Second Round Series Thread: Cleveland vs. Atlanta

[HMFFL]

InBoobieWeTrust,

I'm not sold at all on what your saying. I feel it's nearly impossible to play five games at the level Lebron plays the game for him not to get called for a foul. The numbers tell the story and he gets some very unfair treatment. I'm only pointing it out and not trying to come off like a complainer.

Your very lucky to have this advantage over every other team.

[InBoobieWeTrust]

InBoobieWeTrust,

I'm not sold at all on what your saying. I feel it's nearly impossible to play five games at the level Lebron plays the game for him not to get called for a foul. The numbers tell the story and he gets some very unfair treatment. I'm only pointing it out and not trying to come off like a complainer.

Your very lucky to have this advantage over every other team.

Don't believe me, look at the numbers. Contact comes inside, generally. Check out the shot-charts of Tayshaun Prince and Mo Evans. I'm sure it's not hard to deduct that when probably 90% of total shots taken as jumpers, there is going to be a correlation in the foul numbers, they will be low. LeBron has been called for 6 fouls....he's probably committed more than 6,maybe 8 or 9...but I wouldn't say there's been a blatant bias. He fouled Josh once, maybe twice last night and got away with it...but these calls aren't "LeBron Calls" as you suggest....they're just calls that superstars always get and always have gotten. But it still doesn't take away from the fact that LeBron has faced two guys who have taken mostly jump shots and and other than that he generally "free safeties" around the passing lanes.

[HMFFL]

InBoobieWeTrust,

I'm not sold at all on what your saying. I feel it's nearly impossible to play five games at the level Lebron plays the game for him not to get called for a foul. The numbers tell the story and he gets some very unfair treatment. I'm only pointing it out and not trying to come off like a complainer.

Your very lucky to have this advantage over every other team.

Don't believe me, look at the numbers. Contact comes inside, generally. Check out the shot-charts of Tayshaun Prince and Mo Evans. I'm sure it's not hard to deduct that when probably 90% of total shots taken as jumpers, there is going to be a correlation in the foul numbers, they will be low. LeBron has been called for 6 fouls....he's probably committed more than 6,maybe 8 or 9...but I wouldn't say there's been a blatant bias. He fouled Josh once, maybe twice last night and got away with it...but these calls aren't "LeBron Calls" as you suggest....they're just calls that superstars always get and always have gotten. But it still doesn't take away from the fact that LeBron has faced two guys who have taken mostly jump shots and and other than that he generally "free safeties" around the passing lanes.

I'm not going to let six playoff games round my opinion out when I have 81 games to go by that Lebron played during the regular season. During those five regular season games straight that he didn't get called for a foul he played roughly 180 minutes. That's damn near impossible. I don't have anything else to say about it and not really seeking a debate when the numbers tell the truth.

[evildallas]

I'm a Cavs fan and also saw a few fouls that could've been called on LeBron that weren't called. Not sure it would've made any difference in the outcome of these games. Honestly in the past I know everyone says LeBron gets special treatment by the refs but I haven't really noticed it that much. He hasn't gotten the Kobe star treatment in prior playoffs at least. LeBron takes alot of punishment and often the foul hasn't been called because he's such a big, cut dude. Of course Violet Palmer was one of the refs last night so you have to add that to the equation since she is just plain awful. Overall I thought the officiating was horrible in Game 2. Someone like Sasha Pavlovic just has to breathe on someone and he is called for a foul so I do think the refs do play some favortism to a point no doubt about that.

I in no way claim that the outcome would be different. We've been thoroughly outplayed. I just feel his defense effectiveness is increased because he can take chances with contact with almost complete immunity to foul calling. Likewise he doesn't have to concern himself with pulling up on a drive because the likelihood of getting whistled for a charge is so low. Other players on the court have to consider their actions more carefully and that is another advantage for him. He'd already be the best player on the floor. The special treatment just makes the gap even more discouraging.

[CHIMOCHI]

I'm a Cavs fan and also saw a few fouls that could've been called on LeBron that weren't called. Not sure it would've made any difference in the outcome of these games. Honestly in the past I know everyone says LeBron gets special treatment by the refs but I haven't really noticed it that much. He hasn't gotten the Kobe star treatment in prior playoffs at least. LeBron takes alot of punishment and often the foul hasn't been called because he's such a big, cut dude. Of course Violet Palmer was one of the refs last night so you have to add that to the equation since she is just plain awful. Overall I thought the officiating was horrible in Game 2. Someone like Sasha Pavlovic just has to breathe on someone and he is called for a foul so I do think the refs do play some favortism to a point no doubt about that.

Regular Season:

Kobe averaged 36:06 mpg. Personal Fouls: 189

Lebron averaged 37:42 mpg. Personal Fouls: 139

Lebron played five game straight this season and didn't get called for a foul

Playoffs:

Kobe mpg 41:06. Fouls: 16
Lebron mpg 37:53. Fouls: 6
It can be debated who the more aggressive player is, but I'm leaning towards Lebron. Kobe doesn't come close to getting the treatment Lebron does.

LOL BRON BRON doesn't play defense like kobe. He's quicker and stronger and doesn't care to fight off screens like MAMBA. If you want lbj to get fouls post him up/don't be intimidated. Last season in the semifinals against Boston, he avg 3 fouls a game. Why? Because Paul Pierce wasn't intimidated.
Prince is known as a great defender, and he avg 1.3 fouls per game.

[HMFFL]

Home not where heart is for some Atlanta fans

LeBron James jerseys are the second-biggest sellers at Lenox Square’s Champs Sports store.

The most popular isn’t worn by a hometown Hawk, but a Laker, as in Kobe Bryant, who was greeted with sustained chants of “MVP” from a sellout Philips Arena crowd during a 2008 “home” game.

“We’re fair-weather fans here in Atlanta,” Champs store manager Terry Presley said. Though Hawks jerseys are selling more briskly following the organization’s first playoff series win since 1999, other teams’ stars still rule our decidedly non-partisan corner of the NBA universe.

It’s a local phenomenon not restricted to basketball. Cowboys and Steelers fans typically show up in large numbers whenever Dallas and Pittsburgh come to Atlanta. The same applies at Turner Field when the Red Sox and Cubs visit.

“There’s a bandwagon element to Atlanta fans that doesn’t just apply to Atlanta teams,” said John Kincaid, co-host of “Buck and Kincaid” on 680 The Fan.

That’s fine for the wagon jumpers, but depressing for those who hold onto the quaint notion of rooting for the home team.

Link

[evildallas]

^^^ So the Champs Sports store in Lenox Square mirrors overall NBA jersey sale ranks. This for a league that promotes the individual over the team and has for the last 25-30 years. And that is used to criticize the fans in Atlanta. That's lame.

Also, lamenting that Dallas and Pittsburgh draw opposing fans or Red Sox and the Cubs draw opposing fans does not truly indicate much about the local fan base. There are several reasons why. #1 is those teams don't come to Atlanta very often, so when they do their fans are extra motivated to come out and see them live. This drives ticket resell prices up and gives Atlanta fans an incentive to sell their tickets. If you can pay for a good portion of your season tickets by watching one game or series on TV and selling the tickets at a hefty premium then you might. Doesn't make you any less of an Atlanta fan, just makes you financially prudent. Showing up and rooting for the road team would make you less of an Atlanta fan.

Also for the Champs store manager Terry Presley saying "We're fair-weather fans here in Atlanta," %*(#%# you, what do you mean we? I remember sitting through a Memphis-Atlanta game at Philips Arena when the Hawks finished 13-69. Does that sound fair-weather? I'm not Braves fan, but I never was one. I'm not Falcons, but again I never was one. In those cases I've had the same teams for over 35 years and believe me there were lean years. That's not fair-weather.

If the AJC or that columnist truly cared about the fan bases of Atlanta teams he would be trumpeting why the Hawks deserve support rather than chastising the people of Atlanta with name calling and supposition.

[parson]

Changing the subject:

Did anyone else notice the Hawks running a new offense? I've been complaining that the Hawks need to free Joe Johnson by running picks for him. This last game, I THOUGHT I saw us running some sort of 3-2 offense, with one of the 3 perimeter players up top running around the 2 post players, using them for picks. The ball would then swing to the player running around the pick and he'd have an open shot.

I thought I saw that for several minutes, most clearly in the 3rd period. Did anyone else see this? Did the Hawks run some kind of pick-based offense? Are the Hawks now taking my advice on how to run our offense?

I've been waiting for some word on this, before posting. I thought that, if I were correct, there'd be someone to write about this. So now I'm asking.

[DeShaunRed]

Changing the subject:

Did anyone else notice the Hawks running a new offense? I've been complaining that the Hawks need to free Joe Johnson by running picks for him. This last game, I THOUGHT I saw us running some sort of 3-2 offense, with one of the 3 perimeter players up top running around the 2 post players, using them for picks. The ball would then swing to the player running around the pick and he'd have an open shot.

I thought I saw that for several minutes, most clearly in the 3rd period. Did anyone else see this? Did the Hawks run some kind of pick-based offense? Are the Hawks now taking my advice on how to run our offense?

I've been waiting for some word on this, before posting. I thought that, if I were correct, there'd be someone to write about this. So now I'm asking.

Well, if they are running a new play, they should've done that in either Game 2 or 3. This would've made a difference (like not getting blown out by 20+). I've seen the same play like 2-3 times in the 3rd quarter too but I was not really focused on that one because the important thing in this series is to contain LBJ.

Whatever new offense they are doing now is futile because this series ends in Game 4.

[Retrovision]

the hawks were 0-3 at home in playoff games i failed to attend sorry guys...

[evildallas]

^^^ We have our scapegoat!!!

[parson]

I missed the game as well, business, ya know.

BUT ... I see that LBJ had 3 whole fouls called on him and that we shot 4 whole FTs more than CLE did, so I guess I'm wrong and the NBA is as pure as the driven snow, huh?

Truthfully, I wouldn't have had the heart to watch, even if I had been home. Why bother? I'll just check in with the sports news guys to find out how Kobe and King James did.