golden state played well in the second half yesterday but totally cocked up the last 2 minutes when nowitzki came into the game at long last. i hope they do knock out the mavs, would be interesting to see both '06 finalists out in the first round. now that the heat are out im goin for either the cavs (distant chance) or the spurs who are the more realistic choice. parker and duncan make a mean team, along with everyone else of course, ginobli etc.
My take so far: Dallas v. GS: I also thought that GS had Dallas' number before this series began, but I thought Dallas was too good at this point to be thwarted. Boy, was I wrong. I guess Avery hasn't changed much since Nelly left. I'm glad Nowitzki finally played like the MVP he is in the final minutes of that game to save his team. I could see Dallas coming back now, because they might believe in themselves more after that game. Plus, Stephen Jackson might be a distraction after his incident in the final minutes of the last game. I think the Warriors have a 65% chance of winning this game, but a 30% chance of winning Game 7 if it goes back. Suns v. Lakers: I think the Suns will finish the Lakers tonight, unless of course Kobe goes absolutely insane and Lamar backs him up. Not much chance of that though. SA v. Denver: Looks like SA is about to finish the Nuggets in a few minutes. I think the Suns will beat them in 6 or 7 in the next series though. Suns look better at this point. Houston v. Utah: Houston has the momentum and the series lead, so I expect them to eliminate Utah in Game 6 despite the hostile crowd. I think the winner of the GS and Dallas series will beat them later, however. NJ v. Toronto: I'm surprised NJ has picked it up for the Playoffs like this. I think NJ will win, and they'll probably provide quite a challenge for Cleveland. Although I feel like Cleveland was holding back in the Washington series, I think they'll need to step it up a lot to safely get to the Conference Finals. Not very surprised at the other series... I thought the Heat would win maybe 1 or 2 games, but the Bulls were pretty resilient even though they barely missed the 2nd seed. I think the Bulls will beat the Pistons in 6 or 7 and then beat the Cavs in the Conference Finals. So my finals looks like Suns (they'll barely win against SA, but they'll kill GS) and Bulls with the Suns winning. For sheez.
sucks that the lakers lost. hope some sort of big off-season moves occur, though i don't know how that is possible unless odom and bynum are made available for trades. hope the suns take out the spurs. hope gs takes out the mavs.
WHO SAID IT?! WHO THE FUCK SAID IT?! Mavericks got pwned tonight, ladies and gentlemen. They are out of the Playoffs. Golden State advances to the Western Semi-Finals, where they will face either Houston or Utah. And the Suns play San Antonio on Sunday. What are you guys thinking for that series?
Great, now you're gonna gloat for the next week and a half. It's amazing though. How can you be the best team in the NBA but completely choke in the postseason? Anything can happen that's for sure. And as for Suns/Spurs, should be an exciting series. Then again, I hope that the Suns sweep the ever loving piss out of them. I fucking hate the Spurs.
warriorsssssssssss as far as suns/spurs, i want the suns to take it. but i wouldn't be surprised to see the spurs win that series.
Im changing my prediction. I believe its going to be Spurs vs Rockets for western conference. Bulls and NJ for eastern conference. Bulls vs Spurs Spurs = winner.
*sigh* The Suns lost 2-4 to the Spurs. It's a Spurs-Utah Western Conference Final. The Cavaliers beat the Nets 4-2 as well, and now we're waiting on the Pistons and the Bulls. Maybe next year, Phoenix. Hopefully next year. I see Utah in 6. I see a Detroit facing the Cavs for the Eastern Conference and the Cavs winning in 6. And then I see the Cavs winning in 6 for the Finals.
Are you guys kidding me? The rules are crap. And rules are subject to interpretation. Every other rule in the NBA is at least, why is this one any different? Stern can give all the crap he wants about the Suns players moving at a pace that provided 'intent' to cause harm, but guess what? They didn't cause harm. They didn't cause a single problem. And, as many have stated, Duncan got off the bench in an earlier situation where there could have been an altercation but wasn't. How is that any different? Because he's a big name? Sorry, but Stern screwed the Suns over in my opinion.
So, no offense to you, but you need to stop saying that kind of crap. Yes, it was a mistake that Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw decided to get on the court like that, but you have to realize that what Robert Horry did was intended for that reaction. Plus, you can't let someone do that to your best player. It's just not reasonable. And I don't care what anyone says. The San Antonio Spurs are a dirty team. They've done too much to hurt the Suns. And you know it, too. Robert Horry could have simply touched Nash and that would have been the foul. Instead he shoves him down. What the hell, man? You can't do that. You just can't. And I don't see how Stern screwed over the Suns. He made some stupid comments and that was it. Robert Horry screwed over the Suns with that foul. That's all there was to it. He intended that reaction and he got it. He got suspended for two games, but it's not like he's worth anything. You suspend two important players on the Suns for one game: a game that was vital to their victory. The Spurs are a good team and I'll give them that. The Suns have always struggled against them and it's simply going to be that way for a while. But the Suns are a better team overall, and we would have won this series for sure had Robert Horry not pulled that flagrant foul. You guys know it. Spurs wouldn't have beat them otherwise. But otherwise, your San Antonio Spurs are simply a dirty team that know they can't win an NBA Championship without physically hurting the other team. And you know what? It's not like they'll get anywhere. If Utah doesn't beat them, Detroit will. Spurs won't beat them like last time. The Pistons are a better team and they will do to the Spurs what the Suns should have done: obliterate them. I'm sorry to sound so harsh, but this is my viewpoint. And there's no bias. I love my Phoenix Suns, but you have to some reason and frankly, after watching these games, the Spurs dirtiness won them the series. Not the Suns' bad playing or the "bad" officiating.
I was pretty surprised how bad the Pistons were beating the Bulls in the beginning but it was nice of them to let the Bulls take a couple games. Can't wait to see Cavs/Pistons.
Stern screwed over the Suns because he has final say in how the rule is implemented. If you listen to his comments, it was very clearly he who had the ultimate decision, and it was he who decided they needed to be suspended. Robert Horry is just as much to blame, if not more, but ultimately it was Stern who decided. When every other rule in the NBA is subject to interpretation, but this one isn't, where's the logic? Many other flagrant fouls have been made in the postseason that easily warrant suspension, and many players have been suspended for less severe actions during the regular season, but it was subject to interpretation.
San Antonio's a solid team, they've got a lot of great player, you've been playing together for a long time. Ginobili always plays excellent, Duncan and Parker are also always at their best it seems. The Suns were just no match for them, even with Nash playing the best anyone possibly can in the 4th quarter of the last game... I'm a Nash fan and that's why I'm a Suns fan, because else I wouldn't really care about the team. What Horry did was indeed something that shouldn't happen and it's normal you react the way the Suns players did, but sadly that's part of the game. Basketball is very technical and it pays attention to a lot of detail, and when you start making dirty faults like the Spurs did I just makes the other players pissed off... @Louis: I agree with you the Spurs played dirty and Horry definitely crossed the line. In Basketball, esspecially the NBA, the line between playing strategicly and making certain faults on purpose is very thin. It's a game to see with what you can get away with and what Horry did should've been punished harder.
The Suns were a match for them, I think. If it wasn't for Horry's foul, the Suns would have won this series 4-2 or 4-3. Because Amare and Diaw would have been in for Game 5. The way the Suns were playing that game, if they had Amare's firepower to keep the lead up, they would have won. They would have been up 3-2. Now, in this game, they had Amare who had a really good game, and they did have the potential to win. The outcome would have probably been the same. Game 7 would have been in Phoenix, and the Suns would probably have annihilated the Spurs. The foul threw the Suns off, and that, along with the dirty playing of the Spurs, is the reason why the Suns lost this series. They wouldn't have lost otherwise. No doubt in my mind.
^ While the Suns were definitely capable of defeating the Spurs, you can't take away the fact that the Spurs are just a experienced, playoff-tested team. The Amare suspension did mess up the series, but the Suns still had a shot to win that game and blew it. I do believe thought that the suspension was stupid. Just because Diaw and Amare's instincts kicked in for about 2 seconds they got suspended. They weren't provoking anything. They got suspended for getting up off the bench and taking one step onto the court. The rule needs to be reevaluated or rational judgment needs to be made in situations like this. With these four teams I've lost a lot of interest in the playoffs now. I can totally see another Spurs/Pistons final. While I respect both teams, I hate them both and they put me to sleep.
Say what you want about the suspensions and stuff but the truth it's the suns blew it in the beggining of the seires by losing homecourt on game 1 of the series, if u are truly that good u don't let a team like the spurs come into your homecourt and steal it right away on the first game. And second the suspension was just a game it wasn't 3 or 4 if the suns were better than the spurs why did they lose games 1,3,6 with all your players? i dont like the rule either but i guess if duncan did what amare did just for 2 seconds u would be the first one to say that he has to be suspended just because he step on the court, u are just pissed because the suspension happens to 2 of your players and not any of the spurs. and like i said rules are rules, if duncan would have done what amare did he would have been suspended as well, why do u keep saying that stern screw the suns? all the suns fans are cry babies starting from d'antoni, i dont get why d'antoni doesn't get ejected in every game, he complains too much. And u complain that the spurs are dirty? haha and u got raja bell on your team, the one who clothesline Kobe Bryant last year just because he couldn't guard him, the spurs were the better team and the suns wont win unless they change the run & gun style, that style never works in the playoffs and they won't win a tittle playing that way. and incredible post i found on the web, so true: Suns lost because they lost focused on playing good basketball. They turned into beauty pageant contestants instead of beating a Spurs team that the Suns are clearly capable of beating. The Spurs are just smarter, wiser, more intelligent. Robert Horry is 2nd in the NBA All-time behind Abdul-Jabbar in playoff games played. Horry hip-checked Nash out of bounds to turn the series into a mental game, because the talent game the Suns could have won. But Nash and the Suns don't know how to win the championship. Let's be honest. And as a Lakers fan, I hate both the Suns and Spurs. But I at least respect the Spurs because they know how to win championships. I drove all the way from Los Angeles to Phoenix to see the Lakers lose to the Suns in Phoenix Game 1. I didn't cry and whine, I knew all year the Lakers were inferior to the Suns. I predicted the Suns would win the championship before the season began. Why did the Suns lose? They don't know how to use the mental edge in their game. Horry's hip-check turned the series into a whine-fest when really, the Spurs were about to crash and burn. That game the Spurs were dominating the Suns all the way until the end, and the Suns *finally* figured out how to beat the Spurs without luck, without help, the Suns figured out a method to beat the Spurs. The way the Suns played that game, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Ginobili, Horry, they could have played their best games and the Suns were still good enough to win that series. That's why Horry put Nash into the table. The experience and smarts of 'Big Shot Bob' lead him to do that to Nash. Once it went from skill to basketball IQ and intelligence, the Suns folded. Last year, when Raja Bell clotheslined Kobe Bryant, you know what Kobe and Phil Jackson said in the postgame show? Kobe and Phil lobbied for the NBA to NOT suspend Raja, and to let the games go on. Kobe talked about how he enjoyed the contact, how it's good for the NBA to allow some physical play, how Kobe was reminded of the 80s teams he grew up watching on TV. A DRAMATIC difference between that attitude (from people experienced with rings, championships) and the whining, lobbying, pouting, and overall sense of entitlement the Suns displayed. That was poorer sportsmanship than anything Bowen or Horry could do. The Suns should have shut their mouths and kept playing. The most ironic aspect of this entire situation, is that Raja Bell gained my respect in this series. He slammed Kobe to the ground b/c that's what he felt he needed to do as a man to send a message to Kobe. Even if it was dirty. Even if Bell was phaking elbows (check YouTube, Kobe elbowed Bells shoulder, and Bell flops like it hit his mouth). But this year, Raja Bell didn't cry and whine. He just wanted to play ball. He didn't cry and say the Spurs were dirty, and that the world was out to get them because people weren't willing to hand them the championship trophy. Earn it. Phoenix choked this series, because they whined too much. And it started with Teeth'Antoni, their horse-mouth crybaby coach. And, dog gone-it, just admit it people. Nash is a great great player. But he hasn't figured out how to win that championship and let's start calling him out on it. Kobe wins 3 rings, but Kobe doesn't know how to win? Nash wins 0 rings, and he does? Please cut that crap out. Yes, I know Shaq was amazing those years, but Shaq wouldn't have won by himself so don't give me that crap either. If the Lakers could lose in the Finals to the Pistons when the Lakers had Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Derek Fisher, there's no way Kobe wins it when his next best player is Lamar Odom! Not in the West! Last point, David Stern HAD TO suspend Amare and Diaw. HAD TO. The rule sucks, I've hated it for years. However, countless teams have lost players and games as a result from that bench clearing rule. If Stern didn't suspend those guys, the NBA would have been playing favorites. It would have been favoritism to not suspend them. The rule sucks, NBA officials suck, Stern sucks.... but in this instance, he was correct in his decision. And Suns fans, just know that there is more to winning championships and games than talent. There's a mental aspect, intelligence aspect, and that's where the Suns folded. There's not a team in the NBA that can even hang with the Suns' overall talent. Not an entire roster. Unbelieveable, that Jalen Rose rotted on that bench. No burn for Jalen Rose? Shows how incredibly deep and talented the Suns are. But they lose! They folded.