NBA Playoffs

Is anyone else following the NBA playoffs? As I spend most of my time in Cleveland, I am following the Cavaliers. The games have been very exciting and competitive in most of the series. Just tonight LeBron hit a last second three to win the game, so I am pumped.

At this point, all the teams left are good enough to win the title and give each other a good match.

Who are my fellow fakkuza pulling for or following? What have you thought of the playoffs?

As a final note, simply saying that the NBA sucks is not what I hope for this topic to be about. If you have a specific thing you would like to criticize or see changed, fine, but I remember the NFL playoffs topic had a good number of posts that were one liners along the lines of "football sucks." It doesn't add anything to the conversation.

Yes i watch NBA, Wasn't the 1 sec 3 shot by LBJ amazing!? I was screaming when that happen!

Im a Lakers fan btw.

A Lakers fan? You and I would of been bitter rivals a few years ago. But the Kings are back to being pretty bad, worse than when they were in the 90's.

Hope the Nuggets beat the Lakers.
Orlando over Cleveland, gotta support Hedo.

Man, the Cavs outside shooters are killing them. It's either LeBron pretty much singlehandedly wins the game or else they lose. They need to shape up and earn the W in game 4. Also, they need to look into signing some good defensive/rebounding big men in the offseason. Even with Dwight Howard's lack of an offensive skill set, they don't really have a good answer for him. Oh, and Varejao needs to stop leaving guys open in the corner for threes. The Magic are just a killer matchup for the Cavs.



I want to see the LeBron-Kobe finals so LeBron can have his chance to truly crown himself King James and have everyone universally recognize him as the best player of the current NBA. Statistically, no one does more to help their team win, but having rings matters, and Kobe has three, albeit with Shaq. LeBron blows Kobe away in terms of statistical contribution and efficiency, but until he has his ring, he can't really be the king, can he?

Whenever the team that I'm supporting gets booted out, I can't help but lose interest on the remainder of the playoffs... Well, I'm a Pistons fan and as you probably know it, they barely made the playoffs and were easily disposed of by the Cavs in the first round. (don't really wanna talk about this lackluster season)

Since only four teams are left, I'd like to see Denver and Orlando in the finals just like tsujoi. I really don't like the Magics but I definitely dislike the Cavs even more; not just because they eliminated the Pistons (the second time in three years now), I already disliked 'em ever since James was drafted into the team. Meanwhile, as I'm pretty much more of an Eastern Conference fan (for some unknown reason) with the Pistons, Bulls, and Celtics now out of contention, all I'm really left with is to go with the Nuggets... which in fact have been playing well as of late (despite of the game3 loss) and considering that Billups who's formerly a Piston (traded for A.I early in the season) is one of the reasons behind Denver's success. Hopefully, they'd tie the series later on with a very important game4 W. Oh, and btw, I've always hated the Lakers, esp around the Shaq and Kobe era.

The Pistons gave you quite a few quality years and won it all, so you can't be too down on them for not making it this year. I'm not sure they would have had a shot at winning the championship even with Billups, though they probably could have gotten a higher seed and maybe gotten to the second round. They were just getting old, and Ben Wallace is both washed up and plays for the Cavs now. Still, the Billups for Iverson trade was basically a giant middle finger to any fans who still wanted them to give it a few more shots and make an honest effort this year. They wanted Iverson for the cap, and he killed the team whenever he played. I think the only question at this point is who they dump as they blow up the team and enter rebuilding mode. I also think Dumars was banking on Rodney Stuckey improving and playing better than he actually did this season, so now there is the question of whether he can be a key piece to a future contender for the Pistons. If only Dumars hadn't drafted Darko . . .

The Chauncey Billups factor... 7 straight Conference Finals for him. What a bad trade on the Pistons part.

As talented as Iverson is, there is still no way that Billups for Iverson was anything but a huge downgrade for the Pistons. This recent incarnation of the Pistons has been an ensemble team, and they don't need Iverson, who is not much of a team player. They need people like Billups: someone who doesn't make mistakes, passes the ball when someone is open, and knocks down his own open shots.

If you want to use Iverson, you have to build a team around him like the 76ers did when they made the finals in 2001. You need Iverson and a bunch of guys who are willing to be role players, rebound, play defense, and don't get upset with letting Iverson jack up a ton of shots. And, of course, at this point, Iverson is past his prime and too old for that. It was totally a cap deal for the Pistons, even though they told their fans otherwise.

As far as the Chauncey Billups factor, I don't think he is a guy who carry a team or take over a game, like a Kobe or LeBron, but there aren't a lot of guards who can execute an offense with his efficiency and avoidance of mistakes. I don't think, even when he was younger, that you could win a title with Billups as your best player(maybe if you had a really good starting 5 in total), but if you already have the pieces, as the Nuggets have for a couple seasons, he can bring them together better than anyone.

Now that there is a Sports section, I am moving this thread over there.

As much as I want to see a LBJ vs Kobe finals, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it ended up being Dwight Howard vs Carmelo. Both the Cavs and the Lakers have their hands full, especially the Cavs. The only game they've won was on a buzzer beater 3. That alone tells me they've been outplayed the whole series, despite being in the lead for 3/4 of the 2 games.

I think it is kind of funny because there are a lot of Kobe/LBJ commercials. Even the media is thinking that those two will end up in the finals, and the coach of the Magic (SVG) commented about that the other day.

Anyways, I feel it is about time for LBJ to win a ring because I think he deserves one. He is honostly the best all around player in the NBA by far, so I find myself rooting for the Cavs this year.

I don't think the Cavs can beat the Magic. The Cavs are Lebron James + 4 guys. The Magic are a team. They get production from everyone. If one guy is doing badly, the other pick them up. Turkoglu did horrible game three, but the team was there for him.

The Cavs are just James right now. Williams is playing terrible. Anyway, Shut down James, you win. Hard to do, but if you can... Lol. Or... Shut down everyone else and let James get his 40-50... xD

The Cavs just lost again. I'm not sure the Magic are that much better, as only one game in the series didn't come down to the last second, but Mo Williams and Delonte West have been missing every open three, and the Cavs leave way to many Magic shooters open in the corner. I guess it's hard to avoid since the Magic are basically Howard plus an entire team of three point shooters, but I think they could do better. I think it might also be time to play Z less and Joe Smith more. Z is just too slow.

That Magic are just an awful matchup for the Cavs, who lack good big men to even have a chance at defending Howard one on one. The injury riddled Celtics team took Orlando to seven largely because Kendrick Perkins did a very good job of shutting down Howard, who has no finesse or post moves. Cleveland just doesn't have anyone big and fast enough to stop Howard from simply dominating with pure athletic prowess.

James' play has ranged from ridiculous to good, and you're never out until you lose four games. If West and Williams can get hot, the Cavs could very well win the next game at home. It might take something dramatic to take game six, but if they could force game seven at the Q, I think they could very well win the series.



Seriously, if the Nuggets don't make some idiotic mistakes at the end of games, they could be up 3-1 right now.

Anyways, I'm going to keep pulling for the Cavs until they either win or get knocked out.

the lakers and the nuggets are down to 2-2 right??if the lakers win this they might have a sure shot at the championship cuz if Cleavland wins i dont think they have much of a fight against them but maybe Orlando has a better chance than them but i dont think thats even possible as well

Nah, I think the Lakers can kill Orlando. They have more talent overall, and they have good big men who can play Dwight Howard one on one, which does a lot to shut down the Magic offense and prevent them from getting wide open threes in the corner. Also, they have both Kobe and Gasol on offense, which is tough to guard for anyone. Part of the reason the Magic are doing so well against Cleveland is that LeBron is the only one of the Cavs key players who has been playing well at all(and in games three and four he had a bit of trouble as well). If Delonte West makes one wide open three in game 1, the series is tied.

I think the Lakers would be favorites against the Cavs as well, but I think the Cavs are better overall than Orlando and would have a better chance of winning the title series against the Lakers than Orlanda

YUSS! Go Lakers!! Lamar Odom stepping up big time!

NUGGETS ALL THE WAY!!!!

<-- Nuggets fan. Now if only they can step up their end game....

Cleveland's shooter show up for the game and they keep the series alive. If the Cavs can pull out game six in Orlando, I really like their chances. They have just dominated in the Q, and unless the Magic are able to shoot 60% from beyond the arc like they did in Boston(which requires a lot of luck), I think they'll have a hard time beating the Cavs in game 7.

well nice win for Cleavland...hope they win the next fight

i wanna see L. James VS K. Bryant

but i bet the LA Lakers would take it home the championship i mean

I was already rooting for the Cavs to go for the finals and to win it because I think LBJ deserves a ring this year. Now I really want the Cavs to win and come back from a 1-3 deficit. That would be amazing.