NBA Playoffs 2007-2008

no matter how you look at this, this guy is most def. classless.

He made it with the Sonics as well in 2004-2005 IIRC Can anyone make a convincing argument for who the best team in the league is right now? I mean, I can give you legit reasons why every team that's still alive WON'T win, but I can't give a great argument for who will. I mean....Detroit....I guess?

Well i have to agree with you 100% on reasons why the teams still alive wont win.Lets break it down.

Boston-Big 3 have been anything but Big.Its been the KG show and you cant win a Championship with only 1 player performing.Even Jordan had help wining 6.(i will say that Rondo has come alive and Pierce is starting to take the ball to the basket again)Not to mention 0-5 on the road

Cleveland- Thie biggest question with them is can the entire team be on the same page at once?Lebron has 3 bad shooting games and the rest of the team does well enough to get some wins.Game 5 Lebron had a great scoring game but the rest of the team didnt do to well.I think they have 1 too many 3 point shooters that cant drive.West,Wally, and Papolvich.West can drive a little bit but the other 2 are spot shooters.If they are not making shots then the cavs are in trouble.

Detroit- Detroit doesnt pose any match-up problems to any of the teams still alive.Boston and Cleveland can beat Detroit and the other question is, How healthy will Billups be?Could he rush back just so he can play?

New Orleans looked as if they were the most complete team, but then West has a back injury,Chandler injured his knee the other night.

San Antonio just isnt the team they have been in past years..Their role players like Finley and Barry are getting old and would have troubles guarding players like Lebron or Pierce or Kobe.

Lakers could have the best chance but it depends on how well their guards play.When Kobe is moved to that SF position, the SG (Fisher) and the Pg need to mkae plays.Can Kobe share the ball enough to make his team better?Will his back injury keep him from scoring a ton and having the game rely on teammates.

Utah can put points on the scoreboard but they can stop teams from scoring.All the teams that are left can put the ball in the basket quite a bit.The question is can Utah win shootouts for the rest of the year?

The team thats going to win the Championship is going to be the eam that plays the best defense and can win 2 games on the road.

That must've been ages ago!

The Lakers have a good team, but without Gasol and Bryant they wouldn't be anywhere near the NBA Finals.

Kobe Bryant is sharing the ball, but he's still taking some forced shots on the court and not getting those easy jumpers. The Lakers have the potential to be incredible - but yet are plagued by injuries.

ESPN reporting that D'Antoni is trying to work a trade that would send Stephon Marbury to the Suns for Barbosa and other players.

Please, somebody help me understand why in the MF world the Suns would do that??

I'm not sure. I posted a thread how Marbury was excited to work under D'Antoni.

"Lakers star Kobe Bryant did not practice today, but neither did his teammates Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher or Lamar Odom.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said Bryant's back seemed to be fine today after tightening up in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's Game 5 Western Conference semifinals win over Utah, 111-104.

"He seems to be OK," Jackson said about Bryant at the Lakers' El Segundo practice facility. "He's all right today."

Bryant suffered lower back spasms in Game 4 Sunday in what he described as the most pain he'd ever felt in a game.

Bryant did not talk to reporters today.

In Wednesday's game, Bryant played 41 minutes and scored 26 points with seven assists, but he wasn't as aggressive as usual on defense, and by the fourth quarter his back was stiffening, Bryant said after the game.

The Lakers lead the playoff series 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday in Salt Lake City.

*

Jackson said that forward Trevor Ariza, who has not played since Jan. 20, looked active in practice today.

This was Ariza's second day of practice since he was cleared by doctors after suffering a broken bone in his right foot.

"He looked like he's much more comfortable than he did Tuesday," Jackson said of Ariza. "We're just going a day at a time with this."

Jackson would not specify if Ariza would play Friday.

The two Lakers on the active list who did not play in Game 5 were center Chris Mihm and forward Ira Newble.
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It would be awesome if they got Ariza back. I wouldn't be worried about him fitting into the offense, because his game is more instinctual and predicated on defense. If he could just be a pain in the ass on defense for 10 minutes the Lakers would take game 6.

No Idea...I dont know how Nash and Marbury could work together..Marbury isnt a great shooter so he cant play the 2 guard.

Marbury is a ballhog. Nash is a passer.

But, opposites charges do attract.

Of course - That's be great!

Ariza has some of the best raw talent that I've seen in years.

Sam I am aka ET has definitely been a negative for the Celtics. I think he's done personally.

Rondo meanwhile brings so many other things to help the team. That kid can ball.

I think a majority of us here will say that the Celtics shouldn't have had a problem with the Hawks, and should have taken care of the Cavs already...but Doc is just not that good of a coach.

If they win the championship this year (still a very real possibility), it will be inspite of having Doc as the coach.

Do you think he will be gone as soon as the season ends?

Game Seven of the Cavaliers-Celtics series is tomorrow at 3.30 PM EST on TNT!

i still don't think all of this can fall on doc rivers. players have to take some personal responsibility as well. i mean you went thru the regular season with flying colors and then you don't seem to care to be embarrassed away from home and losing your composure?

to add a bit more to that, they don't seem to have a heart of a champion right now, and that's not something you can coach.

It's on ABC actually

Well how anyone could have Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and score 69 points is down to Rivers coaching.

For years he has been known as one of the clueless Coaches in the League so why make exuses for him come Playoff time. He has shifted away from what worked in the regular season, and hasn't even attempted to try it in the Playoffs which could be his downfall come game 7 tonight