NBA 2003 Playoffs

[sensei_hanson]

No Big Shot Rob tonight.

That could be the staw that breaks the Lake Show back - the usual script would have had Horry canning that shot to cap the improbable comeback. In the past, those are the kinds of games LA closed out and simply crushed the opposition with, mentally. San Antonio now has two cracks (one at home, no less) to finish the job.

Nice to see that the officials kept from bailing the Lakers out, especially with Kobe trying to draw a foul on Bowen on one of his late three-pointers. The ref recognized the attempt to draw contact and kept his whistle in his pocket....nice job.

Big win by Nashie and the Mavs to put the Kings on the brink of elimination. The loss of Webber obviously hurt more than most figured it would - suddenly the Kings have no low-post presence to beat Dallas up with inside. Could we be seeing an all-Texas Western Conference final? I'd love to see a Dallas-New Jersey NBA final. Obviously this is gun-jumping at its finest, but given the recent trend in the major sports for first-time champions (The Bucs, the Angels and possibly Anaheim, Minnesota or Ottawa), perhaps the NBA will follow suit.

That being said, don't count the Lakers out until they lose their fourth game. Never underestimate the heart of a champion, especially when it recently underwent angioplasty.

 

[Dapotayto]

Man, that was truly a tense finish to the San Antonio-Lakers game. Early in the fourth with a twenty-four point lead I engaged a friend in a full-blooded shouting match debating who was the bigger hothead. With my main strategy being to yell as loud as humanly possible that "I am not getting mad, you're the one getting mad!!!" he didn't really have a chance. Man, learning how to take the piss has sure helped my creativity in arguments. Anyway, after shouting him into submission and only popping five blood vessels in the process I looked back to the t.v. to see a now slender four point lead by the Spurs with little time left. Sweet merciful crap, time flies when you're in berserker-terminator mode. Somehow, even in my feral rage I still managed to catch Kobe trying to draw the foul that Sensei referred to. They showed Monsieur Bryant talking to the ref about the non-call shorty after. The ref said he wasn't buying it and kudos to him for not falling for Kobe's theatrics. It's about time he didn't get a call just because he's a superstar and the guy guarding him aint (sp? ). More tense action follows with Horry putting the ball in and out with a second or two left. Fcuk, was that close. If that shot goes in my blood pressure would have set a new world record. And I would have had to cry my self to sleep. Thank the freaking gods for small miracles.

 

[Yoda]

Surprised

I missed the 4th quarter of the Laker/Spur game and watched highlights as LA fought back and when I saw Horry get the ball for a game winning 3, I thought for sure LA had it in the bag.

How many times has Horry canned a 3 to win a game for those guys? He's usually money in that situation, which may be why he was so surprised he missed.

I agree it was nice to see the refs not call all those crap, phantom fouls that the Lakers are used to.

Down with the Lakers!!

 

[sensei_hanson]

Down with the Lakers indeed.

San Antonio has to be considered the favourites after tonight. What a superlative performance by Tim Duncan, who proved all the naysayers wrong tonight with an incredible display of intestinal fortitude against a team which had to, prior to this series, be considered a virtual mental roadblock in the Los Angeles Lakers. This emphatic display by the young veteran Duncan showed the world that he is a worthy MVP winner and perhaps the best player in the game today?

You guys like that one? I crossed a little Willie Azzi in with my Bill Walton and presto, some poetic garbage.

Anyways, too bad Nash's late heroics went for naught as we could have booked the all-Texas final tonight if things went according to plan. Game seven in Dallas will be a cracker. As for the Lakers, not much to say as they came crashing down with a brutal performance at home in front of the Staples faithful. I think they knew they were doomed after game five, when they attempted a near-impossible comeback and watched it all go away when Horry (who missed his last 26 three-point attempts in this series) missed his usual backbreaking shot.

Thank gawd we have a chance to see some new blood in the NBA championships though - while many will figure San Antoine to win it all, I feel this is about as wide open as it will get. I could even see New Jersey winning a few games in the finals this time around.

 

[ParkHead]

Good to see LA gone. Look for them to be busy in the offseason retooling to give ShaQ and Kobe a little help. Food for thought! Gary Payton is a free agent, from California and has not won a championship yet. If he would take a lot less money there would really be a triangle offense in the Staples center.

Game seven in Dallas should be a cracker. If the Kings can keep it close going into the 4th quarter I believe they will pull it out. The Kings will give the Spurs a run but without CWebb they just won't have enough. If Dallas wins look for Duncan and Mr. Robinson to have field days inside the paint.

Go Kings!!

Parkhead

 

[One Dart]

If the Kings win the Spurs will run rampant inside.
If the Mavs win the Spurs will run rampant inside.

The Spurs will win.

 

[knvb]

Gutted.

Sensei, I actually had Walton and Azzi pop into my head when I read that first part. Nice one

 

[One Dart]

Good.

PSKobesucks

 

[sensei_hanson]

Originally posted by One Dart
If the Kings win the Spurs will run rampant inside.
If the Mavs win the Spurs will run rampant inside.

Nice analysis, Tom Tolbert.

While I agree with the essence of your argument, I think both the Mavs and/or the Kings are more well equipped to deal with Duncan as opposed to Shaq. This is not to say that Duncan is an easier guard or anything remotely close, but in terms of the sheer physicality in the post, I fancy the Clark/Divac or LaFrentz/Bradley combos to do a semi-effective job. They can at least match up in terms of body size.

But really, is there any stopping Duncan at the moment? Highly unlikely. Now that teams actually have to pay attention to the Spurs' perimeter players (Manu Ginobili was the Spurs second best player in the series, from my perspective), teams can't just collapse down on Duncan or throw double-teams at him all the time. Which essentially made Robert Horry Duncan's personal bitch for six straight games.

As for the Lakers...the end of game six gave you a good indication of how flawed the strategy of relying solely on Kobe and Shaq was for LA management. Jannero Pargo? Kareem Rush? You have to figure Horry is just about done, as is Brian Shaw, and Rick Fox will be a big question mark. Derek Fisher's game continues to decline....remember how effective he was in defeating Philly two years ago? He was averaging close to 15ppg. Now he can't even flop properly anymore. This leaves the purple-n-gold with a shitty (and young) reserve core of the Mad Dog, Slava Medvedenko, Devean George, Pargo, Rush - and if the Lakers don't make some big free-agent moves this summer, these guys will be forced to provide quality minutes on a regular basis next year. That's a scary thought.

 

[the power]

That's an awfully long winded way of saying you agree.

 

[sensei_hanson]

agreed.

 

[ParkHead]

Nick the Quick was Nick Van Exellent today and for the whole series. He was unstopable. Without CWebb they just didn't have enough. Too bad. Well my NBA championship prediction can now be considered moot. I really hope the Spurs thump the Mavs.


Predictions for next round

Spurs in 6 over Mavs Pleeeeeeease
Nets in 6 over Pistons


ParkheadwhowillhavetowaittillnextyearfortheKingstoraisethetrophy

 

[sensei_hanson]

Van Ex was awesome the whole series. I'd be tempted to say he was the MVP for the Mavs in the second round. Although Nowitzki's rebounding numbers are hard to ignore, given the fact Dallas has been tagged as a soft team inside.

What helped Dallas, other than the Webber injury, was that Adleman's rotations meant that BJax and Bibby played in the backcourt together for long stretches. For most teams, this combo gives them fits because the Kings suddenly have so much footspeed, and the opposition doesn't have much to counter it with. Dallas is one of the few teams who actually enjoys playing against two small guys in the backcourt, because that allows them to play Nash and Van Exel, who play at a breakneck speed themselves. Dallas seemed to have troubles when larger guards like Turkoglu and Jimmy Jackson came into the game, as opposed to Nick the Quick torching BJax and Nash pretty much neutralizing Bibby.

As much as this victory will have an asterisk beside it due to the Webber injury, it is still a huge win for Dallas and their big three. After getting bounced in the second round two years in a row, it was important to jump on an opportunity like this, with Sacramento hobbled and the Lakers already out.

 

[Ballbaby]

Fcuk Sensei, if you don't make it big in the world of sports journalism, something's seriously wrong!

You're still too sensitive!

 

[ParkHead]

No question Nick Van Exel was the Mvp of the series. The kings had no answer for him. He seemed to be able to score at will. Nowitzki was good but Nick was better.


Parkhead

 

[Sandman]

Ben Wallace undrafted took down 22 rebounds this morning. That dude is one mean Mofo.

Sandman

 

[ParkHead]

I would like to say Jason Kidd was off his game yesterday. But it is hard to say that when he still put up 15 pts, 7ass, 9 rbs. Those pretty good team numbers. But I think he said it best when he said I wouldn't have hit the ocean if I fell out of a boat in the middle of the Pacific. This was true the guy was way off on his jumper which is not on at the best of times. But 7 seconds to go and who has the ball the last person I figured who would shoot it. I was thinking drive and kick all the way. He steps up and hit the winning shot which by the way was not the easiest of shots to hit. After this performance In my mind he is now clearly the best PG in the NBA. Before that I thought there were three or four really close but Kidd is starting to distance himself just bit now.


Come On Spurs(or anyone playin the Mavs)


Parkhead

 

[ParkHead]

Game one west final,


Duncan was good but missed to many free throws but for me the best person on the court wasn't even a player. Don Nelson won this game for the Mavs by out coaching Popovich. Nelson was brilliant with his Substitions and especially with the Hacka Bowen strategy with 6 mins to go in the half!! He kept his team in the game when they were clearly being out played. He made the Spurs play their game and surprisingly they did.


Somebody, Anybody please beat the Mavs.



Parkhead

 

[Yoda]

Originally posted by ParkHead

Somebody, Anybody please beat the Mavs.

Not gonna happen.

 

[ParkHead]

Oh yee of little faith. I have all the confidence in the world that they will Not get by the Spurs. If by some miracle they do I will become the biggest Nets fan around.



ParkheadstillguttedhisKingslost