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Official 2005 NBA Playoffs thread! Now with 100% less Kobe!
- Thread starter DMczaf
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"You don't spit in the wind. You don't tug on Superman's cape. And you don't play Hack-A-Shaq in the postseason." :lol I'll always choose Sunshine Network's coverage of Heat games over TNT/ESPN. 
bionic: What makes you think I'm kidding? This impressive Nets team features Kidd, one of the best PGs in history, and a rejuvenated Vince Carter who's no longer sandbagging. And I won't even begin to talk about Richard Jefferson and the rest of the role players. It's really a testament to how good this Heat team is. But that almost goes without saying. PEACE.
bionic: What makes you think I'm kidding? This impressive Nets team features Kidd, one of the best PGs in history, and a rejuvenated Vince Carter who's no longer sandbagging. And I won't even begin to talk about Richard Jefferson and the rest of the role players. It's really a testament to how good this Heat team is. But that almost goes without saying. PEACE.
Pimpwerx said:"You don't spit in the wind. You don't tug on Superman's cape. And you don't play Hack-A-Shaq in the postseason." :lol I'll always choose Sunshine Network's coverage of Heat games over TNT/ESPN.
bionic: What makes you think I'm kidding? This impressive Nets team features Kidd, one of the best PGs in history, and a rejuvenated Vince Carter who's no longer sandbagging. And I won't even begin to talk about Richard Jefferson and the rest of the role players. It's really a testament to how good this Heat team is. But that almost goes without saying. PEACE.
No doubt the Heat are one of the top 5 teams in the league, but you are insane if you really consider the Nets to be a powerhouse team. Kidd and Jefferson aren't even at 100% this year and even if they were they don't have any sort of inside presence anymore without K-Mart. They are only in the playoffs because of a historic choke by the Cavs and from being in the Eastern Conference.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
does anyone give a crap about the sonics/kings series?
this shit is fucking boring
this shit is fucking boring
FrenchMovieTheme said:
yea, sonics are running roughshed over the pathetic ass kings. :lol btw, who gives a shit about the sorry ass 49'ers? they're fucking terrible.
anyway, glad to see the kings brought their "A" game tonight. allens and lewis basically riding the bench all night long and they're still up by 24 going into the 4th... :lol
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
shutup bitch i don't want fair weather fans jumping on our bandwagon too early anyways, you'll see how many niners fans come out of the woodshed when we reel off 4 or 5 straight wins to start the year
you are just mad because no seattle team has ever won any major sports title that matters. how sad
p.s. nor will they ever win anything of consequence
The Chosen One
Member
Don't be shy guys. There's plenty of room of room on the Dwayne Wade bandwagon.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
we lost 9 "winnable" games last year with a beat up roster and a terrible coaching staff. don't listen to the bullshit eastern-biased national media. they don't follow us or know shit about us. most probably found out right before the draft that we fired dennis erickson
but i dont want to turn this into a football thread.
the NJ/MIA series reminds me of the NJ/LAL series from the finals: regardless of what the score is, even if NJ is WINNING, it doesn't feel competitive at all. as if miami is just toying with them at times. poor vince
but i dont want to turn this into a football thread.
the NJ/MIA series reminds me of the NJ/LAL series from the finals: regardless of what the score is, even if NJ is WINNING, it doesn't feel competitive at all. as if miami is just toying with them at times. poor vince
Niners should have traded the top pick and got Mike Williams + something else, maybe even Aaron Rodgers. Mike Williams is going to be a stud, and there's less risk with recievers.
And nobody cares about NJ. The Sonics/Kings series has been ugly. Neither team is shooting lights out.
And nobody cares about NJ. The Sonics/Kings series has been ugly. Neither team is shooting lights out.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
dude dont talk to me about "less risk with receivers" when i was already burned by one southern california bitch about 10 years ago by the name of jj stokes.
do you know we traded ray lewis and eric moulds for jj stokes? that makes me fucking sick
do you know we traded ray lewis and eric moulds for jj stokes? that makes me fucking sick
Ned Flanders
Banned
Cloudy said:
Thank you. I for one will make it my personal mission to talk as much shit about Alonzo as possible. He's every bit as deserving of both the criticism leveled at Malone and Payton for being ring chasers and Jim Jackson for being a no-show after the Hornets trade.
Number one, he left Miami, the organization that had been so good to him for years, including during the time they labored without him in the lineup because of his illness. During that time, his numbers still counted against the cap and he didn't relenquish a dime, all while Pat Riley contemplated suicide as the team floundered and attendance plummeted. He rewarded the team by turning down equal money on a contract renewal to run to Jersey, who, given their recent success, seemed like a better candidate to secure a ring.
Then what happens? His illness returns, he plays minimally, and the team gets bounced before the ECF. Then when the team gets blown up in the offseason, with K-Mart departing and Kidd undergoing surgery while clamoring for a trade, frontrunner Alonzo continues with his classlessness and starts complaining that he wants out. After getting what he asked for and being shipped to Toronto for VC, the scumbag refuses to report to the team.
Toronto then bites the bullet and cuts Alonzo loose to free up the roster spot, eating most (all?) of his salary and allowing him the chance to bandwagon elsewhere. And where does he jump to? Well why not Miami?? Shit's all roses there now with Dwayne Wade budding into a superstar and the Diesel arriving to shore them up as contenders.
So NOW you're good enough for Miami Zo?? After you fucked them over for supporting and paying you during your toughest battle in life? After you fucked over the Nets, your would-be gravy train to a title, and the Raptors, when they paid you for being sick and to not even show up for the team? FUCK YOU.
Zo is one of these self-absorbed pricks who is all about Zo and nobody else. In the press conference after the game he talked about the sacrafices he made to get into playing shape after his illness. Sacrafices? You haven't sacraficed SHIT Alonzo!! Whether you get your ring or not, you still got the boatloads of cash you were paid at your previous stops, and the only ones taking losses along the way were the teams who expected basic things like actual oncourt production or maybe a smidge of loyalty out of you. But you had to do, you, all others be damned. Don't paint yourself out to be some kind of inspiring figure when you're nothing but a pompous ass who took too many anti-inflamatories, fucked up his kidneys, and then, realizing his time was running out, sold his soul to be grossly overpaid to gravy train a ring. You make me LIKE K-Mart for punking your ass out in Jersey..he may be a dumb thug but I'm sure he's seen enough stuck up assholes in his time to know one when he sees one.
And while I'm rambling here, let me just allude to how this plays in to the whole "win at all costs" culture that we perpetuate as fans. It is a complete CROCK OF SHIT that it takes a championship to legitimize a players career, and that we put such a premium on judging players by championships that we drive them to sell out and chase titles via bandwagoning. So many greats have never won titles because sports are predominately team games, and I've never thought more of a player who got a title simply because he joined a team already destined for one anyway. Its akin to the punk ass kid at the pickup game weasling his way onto the team with all the big guys and then bragging about their dominance when they win every game. FUCK THAT GUY, AND FUCK THE PEOPLE WHO THINK BETTER OF HIM BECAUSE HE WINS.
I never thought more of Mitch Ritchmond, Clyde Drexler, Glen Rice, Steve Smith, or any of the great players of the last decade who happened to get a ring by joining already great teams, because they were already great players to begin with and they didn't need rings to legitimize their careers. It just sickens me that all these bastards on the John Elway side of the Elway/Marino argument, or at least the ones who give Elway the nod simply because he got some rings, perpetuate this culture of "win, at any cost to your character" and think less of players like Barkley, Ewing, Stockton, Miller (assuming he doesn't get it this year) because they never secured a chip. People like this are what drive the Paytons/Mournings/Malones of the world to sell out and make classless asses of themselves in pursuit of something that would make them no greater as ballplayers than they already were. Stop this nonsense now.
Ned Flanders said:
I agree with what you're saying, but I don't really think it's the fans driving the "championships or you're a failure" mythos. There are some fans that think that way for sure, but I think a lot of where it is coming from is out of the sports media. The kinds of needling questions they press in interviews, their analysis echo chambers, their clock killing sports-talk radio prattle, they all seem to cement this phenomenon over the airwaves.
Also, I think it's more the players themselves driving themselves to classlessness more than anything else. Even if their fans opposed them, I wouldn't think that they would care really, because in the end they really just want that one last bullet point on their resume for themselves more than anything else. I can't really see Payton, Malone or Mourning really giving a shit about what the average fan thinks about them.
<wonders if he cares about Zo's team hopping>
<still thinking>
<decides... no, but understands your frustration... just doesn't give a f*ck.>
BTW if you're gonna rant about Zo I can think of a few other people who need to be ranted about as well.
<still thinking>
<decides... no, but understands your frustration... just doesn't give a f*ck.>
BTW if you're gonna rant about Zo I can think of a few other people who need to be ranted about as well.
Ned Flanders
Banned
Dsal said:
You make a good point about the media, but I personally view the media as a kind of extension of the fans given that we should be their number one source of accountability.
Dsal said:
Thats fair, but the fact is that this perceived need to secure a championship is based on how players are judged by fans and historians creating a kind of social pressure. These athletes feel a need to be accepted as greats in their era once their playing days are through..it validates their careers. But I don't think (going back to the easy Marino illustration) that guys like Marino or Jim Kelly would feel so slighted if we as a society were big enough people to say "your careers speak for themselves, winning a championship doesn't validate you". But when All-time greats like a Barkley or a Marino or a Ewing are stigmatized because they weren't priveleged enough to be on a team that could get them over the hump, this kind of social pressure becomes its own entity, and drives guys like Payton and Malone and Mourning to sell out simply for the sake of a ring. Because in the unjust world of "win at all costs" judgment, we (meaning pricks who think this way) might consider whether or not Mourning was a better center than Ewing based only on the fact that he secures a ring this year. Mark my words..someone will make the comparison, and the assanine cycle will continue. It's absurd and unfair, and its breeding athletes like Mourning who will stop at no level of shame in order to meet the criteria of these morons..
The most remarkable thing happened last night during the Heat/Nets halftime: Magic Johnson actually made a insightful, coherent, and valuable point about how opposing teams need to double Shaq with big men, not the point guard, which is very true. The most effective jobs guarding Shaq or Duncan in the playoffs has been Detroit in the 2004 Finals and Phoenix in the 2003 first round. Both times, the team doubled Shaq/Duncan with a big forward (Wallace/Marion/Stoudemire), essentially trapping him. This made the outlet pass very difficult. Magic didn't go as far as mentioning these other examples of effective double teams (I don't expect that much from him, although Barkley did chime in with the Horace Grant/Pippen example) but I was still impressed. He's no longer quite as painfully bad in the studio.
Yeah, it's pretty stpid how the double off Damon or Eddie and Shaq just chucks it back for a 3 :lol Make Haslem, Mouring and any of the other PFs beat you with jumpers.
The problem with the Nets is that they can't score when they do get stops. Too many jumpers and they are getting their shots altered in the paint. They lack the size to matchup and the Heat are just coasting....
The problem with the Nets is that they can't score when they do get stops. Too many jumpers and they are getting their shots altered in the paint. They lack the size to matchup and the Heat are just coasting....
Bat said:
Yeah that was definitely a solid point, it was nice of Charles to back up the example by giving specific names as examples of HOW to double team somebody... Magic probably didn't mention specific examples... because he couldn't think of any at the time.
Detroit and Miami are just coasting this round... next round... lots of big bodies on both sides... like Charles said... it's gonna be war down in the paint, should be an awesome series.
BatiGOOOOOOL
Member
Hey guys, I haven´t posted since the Spurs debacle on Sunday because my computer is getting repaired(stupid power supply!!!). I just wanted to say a couple of things....
The Pistons are looking awesome once again, T-Mac is the heir apparent and it looks like Bowen will win the DPoY. HAHA!
Anyway, I´m expecting a much more focused Spurs team tonight, especially with the Nuggets spewing a lot of shit and already talking about championships when they haven´t won anything of significance.
We can still lose, because they do have very good team and TD`s ankle is still obviously bothering him, but I`m looking forward to a playoff-type performance from my team.
The Pistons are looking awesome once again, T-Mac is the heir apparent and it looks like Bowen will win the DPoY. HAHA!
Anyway, I´m expecting a much more focused Spurs team tonight, especially with the Nuggets spewing a lot of shit and already talking about championships when they haven´t won anything of significance.
We can still lose, because they do have very good team and TD`s ankle is still obviously bothering him, but I`m looking forward to a playoff-type performance from my team.
Bat said:
I alway wonder why more teams don't follow that exact same strategy against the post 2001 Shaq (the one that has lost at least 2 steps). It wouldn't have worked against Shaq in his prime but it works just fine nowadays and forces him to pass the ball to scrubs who don't know what to do or take a tough fallaway jumper against a double team (not his specialty).
Maybe Detroit and San Antonio are the only two teams that have the coaching and players to carry it out?
bionic77 said:
I always figured that most teams would rather rotate a double team from the perimeter than from down low and potentially give up an easy basket. Combine that with not every team has two competent big men to make adjustments like that during defense.
Sheeeit - a blind squirrel has to find a nut some days. Ol' Mumblemouth Magic shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a live mic unless he's opening up a new movie theater. Stick to making jillions of dollars stimulating the economies of black communities, Magic - you're good at it and it suits you. Blathering on and on about God-knows-what while the civilized world snickers is not a good thing.Bat said:
Oh yeah Ned - sports rant of the year so far.
I don't care that much about Zo's jumping around, but I understand your point.Ninja Scooter
Member
Making fun of Magic is most certainly NOT back!
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Ned Flanders said:
I would agree with you, but besides Mouring being one of my favorite players to play the game after Mumble mouth Magic , and the Human Highlight.. He came back from a crippling illness..an illness that would end almost anyone's career... cut him a little slack, he wants to win in what little time he has left on the basketball court.. also he came back to the team he spent most of his pro career with.. what's wrong with that?drafted by the Hornets, went to the Heat, played one year on the Nets a few months on the Raptors and back to the heat...don't hate
- He bailed on the Heat when they were down after they still paid him while he was ill
- Took the Nets money (no one else was gonna sign him for that much) and bailed on them when they were down as well
- Refused to play for the Raps after he was traded and had to be bought out
- Ran back to the Heat cos times are good now. Do you think he'd be there if the Heat were still a joke in the East? He'd be on the Spurs or something :lol
That's petty lame and it makes me want the Heat to lose even more
Blackace
if you see me in a fight with a bear, don't help me fool, help the bear!
Cloudy said:- He bailed on the Heat when they were down after they still paid him while he was ill
- Took the Nets money (no one else was gonna sign him for that much) and bailed on them when they were down as well
- Refused to play for the Raps after he was traded and had to be bought out
- Ran back to the Heat cos times are good now. Do you think he'd be there if the Heat were still a joke in the East? He'd be on the Spurs or something :lol
That's petty lame and it makes me want the Heat to lose even more
which means they will win it all... besides isn't your favorite player a whiny bitch? oh yeah.. one that said if Shaq stays I am going to the Clippers... hahaha
Hurricane_Chris
DDK
Cloudy said:- He bailed on the Heat when they were down after they still paid him while he was ill
- Took the Nets money (no one else was gonna sign him for that much) and bailed on them when they were down as well
- Refused to play for the Raps after he was traded and had to be bought out
- Ran back to the Heat cos times are good now. Do you think he'd be there if the Heat were still a joke in the East? He'd be on the Spurs or something :lol
That's petty lame and it makes me want the Heat to lose even more
WOW! Konex, dude, your main man (I refuse to even say his name in this thread -- no playoffs for him, no mention of him in the GAF NBA thread) is the biggest bitch in all the NBA. Regardless of 'Zo's motives for coming back at least the desire to win seems to be his#1 priority. 'Zo is really a shell of his former self due to his illness, but you can sense he smells this is his last best shot at a championship... Sometimes he looks like the 'Zo of old out there even there is no way he should be doing what he's doing. Your main man may want to win, but it's obviously not very high on his list of priorities... He single handedly ran off the best coach in the NBA, and the teamate that gave him the best shot at continuing to win championships... As far as a player giving fans something to root against them for, I'd say your main man should be most fan's, especially Laker's fans enemy #1.
On a side note.... DAMN YOU KONEX FOR ROOTING FOR MY MAVS! You have put them into an 0-2 hole...
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