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NBA PLayoffs 2003 (1 Viewer)

Shane Martin

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I'm not a huge basketball fan but I'm routing for the Celtics for no apparant reason. They just seem like a team I like. I have zero loyalties towards NBA teams.

Again as long as the Lakers don't win, I'm happy.
 

Chris Farmer

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Spurs didn't foul because with 6.6 seconds on the clock and Tim about to shoot a free throw, the odds of the Suns getting the rebound, driving down the court, and actually having time to even lob a shot, much less make one, was infinitesimally small. The odds that the Suns would make two shots like that were even smaller. Like I said, file that one under act-of-God, hope Pop has Tim and Tony shoot a couple hundred free throws (and all three guards about a thousand threes), and let's see what happens Monday. I knew this would be a tough series, Suns match up against the Spurs literally better then anyone else in the NBA. I would have rather played LA in the first round then the Suns, but I don't know if the Suns can maintain that level of intensity they showed in game 1 across a series. Don't forget, they have to win 3 more, and they played as well as they could ever play, and it still took three clanged free throws for them to have a chance at winning. Hopefully this is the wake-up call to the Spurs to stop being so damned complacent. Spurs in 6.
 

Devin U

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Well, Phoenix had SA number all year long, and I'm guessing that this series will be no diffrent. Suns in 6 (and Im being generous to the Spurs).
 

Carlo_M

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Boy, as a lifelong Laker fan I sure am glad they settle this on the basketball court and not in the court of public opinion! ;) :D

Seriously though, hating the Bulls during their run, I can totally sympathize with those who dislike L.A. (especially those in our state capital).

However to call them the "Fakers" - perhaps we should wait until they relinquish their status as three-time defending champions before calling them fakers...

One thing I know after years of watching basketball (NBA and collegiate):

The best team on paper doesn't necessarily win. Hence the term "paper champions."

Yeah every year we hear "The Kings are better" "The Spurs are better" "The Kings are deeper" "The Lakers are a two-man team" etc. All may be true. But until someone steps on the court and takes the championship from them, they (meaning the other supposedly "better" teams) will still be paper champions.

I actually am hoping for a spirited playoffs. I hated when the Bulls would run through everyone in 6 games or less. I loved the 7 game Sac/LA series last year. I loved the epic LA/Boston and LA/Detroit series in the eighties.

Tell you one thing though, everyone better worry about their current playoff opponents and not look ahead to the Lakers. There are some lower seeds out there looking to make noise in the early rounds, and anyone preparing for Shaq, Kobe & Co a round or two too early will find themselves watching that round from home.

Good luck to everyones' teams!
 

Mark Leiter

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I gotta give my props out to the magic. Way to go. T-Mac going for 43 only to be out done by some slacker(kidding) in philly. I think Detroit better watch out if Wallace is not 100%. If he isn't, the Magic can very easily take this series. Though I don't see them getting any further.

'scuse the Magic fan-praise for a sec but tonight i just cant help myself. If the magic had made the Miller-for-Girick & Gooden trade at the beginning of the season they would have been at least a 6 and possibly even a 4 seed. Girick is every bit as good as Miller and Gooden has shown Rookie of the year candidate type stuff ever since someone decided to just play the kid. I mean I believe he topped 15 or better rebounds four or five times since the trade. Including 14 to-night.

Al-right off my soap box.

Do you realize that HALF of the home teams lost their opening games, including both top seeds. Man I love it. Its going to a great playoffs!!!

Here we go. The east is totally wide open. None of the top seeds have played worth crap since the alstar break.

Magic at Pistons - already said it and I gotta go with the home team. Magic in 6 (and no i'm not putting money on it)

New Orleans at Philly - This has the makings of a very good series. A.I. threw up 55 while going 21 of 32 from the field. Taking all those shot and getting 65% from the field!!!! are you freaking kidding me?? But, having said that, NO was still in it until the last few minutes. I see this one going 7 Philly taking it.

Boston at Indiana - This is another hard to pick series. Neither team played all that well the last part of the season with Boston really stinking up the place. Who would have thought Pierce would have a 21-point dagger for the Pacer heart the other day. I still don't believe it, Indiana in 6.

Bucks at New Jersey - Jersey looked dominant and that thing with Cassell and Payton and Caffey is a distraction. Nets in 4

Now that we are done with the Collegiate ranks on with the pro's.

Phoenix at San Antonio - Give me a break. A great game I loved every minute of it but game one was a fluke. Right up there with Douglas over Tyson. The Suns played about as good as they can play and the Spurs as bad as they could and Phoenix still needed God's help to pull it out. I have the feeling they have only made 'em mad. Spurs in 5.

Los Angeles at Minnesota - Minnesota has no chance. None. And yes it sucks. Garrnett will get his but I just don't see him as a 40+ points player like AI or T-Mac or Bryont. His 26 & 12 is great. But not on a one man team. He needs help and I just don't see him getting it. I'm real tempted to pull out the broom but something tells me the 'wolves have one win in them . LA in 5

Portland at Dallas - Good first game. The Blazers had a chance to steal one in Dallas. They let it slip away. I wonder how bad Wallaces ankle is? Portland is good enough to push Dallas and the mavs are soft in the middle anyway. Still the heads as in the "head-cases" in Portland will decide it. Dallas in 6.

Utah at Sacramento - Stockton to Malone. One of the great combos i've ever seen but it is not enough. not against a near future NBA champion (hint...hint). Still they "won't go quietly into the night..." Kings in 6.

Now lets get it on!!!
 

Henry Carmona

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Chris, im talking bout that last possession. They shoulda fouled him instead of giving him a 3 point chance to win the game :frowning:

I sure hope you guys are right and the Suns played their wild card on this one.

One thing for sure though, the Spurs coulda played better. Those were some sorry numbers for Tim and the rest, but then how good have they been when playing Phoenix :frowning:
 

Chris Farmer

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Right Henry, but on that last possession, the Spurs were up by only two, not three. They foul Marbury, he goes to the line, sinks them both, and it's double OT. Insted, they took the (honestly, reasonably afe) bet that he couldn't get the ball up the court and into the basket in time. 95 times out of a hundred that gamble would have paid off, Marbury would have missed, and Spurs would have won. I mean, he didn't even aim, he just jacked the ball up from the middle of a horde. The Spurs should have been safe in their gamble, but chance has no memory. Even if 95 times out of a hundred it works, there's still the 5 times it doesn't. This time it didn't.

And I agree with you Mark, I think Orlando will beat Detroit. Wallace is a tremendous defensive presence in the middle, but with a team of shooters like Orlando who don't need to drive to the hole to score, that doesn't do Detroit much good. And they don't have anyone who can counter McGrady.

The Jazz can't keep up with Sacramento. They're too fast, too athletic, too hungry, and too just plain damn good for Utah to hang with.

Dallas I think will beat Portland, there's just no consistency there.

The T-wolves I feel bad for. Much as I'd love to see LA go down in round 1, and I'd like to see KG advance (that guy leaves everything he has out on the court every night), they are simply not a good enough team to beat the Lakers. The only two teams that can do that (and I'm still not saying they will) are San Antonio or Sacramento.

NJ over Milwaukee, the assault thing iced a team that was already overmatched.

Philly will beat New Orleans I think, a shame cause this will be New Orleans last playoff year for a while. Good luck hanging out in the West with LA, Sacramento, SA, Dallas, and all the rest. But Philly has too many weapons for New Orleans too handle. NO is like SA minus Duncan, decent, but not incredible, and at least the Spurs have several players who will be future all-stars after a few more years (Manu and Parker for sure, and possibly Jackson). And Iverson merits a point in Philly's favor all by himself.
 

Gilbert T

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I don't understand the whole "Suns played the best they could possibly play" line of thinking. The numbers sure don't support it.

Marbury played horribly the entire game up until the game-winner. He was 9-28 from the field for 32% shooting. That is by far the best job SA has done containing Marbury all season. Penny was 4-11 from the field and Marion's production was right at his average. Amare was the only Sun that had a good game.

The Spurs had TWICE as many offensive rebounds, more steals and less turnovers than Phoenix.

The Suns bench contributed a whopping 9 pts 10 rebounds and 1 assist.

This wasn't even close to the best game Phoenix can play and the Spurs weren't nearly as bad as you'd think.

Stephen Jackson was outstanding for San Antonio. David Robinson made all 8 of his shots and was close to his season high in scoring. Duncan had a great all around game with the exception of free throw shooting. Parker and Bowen were the only players who really stunk for the Spurs.

You'd think after winning 3 of 4 in the regular season, the Suns would get a little more respect from Spurs fans. Either way, it's shaping up to be a great series.
 

Chris Farmer

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Nah, I've got plenty of respect for the Suns, I knew this would be a tough series going in. They play the Spurs extremely well. However, I still say that they played as well as they could and that the Spurs played way below average. Marbury sucked it up in the first half, but really took off in the second. he still had 26 points by the end of things, most of them in the second half (17 I believe). Duncan got only 17 points which is decent, but below average for him, and allowed himself to be marginalized. And I won't even go into his TWO cluth misses. We did a terrible job of capitalizing on the open court allowed by the double and triple teaming of Duncan. We allowed the Suns to shoot 43%, and shot nearly 15% lower then our season average from the stripe. We missed 15 out of 41 free throws. One of those sends the game into double OT, two of them win the game. Had Duncan made that secodn free throw and you all had to inbound it instead of a miracle rebound, you would have never gotten ball down the court in time. Parker was a non-factor offensively, and Bowen didn't do jack either.Manu played well, but had some really ugly misses. The only Spurs who shone were David and Jackson, the rest were at best marginal.

And with all that, we still lost by only 1.

The fact is, I don't expect the Suns to put up as good a numbers as the Spurs overall. They match up well against the Spurs, but on the whole, they're simply not as good a team as San Antonio. Give it a few years and they will be, but right now the Spurs are just flat out the better team, so when the Suns miss out on quite a few numbers, such as a weak bench performance, some of that is just the team playing to its current limits. That said, the league had better watch out. When the gold of youth is tempered with the polish of experience, the Suns are going to be dangerous. You and Houston are the up-and-comers of the league right now.
 

Mark Leiter

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Aug 9, 1999
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Hennry & Chris- I feel your pain. I remember a long time ago in Magic history when 4 missed free thows in the closing seconds of a game one probally cost us a Championship.
Against a Texas team no less. Better luck to you on yours.
 

Walter Kittel

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Cost you a championship?

That's an optimistic way of looking at it. :) The Rockets swept the Magic 4 games to none.

- Walter.
 

Scott Merryfield

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I think Detroit better watch out if Wallace is not 100%. If he isn't, the Magic can very easily take this series.
I agree, Mark. Even with a healthy Wallace, any playoff series will be tough for Detroit, since they do not have a big offensive threat to rely on when they need points. Billups was the closest they had to a "go to" player this year, but he is no Iverson, McGrady, Bryant, etc. They must play great defense and shut down the other team to win.
 

Hunter P

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As my predictions show, I don't think there are any lopsided matchups there. This is going to be a great playoffs. I'd be surprised if anyone gets swept.

LA has the best chance of getting a sweep but I still think Minny will win one or more games. Just have to wipe off the blowout as one game and move on. Still they have to improve their rebounding by getting their guards to crash the defensive boards. Their big men are too busy contesting Shaq's first shot and were unable to corral the rebound.

The NBA is about matchups. Pheonix is not one of the top teams but they matchup well against the Spurs. They are quick and athletic.

For that same reason, the Jazz presents problems for the Kings. The Kings always have trouble against teams that like to crash the offensive boards.

Easy to see why Payton had such a bad game. All through the game I was wondering what the hell was wrong with him. The Gary I knew would be driving to the hole and willing his team back into the game. But he was definitely distracted.

This is my favorite time of the year. The only thing about the playoffs that I hate are the hours in between games. I've only been at work for 3 hours and I'm already clock watching.
 

Jeremiah

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A.I. is without question one of the most exciting players in the game, top 5 for sure. How someone could think otherwise, well....

Man, AI is amazing, 6' 160 scoring 55 in a NBA playoff game, wow. A few times Iverson just went right down the lane flying past everyone, reverse lay-up, or a bank high off the glass. For a player that size to have such a great low post game is unreal.
 

Chris Farmer

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Top 5: Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, McGrady, Garnett (in no particular order). Iverson's very very good, but he's not on the level of those 5.
 

Jeremiah

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Top 5: Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, McGrady, Garnett (in no particular order). Iverson's very very good, but he's not on the level of those 5.
You're kidding right?

The only two guys that are more exciting than Iverson would be Kobe and T-Mac and they are not even without question. Duncan is far from exciting to watch and Garnett and Shaq are not more exciting to watch than A.I.

You are probably thinking best player, and than you might be right. The problem is that AI can take over a game at almost any moment like Kobe/Shaq/T-Mac but he is so small and that keeps him from perhaps top 5 status. BTW, Iverson is not just very, very, good, he is an exceptional basketball player and is definantly great. AI is quite possibly they greatest small gaurd to ever play in the NBA.
 

Henry Carmona

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Tell you what, he may be a newbie here in the states, but i forsee Ginobili as getting better and better.

Some of his moves are just beautiful :)

 

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