NBA Playoffs 2012

Paully D · 29-04-2012 8:11pm

You can be a great player and not a first class wanker at the same time.

Maybe LeBron will actually show up when it really matters this time given that he's so focused :rolleyes:

Borisss · 29-04-2012 8:15pm

First class wanker?! Really? For not giving much of a toss about DRose's knee while his team battle for a Championship? I mean..really?

Bulls fans still butthurt about 'the decision'?

killwill · 29-04-2012 8:17pm

I didn't see the interview but in his quote he said it was unfortunate but he is concentrating on the Knicks. I don't see that being first class wan&*r tbh.
I will go and look at the interview though and it is hard for me to judge with just a quote.

Atlanta V Boston, is this on at midnight our time???

Oat23 · 30-04-2012 3:16pm

buyer95 · 30-04-2012 7:30pm

Paully D wrote: »

The thing I'm hoping happens now is other sides start to underestimate the Bulls without D Rose. That would be a very dangerous thing to do.

CJ Watson is a baller and the Bulls full roster is better than any other in the NBA and a starting lineup of Watson, Rip, Deng, Boozer and Noah is still excellent, especially with Rip's record in the playoffs. Personally I think we'll have enough to dispatch of the 76ers and we're a deeper team than either ATL or the Celtics. The season is not over yet. Believe!

On a related note, nothing sums up the difference between LeBron and Wade more than their reaction to D Rose's injury:

LeBron: “It’s unfortunate that injuries happened for him and that team. But I’m worried about the Knicks. I’m not worried about the Bulls.”

Dwyane Wade: "It's very unfortunate. When I heard about it during the game I actually said a prayer for him and his family. You never want to see anyone get injured, especially a player of his caliber. Very unfortunate. D-Rose will do his best to rehab and get back to being D-Rose."

Your kidding yourself if you think the bulls can compete with Lebron and Wade without Rose. The Bulls are going home before the finals for sure, I think they will take the sixers but will crash out in the second round, and definitely will not be coming out of the east. There is a difference between, winning without rose against mediocre opposition, and winning without him against similar or better opposition in the playoffs. This years is the heat's to lose, I think it all shapes up for a heat okc finals

Carcharodon · 01-05-2012 12:13am

Fell asleep watching the Clippers game and didn't even check the score when I woke up, just presumed Memphis wrapped it up, they really threw that game away.

Rondo given 1 game suspension, pretty fair, you can never touch a ref, big no no.

Come on NY now, Anthony needs to bring his A game.

buyer95 · 01-05-2012 12:37am

Carcharodon wrote: »

Fell asleep watching the Clippers game and didn't even check the score when I woke up, just presumed Memphis wrapped it up, they really threw that game away.

Rondo given 1 game suspension, pretty fair, you can never touch a ref, big no no.

Come on NY now, Anthony needs to bring his A game.

15 points for anthony after the 1st quarter!

Carcharodon · 01-05-2012 1:50am

buyer95 wrote: »

15 points for anthony after the 1st quarter!

Yea, he is playing pretty well but NY don't seem to have an answer for LeBron, NY are just about hanging in there, Miami are threatening to pull away.

Carcharodon · 01-05-2012 6:14am

NY might bring the series back to Miami but really can't see them causing an upset overall especially now Amare is out, some idiot !
I hope indiana beat Orlando, I think they are a much better team.

Ock v Dallas is turning out to be a great series, Dallas have been unlucky but not sure what else they can throw at the Thunder.

SoulGuy · 01-05-2012 12:07pm

The one thing that I think might just be a bit of a disadvantage for the Heat is an easy path to the finals (I know this is a bit of an oxymoron here...). They should walk into the Finals, but they might do so without having to "dig deep" at any point. Considering how much LeBron shrinks when things don't come easy, that might be bad preparation for the Finals.

leggo · 01-05-2012 12:20pm

I'm very disappointed with the Knicks, they don't seem to have brought any kind of fight to the series and when Lebron comes alive he's decimating them. Then when he quietens down they just seem deflated and beaten. Can see this being 4-0.

I'm sad Magic couldn't get the W last night. Taking a 2-0 lead to Orlando would've really been a confidence boost. But Indiana are a good team so, if we do lose to them, I'm okay with that. With the mess our season turned into, we don't deserve to do well in the play-offs. Still, massively impressed by Big Baby.

Loving Mavs/OKC too. Be a shame if this finishes 4-0, I'd love to see them go the distance as they never seem to have a dull game.

padraig_f · 01-05-2012 2:32pm

So sick about Derrick Rose. I was in shock for a day or two so I'm not sure what effect it has on the team, at least they had a couple of days off to adjust to it, and they've had enough practice playing without him this season.

I think they can get back to the conference finals, where they'll be underdogs, but watching the Heat last night, they still look beatable to me. The Knicks looked pretty bad on their defensive rotations, leaving the 3-point shooters wide open, Chalmers/Miller/Battier were a combined 8-15 from 3, they won't get such easy looks against the Bulls.

I thought this was the year for Carmelo to deliver in the playoffs, first year with a team, you get a bit of a pass, 2nd you have to deliver. He's been a combined 15-41 (36%) from the field in the two games against Miami, pretty shocking, and has a total of 4 assists. If he can't shoot at an efficient rate, he should be drawing double teams and kicking it out to their 3-point shooters. Lebron's a more efficient scorer, but has 12 assists over the two games.

Someone suggested Stoudemire punching the fire extinguisher was a reaction to the number of shots he got, and it's a plausible theory, he only got 9 shots last night to Carmelo's 26, and shot them at a much higher efficiency (6-9).

Paully D · 01-05-2012 2:55pm

buyer95 wrote: »

Your kidding yourself if you think the bulls can compete with Lebron and Wade without Rose. The Bulls are going home before the finals for sure, I think they will take the sixers but will crash out in the second round, and definitely will not be coming out of the east. There is a difference between, winning without rose against mediocre opposition, and winning without him against similar or better opposition in the playoffs. This years is the heat's to lose, I think it all shapes up for a heat okc finals

Where did I say we could?

All I said was that I think we can still get to the east finals and for that reason the season's not over yet.

For the record, I wouldn't expect us to beat them without D Rose over a series but we certainly can compete (if we get there). The Bulls have actually beaten Miami without Rose this season and beat them a second time when Rose scored 2 points. They're beatable.

GoldFour4 · 01-05-2012 6:09pm

Wow Amare is such a dumbass. Hurting his own hand like that. Didn't believe it when I read it at first. Hes fallen right outta sync in New York. Should never have left Phoenix in my opinion. He was made for that team with Steve Nash running pick and rolls with him all day.

padraig_f · 01-05-2012 6:50pm

buyer95 wrote: »

Your kidding yourself if you think the bulls can compete with Lebron and Wade without Rose.

I think they can, for a few reasons:
- The defense, best in the league, is just as good without Rose
- Rebounding. If the Knicks have outrebounded the Heat in both playoff games, the Bulls will have a real advantage there.
- Rip Hamilton is now healthy, which he hasn't been for much of the season, so can contribute to the scoring. He's averaged 20ppg in his playoff career.
- Still have home court advantage

There is a difference between, winning without rose against mediocre opposition, and winning without him against similar or better opposition in the playoffs.

I accept playoffs are different, but here's a stat: the Bulls have beaten every playoff team in the East this season without Rose playing (except the Pacers, but this is because they never played the Pacers with Rose out).

Are they underdogs? Yes. And they probably need to get hot from 3 in a couple of games to win, but it's possible.

Legwinski · 01-05-2012 8:40pm

Oat23 · 01-05-2012 10:23pm

Aha Shake wrote: »

padraig_f · 01-05-2012 10:43pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-ENGAsbLY

killwill · 02-05-2012 1:45am

padraig_f wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc-ENGAsbLY

Torn ACL and achilles. Are they the two most come long term basketball injuries?
3 lads I play ball with have each torn their ACLs and one mate did both his left and right Achilles (in different seasons).
You could tell immediately with Rose his ACL was gone with the jerk of his knee on impact. Makes me cringe everytime I see it.

Carcharodon · 02-05-2012 5:38am

Pretty shocking defense by the Bulls tonight in the second half, dunks and ally oops galore in the second half, they seemed to drop their heads and when they couldn't get anything going offensively they seemed to let it effect their defensive effort. Didn't protect the basket at all and was way too easy for the sixers to run all over them.

Hazys · 02-05-2012 4:06pm

leggo · 03-05-2012 8:52am

Think Utah and Magic can start making holiday plans for next week, they'll be going home shortly.

Magic's D was appalling last night, we just gave up in the 2nd half. Exactly the type of performance we didn't need. The only hope we had was getting a Saipan-like mentality going, determined to show we didn't need Howard, and rolling over for the Pacers like that is the complete opposite of what we want. I can see them taking us again on Saturday and wrapping it up in 5.

buyer95 · 03-05-2012 4:33pm

padraig_f wrote: »

I think they can, for a few reasons:
- The defense, best in the league, is just as good without Rose
- Rebounding. If the Knicks have outrebounded the Heat in both playoff games, the Bulls will have a real advantage there.
- Rip Hamilton is now healthy, which he hasn't been for much of the season, so can contribute to the scoring. He's averaged 20ppg in his playoff career.
- Still have home court advantage

Are they underdogs? Yes. And they probably need to get hot from 3 in a couple of games to win, but it's possible.

No offense, here but, in the regular nba thread, you made a not dissimilar claim that the knicks were better off getting the heat then the bulls, giving a myriad of reasons why the could compete and maybe even win.Just accept that the heat are a damn good team who defensively anyway are completely unmatched. I'm not going to get support here for saying this

Quote " The Heat are the most over-rated team in the playoffs and won't be getting out of the East. People keep tipping them to win, but they couldn't beat an aging Dallas team last year (standard is better this year), couldn't get the best record in East this year despite no significant injuries, and they've got worse as the season has gone on.

I think the Heat make a pretty good matchup for the Knicks. Wade hasn't been great the last few weeks, and Shumpert can defend him. Chandler can guard Bosh like he did in the finals last year. Lebron will get his points, but then so will Carmelo. And you'd probably take Shumpert/JR Smith/Novak/Fields over the Heat's supporting cast.

The Heat are one of the worst teams defending the 3-pointer, which is a big weapon for the Knicks (2nd highest team in 3-point attempts), and Chicago are one of the best at defending it. Chandler guarding Noah would mean the Knicks best defender is on the Bulls lowest-scoring starter, so he'd be a bit wasted there. The Bulls offense is more balanced this season, so limiting Rose won't be as effective as last year. Also the Bulls will kill the Knicks on the boards, they're 1st in rebound differential at +6.5, Knicks are 16th at -0.1, Miami +2.1.

Wade/Lebron/Bosh haven't played together in about the last 10 games of the season and I think will be vulnerable in the opening couple of games. That's the key for the Knicks I think, to steal game 1 or 2 in Miami. " Quote

I accept that certain circumstances have since prevailed (Shumperts injury) but the heat have blown the knicks out of the water in the 1st 2.

Paully D · 03-05-2012 8:08pm

Anyone give the Knicks a chance tonight then at home to Miami?

Borisss · 03-05-2012 9:37pm

No.

killwill · 03-05-2012 10:17pm

Paully D wrote: »

Anyone give the Knicks a chance tonight then at home to Miami?

Yup, I reckon they will scrape a win tonight, their only win of the series though.

padraig_f · 03-05-2012 10:40pm

buyer95 wrote: »

No offense, here but, in the regular nba thread, you made a not dissimilar claim that the knicks were better off getting the heat then the bulls, giving a myriad of reasons why the could compete and maybe even win.Just accept that the heat are a damn good team who defensively anyway are completely unmatched. I'm not going to get support here for saying this

Well I said that before Rose and Shumpert had their ACL injuries. The Bulls had a better record than the Heat, despite having injuries, and appeared to be healthy at that time. When you're the 7/8 seed, it's kind of pick your poison, you're never going to be favourites, and I thought they might be a better matchup for the Heat.

As it played out, the Heat have played better than I expected, and the Knicks played worse (I wasn't expecting Carmelo to shoot 36% from the field), and they picked up an injury to a key player (and now two with Stoudemire).

I'm not denying that the Heat are a good team, you just have to look at their regular season record to see that, I'm just objecting to a consensus that they're going to stroll to a finals. I think they're a flawed team and I don't think you have to be a particularly great team to beat them. e.g. the Mavs last year, I have a lot of respect for Dirk and Rick Carlisle, but that Mavs team isn't going to go down as one of the great championship-winning teams. It's probably not even the best Mavs team that Dirk played on.

So if the Heat didn't beat that team, what's different this year? I don't think Shane Battier makes that much of a difference.

We're only 2 games into the playoffs, and I stand by what I said. I think the second round should be a better indication of where the Heat are at, the Pacers' fortunes aren't so tied up in one player, and I think they have a real chance to win that series. If the Heat wipe the floor with the Pacers, maybe I'll revise my opinion a bit.

buyer95 · 03-05-2012 11:35pm

padraig_f wrote: »

Well I said that before Rose and Shumpert had their ACL injuries. The Bulls had a better record than the Heat, despite having injuries, and appeared to be healthy at that time. When you're the 7/8 seed, it's kind of pick your poison, you're never going to be favourites, and I thought they might be a better matchup for the Heat.

As it played out, the Heat have played better than I expected, and the Knicks played worse (I wasn't expecting Carmelo to shoot 36% from the field), and they picked up an injury to a key player (and now two with Stoudemire).

I'm not denying that the Heat are a good team, you just have to look at their regular season record to see that, I'm just objecting to a consensus that they're going to stroll to a finals. I think they're a flawed team and I don't think you have to be a particularly great team to beat them. e.g. the Mavs last year, I have a lot of respect for Dirk and Rick Carlisle, but that Mavs team isn't going to go down as one of the great championship-winning teams. It's probably not even the best Mavs team that Dirk played on.

So if the Heat didn't beat that team, what's different this year? I don't think Shane Battier makes that much of a difference.

We're only 2 games into the playoffs, and I stand by what I said. I think the second round should be a better indication of where the Heat are at, the Pacers' fortunes aren't so tied up in one player, and I think they have a real chance to win that series. If the Heat wipe the floor with the Pacers, maybe I'll revise my opinion a bit.

So basically your still saying that you think the Heat will not come out of the East? Last year Lebron and Wade were still acclimatizing to having 2 of the top 5 or 6 players in the league starting in their team, it was very much a case of, " is it my turn this time or should you go ." They seem to be playing more within themselves now, and as I have said previously that one two punch defense, especially in the next round , if it is the pacers, with Lebron guarding Granger, their primary offensive threat, we saw what he has done to Melo in this series, as you say yourself, 36% so far from the field, will straight away make it a difficult series for the pacers.Even if Hibbert can dominate Bosh downlow, the Heat will still force lots of turnovers. Another significant difference with the heat this year is that on turnovers they are really pushing the ball,ala Michael and Pip, Spoelstra has given consent for lebron, wade, and chalmers to push the ball hard. I believe if they had ran in last years finals against such a stacked veteran team that the Mav's were, and still are lebron would have his much sought after first ring...

buyer95 · 03-05-2012 11:46pm

Btw if anyone finds a good link for tonight post it here please if it isn't too much bother, thanks

killwill · 04-05-2012 3:00am

@buyer95 PM sent.

Durant really up for this. I am really starting to like OKC too I have to admit.

NBA Playoffs 2012

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