NBA Playoffs: Conference Semis

[Vitamin X]

At least the Lakers are finding out, along with much of the West, how damn good Aaron Brooks is. At least offensively.

 

[still fly]

Man, watching this Laker team is the pits sometimes. Oh well, should be a nice Sunday.

 

[KOAB]

It's great for shutting up the arrogant and great sense of entitlement that some Laker fans have. It would also be grand if they lose to shut up that, "We win when it counts!" attitude.

 

[still fly]

It would be kind of fun in a trainwreck way to see the Lakers lose Game 7, and the city go into meltdown Armageddon mode. Some members of the Lakers fanbase are fucking stupid, and it would fun in a sick way to see them throw tantrum after tantrum on the radio and on TV.

 

[Mazto]

I'd dance the good times dance if the Lake Show crashes and burns, there's quite a few SoCal transplants where I work and the Lakers going down to a Yao/T-Mac/Mutumbo Less Rockets?

Good times Dance indeed.

 

[zio]

Ok, that's enough of the Magic, alright? As long as Dwight Howard refuses to put the team on his back in the playoffs and as long as Stan Van Gundy is their coach, the Magic will not be seeing NBA finals. It's time to accept the reality. It WILL be Lakers (Nuggets have an outside shot, maybe) vs Cavaliers (I'd say Celtics has a shot, but in all honesty, they don't).

And I don't understand people getting upset with the Lakers fans for expecting a Finals trip this year. Have you guys EVEN seen the Lakers this year? They won 1 game less than the Cavaliers, and this was done when half of their games has been played halfassed, basically. They ARE that good. Accept it.

I think the Lakers are good enough to make it, but it's not a shoo-in like their fans seem to think. That's all. Denver is really playing better than the Lakers right now.

I agree with this statement, but the wrong person is posting it.

 

[zio]

It would be kind of fun in a trainwreck way to see the Lakers lose Game 7, and the city go into meltdown Armageddon mode. Some members of the Lakers fanbase are fucking stupid, and it would fun in a sick way to see them throw tantrum after tantrum on the radio and on TV.

Sense of entitlement does qualify as fucking stupid, too. Rarely do posters here make me root against a team, but some of the Laker fans here make me really want to.

 

[still fly]

I don't see it as much a of sense of entitlement at all. More like confidence in the team's chances.

The only Lakers fans around here that I know of are 909, Matt Young, Chris and myself. I don't see much obnoxiousness or sense of entitlement in us a group, and I think we are pretty even keeled for Lakers fans. Not sure where your seeing it from.

 

[zio]

You're right, it's just one comment that I saw: "Yes, because the nation is just dying to see Carmelo vs Howard!"

I hate this type of argument from any sports fans. If you were not a Laker or Cavalier fan, would you want to deal with the sickening media hype Kobe/Lebron would get? The media ruins a lot of sports events because of their coverage 24/7 that just kills any potential interest fans may have because they've been exposed to it at almost everywhere they turn. I would like to see Kobe/Lebron because I'm just a casual fan who doesn't really care who wins when my team is out. But if I was such a fan as I am of the other three leagues, I'd always pull for the underdog. It shouldn't matter what the nation wants to see if you're a fan of a potential Finals team or not. The World Series last year was shit on but it was the most amazing experience of my life. Ratings shouldn't matter to anyone. I know it might have just been a throwaway comment, but it's comments like that that annoy me no matter who says it. And going through the NBA playoffs thread, it just seems like the Laker fans that have confidence in their team downplay their opponents to the extent of almost not thinking they even have a chance. The unpredictableness that might happen in the playoffs seems far more exciting to cheer about (and WANTING your team to win) than shoo-in's and thinking there is no way that your team can lose.

Of course, I'd love for all my teams to be favorites in all of their playoffs, but I don't think I would ever be able to say they're definitely making the Finals of their respective sports or they can never lose. That seems to me to just be condescending.

 

[Damaramu]

I agree about the ratings things. I don't understand why people complain about the Spurs dynasty and how it kills ratings. Not like the ratings really affect you, just the officiating. *ba-boom-shhhh!*

 

[KOAB]

It's not on here... it's mostly around my general area. It becomes unbearable at some point. I should stop listening to bad local sports radio. The only time it gets good is when the play Luke Walton's wooden promo ads, or when his father, Bill... is on the show and jokes about how much his son sucks and declares Trevor Ariza being the next great Laker who can carry the team in once Kobe's career starts to wind down.

 

[Czech]

"The Spurs get bad ratings" is just an intellectualization of "I don't like watching the Spurs." By overthinking the situation and invoking ratings, which are not germane to actually watching and appreciating the game, you can rationalize the situation. "I hate these guys, but I guess other people do too, so it's perfectly normal." As far as Freudian defense mechanisms and the NBA go, I believe this one is more common than all but reaction formation, wherein millions of people convince themselves that they LOVE LeBron James and can't WAIT to be witnesses to his greatness when way deep down inside, they all hate his guts and hope he gets Shaun Livingston'd on a national stage. I don't think anyone really likes LeBron James.

 

[KOAB]

Does LeBron James represent some douche that picked on like all you guys here. I've never seen as much hate for the guy that I get when reading an NBA thread here.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

wherein millions of people convince themselves that they LOVE LeBron James and can't WAIT to be witnesses to his greatness when way deep down inside, they all hate his guts and hope he gets Shaun Livingston'd on a national stage. I don't think anyone really likes LeBron James.

I enjoy watching LeBron James play basketball because he's an incredibly gifted and talented athlete who does amazing things on the court. I like to think that I haven't been duped by ESPN into feeling this way.

 

[KOAB]

Kobe Doin' Work

It's great to learn that Kobe thinks of Sasha Vujacic like he's his jackass little brother or something.

 

[Rendclaw]

wherein millions of people convince themselves that they LOVE LeBron James and can't WAIT to be witnesses to his greatness when way deep down inside, they all hate his guts and hope he gets Shaun Livingston'd on a national stage. I don't think anyone really likes LeBron James.

I enjoy watching LeBron James play basketball because he's an incredibly gifted and talented athlete who does amazing things on the court. I like to think that I haven't been duped by ESPN into feeling this way.

You haven't.

Its not like he is a scrub that ESPN decided to hype. If ESPN didn't push his ass to the moon someone else would have. He has ungodly talent already, and he is only 21. When he is 26 or 27, develops a good medium range pull-up jump shot and improves his free throw shooting, he is going to be truly unguardable. He already does everything else pretty well. He developed a fairly reliable three-point shot, can rebound, and is a decent defender, even though there is room for improvement there, too.

People love to hate on LeBron because he got hyped to hell and back when he was in high school, but the guy has done the near impossible and lived up to that hype if not exceeded it. That being said, its cool to hate on him.

 

[909]

No, LeBron's 24 now. The word that comes to mind is

ALREADY?

 

[Matt Young]

I think LeBron James is a great player and he is fun to watch, but I wish nothing but suffering on the Cleveland Cavaliers. And while LeBron plays well, the team does, too.

 

[CanadianChris]

I think LeBron James is a great player and he is fun to watch, but I wish nothing but suffering on the Cleveland Cavaliers. And while LeBron plays well, the team does, too.

You wish nothing but suffering on a franchise that has known virtually nothing but suffering since its inception? Awesome.

 

[Kinetic]

I like LeBron James just fine. He strikes me as being a much more relatable and approachable superstar than Kobe, and I appreciate that he seems to actually enjoy doing the thing that he receives so much money and attention to do. A similarly dominant playoff run by the Lakers would be a comparatively grim affair, as it would be totally focused on Kobe trying to overcome his Jordan complex or win one without Shaq or whatever it is that he's trying to do that makes him come off as such a prick all the time.

Maybe the only positive to come from San Antonio's early elimination is that there's little chance that the ratings debate will rear its ugly head again this year. I still anticipate plenty of "U JUST LOST YRSLF A FAN, DAVID STERN" posts, but at least they'll all be about the officiating, which is a much more legitimate complaint.

 

[Vitamin X]

Patrick Ewing just guaranteed the Magic will win Game 7.

“It’s a whole team. Everyone has to step up in a Game Seven. Bring your A-game. Get our there and play with your hearts on your sleeve and come away with a win,” Ewing said in an interview aired on ESPN. “Even though I’m not playing, I’m guaranteeing a win.”

That guarantee sits well with Doc Rivers, who was teammates with Ewing on the Knicks.

“Oh that’s great. We feel great about that,” Rivers said after practice on Saturday. “I’ve been on those Knicks teams where he had some predictions.”

Rivers could not hide his sarcasm. Click here to see just how well Ewing’s past predictions have panned out.

 

[MFer]

I'm sorry, but I'm just not a fan of LeBron. Great player, seems like a pretty good guy, but I just can't get behind him. I won't even bother with the reasons cause it'll come across as being petty, but that's just how I feel.

 

[naiwf]

This LA/Houston series has sucked.

 

[wnyxmcneal]

Put Joey Dorsey in, then shit's going down

 

[Kageho]

Let's see I tune in and its 51-31 Lakers at the half.

I'm not really willing to watch the rest, but at the same time, I'm very tempted to see if the Lakers blow a 20 point lead.

 

[OG]

I like LeBron a lot. He's actually looks like he's having fun and embraces the spotlight (unlike Kobe) and talent wise, he'll go down as one of the greatest ever. It's scary to think he's only 24.

 

[Vitamin X]

Ha, the Laker fans booed the part of the national anthem that goes, "... and the rocket's red glare."

 

[909]

Pretty good performances all around. The Lakers sent the ball down low more and when you have that size you'll win every game if you continue to do that. All series they hadn't given the ball to Bynum more than a handful of times. Today was a lot different.

Looking forward to Tuesday. Denver's post defense is, um.....um....

 

[alfdogg]

And Jalen Rose is already starting in with "they needed a go-to-guy, LIKE TRACY MCGRADY."

 

[Vitamin X]

I'm almost positive Houston takes this series if they had Ming or at least Mutumbo. Hayes is not a bonafida starting center.