R1G2: Golden State Warriors(1-0) @ Los Angeles Clippers(0-1)

[mttwlsn16]

Monday, 730 west, 1030 east, at Staples Center on TNT







WOAH!













[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=827ySPOkmyY[/youtube]









VS




Good Luck Charm



After losing game 1, we've got to come out and take game 2. Cant wait til Monday night! Hopefully the ref's are less whistle happy. 51 combined fouls in game 1, a bit ridiculous, and Blake and Iguadola fouled out in 20 mins of play

[Neddy]

dude you need to have a mod change the title. you have clippers down 0-2. bad omen.

[mttwlsn16]

dude you need to have a mod change the title. you have clippers down 0-2. bad omen.

God damn it

Mk you should've taken this game when I asked if you wanted it lol

[Quake Griffin]

one thing I will say about the 1st loss is, the pressure it puts on you puts the playoffs in perspective.

one game at a time.

I cannot see a damn thing past Monday night and I doubt this team can.
well...I can see that we have 2 days off after Monday.
so....EVERYTHING GOES INTO THIS GAME ON MONDAY!....i mean everything. Game 3 srsly doesnt even exist to me at this point.

[TheNewEra]

one thing I will say about the 1st loss is, the pressure it puts on you puts the playoffs in perspective.

one game at a time.

I cannot see a damn thing past Monday night and I doubt this team can.
well...I can see that we have 2 days off after Monday.
so....EVERYTHING GOES INTO THIS GAME ON MONDAY!....i mean everything. Game 3 srsly doesnt even exist to me at this point.

same here I just feel numb I can't really even enjoy easter Sunday. Just want Monday here and a redemption win.

[Neddy]

am I the only one thinking that Adam Silver prefers longer series for more TV revenue? fouling out Blake made it easier for the Warriors to steal one and to me Iggy getting fouled out was just to make bias less obvious. despite what fans of the bay thinks, Iggy is not Curry or Klay. just like we can't do without blake or CP, they don't have a chance against us without Curry or Klay.

I am pretty sure NBA wants every series to go to game 7, if they can, but from here on I would expect a bit more competent refereeing since it is hard to imagine any NBA team beating the Warriors at home for both game 3 and 4. this will at least go to game 6 now. I would then worry about refereeing again for that game 6. Am I saying that NBA dictates the outcome of every game? no but they sure are doing all they can subtly to tilt the odds one way or another to their likings. always have, and always will.

[Ranma]

am I the only one thinking that Adam Silver prefers longer series for more TV revenue?

No, I'm wearing a tinfoil hat myself as I implied as much in the Game 1 thread. I hate sounding like a whining fan blaming the refs, but it's hard to look past the uneven results of bad officiating of the game even if it was technically bad for both sides. I counted at least 3 questionable foul calls on Griffin, where he did practically nothing; these are calls that would not have been made during the regular season, nevermind the supposedly rough-and-tumble playoffs or under star-treatment protocols. Let's also not forget the replay review in the closing seconds with the Warriors up by 2, where the Clippers had to be given a turnover when the ball went off Paul only to technically ignore the foul that caused him to fumble it in the first place.

I re-iterate (from the aforementioned Game 1 thread), the Clippers didn't deserve to win yesterday even as the referees placed them in a fairly untenable situation since we still had opportunities to pull it out were it not for our choke jobs. I'd hate to lose this series but I absolutely despise having to endure interference from league influence whether it be from an NBA mandate to artificially dramatize/sensationalize playoff games and/or incompetent refereeing. Let the players play and the outcome be determined by the teams.

Silver and his cronies don't seem to have much faith in the game and teams to put forth a quality product nor does he respect the fans' intelligence. I was hoping he'd be different from Stern, but so far, he continues to exercise the office of the Commissioner as the game's pimp more so than its caretaker.

[Quake Griffin]

am I the only one thinking that Adam Silver prefers longer series for more TV revenue?

No, I'm wearing a tinfoil hat myself as I implied as much in the Game 1 thread. I hate sounding like a whining fan blaming the refs, but it's hard to look past the uneven results of bad officiating of the game even if it was technically bad for both sides. I counted at least 3 questionable foul calls on Griffin, where he did practically nothing; these are calls that would not have been made during the regular season, nevermind the supposedly rough-and-tumble playoffs or under star-treatment protocols. Let's also not forget the replay review in the closing seconds with the Warriors up by 2, where the Clippers had to be given a turnover when the ball went off Paul only to technically ignore the foul that caused him to fumble it in the first place.

I re-iterate (from the aforementioned Game 1 thread), the Clippers didn't deserve to win yesterday even as the referees placed them in a fairly untenable situation since we still had opportunities to pull it out were it not for our choke jobs. I'd hate to lose this series but I absolutely despise having to endure interference from league influence whether it be from an NBA mandate to artificially dramatize/sensationalize playoff games and/or incompetent refereeing. Let the players play and the outcome be determined by the teams.

Silver and his cronies don't seem to have much faith in the game and teams to put forth a quality product nor does he respect the fans' intelligence. I was hoping he'd be different from Stern, but so far, he continues to exercise the office of the Commissioner as the game's pimp more so than its caretaker.

one thing I WILL NOT take up for Blake for...was when he got that charge on Speights.
As I watched it i said "don't do it"..he has the angles...it's one step, stiffen up like a statue and fall backwards for him....Griffin fell for it.

Hopefully he understands it NOW...after the Christmas game....after watching Lee cheer, "THAT'S 5!"...there's no length this team wont go to in order to try and mentally fluster him.

The way he deals with these tactics will determine the series.
HE IS our advantage over them....they cannot guard him...and it will help us control the tempo and our turnovers.

P.S.
another grown man cheering "thats 5"...really?...i mean really?
i get the tactic of getting someone in foul trouble....but you should have more pride than to cheer like that.

[Clemenza]

CP3- play your game and run the offense. Stop fishing for fouls which leads to wasted possessions and bad shots. and knock down your free throws.

Blake- stay on your feet on defense. we need 35 minutes or more with you on the court and not on the bench. its time for you to have big meaningful playoff games to go along with the regular season highlight reels.

DJ- keep doing what you're doing brotha.. amazing game one on Saturday

Granger or Barnes- one of you has to score some points. can't have donuts at the SF position on Monday

Crawford- Doc needs to have this dude on a short leash. His game does not translate in the post season at all. He was terrible in last years playoffs against Memphis. I can't watch another game of him chucking bad contested shots in the playoffs

Reddick- if his shot keeps falling Doc might have to give him more minutes especially if Crawford, Barnes, Collison and Granger can't hit shots

Big Baby- good game one

[azncorruptedo17]

refs need to let em play. saw the fouls being given early and cmon... lol... it's going to be physical, but refs kept tryna dictate the tempo.

let them play, i wanna see bodies hitting the floor blood being shed. lol

[Neddy]

i like the game of basketball.

I love my Clippers.

but man this NBA is ran much more like a hedge fund managing financial institution rather than a sports league.
unlike baseball where talented kids gets drafted whether they are coming from Stanford or a little town barnyard high school games, NBA cares so much about its BRAND that they now mandate people to have a title of a well known division 1 school. if NBA actually cared about its employees' education, they would mandate that the players actually go to school and finish a degree but no, all it needs is a year of school just to say the kid went to that name brand school. what does that got to do with a kid's talent to play a game of basketball?
of course Adam Silver and his board of directors get a massive kickback from NCAA for providing them with a total monopoly of talent supply. only way to get drafted in NBA is to go to one of these NCAA schools and sell their jerseys first. they do say having played internationally counts, but it is very rare for a 17 year old kid playing in some obscure high school league to get that kind of exposure to go aboard in the first place, and most international teams do not have much scouting here in USA either.
NBA is the only league that fines its players for what they are wearing on the bench or in and around the arena. has MLB ever fined Brian WIlson for his sleeveless shirt and mountain man beard attire?
NBA does not cater to an average Joe, although it is average Joes who support their product. NBA wants to sell to affluent families who come to arena a half a dozen times or more per year, sitting on expensive seats as family of 4, spending money on food and drinks and kids get their souvenirs at the ridiculously marked up in house shops for the parents to feel good about giving their kids a good time. if they can wrestle season tickets for family of 4? now NBA has achieved its ultimate goal. you love the NBA but don't spend at least a grand per visit? they don't need you. there are millions like you out there who will come to that one game a season at the upper deck, saving money on parking by parking away from the arena or taking a bus. you may love your team, but your contribution to the franchise and the league is only valued at what you spend.
Ironically, as the socio-economics of NBA's targeted demographic moves upwards, their understanding of the game of basketball nosedives. the game of basketball is, after all, an urban sports where inner-city kids who do not have a baseball field or football field in their neighborhoods to gather and play at anybody's driveway, in the streets, or behind any building with just a wall, hoop, and concrete floor. the same supply of the talent the NCAA or NBA pools in from is coming form these very alleyways, driveways, local parks, and behind industrial buildings. but NBA cannot sell this BRAND to the affluent suburb dwelling high purchasing power demographics. so what do they do? instead of saying, "look, that is Baron Davis from South Central LA", or "hey, there is Gary Payton from East Oakland" they manufacture and reBRAND them into "look, that's Baron Davis out of UCLA" and "hey there is Gary Payton from Oregon State". all the while, NCAA makes money while doing NBA's dirty work of re-imaging and re-branding these kids into something they often are not, college level students. otherwise what is the hype behind Jeremy Lin? an Asian American kid from an affluent neighborhood of silicon valley, who attended Harvard with his own grades and gradated, shouldn't be a big deal if every athlete in NBA were able to get into the schools they are from with their own academic merits, is there? after all, UCLA, Duke, Georgetown, Berkley, Udubb, and countless others are great academic institutions that are not very far behind at all from the Ivy League schools. of course, it is a big deal because we all know that there are a lot more Eric Bledsoes in NBA who have not so clean academic history and proper merits for their eligibilities than there are Jeremy Lins. don't get me wrong, I love me some Eric Bledsoe. still would have loved to kept him on our roster.
anyhow, since fabricating grades which have worked for so long are now getting investigated when public is made aware of such academic frauds, we see time to time the people in charge of these university athletics get fired. whenever it happens, it's not good for the college teams coaches, the athletic directors, the board members, and ultimately the reputation of those universities suffer. so what's the new scheme? make college mandated, but only for 1 year, so academic ineligibility won't become an issue when kids can't pass on their own at UCLA, U of North Carolina or U of K when in fact these kids barely scored 700 on SAT on their third try.

but do people really care where their athletes come from? Clayton Kershaw is a two time cy young winner, a well known humanitarian and a humble young man who is now worth about 300 million. he came straight from a high school in Texas. Wayne Gretzky was playing professional hockey before he could even turn 18. not even sure if Wayne has a high school diploma at all.
then what gives?
I think the answer is pretty obvious and right in our faces. the affluent fans of the NBA or any major sports in North America uses terms like a "enforcer" or"tough as nails" when they see a non threatening face where as the same type of players who happened to be black, will be called a "thug", or "gangster". it was incredibly telling when America got to hear what football players really say on the field when Richard Sherman was caught on his ranting after the NFC championship game earlier this year, they collectively called him a "thug". Richard Sherman, was talking tough, and crazy, sports his long dreadlocks, happens to be black. he also happens to be a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in communications, graduated with honors and went back to school for his masters degree and he finished his undergraduate studies earlier than his athletic eligibility to play football. if anything, this young man is an academic scholar.

I am not calling the upper middle America racist. but we have our stereotypes and tendencies. David Stern saw that and manufactured Magic vs Bird, to engage the whites into a sport that is predominantly played by blacks from urban upbringing. Am I saying Magic and Bird weren't any good? Not at all. they were great. but If Magic was drafted by Utah Jazz instead of the Lakers, and Bird to Seattle Sonics instead of the Celtics, things wouldn't be the same. Magic without his supporting cast, and Larry without his supporting cast, wouldn't be the same. but most of all, NBA's manipulation of the game through refereeing, gave just enough push for these two teams to continue their colliding and legends were made, ratings went up, and the economically viable American middle class embraced the game of basketball. Now the target demographics has moved up from middle class to upper middle class. this is only reflective of our social changes in much larger scale, the death of American Middle Class that we are witnessing today.
as the fans the NBA is targeting is changing to more financially capable but less basketball savvy, casual crowd, Adam Silver and his minions are carrying on the legacy of David Stern with not so subtle approach, and frankly, I don't let an NBA playoff games' results bother me much anymore. did we lose because NBA wanted us to lose? not entirely. we had plenty of our chances, as we are clearly the better team. but did NBA have its dirty hands to change the odds, maybe more than a little? you bet.

either way, I take my fandom with a dash of cynicism and put everything in perspective.
of course when the same thing happens with my Dodger baseball, i tend to lose my mind but that's a whole different story.

this was a whole lot about nothing, really, but I do wish that NBA becomes more of a sports league than a sports entertainment entity.

[Neddy]

oh, and thanks to those few posters around here with enough patience to read through all that mumbo jumbo.

[Ranma]

one thing I WILL NOT take up for Blake for...was when he got that charge on Speights.
As I watched it i said "don't do it"..he has the angles...it's one step, stiffen up like a statue and fall backwards for him....Griffin fell for it.

Yeah, that play was not among the three I counted. Everybody was up in arms with Blake's decision on that play when it happened in the Game 1 Thread:

SMH Blake with his 3rd foul already. He has to be smarter than that.

Blake back to the bench with his 3rd foul

NOBODY SAY FLOP.

He ahoudla known that was comming

Yup. That was bad on his part

What the hell was Blake thinking? I really hate it when he falls in love with his ballhandling ability too much.

[Neddy]

I dunno if i commented on that play during the game, but yeah that was a total bone headed play by blake. i think everyone of us saw that foul coming seconds before it all played out.

[azncorruptedo17]

one thing I WILL NOT take up for Blake for...was when he got that charge on Speights.
As I watched it i said "don't do it"..he has the angles...it's one step, stiffen up like a statue and fall backwards for him....Griffin fell for it.

Yeah, that play was not one of the three I counted. Everybody was up in arms with Blake's decision on that play when it happened in the Game 1 Thread:

SMH Blake with his 3rd foul already. He has to be smarter than that.

Blake back to the bench with his 3rd foul

NOBODY SAY FLOP.

He ahoudla known that was comming

Yup. That was bad on his part

What the hell was Blake thinking? I really hate it when he falls in love with his ballhandling ability too much.

lol... i was out in the golf course during the game. i looked at my phone as the 2nd quarter started, it refreshed with 'blake offensive foul' and 'sub' ... i then thought... "blake, why were you being a dumbarse"

[Neddy]

but i see you felt compelled enough to post that 3 times... lol

excuse me, 4 times.

[Ranma]

but i see you felt compelled enough to post that 3 times... lol

excuse me, 4 times.

I don't know what I did wrong. I was trying to edit and it kept multiplying like rabbits on this Easter Sunday. Yeesh. I'm trying to delete the duplicates to clean up the thread. Sorry.


Update: Since I can't delete those empty threads, I'll just update them with the lovely ladies of Clippers spectating and fashion modeling.

[Neddy]

hey no need to apologize, it was funny and entertaining. i had to make sure i read all the dups to confirm that they were in fact, dups. something is very wrong with me. maybe its the Sunday early imbibing while watching my dodgers, but I so wish you were actual Ranma and i had a pitcher full of cold water in my hands!!!!

I know, I have problems.

[Ranma]

I know, I have problems.

You and me both. I hope you enjoy the pictured replacements for those duplicate threads, especially since you read through each of them.

BTW nothing beats listening to the golden voice of Vin Scully on this relaxing Sunday. "It's time for Dodger baseball!"

[Neddy]

oh man, alyssa milano has always tickled my fancy. Alba is pretty but little too young for me.