09 playoffs thread

dirty play by petrius, no one wants that.

"absolutely brutal choke"

Don't see it. It was a close game and a few amazing shots by the Lakers basically won it. Howard missing both foul shots might count as a choke if he was an 85% foul shooter, but for him it's kind of par for the course. And high turnovers and sporadic outside shooting are pretty common for the Magic too.

Also as ugly as that Nelson elbow to the face looked, he's diving into Bryant's space there. Look at where Nelson's trying to set his feet up. He's practically standing on Kobe's shoes.

coach always said not to play defense with your face

haha

yeah i mean you cant pin it on howard, who shoots like 60% from the line. i'm sure he'd like those back. you CAN pin it on him for being such a pussy offensively this entire series, though. also, and i'm sure everyone had the same reaction, but how does nelson give fish that good of a look?

i thought van gundy was off base in killing nelson for that - who really thought that fisher was going to take a pull up 3 in transition with that much time on the clock - if anything you want him taking that shot tbh

nelson was looking for kobe as surely everyone else who was watching was

Uh basically any open look at a 3 is a shot you don't want Fisher/Odom/Bryant/Ariza taking in that situation. Van Gundy's totally right. You crowd the shooter in that situation. That said Fisher still had to make it and it wasn't like Nelson was in the next time zone or anything. He had a hand up.

fisher pulled up from almost 2 feet behind the line in transition with no rebounders with 10 (?) seconds left on the clock - i'm not saying that he should've have been there but im not blaming him for thinking "where is kobe and when is fisher going to pass it to him?" cuz that's at least what i was thinking

i'm not saying that he shouldn't have been there*

Try 5-6 seconds left on the clock. And in that situation where only a three can beat you, you are playing to stop the THREE not looking to double team Kobe.

yeah i dunno, with that much time left you gotta crowd anyone with the ball within 25 feet of the hoop...make him go by you or pass it

xxxxxp Howard has got to the only guy I've ever seen that big and that strong who consistently gets tied up by smaller weaker dudes. If Jordan Farmer is stopping you from dunking and you are Dwight Howard something is up.

Howard needs to spend the entire offseason working on offense. He should fly to wherever Hakeem lives.

it's amazing how raw the dude is...he's like a high school kid, he's got 0 basketball IQ. just going straight up and keeping the ball high will solve 75% of his offensive problems

saw the end of the game at a chili's in da OC. HATE ON THAT.

so much greasy luv

:-)

Don't see it. It was a close game and a few amazing shots by the Lakers basically won it. Howard missing both foul shots might count as a choke if he was an 85% foul shooter, but for him it's kind of par for the course. And high turnovers and sporadic outside shooting are pretty common for the Magic too.

Never mind Howard’s free throws. Nelson's defense on Fisher (at the end of reg time) was suicidal. Might have made sense if they were up by four or more, not by three. Van Gundy's devotion to Nelson was suicidal. Lewis just never rose to the occasion. These aren’t just par-for-the-course shooting percentage matters, but have to do with mindset, determination, and decision-making when it matters most, such as when you’re up 5 with 40 seconds to go and a chance to tie the series.

remember when fish was all like 'hup, here comes the ball.." and ariza said 'yup' and fish says 'nothing goin on in the backcourt let me see what jameer talkin bout' and then thought a minute 'man i'm the worst player on the court anyways i feel like bustin and anyway it cant get no worst for the worst player think of it that way' and jameer was like 'shit, i wouuld but i'm a baller like that lol you got kobe to deal with too dont miss lol' and fish was like 'whatever it ain't like that...you know what? fuck it watch him fuck around missing and shit i can miss too that nigga don't run me---' and jameer said '5 seconds dog, i dont want u to get in trouble' and then fish and then UHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

No, can't say I recall that

and jameer said '5 seconds dog, i dont want u to get in trouble'

applause.

After it was over, my perspective was Orlando didn't deserve the win. They aren't up to the mark to be champions. Series is clearly over now. Kobe can get his next ring implanted in his penis soon.

the shitty free throw percentage and ridiculous turnover differential sorta presaged a Magic loss

Nelson got caught double-teaming Kobe Bryant, who kicked the ball to Fisher, and as Kobe made the pass he nailed Nelson in the eye with a hard elbow. Nelson complained to a referee but was rebuffed.

"I doubt that [Kobe] did it on purpose,'' Nelson said. "My ears are ringing right now. But the ref's not going to call that."

Alston said that wasn't the only case of superstar treatment afforded Bryant.

"There were times he was out there cursing the refs out and they weren't calling technical fouls," Alston said of Kobe. "I would get ejected [for that], but they won't eject Kobe."

R U GUYZ WATCHING THIS??????

magic looking shook

I thought they had at least a "not on our court" left in em but i guess not.

see ya next year, basketball.

adam morrison gets a ring in 5... 4... 3... 2...

congratulations kobels

congrats lakeshow, y'all proved you were the best team this year.

still kind of wish this could have been vs celts with healthy kg for the rematch or vs bron, magic were a better team than cavs but we would have gotten at least two spectacular 1-1 battles

i used to be really in favor of the redemption of kobe but this has to be the most hollow celebration in the history of sports

I LOVE MY TEAMMATES I AM SO HAPPY TO CELEBRATE THIS CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THEM COME HERE ANDREW BYNUM AND HUG ME I RESPECT YOU AND YOUR TALENTS SO MUCH I LOVE MY TEAM

PHIL JACKSON I LOOK ON YOU AS A SURROGATE FATHER THIS VICTORY TRULY BELONGS TO YOUR GENIUS NOT TO ME KOBE BRYANT

THE_REAL_SHAQ: Congratualtions kobe, u deserve it. You played great . Enjoy it my man enjoy it. And I know what yur sayin rt now
"Shaq how my ass taste "

lols

pretty happy for gasol though, he played a quality series and i still have feelings for him after he was my secret weapon in fantasy hoops for 3+ years

ariza made himself some crazy money too

aww i didn't think it looked like that. if there is a time for kobels to show human emotion this is it.

omg i forgot the "don't flip over cars or shoot guns in the air" ads since its been a few years

jesus joey buss ought not book any public speaking gigs in the near future

omg fuck u phil with a X hat already made may the ghosts of red auerbach and malcolm x haunt u all summer

i don't think kobe can separate real and fake emotions at this point - he's been publicly living as a persona for two years now

man, i know they're not at home and the celtics were last year, but seriously, this celebration vs ANYTHHHINNNNNG IS POSSSSIBLLLLLLE

lamar odom is thinking about candy

yah this felt more like kobe "i humbly would like to reclaim my birthright" while standing on a pile of bodies versus KG's inner five year old discovering ice cream, dinosaurs, campfires and boobies all at once

so businesslike and joyless. it's like they're not winning the championship, they're being commended for excellent community service.

more sense of relief than actual joy

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-06/47502627.jpg

si.com's PURPLE REIGN headline is pretty dope