2008 NBA playoffs, anyone?

So....

I can see Utah actually pulling an away win out the bag. Lakers have looked frightened since Kobe's back has been giving him trouble.

How'd that work out?

It went well -- the Lakers pulled through after foul trouble and a bit of luck.

Some writer suggested the possibility of Kobe sitting out game 6 to rest. Any thoughts on that? How far can the Lakers go with an ailing Kobe?

No way he'll sit out, this guy's played before on one good leg and with a separated shoulder, his shooting shoulder. If he can move, he'll play no matter what, and he looked good last night to me. His shot was flat and he couldn't get up to dunk in the same way, but he was getting into the lane effectively and pressuring the defense, and moving well on the other end, plus he was totally in control of his game this time. So, I'm not as worried as I was after game 4 when he tried to force things despite the bad back, now that overtime was worrisome, it's not usual that I see Kobe shooting in a crunch time situation and I come to expect him to miss.

And breathe...

Seriously, that was some Jordan shit on Kobe's part, when they were down by 20, I thought there was no way he would be able to bring them all the way back, no matter how good he was you practically can't miss, especially with Fish and Odom having such off nights, but damn... he even scored for the Spurs down the stretch, he did the scoring for both teams! =)

Well, let's see, Lakers win great game, I eat pizza and drink beer & vodka the whole time, make successful call to lady friend... if Indiana Jones 4 doesn't suck, this day will be pretty darned good all around.

The Kobe emanating Jordan thing might be said a lot...

... but the more and more of the series this see, the more I see why.

Huh... justice was done, somehow.

I do feel bad for Bret Barry though. He had the game Manu should have had.

My hopes of seeing the Lakers eliminated have pretty much vanished. They seem unstoppable now, specially considering what they'll face in the finals.

I don't think they've vanished, that was an awful way to win get a game we should have won by 10+. The Lakers are a very stupid team still it seems, I can basically call the open 3 balls they're going to give up and when. How do I know? Because it's when it's the only way to let the other team back in the game in crunch time, so of course you would give up open looks then! For that reason, I don't want them to meet a team like the Pistons if Billups can get healthy, but at the sane time, bring on anybody, and if Boston are frontrunning chokers and Detroit is injured, this may really be their year despite this kind of boneheaded stuff that's been plaguing the team for years, all the way back to that seven game series with the Suns (if they can continue to play half as well as they did in Game 2 of this series). I'm hoping for Boston/LA in any case, for basically every practical and intangible reason I can think of, I have no idea why anyone would want otherwise unless they live in Detroit or San Antonio.

I think tonights game is going to be very, very close.

None of the Spurs are going to let this one go. The Lakers, on the other hand, become lazy when they feel they've got it in the bag. I hope that is not the case tonight.

That wasn't cool, Sasha. Still, a wins a win!

Haha, yeah, that was bad form, but Sasha's a playoff villain, he's got to do bitch shit like that, he's The Machine. =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8NcET64lUI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ewIkVRdEo

Anyway, back in the Finals, though I'm still not letting myself get excited, it hasn't sunk in. I just feel like they haven't played very well or run the offense crisply since game 2, but shit, they beat the champs in 5 games, I guess I can't complain too much. It's like we're just too good, even when we play like boneheads, but after 2004, I'm never getting cocky again... until I see another championship, because if they win it this year, who's going to stop them with Bynum and the young guys all a year older next year, or the year after that, or the year after that?

Somewhat on topic...


... the remote thought of the Lakers having an asterisks next to their names makes me feel physically sick.

There's not going to be any asterik, the thing people are confusing is that the foul and no call itself were bad, but only in a vacuum, on the principle of the thing, it was awful. People are confusing that with the fact that the Lakers should have won anyway. In the context of the game, it was only fitting because the refs screwed up the call on the other end and the Spurs should have never even had the ball. That last possession and opportunity to win or tie the game in itself was a totally undeserved gift to the Spurs. Unfortunately, the NBA, tripping over itself as usual, is neglecting to mention that and undermining their own teams, so the perception is the Spurs got robbed or something. Nice.

The only thing worse would have been if they'd made the call and the Spurs won based on it, that would've been injustice. I say this without purple and gold tinted glasses on too, I'm not a ra ra homer, and I hated that they even let it come to that with dumb play down the stretch, but the only team that really got robbed in that whole thing was the Lakers of the legitimacy of a hard fought win on the road.


BTW, follow up note on The Machine's last second three, the spread was +7.5 points, and that worthless shot, that 99% of the time would just get dribbled out, pushed it from a 5 to an 8 point lead. OUCH! The estimate is that about $300 million in bets were laid down on this game, and that shot resulted in about a $100 million swing.

Turns out Sasha's big 3 wasn't so worthless after all. =)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/magic_johnson_shares

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pau_gasol_googles_lakers_celtics

http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/the_nba_finals

Even the onion is going overboard in it's coverage (I fucking love the Magic story). Just another hour, I can't wait. =)

Boston to walk away with Game 2.

After Game 1, I can see Boston walking away with a championship, as they have the home court advantage over the stretch. I'd actually be happy with that, though. I wanted both teams to get to the final because it'd be a win-win. If LA wins, they get 3 of 8 in the rivalry and Kobe gets to add more to his legacy. If Boston wins, KG finally the ring he deserves and has greatly earned over the years. We'll see, though...

... but at the end of the day, it depends on "whoever team does its things better more".

Well, Lakers have made it a series. Weird game. Kobe was good, Sasha was great, everyone else (Lamar, Pau) was for the most part average to awful, and Boston was pretty bad themselves all over except for Ray Allen and some of the reserves, but they still stopped the Lakers from scoring. It's hard to figure this series because who knows which version of each team will show up. I don't think LA will get blown out at home, but if Bad LA and Good Boston shows up, they could certainly lose, as they could have tonight.

I'd like to be the first to congratulate all the Celtics who finally got their rings after years in the NBA.

I called the comeback early in the second quarter, it's just the nature of this Laker team, not to choke, but to arrogantly play away big leads, and Boston is like the perfect team to exploit that weakness. Doesn't make me feel any better, though.

BTW, I had a nightmare last night where they went down 3-1, and had one of those mornings of relief when you realize it was just a dream. Needless to say, my prophetic dream, which overcame a 24 point lead to come true, was not lost on me during the game. Anyway, I'm just hoping for another dream where they come back from down 3-1 to send it to game 7. That's all I can ask for, win or lose, I just want a meaningful game 7.

Uriel said:

I'd like to be the first to congratulate all the Celtics who finally got their rings after years in the NBA.

Click to expand...

Don't jinx it, man. It might seem like a done deal but it's not. I hope the Celtics are good/strong enough to finish it in L.A. otherwise they might just get in trouble.

One again my pre-game dream came true. I'll let you guy's know the results of Game 6 Tuesday morning. =)

Final game reminded me of something...

Celtics are Musashi tonight, and the Lakers are 70 bewildered pretenders =P Like I said before, I've been watching KG over the years and felt that it was a crying shame that he'd got no rings to call his own. That alone makes me feel better about seeing the Lakers, a team I've admired since learning about basketball in my crappy, middle of nowhere English high school, get knocked out. It wasn't a sweep, I suppose. This team needs more work -- a whole season with Pao will help them.

Like I said, the Celtics made the impossible, possible this season. Hats off to Doc Rivers and all the team for making last season and this one as different as black and white. It's been a great finals!