Official '07-'08 NBA Thread

Non-Phish General
#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!!

#285

I wouldn’t say they “made off like bandits” but I guess the Pacers got the better half if only to be free of Jermaine’s salary. That’s a trade where neither team really won but both did what they set out to.

Don’t be so hot on those players, Pacer fans. Toronto has been looking to move TJ Ford for a while since Jose Calderon has been light-years better than him. Ford can’t guard anyone since he’s too small, has had injury issues (the best thing that happened to them last year was when he got hurt and gave Calderon more time) and I’m not exactly sure if he can pass the ball. As for Nesterovic, I hope you’re excited to get a big man who shoots nothing but threes, doesn’t rebound, doesn’t play defense and is softer than a pillow. Of course, after having to watch Dunleavy for the last few years, I guess you’re used to that.

So the only other good part is the #17 pick which would be great if this draft wasn’t terrible and fileld with question marks. But I guess they could always grab someone good…a draft pick never hurt anyone. Although, to be fair, the Pacers probably got about as much as could be expected for Jermaine so I can’t say it was a bad trade…they needed to get rid of Jermaine and they did.

As for the Raptors, I’m not sure about them either. Jermaine’s contract is horrendous, you never know when he’ll be hurt again and he hasn’t played like an All Star in years. A change in location may be good for him, though, but Jermaine may just be done at this point.

So if I had to chose a winner it would be the Pacers if only because they have that extra cash around now. This is one of those trades where it could be a win-win or a lose-lose. Hard to tell…

Anyway, I’m pumped for the draft even if it’s one of the weakest we’ve had in years. Aside from Derrick Rose and probably OJ Mayo I can’t be sure if ANY of these guys will make it in the pros. Might be a lot of trades by teams who don’t wany any of these guys. I’m always a fan of the draft since the comedy is great…even better if you have Stephen A. Smith yelling like a maniac for three hours…it’s priceless.

Stevo

#286

Yeah the Pacers did exactly what they set out for. I’m thrilled to get rid of JO. I wish him well as he was an actually model citizen of the club, unless you count that Pistons fan getting straight nailed by a JO right cross.

Ford and the draft pick are the key parts obviously. Ford is an exciting energizing player (let’s face it last year’s squad didnt’ play D) that will hopefully stay healthy. I think he is just a stand-in for a short time and I think they still might grab a point guard in the draft tonight. Ford can groom the incoming PG. Maybe Chalmers at #17. Supposedly Bird is high on him. Who really knows.

I guess the player to be named is Maceo Baston who we actually signed the previous year. Not real excited about Nesterovic and Baston, but at least we got 12 fouls I suppose.

Word around Indy is that they are still trying to unload Tinsley and Shawne Williams. Problem is no one wants them. If the Pacers can’t move Tinsley there is a great possibility that Tinsley’s contract will be bought out and sent on his merry way.

Is this a monumental move. NO. But it does the job and sends the Pacers on the right track, which is to rebuild. I’ve wanted them to blow up this team for awhile now and finally they are doing it. I’ll take 3 terrible years to get back on track.

What is Toronto thinking? Yeah I guess they are assuming that JO will stay healthy. Well good luck with that. Dude won’t play with any sort of injury. I think he has sprained his ankle at least 20 times in the last 3 years. He is not worth 22 million in my opinion. It gives Toronto an imposing front line and maybe JO not being the man will help him. Because he is clearly not a #1 option.

#287

Pacers do some more shaking up. I’m stoked. I know this is not a playoff team, but at least the franchise is heading in the right direction. When I saw Bayless fall into their laps I was totally taken back. I was hoping Lopez fell too us, but in the end Bayless was there. You had to take him I thought. I saw him ranked as high as #4 in some mock drafts. I didn’t know much about him, but I was kinda confused by the pick. Bird said he’s going to get guys in here that are experienced and can play right away. Well Bayless has 1/2 that covered.

Anyways once I heard the trade sending Bayless and Diogu to Portalnd it made total sense. We get Brandon Rush, who I think is an extremely safe pick. Probably a smart move right now. I don’t think he’ll ever be great, but he’ll be good. Also got Jarret Jack, which gives us two somewhat veteran PGs. Yeah there young, but they’ve been around a few years. Jack is not unreal, but I’m happy with the acquisition. And then throw in McRoberts. Well he’s a local guy here. I have never thought much of him, but I guess that’s another body.

Then we end up drafting Hibbert. Well Toronto did for us. I’m really happy about this. This guy has NBA written all over him. Is he slow? Yes. Does he have bad feet? Yes. Sounds like a guy we used to have around here that worked out pretty well: Rik Smits. Well granted Hibbert doesn’t have a J like Smits did, but I like his presence. He should be a good shot-blocker and be able to contribute right away. Sometimes he disappears on the offensive end, but if he just at least focuses on rebounding and shot-blocking I’m cool with that.