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Wow, Cavs just gave too many fouls and on the 1st half, they have the rotation but on the 2nd half, their rotation was gone, so, they received turnovers and what did Magic received? Points off turnovers, that's why they managed a double-digit lead. Plus, free throws is a major factor for the Cavs. I can't watch the Lakers-Nuggets match tomorrow because I'll guard our store and I wonder how will the Lakers manage to hold a 3-1 lead. Ariza, as an option again?

I'm still pissed at the "6th foul" by Howard on Lebron. That was just a horrible call.

At 5/25/09 11:22 AM, pepeatumi wrote: I'm still pissed at the "6th foul" by Howard on Lebron. That was just a horrible call.

Yea, referees are letting me down lately.

Isn't he suspended a game for that now? Whatever, I still think that the Magic will win the series. Game 2 should have been won by them, if it weren't for that crazy shot by LeBron.

I hate him, but if he comes to the Knicks in 10', I will adore him :)

Ok, the Nuggets didn't have the lead on this series but they have the momentum on Game 5 in LA and I know they will win and it is all the way.

At 5/25/09 11:22 AM, pepeatumi wrote: I'm still pissed at the "6th foul" by Howard on Lebron. That was just a horrible call.

Yeah, I am getting upset with the referees these days. It is getting to have some fixed matches. I observed that there are many calls from the Lakers side that shouldn't be called. It's like Joe Crawford and co. wants Nuggets and Cavs to win. It is so horrendous.

Lol at Cleveland. Even with the refs calling a "foul" at the end of regulation against the Magic, Orlando manage to win game 4 and they are now up 3-1.

And I have to ask this (even if I know the answer). Why wasn't Lebron called for a Flagrant when he elbowed Pietrus in the 4th quarter?

I could have sworn that Anthony Johnson got a Flagrant for the same damn thing in game 3.

At 5/26/09 11:59 PM, pepeatumi wrote: And I have to ask this (even if I know the answer). Why wasn't Lebron called for a Flagrant when he elbowed Pietrus in the 4th quarter?

I also noticed that one. It was a hard left elbow to the face of Pietrus. It should be a Flagrant 1. It was the same incident on the Anthony Johnson flagrant in Game 3 when he elbowed Mo Williams so hard that he needs to have 4 stitches in his left eye and eyelid.

At 5/26/09 11:59 PM, pepeatumi wrote:

I could have sworn that Anthony Johnson got a Flagrant for the same damn thing in game 3.

He did, but the foul was rescinded.

But it still shouldn't matter who is the one responsible for the foul. Whether it be LeBron or Tyronn Lue. The refs HAVE to call the fouls they're calling consistently.

At 5/27/09 03:56 AM, Gooch wrote: But it still shouldn't matter who is the one responsible for the foul. Whether it be LeBron or Tyronn Lue. The refs HAVE to call the fouls they're calling consistently.

I agree - referees shouldn't look at who is committing the foul until the aftermath (If they are repeat offenders, they should be penalised more, imo), but the fact that the foul has been committed and blow the whistle for it.

Game 5 in LA tonight and a highly interesting one to boot. Can the Nuggets take something home from LA this time, or will the Lakers press home their home court and put their noses in front for the return to Denver?

As a Nuggets fan, I'm just happy still to be here and I'm really impressed with what the team has done this year, considering how the pundits hated us for most of the early going.

Congrats to Magic fans. Orlando beat Cleveland with just one simple strategy, let Lebron get his stats, and prevent the others. If the Cavs get off to a slow start next season, he'll be gone before the all-star break. Lakers-Magic finals? Orlando will play the same strategy with Kobe. Phil needs to start Lamar at PF or Rashard Lewis is gonna set a new finals record for threes in the finals.

BUMP BCOZ I WNNA SEI 5 WURDZ...

I

WISH

IT

IS

ALREADY

THURSDAY.

At 6/2/09 02:10 PM, youngblood26 wrote: I

WISH

IT

IS

ALREADY

THURSDAY.

I just get the feeling that the Lakers are going to do it - they had scares against Houston and Denver, but those experiences should see them right toward their next title.

At 6/2/09 03:14 PM, Coop83 wrote: I just get the feeling that the Lakers are going to do it - they had scares against Houston and Denver, but those experiences should see them right toward their next title.

Those experiences made Lakers what they used to be, a tough team, a very tough team to beat. We saw it in this season but they didn't show it in the postseason because I think it for several reasons:

-Bynum didn't get his minutes right because of early foul troubles or he just can't convert points. He was the so-called "missing link or missing piece to the Championship" but he didn't show that kind of presence in this postseason and he needs to show it in The Finals.

-Fisher, who was known as a good pure jumpshooter, especially in beyond the arc, just can't get his usual stats and proper minutes in this post-season. Plus, the frustration factor of Fisher was an affection to his game.

-Kobe was tested in this post-season whether he will TRUST his teammates or not from those mistakes that they did and we saw in the Houston series, he was hot and almost every possession was from him. He was good but his teammates aren't.

Oh my god! Game 1 was a massacre! Kobe is on his way to hoops immortality. Kudos to Laker fans. Orlando might need to double up on Kobe to get the ball out of his hands. Let D-Fish and Ariza beat you from the perimeter. Both Pietrus and Lee guarded Kobe so great just like Shane Battier used to guard Kobe but Kobe's offense was just so good.

Lakers will go for 2-0. I guarantee that.

At 6/5/09 04:17 AM, youngblood26 wrote: Oh my god! Game 1 was a massacre!

Whenever Kobe gives off his underbite you know he is serious.

At 6/5/09 04:17 AM, youngblood26 wrote: Oh my god! Game 1 was a massacre!

That's it, I'm booking the next flight to Orlando. I'm going to start selling some brooms to the LA Fans for game 4. *packs bags*

An alleyoop away from an even series. Damn! Even Papa B could have made that gimme. And with that missed shot, Orlando just lost the series. Laker fans, time to pop the champagne. Lee's miss will be the biggest factor of the series! Can the Magic recover? They did recover many times these playoffs days but what about against the Lakers? Can they do it?

At 6/8/09 06:28 AM, youngblood26 wrote: An alleyoop away from an even series. Damn! Even Papa B could have made that gimme. And with that missed shot, Orlando just lost the series. Laker fans, time to pop the champagne. Lee's miss will be the biggest factor of the series! Can the Magic recover? They did recover many times these playoffs days but what about against the Lakers? Can they do it?

Of course they can. That game was so close damn it. If they can almost do it in game 2, they can do it again in game 5. They sure as hell didn't lose the series, it's a best of seven remember?

At 6/8/09 08:27 AM, SpiffyMasta wrote:

At 6/8/09 06:28 AM, youngblood26 wrote: An alleyoop away from an even series. Damn! Even Papa B could have made that gimme. And with that missed shot, Orlando just lost the series. Laker fans, time to pop the champagne. Lee's miss will be the biggest factor of the series! Can the Magic recover? They did recover many times these playoffs days but what about against the Lakers? Can they do it?

Of course they can. That game was so close damn it. If they can almost do it in game 2, they can do it again in game 5. They sure as hell didn't lose the series, it's a best of seven remember?

The Magic and the Lakers both have similarities and one of their similarities is THEY CAN WIN ROAD GAMES. Game 1 was only a MEASURING STICK for both teams and Magic studied Game 1 as a stepping stone to Game 2 and their usual game was seen, as the best resilient team in the NBA. I AM REFERRING THAT in the next game, that the Lakers will go for 3-0 if Odom and Gasol performs at their finest and if Fisher continues to use his experience on them. REMEMBER that the Lakers are the NO. 1 ROAD TEAM in this season, so don't guarantee that they can bounce back in a jiffy but amazing can happen. In Amway Arena? Nah.

At 6/8/09 02:16 PM, youngblood26 wrote: The Magic and the Lakers both have similarities and one of their similarities is THEY CAN WIN ROAD GAMES. Game 1 was only a MEASURING STICK for both teams and Magic studied Game 1 as a stepping stone to Game 2 and their usual game was seen, as the best resilient team in the NBA. I AM REFERRING THAT in the next game, that the Lakers will go for 3-0 if Odom and Gasol performs at their finest and if Fisher continues to use his experience on them. REMEMBER that the Lakers are the NO. 1 ROAD TEAM in this season, so don't guarantee that they can bounce back in a jiffy but amazing can happen. In Amway Arena? Nah.

I agree, but in the end I don't give the Magic much of a chance to win in all honesty. I wouldn't count them out necessarily, but I just think the West was far superior than the East all season long and in the playoffs. But you are right, if the Lakers go in and win in Orlando, this post season is over. As much as I hate LA and Kobe they have the best chance to secure his legacy this year.

---SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE POSTING---

I think that the Lakers have more edge against the Magic.

Ariza - defensive purposes, can shoot in the 3 point arc, steal leader of the team, one of the best stealers in NBA and big steals accomplished including Game 1 of the WCF.

Pau - excellent shooter inside the paint, passing big man, collecting garbage in the paint. Always recording double-double.

Odom - a good jump shooter, excellent in the paint, rebound over 10, can shoot from 3-land.

Fisher - an excellent FT and 3-point shooter, one of the best defensive guards bcoz of his body contacts. A clutch shooter.

Kobe - What can I say, he almost can do it all, rarely blocking. But Kobe needs to trust more on his teammates even when he is frustrated. It affects on Game 2, Ariza, Odom, and D-Fish were open and he let to take the shot where Turkoglu blocked it.

So, I think this is more of a balanced team than the MAGIC and they (Lakers) have the Magic spell.

All I know is if Orlando miraculously wins the next three games at home, that still means they're going to have to win one of the last two games in Los Angeles. Now maybe last night was a good sign that they can hang tough with the Lakers on the road, but I'm just not sure they can pull off a road victory in Los Angeles.

I'm not ready to count out Orlando just yet, but if they end up stretching the series back to Los Angeles and are down 3-2, they have a pretty big mountain to climb.

At 6/8/09 02:38 PM, Gooch wrote: All I know is if Orlando miraculously wins the next three games at home, that still means they're going to have to win one of the last two games in Los Angeles. Now maybe last night was a good sign that they can hang tough with the Lakers on the road, but I'm just not sure they can pull off a road victory in Los Angeles.

I'm not ready to count out Orlando just yet, but if they end up stretching the series back to Los Angeles and are down 3-2, they have a pretty big mountain to climb.

This is what I don't like about the format of the NBA Finals. Playing three games in a row. It's hard to win three games in a row, even at home, and those are critical games. I think it's a bigger disadvantage for whoever doesn't have homecourt than in the 2-2-1-1 format.

It'll hurt Orlando pretty soon in my opinion

At 6/8/09 04:58 PM, SpiffyMasta wrote:

This is what I don't like about the format of the NBA Finals. Playing three games in a row. It's hard to win three games in a row, even at home, and those are critical games. I think it's a bigger disadvantage for whoever doesn't have homecourt than in the 2-2-1-1 format.

It'll hurt Orlando pretty soon in my opinion

There's a good chance that it probably will, but what can you do? Do you really want the teams to go from across the country from Orlando to Los Angeles for game five, then turn around and have the teams fly back to Orlando for game six? It's about the only sensible solution for both teams to play the 2-3-2 format, unless they wanted to give the teams a couple extra days off between the games five and six.

But yeah, Orlando had to win a game in Los Angeles if they wanted to take advantage of playing the next three games at home. With them only being able to be up 3-2, that's going to pose a problem for them.

At 6/9/09 04:53 AM, Gooch wrote:

At 6/8/09 04:58 PM, SpiffyMasta wrote:

This is what I don't like about the format of the NBA Finals. Playing three games in a row. It's hard to win three games in a row, even at home, and those are critical games. I think it's a bigger disadvantage for whoever doesn't have homecourt than in the 2-2-1-1 format.

It'll hurt Orlando pretty soon in my opinion

There's a good chance that it probably will, but what can you do? Do you really want the teams to go from across the country from Orlando to Los Angeles for game five, then turn around and have the teams fly back to Orlando for game six? It's about the only sensible solution for both teams to play the 2-3-2 format, unless they wanted to give the teams a couple extra days off between the games five and six.

I'm saying it here and now what really hurt Orlando is Stan Van's ridiculous idea of trying to fix something that wasn't broken by totally fucking up his rotation by putting in Jameer Nelson and cutting Rafer Alston's minutes in half and giving hard working Anthony Johnson absolutely no minutes on the floor,seriously why the hell would you try to tweek your rotation that knocked out the defending champion Boston Celtics (Game 7 in Boston) and King James & company which everyone thought they would win that series in 3 <sarcasm> it made no sense and now that Alston's confidence is absolutely crushed now with him shooting a miserable 15% averaging 5 points a game and hasn't made a single 3 pointer also Dwight Howard isn't helping much either considering he's been getting swarmed by all the Laker big men cause Orlando can't even make uncontested 3 pointers all of a sudden so this has nothing to do with the 2-3-2 format in my opinion it's just a matter of the coach trying to fix something that wasn't broken.

At 6/9/09 11:34 AM, Molotov wrote:

I'm saying it here and now what really hurt Orlando is Stan Van's ridiculous idea of trying to fix something that wasn't broken by totally fucking up his rotation by putting in Jameer Nelson and cutting Rafer Alston's minutes in half and giving hard working Anthony Johnson absolutely no minutes on the floor,seriously why the hell would you try to tweek your rotation that knocked out the defending champion Boston Celtics (Game 7 in Boston) and King James & company which everyone thought they would win that series in 3 <sarcasm> it made no sense and now that Alston's confidence is absolutely crushed now with him shooting a miserable 15% averaging 5 points a game and hasn't made a single 3 pointer also Dwight Howard isn't helping much either considering he's been getting swarmed by all the Laker big men cause Orlando can't even make uncontested 3 pointers all of a sudden so this has nothing to do with the 2-3-2 format in my opinion it's just a matter of the coach trying to fix something that wasn't broken.

I could not agree with you more.

Hell, we know that Jameer Nelson is going to be a great point guard in this league, we all know that. However, Van Gundy should have known to just to sit him down for the rest of the season, no matter if his shoulder ended up healing in time or not. You have to go with your guys that got you there, since they are used to the rotation and the playing time they're getting.

I feel bad for Rafer Alston. I feel even worse for Anthony Johnson. Here's a guy that's been a key element of your playoff run, and you don't even reward him by playing him in the first two games of the finals so far. That's quite the shame.

They really needed to address the point guard situation AFTER the finals. Instead, they have a mess of controversy as is right now with whether Jameer Nelson should even be playing right now or not.

At 6/9/09 02:30 PM, Gooch wrote:
They really needed to address the point guard situation AFTER the finals. Instead, they have a mess of controversy as is right now with whether Jameer Nelson should even be playing right now or not.

Nobody's perfect, and obviously Van Gundy probably made a bad call there. It is a bad idea to mix with team chemistry. If it ain't broken don't fix it right? Although some might consider game 1 as the Magic being broken.

I heard something I thought was interesting on the radio today. The guy was talking about how great coaches let their players play the game. He was referring specifically to Phil Jackson, saying he gives his players a lot more control over the basketball game, deciding what plays to do when, rather than him calling all the shots. Maybe Van Gundy needs to act more like Jackson. But who on the floor is able to be in control? Maybe that's where Nelson comes into play...

At 6/10/09 05:35 PM, SpiffyMasta wrote:

Nobody's perfect, and obviously Van Gundy probably made a bad call there. It is a bad idea to mix with team chemistry. If it ain't broken don't fix it right? Although some might consider game 1 as the Magic being broken.

I think the Magic were beyond broken in game one. Hell, they were just downright terrible. Of course, I didn't blame Van Gundy for tweaking things up now that Nelson was available to play. There's just some things you have to do in order to improve against the next team, because what you did in the previous series may not work against the team you're ready to face.

I heard something I thought was interesting on the radio today. The guy was talking about how great coaches let their players play the game. He was referring specifically to Phil Jackson, saying he gives his players a lot more control over the basketball game, deciding what plays to do when, rather than him calling all the shots. Maybe Van Gundy needs to act more like Jackson. But who on the floor is able to be in control? Maybe that's where Nelson comes into play...

I guess Nelson would come into play there. Hell, in extreme measures, you could even let Turkoglu call the shots. He can be just as good of a facilitator on the court as your point guards. He's proven that here in the playoffs so far. Now would I go so far as to trust him right now in the current situation the Magic are in? Probably not.

First of all, Congrats to my beloved L.A. Lakers for winning the NBA Championship this year and also, congrats to Adam Morrison and Sun Yue for winning NBA Championship rings without even stepping on the court. Karl Malone will probably mug you on your way home after the awarding ceremony. The team to beat lived up to expectations. Unlike Boston last season, the Lakers are young and we might be looking at another 3-peat. I guess. Even in the NBA Poll today about defending their title concurs that they will do defend it. Wow, many Laker bandwagons in the house.

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