ripvanracer wrote:
I was at the Cavs-Lakers game today and can say Lamar Odom must have smoked the best weed of his life last night.
LoL! Why? Because you already predicted that the Cavs would win the title, but the Lakers walked into Cleveland without their starting center and defeated them AGAIN?
LoL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A very slow, painful death for the Celtics. It couldn't happen to a nicer team, OR to their fans at the "Gah-dun!" Enjoy your vacation, Doc.
That nutlover Rachel Ray Allen again shows he can't handle the pressure of the playoffs. 7/40 3 pt shooting for 17% in the series. Last year, his confidence was so low against the Cavs, he was afraid to even shoot the ball. He was 4/24 in that series. He is gaining a reputation as one of the most overrated players of all time and hit the lottery when Pierce, Garnett, and some good subs won him a title last year. Of course he shot better against the defenseless Lakers who this year will now give up 120 a game to the Nuggets.
Boston is the new Pistons. They will go back to has-beens in a couple years.
Hey, I'm having Doc Rivers over to my place tonight to watch the Lakers/Nuggets game. He said that he doesn't have anything ELSE to do for the next five months! LoL!!
This thread is a small example of why we really DO need mandatory screen name registration on the LetsRun message boards. Some of the trash-talking idiots like Brian Boston, Dark Knight, and Boston29 will never be heard from again. Wejo & Rojo make it far too easy to be a coward!
Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller?
dark knight wrote:
The Fakers won't even be the Celtic's main competition.
LoL! It simply NEVER gets old. By the way, I'm having Ray Allen over to my place tonight to watch the Eastern Conference Finals. He says that he is enjoying his vacation!
Well, I certainly don't mind checking in. My original post addressed the need for perspective from a December win. That C's team wasn't the team the Magic eliminated. The Lakers are better now than they were then.
First, with the C's, realistically they should have won the Orlando series. Van Gundy made a great decisions in games 6 and 7 sitting down Redick. That team certainly has grown up before our eyes. Otherwise, the C's were done. Toast. They weren't going to survive Cleveland and not going to beat the Lakers or Nuggets. In our long time rivalry, this was not going to be a Celtic-Laker year.
The Lakers have surprised me so far. My main quibble with them as a team and Koby as a player is that they quit last year in the Finals. That softness surprised me since that team was the first quality LA team he had around him since the Shaq days. In watching his game, and last night was a good example, he is stepping up when it counts. That was a big 4th quarter (as opposed to the 40 points in a blow out win) so I have to give him the cred he deserves. I would caution you though, it is not over. You don't want to crow too loud, yet. The path is the clearest of the 4 remaining teams, but wait to gloat. It'll taste better then. C's fans are interested in the free agent pool to replace a bench with heart but not great skills. I hope we can duke it out next year.
Kudos for a reasoned, humble response. None of these teams are done yet, including Cleveland. I could see them winning the next two quite easily. I actually think the Lakers would have a harder time beating the Magic than the Cavs. And while I expect the Nuggets to force a game 7, I would be surprised if they won the series. Just not quite opportunistic enough, though they had outplayed the Lakers in the series before last night. None of those muffed inbounds passes late in the games, a couple of more made free throws on the road, and it's probably 3-2 the other way.
And the officiating, which is always biased toward the home team and makes pro basketball rather underwhelming, was horrendous. I can understand the wanting to make-up for Jones' blatant trip on Kobe (can't think of it happening to a more worthy individual though) and Martin's thugness, but Carmelo was mauled repeatedly last night on his way to the bucket. It got so ridiculous that I think he was just driving to the hoop to see if he could get a call, not to actually score. Even Karl, who rarely ever complains about officiating, was stupefied by the orchestration of it all. It's like watching WWE wrsetling, this whole NBA thing.
dark knight wrote:
Shutup, Fakers fan. Kobe will never win another championship again. ... The Eastern Conference Finals will be the real NBA finals this year.
LoL!!! Those words grow more pathetic with each game.
There are very few people on the LetsRun boards who are genuinely knowledgeable regarding NBA basketball. People like Sagarin and I qualify, but it's painfully obvious that the Celtics' fair-weather fans like Dark Knight and Brian Boston are simply ignorant a$$holes.
Last season Boston was the weakest champion the league has seen in many years: EVERY series they won lasted 6 or 7 games! However, I hope that their faithful sheep enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame, because their personnel are past their prime and teams like the Lakers, Blazers, and Magic aren't going away any time soon!
Ah, Lamar LA, you give me far too much credit. However, I am all too happy to have seen this prognostication penned last December come to fruition. But, lest I piss off all the Pennsylvania fans, I WILL be rooting for the Penguins tonight:
Sagarin wrote:
That said, Boston fans are some of the worse I've ever encountered, yes indeed... I wonder if they all had their stupid rally caps on sideways rooting for the Celts on X-mas? But, I would also agree that the game really meant nothing, other than a boost of confidence that LA may, just may have finally arrived this year. I also agree that Bynum would have made a difference last year, but the Celts were still the stronger team. If LA could have won the game where they were down like 24 or 27 points before coming all the way back with like two minutes to go in the game, that would have swung the series, but they didn't and it didn't.
I will be rooting for the Nuggets (who I believe will eventually become LA's biggest nemesis late in the year with the return of Billups) and against the Celtics all year. Boston and Philly fans man... all I can do is shake my head.
By the way, I don't think being taken deep in a series early in the playoffs is a bad thing. I think it makes a team more seasoned and battle-tested. I'm not sure blowing teams out early and often is a recipe for success in professional sports. And while it's obvious that the Lakers are the best overall and deepest team, that Houston series really helped them gel.
Lamar L.A. wrote:
However, I hope that their faithful sheep enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame, because their personnel are past their prime and teams like the Lakers, Blazers, and Magic aren't going away any time soon!
15 minutes? You need to bone up on your NBA history.
Blazers? Seriously?
Sagarin wrote:
And while it's obvious that the Lakers are the best overall and deepest team,
That is the only way they win when the most overrated player in NBA history routinely misses 20 shots a game.
the hype is wrong wrote:
That is the only way they win when the most overrated player in NBA history routinely misses 20 shots a game.
Iverson doesn't play for the Lakers.
Sagarin wrote:
By the way, I don't think being taken deep in a series early in the playoffs is a bad thing.
You're right, Sagarin. It's not necessarily a bad thing. However, in this instance I was using it as further evidence of precisely how weak the Celtics' championship was last year.
Let's be serious: the 2008 Celtics padded their W/L record against their "Least-ern" Conference opposition. Out of the eight teams in their half of the NBA playoff bracket, only five of them actually had winning records! That is absolutely pathetic. As for the playoffs themselves, as I stated before, EVERY Celtics series lasted six or seven games. They finished the playoffs with a 16-10 record, including several double-digit losses. If they hadn't had home court in the finals (due to their soft schedule), it probably would have been a different story. Combine that with Bynum's injury, and they were essentially handed the trophy!
In stark contrast, the 2001 Lakers steamrolled their playoff opponents, compiling a 15-1 postseason record on their way to the title. Their only blemish was actually an overtime loss to the 76ers in the NBA Finals. In a seven-game series, the 2008 Celtics couldn't have defeated this team if their lives had depended upon the outcome!
Why are you living in the past, brother? Let it go.
Lamar L.A. wrote:
Last season Boston was the weakest champion the league has seen in many years: EVERY series they won lasted 6 or 7 games!
Key word: champion.
You and Sagarin (NOT surprisingly) are out of your minds. The Lakers are only the best team this year because Garnett got hurt. This is now 100% obvious with the way the Lakers are struggling with the Magic (a bounce here or there, and they are down 3-1 and in big trouble). The Celts, with Allen playing terribly, and NO GARNETT, almost, and should have, beaten the Magic. With Garnett, the Celts beat the magic and kill the lakers.....again. Any objective fan would make this assessment at this point. Bynum ended up making almost no difference, and Odom and Gasol are as soft as ever. Same team as last year, the same team the Celts dismantled.
Kobe is fantastic, no doubt. The rest of the team?? Very up and down. Sometimes they look very deep, other times Kobe is the ONLY one doing anything. Other than Kobe, the rest of the team is soft and inconsistent.
Other than a full strength Boston, clearly there were not many extremely strong teams. Many good teams, lots of parity, but no juggernauts. A full strength Boston with Allen not playing terrible (a BIG if) was the closest to such a team the NBA had this year.
The Lakers are lucky to squeak by. The celts showed their weaknesses last year, and would have done the same with a healthy Garnett this year.
Lamar L.A. wrote:
If they hadn't had home court in the finals (due to their soft schedule), it probably would have been a different story.
Not likely. After all, the Celtics won on the road during that series. The Lakers did not. Even if the Celtics did not have home court advantage at the start of the series, the single road win would have given it to them at that point.
You also cleverly point out how hard the Celtics had to work harder (more games) just to get to the finals. Clearly the Lakers were better rested, but it just wasn't enough against a superior Celtics team.
This year, the Celtics without KG were not good enough to earn a rematch. It looks like the Lakers' year. This year, they are the best when it counts the most. Last year it was the Celtics.
Sir Lance-alot wrote:
The Lakers are only the best team this year because Garnett got hurt.
The Lakers are lucky to squeak by. The celts showed their weaknesses last year, and would have done the same with a healthy Garnett this year.
Same old Sir Lance-alot, still spreading around propaganda. Tell me, how did the Celtics do against the Lakers this season when they DID have Garnett?
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281225013http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290205002Stick to running, because pro basketball obviously isn't one of your areas of expertise!