NBA Playoffs Thread

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
I seriously have no idea what you are talking about. I remember watching that series and thinking Pho has no chance, not one time did I ever think Pho had any chance at all.

[/ QUOTE ]
If you haven't lost your mind, you are certainly in the ZIP code.

The Suns, after gagging two home games to start the series, gutted out a win, then nearly won another one, then easily won the next one, then made an epic comeback to take a four point lead with ~40 seconds left. Uncontested Jordan layup, Paxson three, KJ block, game over. In the fourth quarter of game six - which I have watched countlessly painful times - the Suns figured out that forcing the ball into the hands of a forward would cost the Bulls ~10 seconds off the shot clock, which invariably led to rushed Bulls shots, including multiple shot clock violations in the final couple of minutes.

If you're clinging to your point because you can't stand to be wrong, that's fine, but the fact is that the Phoenix Suns were clearly better than the Chicago Bulls in the last four games of the 1993 finals (three of them on the road), and were it not for one boneheaded play at the very end would have forced and very possibly won a game seven. To this day it is the highest rated finals in NBA history, sure there was tons of star power but if people thought the result wasn't in doubt they wouldn't have tuned in in droves.

[ClassicBob]

T-Fool,

Age ain't nuttin but a number.

But seriously, just because I wasn't able to watch it doesn't mean it didn't suck. Also, my dad had the season wrap-up video of the 87-88 team that went to the WCF, and I wore that [censored] out when I was growing up, mostly because watching the highlights of that team was soooo much better than the [censored] that was the 90s Mavs. Watching that video so many times allows me to identify with that era of teams.

I'm pretty sure that all the Mavs fans who post on this board are mid 20s, so I doubt any of us can say we had great memories of those games.

[ThomasPHoolery]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, my dad had the season wrap-up video of the 87-88 team that went to the WCF, and I wore that [censored] out when I was growing up, mostly because watching the highlights of that team was soooo much better than the [censored] that was the 90s Mavs.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had successfully blocked out 1991-1999 until you just brought it up (my actual amnesia aside). Thanks for ruining that for me.

[Aloysius]

Why do you guys think Spurs - Jazz will be a good series? The Spurs do everything the Jazz do but much better. I guess the Jazz are a quicker pace team and they will run the Spurs?

Prove me wrong, I'm all ears... but I don't see it.

-Al

[ClassicBob]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


The 03' Dirk injury broke my heart.


[/ QUOTE ]

People not from Dallas forget about this injury way too much, but Dallas was (statistically) the best team in the NBA that year, and still believe a healthy Dallas beats a healthy SA that year most of the time. I remember watching game 6 w/ my brother and he almost started crying when Kerr came in because he knew it was over. Pain. Just pain.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a huge Mavs fan, and we had a great team that year, but I never felt like we were the better team. We blew a decent division lead that year, and then came close to blowing a 3-0 lead to Portland in the first round. We might not have gotten out of the 2nd round against Sacto had Webber not gone down, and it still took us 7 games. (Probably my favorite series of all time until last year's Mavs-Spurs.)

Against the Spurs, we needed to go 49-50 from the free throw line (not embellished) to win Game 1, had the officiating pendulum swing the other way for Game 2, and were getting drummed in Game 3 well before Dirk went down. Don't know what would have happened if Dirk hadn't gotten injured, but I was never confident. If Dallas had gotten past the Spurs though, beating the Nets would have been doable even w/o Dirk.

[ThaSaltCracka]

The Jazz are a good team with 4 quality starters and a decent bench. I think it will be a good series to watch.

[Aloysius]

TSC - I hope so, as you mentioned been some great series so far. The problem I have is that I don't see where Utah exploits San Antonio. All matchups, as far as I can tell, favor Spurs which equals potential domination in my mind. I don't see this series being very competitive.

-Al

[kbfc]

Gonna make this short:

The suspension situation sucked; no two ways about it. That said, it was pure joy watching the Spurs play in the 2nd half today. I can't even imagine how anyone could think this is a boring team. (Did you guys watch the Cavs/Nets game? zzzzzzz) I could have done without the standard "let's stop playing too early" routine that they like to pull, but it all worked out in the end.

Nash is amazing. Simply amazing. The wrap around no-looker assist....didn't pick my jaw up off the floor for 10 minutes.

Amare still has some growing up to do. There's no physical reason he shouldn't be able to play All-NBA level defense. Right now, his defense is worse than zero, because of how often he gets himself taken out of games in foul trouble.

I'm sorry, but I just don't see the Suns winning a title with D'Antoni as the coach. His whining and stubbornness permeates through the younger players on the team, and it's a bad influence that Nash isn't able to curb despite his incredible professionalism. Nash should become a player-coach and go for MVP/Coach-of-the-Year.

Duncan is a god.
Parker and Ginobili ain't too bad themselves...

At this point, I'm firmly rooting for a DET/SA final. I don't care what the common opinion is, the last time they met, I watched all 7 games alone with the lights out, chewing through fingernail after fingernail. I don't think DET is as good as they were 2 years ago, and Flip is definitely out of his league coaching against Pop, but it's still in all likelihood a 6 or 7 game series.

[tuq]

ClassicBob,

To be fair, I didn't know all that detail about the Mavs' suffering. I knew they took the Lakers to seven in the late 80s, but the Lakers were teflon to anyone but the Rockets throughout the entire 80s.

As for '03, that was when I turned 30. Didn't the Spurs bounce the Lakers in the semis? I remember being in Durango, Colorado on my 30th birthday and flat-out heckling at the TV while they bounced the Lakers. Then I was at my friend's house in Durango when the Mavs pounded the Kings at the end of that series. The playoffs from that point forward are fuzzy to me because the Suns sucked at the time and the product in general was so-so. Apparently Dirk suffered some sort of injury which led to the Spurs facing the Nets in the finals, I remember that matchup but am honestly dumb about all of this.

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry, but I just don't see the Suns winning a title with D'Antoni as the coach. His whining and stubbornness permeates through the younger players on the team

[/ QUOTE ]
This is simply and logically wrong. Sorry.