RealGM

I'm assuming people here are watching the NBA playoffs? If so, what are your thoughts? I admire the opinions of many of you guys on this board, so going to the NBA thread in you get a lot of kids or biased opinions, while here, i know you guys know your stuff. lol

Anyways, what are your thoughts on the games so far and if you have any thoughts during or after any games, post it here..... this could also be a way to keep our forum more active. Hope the REAL GM gods don't hate on this thread.

My thoughts-

-Can't believe Dallas choked like that. I know they were playing a very good team, not your typical #7 in the Spurs, but their offense got owned by the Spurs defense. And how in the world does Rick Carisle still have a job this morning? I thought for sure if i turned on ESPN i'd see that he got fired. He was outcoached big time. In a earlier loss (i wanna say game 2) he benched a hot shooting Shawn Marion in the 4th. Last night, heading to the 4th quarter, rookie Rodrigue Beaubois had 16 points. He was one of the main reasons why the Mavs came back from 22 down. At the point where Beaubois was taken out, Jason Terry, his replacement had 0 points. Reggie and the TNT crew felt they were giving Beaubois a 2-3 minute rest.... but, they kept Terry in for the rest of the quarter. Terry finished with 2 points. Those were just two of the several mistakes Carisle made in this series.

-Love watching Oklahoma City play at home. Their crowd is nuts. I do wish Seattle gets a team back if they build a new arena, but, NBA going to OKC was one of the best things they could have done. That place is jamming. I don't think they will win tonight though. Kobe is due for a big game and OKC is one of the worst teams at covering bigs.... Gasol and Bynum will get lots of touches. If their shots are going in early, it's going to be over fast. They gave it a great run though and will be a team to beat for years.

-In pre-season polls, not many expected the Suns to make the playoffs and here they are winning their first round match up against the Blazers. I'm not sure if a healthy Brandon Roy would have helped them either. The Suns look good and honestly, i think they will beat the Spurs. I have a lot of respect for their head coach Al Gentry, i think he's one of the better coaches in the league.

-Denver playing in Utah tonight for game 6.... do or die for the Nuggets. Not sure if they can beat the Jazz on their court though. Carmelo Anthony needs a massive 30+ point game i think for them to have a chance.

-And i can not believe the Atlanta Hawks have choked away 3 straight games after beating up on the Bucks in games 1 and 2. Imagine if Andrew Bogut was healthy? I think the Hawks are dead and the Bucks come out flying tonight.

Thoughts? Comments?

The West has been really fun to watch. The hobbled Jazz are putting it together to beat a team that was expected to contend with the Lakers. The Blazers made the series interesting with game 1 and the return of Roy, but the Suns proved to be the better team. Grant Hill has been especially fun to watch. I'm pulling for the Thunder even though their chances of winning the series are slim. The Mavs/Spurs matchup was interesting with the Spurs looking like the Spurs of old, with a little more excitement. I went to game 5 of Celts/Heat. That was pretty exciting for the third quarter. I booed Jermaine really hard. I don't see the Bucks taking down Orlando. Atlanta is a sham team.

Sham that courtesy of the 2nd round bound Atlanta Hawks.

Well there is always next year for the pacers. The will have to get lucky in the draft and do some serious rebuilding..

The Jazz offense has probably been my favorite TV viewing so far; they run that system really well.

I'll admit that I enjoyed seeing the Spurs win...I don't really have a second-favorite team or anything like that, but I've been sympathetic toward the Spurs going all the way back to the George Gervin era. And these days they are just such a well-run team. Reminds me of the St. Louis Cardinals. If baseball had a payroll system like basketball's (i.e., no Yankees with their bazillion-dollar payroll), the Cardinals would be the baseball version of the Spurs.

This board had a mock draft two years ago where everyone who played got assigned a specific team, and I lucked out and got the Pacers. With the second-round pick, I got us George Hill. Man, I wish that could have happened in real life.

kenneth9265 wrote:Well there is always next year for the pacers. The will have to get lucky in the draft and do some serious rebuilding..

What does this have anything to do with this years playoffs?

Mizzou - Honestly, i totally remember that! George Hill is a star, just like you said 2 years ago. Great call man..... funny story, i was watching the one game where he went off at a buddies house who reads RealGM but doesn't post (not Pacers fans) and as Hill dominated the game, my friends were like "only the Spurs would know he'd be good" or something like that and i was like actually, theres a Pacers fan on the realgm forum who was hyping him up big time for Indiana. lol

I liked the Spurs win but I felt conflicted because I really want to see Rick Carlisle succeed. I really liked the guy, even when our fanbase turned against him.

Grang33r wrote:Mizzou - Honestly, i totally remember that! George Hill is a star, just like you said 2 years ago. Great call man.....

I can't take too much credit...there were several others on our board pushing for Hill harder than I was; I'm just the one who got to pick for the Pacers. And in the first round I left Hibbert on the board and took Marreese Speights...I still think Speights is going to be good if he ever gets away from the poorly run Sixers, but I should've taken Hibbert.

Would anyone be disappointed now if we had taken George Hill with our first round pick that year? I don't think so...Hill was projected as a second-round pick until a few days before the draft, when people caught on that he was going to get snatched up in the first round. Good to keep that in mind in thinking about the upcoming draft, there will surely be a guy or two who shoots up the board in the last weeks [cough Quincy Pondexter cough cough]

Hill was a beast at Broad Ripple. I couldn't understand why he went to IUPUI. Regardless, the results speak for themselves, I doubt the Jags return to the tournament anytime soon. It took a Hoosier (Popovich) to appreciate Hill's potential, and now Pop looks like a genius, again. Tony Parker was drafted even lower.

I thought Carlisle did an amazing job with the Mavs this season. Maybe the Mavs just aren't built for the playoffs or something.

The playoffs also unearthed a team that will be on the rise next season. Skiles (Hoosier) had the Bucks playing awfully competitive this season, all signs point to the Bucks only getting better.

The only reason I'd like the Suns to do well, is so Steve Nash can actually earn one of his gift-wrapped MVP's. What a farse.

Mavs are like the San Diego Chargers of the NBA.

I think that Steve Nash deserved the first MVP in the dark ages when Kobe was selfish, Lebron was young, Shaq was old, Duncan was injured, KG was getting sick of Minny, and the NBA lacked team basketball. Here's what I think. In terms of talent, Nash may not be the top MVP choice. But what he did for the league (he made basketball REALLY fun to watch) and for the Suns (40 game turnaround or something like that) is most accurately described as valuable. He was the most valuable player. Not the best, but the most valuable.

What was worse was Dirk getting the award.

No, what was a joke was Kobe getting 4th in 05-06 (the year Nash won one) in MVP voting, the same season he scored 81. If scoring 81 of your teams' points in a game, playing in 80 games, averaging 35.4 ppg on 45% shooting, and leading a team that started Kwame Brown and Smush Parker into the playoffs in the West isn't "most valuable", I don't know what is. I mean, 4th?! What a joke.

Miller4ever wrote:Mavs are like the San Diego Chargers of the NBA.

I think that Steve Nash deserved the first MVP in the dark ages when Kobe was selfish, Lebron was young, Shaq was old, Duncan was injured, KG was getting sick of Minny, and the NBA lacked team basketball. Here's what I think. In terms of talent, Nash may not be the top MVP choice. But what he did for the league (he made basketball REALLY fun to watch) and for the Suns (40 game turnaround or something like that) is most accurately described as valuable. He was the most valuable player. Not the best, but the most valuable.

What was worse was Dirk getting the award.

Yeah Dirk definitely snuck one out, but atleast he only got one. Nash is sitting with multiple MVP's, while legends like Stockton and Kidd sit empty handed, even though their respective teams were just as competitive.

All I want is for Steve to atleast earn one of his MVP's and shoulder the load while leading Pheonix to a title... that's all.

Speaking of Steve Nash, i can not wait for the Spurs/Suns game tonight.

Suns looking very good and Steve Nash seems to be on a mission. Several minutes left in game 4 and Suns up 5pt.

Celtics/Cavs i think is going the distance. That is a great series and Rajon Rondo is an absolute beast of a player. Anybody see that pass he made to Tony Allen today?? wow....

Question- If Cavs/Celtics goes 7, how much will it effect Orlando if they finish up in a sweep? I would think the long layoff will hurt them. They are 17-1 in their last 18 games and have yet to lose in the playoffs. They have their mojo on right now and have no injuries at all. I'd think they'd want to begin play as soon as possible. I'd even think it'd be better for them if they lost game 4 and ended it in 5. Or am I over thinking it and the extra rest won't hurt them? Besides, if they sweep and rest up, Cavs/Celts will be running on fumes.

I think Phoenix will push the Lakers, but probably won't get past them. I'll be cheering them on, though. The Suns are a fun team to watch.

I don't think a long layoff would hurt Orlando any. But their competition is going to rise steeply in the conference finals. Big difference between the Cavs/Celtics and Charlotte/sleepwalking Hawks.

I think whoever comes out of Cavs/Celts will be either momentum-rolling over Orlando or exhausted. History has shown that some teams respond better to rest, and some respond better to continuous play. It all depends.

mizzoupacers wrote:I think Phoenix will push the Lakers, but probably won't get past them. I'll be cheering them on, though. The Suns are a fun team to watch.

I don't think a long layoff would hurt Orlando any. But their competition is going to rise steeply in the conference finals. Big difference between the Cavs/Celtics and Charlotte/sleepwalking Hawks.

I will be cheering for the Suns as well, but i don't see them giving the Lakers a fight. Can anyone on the Suns even contain Bryant? And the Suns are a small team.... Bynum, Gasol and Odom i think will have a big series against them.

wow... any thoughts on the Cavs choke job? Was this James' last game in Cleveland as a Cav?

I doubt it, but I am not putting it outside the realm of possibility. It's all about which Lebron shows up. He's been huge in two wins, but can he do it again?

It's gotta suck being a Cavs fan right now. That was painful even for me to watch, and I don't feel strongly about Cleveland one way or the other.

I hope Bill Simmons's loved ones are keeping watch over him, because that dude might hyperventilate himself to death over this. With Boston's defeat of LeBron, the future of the NBA and all mankind has been irrevocably altered!!!

Despite winning sixty-plus games, that Cavs team has some obvious flaws...beats me whether or not LeBron will stay in Cleveland with that team.

Boston's playing really well right now, and Orlando hasn't had to play a good team yet...but I'm still thinking Magic in six. Maybe five. Sorry Bill.