off topic: Who do you root for, Celtics or Lakers?

[TMU]

Kobe was Dirk Nowitzki-esque in this series and he got the beating that he deserved. Besides enjoying every moment of Kobe's missed jumpshots, the best part of the game was when the crowd booed David Stern.

p.s.: I live two blocks away from the Garden and it's really loud outside.

[A.J.]

^how is the new manager?

Now I can go back to hating the Celtics.

[TMU]

^how is the new manager?

Now I can go back to hating the Celtics.

What manager?

[King Roosk]

Kobe is not, and will never be as great as Michael Jordan. Jordan would never squander a 24 point lead at home to lose a game in the finals. Jordan would never lose a closeout game by 39. Jordan would ATTACK the basket and not settle for all those jumpers. Kobe is one of the greatest offensive forces in the history of the NBA (I was NOT impressed with his defense on Pierce throughout the series), but he just can't match Michael Jordan...ever. Now that I got that off my chest...

As terrible as this may come off (hear me out, I'm not trying to offend anybody), Euros like Vujacic and Radmanovic just aren't enough to cut it for a championship team if they're receiving significant minutes. Euros aren't tough enough for teams like Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think this series showed that. Toughness is something you simply grow up with, you don't magically become tough, and the European style of basketball is a breeding ground for soft play. Therefore, I hope we stay away from Euros this offseason. And before anyone makes an ignorant comment, Scola and Ginobili are from Argentina. Their style of basketball is way tougher then what comes out of Europe.

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

[King Roosk]

And oh my God who saw that commercial during game 6 where it had clips from all of the NBA playoffs commercials from this year, with clips from games, etc. and at the end it's Kobe and KG saying what you have to do get that respect is to "win"...I'll admit it gave me goosebumps, and is one of the best damn commercials I've ever seen. If anyone can find the link then please hook me up; I have to see that commercial again.

[TMU]

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

I won't be surprised if McGrady runs his mouth again. The concept of "a 3rd scorer" is becoming a fad in this league.

[moofs]

Kobe is not, and will never be as great as Michael Jordan. Jordan would never squander a 24 point lead at home to lose a game in the finals. Jordan would never lose a closeout game by 39. Jordan would ATTACK the basket and not settle for all those jumpers. Kobe is one of the greatest offensive forces in the history of the NBA (I was NOT impressed with his defense on Pierce throughout the series), but he just can't match Michael Jordan...ever. Now that I got that off my chest...

As terrible as this may come off (hear me out, I'm not trying to offend anybody), Euros like Vujacic and Radmanovic just aren't enough to cut it for a championship team if they're receiving significant minutes. Euros aren't tough enough for teams like Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think this series showed that. Toughness is something you simply grow up with, you don't magically become tough, and the European style of basketball is a breeding ground for soft play. Therefore, I hope we stay away from Euros this offseason. And before anyone makes an ignorant comment, Scola and Ginobili are from Argentina. Their style of basketball is way tougher then what comes out of Europe.

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

I'd give it 1-1 odds. You're absolutely right too, Kobe is great, but not Jordan great. Also, if you want to soften up that euro squad, you could always substitute Rashard for Radmanovic. That signing never ceases to put a smile on my face cause uh... good gravy their management is dumb. ("Rashard, we'll offer you 80mil over 5 seasons." "Done!!!" "Ok, ok, ok, you drive a hard bargain, how about 110 million over 6?" "Does anyone else think we should we go after Stephon as a free agent in 09?" "I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?" "...I think you were offering me $120 million over 6 seasons." "Oh cool. Yeah, sign here. Who wants to go get a slurpee?" SORRY ORLANDO. It's not your fault!)

'Ey TMU, found you an article. "Why the Lakers Suck"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3422313

[A.J.]

^how is the new manager?

Now I can go back to hating the Celtics.

What manager?

Jerry Manuel

[Baller 24]

Code: Select all

 The largest margins of victory in an NBA Finals game:
 42 -- Chicago (96) vs. Utah (54), June 7, 1998.

Who likes reading that? I sure do nothing better then looking at the fact that the Utah Jazz are the biggest NBA Finals Chokers in NBA history.

[Alex_De_Large]

UTAH JAZZ

[PurpleTestament]

When the Boston win was imminent I was kind of waiting for Kobe to blow up and get ejected.

[MaxRider]

Kobe was Dirk Nowitzki-esque in this series and he got the beating that he deserved. Besides enjoying every moment of Kobe's missed jumpshots, the best part of the game was when the crowd booed David Stern.

p.s.: I live two blocks away from the Garden and it's really loud outside.

booing Stern? i thought they were chanting Truth

[CuttingEdge]

Kobe is not, and will never be as great as Michael Jordan. Jordan would never squander a 24 point lead at home to lose a game in the finals. Jordan would never lose a closeout game by 39. Jordan would ATTACK the basket and not settle for all those jumpers. Kobe is one of the greatest offensive forces in the history of the NBA (I was NOT impressed with his defense on Pierce throughout the series), but he just can't match Michael Jordan...ever. Now that I got that off my chest...

As terrible as this may come off (hear me out, I'm not trying to offend anybody), Euros like Vujacic and Radmanovic just aren't enough to cut it for a championship team if they're receiving significant minutes. Euros aren't tough enough for teams like Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think this series showed that. Toughness is something you simply grow up with, you don't magically become tough, and the European style of basketball is a breeding ground for soft play. Therefore, I hope we stay away from Euros this offseason. And before anyone makes an ignorant comment, Scola and Ginobili are from Argentina. Their style of basketball is way tougher then what comes out of Europe.

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

I thought you were better than that dude. It's more about inexperience than where anybody is from. Think about Gasol's Spain kicking Argentina's in FIBA. The Lakers team defense was a bust and the Rockets would have gave Celts a heart attack if they played in the against the Celts the way they did during the 22 game winning streak. With a healthy and imposing Yao along the Rockets would have beat that Celtic team. That's right I believe!!! And you know it!

[Baller 24]

Kobe is not, and will never be as great as Michael Jordan. Jordan would never squander a 24 point lead at home to lose a game in the finals. Jordan would never lose a closeout game by 39. Jordan would ATTACK the basket and not settle for all those jumpers. Kobe is one of the greatest offensive forces in the history of the NBA (I was NOT impressed with his defense on Pierce throughout the series), but he just can't match Michael Jordan...ever. Now that I got that off my chest...

As terrible as this may come off (hear me out, I'm not trying to offend anybody), Euros like Vujacic and Radmanovic just aren't enough to cut it for a championship team if they're receiving significant minutes. Euros aren't tough enough for teams like Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think this series showed that. Toughness is something you simply grow up with, you don't magically become tough, and the European style of basketball is a breeding ground for soft play. Therefore, I hope we stay away from Euros this offseason. And before anyone makes an ignorant comment, Scola and Ginobili are from Argentina. Their style of basketball is way tougher then what comes out of Europe.

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

I thought you were better than that dude. It's more about inexperience than where anybody is from. Think about Gasol's Spain kicking Argentina's in FIBA. The Lakers team defense was a bust and the Rockets would have gave Celts a heart attack if they played in the against the Celts the way they did during the 22 game winning streak. With a healthy and imposing Yao along the Rockets would have beat that Celtic team. That's right I believe!!! And you know it!

Well, see about that...we never played them at full force. With Yao we lost by 4, but we didn't have Tmac, and the Celtics said that Yao was very tough to handle. With McGrady we got blown out, Yao was out of course with the injury. Fully healthy Rockets can have a very good shot at beating the Celtics, but it would be tough.

[CuttingEdge]

Kobe is not, and will never be as great as Michael Jordan. Jordan would never squander a 24 point lead at home to lose a game in the finals. Jordan would never lose a closeout game by 39. Jordan would ATTACK the basket and not settle for all those jumpers. Kobe is one of the greatest offensive forces in the history of the NBA (I was NOT impressed with his defense on Pierce throughout the series), but he just can't match Michael Jordan...ever. Now that I got that off my chest...

As terrible as this may come off (hear me out, I'm not trying to offend anybody), Euros like Vujacic and Radmanovic just aren't enough to cut it for a championship team if they're receiving significant minutes. Euros aren't tough enough for teams like Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think this series showed that. Toughness is something you simply grow up with, you don't magically become tough, and the European style of basketball is a breeding ground for soft play. Therefore, I hope we stay away from Euros this offseason. And before anyone makes an ignorant comment, Scola and Ginobili are from Argentina. Their style of basketball is way tougher then what comes out of Europe.

Who wants to bet that Boston winning the 'ship gets Mac excited enough to make some stupid comments about acquiring a 3rd scorer to take slack off of him, etc. when he should really just shut his mouth and leave that up to management? Anybody?

I thought you were better than that dude. It's more about inexperience than where anybody is from. Think about Gasol's Spain kicking Argentina's in FIBA. The Lakers team defense was a bust and the Rockets would have gave Celts a heart attack if they played in the against the Celts the way they did during the 22 game winning streak. With a healthy and imposing Yao along the Rockets would have beat that Celtic team. That's right I believe!!! And you know it!

Well, see about that...we never played them at full force. With Yao we lost by 4, but we didn't have Tmac, and the Celtics said that Yao was very tough to handle. With McGrady we got blown out, Yao was out of course with the injury. Fully healthy Rockets can have a very good shot at beating the Celtics, but it would be tough.

Deep down inside, the Celts and other teams know a healthy Rockets with Yao is challenge beyond regulations. Davis, Powe, and Perkins are useless with a Yao, Scola, Battier front line. In fact Powe and Big Baby did not play even when the Rockets were about to bust the Celts in their own building. Yao at his best presents a problem for any post player in the league. It's a skill and constant finesse strength. The man can be explosively strong but it's more about a hydraulic giant or machinery that can't be prevented from making his move. He would have wiped the floor with PJ Brown and forced KG to foul out with Scola, Landry, and TMAC attacking the rim.

[King Roosk]

Better than what? I'm not saying skin color or ethnicity is th determining factor; I'm arguing that the style of basketball (aka where you grew up playing) has a lot to do with in-game toughness. What European player in the NBA right now is known as tough? Better yet, what European player (who actually makes a significant contribution to his team) isn't known as soft/not tough? Just off the top of my head:

Radmanovic, Vujacic, Stojakovic, Dirk, Bargnani, Pau Gasoft...all known as soft. The only tough Euro I can think of who is actually a contributor to his team is Jose Calderon.

[MaxRider]

judging the way the Celtics are playing in the 1st round against the Hawks
i don't even think they can get to the Eastern Conference Final
that's how bad they are
i guess Pistons winning on their home court wake them up somehow
that's when they started playing better (at least for Ray Allen)

[CuttingEdge]

I'm not talking about race or ethnicity. There are plenty tough Euro players, though most in the NBA are soft. There's that guy with the funny shaped head on the Nuggets and a few others. My point is, the Lakers lost because of inexperience on the other players part not named Fisher or Bryant.