Official '07-'08 NBA Thread

Non-Phish General
#265

Wow…Fee threw a lot out there…let’s see.

First, I just kind of threw that T-Mac thing out there…I’d be amazed if it really happened. Plus it’s FAR more likely that it would be Rip/Sheed instead of Chauncey if it actually happened. As for T-Mac, I don’t think they lost because they were “satisfied”…they lost because the team just wasn’t that good to begin with. They only got into the playoffs at all due to the 22-game win streak and would have missed out without it. They really missed Yao’s scoring and the rest of the team aside from T-Mac are really just a bunch of bench players with inflated stats since they had higher minutes (Landry was great but looked green at times). T-Mac can go for 30 in any given game, he’s a decent defender and I think he’d be more-than-motivated to win on a winning team that could actually win a playoff series. Yes, the back issues are a problem but you’re really not going to be able to trade for a superstar unless there’s some sort of issue with him. I mentioned Elton Brand and he’s got major injury questions as well…you’ve got to take a gamble on these guys sometimes. The only other big-time scorer other than T-Mac that we could get is maybe Carmelo and I don’t want nothing to do with him. I really think that the 2004 team was an aborration since teams basically NEVER win a title unless they have a Hall-of-Fame caliber player. We need one.

As for Rip, don’t get me wrong…I TOTALLY agree with you. I ONLY included Rip because he would have to be part of that deal with T-Mac to make it work. We couldn’t roll out a lineup of Chauncey, Rip, Tay, T-Mac and Dyess…it wouldn’t work…Rip would HAVE to be part of that deal. I LOVE Rip and if I had to chose one guy for us to keep from the starters, it would be him. I think people totally take his 20-25 points a game for granted. It’s amazing how poor those Pistons look on offense when he’s out of the game. Plus he’s maybe the only player who still plays just as well as he did five years ago and appears to still be trying hard in every game. His defense is shaky sometimes but I’ll deal with that.

Joe D’s mistakes? Nowadays, the Memo deal looks bad. Back then, it made sense. Sheed still had five good years left, he had just been a major part of the 2004 title, he looked completely rejuvenated now that he was off the Blazers, and Memo was an inconsistent bench player who may or may not eventually get it. Even now, Memo tends to disappear in games. I can’t blame Joe D on that.

The Darko pick was horrendous, no doubt, though, to be fair, let

#266

Am I the only one who thinks Paul Pierce was faking his knee injury last night? Phil Jackson alluded to it as well.

He went from being carried off the court then wheeled into the locker room in a wheelchair to playing again in about 15 minutes?

#267

Ooooo! I LOVE the

#268

Forgot to mention last night’s game. Nice of Pierce to have the fakest injury in the history of man. Just ridiculous. He was carried off like his career had just ended and there was a priest present to perform the last rites on Pierce and then he waltzes back on three minutes later and is dancing on the court like nothing happened and buries back to back threes.

Even better was Pierce mentioning that he felt his “knee” pop, not realizing that Perkins’ foot came down on his ankle…he didn’t even remember what part of his leg was hurt.

The worst thing? Perkins actually had a LEGIT injury and limped off the court and then didn’t play for the rest of the game and NO ONE even mentioned it…I even read a recap of the game and it wasn’t mentioned there. Instead we got people comparing Pierce to Willis Reed…spare me, people. Pierce’s fake injury basically cheapened Perkin’s legit one.

I LOVED Phil Jackson’s comments on it where he compared the injury to “breaking a shoelace or a drawstring on your shorts.” Just awesome. I already heard jokes on the radio today that Mr. Miyagi was back there to magically rub Pierce’s ankle…it’s obviously the only explaination. “He’s going to fight! Paul Pierce LaRusa is going to fight!!”

As for the game, Kobe stunk and that’s about it. The Lakers got out-rebounded but that was to be expected since they weren’t the best rebounding team anyway. Game 2 should be pretty interesting, especially if the Lakers make more shots. That was some sweet defense from Boston though…could be a tougher series than I thought…

The most amazing thing to me is how Garnett ALWAYS plays down to his average. ALWAYS. He’s always 25-12 every game. Never more. Never less. EVERY game. He VERY rarely deviates from that. He had 16 points in the first half on only nine shots and could have been on pace for a big game and then spent much of the third quarter not shooting and then missed a majority of his shots in the 4th. It’s like he purposely plays so he ONLY gets around 25 points and nothing more or less. It’s almost amazing how he plays to average every game.

Stevo

#269

Biggest come back in finals history! That game was so kick ass in so many ways not the least of wich was seeing the looks on all of the super celebrity phonys as the Lakers staged their monumental collapse…Priceless!

#270

^haha yeah it was pretty great I guess.

even better for a Bostonian I’m sure.

great avatar btw…Sa-sa-sa-sa-sasha

#271

Some dude called sports radio today and said Sasha wears the same headband his wife does to aroebics

#272

oh yeah, PHG your avatar is way cooler

#273

Uh oh…another long, rambling post on the Finals…

Maybe it

#274

Champions! Sorry it goes against the NBA standard but the C’s coaching, front office and players were clearly better then the Lakers, Sorry Phil Jakisiiissin Pow! maybe Bryan Scalabrini will walk through your door next season, Go CCCCCCCCSSSSSSS

#275

Congrats to KG, Pierce and Allen!

The rest of the team can kiss my ass!!

GO STONES!!!

#276

I’ve liked Ray Allen (and Rip Hamilton) since his UCONN days. Allen might even break Reggie’s 3-point record if he stays healthy enough.

#277

I’m also glad that someone other than myself thought KG’s interview/celebration was…weird.

Awful Announcing and SI’s Hot Clicks have commented on it, and I’m sure other blogs/sites will follow suit.

But he deserved it, so it’s all good.

#278

KG was a man possessed once they won. It was almost like a Mike Tyson rant, but “happy”, as KG said he felt at the time.

#279

Yeah, I can’t blame any of these guys on their celebration. Basically their entire lives have been geared toward achieving what they got last night so, I say they’re allowed to go nuts for a little while.

Allen and Garnett are nice but Pierce surely deserved it…he’s squashed a few trades that would have sent him to better teams but he stuck with it, especially when the front office gave him virtually nothing to work with.

Still…the whole thing doesn’t seem right. Bad GMs aren’t supposed to get rings, bad coaches aren’t supposed to get rings and teams that are thrown together in one year aren’t supposed to win either. Although while the trades kind of fell in Ainge’s lap, I’ll give him credit for getting guys like Posey, PJ Brown and House who were solid pickups in the offseason. Ainge has been largely bad with one or two moments of brilliance and I guess he had a few of those moments in a row this year. And Doc Rivers nearly blew it in the first two rounds but his substitutions and rotation become much more logical in the later two rounds.

The more I watched those Lakers, I realized that maybe they shouldn’t have been the team representing the West…I’d say it’s on Phil Jackson that they even got THAT far. Did you SEE that offense they were running?..It looked like a frickin college offense with three guys on the perimeter with NO ONE moving and no one getting open. I thought that the Bynum injury would eventually kill them but it didn’t happen until the Finals when they faced a legit rebounding team. I wonder if Bynum would have changed things…

By the way, can the Kobe/Jordan comparisons please stop now? Please? Can the media stop it. He’s not Jordan. No way Jordan lets himself be punked in two straight finals appearances.

Stevo

#280

holy crap KG made a complete fool of himself last night after the game. I’m kinda glad he won it, but jesus.

a completely retarded interview. pull it together buddy. its basketball. the most stupid game of all the professional sports.

and Kobe being near the level of Jordan is preposterous.

#281

One thing that I heard mentioned was the Celtics denied Jackson his 10th ring, which would break Auerbach’s record. The symmetry and irony was thick last night!

#282

^^I think the retarded part of the interview was Tafoya’s questions. “How does it feel?” Really? You can’t tell by the way he’s foaming at the mouth and smiling? And then again, asking what he’s feeling? This has been years in the making for KG and he was flying high on emtions. What’s wrong with losing it when he finally accomplished what apparently has been his goal thus far in life?

#283

YES!

The Pacers traded Jermaine O’Neal to the Raptors and got pick #17, Nesterovic and Ford in return.

That frees up a lot of $, and let’s not forget Ford was a national player of the year w/ Texas, winning both the Naismith and Wooden awards.

I am actually excited. Nesterovic isn’t half bad, Ford will take Tinsley’s place (hopefully they can unload him, too), and hopefully the Pacers can pick up 2 impact players at 11 and 17. I had read where they wanted D.J. Augustin at 11, but I don’t see them taking him now that they’ve got Ford. Hopefully Roy Hibbert will still be on the board, he’d be a nice fit.

C Hibbert
PF Nesterovic
SF Granger
SG Dunleavy
PG Ford

I’d take that lineup.

#284

Yah, the Pacers made out like bandits on that trade.

I never liked Jermaine, so good, ship him off to Canada!!

Although, I still hate the Pacers. So, hopefully Ford falls apart and the trades end up as busts.

TAKE THAT!!