N B A Discussion thread

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
Wow, Hawks have taken the Celtics to game 7.

The Pistons really stomped on the Sixers right from the start of game 6. Hope they keep that momentum going against the Magic.

Go Hawks

[asleepathewheel]

Hawks

The sportsguy meltdown will be breathtaking.

Though I'm sure it will all be Doc Rivers' fault, right?

[Lord Avalon]

Close game for 2.5 quarters, but the Pistons made a run in the 3rd, opening up a 15-pt lead. Magic cut it in half, but the Pistons pulled away again. Final 91-72.

Big Q: what's the status of Howard's left thumb? He went out in the 3rd, holding it in pain. Got it wrapped. Came back in, but trailing by so much, finally sat and had a big ice pack on it.

[ZEE]

[pchang]

Celtics Survive

but I think Atlanta gave Cleveland the blueprint to beat them.

Lakers win.

[-Jrabbit]

What's the blueprint -- wait for them to lose interest?

Problem: Cleveland only has one great athlete; Atlanta's got a bunch. I think we're about to see the Celtic get serious. And they are tough at home. Boston's only problem: no one who matches up with LeBron.

Man, I can just feel the league office salivating over a potential Kobe-LeBron finals.

Personally, I want new blood. The Hornets or Jazz would be a nice change. Historically, I hate Boston, but I like this version and they've been down a long time. Plus, they're the only team that gives the East a shot.

[pchang]

The League Office

would salivate over Lakers - Celtics final too.

Blue print - keep it close. At the end, double Pierce and give the ball to Le Bron.

[Ninot]

I don't follow the NBA much, but why are several round 2 matches being played before the Celtic round 1 series was over?

[ZEE]

the media and public demand for entertainment.

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Ninot
I don't follow the NBA much, but why are several round 2 matches being played before the Celtic round 1 series was over?

Yeah, it's stupid. They've always done it this way, then equalize before the finals. I believe their "reasoning" is that it maximizes the span of having a game on national TV (albeit cable on weekdays) every day. It gets really silly some years, with dominant teams forced to take long breaks before the finals begin.

I think the Bulls had an 11- or 12-day break before between conference final and league finals one year.

[OzzyKP]

It wouldn't be such a problem if half the league didn't make it into the playoffs and they didn't last a month.

[Ninot]

When was the last time a low seed won the championship anyway?

[snoopy369]

I could've seen DEN winning it all if they'd magically figured out 'defense'... or DAL if they'd magically figured out "playing basketball". Neither happened, of course.

Basically, the West has 8 of the top 10 teams in the league... and that's being generous to the East, many years. There are 12 teams that should be in the playoffs, but 9 of them are in the West, which leads to the problem of, either you go to 6 teams/division, and several good West teams are left out while some East teams are let in that shouldn't be, or else 8 teams and ... several good west teams are left out and some East teams are let in that shouldn't be. You'd have to cut it to 4 to allow only good East teams in, and at that point the West would be leaving out championship caliber teams. (If you let in only 4 teams this year, it would have been LA, NO, SA, PHX, HOU, iirc... leaving out DAL, PHX, UT, DEN)

Theoretically you could do a re-distribution of teams (say, AL-NL style, with less regional breakdowns; but that leads to problems with travelling, that Baseball deals with via the 3 game series but Basketball can't really do; or North/South, but nearly all of the good West teams are in the south) but I don't really think that would work in the long run...

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Ninot
When was the last time a low seed won the championship anyway?

The 94-95 Houston Rockets were the lowest seed (6th) to win a championship. The defending champs had an injury-plagued regular season.

Since then the lowest seed to win was 3rd (Pistons, Spurs).

[Lord Avalon]

Pistons win a close one 100-93.