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On May 28 2009 13:26 Jibba wrote:Show nested quote +On May 28 2009 13:05 Xeris wrote:On May 28 2009 12:53 Jibba wrote:On May 28 2009 12:51 Xeris wrote:
ya that's true, but again.. calls get missed here and there all the time. in the long run it events out. Nene has been acting like a thug the entire season, it's not just these plays that pushed him over the edge, he's just like that always True. I was expecting Billups or someone to pull him away before he picked up that tech, but no one came to the rescue. >.> JR Smith 1-10 3PM-A It's tough cause they can't just drive it if Odom plays that well. I don't get why Chauncey keeps passing up so many 3s lately. I really don't think you can win a title with players that streaky on your team. What does this say about the Lakers and Odom/Bynum/Rad/etc.? Honestly, I don't think what you said is true at all, but if they play a major role they at least need to be better than 50%. So far Smith has had 1 decent offensive game out of 5.
Well that's the issue. The Lakers players have been fairly inconsistent in this year's postseason, but they normally are not. So it's difficult to tell...
Example: Fisher, Vujacic, Bynum (last year and before Bnyum got hurt) were very very consistent. You knew exactly what you would get out of them on any given night and they produced X amount of stuff per game. This postseason that's been all out of whack.
Odom has always been inconsistent - but it's not in the same way as J R Smith. When Smith is off, he'll shoot 20% and contribute NOTHING. When Odom is off, he might still get 10 rebounds and be a presence. He might not be getting 20/15 with 3 blocks, but he'll at least contribute something.
So... Odom is like a +1 streaky player in that even when he's playing badly, he's at least contributing.. J R Smith contributes close to nothing when he's not "on". If the Lakers can't solve a lot of their issues, I really would doubt their ability to win a title. Example, I think Lakers vs Cavs would be a 50/50 tossup (Clevland has a big shot at winning it), although I think the Lakers have a better shot against Orlando. But in general, with the way the Lakers have been playing in the playoffs, even if they DO win, I would say 8 times out of 10 they wouldn't win with what they have been doing so far.
IMO they'd be lucky to win it at this rate, unless something big happens between now and the next 7-8 games
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the most important thing is: 5 wins left.
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On May 28 2009 16:08 Xeris wrote:
the most important thing is: 5 wins left.
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lol odom where did that come from. he hasn't had a game like that since utah, when odom is dunking on people and scoring in the paint good luck to the opposition. lakers looked GOOD in the 4th tonight, they might be putting it together finally
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the game mood totally change with 3 mins left in the 3rd. Lakers started playing defense like it is the last 3 mins left in the game and they are down by 10. It was a pretty sight to see some great shut down defense all the way from end of 3rd to the end of the game.
Denver was only able to score 18 point in the last 15 mins of the game.
I think the offensive inconsistency of the lakers is over shadow by their unwillingness to play their defense. if they play like the way they did in the last 15 mins of last night's game for the entire duration of the game, they don't need to score over 100 points every night to win.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Cavs will win 3 in a row if they can overcome the Magic tomorrow. For a team that has gone so well in the regular season they just can't die without so much as the whimper they've put up so far.
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Cavs got out played in all 4 games, they got a lucky 1 second left in the 4th in game 2, but not so lucky in game 4th. Maybe one or two, but not all 3. especially when Lewis is shooting lights out like the way he is. Magic is a decent team, people need to recognize them for their achievements this year. and James needs to wake up his team and tell them to play better defense, they are failing at defense big time, it doesn't matter how good they do offensively, if they fail at defending a good 3 point shooting team like the magics (aka open 3pt shots every other position) they are not likely to beat the magics. Just thinking about that last 3pt shot Lewis took in game 4, he came off a pick and Cavs defense did not rotate and just left him wide open. How hard can it be to learn how to fight the pick and roll? it was not even that confusing of a pick ( ex: double pick to involve 3 defenders to create more confusion on who to cover the roller and who to cover the picker)
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Nice article. I agree with Simmons on this issue, that the refs have just become so inconsistent with their calls that it makes the game not about who's playing better but about guessing which plays get called fouls and which plays get passed.
I think ultimately, we need a consensus from the players and coaches and media and blogs to get a change done. It can be done, like when David Stern thankfully decided to switch back to the old leather ball instead of the modern-designed, terrible for your hands composite ball.
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Wow, I am so freaking happy that the Cavs lost even though im in cleveland i hate them, im putting all the money i can get my hands on against them.
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Seems like ESPN is on a roll today. :D
Chris Broussard also wrote a short, yet interesting article and thought to ponder.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=broussard_chris&page=MJShadow-090528
While the NBA has most definitely changed from decade to decade, it really seems that any wing-type player that enters the NBA has so much to prove thanks to MJ. Kobe and LeBron are two truly great and gifted players, especially Kobe (not trying to make this a Kobe / LeBron debate). But everything Kobe, LeBron, and even Wade or any other wing player does, will be compared to Michael. Is that really fair to these guys?
Broussard brings up some interesting examples in Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and some of the other all time greats. We don't discredit Robertson for winning his championship with a young Kareem; or the fact that Jerry West lost SEVEN times in the NBA finals before winning his only ring. Yet we call him Mr. Clutch. Or the fact that Magic Johnson had an incredible supporting cast.
I don't deny that the names mentioned above are amazing players and HOFs. But when it's all said and done, some of these newer guys might need to be evaluated on the same playing field (before MJ came into the picture). Sometimes we expect TOO much out of players like LeBron and Kobe. And I guess that's attributable to all the hype that's created by the NBA and the media.
It's definitely up for debate! 
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I don't know if I've ever read a simmons article that I didn't like
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Simmons podcast with Mark Cuban! awesome, lol.
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Good article.
Am I the only one who thinks this is the Tim Dun era? This guy is just incredible and has it all : leadership, solid play and moves, consistent and all the titles and awards to back his claim.
Since I don`t have a Kobe jersey ( 0 out of 2) nor I live in L.A. nor I base my opinion about points scored or flashy dunks made I fail to understand how Kobe could outshine Shaq, Garnett, Nash, Timmy or the other greates playing the game of basketball at the moment. So you could say that "Well 20 years ago a player called Kobe Bryant played the game, back in that time basketball was way better than it is now and this guy just stood above everybody else". You can`t even say it now. I think you could say that about Duncan years later.
Lebron although will be a powerhouse, no doubt about that.
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Duncan wtf. words got erased
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^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good article. Simmons touches up on the subject in his article as well. One ref calls it HIS way on HIS side of the court and the other ref or refs call it THEIR way on THEIR side of the court.
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One thing is bad foul calls need to be rescinded more often by the tape the second it's called. When they are rescinded it's after the game. When you clearly see phantom calls being made when another player touches Lebron or Nene picking up fouls out of thin air it's pretty sad. The refs have no accountability and that needs to change. They also need to figure out what they think is the best possible solution for when the refs make a bad call rather than sending a player to the line.
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While you don't want to delay the game too much, they might be able to use instant replays more often to possibly overrule a call; and perhaps the league can implement a challenge system similar to the NFL. That might be a start.
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first they need more refs, 3 guys cant watch 10 players, they should have 10 refs each designated to watch each player on the court
then they need to use replays to make sure every call is right, i dont care if the game is twice as long because of it, having a fair game is worth it
simply just doing these two things would easily solve the problem but they will never do it of course
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EPT
