NBA Playoffs Thread

[Huh?]

blowing up no..but trading one piece plus a draft pick to get a young stud or (possibly going after Garnett)...Oden or Durant is much better than keeping things intact in my view.

[doubLe a tom]

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tdarko,

May I interest you in Sebastian Telfair to address DAL's PG woes? He's been through the fire, dude. I think you're right, though, shopping JET sounds pretty solid. The only thing missing in DAL is a solid attack-the-rim game. Shopping JET, who should get good value, might help with that.


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What... the... [censored].

Why are people criticising the point guard play of the Mavs so much? Even Rick Bucher (who I think is a terrible analyst, and also said the Suns will beat the Spurs this morning [LOL]) was on Mike and Mike this morning talking about this. They won 67!! games in the regular season, and nearly won an NBA championship last season with these guys.

For some reason, the GSW's seemed to have Dallas' number all year, unlike any other team. They lose one playoff series to a (previously) hugely underrated team, and now every position besides their fowards are problematic and need to be dealt with. I dont really get it.

[EvanJC]

oh my lord skip bayless is so stupid

[By-Tor]

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god this picture rules so hard.

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meh...i'd rather the fakers fans stay in lalaland


dear faker fans....your team lost...go (stay) away

[kutuz_off]

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Why do people think Boozer will go off against the Warriors? It seems like the Warriors are built pretty well to defend guys like Boozer. Doesn't Kirilenko pose the more difficult match up?

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Boozer will be defended by Al Harrington. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Kirilenko has no offensive game to speak of. He will do good things defensively though, because he will be able to roam defending nobody in particular, just helping out on everyone.

[tuq]

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The Suns are a blast to watch n root for but their concept of score score score...play crappy D, isn't one that is likely to lead to a ring.

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If the Suns were to lose a series AT FULL STRENGTH, I agree that changes should be considered. As it stands, injuries the past two seasons MAY have cost them the series both times - that is, it's reasonable to infer that they could have beaten SA two years ago and Dallas last year if they hadn't lost a key player.

So then yesterday the Nash thing happens. You guys were watching a different game if you don't think the Suns were probably 50/50 to win if Nash hadn't been forced to the bench at the end. Not only for his clutch shooting (after all, he did score five points when he briefly came back), but for his directing the offense in a way that avoids the craptastic shots they hoisted in his absence. Now if he comes back and plays well and the Suns lose in four or five then I won't feel so bad. But if it's a long series and they still lose I'm going to feel a little sick about it.

By the way, your comment about the Suns D is a little off as it pertains to yesterday - their big problem was giving up way too many offensive rebounds, which is a recurring theme for them. Some people may lump that into "defense" but to me the stop has already occurred, now box out and get the goddamn ball. Sure they gave up 50% shooting but the real culprit was letting SA grab 14 ORB and have a +14 rebounding advantage overall.

[kidcolin]

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Why do people think Boozer will go off against the Warriors? It seems like the Warriors are built pretty well to defend guys like Boozer. Doesn't Kirilenko pose the more difficult match up?

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No. AK is now a non-factor on offense due to his positioning at the 3. He's never been a major scoring threat, anyway, he just sort of created havoc and made some nifty plays. He doesn't touch the ball enough to do any of that anymore.

Boozer, on the other hand, is a scoring machine. I was totally unaware of how talented he was around the basket until this season. He's got great post instincts. He's also proved he can knock it down from 15-17 feet.

I don't think he's a major nightmare, which I originally thought to be the case, but he's still gonna be a big pain in the Warriors' side. Jackson can probably do a decent job on him, but he's going to need help. Boozer is going to attack. That's the one big benefit Warriors had when facing the Dirk-man. Dirk was almost never in attack mode (only in the first half of game 5, really). He caught the ball out on the perimeter, waited for the double team, and DAL never ran a lot of off the ball cuts to get easy baskets. Boozer will usually get the ball and go. That's his game. On top of that, Sloan's whole offensive philosophy is motion. So if a double team does thwart Boozer, someone is getting a good look one or two passes down the line.

I read Hollinger's assessment of UTAH's great game 7 vs HOU, and he predicts the Warriors in 6. I had UTAH in 6 or 7. Maybe I'm underestimating the Warriors and overrating DAL's collapse. We'll see tonight I guess. It all comes down to how well GS defends. I really felt like DAL let them off the hook by not moving much, too much 1v1, and no interior passing or scoring whatsoever.

edit: From most matchup reports I've been reading, it looks like GS will put Biedrins and Harrington on Boozer. I guess that makes sense, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Jackson play some minutes on him.

[.Alex.]

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The Suns are a blast to watch n root for but their concept of score score score...play crappy D, isn't one that is likely to lead to a ring.

This is by far the best scenario for them to win with Dallas being knocked out early. If they can't do it this year they never will with this current lineup barring them running ridiculously hot for a 10-14 game stretch.


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Everyone always says crap like this, but it's not really true. All teams change at least a little bit each year. If the Suns lose in 6 or 7, there's no reason to believe that they need to make a major move to be able to win next year. The balance of power could easily change enough without one. How many times did people say nearly exactly the same thing about the Colts before they won?

[Huh?]

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The Suns are a blast to watch n root for but their concept of score score score...play crappy D, isn't one that is likely to lead to a ring.

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If the Suns were to lose a series AT FULL STRENGTH, I agree that changes should be considered. As it stands, injuries the past two seasons MAY have cost them the series both times - that is, it's reasonable to infer that they could have beaten SA two years ago and Dallas last year if they hadn't lost a key player.

So then yesterday the Nash thing happens. You guys were watching a different game if you don't think the Suns were probably <50 to win if Nash hadn't been forced to the bench at the end. Not only for his clutch shooting (after all, he did score five points when he briefly came back), but for his directing the offense in a way that avoids the craptastic shots they hoisted in his absence. Now if he comes back and plays well and the Suns lose in four or five then I won't feel so bad. But if it's a long series and they still lose I'm going to feel a little sick about it.

By the way, your comment about the Suns D is a little off as it pertains to yesterday - their big problem was giving up way too many offensive rebounds, which is a recurring theme for them. Some people may lump that into "defense" but to me the stop has already occurred, now box out and get the goddamn ball. Sure they gave up 50% shooting but the real culprit was letting SA grab 14 ORB and have a +14 rebounding advantage overall.

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FYP.

They couldn't guard Duncan who was getting bank shots 2 feet from the rim and they couldnt gard Parker.
Would they be more likely to score ...obv yes.

But Spurs were still the fav to win in those last couple of minutes..with or without steve.

[kidcolin]

tom,

I don't think shopping Jet is a necessity, I just think it's an interesting proposal. I think it's at least worth exploring to see what kind of value they can get in return.

And I think they have to keep Harris. He and Stack seemed to be the only ones who realized getting to the rim is an important part of basketball.