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Official NBA Playoffs Thread (Predictions Welcome!)

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jjsole said:
What they need to do is make the refs more accountable. Too many 'anticipation' fouls and calls from refs who don't even see the play well, particularly calling fouls from the 'weak side' when the supposed fouls occurred on the other side of the players, obstructing the view of the ref who called it. Most of the refs suck because the culture of reffing an nba game sucks.
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I'll tell you what I want: a bigger court! the 94x50 court is too small for 10 large, fast men to navigate. A 120x60 court would reduce screening, clutching and grabbing because there would be less congestion. Also, more in-play area behind the backboard could open up new possibilities on offense. Think Wayne Gretzky behind the net...
 
Flipped Gazelle said:
I'll tell you what I want: a bigger court! the 94x50 court is too small for 10 large, fast men to navigate. A 120x60 court would reduce screening, clutching and grabbing because there would be less congestion. Also, more in-play area behind the backboard could open up new possibilities on offense. Think Wayne Gretzky behind the net...
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haha, never thought of it that way. More room behind the board could have a dramatic affect on plays and strategy since there would be enough room for screens, etc.

Lengthwise, the nba court is already a bit larger than the fiba court and as it is there are too many players that can't run it already! 😛

Wider would be pretty fascinating...maybe make the 3-pt shots equi-distance in the corners and you'd certainly get much less congestion...imagine having to 'rotate-out' to that...whew.
 
I want a penalty system like hockey. Commit a foul and you go in the penalty box for a minute with it incrementing with each foul.

Pow pow power play!
 
Flipped Gazelle said:
That would be interesting. :hmm:
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Wouldn't it though? It'd totally alter the stupid foul game at the end that draws out the last 2 minutes into 20. There's a legitimate "penalty" to committing a foul. You never risk losing a guy, but if you do something dumb/intentionally then you put your team at risk of being way outmanned.
 
jjsole said:
haha, never thought of it that way. More room behind the board could have a dramatic affect on plays and strategy since there would be enough room for screens, etc.

Lengthwise, the nba court is already a bit larger than the fiba court and as it is there are too many players that can't run it already! 😛

Wider would be pretty fascinating...maybe make the 3-pt shots equi-distance in the corners and you'd certainly get much less congestion...imagine having to 'rotate-out' to that...whew.
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Good point. Maybe we can lengthen the court by 3 ft behind each basket. I actually got that idea from a broadcast of a Suns game, a few years ago. The announcer had the idea that Steve Nash, with his hockey background, might find interesting things to do with the extra space.

I started thinking the court needed to be larger the year the NBA shrunk the 3 pt line. There was so much congestion that I realized the NBA needed larger courts. The players now are just too big and fast.
 
vi edit said:
Wouldn't it though? It'd totally alter the stupid foul game at the end that draws out the last 2 minutes into 20. There's a legitimate "penalty" to committing a foul. You never risk losing a guy, but if you do something dumb/intentionally then you put your team at risk of being way outmanned.
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I would like to purchase a subscription to your newsletter and make a present of it to Mr. David Stern... :awe:
 
Barack Obama said:
Guess what guys, celtics are gonna lay the SMACKDOWN on the lakerse tonight!
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I just don't see it. The entire Celtics team would need to play well.

Kobe's not likely to go 10/29 again.

Odom is waking up.

Can KG have 2 good games in a row?

If anything, I can see LA winning tonight, then letting up a tad in Game 5, then winning in 6.

Or, maybe LA simply wins the next 2. Kobe's gonna be really focused, and so is Phil. Sweeping 3 in Boston would really boost the "Kobe greatest Laker" claim, and Phil would be sticking his tongue out at the "Red Auerbach is the best coach ever" contingent.
 
child of wonder said:
Pierce and Allen need to show up if that's going to happen.
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I'm looking forward the the Pierce/Artest matchup.

Ron Artest annoyed Pierce won't give him credit

"Paul said it wasn't me. Paul said I'm not doing anything, so I guess I better play better defensively (against him),'' Artest said sarcastically Wednesday after a short practice. "I have to go out there and make my defense affect somebody.''
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This can be good or bad of course, bad meaning potential early foul trouble for Artest if he's too amped.
 
child of wonder said:
Pierce and Allen need to show up if that's going to happen.
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I'm looking forward the the Pierce/Artest matchup.

Ron Artest annoyed Pierce won't give him credit
"I don't really see anything he's doing special that any other teams haven't done,'' Pierce said Wednesday before the Celtics practiced. "You watched the game. What do you think he's doing?''

"Paul said it wasn't me. Paul said I'm not doing anything, so I guess I better play better defensively (against him),'' Artest said sarcastically Wednesday after a short practice. "I have to go out there and make my defense affect somebody.''

"I know how to change a game defensively,'' Artest said. "I've dominated games defensively, and sometimes people don't see it. It's like that Chinese death blow hit. You don't feel until it's in you, and five seconds later, you kind of die. I forget the name of it, but it's a death blow.''
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😀

This can be good or bad of course, bad meaning potential early foul trouble for Artest if he's too amped.
 
I agree with Paul Pierce. Artest isn't doing anything particularly special or that Pierce hasn't had to deal with before.

The difference now, however, is that Pierce is starting 33 right in the face, the little bit of athleticism he had is evaporating, and he hasn't stepped up in these Finals. That's the problem.
 
child of wonder said:
I agree with Paul Pierce. Artest isn't doing anything particularly special or that Pierce hasn't had to deal with before.

The difference now, however, is that Pierce is starting 33 right in the face, the little bit of athleticism he had is evaporating, and he hasn't stepped up in these Finals. That's the problem.
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Pierce's age has nothing to do with it imo. His shooting percentage, steals, rebounds, assists, and points are down...from not just the regular season but earlier in the playoffs this year compared to playing the lakers.

And his 24pt game came when Artest was in foul trouble, doing most of his damage (lots of drives and foul shots) against other defenders.

gamelogs

What he says is one thing but what the facts show is completely different. He has a very difficult time getting space and driving off of Artest.

It's not too late to prove everyone wrong tho, but it will have to be soon or it will be never.
 
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i dont see how the refs and the nba let the celtics lose this one.

Look back at game 4 last year in orlando. Lakers up 2-1...they get zero free throws during the game. Not until OT did they get one. The refs did all they could then, and they will tonight too. Boston is better than orlando last year.
 
jjsole said:
Pierce's age has nothing to do with it imo. His shooting percentage, steals, rebounds, assists, and points are down...from not just the regular season but earlier in the playoffs this year compared to playing the lakers.

And his 24pt game came when Artest was in foul trouble, doing most of his damage (lots of drives and foul shots) against other defenders.

gamelogs

What he says is one thing but what the facts show is completely different. He has a very difficult time getting space and driving off of Artest.

It's not too late to prove everyone wrong tho, but it will have to be soon or it will be never.
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Pierce was never a great running & jumping kind of athlete, but earlier in his career he had very good lateral movement, body control and a sense of space. He was quickly enough to get to the basket and strong enough to get the +1. He's so slow now that he often lumbers to the hoop, and because of his ungainliness he does not get the foul calls he used to get.

I think Pierce's struggles can be attributed to both Artest's defense and him simply missing shots. From my own experience (not even remotely comparable to NBA life, of course 😀), when you finally break free of a really tough defender, you can actually feel extra pressure to make the shot. You think, "wow, I'm open, I better convert because this is the best look I'll get." And if you miss that open shot, you put more pressure on yourself next time. We've seen Pierce a couple of times pull the string on his shot (especially baseline), a sure sign of pressing.

Pierce's age/diminishing athleticism really shows late in games, where his misses are almost always short.
 
GrantMeThePower said:
i dont see how the refs and the nba let the celtics lose this one.

Look back at game 4 last year in orlando. Lakers up 2-1...they get zero free throws during the game. Not until OT did they get one. The refs did all they could then, and they will tonight too. Boston is better than orlando last year.
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fun little fact but in that game you mentioned they also have one of the same ref's working tonight (foster).
 
Flipped Gazelle said:
Pierce was never a great running & jumping kind of athlete, but earlier in his career he had very good lateral movement, body control and a sense of space. He was quickly enough to get to the basket and strong enough to get the +1. He's so slow now that he often lumbers to the hoop, and because of his ungainliness he does not get the foul calls he used to get.

I think Pierce's struggles can be attributed to both Artest's defense and him simply missing shots. From my own experience (not even remotely comparable to NBA life, of course 😀), when you finally break free of a really tough defender, you can actually feel extra pressure to make the shot. You think, "wow, I'm open, I better convert because this is the best look I'll get." And if you miss that open shot, you put more pressure on yourself next time. We've seen Pierce a couple of times pull the string on his shot (especially baseline), a sure sign of pressing.

Pierce's age/diminishing athleticism really shows late in games, where his misses are almost always short.
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I agree. I think this is the last year we'll see Boston even sniff a championship. Rondo will give them enough lift to squeak into the playoffs the next two years but Pierce can't take over a game anymore, Allen has become very streaky (an opinion I've held before his recent demonstration) and contributes very little if he's not on, and KG is half the player he was in 2008.

Being a Timberwolves fan since 1990, I'd like to see KG win one more title, but unless he, Pierce, and Allen can take it up a notch or two for every game the rest of this series the Lakers have it in the bag.
 
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