NBA Conference Finals 2007
Once again it is time to make a prediction.
East:
Cleavland vs. Detroit
West:
Jazz vs. Spurs
This is a little late and the Spurs have won game 1 for the record.
I think the Spurs and Detroit will win but I am hoping with all of my might that they both lose. I hate Detroit and I really don't care for the spurs. The winner of a Spurs Detroit match up would be who ever can flop and whine the most.
My predictions are Spurs in a sweep, and Detroit in 7. As you all can probably tell by now, I am a die-hard Spurs fan (just look at my location). And besides, I don't think the Jazz have the playoff experience necessary to send the Spurs fishing. Derek Fisher is the only player on that team that has any notable playoff experience.
As for Cleveland, LeBron and the gang do not have what it takes to get past the Pistons D. Simple as that. The Cavs almost got the job done last year, but choked at the last minute. I doubt it's gonna be any different.
By the way, I just bought my ticket to see Game 2 of the Spurs/Jazz series. I'll be at the AT&T Center tomorrow night, and I'll be booing Derek Fisher each time he checks in the game because of a certain shot he hit against us three years ago.
The only team I dislike more than the Pistons is the Spurs. I don't think the Jazz have a chance, but Cleveland has a shot.
I have a strange conspiracy theory right now. Something in my gut tells me that David Stern is trying to rig the Detroit/Cleveland series in favor of the Cavaliers in an attempt to increase the NBA Finals ratings simply because he feels that the star power of LeBron James will increase those TV ratings, regardless of who wins the Western Conference Finals.
I hope I am wrong, because doing so would ruin the integrity of the game. Though it wouldn't surprise me if I'm right, because David Stern has let superstar players get away with gambling in the past (an offense that can lead to game-fixing).
How does a team not sell out game 1 of the Western Conference Finals?
I think the Jazz might pull an upset. They seemed really green and starstruck in the first quarter, but pulled it together by the second half. I could see them giving the Spurs a run for their money.
As for the the Pistons, they should dominate the Cavs. Hate them and their attitude all you want, but they're the most balanced team in the NBA. It would take them severely underplaying (like in game 1) for the Cavs to even have a chance. The fact that the Cavs weren't able to even pull out a win in Game 1 is enough to tell me they won't last long. My god, will Lebron ever stop being the worst clutch superstar ever?
What I've been listening to:
... you like your conspiracy theories, don't you? Paranoid much?Originally Posted by Bloodline666
Well, at least said conspiracy theory was proven wrong...for now.... you like your conspiracy theories, don't you? Paranoid much?
On another note, the Jail Blazers won the draft lottery earlier tonight. It's about time something positive happened to a franchise in deep limbo, given all the financial issues and their recent history of players in trouble with the law.
The current crop of Trailblazers, with the exception of Randolph, have had no problems with the law. I imagine that they'll end up shipping Randolph some time this offseason.
A lineup of Oden, Aldridge, Outlaw, Roy, and Jack is ridiculously young and ridiculously talented. They're a team on the rise. They won 11 more games this season than they did last, and adding Oden in the middle is huge for them. They'll be competing for championships within 5 years.
Darius Miles has also had his fair share of run-ins with police, not to mention a locker room incident when he got in an argument with then-head coach Maurice Cheeks, in which the former uttered racial slurs toward the latter (ironic, since both are of the same race).
And even though Miles and Zach Randolph are the only players of questionable character left on the Blazers roster, their mere presence on that roster still makes me want to call them the "Jail Blazers".
Also, the Blazers are in financial limbo, possibly as a result of fans having had enough of players on that team getting in trouble with the law, and thus refusing to buy Blazers tickets and merchandise. As a matter of fact, Oregon Arena Corp., the Blazers' sister company, filed for bankrupcy, and as a result, Blazers owner Paul Allen (who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, and also owns the Seattle Seahawks) lost control of the Rose Garden, which is the Blazers' home arena. Without revenue from the Rose Garden, the Blazers organization found it difficult to turn in a profit, and there was even talk towards the end of last season of the possibility that the Blazers could relocate.
While the Blazers' draft lottery victory should provide a better future for them on-the-court, I'm not certain it's enough to help the franchise's financial situation any. Unless Greg Oden's jersey sales go through the roof next season...
However, something tells me that the Blazers will either trade down, or trade the draft rights of their selection in exchange for another team's selection, because they've done just that in the last two drafts.
Last edited by Bloodline666; 05-23-2007 at 07:31 AM.
I had recorded the game last night while I was there for my family to watch (since I only had enough $$ for one ticket, and it was nosebleed seats), and had the recording started 30 minutes early for the draft lottery, and an hour late for SportsCenter. I just finished watching the recording today, and here's a little something from last night's SportsCenter that caught my attention.
Apparently, LeBron James is being criticized for "making the wrong decision at crunch time", and apparently, I'm sitting here debunking the criticism as criticizing him for "being too unselfish at crunch time". And apparently, I'm not alone in defending LeBron in this bout of criticism; even the Detroit Pistons, themselves, are defending LeBron's decision to pass up on a game-tying shot in favor of passing the ball to a wide-open Donyell Marshall for a game-winning three. Why else do you think he would have passed up a contested game-tying dunk in favor of a wide-open game-winning 3 from Donyell Marshall? Simple: because of that quote right there. A wide-open 3 would've given the Cavs a better chance to win than a contested dunk.
Two things stand out here. First of all, I am reminded of a quote from former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback, former New York Jets head coach, and current Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards which blatantly explained why athletes play not just football, but sports in general: "You play to win the game!" Apply that very quote to LeBron James passing up the point-blank shot in favor of a game-winning 3-ball from Donyell Marshall.
Second, LeBron was triple-teamed on that play. He wasn't guarded by your Joe-average defender; he was initially guarded by Tayshaun Prince, a defender who once chased Reggie Miller down the lenght of the floor and rejected his would-be uncontested layup (affectionately known as "The Block"). Rasheed Wallace went over to help guard James. Common sense dictates that when you have the ball in your hands and you are double-teamed, let alone triple-teamed, one of your teammates is wide open, and it is your responsibility to find him and pitch the ball out to him. Not only was Donyell Marshall WIDE, WIDE OPEN on that play, but he was also behind the 3-point line in the corner. LeBron made the right decision. Donyell Marshall had the right shot, from the right spot. The bottom line is, the ball did not go in, and Detroit dodged a bullet on that play; even Rip Hamilton admitted as such.
Frankly, I don't think the criticism LeBron received for passing up that shot was warranted. In fact, had that three-pointer by Donyell Marshall gone in, the sports experts would be comparing LeBron's pass to Marshall to a Montana-to-Rice touchdown pass. But since the shot didn't fall, the media's now comparing LeBron's decision to pass up on that shot to Charles Barkley's golf swing. But you know how the media is about sports stars; they want to project the image that all your big-name superstar players like LeBron are literal deities, especially with the game on the line, and decide to crucify them when they don't make a decision that makes them look like basketball Gods. And as far as I'm concerned, that is complete and utter bull.
Last edited by Bloodline666; 05-24-2007 at 07:58 AM.
Actually, if you watch the tape, Lebron gets by Prince and Rasheed actually backs off since he doesn't want to foul and risk the three point play. I don't care who's in his way, I've seen him go over every great defender in the NBA. Lebron is one of the strongest players in the NBA and could have easily dunked on that play. I've always thought that a dunk/layup should be taken instead of a jump shot. Especially if you're only down by 2. It was a good pass IF he didn't have a wide open 2. The percentage of him driving hard and scoring is much much better than Donyell's 3-point percentage.
And you know what, if that shot had gone down Lebron would still be criticized because he didn't show up at all in the fourth. He had 2 points. How can you be a franchise player if your team can't count on you in crunch time? The Pistons played horribly in that game and honestly Cleveland should've taken it. The game really shouldn't have even been close. Until Lebron stops missing key free throws and continues to lack the ability to carry his team on his back in the waning minutes of a game, he'll continue to get criticized. It's his third year in the NBA and he's already proven he has the talent to be the go-to guy, he just needs to back it up with 4th quarter performance. I really can't see this series going above 5 games IF that.
What I've been listening to:
Actually, I'd like to point out a couple of things.
First, I'd like to comment on the part where you said "until he stops missing key free throws." In that whole game, LeBron never even went to the foul line. Second, as I pointed out earlier, the Pistons made an error on that play that could've been fatal: they left a three-point shooter wide, wide, open. In fact, Donyell Marshall was so open that Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown said quote, "Donyell could've had a cup of coffee and a sandwich". That could've been a critical dagger in the heart for the Pistons, especially since Marshall hit six shots from Downtown in the game before that (which was Game 6 vs. the Nets). In fact, Rip Hamilton even said that in the time-out before that play, the Pistons discussed the possibility that Marshall could have a wide-open three point shot, which tells me they read the scouting report very well, but did not execute properly and it almost cost them the game.
The Pistons have done their job on LeBron, though, as they held him to 10 points. I think LeBron did what he felt was right, though. Because when it comes down to it, winning is a team effort, not an individual effort. The team understands that when their star player is struggling, it's up to the role players to step up and pick up the slack, and vice versa.
LeBron's been criticized for being too unselfish his entire NBA career, which I can understand. Even though he's a small forward, LeBron's essentially been the Cavs' de facto point guard, since they probably haven't had much depth in that position during LeBron's career. As a matter of fact, he led the team in total assists each season he's been in the league, and led the team in assists per game each season except for his rookie season (Jeff McInnis led the team in that category that season, but played fewer games with the Cavs, as he got traded to the team towards the trade deadline).
EDIT: As for Games 1 and 2, if even the most minor details of the game had gone the Cavs' way, the Cavs would at the very least have stolen a game from the Pistons, or be up 2-0. As for Game 2, I think there were two things that proved the most fatal to the Cavs, particularly in the second half.
1) Turnovers! Do NOT expect the Cavs to win if they keep turning the ball over. Detroit can, and will, take full advantage of each and every turnover the Cavs commit. As a matter of fact, at one stretch of the game, they committed five consecutive turnovers, which certainly helped the Pistons to get right back in the game, since they've been clawing their way back in the game since the start of the second half. While I do have to give a tremendous amount of credit to the Pistons defense for forcing some of these turnovers, other turnovers were outright stupid ones, such as a pass out of bounds when I think it was either LeBron or Larry Hughes who passed the ball to guys in blue shirts who he thought was a teammate, when it turns out those blue shirts were the Pistons bench.
2) Coaching errors. For starters, Mike Brown should've been a lot more cautious with his time-outs. In fact, he wasted so many time-outs that early in the 4th quarter, he only had ONE time-out left. That time-out was not called until 24.3 seconds to go in the game, right after Rasheed "The Human Technical Foul" Wallace scored the go-ahead basket. Second, after that final time-out, he made the critical error of having his team run out the clock and try to score at the end of the shot clock. What he should have done was draw up a "catch-and-shoot" play on the inbound pass, and if they missed, THEN they could foul the Pistons and take advantage of their poor free throw shooting that night, and they'd have more time to get one last shot off. Instead, they only had one second left in the game when they made the foul.
It is interesting to note that only two teams have ever erased a 0-2 deficit in the Conference Finals to win it; the 1971 Washington Bullets, and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, with the New York Knicks being the victim of both occurrances.
In other news, it turns out LeBron James lucked out. With 1:20 to go in the Third Quarter of Game 1, LeBron James had elbowed Chris Webber in the head as the former was following through on a jump shot. The officials missed that call. Just hours ago, it's been reported that Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, has hit LeBron with a flagrant foul 2. Now, had the call been made on the spot, LeBron would've been ejected automatically, since the rules state that a flagrant foul 2 results in the culprit getting ejected if called during the game. But since the officials missed the call, LeBron avoided ejection, thus also avoided missing Game 2.
Here's what irks me, though. First of all, the usual fine for a flagrant foul 2 is $5,000. No fine was even announced for LeBron James. Second, LeBron didn't even get suspended. I think Stu Jackson's letting LeBron giving him preferential treatment, despite tagging him with a flagrant 2, despite the fact that Kobe Bryant and Jerry Stackhouse were suspended for similar acts. This reminds me of when David Stern let Michael Jordan get away with gambling 4 years after Pete Rose got banned for life from Baseball for the same offense.
Last edited by Bloodline666; 05-25-2007 at 09:14 PM.
Kobe Bryant got suspended TWICE for those elbows after the shot during the regular season. I know it's the playoffs and not the regular season, but c'mon Stern if you're going to suspend Amare and Diaw for breaking the rules you have to give Lebron the same judgement you already passed on earlier in the season
YouTube - Lebron James unnatural act
I mean, c'mon, that's even harder than both of Kobe's.
And I don't care how wide open Donyell was, he's still no Reggie Miller or Larry Bird. Lebron had the lane for a dunk, and he's one of the most ferocious dunkers (actually probably THE most) in the NBA. You're only down by two. Put the pressure on the other team to try and score.
To me, it's like in football if you're down by one and choosing between a field goal and a 2-point conversion. Even if the circumstances for the two point conversion are great, I'd still rather see my team take the much safer route. Especially in the playoffs.
And the free throw comment was more about Lebron historically than the other night against the Pistons. I saw Lebron clunk way too many fourth quarter free throws in both previous series for my liking. It's getting to the point where teams might start playing Hack-a-Lebron.
Also, the fact he never went to the line shows just how passive he was during that game. Lebron isn't Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. He has the build and the skill to be an extremely aggressive in-the-paint forward. It's okay for him to pass it every now and then, but he needs to consistently drive to the hole throughout the game. There's spots when he disappears too much for such a talented player.
What I've been listening to:
If Mike Brown wastes his time-outs in Game 3 the way he did in Game 2, I think the Cavs should fire him as soon as they get eliminated. That's a sure-fire way to hand the series over to the Pistons on a silver platter.
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