This is the first year that I'm psyched about the entire NBA playoffs

[UConn Hoops1]

I'm sure I'm looking for a distraction from all of the NCAA induced madness swirling around Husky land. Also there are a lot of former Huskies involved with playoff teams(Caron,Rip,Ray,Rudy, and A.J..I know it's not the first year that has happened). But I think what really makes it exciting is that there are a lot of young guys like Kevin Durant,Blake Griffin, and Avery Bradley(yeah I'm a Boston fan) ,to name a few, who are just fun to watch. The matchups in the first round, for the most part, are extremely competitive with the chance for upsets pretty high. Now, in the middle of this, an announcement from JC confirming he is still The Man in Storrs, would be the icing on the cake. Under those circumstances, I would definitely try to arrange for July,August,September and October to be cancelled so we could get the 12-13 season going!

GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[Giddyup5]

Rip is looking great so far. Not that it is surprising given his incredible career. Though with all his injuries this year its nice to see him doing well.

Chicago is exponentially better if Rip and Deng are playing well along side a healthy Rose.

 

[aceboon]

Not really much intrigue on the EC side for the 1st round except Mia/NYK just because of the names/markets involved, Bos/Atl will likely be a good series but I don't like watching the Hawks play. The WC 1st round is loaded tho, can't wait for that Grizz/Clippers series, it really doesn't get any better than that for a 1st round series.

 

[tzznandrew]

This years playoffs may be more exciting that last years--and last years had some great series (SA-Memphis; OKC-Memphis; Dallas-OKC)

LAC-Memphis should be really good.
It will be interesting to see how much Dallas has left against OKC (probably not much, although next year you add Deron Williams and they're going to be better).
Denver-LAL is intriguing as well.

I expect to see SA-Memphis; LAL-OKC. Both of those series should be really good
Chicago-Boston should be very good in the east. If Miami gets by New York (I think they will, but I think it could be tight), they'll cruise into the ECF.

Most Exciting Finals:
OKC v. Miami or Memphis v. Miami (both possible).

Old School Finals:
SA v. Boston
LAL v. Boston

Other Really Intriguing Finals:
Chicago v. LAL; Chicago v. OKC; LAL v. Miami

In other words-damn, these playoffs should be fun...

 

[UConn990411]

You think Miami is going to struggle with New York but cruise past Chicago (or Boston/Atlanta)?

OK.

 

[FluxTZ]

You think Miami is going to struggle with New York but cruise past Chicago (or Boston/Atlanta)?

OK.

Hahaha, that's what I'm saying too.

NBA ratings have been great all season and with the great match ups in the west as mentioned earlier I'd expect the networks to see huge increases in viewership over years prior.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[champs99and04]

You think Miami is going to struggle with New York but cruise past Chicago (or Boston/Atlanta)?

OK.

That's not what he said. He said Miami would cruise to the conference finals if they get by New York (he's right). They would play either Indiana or Orlando in the semi-finals not Boston or Chicago.

 

[tzznandrew]

That's not what he said. He said Miami would cruise to the conference finals if they get by New York (he's right). They would play either Indiana or Orlando in the semi-finals not Boston or Chicago.

Thank you for taking the time to read the words I said, rather than the words you think I said.

The latter happens far too frequently on this board, especially when you write more than a couple of sentences. My earlier post was all over the place, for sure, but I certainly do not think Miami will have an easy time with Chicago or Boston.

 

[aceboon]

Thibodeau is a dumba##, Rose should've been out of the game

 

[tzznandrew]

Thibodeau is a dumba##, Rose should've been out of the game

I wonder if he was hoping just to let him get game time due to all of his absences?

Regardless, it is Philadelphia. The series wouldn't have gone past 5 games even with a sub-par Rose, which would have given him enough time. And he was playing very well anyway (I was giving Thibs the benefit of the doubt). Just a terrible decision.

I hope Rose is alright and can play (even if he has to sit a game or two). What's the word?

 

[Mots010]

Gonna go out on a limb and say Rose is done for the year on that one. Non contact injury and knee gives out. Rarely does that end well. Reminded me of AJ Price's injury.

 

[tzznandrew]

Gonna go out on a limb and say Rose is done for the year on that one. Non contact injury and knee gives out. Rarely does that end well. Reminded me of AJ Price's injury.

I didn't actually see the play (not able to watch the game). I just saw the headline on ESPN. That's pretty awful....

 

[partial]

seems like his knee buckled when he was doing a jumpstop, that's pretty tough.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Thibodeau is a dumba##, Rose should've been out of the game

I didn't see the game, but Rose is a superstar (and nearly had a triple-double). He's been injured on and off all season. Hopefully it's nothing serious, and he'll be okay in the future. With the way the season has gone, you hope his career doesn't end up being decimated by injuries.

 

[traitor71]

Thank you for taking the time to read the words I said, rather than the words you think I said.

The latter happens far too frequently on this board, especially when you write more than a couple of sentences. My earlier post was all over the place, for sure, but I certainly do not think Miami will have an easy time with Chicago or Boston.

I think the confusion came because you used the word "if". There is no if, the Knicks don't have any chance to beat Miami unless they hit every three that they like to throw up there.

 

[tzznandrew]

I think the confusion came because you used the word "if". There is no if, the Knicks don't have any chance to beat Miami unless they hit every three that they like to throw up there.

It certainly looks like that right now--Game 1 in Miami.

Look, I think that the Heat will win this series. But the Knicks have been playing very well lately, and there are a number of statistically based sites that suggest they've been playing better than the Heat recently.

Hollinger's Power rankings have Miami 4 and New York 6.
Mathletics has Miami 4 and New York 11 for the whole year, but over the past 3 weeks Miami 14 and New York 7. Now, obviously, Miami is not the 14th best team--and they've been resting for the postseason, but it doesn't seem unreasonable (even after Game 1) that New York could still make this series interesting.

 

[traitor71]

What none of those stats show is the fact that Miami has been playing for the playoffs. So many people always seem to ask "what's wrong with Miami?", as if they were supposed to win every game they suit up for. They simply haven't always played hard in the regular season and have really been on coast for the last few weeks. The playoffs are where Miami is ultimately going to be judged and there is no doubt that they are going to play much harder than they did in the regular season. As for the Knicks, they just don't have the players or the intensity to win a series like this.

Clearly, every game isn't going to be like this, but I really struggle to see where NY has anything that can make this a tough series.

 

[tzznandrew]

Clearly, every game isn't going to be like this, but I really struggle to see where NY has anything that can make this a tough series.

Theoretically the logic goes like this:

Anthony is playing well and will be unstoppable offensively. Game 1, 11 pts on 3-15 shooting. +/- of -35.
Chandler can hold down Bosh, and his interior toughness and experience against the Knicks will hold be able to help them dominate in the post. 0 pts, 3 rebs, 4 fouls, 7 TOs, although Bosh did not play great.
Shumpert will be able to slow LeBron somewhat. LeBron - 32 pts on 10-14 shooting. Shumpert's +/- was -28.
Miami cannot guard the 3, while NY can shoot the 3. New York shot 7-21, not terribly well, and Miami shot 8-21, negating any such advantage.

I get your point about Miami not trying in the regular season. That frequently hurts teams (cf. LAL 2004), but damn, Miami made me look stupid.

FYI, though, I have Miami winning the series, just perhaps more difficult than Game 1 looked. It may be, but, again...damn.

 

[champs99and04]

Unfortunately, it looks like Shumpert tore his ACL and at the very least will be done for the series. As for Melo, there is no chance he'll play nearly as bad as he did today. Chandler had the flu yesterday, so there is a 99% chance that had a huge effect on his performance. Hopefully he's ready to go on Monday.

Miami sure did look good though. When LeBron and Wade are into every single possesion on defense, scoring can be a futile exercise. Both are arguably two of the best five perimeter defenders in the league when they want to be.

If I were a Knick fan I'd be worried as hell about Stoudemire. Nothing about the way he's played for the last year+ screams "max contract". It seems he's been just a mediocre player ever since Melo came aboard, and with his injury history, this contract could end up a disaster for the Knicks.

For what it's worth, I think game two will come down to the wire. Melo won't play that bad two days in a row, Chandler should be feeling better, and maybe the Heat get a little complacent and over confident.

 

[Husk-E]

I just heard that derrick rose possibly has a torn ACL. Not looking good.

 

[superjohn]

It's official D. Rose tore his ACL done for the year. Thibodeau is the best coach in the nba but he's going to catch some serious heat for having Rose in the game. Nonsense if you ask me, Rose is an injury waiting to happen this year, it was going to happen at some point in the playoffs, just a bummer it had to be the first game.

 

[champs99and04]

I really don't understand the whole "Shouldn't have been in the game with a minute left" argument. By that logic, why even have practices? Why lift weights? You can get hurt outside of games. Normally I wouldn't expect him to be in the game at that time, but with him missing chunks of a season, he really needed to get back into rhythm in live game action. IMO, it's silly to put any blame on Thibs for that. Just bad luck.

 

[aceboon]

Yea I don't agree with Rose being in but with the way his body broke down this year the likelihood of him lasting for the entire playoffs was unlikely.

It's official D. Rose tore his ACL done for the year. Thibodeau is the best coach in the nba but he's going to catch some serious heat for having Rose in the game. Nonsense if you ask me, Rose is an injury waiting to happen this year, it was going to happen at some point in the playoffs, just a bummer it had to be the first game.

 

[hoopsknowitall]

As a long time suffering Knicks fan, the day the Knicks find someone stupid enough to take Melo off their hands will be they day the franchise takes a huge step forward. Its crunch time and as usual the real him shows up.

Seven out of eight years his teams have been eliminated in the first round and he's shot around forty percent to boot. What a waste of big bucks.

 

[UConn990411]

If you want to complain about a waste of money, Amare's the guy. That contract looks like it's gonna be a disaster.

And there was no crunch time in yesterday's game, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. But for the past month and a half, Melo has been as clutch as anyone.