2011 NBA Playoffs!

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue May 03, 2011 7:57 pm

I decided to make a generic thread to cover all 2011 NBA playoff posts.

Coverage of the OKC-MEM series will begin as soon as OKC wins a game (hopefully tonight).

Miami Heat are 2-0 over the Celtics in round 2. Weird seeing Mike Bibby as a member of the Heat.

Was sad to see the Hornets go out in round six against the Lakers, but thrilled to see them blow a 16-point lead in game 1, round 2 against the Mavs and lose. (Cue Nelson voice: Ha ha!)

ATL beat da Bulls in game 1 of the semis. Least interesting matchup of the semi-finals, imho.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri May 06, 2011 9:24 pm

There was a moment in the Lakers/Mavericks game where ... I don't know, something came over me and I realized I was looking at greatness. The Mavs had Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, and Jason Terry on the court all at the same time. Jason Kidd is one of the all-time steal leaders, Peja is a killer from the 3-point line, Jason Terry is deadly at the free throw line, Tyson Chandler makes things happen and Dirk is ... Dirk. I swear to God, and I'm going to have to see if I was recording this game, but I'm pretty sure I saw Nowitzki miss a layup, get his own rebound, and somehow pass it to himself at the 3-point line and drop a three bomb. Dirk is AVERAGING 25 points in the playoffs!

With six minutes to go in the fourth the Mavs were down by 8 and at no point did I think they were going to lose. I don't know man, it was just ... these guys are together.

Odom and Bynum played their asses off, Gasol didn't do much, and Kobe had an average game. They certainly don't look like the 2011 champs, and barely look like the 2010 champs. Mavs win game three, 98-92, and take the series to 3-0.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:41 pm

Five guys trying to put a little thingy into a net. How stupid.

Let's talk hockey instead.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun May 08, 2011 11:36 am

I have never watched a hockey game, but I would rather talk about hockey than yesterday's Thunder game. Blowing a sixteen point lead in the fourth? It appears we are not quite a playoff team yet.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Sun May 08, 2011 3:19 pm

pinback wrote:Five guys trying to put a little thingy into a net. How stupid.

Let's talk hockey instead.

I just got the joke, Ben. [Ice] Hockey is the exact same thing as basketball, and he didn't get it. Five guys trying to put a little thingy into a net. (The goaltender is the 6th guy but his job is to try to keep the thingy out of the net.)

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun May 08, 2011 3:21 pm

Game 4, Lakers vs. Mavericks.

When the defending champions have their backs against the ropes, you expect them to come out swinging. Or at least put up a good fight. Or at least do something.

Final score: Lakers: 86, Mavericks: 122.

Peja and Terry combined for 15/16 3-point shots. Terry tied an NBA playoff record.

Knowing that this is most likely Phil Jackson's last season and last game, the Lakers decided to go out all classy like.

Deep in the fourth, while down by 30, both Odom and Bynum went out of the game with hard flagrant fouls, one against Nowitzki, the second against Barea (above).

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun May 08, 2011 11:36 pm

Tdarcos wrote:
pinback wrote:Five guys trying to put a little thingy into a net. How stupid.

Let's talk hockey instead.
I just got the joke, Ben. [Ice] Hockey is the exact same thing as basketball, and he didn't get it.

I'm... I'm nearly certain that he "got it". Flack, did ya "get it"?

Also, although I know it's completely unpopular in the US, it's inconceivable to me that anyone could watch a decent hockey game and not immediately recognize it as the most exciting and awesome of the major spectator sports.

I mean, what's the deal? Why don't people like hockey?

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:14 am

We wanna talk about NHL in the NBA thread and NBA in the NHL thread? Tha's cool, I'm game.

Reason number one why the NBA is better than the NHL: the players.

By simply comparing the physical attributes of NBA players to NHL players, you can tell which is the better sport. Professional basketball players are literal Goliaths. They tower above their fans at superhuman heights. Manute Bol (RIP) was 7'7". Yao Ming is 7'6", as was Shawn Bradley. Even Shaq's fat ass is 7'1". These are guys that would have to duck under every door jamb in your house. Even the guys that aren't super tall still look like bad asses -- they're covered in muscles and tattoos and could kick any of our asses. They're warriors.

NHL players, on the other hand, bring us beer drinking, mullets (aka "hockey hair") and missing teeth. Who wants to be that guy off the ice? (Answer: NOBODY.)

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon May 09, 2011 10:33 am

Flack wrote:We wanna talk about NHL in the NBA thread and NBA in the NHL thread? Tha's cool, I'm game.

Criss-cross.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 09, 2011 12:48 pm

Jump, jump! (Did you get it?)

Reason number two why the NBA is better than the NHL: the appeal.

I've never played hockey. I don't personally know anyone who has ever played hockey. Nobody in Oklahoma has ever played hockey.

Now, criss-cross; let's take a place where there is a huge hockey following -- how about Toronto, for example. Now in Toronto, home of the Maple Leafs, nobody there has ever ... wait, they have an NBA team, the Toronto Raptors. Let's pick another team, like the Chicago Blackhawks. Now in ... ah wait, you got the Bulls there. Minnesota? Los Angeles? Dallas?

Nope, nope, nope.

Everywhere you have hockey, you also have basketball, because hockey sucks and nobody wants to watch it all the time. This is why NBA video games outsell NHL video games 8,302 to one.

This was reason number two why the NBA is better than the NHL.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 09, 2011 3:57 pm

Reason number three why the NBA is better than the NHL: the movies.

Ask anyone you know what their top 10 hockey movies are and they'll mention Slap Shot and the Mighty Ducks and then they'll run out of steam. Most of them won't even mention Miracle, which was a fantastic movie that few people saw because it dealt with hockey.

By the way, I had to Google "top 10 hockey movies' twice because the top hits link to a list that only has 7 movies because they couldn't even come up with 10. The list I found that actually DID contain 10 movies ranks "Hockey Mom" as the fifth greatest hockey movie of all time, and "The Love Guru" as number nine. If the list went to 11 they'd have to include "The Tooth Fairy" or "Happy Gilmore" which isn't even a hockey movie.

I don't need to Google for best basketball movies. Hoosiers, Finding Forrester, Hoop Dreams, He Got Game, Semi-Pro, White Men Can't Jump, Above the Rim, Air Up There, Coach Carter, Blue Chips, Basketball Diaries, Glory Road, and more.

I own the following documentaries: Pistol: The Birth of a Legend, Bad as I Wanna Be: The Dennis Rodman Story, King of the Streets, More than a Game, and a 5 DVD Michael Jordan set.

For kids you've got Space Jam, Teen Wolf, The Harlem Globetrotters On Gilligan’s Island, Air Bud, Like Mike, Juwanna Mann, Baseketball ... okay, that one's not for the kids. Do not let your kids watch Baseketball.

Seriously. Did you ever see any hockey players go on adventures with Scooby Doo? No. Game over.

And that was reason number three why the NBA is better than the NHL.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue May 10, 2011 8:47 am

Review of the Heat/Celtics game: 88 all at the end of the fourth. Game went into OT and the Heat turned on the heat, winning 98-90 and taking the series to 3-1.

And now, the Thunder. The God damn Thunder.

The Thunder went in to Game 4 after suffering an embarrassing loss in Game 3 by blowing a 16 point lead in the 4th quarter. After blowing a 16-point lead in the fourth, you start wondering things like "Why are we in the playoffs?" and "Maybe basketball wasn't the sport for me ..." With the Thunder down 1-2 in the series, Barkley commented (and others echoed) "whoever wins game 4 will win the series."

And with that the Grizzlies attacked, taking a ten point lead within minutes and eventually an 18 point lead in the first half. The Thunder were over -- they were done, washed up, written off. BUT WAIT! You know what they say -- THUNDER NEVER FORGETS! Okay that doesn't even make sense, but neither does the Thunder comeback that we witnessed! Led by Russel "I don't pass to no one" Westbrook, the Thunder came alive, trailing by four at the end of the half.

The charge continued in the second half. Westbrook, for the most part, quit with the stupid 3-point attempts and instead began taking it to hoop JUST LIKE I YELLED FOR HIM TO DO and began drawing fouls. Durant did his part, nailing multiple clutch shots. The third and fourth quarter were neck and neck, with a dozen lead changes between the two teams.

With six minutes left the Thunder led by 10, but as all Thunder fans know, that's puh-lenty of time for us to blow a lead, which of course we did. Memphis clutch Mike Conley hit a 3 with 4 seconds left; Westbrook countered with a stupid hail Mary that led us into the first overtime, 96 all.

When your team loses a 10 point lead, momentum is not in your favor. The Thunder pulled ahead and held a 3-point lead up until the very end of OT. Things looked good for the Thunder as Conley and Mayo (two of Memphis' 3-point shooters) fouled out ... until Greivis Vasquez, Kevin Durant's high school pal, nailed an unbelievable 3 (launching the ball from his shoulder!), tying the game at 109 at the end of OT #1.

At some point during all of this I lost consciousness and my wife had to revive me with the shock paddles, but we went back and forth some more and after Harden hit an amazing 3 (one of the few times Westbrook shared the ball) the game was tied up at 119-all and went into triple overtime.

This was the sixth NBA playoff game ever to go into triple over time.

Eventually, key players began fouling out (that happens when you get to 3OT) and players began running out of steam. The Thunder rallied at the end, pulling ahead for a final score of 133-123, making the series 2-all with game 5 in OKC Wednesday night.

I hope it ends early. My ticker can't take another game like that one.

Neither one of these teams are great at finishing games and I can only assume the Mavs will finish them off in a 4-0 or 4-1 run in the next round.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed May 11, 2011 10:51 pm

No overtime tonight. Whether or not the Thunder are the better team is debatable. Tonight though, they were the obviously less tired team. The combination of a triple-overtime game followed by a day of travel must've wore the poor Memphis out, as the flat-footed Grizzlies missed layup after layup while the Thunder ran circles around them. Westbrook and Durant, OKC's two highest scorers, sat on the bench during the fourth as the Thunder's second string maintained a 20+ point lead (nearing 30 at times). With a decisive 99-72 win, the Thunder now lead the series for the first time (3-2) and will head back to Memphis for game six, where an embarrassed Memphis squad will most definitely come out swinging.

In other news, Shaq announced he most likely will not be playing in the finals at all due to injuries, and sports commentators are beginning to say what many of us have been suspecting all along: Shaq may not be returning to the court. Shaq definitely changed the way the game was played, that's for sure. But the fact that he can no long run or jump most likely means this is the end of an era. Buh bye, hack-a-Shaq.

Without a big man on defense (the Celtics sent Perkins to Oklahoma City ... and we thank them!), the Celtics were closed out today by the Miami Heat. The Bulls still lead the Hawks 3-2 with game six tonight. Winner of that series plays Miami for the Eastern title, while the winner of the Thunder/Memphis series will play a well-rested Dallas Mavericks team.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu May 12, 2011 12:23 am

BOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu May 12, 2011 6:40 pm

Shut up, Pinback. This is much better basketball analysis than you'd get on ESPN.com, and Flack is posting it without disabling comments, like those pussies Bill Simmons and Gaines Adams.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Thu May 12, 2011 7:04 pm

So I went to NHL.com to try and find some exciting hockey video to try and contrast and compare between hockey videos and basketball. This is the top video on NHL.com right now. Seriously.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/consol ... rr-topvids

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri May 13, 2011 7:15 am

Hear that, Miami? It's the Bulls on parade, headed to the Eastern finals after sending the Hawks back to A-T-L with a 20 point victory and closing the series out in six. Looking forward to the impending Derrick Rose vs. LeBron James shootout.

Tonight, your (my) Oklahoma City Thunder head to Memphis in game six of the closest series I can remember in a while. Look for both Randolph and Perkins to start throwing elbows early. No doubt, the Grizzlies will not go down easily in their own cave.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:35 am

Welp, I called that one. 5 T's in the first half showed that Memphis meant business. Thunder did their normal schtick by blowing a 10 point lead in the 3rd. The home team rallied and the Grizzlies won by 12. Game 7 (first game 7 of the playoffs) will take place Sunday in OKC.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:55 am

I am retracting my earlier request for Pinback to stop posting.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun May 15, 2011 8:36 pm

If there was any doubt as to why the Oklahoma City Ford Center has been dubbed "Loud City," one only had to tune into Game 7 between the OKC Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies to find out why. At times throughout the game, it was difficult to hear the announcers over the deafening chants of "O-K-C", "DE-FENSE", and in the closing minutes, "WE WANT DAL-LAS".

The Thunder are young and talented, which makes them at times inconsistent. Had the Thunder played as well during the entire series as they did in Game 7, they would have closed the series out in four.

As Westbrook and Durant continue to play minutes together, it's exciting to see their bond form. In a decisive play during a post-turnover fast break, Westbrook drove toward the hoop, dished the ball back out to Durant, and blocked as Durant dropped the 3. It was the play that not only summed up the game, but these two awesome players and their relationship.

To win the game, the Mavericks needed a stellar performance from Randolph and Gasol. Randolph ended the game with 17 points and Gasol with 12. More importantly, the two were limited to 6 and 2 (respectively) offensive rebounds.

The Thunder on the other hand, with the power of the crowd behind them, showed the country why they deserved to be in the Western Conference Finals. Westbrook earned his first triple-double of the playoffs, while Durant closed out the game with 39 points. Sixth-man Harden dropped back-to-back threes to increase the lead, and shot 4 of 8 from the three point line and contributed 17 points overall.

During the second half, the Grizzlies looked tired and beaten. Memphis shot 36% in the first half and 39% in the second. They were no match for the Thunder.

The OKC move to the Western Conference Finals, where (let's be realistic here) the Mavericks will most likely roll over them. The Thunder are a fast team but the Mavs have the experience and the Dirk.