can't do it all by himself anymore.

Hopefully Dallas can deny Miami and their Triad of Toolboxes a title, otherwise we can all look forward to an offseason of Favre-like worship of the Heat from all espn coverage.

But that is why he will get a pass for this playoff season.

If they win the series, then we will hear: "He IS the MVP of the league."

If they lose the series, then we will hear: "He really needs more help on the offensive end."

During the playoffs, Rose has been Rose (with a slightly lower shooting percentage than the season) and Deng has been Deng (and rebounding better). The Boozer/Noah combo is dramatically down in every catagory from the regular season to the playoffs.

DEF Efficiency stats CHI was #1, MIA was #5. In terms of OFF Efficiency MIA was #3; CHI is #12 and when you are better in point differential, you have a better chance to win and should win.

Bottom line, the Heat have three options late in a game, while the Bulls just have one.

[Rockstar Matt]

The Bulls are fading, the Heat are surging. Who knew that a team with 3 all-world stars in their prime would be good? The Bulls have absolutely no size, Boozer is a complete liability, and Rose just can't do it all by himself anymore.

Hopefully Dallas can deny Miami and their Triad of Toolboxes a title, otherwise we can all look forward to an offseason of Favre-like worship of the Heat from all espn coverage.

I'm all for ripping on the Bulls right now, but not for these reasons. The Bulls actually have WAY more size than the Heat, and routinely do better in the paint, like tonight. Boozer was 20 and 11 tonight, and was absolutely not the problem this series.Rose really just gave this game away. These inexcusable giveaways at the end of the game are just ridiculous. It's either that or a stepback jumper over Lebron. How about you drive and kick/score? Its what won you the MVP award for crying out loud! Ugh, Luol, Booz, Joakim, and even Bogans were having solid nights offensively. FIND THEM

I think what CS85 means by saying, "Boozer is a complete liability" is that while Boozer can score, and rebound... kinda... the man doesn't know how to play defense. He's horrendous. Rose just needs more help. He's incredibly gifted, but he can't be asked to do it by himself.

[pmoehrin]

Chicago dominated Miami in the paint. The fact that they lost had nothing to do with the play of Carlos Boozer or Noah.

How about going 6-24 from 3pt range? But what's misleading about that is they had to brick at least 8 wide open shots, most of them coming in the first quarter. They had a chance to put Miami away early, and they couldn't do it.

Teams that don't hit open shots usually don't win. Miami also shot just 43% from the floor. This is a team that has to shot well in order to win, and they didn't in this game. They won by beating the Bulls at their own game which was wearing them down with bench depth, which again goes back to my previous post about Thibodeau being really singled minded in his rotations. Kyle Korver is going to play this many minutes, Gibson is playing this many, Brewer is playing this many, Watson is playing this many and that's it.

Usually that's worked for them, but in this game I think it backfired big time. I thought Boozer and Noah at the end of the game were just exhausted along with the rest of the team, but what I don't understand is that why you wouldn't put in Kurt Thomas when you've lost your backup center? I don't care if he's only on the floor for 5 minutes, you can't expect late game production out of big men that have played 40+ minutes.

[CS85]

I was trashing boozer for his piss poor effort at defense, namely that idiotic flagrant on Bosh. He's a statue in the paint and when he's not drawing fouls he's doing a fine job of looking around all lost at the guys on the other team. What I meant in terms of size was that the Heat can neutralize rose and deng by putting James on them all day long. Rose gives up 12 feet to James and for whatever reason, james scares the hell out of rose. He was hesitant to put up shots the entire second half and made sure to give himself plenty of space before hurling up some crappy bricks.

Speaking of crappy, 38 miami free throws? Are you serious with this officiating?

[pmoehrin]

Speaking of crappy, 38 miami free throws? Are you serious with this officiating?

They were getting some obvious flop calls, which I think the NBA really needs to start cracking down on. You can't blame the players when they are rewarded for their flops.

At the same time though I didn't see too many instances of what I thought was blatent favortisim towards the Heat. I'd say a good 90% of the calls for the Heat were right calls, its also a huge chunk of their game. They were averging 30+ free throws a game. They are a huge dribble drive team, not much ball movement and any team like that and effective is going to get alot of fouls called for them.

[loogodude90]

Speaking of crappy, 38 miami free throws? Are you serious with this officiating?

High free throw counts aren't a solid sign of bad officiating, at all. I HATE the Heat, but I don't think the refs were fixing this game. If they were, there's no way they would have called that offensive foul on LeBron (of all people) near the end of regulation. That could have potentially given away the game for Chicago, had the Bulls not :censored:ed up their chance. Also, remember that it was an OT game, so there was almost an extra half-quarter in the game, and if I'm not mistaken there were some pointless fouls by the Bulls at the end. Two reasons that might contribute to a higher-than-average FT count for the Heat.

[pmoehrin]

Speaking of crappy, 38 miami free throws? Are you serious with this officiating?

High free throw counts aren't a solid sign of bad officiating, at all. I HATE the Heat, but I don't think the refs were fixing this game. If they were, there's no way they would have called that offensive foul on LeBron (of all people) near the end of regulation. That could have potentially given away the game for Chicago, had the Bulls not :censored:ed up their chance. Also, remember that it was an OT game, so there was almost an extra half-quarter in the game, and if I'm not mistaken there were some pointless fouls by the Bulls at the end. Two reasons that might contribute to a higher-than-average FT count for the Heat.

I was just about to edit my post to mention that when you brought it up. I thought it was a good call, but I've seen more aggresive plays not called, and for it be to late in the game as well when refs are known for letting alot go (which they've also backed off of I think) tells me that if there is favortisim being shown they are doing a great job of covering it up, because I don't see it.

[rainmaker17]

Speaking of crappy, 38 miami free throws? Are you serious with this officiating?

I'm a Mavs fan and I remember 2006 all too well. If anyone looked at Dwayne Wade funny he was sent to the line.

[rainmaker17]

Damn dp.

[TFoA]

Mike Brown is the new head coach of the Lakers. 4 years, $18M.

They could've done better. That's all I'll say.

[NJTank]

I think Brian Shaw deserved a shot.

[The_Admiral]

Mike Brown is the new head coach of the Lakers. 4 years, $18M.

Even he can't believe it!