another play on the word 'bell'

Ding Dong

lifeline

Don't leave me hangin' guys... if we lose, I'm out of a job. Damn that Pat Riley.

west is best

this west final 4 is amazing... i can see any of these four teams advancing to the finals... and I will root for whomever comes out of the west... why is that?... perhaps the western way of ballin' is just a better brand of basketball (nod to Elton)?... or maybe there is just a higher level of play?... more balanced teams?... whatever the case, the west is just more fun to watch (for me... obviously)...




as much as I like Pop, Timmy, Manu, and the boys, I picked Dallas to win the west... but I now have my doubts (after Jason Terry lost his head and cost his team dearly) since game 7 is in San Antonio... Dallas is tough and ready to break through... but the Spurs are tough and primed to get the win... I am leaning towards the Spurs now... Ginobili!



as for Raja Bell and the Suns... it's loooking good (see previous game 7 against the "other" LA team)... will the shots continue to fall?.... with fresh legs, I say they do and my Suns move on (again) sans Amare... to face a beast from Texas in the western finals... however, if those shots are not fallin' for PHX, the Clippers will win... and give Texas all it can handle in the semis... we shall see...

shaman

Historical James

Three game 7s in 36 hours! What more could a serious fan want? How about a first game 7 between the mighty Pistons and LeBron and the James Gang... featuring the the greatest 21 year old athlete of our age -LeBron James (sorry Tiger) - with his first chance at making Serious history. The world is watching.

What an opportunity for LeBron! If he leads this Cavs bunch past the Pistons - his legend, his hype, his confidence just grows... as well it should because these other Cavs just ain't good enough to compete with Detroit... but they got LeBron... and that is something that no other team can say. If I was on that team, I would believe. All they have to do is go out and play their role... defend... rebound... like there is no tomorrow... hit some open shots... LeBron will give them their opportunities. He has given them this historic one. Now what will they do with it?

What will HE do with it?

I am not betting against him (but I can't put my money in the hands of the James Gang). Larry Hughes anyone?

shaman

Censorship Scandal!!

Hey, where the hell is that fine picture of Chris Kaman icing that pesky right shoulder of his, which ran with words of his responding to an unappreciative shaman, who an entry or so earlier was cutting the big man down to size?? I believe the Flowing Mane said something to the effect that he had played his heart out for shaman, some of the best basketball of his career, and that he has his sights set on the Western Conference Finals, and that shaman should quit that nasty man-crush he has on Shawn Marion. It seems that the powers don't want the Flowing Mane to be heard! Scandalous!

I suppose this picture will have to suffice, as a representation of what was lost in the discourse.....

LeBron to World: "We ain't pigs."

Asked where the Cavs' poise was coming from, and why they weren't showing any fear or intimidation, James wondered aloud whether the questioner was serious. His team had taken a detour to St. Louis between Games 4 and 5 to attend the funeral of Larry Hughes' younger brother, and the experience of sharing in the mourning with their teammate had given them a new perspective on what's important. A tough time is not an 0-2 deficit, a tough time is watching a teammate try to comfort his mother as she buried a son who spent only 20 years on this Earth.

"We're all grown men, and this is just basketball," James said. "It's not life and death, and it's not like they're the big bad wolf and we're the three little pigs. We all lace our shoes up the same way."

Raja!

For Whom the Bell Tolls

comment to come... after this amazing double OT game...

Is It All Just a Dream? (Neon Flame Ignite!)

After a solid run that will stand as one of the most memorable in the storied history of the New York Knickerbockers franchise, it looks like it's over for Larry Brown. What was it he said back in his last days with the Pistons? That it would be a "dream job" to coach the Knicks? The dream was all ours, Larry, what a dreamy season it was -- worth the $40 million buyout. (Don't spend it all in one place!) With dreams like this, who needs cable television? Thanks for teaching the kids the game, Lar, and installing a solid system with sound fundamentals and defensive principles. The team you leave behind bears the mark of a master, a true sensei. Don't sweat the record, bro....


Thank god New Yorkers have Isiah "Man with the Plan" Thomas! If anyone can turn this struggling franchise around, its Zeke. The time has come to remake the Knicks in your image, Isiah, and finish the urgent job of making the Knicks the most intimidatingly deplorable franchise on the face of the earth. You are a godsend, my man! The day that hordes of Knicks fans seize the Garden and burn it violently to the ground is nigh.

When it comes, I want Jim Dolan's spleen on a plate.

Memo: Kaman to world

You don't know me, but I'm going to bust out and take the Los Angeles Clippers farther than the Los Angeles Lakers in the '06 playoffs, along side the hardest working most overlooked MVP player, Elton Brand. And then I am going to play Dirk in the conference finals and rearrange everything that has been normal in the Western conference, especially with my flamey orange mane.


It's true, what the dude says is true. I might have floated down here from outer space, but I am telling you, what this kid says is true. PS. I have seen one too many a playoff series lost.

No playoffs on Thursday!

I guess Charles and Kenny and bloatface need a day off every now and then.

There Goes Round 1 (Ding!), Here Comes Round 2

No surprises really in the first round, except for maybe the fact that Kobe took 3 shots in the second half of a game 7 when his team was down by 15. MVP - Pshaw! but that is another post from last month isn't it?

Each one of the four series (excepting DET/CLE) features well-matched teams where the series should be close. The biggest surprise obviously was what happenned in Miami. It remains to be seen the extent of RJ's injury but Game 1 in the Heat/Nets series must've been a HUGE wakeup call for the Shaq-n-Wades. Just like when he was with the Celtics, the Nets were able to contain any upside from Shake-n-Bake Antoine and all the other Shaq-n-Wade helpers and cruised out to an early 22 point lead which was a big enough cushion to sit RJ for the majority of the 2nd half due to what is being termed as a "mild ankle sprain" (though RJ's expression sure didn't look like it was very mild). If he can get back and healthy for Game 3, the Nets should be in good shape to defend their newfound homecourt advantage in this series.


They call him "trois day" and yes he has always been handsome. Perhaps Tony P. can get him a date with Teri Hatcher during the offseason.

PHX - what can you say? - Steve Nash is the MVP, Mike D'Antoni is the Coach of the Year, Boris Diaw is the Most Improved Player, and Shawn Marion is like a team of hard-working Mexicans doing all the work that nobody else wants to do and getting no credit for it either. But still he consistently brings down 20 and 12 and guards the toughest matchup on the other team. The Suns' coaching staff charted Marion in Game 7 with 20 deflections, all while guarding Lamar Odom (who is probably about a half-foot taller than him) and Kobe Bryant (who Charles Barkley claims is the "best basketball player in the world"). TWENTY DEFLECTIONS! Why don't they chart this as a fantasy stat? It could be argued that deflections are just as meaningful if not more so than blocks (though a block would be considered a deflection as well) but this is an argument for the Bill James crowd in the offseason.


Robert Horry bites Jerry Stackhouse in a Spurs comeback victory in early March which essentially decided the home court in this series. After the game, the Riverwalk in San Antonio was plastered with signs that read "Thanks Dick Bavetta!"


One other quibble I had with the Round 2 Game 1s: Jerry Stackhouse what are you thinking? Your team is down by two with 3 seconds to go and your enormous center seals off the lane for you for an easy tying layup and what do you do? Back it out to the 3 point line for a contested three-pointer? I hope you realize this makes absolutely no sense and, furthermore, I hope you realize that this is why you've been traded so much and now must come off the bench despite your outsized talent. It is your peasized brain that fritzes out in the playoffs that keeps you from being a household name. One would hope you are not still afraid of Robert Horry biting you like he did on March 2. Oh you are? Well maybe the Little General will sit you down in the last 5 minutes of this one. He definitely should. Even if Marquis Daniels sometimes loses his head and inexplicably throws the ball away, I bet he would have taken the sure 2 points and gone into overtime and not tried to play hero and failed miserably.

Most Valuable Playa... again!

Steve Nash did it again. He defied the odds, overcame adversity, and just flat out proved that he was a winner of major proportions. This man is at the top of the game right now. Even the next MVP, LeBron James, must surely agree (since his much-improved team hasn't tasted nearly the success an the Suns) that Steve is the man. Dirk could make a case, but it would be a losing one and I am sure he is happy for his buddy (and hungry for success of his own).

Nash took a team that was without its best player all year ... and guided them to the 2nd seed in the west. The Suns were supposed to be big winners this year, BUT... Amare Stoudemire was out all year and they lost an all star caliber player in Joe Johnson (and QRich... and their bench). At least Nash had All-NBA stud Shawn Marion - the Amazing Matrix - to help him... BUT... who else?... who else?... Raja Bell... Boris Diaw... Leandro Barbosa... Eddie House... James Jones... Tim Thomas... these guys are good young players with potential, but they were nobodies (Tim Thomas wasn't a nobody - he WAS just irrelevant) until they came to Phoenix. I want to go to Phoenix!

If there was any doubt about Nash deserving the award, it was answered in a dominating performance against Kobe and the Lakers in game 7. The Suns were basically robbed of a 2-2 series score in game 4,... and with their backs to the walls, on the verge of elimination, the won game 5 in LA (without Raja Bell). Then just rolled into playing Suns basketball and into rolling over the Lakers... in 7.

And now, the western semis... and another team called LA. These playoffs are amazing... and they are just getting started!

http://www.nba.com/suns/intro_splash.html

playoff shaman

in the eeeevening

Question: Kobe is this where you thought you'd be after going up 3-1 on PHX?

Nah man, it's cool [Licks lips] facing a must win Game 7 against an Amare-less PHX in order to face the Clippers in the second round is exactly where I want to be[Licks lips again] I mean, against PHX, I just seem to get any shot I want. [Licks lips] The Lakers are my team, and for the record that's spelt T, I, E, M. [Licks lips again]

FRACASO!

Holy sh*t! What a game, what a series... I'm choked up that it's over. I held out hope for a game 7, but this evening's theatrics were the next best thing. Ho-ly sh*t. Arenas's three to tie the game was a brilliant clutch play made from nowheresville in the deep backcourt. That alone would have made his playoff reputation. In the ensuing overtime, with Washington ahead by one point and in possession of the ball, he was put on the line with 14 seconds left -- and the two free throws he missed will for the moment taint that playoff reputation.

I feel for teh guy; it seems, weirdly, that even LeBron felt for him after the first miss (unless the words he shared with him at the foul line were words of discouragement, although that would seem crazily unsportsmanlike). Anyway, as we all by now know, he missed teh second as well. Down by one point with 14 seconds on the clock, the Cavs turn in the clutch to, of all people, Damon Jones, who hadn't played at all in the game (to say nothing of the series), and who now hits the longest two pointer possible and swishes it like he was the "greatest shooter of all time."

oh the irony. Cavs advance for the first time since 1993. (Needless to say, they will be summarily dealt with by Detroit.) I will shed a tear for the best first round series of 2006 (barring some wild PHX-LAL action).

MCA

wesss side

Someone say game seven?

Freeway Series, LA

I am so proud of the Los Angeles Clippers -- it is like New Year's in my brain of basketball passions! Thirty years is a long time to wait to advance in the playoffs. I suspect they will make easy work of the Lakers, and the Los Angeles press will be beside itself. I agree wholeheartedly with shaman that the Clippers are as good as a lock for the Conference Finals, which in itself will make broadcast coverage something of an event in its acknowledgment of the franchise's emergence from the depths. I differ however in my fervent hope and desire that they advance to the Finals, capping what has been a most tremendous year for the team. There, they will lose to the Pistons.

But meanwhile we have a number of series on our hands. San Antonio looks surprisingly vulnerable, not nearly as dominant as one might have expected them to be. But I suppose that is part of their psychology... Sacramento, in any event, has definitely got an underrated assemblage of pieces that is difficult to ignore. It's nice to see a competitive series, and I look forward to tonight's game.

And how about the Bulls? (Boy am I NOT feeling Miami.) Man do I love the playoffs; it turns out regular season basketball sux! Regular season has its place, but where else do you see Andres Nocioni playing absolutely out of his head? Guys like Manu Ginobili are forged in the playoffs -- it's where salaries and respect are earned. But for my money the best series is the Cleveland/Washington series. I preferred Cleveland but Washington is making me a believer -- while the rosters are evenly matched, i think, with a slight advantage for Cleveland because of their frontcourt, Washington appears to have mre consistent contributors. Where the hell is Zydrunas Ilgauskas's post play? Cleveland seems lost offensively, relying on crazy lebron heroics, and they've gotta right the ship if they want to advance.

good times.

MCA

Nash Robbed! And he's still classier than Kobe...

Boy you'd have thought since the Suns clearly called timeout twice before young Walton tied Nash up and since he was obviously fouled multiple times by a team who had to foul him in an end-of-game situation. You'd have thought he would be a little more bitter. But no, you get "in those situations, those are tough calls to make. The first one, I slipped. The second was pretty physical. Boris (Diaw) was calling time out. I don't know. It was a jump ball. There were some costly plays down the stretch that didn't go our way. We did everything we could to win the game. It wasn't meant to be." That's MVP for you. Kobe would definitely not have reacted that way. Or at least not before this generation-defining series.

The whole last 5 and a 1/2 minutes of the game felt like watching a Nike commercial didn't it? Only instead of little kids reenacting MJ's Greatest Moments it was Kobe with the confident last-second swish, the improbable 20-foot high arcing buzzer beater, and the familiar strong arm pump running up the court after it's over. All that was missing was B.J. Armstrong and John Paxson.

I'm going on vacation and I hope have cable there cause these playoffs are off the chain!