09 playoffs thread

But tbh he was defending well on the play up to that point

yeah that foul and the inbounds lob were major brainfarts by teh nuggs down the stretch last nite - they are kicking themselves for letting that one slip away def

inbounds play was inexcusable--should've just tossed to the backcourt as soon as they realized lal put odom on carter

billups didnt come to the ball and whoever was inbounding tossed it up like whatever - total mental collapse

Feels like the lakers were the ones that stole the game when it should have been the other way around

its interesting neither team has anyone to stop the others premiere scorer - kobels and melo are gonna be lighting it up all series - tho youd think that odom would be good on melo - maybe just an off game/fouls

early fouls may def have messed odom up

"its interesting neither team has anyone to stop the others premiere scorer"

I don't buy this at all. Lakers have plenty of guys who can harrass Melo (Kobe not the least of them.)

Melo may still go completely like he crazy (like he did last night), but the Lakers aren't set up poorly to guard him at all.

"i remember him totally dominating and getting inside lol antoine walkers head a few years back in the ecf"

Wait Antoine Walker?

http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2009/05/fd-everywhere-and-stil-inside.html

Was watching these awesome FD/adidas ads (what a weird world) when I had thoughts, which is rare, so I'm writing them down:

(1) Golden Age

(2) So many weird, cool players. Find me somebody normal at this point. league of stars freaks

(2) I forgot Rose was a rookie!

Melo may still go completely like he crazy (like he did last night), but the Lakers aren't set up poorly to guard him at all.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:38 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the lakers judging from their output to date are not set up well to guard anyone

To me the problem is the interior though, not at the wings. Gasol and Bynum look like they forget they are on basketball court at times.

Which in Bynum's case is okay dudes still getting his legs, but no fucking idea what Gasol's excuse is. Sometimes his instincts are just atrocious.

yeah thats prob true - but it affects their whole team - if the wings cant trust the interior to have their back then it become easier to shoot over them draw fouls etc

That doesn't seem to be problem yet though. The problem is that the wings are funneling dudes into the interior and Gasol/Bynum are promptly either forgetting to rotate and cut off the penetration or pick up the other's dude to prevent an easy dunk.

Laker's interior D looked about as bad to me as it could last night for the first quarter and parts of the third and fourth and they still won the game. I don't think that bodes well for the Nuggets.

haa wtf u talking abt did u not see the rockets reserves slap a hundred on the lakes - u better pray it doesnt get any worse - the nuggets are a serious offensive team the can do a lot more damage than they did last night

Haha true the Lakers could have played that badly the entire game.

http://blacksportsonline.com/index/20070612182131.jpg

That Houston series was just very strange I don't see the nuggz taking this to game 7 even

ya nuggz will take it in 5 ;)

Lakers in 5.

My coworker went out to a club last night, and Odom and Ariza were there. J.R. Smith showed up later.

Nice soccer sell on the injury, doofus. Enjoy the offseason.

Ice cream - you are a Lakers hater. You have completely compromised any credibility you have with me.

As a blazer fan I have always taken special pleasure in each and every victory over the lakers, but ever since the day when Kupchak traded Shaq and kept Kobe I have upped my commitment to seeing them fail, preferably with extra added humiliation.

So you don't history has exonerated that move? Or you just hate Koblers that much?

I see the talent. I abhor him anyway. He invites it.

I'll put it this way: if the blazers traded for him and started winning a string of championships, I would not like him one whit better.

I wonder if not for accusations of white girl raping if Kobe would still be so hated. Obviously his personality never lent himself to Garnett or Shaq style love and he's not at A-Rod level loathing for most, but it still seems kind of disproportionate to me.

the thing about the nuggs is that none of their bigs try to do more than they are capable of - there's no real dominant force so you'd think that birdman or nene or k mart might think to themselves "alright i can be THE big guy on this team" and try and score a bunch or play outside of their strengths - but instead they just fly around playing good d, grabbing boards and dunking a lot - those three shot 15/27 last night for 37 points + 18 rebounds - they're super effective and let melo and billups do their thing - very interesting imo esp considering that nene and k-mart had huge expectations coming into the league - they've been able to bury their egos

or rather, they've been able to keep high egos by doing things like playing good D and rebounding as opposed to scoring

xp They've both also lost a step or three.

I see the talent. I abhor him anyway. He invites it.

I totally understand this.

If he were not on the Lakers, I wouldn't like him at all, even if he hadn't done what he did when he did what did to that girl in CO.

He's got that air of entitlement to him that just pisses people off.

But you have to love how he and Melo were scrapping last night. Just good, hard playoff play by both of them.

Yeah but all great players (esp. great basketball players) have that air of entitlement. Unless you are going to claim that Jordan/Bird/Magic/Barkley/Garnett don't act exactly the same way? Admittedly a couple of those dudes are/were pretty hated.

And if you don't have that sense of entitlement then everyone accuses you of being boring (Duncan) or not caring/trying enough (Garnett again) so you're kind of damned either way.

Yeah, I think people just hate on Kobes for having that air, plus a smugness to him. I didn't really see that in those other guys. Sort of a pretty boy hatred type thing. Add to that his three rings, his avoidance of a rape charge, and the fact that he's really rich and an international superstar, and people got some hateration going towards him.

http://a.espncdn.com/media/apphoto/2caf8667-d4a4-4798-8e7e-b9d20c5a5a48.jpg

Basically, Kobe = Laettner, plus mutliple rings, off the charts talent, rape charge, etc.

Also, don't discount the fact that he came out of high school, and basically pulled a John Elway and refused to play for Charlotte.

People are just jealous. I don't see him being very public after his basketball career.

Yeah the rape accusation is clearly the elephant in the room here which is why my question was kind of predicated on that not having occurred. Would he be quite this divisive a figure if not for that?

spike lee can s my d

yeah, i don't need that dude cheering for the lakers

"Also, don't discount the fact that he came out of high school, and basically pulled a John Elway and refused to play for Charlotte."

Haha hell it was even worse than that wasn't it? Didn't he basically refuse to play for anyone but the Lakers?

nobody remembers or cares about that

since he was exonerated for the rape thing i don't think that's a big deal either - really only gets brought up for snark reasons - remember, ray lewis murdered someone, jamal lewis was caught basically moving coke - off the field things fade away with time, just look at steroids vs any type of actual crime

kobe's biggest problem is that he's seen as a selfish asshole who forced out a legendary player and hasn't been able to win a championship since - if the lakers manage to win it all this year or next year i think kobe's legacy is locked up and he's regarded as top 10 or 15 of all time

no, they don't.
don't forget about the shaq vs kobe thing. shaq is one of the most likeable athletes ever, so anyone seen as being in a feud w/him, driving him outta town is gonna be disliked by default if nothing else.
xp

Wikipedia:

"According to Arn Tellum, Bryant's agent [at the time of the 1996 draft], Bryant playing for the Charlotte Hornets was 'an impossibility.'"

I think Kobe would be a devisive figure because he generates a lot of opinions, even without the rape charge: He's young, rich, good looking, had an awesome childhood where he lived internationally, and he basically chose where he wanted to play basketball and make a lot of money, where he won 3 rings with Shaq early on.

You all may disagree, but I've heard all of these things brought up by NBA fans not of the LA area within the last 5 months.

To that last point - nobody wins championships alone in the NBA. MJ didn't without Pippen, Magic didn't without Worthy/Kareem, Shaq didn't without Kobe/Wade. If Kobe wins it this year, he'll still have had another All-Star - Gasol - on his team, and a pretty talented crew of role players.

no im saying that the shaq thing is the biggest blotch on his career - more than the rape (it's hardly even been mentioned that he's actually going back to where it was in this series) and waaaaayyy more than the draft thing which probably 20% of the general basketball watching public remembers

shaq was fat and lazy! got schooled by ben wallace and i for one didnt shed a tear when they shipped his ass out. i like the dude but it was time for him to move on.

I don't remember Ray Lewis murdering anyone actually (pretty sure even his friends walked with that one, didn't they?) I do remember Jamal Lewis getting arrested and charge with moving coke.

ray lewis was caught up in a murder scandal very much in the way kobe was caught up in a rape scandal imo

Pretty authoritative

Gotta say Kobe's not wrong here:

"...Bryant questioned O'Neal's claims of team leadership. Bryant claimed that O'Neal came into training camp "fat" and "out of shape", that O'Neal blamed others for the team's defeats, and had previously exaggerated the degree to which injuries had affected his game as cover for simply being out of condition. Bryant criticized O'Neal's public lobbying for a contract extension. He also criticized O'Neal for only taking responsibility when the team won. He accused O'Neal of threatening not to put forth his best effort if he was not passed the ball more often."