NBA 2007 Playoffs Round 2

Time to make your predictions for the second round. Even though one of the match-ups has yet to be decided the first game of the second round happens today before the final matchup in the west is decided.

Make you selections!



My predictions
East:
Bulls - I think the Bulls can take them. They swept a team that is superior to the Magic and they beat the pistons 3-4 times during the regular season. You can say hat doesn't matter because it is now the playoffs but I recall most people say the same thing about GoldenState vs. Dallas.

Cleavland - I don't think they will be able to stop the King and they have home court. Not to mention that they swept their first round rival also and have plenty of rest.

West:
Spurs - I think their defense will slow down the tempo of the game too much for Phoenix to play the way they like. I expect this to go to six of seven with home court not really being a factor. I expect a back and forth.

GoldenState - After they just rained down destruction from 3 land and sped all over Dallas I think they will be about to out shoot, out power and out run either the Jazz or the Rockets.

Pistons - I think they are the best team in the East
Cavs - home court will be the difference
Suns - this will be a good series and I think Phoenix will win in 7 but the Spurs could very well take it, NBA Champ will come out of this series

Warriors vs Rockets - Warriors, they are quicker than the Rockets and can put multiple guys on McGrady

Warriors vs. Jazz - Jazz, they are just way too big for GS to handle

I think whoever wins the Suns/Spurs series will be in the Finals. I doubt Utah or Golden State stand a chance against Phoenix or San Antonio.

And speaking of the Suns/Spurs series, that was one hell of a game. Say all you want about the Spurs being a half-court team. Just like two years ago in the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs showed that they can run with the Suns. I see San Antonio taking this one in at least 6.

Jazz/Warriors - I'd have to say the Jazz in 6, but I think momentum also favors Golden State.

Pistons/Bulls - Pistons in 5. This series vividly reminds me of the classic Bulls/Pistons rivalry of the late 80s, when Isiah Thomas and the gang had the "Jordan Rules" as a means of annihilating the Bulls. In fact, I think this is the first time these two are facing each other in the playoffs since 1991.

Cavaliers/Nets - Definitely Cleveland...probably in 6.

West :

Golden State
Pheonix

East:

Cleveland
Detroit

I'm rooting for the Warriors.

I really think the Nets might pull an upset. Ever since their finals run they've been greatly underachieving, but I think they could step up their game and take the Cavs in 6 or 7.

Considering that I picked a Bulls/Suns finals before the season started, I have to say that the Bulls will beat the Pistols, and the Suns will beat the Spurs. Both will go to 7.

As for the other two, Cavs over Nets in 6.

Warriors over Jazz in 6. If the Rockets were playing the Warriors, that would be a different result.

I'm watching Around The Horn right now, and one of the guys on the show had the nerve to blame the Suns' loss on the athletic trainers for "not stopping Steve Nash's bleeding quickly enough for him to get back on the floor to try and win the game."

First of all, the Spurs were pretty much already beating the Suns during crunch time, so I don't think Suns could've won the game at the end even if they had Steve Nash on the floor. Secondly, I feel that the officials violated the infectious disease rules (otherwise known as the Magic Johnson Rule) for even allowing Steve Nash on the floor for any possession at all while he was still bleeding (they did that the first time Nash was bandaged up). In fact, I think the athletic trainers did a horrible job, anyway. They should've taken him to the locker room and had him stitched up there, because it was crystal clear to me that what they were doing to him on the bench was NOT going to work. I wonder how many bandages they wasted on his nose.

What's to say the Warriors can't handle Carlos Boozer the same way they handled Dirk Nowitzki? Sure, he's probaby a little more versatile than Dirk, but don't forget the Jazz might not have beaten Houston if Mehmet Okur had decided not to show up in Games 6 and 7 as he'd been doing throughout that series... The Jazz owned the boards and Golden State still almost pulled out the win, they just needed a few defensive stops and it's a different story.

Bring it, Phoenix! Go ahead and go small on us! You'll just get your butts whooped on the boards, just like last game!

Edit: Damn! Looks like I'm eating my words now...:crying: :weep: :cry:

So, the Warriors are officially the most exciting team in the NBA. I mean, the Suns are fun too, but Christ, that gametape could be used as a Baron Davis mixtape without any editing whatsoever.

The dunk over AK47 is easily the best play of the playoffs by far.

Three games in, and the Suns/Spurs series is already getting physical. So far, we've had Steve Nash getting a bloody nose, Amare Stoudemire accusing the Spurs (namely Bruce Bowen) of playing dirty (thus earning the boos of the fans in my hometown), and Manu getting a black eye. I wonder what's in store for Game 4.

Both series in the West could easily go 7 games because I don't think the home team will lose any of them.

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Originally Posted by Bloodline666

Three games in, and the Suns/Spurs series is already getting physical. So far, we've had Steve Nash getting a bloody nose, Amare Stoudemire accusing the Spurs (namely Bruce Bowen) of playing dirty (thus earning the boos of the fans in my hometown), and Manu getting a black eye. I wonder what's in store for Game 4.

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You can easily tell that that was on purpose. Go watch it on youtube. You can see him run up to amare, stop, and then put his foot on on.

Oh and am I the only one who found it funny that the SPURS fans boo'd amare for "whinning?"

I mean, all the spurs do is cry cry cry. And if they are not crying, they are makin faces. Like my favorite, from Duncan...... 0_0

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Originally Posted by Black Mage FF1

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Originally Posted by Bloodline666

Three games in, and the Suns/Spurs series is already getting physical. So far, we've had Steve Nash getting a bloody nose, Amare Stoudemire accusing the Spurs (namely Bruce Bowen) of playing dirty (thus earning the boos of the fans in my hometown), and Manu getting a black eye. I wonder what's in store for Game 4.

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You can easily tell that that was on purpose. Go watch it on youtube. You can see him run up to amare, stop, and then put his foot on on.

Oh and am I the only one who found it funny that the SPURS fans boo'd amare for "whinning?"

I mean, all the spurs do is cry cry cry. And if they are not crying, they are makin faces. Like my favorite, from Duncan...... 0_0

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Uhh...first off, I saw that replay. It looked incidental to me. If anything, it looked more like Bruce was trying to draw an offensive or loose ball foul, because I don't think he was paying any attention to where his foot was. Even the league office, who obviously saw the replay from every possible angle, didn't agree with Amare. If they did think Bowen did it on purpose, they obviously would've called him and warned him not to do it, handed down a fine, or suspended him, because they warned him about it early in the season when he did it against New York when they thought he did it on purpose.

Second, if Amare wants to accuse people of playing dirty, then he needs to realize that one of his OWN TEAMMATES clotheslined Kobe Bryant in Game 5 of the Suns/Lakers series last year. If he's not going to say a word about dirty play on the part of his own team, then he needs to shut up about it.

I would be really mad if the finals were pistons and spurs again. Cheering on the warriors though cause i like jumping on bandwagons.

As much as I don't wanna completely blame the Spurs' loss on the officiating, something tells me it somehow contributed to the outcome (something tells me that they need instant replay in the NBA beyond just the last few seconds of each quarter). The one thing that really tipped me off was two of the refs on the officiating crew who have had a history of screwing the Spurs over through phantom calls; Steve Javie and Jack Nies. As crazy as this conspiracy theory sounds, this is just a gut feeling I cannot shake off. First of all, I believe Nies has a vendetta against Tim Duncan stemming from an incident a few years back when Duncan ran into Nies, resulting in an ejection and suspension. Secondly, I vividly remember all those phantom calls Steve Javie made against the Spurs last year in Game 2 in the Western Conference Semifinals, including a foul called against Parker that, according to the letter of the law, should have been called an offensive foul, since Parker was pushed off by the offensive player's off-arm in that particular game. Third, I've had this gut feeling all along that the refs were going to retaliate against the Spurs as an act of protest of Joey Crawford's suspension. I don't have any conclusive proof that they were trying to screw the Spurs over, except for their history, so it's only a gut feeling I have. I do know that Steve Javie is no stranger to controversy; in fact, he also has a history of ejecting radio analysts for disputing calls from their broadcast position, as well as screwing over the Miami Heat. He once told Heat head coach Pat Riley, "It's giving us absolute pleasure to watch you and your team die." He was also one of 10 NBA referees to be investigated for tax evasion. I think that rap sheet, alone, is reason enough for Javie not to be trusted as an official.

Two calls I believe should be in question are:

a) Tripping foul called against Bruce Bowen. Yes, Steve Nash did slip up on that play. But I didn't see any contact on that play.

b) Offensive foul call on Tim Duncan. The contact Duncan initiated in the act of shooting is basically what happens a lot in the NBA, and the referees usually call the foul against the defender in those situations. After rewinding to that foul call on my DVR, I saw that the defender probably did not get there and set his feet in time to draw the charge, and it looked like his chest was sticking out. That could've been a blocking foul. Then again, sometimes those Block/Charge situations are tough to call, and the refs only have a split second to make that call one way or the other, so I kinda have to give the officials the benefit of the doubt there.

I do, however, agree with the officials calling a flagrant on Robert Horry and resulting ejection. I wouldn't be surprised if Stu Jackson and David Stern decide to suspend Horry for Game 5. However, I think it'll be interesting to see if any action gets taken against Raja Bell (for starting the ensuing scuffle that led to his technical foul), Boris Diaw, and/or Amare Stoudemire (the latter two left the bench area shortly after the scuffle started; should the league follow the letter of the law exactly, those two would be suspended, but they probably did not have any of their feet on the court area).

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Originally Posted by Bloodline666

As much as I don't wanna completely blame the Spurs' loss on the officiating, something tells me it somehow contributed to the outcome (something tells me that they need instant replay in the NBA beyond just the last few seconds of each quarter). The one thing that really tipped me off was two of the refs on the officiating crew who have had a history of screwing the Spurs over through phantom calls; Steve Javie and Jack Nies. As crazy as this conspiracy theory sounds, this is just a gut feeling I cannot shake off. First of all, I believe Nies has a vendetta against Tim Duncan stemming from an incident a few years back when Duncan ran into Nies, resulting in an ejection and suspension. Secondly, I vividly remember all those phantom calls Steve Javie made against the Spurs last year in Game 2 in the Western Conference Semifinals, including a foul called against Parker that, according to the letter of the law, should have been called an offensive foul, since Parker was pushed off by the offensive player's off-arm in that particular game. Third, I've had this gut feeling all along that the refs were going to retaliate against the Spurs as an act of protest of Joey Crawford's suspension. I don't have any conclusive proof that they were trying to screw the Spurs over, except for their history, so it's only a gut feeling I have. I do know that Steve Javie is no stranger to controversy; in fact, he also has a history of ejecting radio analysts for disputing calls from their broadcast position, as well as screwing over the Miami Heat. He once told Heat head coach Pat Riley, "It's giving us absolute pleasure to watch you and your team die." He was also one of 10 NBA referees to be investigated for tax evasion. I think that rap sheet, alone, is reason enough for Javie not to be trusted as an official.

Two calls I believe should be in question are:

a) Tripping foul called against Bruce Bowen. Yes, Steve Nash did slip up on that play. But I didn't see any contact on that play.

b) Offensive foul call on Tim Duncan. The contact Duncan initiated in the act of shooting is basically what happens a lot in the NBA, and the referees usually call the foul against the defender in those situations. After rewinding to that foul call on my DVR, I saw that the defender probably did not get there and set his feet in time to draw the charge, and it looked like his chest was sticking out. That could've been a blocking foul. Then again, sometimes those Block/Charge situations are tough to call, and the refs only have a split second to make that call one way or the other, so I kinda have to give the officials the benefit of the doubt there.

I do, however, agree with the officials calling a flagrant on Robert Horry and resulting ejection. I wouldn't be surprised if Stu Jackson and David Stern decide to suspend Horry for Game 5. However, I think it'll be interesting to see if any action gets taken against Raja Bell (for starting the ensuing scuffle that led to his technical foul), Boris Diaw, and/or Amare Stoudemire (the latter two left the bench area shortly after the scuffle started; should the league follow the letter of the law exactly, those two would be suspended, but they probably did not have any of their feet on the court area).

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lol for suggesting that the Spurs are getting jipped.

First of all, in the case of Duncan, most of the free throws he gets are the result of him barrelling into defenders and getting foul calls.

Second of all, you're commenting about a game that happened last year that was, by all means, a blowout?

Third of all, I hope you're not even beginning to defend Bruce Bowen, for anything that he does. There is no defense left for Bruce Bowen besides the tired old "people just don't want to see people play good defense anymore". There is too much DOCUMENTED evidence of dirty play on his behalf for here to be any question that he is a dirty player. He trips people. He KICKS people in their achilles. He kicks people in the face. He kicks people in the back... he puts his feet under jump shooters to twist their ankles. No other player in the NBA does this with such regularity.

Fourth of all, you're saying the Spurs got jobbed by the refs by pointing out TWO plays? There are close plays in the NBA all the time, and the Spurs get the large percentage of them in their favor. They didn't get these in their favor. But perhaps the fact that they didn't is what is so conspicuous.

And fifth of all, the NBA will suspend Horry for a game and no one else. The NBA will find some loophole for Amare and Diaw, because that's what the NBA does. There are no rules. Stu Jackson does what he wants to do. Amare and Diaw left the bench because of an altercation. End of story. In the case of Duncan and Bowen, I actually don't think they should be suspended, because I don't think there was an altercation to speak of.

I'm proud of the NBA for actually following its own rules for once.

I'm saying this, rooting for the Spurs in this series. I hate them with all of my heart, but I'd rather see them win than pretty porcelain Steve. I think that for any other player, Horry's foul would just be a regular foul. But Nash went flying into the scorer's table and went to the ground like he got shot. Total flop.

Heh, you two should get together.

GO BULLS! This series should be 3-2 Bulls but they smurfed up that 3rd game. Lets see if they can win game 6 in Chicago and take it to 7 in Detroit. That would be huge. They had a great game tonight. Fantastic Defense, Incredible offense and Crazy good team work. They only thing they failed at was rebounding but when you are shooting 72% going into half time that isn't as big of a concern :D

48 minutes of almost flawless scoring(I won't count the last 4 minutes with the bencher's.) That was a great W the Bulls pulled off. Keep this going into the last two games and the Bulls will make history! Keep it up, guys!

If they go to the conference finals then I am so going to have to buy some tickets to go see them at the UC. I am a big Bulls fan and nothing would please me more for them to beat those whinny ass clowns.

I wasn't much of a BBall fan during the last rivalry in the late 80s due to me being like...6 or 7 but this Detroit team has just pissed me off for years. I hate them a lot and nothing would please me more than to see their asses booted from the playoffs by the Bulls.

Now if only the Lakers could have beaten the Suns ;_;

Ah well, have fun fishing Warriors. You were the best story of these playoffs by far.

God I hope the finals aren't Pistons-Spurs again. I mean, I respect both team's games a whole lot, but you can only watch the half court set so many times before it gets really old.

Pistons and Spurs would be terrible. I hate the Pistons and I don't really care for cry baby Duncan. Last time I was rooting for the Spurs to defeat the Pistons and this time I don't think I would even watch.

It is sad to see Golden State go but they accomplished more than anyone thought they would.

Jazz are going on when people(at the start of the playoffs) thought they would die to Dallas in round 2. Now they are in the conference finals with some resting time.

Great playoffs so far. Now lets see if Chicago and steal this away from Detroit. Even if the Bulls don't win, I would watch out for them next year. They have a lottery pick and a lot of talent to trade if they want to pick up a person like J O'Neal or K Garnett. They could be quite the threat next year.

Chicago will not pull off a Boston Red Sox and win the next two. In fact, the only major league in which a team has NOT come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series is the NBA...The Pistons will send the Chicago Bull:skull::skull::skull::skull: fishing...GUARAN-SHEED!

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Originally Posted by El Bandito

Ah well, have fun fishing Warriors. You were the best story of these playoffs by far.

God I hope the finals aren't Pistons-Spurs again. I mean, I respect both team's games a whole lot, but you can only watch the half court set so many times before it gets really old.

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I think any feel-good story that the Warriors might have been is all but eliminated when you look with perspective on the way they acted throughout their 11 games. Honestly, Davis and Richardson shouldn't have even been playing last night with their cheapshots in game 4, and Richardson shouldn't have played game 6 against Dallas for admitting to shoving a fan. They picked up 14 flagrant and technical fouls in their 11 games, and showed pretty pathetic attitudes throughout.

Bitter bitter bitter!

WE BELIEVE


....that this was the best entertainment the NBA playoffs had to offer, and only if Nash and Bowen get into fisticuffs in one of the next three games will anything come close.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Bitter bitter bitter!

WE BELIEVE


....that this was the best entertainment the NBA playoffs had to offer, and only if Nash and Bowen get into fisticuffs in one of the next three games will anything come close.

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NBA fights are always entertaining, ESPECIALLY in the Playoffs. But what we saw on Monday pales in comparison to the Heat/Knicks playoff fights from 10 years ago.

Speaking of Bowen, it's ironic that two people he got into on-court fights with in his career are now his teammates; Brent Barry and Michael Finley.

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Originally Posted by Kirobaito

I think any feel-good story that the Warriors might have been is all but eliminated when you look with perspective on the way they acted throughout their 11 games. Honestly, Davis and Richardson shouldn't have even been playing last night with their cheapshots in game 4, and Richardson shouldn't have played game 6 against Dallas for admitting to shoving a fan. They picked up 14 flagrant and technical fouls in their 11 games, and showed pretty pathetic attitudes throughout.

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Eh, I stopped considering the Warriors a "feel good" story after they demolished Dallas in the first game of Oakland. They played with heart and Baron Davis had more intensity in the series than the entire Mavericks team combined. I WANT to see some physical play from a team. I agree with Barkley that the NBA has become so quick on the trigger with technicals and flagrants that you're starting to lose the swagger that so many teams used to have. I'm tired of seeing Manu Ginobli fly three feet every time someone touches him. Give me back my old-school elbows and hard fouls "now it's personal" series anytime. No team has even come close to the excitement Golden State brought when they hit the floor on offense AND defense. They played the way my Nuggets wished they could play. Mike D'Antoni likes to call the Suns "organized chaos" but the Warriors made them look more like the Spurs.

As for the Bulls, they really don't have a real good favorable matchup at any position against the Pistons. They'll have to play perfect again their next game to even come close to beating the Pistons. Unless they meldown, the Pistons should go into the Finals without too much stress.

The Bulls lost and shot themselves in the foot again. They played shot like crap and it wasn't because of Detroit's defense. They just were not banging down shots. They had plenty of free looks that they just blew. This is why they need that inside presence to help take over when Deng, Gordon and Hinrich are not banging down their shots.

I have to give lots of credit to PJ Brown. He played great. I also give a lot of credit to Prince. That guy has developed a nice hook to go over defenders and get the bucket. He used it to shoot over Deng the whole night and there is only so much you can do to stop a nice hook shot and that is to have the mad hops of Tyrus or Dwight Howard to smack that ball out of the air.

Phoenix and New Jersey have once again gone fishing!

Bring on Utah! It's time for a bit of revenge for all those years the Jazz kicked our asses in the playoffs, albeit a bit late, since the key players of those Utah teams that kicked our asses in the playoffs are gone.

Contrary to popular opinion, I am HOPING for another Detroit/San Antonio Finals! It's a series for basketball purists!

Well that sound you just heard was millions of TV's changing the channel, because no more entertaining basketball is left to be played.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Well that sound you just heard was millions of TV's changing the channel, because no more entertaining basketball is left to be played.

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Basically. *no longer watches or cares*

The Jazz are a fun team to watch.