LOL My god this Boston-Atlanta series is effing awesome! But that last possesion by Boston was HORRIBLE. You let Rondo hit the 3 instead of Allen or Cassel. Granted Cassel just stood in the corner but you would have though Rivers drew up a play for this type of situation, like KG picks Allens player and Allen just does a fade away 3. Props to Atlanta. I doubt they win in Boston but with that team who knows.
I don't know what to expect out of Atlanta now. Josh Smith was right when he said the Hawks were going to "shock the world", because they're doing it right now win or lose Game 7. And props to Kobe as ESPN's reporting he's earned his first MVP award.
Well I was just shocked how horrible the Celtics played. Are they going to play like that against the Cavs if they get past Atlanta? I don't know what it is Celtics kill Atlanta in Boston but they go to Atlanta and they look like a team that barely made the playoffs. It could be that Atlanta is very athletic and is so versatile. Btw where was this Hawks team in the regular season. Congrats to Kobe.
I dont understand how KG doesnt get the ball at all it seems at the end of the game. The game was close, they didnt need 3's every time. Instead of going to Garnett in the low post they just let Ray ray chuck up shots. KG has to step up in those final 4 minutes or so and he seemed to completely disappear.
Agreed he needs to. I know he doesn't want the ball in the later but if no one is stepping up he needs to. Though I don't thik we will ever be that kind of guy which is somewhat dissapointing.
If The Celts go out Rivers is gone. he couldnt get the Magic past round one and it looks like he may not do it with the Celtics either.
Rivers is horrible in the playoffs. He sat KG and Allen for the first 6 mins of the 4th. He doesn't plan for a situation like the Celtics had on their last possession. They need a great coach because Rivers isn't very good managing for the playoffs.
+1. I don't get it either. Doc Rivers is an idiot. They have guards dancing around throwing up 3 pointers when the game is close, let KG take it over.
ha go ATL! i cant stand garnett and how he acts on the court. i love pierce, allen, and rondo..but KG man the guy is such an a-hole on the court...im glad horford didnt stand for his ****...oh ya i like big baby too(who doesn't?)
Could this be the biggest choke job of alltime? I can't get enough of this. Why is it so easy to hate every team from Boston? <I know the answer, but I'll be polite and stop talking here>
Orlando VS Detroit - I better get some popcorn. It's time to show the world who's on the rise, and who's last weeks garbage.
This is truly an unbelievable series. I don't think Atlanta has a prayer heading back to Boston for game 7...but then I didn't think they had a prayer of getting to game 7 to begin with. And yes, that last possession was awful. Rondo just dribbling out at the perimeter, too many guys standing around, leading to a lousy shot. Because KG has always shied away from the ball late in games. In assessing superstars' ability to take and make the big shot at the end, Garnett is MUCH closer to guys like Chris Webber and Karl Malone (both notorious end of game chokers) than cold-hearted assassins like MJ and Bird. I wouldn't say that for sure. I'm stunned he wasn't fired last year, and if he could survive that, I'm not ready to say he'd get fired for maybe the biggest playoff choke job in NBA history. (I don't know if this would trump that 2000 Blazers team that led the Lakers by 20 or something in Game 6, lost, then didn't even show up for Game 7.) But let's not kid ourselves, Boston's taking game 7. Atlanta's been whipped every time they've gone to Boston in this series. However, they've definitely exposed some of the Celtics' warts: they're still vulnerable to good point guard play, they WILL back down if you smack them around, KG still doesn't want the ball at the end of games, Doc Rivers would still rather play checkers than chess, and they're very vulnerable when they don't have the best player on the floor. I don't know if Cleveland has the point guard play or coach to beat them, but they will have the best player on the floor, and they will be utterly unafraid of the Celtics. The NBA...where Philips Arena becoming Madison Square Garden for a night happens. Honestly, I think it's great to see Atlanta become a basketball town again. That was an excellent crowd last night. When I was a kid, Atlanta was an honest-to-goodness basketball city (the Braves sucked, the Falcons sucked, and hockey was mostly confined to where it should be played: north of Washington DC). Those Hawks teams in the mid-late 80s were very good. They just had the misfortune of playing at the end of the Celtics Era and the beginning of the Pistons Era. (Much like the Bucks teams of the early-mid 80s were very good, but not quite good enough to get by the Sixers and Celtics). Lemme help you out, son: Detroit in 6.
I love this: You win 66 games, the other team wins 37, and you ***** about the refs when you lose? Wow. Incidentally, there's a reason Atlanta had a lot more free throws last night: they were the aggressor, they were constantly attacking the basket while Boston was settling for jumpers all night. I'm not the least bit surprised that Atlanta had a lot more free throws. I will admit the foul call on Pierce was weak. They probably should have let that slide, since it was away from the play, wasn't particularly violent, and the ball went in. If Doc wanted to ***** about that, I'd be okay with it. But the disparity in FTs falls entirely on his team. Want more free throws? Drive to the basket.
Well I'm guessing Boston gets the refs on their side for game 7 but the only way Atlanta wins if they hit thier 3's. You know KG isn't a notorious choker like everyone makes him out to be. Granted he needs to take games over when no one is stepping up, you all remember the 7 game series against the Kings in 04? Where Minny was down by 6 with like 1:23 left to go and KG hits back to back 3 pointers to force OT? That is 1 game I will never forget.
But the sad thing is KG will never step up if no one else is. I know he could really do damage if just stopped throwing it away. Thats what irritated me KG turned the ball over twice while in the post by kicking it back out this was in the 4TH with under 4 mins to go. It was driving me INSANE!
Calling him a notorious choker probably isn't fair, but KG has a long and storied history of shying away from the ball late in games (edit: just look at your post right above this one). I do remember that 7th game against the Kings. I remember it well, because that's the only time in his career that Garnett put his team on his back and carried them to a big win at the end of a game. He doesn't belong in Webber and Malone's company just yet, but if they honk this game 7, he definitely does.
I think the whole "Big 3" as a whole get labeled that. KG can't be the only to blame for their struggles in the away games. I mean if their letting JJ and the Hawks just drive in the lane Imagine what Lebron is going to do. Lebron is probably going to average 30 if they play Boston.
LeBron is probably going to average 30 whoever he plays. The question is , will those thirty be enough to surpass his opponent on to the next round?
He gets the calls because he takes the hits. He drives to the basket and gets the contact. He is our generations version of Shaq in the fashion that every time he goes to the lane he is going to get punished. Yes he is going to get the calls but all this banter about him being favored over KG, or other stars that have been in the league years longer than him is nonsense. Wade gets alot of calls as well,why? Because he penetrates the lane and draws the contact, same thing with countless others in the league. He can be shut down,stay on the outside of the circle its as simple as that. But he can kill you from the outside as well.
While I am upset and think it is pathetic the Celts are going to a game 7 with the #8 seed I think Boston comes out tomorrow and handles the Hawks like they have the other 3 games when at home in this series.
Well safe to say, Magic got their *** whup. Dissapointed in their game tonight but they will bounce back.
I think LeBron gets more calls than anyone its a fair criticism of the refs. Players like LeBron drive to the rim all night because they know the refs will bail them out with a foul call even if they can't make a shot. Its become a part of the game where stars initiate contact just to get to the free throw line, they know they won't make the shot its not the point its just to draw fouls from bias refs. You can't tell me if a rookie on a bad team went to the hole as hard and often as LeBron that he would get half the calls LeBron does, he wouldn't. The "star system" the refs in the NBA use has been in place for a long time and certain players get the benefit more than others. I love LeBron, I'm not saying he's not great but he does operate with different rules than other players.
What I wonder is, how did this system get implemented in the first place? Was it fostered by David Stern to help re-establish the idea of a superstar post-Michael Jordan? The NBA is probably the league most accused of cheating... right after boxing.
But the Hawks have already done their damage. It doesn't matter who wins game 7. Boston has proven that they can't win on the road, and that the winner of this series has no shot at a title. Maybe next year they will learn to be a little more humble. Nobody likes an over hyped bunch of arrogant self-proclaimed champions. They obviously have no respect for the NBA playoffs, and it showed. The regular season doesn't mean anything. Absolutely nothing. And I'm glad to see them fall from grace. They deserve every bit of it.
I don't think the label has been applied to Pierce and Allen simply because they haven't been in nearly as many big games. Allen's played for crappy teams most of his career, and has seldom had a chance to prove himself in big games. Pierce, by contrast, acquitted himself pretty well when the Celtics had that brief resurgence in the early 2000s. Yes. Who didn't have Boston in 4 or 5? If you tell me you didn't, you're lying. Anyway, my prediction is looking pretty good so far. Pistons in 6. Magic win two because having the best player in a series (in this case, Howard) should be good for one win, and because the Pistons will probably let up on the gas in another game, probably game 5 after they're up 3-1. I agree with enforcerfin that LeBron draws a lot of contact, but my concern (as with you, 72) is that LeBron knows he's going to get bailed out and relies heavily on it (though no one is more notorious for this than Wade). The other problem I have is that it's one thing to draw contact. It's another thing to do what LeBron does, which is drive headlong into the lane, bashing anything in the way with his off-ball forearm, and get a foul that way. Apparently, the fact that the defensive player put his chest in front of LeBron's Forearm Of Doom is enough for a foul. My god, he uses that forearm like he's The Undertaker or something. Actually, I'd put soccer above basketball; the Serie A scandal far outweighed the Tim Donaghy thing, but that's besides the point. I don't know if Stern consciously fostered the star system, I think it's just something that came about as a result of human nature. It happens in every sport, really. It's just that it's more open in the NBA. In any profession, sports or not, the more capable members of the profession will get better treatment, often subconsciously, from those in charge.
Um...not quite. I am, however, eager to see how they handle the pressure next round. I'm no Cleveland fan, but I'd love to see the Celtics go down. One, because I'm a Pistons fan, but for another, because I'm gutsick of the Boston-centric media's verbal fellation of the Patriots, Red Sox and now Celtics.
Give me a break. You're saying that the Pistons are up 3-1, and go back to Detroit and lose because they "let up"? If this series is 3-1 after they leave Orlando, it's over in game 5. But that isn't going to happen. 2-2 is most likely, and possibly 3-1 in favor of Orlando.
Because we are sports fans and will naturally have favorites. By the way, if you want to talk refs, the refs in the Lakers-Jazz game are terrible today. Horribly inconsistant. One minute they are calling a foul on Utah for sneezing on Luke Walton, the next they are no calling the butcher job put on Lamar by the Jazz. Awful.
