NBA Playoffs, 2005

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon May 02, 2005 2:31 am

Here's a classic picture:

Talk about an ass kicking...I hate Jason Williams.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon May 02, 2005 8:56 am

bdoughty wrote:While watching Allan Iverson dribble today I pondered an age old question I guess I have never posted. Do they call carrying/palming the ball anymore? I swear when he has it in his right hand he could be whistled for it every time down court. Yet when he goes to the left hand it is not quite so bad and "almost" looks like a fundamental dribble. Not that proper ball handling is limited to Iverson but he just seems to be the worst offender.

Yeah, I see it but I view it much like the "neighborhood tag" at second base in baseball. It's close enough to a proper dribble for me. It doesn't seem like he's gaining much of an advantage as he seems it is most pronounced when he is just walking up the court with the ball. He really doesn't do it when he's running or in traffic. It's probably something he shouldn't do, but I really don't see how the outcome of games or plays is changed in any way.

It must be the result of carrying the entire weight of his team on his back. 37 points and 15 assists on Friday...jeesh.

BTW, have any of you been catching Andre Iguodala's dunks this year? The guy is a human highlight film.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:33 am

Leebo33 wrote:It must be the result of carrying the entire weight of his team on his back. 37 points and 15 assists on Friday...jeesh.

That injury has apparently sapped a great deal from Webber. His stats are still decent to good but his impact on the game is not what it should be.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:38 am

Webber isn't as young as he used to be. A lot of these guys, I wonder if they're keeping up the training because they don't seem as explosive as their first few years.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:58 am

wco81 wrote:Webber isn't as young as he used to be. A lot of these guys, I wonder if they're keeping up the training because they don't seem as explosive as their first few years.

Well in Webber's case I do believe it's the injury. He wasn't the same player even in Sac. He can't really explode like he use to. I think the other factor is that we see NBA players at younger and younger ages recently so you see extreme cases of athleticism. 18,19, and 20 year old kids just doing freakish things like Amare that you can only do at that age. Even world class atheletes by the time they reach 30 can't hide the fact that their speed isn't what it use to be or their once great leaping ability is declining. They have to compensate for it with their experience and basketball skills. In the case of Webber, outside of being a gifted passer, he was never the most fundamentally sound basketball player.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:00 am

reeche wrote:
Leebo33 wrote:It must be the result of carrying the entire weight of his team on his back. 37 points and 15 assists on Friday...jeesh.
That injury has apparently sapped a great deal from Webber. His stats are still decent to good but his impact on the game is not what it should be.

In fairness to Webber, he's played pretty well in the series and he's fitting in better in the offense as time goes by. But you are correct in saying that his overall impact has been minimal. He has 21 rebounds, 1 block, 11 assists, and 10 FTA in 4 games vs. Detroit. He's really become a perimeter player when the Sixers needed a power forward. His game at this point is not materially different than Kenny Thomas'.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:16 am

Leebo33 wrote: His game at this point is not materially different than Kenny Thomas'.

Yeah but his salary is.

Damn, Ray Allen blew up last night with 45pts. Kings on the way out.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Mon May 02, 2005 2:24 pm

One big surprise so far is how far the Kings have fallen. I dont' follow them much but do recall they were battling for the best record by all star break. Looks like the wheels have fallen off that bus and they're play like they dont even care anymore. Seattle has really impressed me on how well they are playing defense.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Mon May 02, 2005 2:27 pm

Weaver2005 wrote: Looks like the wheels have fallen off that bus and they're play like they dont even care anymore.

Well mainly just a talent drain. This isn't really the same squad they were a couple of years ago.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon May 02, 2005 2:36 pm

Yeah Sonics had a rep. for being soft inside. We'll see if James is for real or just beat up on another team soft inside. Then again, most people long suspected Fortson was a thug (and not in the hip hop sense).

Adelman was complaining about all the shoving the Sonics were doing after Game 3, the only game the Kings won. In the first two games, there was a lot of jumping up people's backs and they were letting them play pretty physically.

Nate McMillan used to take some hard fouls as a player. Sharunas Marcioulonis used to get beat up whenever the Warriors played the Sonics, particularly up in Seattle. One time, McMillan clipped him hard from behind on a breakaway, driving him way beyond the baseline. Was not the least bit apologetic. And the cowardly refs pretended not to notice. Probably didn't like a "Ruskie" player in the NBA.

Spurs and Sonics could be a second round matchup. It'll be interesting to see what they try to do against Ginobli, who drew a flagrant foul from Anthony the other night (Karl probably stresses "physical" play). Anthony was ejected so he should be getting a suspension.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue May 03, 2005 2:06 am

Goodbye Denver...

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue May 03, 2005 9:33 am

That officiating was so ridiculous.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:09 am

wco81 wrote:That officiating was so ridiculous.

Welcome to the NBA playoffs.

In the Celtics/Pacers game 4, every call went the C's way in the 1st half.....and I am a Celtics fan.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:10 am

wco81 wrote:That officiating was so ridiculous.

I was interested in the Houston-Dallas series until I watched last night's game. I am a Rockets fan. However, the lack of calls on anyone guarding Yao is simply more than I can stomach. They called an offensive foul on Yao in the 3rd or 4th quarter as he was trying to position himself near the lane that was so bad, I turned on the Astros game for a while to cool off. If I want to watch wrestling, I will watch WWE Raw.

Did the Rockets lose due to officiating? No. They lost because they failed to execute in the 4th quarter and they failed miserably in their foul shooting. However, when Yao is being wrestled by someone who is mismatched and the foul is called on YAO, then I have a big problem with the NBA and it's "officiating". Not to mention the blown call on Micheal Finley's steal when his feet were clearly out of bounds. If I can see it on my TV, the damn referee should be able to see it from 10-15 feet away. Nauseating. The NBA is pushing me farther and farther AWAY from their product.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:14 am

The officiating was fairly decent in the Suns/Grizzlies series, but then again, I may have been biased since my team was the agressor and they had like 60 more free throws over the 4 game series.

Regardless...in every other series I've watched, I have been less than impressed.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:53 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:The officiating was fairly decent in the Suns/Grizzlies series, but then again, I may have been biased since my team was the agressor and they had like 60 more free throws over the 4 game series.

Before game 5 of the Rockets/Mavs series, Dallas had MADE 8 more FT's than Houston had ATTEMPTED. Something is terribly wrong with that picture and the data supports Jeff van Gundy's public comments.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:04 pm

DivotMaker wrote:Before game 5 of the Rockets/Mavs series, Dallas had MADE 8 more FT's than Houston had ATTEMPTED. Something is terribly wrong with that picture and the data supports Jeff van Gundy's public comments.

That's not neccessarily true. Did you watch the Phoenix/Memphis series? The Suns made quite a few more free throws than the Grizzlies attempted. The reason wasn't poor officiating...it was because the Grizzlies were passive and the Suns were the agressors the entire series. When a team is running by you with regularity, you have a tendancy to grab and push...leading to more fouls. Now, I haven't watched every game in the Houston/Dallas series so I don't know that to be true...but I do know that Houston is choking pretty bad, so it seems to me that Dallas is the one taking it to the hoop all day long.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:12 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Now, I haven't watched every game in the Houston/Dallas series so I don't know that to be true...but I do know that Houston is choking pretty bad, so it seems to me that Dallas is the one taking it to the hoop all day long.

Houston is not executing in the 4th Quarter like they did in games 1 & 2, but the officiating is dictating a great deal of the momentum. Houston was very aggressive last night in taking it to the hoop, but they were getting hacked badly and nothing was called. Yet it is perfectly fine for Nowitzki to climb over the back of whichever Rocket is in the way to grab an offensive rebound with yet no call there either. Believe me, the Rockets deserve to be where they are from a lack of execution...but the officiating is so poor that it is hard not to think that there is something rotten going on behind the scenes. It is just that blatant IMHO.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Tue May 03, 2005 3:06 pm

wco81 wrote:That officiating was so ridiculous.

It was so bad even mild mannered Tim Duncan almost went ape **** on a ref after he fouled out by never even touching Carmello. That call was simply an attempt by the NBA to extend the series.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue May 03, 2005 10:29 pm

Goodbye Boston...no way they come back and win at Conseco.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:07 am

Don't be so sure. I'll say it again--this Pacers team is IMPOSSIBLE to figure out, they zig when they should zag.

But having Tinsley back makes them 10x better on the offensive end of the court. He had some amazing "Mark Jackson in the mid-90s" performances to lead the team to victories this year. I don't think he turns them into a Finals contender or anything, but they might put a scare in their next opponent...IF they can get by the Celtics.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed May 04, 2005 10:09 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:Goodbye Boston...no way they come back and win at Conseco.

I would normally agree, but making predictions in this series is impossible.

But bye-bye Kwame Brown. Tim Legler had a great comment on him on Mike and Mike: "Kwame Brown's not the sharpest cheese in your fridge."

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:21 pm

Did they give the reason why Brown was suspended?

That Bulls/Wizards series looks like it's gonna go 7. How could chicago play defense that well at home but look lost on the road. These 2 teams are mirror images of each other.

This is working out well for the Heat since Shaq is getting a week to heal up. That may help out a lot when they play the Pistons in the ECF.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:30 pm

Brown was suspended because he faked an injury or sickness to keep him out of practice or drills or whatever. That's what I heard on Sportscenter last night.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed May 04, 2005 12:39 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Brown was suspended because he faked an injury or sickness to keep him out of practice or drills or whatever. That's what I heard on Sportscenter last night.

Yeah, he played four minutes in game 3, then suddenly got a stomach virus and couldn't practice or play. It's one thing if I call in sick to work. When you're a multimillion dollar athlete, you get your ass on the bench (even if you don't play) unless you can't get out of a hospital bed.

I'm worried about tonight's Bulls/Wiz game. Wizards have jumped out to early leads in the last three, only their horrendous cold snap and Hinrich's hot hand in Game 2 have kept the series even. I think whoever wins tonight's game wins the series. If Washington does, they will just have too much momentum and will close it out in game 6 at home. If the Bulls win, I think the Wizards will have a hard time winning a game 7 in Chicago, even if they make it 3-3 by winning game 6.

Bulls have gotten away from what works for them. They've turned the ball over way too much, and their shot selection has been poor. Although in fairness, the lid was nailed shut on the rim during the first half of game 4 for them. They blew about five close shots in the second quarter that rimmed in or just missed. Just had one of those games. They really miss Eddy Curry, I think he would have had a field day against the soft Washington front court.