Nba 2011-2012

The only bigger embarrassment for the Jazz in the playoffs was that 42-point loss to Jordan's Bulls in 1998.

''I can't explain it. I couldn't explain it the other night,'' Jazz forward Paul Millsap said. ''They came out and just whipped us.''
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I bet Popovich can explain it.
 
gbgary said:
as fantastic as 2011 was with my Packers, Mavs, Bruins, ManUtd all winning championships (only the Texas Rangers failed me by losing the world series), 2012 has been the opposite. Packers go 15-1 in the regular season and then one and done, Bruins were one and done, Mavs will be one and done, United not done but gasping for air. Maybe the Rangers will be the ones to buck the trend.
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You're all over the map with your sports teams! :lol:
 
MrMarcello said:
You're all over the map with your sports teams! :lol:
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yup. born in colorado where only one sports team, the broncos, existed at the time. moved to texas when i was a teen. been a Packers fan for about 50 years (i'm 58), Bruins fan for 40+ years (began when nbc started televising the nhl), Rangers and Mavs since they came to dallas, United since the epl has been regularly televised here (03-04).
 
the Mavs need a miracle. if they lose tonight, and it's headed that way (it's 68-57 w/3min left in the 3rd), game four will look like a postal worker's convention with everyone mailing it in. they'll have their lockers cleared out at halftime.
 
Heat as expected strolling to a series demolition over the hapless Knicks....but more surprisingly the young Thunder not showing a lot of nerves against the Mavs. Lets see if they can close this out in game 4
 
gbgary said:
the Mavs need a miracle. it they lose tonight, and it's headed that way (it's 68-57 w/3min left in the 3rd), game four will look like a postal worker's convention with everyone mailing it in. they'll have their lockers cleared out at halftime.
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Mavs are only the second defending champions to lose their first three playoff games the following season.

The only other team to suffer this ignomity - 2007 Miami Heat, swept by the Bulls 4-0.
 
Neutral said:
Heat as expected strolling to a series demolition over the hapless Knicks....but more surprisingly the young Thunder not showing a lot of nerves against the Mavs. Lets see if they can close this out in game 4
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MrMarcello said:
Mavs are only the second defending champions to lose their first three playoff games the following season.

The only other team to suffer this ignomity - 2007 Miami Heat, swept by the Bulls 4-0.
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oh...this thing is done!

next year should be better if the Mavs win the deron williams sweepstakes. maybe they can get howard at the trade dead-line.
 
Letting go of Chandler, now that is seems they won't get Howard, ranks as the biggest mistake Cuban has made. With Chandler they're favorites to return to the final, and rings are what matter. You can say trading Jason Kidd away when he was young was up there too, considering Kidd got the Nets to two finals pretty much by himself. There aren't many players you can add to Kerry Kittles, Jason Collins, Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin and take to a finals. But I don't think the Mavs could have won a title in the Kidd years so it's not as bad a mistake.
 
MrMarcello said:
Mavs are only the second defending champions to lose their first three playoff games the following season.

The only other team to suffer this ignomity - 2007 Miami Heat, swept by the Bulls 4-0.
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And that's exactly why I compared the two to each other, and thought they both overachieved in the previous seasons.. In 2006 Dallas should have won it. In 2011 Miami should have won it.

Three major things led to Dallas' downfall this year. Winning a championship (and losing a bit of the hunger they had), losing Chandler who gave them the thing they missed to win a championship during their prime, and the age factor, because when you're on the wrong side of 30, 1 year will make a difference, especially if we're talking about more than one player.
 
gooDevil said:
Letting go of Chandler, now that is seems they won't get Howard, ranks as the biggest mistake Cuban has made. With Chandler they're favorites to return to the final, and rings are what matter. You can say trading Jason Kidd away when he was young was up there too, considering Kidd got the Nets to two finals pretty much by himself. There aren't many players you can add to Kerry Kittles, Jason Collins, Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin and take to a finals. But I don't think the Mavs could have won a title in the Kidd years so it's not as bad a mistake.
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Depends on what players the club could have drafted/signed/acquired to play alongside Kidd and Mashburn. He was the face of the franchise, Mashburn was a scoring SF, and they had Jackson at SG, a solid trio to go along with a cast that included Gatling, Harper, McCloud, Meyer, and Walker (circa 96-97). Better management would have found a way to put the pieces in place to challenge for a championship. Perot Jr had no knowledge of basketball - he simply bought the club with daddy's money as an investment, which he doubled by selling to Cuban after a three or four years of ownership.
 
Well, had they kept Kidd past 1996, they were competing with two more years of Jordan, and then against those amazing Lakers teams and Duncan's Spurs, who won the next 5 titles together after Jordan's last. That first Spurs title was with Robinson as well. That's the only reason I thought they probably couldn't have won a tittle during that time anyway.

So that's a long time to build, but had they kept Kidd that whole time I could see them building a team to get past the 2002-3 Spurs. But by this time the Mavs have Nash, probably the only point guard I'd listen to as being better than Kidd over the course of the last 15 years, a Dirk whose now an real force in the league, Van Exel and Finley, and they're already a pretty good team. But Nash wasn't in him prime yet, so add in Kidd and maybe they could have won.

And of course Dallas made the finals 3 years after that, without Nash, so you can see them adding Kidd and winning one after that too.
 
Oh shit, Noah is on the ground screaming grabbing his ankle, sounds like he's out. Oh yeah, it's turned 90 degrees as he steps on Igoudala's foot.

Well, now he's walking! Uh...
 
How did the Clippers win with 13 for 30 free throw shooting?! :eek:

Orlando are done. Hope the Heat finish the Knicks tomorrow to get ready for Indiana.
 
That was a pretty tough loss for the Mavs in game 4, they were up by some 15 points late in the 3rd quarter, but Oklahoma just walked to the basket for nearly every possession in the 4th, and Dallas couldn't get enough shots to fall. The Mavs outscored the Thunder 34-21 in the 3rd, but they were pummeled 35-16 in the 4th.

It looked like the Mavs had won it, but I should have known better, very impressive from the Thunder.

I really hope we get another Thunder-Grizzlies series, it was fantastic last season.
 
Very tight game 4 at NY.

The good thing is Miami are attacking the paint in the fourth quarter and not settling for jumpers.
 
Knicks just delaying the inevitable. Will be an interesting off-season for them, do they try to trade Amare or Melo and who would be stupid enough to take Amare's contract?

Also Phil's name keeps popping up about the coach's job, could the zen master return?

Edit: a google search tells me Rashad Lewis is the second highest paid in the NBA! Unbelievable.
 
Very happy for Philly, they haven't won a series since 2003, and unless there's a disaster they should beat the Bulls with a 3-1 lead. But I have to say that I think the Bulls would have won if only Noah hadn't gone down as well. They've come very close in their losses, I can't believe Noah wouldn't have made the difference.

Looks like Boston will be facing the Sixers, sorta funny that one of those two teams will be in the conference finals, no matter what. Boston was in the 7th seed for most of the season before making a fantastic late run, while the Sixers have played well but lacked that edge to win close games. The Pacers are certainly better than either one, but got stuck on the unlucky side of the bracket. At least it looks like that so far.

If the basketball gods would give me a Pacers-Sixers conference final I'd be eternally grateful!
 
ha_rooney said:
Knicks just delaying the inevitable. Will be an interesting off-season for them, do they try to trade Amare or Melo and who would be stupid enough to take Amare's contract?

Also Phil's name keeps popping up about the coach's job, could the zen master return?

Edit: a google search tells me Rashad Lewis is the second highest paid in the NBA! Unbelievable.
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Isn't that horrible? That's the Orlando Magic for you, but they were probably fight other teams to get him to sign it!

And in the end the players take a pay cut, because the people who run the teams are more incompetent than your average RAWK member and run their teams into the ground, even with a salary cap.
 
ha_rooney said:
Knicks just delaying the inevitable. Will be an interesting off-season for them, do they try to trade Amare or Melo and who would be stupid enough to take Amare's contract?

Also Phil's name keeps popping up about the coach's job, could the zen master return?

Edit: a google search tells me Rashad Lewis is the second highest paid in the NBA! Unbelievable.
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ESPN analyst mentioned that Am'are will be near impossible to trade due to no club will be able to have his contract insured. But perhaps the Magic might take him and Chandler for Howard... Howard provides more offense than Chandler and they're arguably even defensively, and Am'are just doesn't fit the system if it is built around Anthony. Would the Magic even entertain that kind of trade?

The Knicks could then sign Nash and make a run for it.
 
letting chandler go wasn't what kept dallas from being better this year. dallas was still in the top five defensively. what killed dallas this year was the big drop-off in offensive production. cuban made a conscious decision to clear cap room for rebuilding. the team really didn't like it. he threw this season away in the name of getting financially healthy. the team is old. dirk only has a handful of years left. time to bring in another star and start building around him. much as san antonio has. duncan isn't the center piece anymore and they're thriving. everyone knew the Mavs weren't going anywhere. dirk thinks that if odom had been a man they'd have had a much better season. who knows. it's going to be an interesting off-season...hopefully. :D
 
paulf_medium.gif


WTF is he doing?
 
Dallas will most likely get Deron Williams. I think Cuban was also hoping to make a move for Howard through free-agency but that's not going to happen this year.
 
The Grizzlies are so unlucky to be 3-1 down, but with the Clips missing Billups and still winning you have to be impressed. I didn't think the Clips would show this kind of toughness, especially as Griffin ended the season playing relatively poorly, but he's been immense.

The Grizzlies could well come back and win 3 straight, the first two games they lost were by a single point, the last in overtime, it's be very very close. The Grizzlies have actually scored a point more than the Clips in the series.
 
Interesting article on Popovich, shows that a nervous doubtful manager can succeed too!

Column by Buck Harvey

SALT LAKE CITY — Coaches torture themselves over success, and Gregg Popovich has been lately. He’s been wondering out loud among his staff that, well, wouldn’t it be better to lose a game?

“That’s why,” one of his assistants kidded him, “you are coach of the year.”

Popovich wasn’t laughing. He’s felt the winning streak has become a burden, and he didn’t like the feel that a relaxed first round was giving his players. It’s the same reason he also dislikes 20-point leads in the first half.

So what happened Monday, when the Spurs coughed and sputtered toward a sweep, gave him hope. Popovich can treat the latest win like a loss, and he will take the Spurs into the film room to see a few things.

Or, as Stephen Jackson put it with a smile, “Pop’s got something to teach on.”

The broader picture should include a few positives. The Spurs did what the best teams do, which is take out an opponent as quickly as possible to minimize injuries. The Spurs were healthy going into the playoffs, and they are still healthy.

Ask Chicago, among others. This isn’t something to complain about.

Then there’s the exposure that the younger players, such as Kawhi Leonard, got. It’s better to be introduced to the playoffs in Utah than in Oklahoma City.

But coaches aren’t programmed to see the best in a situation, and Popovich doesn’t now. Asked after the game if getting some time off will help, he said flatly, “I don’t think it will.”

The Spurs might not play again for a week. That’s a lot of time to worry.

But that’s also a lot of time to fix every one of Monday’s missteps, and it will have to begin with what went right. Popovich didn’t manage minutes this time; his players did.

No Spur played more than 28 minutes, making the box score look like one from the regular season. It happened, though, because the Spurs’ bench was better than both the Jazz and the Spurs starters.

Tiago Splitter recovered from having a few of his shots blocked early and worked at the rim. Man Utd Ginobili broke out of his shooting slump. And a Gary Neal 3-pointer gave the Spurs their biggest lead with about six minutes left, at 21.

Still, there were already cracks. Ginobili once strolled to the half-court line unaware anyone was counting. Popovich will make sure no one makes that mistake the rest of these playoffs.

Danny Green committed a couple of turnovers. And then, as the Jazz began to hit shots, Neal was trapped at midcourt.

With the lead now at 15, Popovich signaled for Tony Parker. As Parker waited at the scorer’s table, Popovich signaled for Jackson, Ginobili and Tim Duncan. By the time all of them were in the game, the Spurs were up by 14 with 3:43 left.

Parker made a good point afterward. He and Duncan, specifically, returned to the game later than they usually do.

Popovich hadn’t made a mistake. The reserves were playing so well, it made sense to let them go longer than usual. Still, Parker was coming in cold when the crowd was getting hot.

What followed came close to being a repeat of the Grizzlies’ infamous collapse in Memphis against the Clippers. Parker missed a couple of free throws, Ginobili had a turnover, and the Spurs were hanging on.

“If we play like that,” Jackson said, “we could lose in Oklahoma City.”

Popovich will correct him on that, too. The Grizzlies or Clippers come first.

But Popovich will correct more. He will use what Monday gave him, and he will manufacture some anger, and he will approach what comes next as he always does.

“As usual,” he said, “scared to death.”
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What a great draft pick Roy Hibbert turned out to be. He's only missed 1 regular season game in each of his 3 seasons, he's improved each year and averaged 12.8 pts and 8.8 rebounds, 7th among centers in points and 8th in rebounds. Excellent for a 3rd year center who wasn't very highly rated.

Points Centers
Howard 20.6
Bynum 19.2
Gortat 15.4
Monroe 15.4
M. Gasol 14.7
Pekovic 13.9
Hibbert 12.8

Rebounds Centers
Howard 14.5
Bynum 11.8
Gortat 10.0
Chandler 9.9
Monroe 9.7
Camby 9.0
M. Gasol 8.9
Hibbert 8.8

2nd year man Greg Monroe isn't bad either, huh.
 
MrMarcello said:
Lot's of expiring contracts in Dallas.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2012/05/dallas-mavericks-offseason-rebuilding-/1

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2012/5/...-playoffs-2012-free-agency-dirk-nowitzki-hook
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had to giggle when i read this...

After winning the NBA championship last year, the Dallas Mavericks overhauled the roster by bringing in six new players.

It didn't work. They were swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
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it wasn't meant to work.
 
Kobe went a bit crazy in the 4th but wasn't able to hit the shot that would have won it or sent it to OT. We need to get this series wrapped up in game 6 and start preparing for OKC.
 
gooDevil said:
What a great draft pick Roy Hibbert turned out to be. He's only missed 1 regular season game in each of his 3 seasons, he's improved each year and averaged 12.8 pts and 8.8 rebounds, 7th among centers in points and 8th in rebounds. Excellent for a 3rd year center who wasn't very highly rated.

Points Centers
Howard 20.6
Bynum 19.2
Gortat 15.4
Monroe 15.4
M. Gasol 14.7
Pekovic 13.9
Hibbert 12.8

Rebounds Centers
Howard 14.5
Bynum 11.8
Gortat 10.0
Chandler 9.9
Monroe 9.7
Camby 9.0
M. Gasol 8.9
Hibbert 8.8

2nd year man Greg Monroe isn't bad either, huh.
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You left Cousins off that list, who would be third in both points and rebounds.
 
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