NBA Playoffs 2010

[Argosh]

Another year has gone by and the playoffs start again tomorrow, so ... here's a link to the thread about last year's playoffs.
If anyone's still following NBA (or just wants to post about their thoughts about the playoffs), comment here.

First day of playoffs has the following teams playing:
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Chicago Bulls
Atlanta Hawks vs Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat
Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz

I'm most excited about Celtics vs Heat series, though there are some other notable teams not playing on the first day of playoffs.

Now, lets play ball.

[Argosh]

Looks like home-teams win today.

17.04.2010.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Chicago Bulls 96:83 (1:0)
Atlanta Hawks vs Milwaukee Bucks 102:92 (1:0)
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat 85:76 (1:0)
Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz 126:113 (1:0)

[Argosh]

18.04.2010.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder 87:79 (1:0)
Orlando Magic vs Charlotte Bobcats 98:89 (1:0)
Dallas Mavericks vs San Antonio Spurs 100:94 (1:0)
Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers 100:105 (0:1)

[Argosh]

19.04.2010.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Chicago Bulls 112:102 (2:0)
Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz 111:114 (1:1)

[Dark Flame]

Man I just now saw this! Cavs up 2-0, and I think we absorbed Chicago's best shot and still won by double digits. I doubt that we will lose a game in this series.

Today has been a day of blowouts so far, but the Thunder are putting up a hell of a fight with just over a minute left and only down 4. Hopefully they can steal one, just to see Lakers fans fret.

[Argosh]

No such luck for Durant, though it was close.
Miami lost the second game despite Garnett sitting this one out, end of their post-season soon?

20.04.2010.
Atlanta Hawks vs Milwaukee Bucks 96:86 (2:0)
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat 106:77 (2:0)
Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder 95:92 (2:0)
Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers 119:90 (1:1)

[Dark Flame]

The Heat are toast.

Spurs evened up their series with the Mavs at 1-1. Who do you think is gonna win that one? I'm calling Spurs in 6, but I'm not all that confident in that prediction.

[Argosh]

21.04.2010.
Orlando Magic vs Charlotte Bobcats 92:77 (2:0)
Dallas Mavericks vs San Antonio Spurs 88:102 (1:1)

I don't know, if they get one or two wins the luck may change for Miami. As for Mavs vs Spurs, I want Mavs to win but as seen in the last game, those old Spurs still got that something that can turn the series in their favor.
I read somewhere (last year?) that in an 1-1 series, the team that wins the third game has a 75% chance to win the series. Hmmm.

[Dark Flame]

Ouch, this one hurt a little bit. Oh well, hopefully this is the wake-up call we needed.

[Argosh]

22.04.2010.
Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers 108:106 (1:2)
Portland Trail Blazers vs Phoenix Suns 89:108 (1:2)
Oklahoma City Thunder vs Los Angeles Lakers 101:96 (1:2)

Yeah, that was a close one, though Cavs (also Lakers) losing means they have to take their opponents seriously now.

[Steve]

Unrelated:

Preach it Brotha Phil!

And fuck you Stern, fuck you up your stupid ass!

[Argosh]

Its not unrelated if it effects the games at this time of year even a little, tensions running high etc.

23.04.2010.
Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics 98:100 (0:3)
Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets 105:93 (2:1)
San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Mavericks 94:90 (2:1)

[Dark Flame]

Steve, I really don't think Phil has any room to be bitching about favoritism. Personally, I've seen Durant robbed of quite a few calls and I've seen Kobe get way too many for Phil to really have a case about this. Oh, and I don't like the Lakers so I may be biased a bit.

Does anybody here think that maybe Boston has a chance to get to the ECF with how well they're playing? Or is it a product of playing the Miami Dwyane Wades?

[Steve]

We'll have to see. Boston's dangerous for either Orlando or Cleveland IMHO. Never underestimate experience wedded to skill.

And yeah, I know Jackson's benefited from the bad calling, but that doesn't mean he's wrong. The NBA is very, very fucking lucky the Feds couldn't substantiate some of the claims Dougherty made. Otherwise, hell, I think a ref scandal would be worse than what MLB went through with steroids.

I give Stern credit for keeping the NBA alive in the 80s, but the man's becoming a dinosaur and is trying waaay too hard to bring back the Jordan days.

[Steve]

Oh, gee, Dwight gets fouled out on 26 minutes. What a shocker.

There are times I wonder if Dougherty really was telling the god damned truth about corruption in NBA officials (and not just in terms of betting on games, but the kind that has you retaliate for criticism of you and your buddies by singling out someone for abuse).

And Stern continues to defend these douchebags.

[Argosh]

24.04.2010.
Charlotte Bobcats vs Orlando Magic 86:90 (0:3)
Milwaukee Bucks vs Atlanta Hawks 107:89 (1:2)
Portland Trail Blazers vs Phoenix Suns 96:87 (2:2)
Oklahoma City Thunder vs Los Angeles Lakers 110:89 (2:2)

Oh, wow. Both the Lakers and Suns lost the 4th game and their series are tied at 2:2 now.

[Argosh]

25.04.2010.
Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers 98:121 (1:3)
Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics 101:92 (1:3)
Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets 117:106 (3:1)
San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Mavericks 92:89 (3:1)

[Steve]

And so we have our first seven game series sweep in franchise history (and second overall; first sweep was in 1996 Playoffs, a 5-game first round series with the Detroit Pistons).

Kudos to the Charlotte Bobcats. It was their first trip as a team to the post-season against the conference champions, but despite this factor they fought ferociously and made the Magic earn all four victories.

[Argosh]

26.04.2010.
Charlotte Bobcats vs Orlando Magic 90:99 (0:4)
Milwaukee Bucks vs Atlanta Hawks 111:104 (2:2)
Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers 107:88 (3:2)

I bet Jordan was itching to play for Charlotte.

[Steve]

Celtics/Cavs should be fun to watch. We've got to wait to see if we're playing Atlanta or Milwaukee.

[Argosh]

27.04.2010.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Chicago Bulls 96:94 (4:1)
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat 96:86 (4:1)
Dallas Mavericks vs San Antonio Spurs 103:81 (2:3)
Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder 111:87 (3:2)

[Dark Flame]

If either of you guys follow Twitter, I would suggest finding Lebron'sElbow. It's comedy gold!

Anyways, bring on the Celts! I'm pumped for this series, both because I think we'll win and because I want to see Boston get shut up and knocked out of the playoffs.

Steve, I really do think that Dwight is being called more fairly than most are giving credit for. I admit to bias on this, but he really is an undisciplined young player and it's biting him in the ass right now. However, this isn't a blanket defense of NBA officiating. By and large, it does suck *cough*crab dribble*cough*.

Right now I'm watcching game 5 of Milwaukee vs. Atlanta, and the young Bucks are hanging in there in the ATL. Perhaps they're inspired by this.

[Argosh]

28.04.2010.
Atlanta Hawks vs Milwaukee Bucks 87:91 (2:3)
Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz 116:102 (2:3)

[Steve]

I do agree that later in that series Dwight started committing frustration fouls. But he wouldn't be frustrated with the refs if they weren't fucking with him.

But it's about more than just Dwight. Last year, during the Conference Finals, Bill Simmons wrote an excellent article on ESPN.com about the problems with NBA officiating, and it still applies today. It has nothing to do with conspiracies to ensure a Kobe vs. LeBron Finals, to prolong series to get more ratings, or to discourage small market teams from getting further in the Playoffs; it has everything to do with A) an aging corps of referees that the NBA is not replacing at an appropriate rate and B) a growing tendency by refs, with NBA acceptance, to "regulate" a game and try to "control" the pace and character of it, to the detriment of the Playoff atmosphere.

[Steve]

Ah, screw it.

Here's the article by Simmons. It is a good 'un.