Random thoughts on the playoffs-

[gigantes]

- wow, haslem returns and just like that, he saves the day. it looked like the bulls had miami all figured out but suddenly haslem's return looks like it's shifted the series back in miami's favor. *crap*

- is it my imagination, or did rose and the bulls start pressing late in the game two loss? this started in the middle of the 4th quarter, around the time the score was roughly even. a lot of forcing the ball into traffic and a lot of missed buckets, turnovers, etc...

- i wonder how much caron butler's loss is going to handicap the mavs the rest of the way. stojakovic is a dangerous weapon, but there are going to be times when you need two very good wing defenders on the floor, and all they have now is marion the librarian. not that this isn't ancient news, but now is the time when it might make a critical difference.

- for any people complaining about the # of fouls called against dirk's defenders in game one, the thunder -still- made more trips to the line. westbrook had a horrible shooting night, but he still scored 20 points, mostly on FT's. as someone rooting for the mavs, that's a little worrisome. that, and the fact that dirk's not gonna be a superhero every single game... is he?

[gigantes]

jesus, james harden's beard, and his three point-stroke- i've underestimated all of them.

dallas and chicago will have troubled nights of sleep the next few days.

[Nets fan 93]

The Impact Haslem brings is soo big for the Heat.

[RecSpecs110]

Today's heat vs. bulls game shows how overrated derrick rose is. He is athletic and can score in bunches, that's it. His shot is so inconsistent, you can never rely on it.

And in terms of point guard skills (court vision, awareness of teammates' strengths/weaknesses, ability to change gears and slow down tempo when necessary) derrick rose is absolutely horrible. His bbiq is lacking, which should be a point guard's advantage.

Best point guard my ass.

[gigantes]

we have the best PG, so how could the bulls have him too? :P

[gigantes]

man, my signal crashed with around five min. to go and i neglected to fiddle with it, assuming that the supersonics had the game won. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

not completely sure, but it looks like OKC is getting better and better at exploiting JJ barea, both on O and on D. especially painful was watching him take those open threes...

as hyper-talented as they are, with every game westbrook looks like a bigger knucklehead and durant looks more unsure how to deal with intense pressure. but at least durant should improve at that as he gains experience. westbrook- i'm seeing visions of francis, starbury, iverson, etc...

why is OKC playing perkins over collison at this point? collison kicks ass...

mavs badly need to win at home in game five. first, because OKC is that dangerous. second, because they're so old and need all the extra rest possible for the finals.

dirk was obviously the superhero, but kidd- 17 pts, 3/6 from 3pt range, 5 reb, 7 ast, 4 stls. not bad!

[Nets fan 93]

man, my signal crashed with around five min. to go and i neglected to fiddle with it, assuming that the supersonics had the game won. :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm

not completely sure, but it looks like OKC is getting better and better at exploiting JJ barea, both on O and on D. especially painful was watching him take those open threes...

as hyper-talented as they are, with every game westbrook looks like a bigger knucklehead and durant looks more unsure how to deal with intense pressure. but at least durant should improve at that as he gains experience. westbrook- i'm seeing visions of francis, starbury, iverson, etc...

why is OKC playing perkins over collison at this point? collison kicks ass...

mavs badly need to win at home in game five. first, because OKC is that dangerous. second, because they're so old and need all the extra rest possible for the finals.

dirk was obviously the superhero, but kidd- 17 pts, 3/6 from 3pt range, 5 reb, 7 ast, 4 stls. not bad!
Did you see the big 3 pointer by Jason Kidd?! It was amazing. These Mavs are such a fun team to watch imo. Can't wait for game 5.

[RecSpecs110]

After watching Chicago choke on a night where Miami was begging to have the series at 2-2, Derrick Rose is officially just as bad as Westbrook. Westbrook gets so much heat bc he has Durant, and people like to pretend Rose is on an island by himself when in fact, he has legit talent. Boozer, Noah, Deng, Ex Jazz players (Korver and Brewer), that's loads of talent.

It's bc he plays like the Iverson's and Marbury's. All flash and athleticism, no smarts. Boozer looked like an allstar next to a real point guard, but not with Rose. GEE I WONDER WHY.

The guy is horrible.

And if i were to bet money, id say miami will win it all. And it would make me sick if Dallas loses again to them, as i was even disappointed when they lost in 06. Don't know why, just can't stand the heat and their fairweather fans.

[gigantes]

@NF93,
yea, that was slick. plus i love all the steals he's been getting lately- averaging four per game in the OKC series.

re: rose,
i didn't even watch the chicago game because of that 'PG scores all the points' offense. just couldn't summon up the willpower, even though it was the only game on, and all. :(

re: MIA-DAL finals,
my hope is that the miami team bus crashes and lebron, wade and bosh all get their shooting arms mangled in the wreckage. barring that, if the mavs somehow win, i'm going to be walking around on cloud nine for months.

if lebron wins, i might have to go back to following ostrich racing. even so, it was still very satisfying, the beatdown that kidd put on kobe in the laker series.

[gigantes]

mavs won and life is sweet. i pledged $50 to mavs charities if dallas beats the lebrons.

other than the two nets finals a decade ago, it's been ages since i wanted something in sports this much...

[Nets fan 93]

mavs won and life is sweet. i pledged $50 to mavs charities if dallas beats the lebrons.

other than the two nets finals a decade ago, it's been ages since i wanted something in sports this much...
I'm with you. I want dallas to win. Not gonna lie I wanted LeBron to win a ring this year. Dallas really inspired me after the Laker sweep though. The chemistry Dallas has right now is just so fun to watch. Of course, I also want J-Kidd to get his ring as well. Dirk is also a person I want to see have some success. So I am totally against the heat if they make the finals. Go mavssss

[gigantes]

charles barkley apparently just picked the mavs to win the finals. is that a good thing or a bad thing? i'm not sure.

just noticed that the mavs and heat are tied for the best road record in the league this season at 28-13. that's a pretty killer mark.

i'm very disappointed in the bulls, wishing that they could have put up more resistance, making the heat work at least a game or two more to get the series. nope. :(

i'm having some trouble finding out for sure, but on WP, butler and beaubois are both listed as inactive. not sure how the injury roster works for the playoffs, but either of those guys could be critically important to the mavs' chances. meanwhile, brian cardinal has an active roster spot ahead of those two. ugh.

[wang4three]

I'd like Kidd to finally get his ring, but really I don't care who wins the title.

[RecSpecs110]

I wish for once that the team i'm rooting for actually wins.

My heart is with Dallas but my head says Miami will win in 6 games, and mind you they have home court.

This Miami team is scary. They will no doubt bulldoze their way through the Eastern Conference for the next several years.

And this convinces me more than ever that it's Dwight or bust for us. If we don't get him, you can forget Proky's five year plan and toss it in the trash. We will never beat that three headed monster with Deron, Lopez, and bunch of role players, even if theyre solid role players. We need at least two top 10-15 players on this team to even have a chance. And point guard and center are the heat's weakness so we could exploit that.

[gigantes]

> This Miami team is scary. They will no doubt bulldoze their
> way through the Eastern Conference for the next several years.

the thing that's such a bummer is that each of the superfriends agreed to a $14m salary in order to play together. i mean, $43m against your cap for three players seems ridiculous until one realises how much of a killer bargain miami is getting by employing two of the top three players in the league plus a top-five PF. all at different positions, too, so there is no overlap and redundancy.

so under current conditions you have $20m+ to fill out the roster, which doesn't seem like a lot, except for the fact that you're also getting a severely-underpaid (3.5m/yr for 5 years) basketball beast like udonis haslem to back up or start at the 3-5 slots. then you have what amounts to a wet dream for any outside shooter with awful athleticism to look like a god in miami's offense, so to speak. there can't be any greater opportunity in the history of basketball for such types, can there?

what's even more scary- imagine in years to come that aging stars decide to take a pay cut and chase a championship with the heat, like karl malone and gary payton did a few years ago. without remotely the bad blood between miami's superstars to foul things up, like there was between shaq and kobe.


predictions- i have to agree about miami in six. it's sad and it's wrong in so many ways, but miami is just that good.

anyone else care to predict? wang, NF93, MTing, others...?

[Nets fan 93]

I see a close game 1 in Miami's favor

A game where Dallas is in the lead for basically the whole game until Miami wakes up... But it's too late and Dallas wins game 2

A game 3 where Dallas has a strong home front and wins

A game 4 where Dirk Carries but its not enough and Miami Wins

Game 5 where Dallas wins

Game 6 where is is close until Dirk wakes up in the fourth and Dallas wins the Champioship.

In other words: GO DALLLLAAAASSSS

[D12"Magic"]

game 1- Miamis crowd is gonna be pumped and so are the Heat especially LeBron for his first ring. Heat take care of Mavs
game 2- Dallas a veteran good team on the road make sure they sneak a win on the road before headed to Dallas and thats what they do.
Game 3- This is were it starts to get interesting. Same as the Game 1 description but with Dallas winning.
Game 4- Heat wins a tough close game that comes down to the final seconds
Game 5- Now 2-2, Mavericks get the heat at there home.
Game 6- Heat try to avoid elimination and in this game they make sure its not over.
Game 7-in Miami Mavs lead 3-1. Dirk gets his but nobody else showed up were shut down. Heat Steam roll there way to there 2nd championship. New Champs MIAMI HEAT

I hope Dallas wins but this is what I think will happen.

[wang4three]

It's certainly easier to imagine the Heat winning than the Mavs. They're more athletic, they've looked dominant defensively, and their stars are young.

I predicted Miami to easily take the ECF. I never really believed in the Bulls. They reminded me of Dallas a few years ago. Regular season All-Stars but not playoff-ready. Anyone who juxtaposed the level of competition and game play between the Miami-Boston series and Chicago-Atlanta series could easily see that neither Chicago nor Atlanta would be prepared to face Boston or Miami in the ECF. It was clearly evident that Boston's and Miami's play and skill was on a different level. Also, the Bulls have this tendency to play down to their level of competition. They should've been blowing offensively undisciplined teams like Atlanta and Indiana, but instead let them hang around till the end. Once they faced a team with real closers, it would be the end of them.

That said, this Dallas team has been surprising. I always knew that Dirk was an offensive powerhouse, but he's clearly more advanced now than ever. He used to get almost all of his points off faceups, but now he's comfortable at catching it with his back against the basket and taking a good shot (for him it's a good shot) from all angles and from any point within the three point line. I've never seen that before. When a guy can catch it at 30 degrees, 20 ft from the basket and fade away, all net... It's scary. Dirk catching it at 15-18 ft away from the basket is like Tim Duncan catching it 5 ft from the basket. The greatest advantage to this is that he's no longer bothered by shorter defenders. Teams used to put wing defenders on Dirk (Bruce Bowen, Stephen Jackson, T-Mac) and it'd work for stretches because they were able to keep up with his quickness and slap away at the ball. Watching him absolutely destroy Thabo (who I think is the best wing defender in the league currently) by pinning him down and shooting over him was amazing. It's why I think Miami's plan of putting LeBron on Dirk won't work. While LeBron has the strength edge, it's not going to matter if Dirk is shooting over him with range up to 18 ft.

That said, I'm not 100% sure who will win the championship.

Few things I think will be the key to the series:

-Bench play: How will Terry/Peja/Barrea/Haywood stack up against Chalmers/Miller/Jones/Haslem? I think Dallas' group is more diverse and talented, but Miller and Haslem provided the right amount of spark and fire to win games last series. Miami plays the pick and roll beautifully so I wonder if JJ will be able to get all the points that he did against the Lakers/OKC. Wade, Chalmers fight through screens or LeBron and Bosh are long and slide their feet well if they are to switch. I'm not sure if I think JJ will be able to wreak as much havoc as he did in WC playoffs. Terry will always get his though. That guy doesn't miss open shots and is great off the dribble as well as catch and shoot. I give the edge to Dallas cause they can get consistent offense, even if it's only Terry.

-Will Miami make Dirk play defense: It amazes me that only Portland so far has tried to make Dirk play defense. The Lakers never really did (but that could also be because Pau was a ***** all series), and Dirk let Collison and Serge have all the open midrange jumpers in the world. While Dirk isn't the chair he used to be, he hasn't really been made to play defense. I also wonder if he will be this next series. I'm almost certain that Tyson Chandler or Haywood is going to guard Bosh, while Dirk is left with Haslem or Joel Anthony. I think this is an advantage for Dallas because if Dirk doesn't have to play defense, he can just coast until he gets on the offensive end and do his damage.

-Does Dallas have enough defensive stoppers to slow down Wade? I think the biggest defensive key for Dallas should be Wade. If you make LeBron the only unanswerable defensive assignment, they should be able to gut out wins. Stevenson will have to be able to stay infront of Wade to at the very least hold him to 20 or so points on average shooting. I wonder if they'll go to Corey Brewer. He's quick and long and there were times where I thought he was their best defensive wing talent. Offensively, he can't really help which is why I assume he doesn't get that much playing time, but if a combination of Stevenson, Kidd (though he's too aged at this point to be guarding Wade), and Brewer can keep Wade checked for 2-3 games, it'll change the entire makeup of the series.

-Miami's ball denial - Miami's been one of the best teams at ball denial that I've ever seen. I wonder if this will bother Dirk. If they'll force him to catch it over the top (which I have yet to see a team do consistently) or apply more pressure so that he has to work on just getting the ball. Miami's rotation has been excellent, so even if LeBron or Bosh makes Dirk catch it over the top, be sure that Haslem or Joel Anthony is right there to meet Dirk at the rim, with Wade/Chalmers cheating and sliding over to possibly intercept a pass.

-Dallas needs to pound them with their height. Dallas with Dirk, Tyson, and Haywood are way taller than anyone on Miami. Force it inside for easy dunks and layups. Even if Tyson and Haywood are not consistent offensive talents, they should be int here for putbacks and offensive boards. No point in having so many 7-footers if you're not going to use them effectively. Miami hasn't seen a team this tall, athletic, and long. It's time to let them feel short.

-Reffing - I hate to admit this as a factor, but it really is. And it may be the biggest factor. Let's face it. Miami and Dallas have seen differently reffed games up to this point. Miami has faced more physical teams so they've been able to get away with reaches, swipes, and overall being more active on defense. Meanwhile, Dallas has faced more offensive teams where they've been getting benefit of calls such as touch fouls, loose ball fouls, etc. If the refs let Miami be physical, then Dallas will be disrupted entirely. However, if Dallas gets the benefit of calls (and I don't mean phantom fouls, I mean those 50/50 subjective calls), it could throw Miami's aggressive defense off--which has been their staple all playoffs.


I really don't know who I think will win the series. I want Dallas and I can logically make up reasons while they'll win. They're more of a team, they've got a better cast, and they're bigger inside.

Meanwhile, Miami is better defensively, has possibly the two best players in the series, have home court, and are more athletic.

Deep down my gut says Dallas, and I'll stick to that. Dallas in 6.

[gigantes]

awesome posts, especially the last.

the one time i remember teams 'solving' nowitzki was in OKC-DAL game two, in which they were effectively fronting him and doing good ball-denial. some other stuff, too... IIRC it was along the lines of slapping, stealing and disrupting. something like that.

cool series i just saw in SI- rare pictures of jason kidd. including him as a young boy, plus kidd's mother, father, sister, and fambily home:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1105/rare.photos.jason.kidd/content.1.html

[wang4three]

Post game 1 thoughts:

-As I suspected, Miami's quick rotating defense has effectively taken out Dirk and Barea out of their game. Dirk was met with hard doubles and Barea was unable to create anything off the pick and roll. Dirk was able to get himself to the line and he may need to do that at 15 times a game to really impact the series.

-Dallas was good at finding open spot ups earlier in the game and then started to go away from that in the 2nd half. They began to play the way the Heat wanted them to; disjointed and earning every bucket. Dallas has to remember their offense is disciplined and balanced. They cannot settle for the first shot available.

-Miami got 16 offensive rebounds tonight. 10 more than Dallas which ended up being the difference in total boards. If you let Miami have second chance points, they're going to burn you. The zone really killed their ability to rebound. At times Dirk looked like he was above rebounding and was hoping Kidd, Marion, or Tyson would get the board. If they're going to stick in that zone, they're going to have to start rebounding better or it'll be a short series.

-I feel like Wade is the engine to Miami. When he plays well, the team plays better. There's a noticeable difference when Wade is leading the team than when LeBron is. The team just clicks better when Wade is on a roll.

-Like I feared, the reffing of the game did dictate the pace. The Heat were allowed to play more physical than the Mavs are used to. And while the refs tried to even it out towards the end, the first half was a nightmare of physical defense for the Mavs.

-Dallas didn't try to pound it inside more against Miami. It was upsetting. They should've exploited the Marion mismatch or even use Kidd to post up Bibby more. All of us know Kidd is a great post player for a PG and they should've gone to that instead of strictly making him a three point shooter. Would've also like to see them work out pick and rolls with Tyson Chandler.

All in all, didn't expect Dallas to take game 1, but they've got a lot to learn. Miami's big 3 was clicking today. If they do that consistently, series is over. They have to make atleast one a non-factor to win games.

[D12"Magic"]

Anybody happened to see that Nets commercial yesterday during the finals?
I missed it even though I watched the game :hammerhead:.
Well if u haven't seen it here it is
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150620561910492&oid=164265529615&comments

[gigantes]

@D12,
i'm wondering how much this "new nets" campaign is affecting the minds of fans. from stuff that NI has reported over the last few months, it sounds like brooklyn natives are going to become a real strong fanbase. in terms of the average sports fan, i still get the feeling that they're barely paying any attention. and that the knicks are somehow thought to be the biggest threat to the heat going forward... something which i have a very hard time seeing.

@wang,
hope you don't mind too much about this:
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6038411#post6038411

[gigantes]

G1 thoughts-

- dirk's torn finger makes me sick to my stomach. as does lebron james' knuckleheaded statement that 'it doesn't matter because the injury was to his off-hand'. but anyone who plays the game should know how much little injuries anywhere on the body can affect a person and at times even cause further injuries elsewhere from trying to compensate. i mean, i'm not saying dirk's injury is the end of the world, but even if he wasn't effective at dribbling left and shooting touch shots with his left hand (which he is and does), the off hand is still used for many things in the game IME. we've all played the game, so enough said, i think.

- kidd is a great fast-break PG, but how can the mavs possibly get more rebounds without abandoning the zone, thereby getting murdered at several individual matchups, such as nowitzki, terry, barea, peja, etc? the old kidd / nets team of 2002 still brings a smile to my face with the ability of the 1 - 4 slots to absolutely kick ass on defense, i.e. kidd - kittles - RJ - kmart. meanwhile, dallas' excellent D is more a product of intelligence, experience and careful planning... which might be reaching the absolute limit of what's capable going against the number of athletic monsters on the heat.

- "redblackattack" was saying something on the main forum last night that i thought rung pretty true: that miami's offense is still not very pretty, but the raw talent on the wings (and maybe elsewhere) is so incredible that it just doesn't matter. following that thought, even top defenses like the celtics and the bulls simply couldn't deal with it. to me, it's sort of like taking an excellently-coached, experienced and disciplined state-champion grade school team (if there is such a thing) and throwing them against a good middle school or HS team- the raw strength and speed disadvantage is so great that the 12-yr olds have to do virtually everything perfectly to win.

- watching wade and lebron even from a distance, one can tell that 'something funny is going on'. and bear with me- i mean that you see two players who seem to do everything faster and more easily than everyone else on the court. we already know this of course by their reputation, incredible athleticism, skill, and bull-like physical strength. but even if you took someone who had never watched bball before and showed them the games, i think they might be able to pick out this difference. two ants on the anthill seem to be super ants for some reason. and if that's the case, imagine what it must be like in the trenches, battling those ants face-to-face. murderous, i would think. the situation also reminds me of watching a team with allen iverson from a distance- one player seems to be wearing jet-powered rocket skates while everyone else left theirs at home.

(haha, i have no idea if that last note made the slightest bit of sense.)

- last thought: that which was feared seemed to be happening late in the game- wade & lebron are so overwhelming in their matchups, despite dallas' best designs to prevent it, that it started to make everyone else on the heat look like great players. alley-oops with bosh, easy 3pt-ers from anyone who wanted one, haslem and others producing millions of offensive boards... it was starting to look like a laughing-good party fest for the heat in the 4th quarter, and that's got to scare everyone else in the league shirtless when they think about how much better the heat can still get. i.e., get haslem healthy, get miller productive like normal, sign even an -average- NBA PG to replace the dead weight of bibby / chalmers, get more experienced and comfortable with each other. i mean, sure, anything can go wrong, just like with any team, but the upside is still frightening...

[wang4three]

Game 2 thoughts:

-Once again, when Wade is on the Heat are unstoppable. I like at the end of this game, the Heat went away from Wade and into LeBron who ended up playing like he was on the Cavs again. He iso'd up at the top of the key and ended up taking terrible shots. Meanwhile when they went on their run in the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter, Wade was attacking, he was playing defense, and the rest of the team was feeding off his leadership. LeBron doesn't have that yet. Even when he does his monsterous dunks, it doesn't have the same impact as Wade. LeBron is the best player in the NBA, but Wade is the leader of this team.

-Dirk, Dirk, Dirk, Dirk. If there's a guy who's made tougher clutch shots this year, I don't know his name. Dirk's going to need to have to have huge 4th quarters for every game this series to have a chance.

-The Matrix came back. This is the most aggressive I've seen Shawn Marion play in....a long time. Probably since I was in college and he was on PHX. I never really pictured him as a slasher as much as an active utility guy, but he was so opportunistic. In Game 1 and 2. Hopefully he keeps it up, because he presents a lot of problems for the Heat. He's often left unchecked cause Miami wants to hard double Dirk and they've been closing out to Terry. Meanwhile, Marion is allowed to get to the places he wants and take shots he's great at. It's great to see him do well.

-Battle of the boards. This time Mavs outrebounded the Heat and it came up huge. They need to keep this up.

-Turnovers. Kidd is getting killed with turnover problems. And turnovers against the Heat are basically headshots cause they will convert on any turnover. They wouldn't have to fight back if they kept their turnovers low.

-I was impressed by the game Bibby pulled out. It was like watching him back on the Kings. His jumper was wet for the most part.

-Chris Bosh has been shooting terrible these two games. 9-34 for a whopping 26%. He needs to find his offense. Tyson's length gives him problems, but when he faces up and tries to use his quickness, he seems to get the shot he wants to. I'm also surprised that Bosh can't move to open spaces well off of Wade and LeBron drives. He should be getting open shots in the elbow or baseline area. Unfortunately his off-ball play isn't there.

Now that the series turns to Dallas, I wonder how these next 3 games will play out. I'm really excited for Sunday.

[RecSpecs110]

Such detailed and formal responses put mine to shame:

WOOHOOOOO MAVS WIN BABY YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!

[Nets fan 93]

Such detailed and formal responses put mine to shame:

WOOHOOOOO MAVS WIN BABY YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!
This^:cheers:

[gigantes]

Such detailed and formal responses put mine to shame...
we need to get wang a better venue for his posts / articles... it's like "kmart drives a porsche to work" was back and better than ever.

btw, your posts have been good, too. keep 'em rolling, please.

...

anyway, yea... i was shocked at how much lebron looked like 'cleveland lebron' late in the game. his own ego working against him and wade feeling too humble (or whatever) to get in lebron's face and fix the matter.

i still don't feel very good about the situation because this series is still a case of dallas needing to do everything right and/or miami needing to have huge breakdowns in order for the mavs to win. that is, when dallas makes a couple mistakes, the heat tend to rip off ten or 15-point runs before you've blinked a couple times. but when dallas gets a break possession, they usually need marion to have released early in order to cash in.

and if they had marion and butler in the game at the same time... *ah*

i give spoelstra a lot of credit, here- the miami defense played superbly most of the game. they were giving nowitzki just the right amount of attention, neither doubling him too early or ever letting him get too open. which enabled the heat to address the two mavs' wildcards, terry and barea, who were once again given more perimeter attention than they're used to seeing and less lanes to drive down. making both guys look useless for long stretches. anyway, for a team with lousy PG's and centers, the heat sure know how to get after it on D.

[gigantes]

as others have posted, i want to give the benefit of the doubt to wade and lebron, even as an enemy to them. but, damn...

http://i.imgur.com/HuR88.gif

http://www.sportsgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lebron-flop-3.gif

[wang4three]

Chris Bosh also had a bunch of flops against the Bulls. It's like watching Mighty Ducks I again when Emilio Estevez was teaching them how to flop and take dives.

[D12"Magic"]

Not playoff related: But Does anyone remember people saying Deron's assist numbers will drop with the Nets? Then he averaged 12.8 assist with us. I know he had a messed up wrist, but people knew this and they still felt they would drop.

[D12"Magic"]

I cant wait when we prove the Haters wrong by going to the playoffs. Some people saying were gonna lose 60 games next season guess which fanbase?

[Nets fan 93]

I cant wait when we prove the Haters wrong by going to the playoffs. Some people saying were gonna lose 60 games next season guess which fanbase? probably the knicks bandwagon lol.

[D12"Magic"]

probably the knicks bandwagon lol.
Bingo

[gigantes]

Not playoff related: But Does anyone remember people saying Deron's assist numbers will drop with the Nets? Then he averaged 12.8 assist with us. I know he had a messed up wrist, but people knew this and they still felt they would drop.
i don't remember that being said, but i'm disappointed in the NBA and the fanbase for not giving d-will more credit for the great season he just had: how many PG's average 20 and 10 for a season? (especially PG's who aren't the focal point of the offense)

[wang4three]

I missed most of the game yesterday because I was meeting with an old colleague I haven't seen in years.

I only caught the 4th quarter so this is what I have to say (and it only pertains to the 4th quarter):

-Miami for the 3rd game in a row looks like they have an easier time scoring than Dallas. This is sad because Dallas has more potent offensive structure and weapons. I'm not sure if this is a testament to Miami's D (which I give a ton of credit for), but if Dallas does not find a way to get a bucket outside of Dirk fading away off one foot.. They won't come back. You can see Miami killing Dallas in the pick and roll and finding open guys here and there. Dallas on the other hand can't get anything going outside of Dirk creating his own shot. While Dirk is a great player and for the most of the playoffs this strategy is working, it's the Finals.. can't rely on one trick.

-What's wrong with Kidd? He doesn't even look aggressive on offense. He's turning down shots and he doesn't drive to the rim when he has the lane. I remember Kidd in his Nets days. He'd go in and get a foul or create some sort of shot. He's a master layup player with great hands. It's sad to see him turn it down.

-Udonis Haslem is the hardest working player whenever he steps on the court. I love this guy. He plays in only one gear.

-Bosh finally worked the pick and pop right for that game winner. He can get that shot more than he does.

-Once again, can't say this enough.. Wade led charges are much better than LeBron led charges. Wade is calmer in the clutch and I think he eases everyone else's nerves to play their game. His ability to dictate teammate performance in the clutch is far superior to James.

-LeBron gets away with so many travels. I only watched the 4th quarter and I lost count of how many times he gets away with a travel. I'm glad they called some of them.

-After watching 3 straight series where Terry's shot was wet, he has been terrible this series. He can't make anything and he was taking away valuable shots for Dirk in the 4th. I know he's clutch and confident, but there were times he dribble into tougher shots.

[gigantes]

*blargh*

[Nets fan 93]

I agree, Kidd is a different player. He passes up too many shots and doesn't drive. He doesn't only pass up the lane he passes up a lot of WIDE open jump shots. I don't get it.

[gigantes]

re: kidd,
i think his confidence is once again down in his shooting and driving, just like it's pretty-much been all season... so he's making a conscious choice to do less of those things and more of what he does best- which is to pass, rebound, steal, run the offense, and play defense on 2's and 3's. nothing new there, either, except that now he surely feels the vital importance of every possession, so my guess is that he's probably shading his game in those directions even further.

numbers-wise kidd shot poorly this season, even for him- 36% overall and 34% on threes. the first number, although low, is not very important in the scheme of things. the second number is a real setback, though, since a big part of his resurgence with dallas has been punishing teams with the 3-ball. but as an older player i think he's become especially reluctant to do anything which would hurt the team or make himself look like a liability.

after all, he's also under a microscope now in terms of 'when does he cross over that dreaded line of going from aging starter to backup for the rest of his career.' and i think we'd all agree that he's done a remarkable job of blowing everyone's expectations on that matter. but the line is getting thinner all the time, and that move -does- have to happen one day (unless he flat-out retires, which he might).

the origin of the problem is this- he's always struggled with both his shot and his confidence in his shot. he never was a natural shooter, and never will be, with that catapult-style release and the mechanical leg-lift. since i starting following him ten years ago i've noticed many times that he's gone to someone for publicised advice on how to correct problems with his stroke, which usually worked for a little while before he settled back in to his old form. he also did this very recently, getting some advice from dirk's coach about 'flipping his wrist down after the release.' you can also see him challenge himself sometimes to make a big shot, presumably to get his stroke going, like he did in game four tonight, in which he very-uncharacteristically tried to create a three off the dribble with a defender in his face. a terry or dirk-like shot, but not even close to a typical kidd shot.

i could try to put together even more examples, and ways in which i think that having a big game one (shooting) against a team like portland can sometimes backfire for kidd, but...

anyway, that's my 4

[gigantes]

quick thoughts on G4:

- dirk's 102-degree fever and 4th-quarter heroism aside, it still feels like miami can take this series whenever it wants to. meanwhile, dallas can't win if it has to earn four victories by late comebacks. simply not going to happen, and i think even the most hardcore dallas fans know that.

- great to see peja staying on the bench and more of deshawn destevenson's defense and ability to hit the three. true, he makes mistakes here and there, but his ability to play good defense on wade / lebron is critical IMO.

- marion has really stepped it up and turned back the clock, but terry and barea are getting exposed out there- when their shots aren't falling it's been brutal on the mavs. dallas may technically be tied and hanging in there, but they simply can't win the series like this. IMO carlisle is going to have to take a chance somewhere and go away from established routine, like he's mow doing with stevenson. i would think along the lines of activating butler, or possibly even beaubois. but beaubois is the only one who can move around the floor and create like barea and terry do.

indeed, this was supposed to be beaubois' breakout season, and very few people expected barea to be getting this much PT and for that to actually be working. right up until this heat series, that is, in which he looks like 'same old barea'.

[gigantes]

Chris Bosh also had a bunch of flops against the Bulls. It's like watching Mighty Ducks I again when Emilio Estevez was teaching them how to flop and take dives.
just noticed these tonight in the main forums. two more, one with bosh:

http://i54.tinypic.com/219xycx.jpg

http://instntrply.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/boshflop.gif

[wang4three]

Missed the game last night cause of a flight. But damn this series is awesome. Dirk is truly inspirational for battling through that cold. I don't think I want anything as much as Dirk wants this championship

Oh and the flopping is disgusting.

[wang4three]

Game 5:

-It's crazy how well the Mavs played and they were still down for portions of the game. The Heat are consistent and had Wade not been out for significant portions, I wonder if the Mavs would've still won this game.

-Finally Terry finds his shot in the 4th. Though I wonder if this will lead him to try to take those big hero shots in Miami and come up short. In any event, it's good to see Terry when he's hitting shots. He sparks them better than anyone else.

-Tyson Chandler is my favorite player on the court constantly. Guy just does work.

-When Kidd made that three at the end of the game, I said "Finally!" He had been turning down that shot for most of the game. Good to see him ante up and take the shot when they've been giving it to him for the entire series.

-I almost feel for LeBron. So many times I found myself saying "Come on man, you're better than this." But he shied away. I don't know what it is. It's almost as if he switched games with JR Smith. He was taking such bad shots and shots early in the shot clock instead of getting to the rim.

-It pains me to see how little of a post game LeBron has considering how big and strong and agile he is. When he was posting Marion or Kidd, it's as if he has no moves. Not even a fadeaway. He gets position but then looks to pass it everytime. Contrast that to Wade who can post up Kidd and get a bucket. LeBron's game needs more toughness to it. It's pseudo tough cause he will go in and dunk it on your center, but I mean the workhorse tough. The ugly, Ron Artest baskets. Ain't pretty, but gets results type of playing. Anthony Mason comes to mind. He needs to work on his post footwork over the summer.

-Chalmers is turning into one of those I hate him, but he's pretty damn productive players. The predictions of him being the next Derek Fisher are coming true. I see some Charlie Ward in him too. But I love Charlie Ward, so **** that.

[gigantes]

G5:

- terry and barea fantastic, hitting lots of big shots, moving and distributing very well. couldn't believe barea took all those threes and MADE so many. they're also going to have to do more of the same for the mavs to win, so keep that fire lit under their asses, please. their play is still the x-factor and will be the difference between the title or a loss in seven games.

- when is haywood coming back? my god, the mavs need that man.

- carlisle and the mavs have done a real good job clamping down on miami runs. things have changed a lot since that first game, in which miami was wreaking havoc like those old nets teams from the finals. indeed, with every game, carlisle's overall plan seems to get a little bit more effective and the mavs' grip on the situation, better.

- miami can still win this series, easily. it's only two games on their home court. miami's role players keep improving, and if the superfriends play just a bit better, that's enough to win. none of them have really had monster games yet, although in bosh and lebron's case, i think it's because of the rising pressure.

- i thought the video of wade and lebron walking down the hallway, cracking jokes about dirk being sick, was pretty childish. i don't dislike either guy because of that, but james seems to be bringing wade down to his level more than wade has been bringing lebron up to his. '13-yr old kid mentality'. meanwhile, where's the eye of the tiger and desire to annihilate the opposition ala kobe, jordan, bird, and so many others.

lebron is not playing the game for the same reasons that the greats did, and that's not good for the game IMO. it seems like more of an ego-boost and popularity contest for him. i was just reading an article on sporting news about how the 'straight-to-the-pros' stars and superstars, like james, howard, j. o'neal, garnett, eddy curry, kwame brown and others, have badly underachieved as a group. kobe is the only exception. the training and discipline of college seemed to make a decisive difference for playoff and finals moments, such as these.

- zach lowe at SI has had the best game analysis i've read this playoffs. myself, i've been watching the games at bars and on crappy internet feeds at home, so it's hard to see the details well. so he's been a great read for slobs like me.

- last point: james has underachieved, true, but if the mavs go on to win, people need to remember something... that without his jump to miami, there was little chance miami was going to do anything in the playoffs. i mean, last season they lost in five games in the first round, whereas this year, they went to to six or seven games in the finals. that's no joke, no matter what the star power. so people might want to think about putting a sock in it and appreciating how far they've come. and even if james refuses to accept reality, that he has a second-fiddle mentality and that the team belongs in wade's hands, not his, the heat should keep improving anyway.

[RecSpecs110]

i haven't been able to watch these games because i was hella busy the past two weeks but from the highlights, i can tell miami is most often in the driver's seat and pretty much has dallas under control except for a 12 minute period called the 4th quarter.

In the 4th, dallas can't be any better and miami can't get much worse. One team is spreading the floor, penetrating the lane, kicking it out, swinging the ball, and getting open shots and MAKING them while the other team is standing around, playing hero ball, turning it over, and playing lazy defense.

Make no mistake, i want the Mavs to win this series, but allow me to take my homer glasses off for a moment and state the obvious: Miami is essentially giving this series away. And it all started with game 2.
Miami has the talent to steamroll through this series, but the men in blue seem to have more heart and desperation.

And i'm loving every bit of it.

[D12"Magic"]

Dwight dances with the Nets dancers at Moscow
http://www.netsdaily.com/2011/6/11/2219398/dwight-shimmies-with-nets-dancers-does-that-mean-anything-at-all
TBh does not mean a lot. Just a 5 second dance

[MTing]

Congrats Jason Kidd!
Never been happier for a guy to win a ring.

[gigantes]

woke up from a nap to catch the last of the fourth. tears in my eyes to see kidd (and dirk) finally get a ring, to see a true team of team players win, and to see dallas finally get redemption for a pretty badly-reffed series in 06.

also, congrats to those who predicted dallas in six, or in anything. i couldn't be more thrilled about being dead wrong about miami winning.

[wang4three]

Deep down my gut says Dallas, and I'll stick to that. Dallas in 6.

It's unfortunate that I ignore my gut so often in life, but here's the to the one time I listened to it.

I was telling my friends that there's still a lot to be learned from this older generation of players. I'm glad to see that it's still "their time." The best things in life are earned. No doubt these guys earned it.

[gigantes]

speaking again about my new hero (zach lowe), he wrote an article (http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/06/13/lebron-let-down-the-heat-on-defense-too/?sct=nba_t11_a4) today about two weird plays on lebron's part. here's one:
[quote]The [play] occurred with about 6:15 left in the third quarter. LeBron was guarding Jason Kidd, who was doing what he does now: standing at the top of the arc, acting as a safety net, while J.J. Barea and Dirk Nowitzki ran a pick-and-roll on the right side of the floor. LeBron parked himself at the left elbow and watched as the Heat snuffed out that pick-and-roll.

Barea swung the ball to Kidd. LeBron barely moved, even though the shot clock was in single digits. James took only a half-step toward Kidd, his feet barely crossing the top of the circle. Kidd had loads of space, and he went up for a three-pointer. LeBron responded with a close-out that would have been unworthy of his skills even on the second end of a back-to-back in March. He put both hands together but did not bring either of them above shoulder level. He did not leave his feet at all.

Then something weird happened: With the shot already in mid-flight, at the very top of its arc toward the rim, LeBron lunged an extra foot toward Kidd and extended his left hand toward the Dallas player

[Nets fan 93]

I see a close game 1 in Miami's favor

A game where Dallas is in the lead for basically the whole game until Miami wakes up... But it's too late and Dallas wins game 2

A game 3 where Dallas has a strong home front and wins

A game 4 where Dirk Carries but its not enough and Miami Wins

Game 5 where Dallas wins

Game 6 where is is close until Dirk wakes up in the fourth and Dallas wins the Champioship.

In other words: GO DALLLLAAAASSSS this is about as close at it gets!hah

[RecSpecs110]

this is about as close at it gets!hah

What, you couldn't give us the scores of the games? Pfffft.

Lol, no but in all seriousness, that was good. Scary almost. So who's winning it next year?

[Nets fan 93]

What, you couldn't give us the scores of the games? Pfffft.

Lol, no but in all seriousness, that was good. Scary almost. So who's winning it next year?
Hahaha! Next year? Miami will get their rings. :(

[D12"Magic"]

Hopefully next year we can discuss the Nets being in the play-offs