2009 NBA Playoffs

[Argosh]

Boston vs Orlando 92:88, 3:2.
Los Angeles vs Houston 118:78, 3:2.

[Argosh]

Denver advances to the next round.
Denver vs Dallas 124:110, 4:1.

[Argosh]

Houston and Orlando force Game 7.
Orlando vs Boston 83:75, 3:3.
Houston vs Los Angeles 95:80, 3:3.

[Steve]

WOOT!

MAGIC WIN!

Onward to the Conference Finals and LeBron as the first team in NBA history to beat the Boston Celtics in a playoff series where the Celtics go up 3-2.

[Dark Flame]

Congrats to the Magic. Enjoy it while you can, because it's gonna get a lot harder!

I was hoping the Rockets could pull out a victory, but let's face it. They had no business making it even that far. They played with outstanding toughness and heart, but they just didn't have the talent left to keep going.

[Argosh]

I was hoping the Rockets could pull out a victory, but let's face it. They had no business making it even that far. They played with outstanding toughness and heart, but they just didn't have the talent left to keep going.

Sure they did have talent, just two of their 'stars' got injured and this was as far as the rest of the team could push them. This year.

Los Angeles advances to the Western Conference Finals, Orlando advances to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Matchups are Los Angeles vs Denver in West and Cleveland vs Orlando in East.

Los Angeles vs Houston 89:70, 4:3.
Boston vs Orlando 82:101, 3:4.

[Dark Flame]

They were temporarily without their talent, then.

Which reminds me of another reason to not like the Lakers. During one of his postgame interviews Phil Jackson had the audacity to mention injury problems as a reason for losing one of the games. You know what the Rockets did when they lost their two biggest players in two weeks, including their best player? They fucking took the series to 7 games. They didn't make excuses.

[Darth Quorthon]

In an amusing development, the Pepsi Center, home of the Nuggets, is double booked for monday, when Lakers-Nuggets game 4 is scheduled.

L.A. Times

Denver arena's scheduling conflict for Game 4 rattles cages
Jason Bernstein / WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon says he still plans to send his trucks to the Pepsi Center in Denver for an event Monday despite the venue being double-booked with the NBA playoffs.
Monday night's game is set for the Pepsi Center, which is already booked for a World Wrestling Entertainment event. The double booking remains unresolved.
By Mark Medina
May 19, 2009
No word yet whether the conflict will end in a steel cage match, but World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon may try to lay the smack down one way or another.

The Lakers are scheduled to play Game 4 of their Western Conference finals Monday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The only problem is that WWE is also booked at the arena the same night for an episode of "Monday Night Raw."

I imagine the NBA will prevail in this scheduling conflict, having more clout than the WWE. Seriously though, how does something like this happen?

[Dark Flame]

As far as I know, it would be relatively simple to fix, if they weren't dumb. Simply play the game the next day.. There have been lots of 3-day breaks during this year's playoffs. One more won't hurt.

Also, Lakers win Game 1. Bah. The game was blown on, of all things, an inbounds pass. Fuck. And JR Smith got hurt. He may be back soon, but I bet he'll miss a game. And that's not good news for Denver.

[Argosh]

Los Angeles vs Denver 105:103, 1:0.

[Steve]

Apologies, this user is currently unable to post. His head exploded when the final buzzer sounded in Cleveland.

[Argosh]

Cleveland vs Orlando 106:107, 0:1.

[Steve]

Okay, I'll be honest. My head didn't explode. Rather I began smacking the coffee table with my hands to try and release my excitement.

Argosh's smiley reaction is a good one too, I grant.

[Steve]

And the Nuggets snatch home court advantage as well.

This looks to be interesting.

[Dark Flame]

I couldn't even think about the end of that game for several hours... It hurt.

Hopefully tonight's game goes better, because it's as close to a must win as a Game 2 can be.

[Steve]

Oh, that was an awesome shot by LeBron. Not necessarily what I wanted to see him do but still awesome. That's what you expect from one of the contenders to Jordan's crown.

[Steve]

Well, both Conference Finals are now tied 1-1, all four games so far played in them have been decided by a grand total of 6 points combined, with lots of clutch play and excitement. No blowouts yet.

IOW, this is what NBA Playoffs are supposed to be. Looks like the Bulls-Celtics series was a beautiful harbinger of things to come.

[Argosh]

Both series tied.
Los Angeles vs Denver 103:106, 1:1.

Cleveland vs Orlando 96:95, 1:1.

[Steve]

Oops, thought the LA-Denver Game 2 was by 2 as well. Make that a combined 7 points of victory margin amongst the four conference final games so far.

[Argosh]

Denver vs Los Angeles 97:103, 1:2.

[Steve]

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

I don't care that we won! I'm pissed as all fucking hell at Crawford and his band of misfits for their pussy-ass foul-calling! 86 FUCKING FREE THROWS IN A GAME?! I understand not wanting the game to deteriorate into Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball, but Jesus Fucking Christ!

Sir Charles is right, the officiating sucks right now.

[Argosh]

Wow, rough game.
Orlando vs Cleveland 99:89, 2:1.

[erik_t]

Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball

Excellent.


The refereeing has been godawful for many years. I don't see this as any more atrocious than, say, the Heat-Mavericks mockery-of-a-series a few years back, or suspending several Suns players for standing up.

The NBA is broken and broken badly. This is not news.

[Steve]

No, it's not, but sometimes you have to gather shitloads of evidence in order to get pressure on the people responsible. Plus anyone actually in the NBA - players, coaches, team officials, even owners - can get fined for criticizing referees. Stern basically throws out all the stops when it comes to forbidding internal dissent over officiating (recall the 2004 postseason, I think it was, when Jeff Van Gundy was fined a whopping $100,000 and even threatened with banishment from the NBA for accusing officials of intentionally targeting Yao Ming due to complaints by Mavs owner Mark Cuban about Yao's offensive screening). Then we have Donaghy's claims about the NBA having refs who try to call games to let NBA-favored teams win, such as the Kings-Lakers Game 6 in 2002, as well as widespread violation of the refs' "no contact" rules regarding players and coaches and nepotism trumping competence in the hiring of officials.

Stern is delusional if he thinks anyone believes his insistence that nothing's wrong with NBA officiating. It's just that those in NBA can't say anything and people like sports writers and analysts won't (perhaps, one suspects, out of fear that if they're too aggressive about it Stern and the NBA will come after them in various ways, like pressure on editors to fire the offender or transfer him/her out of NBA-involved activities).

[Argosh]

Denver vs Los Angeles 120:101, 2:2.