2009 NBA Finals *SPOILERS*

[nutty]

Anyone else love the NBA?

Finals/seeds have been decided, Cavs kept the #1 seed over the Lakers. LeBron James has played out of his skin all year and he should run away with MVP.. but a few people are saying Kobe has been holding back and waiting for playoffs.

Basically expect Lakers to fly through West, East will be interesting.. its going to be Cavs vs Magic/Boston or if the rest of Miami can stand up and D Wade doesnt have to carry Miami through, throw them in that mix.

http://www.nba.com/playoffs2009/series/index.html

I just paid for NBA TV, soo looking forward to it.. god I love finals!

[youtube] [/youtube]

[DexterPunk]

Lakers Vs Boston ftw!! hope so! Rondo is awesome!

[nutty]

I cant see it, Garnett is out for at least the first few series Link so even if they overcome the bulls (which they should) they would have to beat the Magic which with the way Howard has been playing will be a hard task, then beat the cavs.

[DexterPunk]

i have faith!! lol how long has KG been out for?? i saw a Celtics Lakers game earlier in the season and there was no Garnett.... the still won that game without him. Has KG come back and been injured since then?

[Shaun]

NBA is on one HD now for anyone who didnt know

[DexterPunk]

been watchin... Hawks are killin it.

[Shaun]

yeah i don't think miami can pull it back, especially with wade turning the ball over every few minutes

[DexterPunk]

yep... have to be a massive turn around now for hawks to lose it. they look the goods.

from previous results... like to say boston or lakers will win it, but i reckon Cavs will.

[DexterPunk]

I cant see it, Garnett is out for at least the first few series Link so even if they overcome the bulls (which they should) they would have to beat the Magic which with the way Howard has been playing will be a hard task, then beat the cavs.

1 down on the bulls :S

[Shaun]

lakers vs cavs in the final would be sweet

[DexterPunk]

have to admit id be going for lakers... but my pick is cavs right now.

[nutty]

Yea Celtics vs Bulls game 2 is on now, Rose played out of his skin game one. He looks like he will be a huge star in the future.. Great point guard with great court vision, just a really natural point guard. I cant see Celtics getting up in the series.

Wade had a shocking night he shot 8-21 and 8 TO, it seems like Miami just have there whole hopes on his shoulders and if he doesn't fire they are out. The thing is even if they beat hawks, they are going to get schooled by Cavs.

LeBron was fucking amazing in game 1

[Jiminee]

Garnett is in trouble (he is done for the season from what I read), just like Tim Duncan will be soon (he is already showing signs)
Both those guys have gone over the 1000 game mark this year and with the intensity both play at (especially Garnett) its just wear and tear. Celtics have a lot of money tied up in 3 old (and declining) guys now, but they got a championship out of it so well worth it.
So, Cavs v Lakers in the finals, with the Lakers winning it for me, Phil Jackson is already starting the mind games with Lebron (saying he would take Dwight Howard first if he was starting a team from scratch) and I just think the Lakers are too balanced, not that I would put money on them, Kobe could still try to take over at the wrong time and mess it all up.

[nutty]

Yep agree on all fronts Jiminee, Jackson's mindgames are insane from Wiki

Along with being called the "Zen Master", Jackson is known as the master of mind games. In the Laker film room before the 2000 playoffs, Jackson displayed images of Edward Norton's character from the movie American History X, who has a bald head and a tattoo of a swastika, alternating with photos with Sacramento's white, shaved-headed and tattooed point guard, Jason Williams. Jackson then displayed pictures of Adolf Hitler alternately appearing with Sacramento coach Rick Adelman. When Rick Adelman learned of this, he openly questioned Jackson's motivational techniques saying Jackson had "crossed the line".[19] Nevertheless, the Lakers went on to win the series and the championship.

In addition, in the 2001 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, Jackson had Tyronn Lue, a player on the Lakers team who was comparable in size and height to Sixers star Allen Iverson, wear a sock on his arm during Lakers practice to simulate Iverson's use of a compression arm sleeve as part of his regular gametime attire. Philadelphia media considered this to be a mind game tactic of Jackson's, but the main idea was to simulate what a game against Iverson is like, right down to the tattoos and cornrows (which Lue also had).[20]

PS the Boston vs Bulls game finished before, not sure if One is playing the game tonight, but you can see the game winning shot here
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... t_sot.nba/

[Shaun]

i just signed up for the finals tv package bring it on

[nutty]

Watched Jazz vs Lakers yesterday, Kobe was a machine..

Looks like the Celtic vs Bulls series is the pick of the lot, 2-2, and checkout todays game
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... recap.nba/

[nutty]

Celtic v Bulls went into OT again today, 4th OT in the series

[nutty]

And again yesterday, triple ot and one of the best clutch games of basketball ever.
its been called one of the greatest series of all time, if it wasnt the first round it would be by far the best series..

I dont think ive seen more game winning 3's ever

Game 6 highlights
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... recap.nba/

Top 10 plays from the series
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... hi_bos.nba

[DexterPunk]

i seem to keep missing games... im really busy at uni... bit anoying.

[nutty]

Game 7 is on oneHD this morning

[Jiminee]

Caught the end of it on ESPN radio, the Bulls got close but never quite got there. Noah and Miller fouled out which suggests the Celtics did a good job of attacking the rim - probably some experience coming through. The future looks good for the Bulls though, hope that Luol Deng contract doesnt hurt them much, he seemed to get a lot of DNP-CDs recently.

[nutty]

2nd round is done conference finals start up this week, been some good games Lakers/Rockets and Celtic/Magic went 7 games, Nuggets and Cavs just dominated which should mean they are fresher for the next series.

West

Lakers v Nuggets, When the Lakers are on they will beat every team, but against the rockets who had no McGrady and no Yao they came out in game 4/6 and looked sooo flat.. Nuggets on the other hand look like one of the best sides around, Billups was a great mid year pickup and has come in to lead the team.. The Nuggets are good, very good but this is the Lakers to loose.

East

Magic v Cavs, Cavs dominated the Hawks as expected, LeBron played like a MVP every night and while the Magic have such a solid team with Howard/Turkalu/Alston/Lewis I just cant see them getting up if James plays like he has been eg http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... recap.nba/

[Jiminee]

There is a good podcast at ESPN that explains KG's injury really well, basically he is in big trouble.

Anyway, listened to the game yesterday and not sure how the Lakers got away with the win but Kobe was dominating when it mattered.
I have a theory about his Game 7 performance (15 pts, 5 assists) against Houston but keep in mind I have not seen the game and I am basing this on what I have read. Basically there was no way Kobe was taking 30 shots in that game, no matter how hot he was. He just did not want to take the risk of them losing and having to put up with being blamed for it because he hogged the ball. I would love to watch the game to see if there is a noticable point when Pau Gasol realises its all on him to be the man and that Kobe was being a selfish punk!
Of course it could all be BS, maybe Battier and Artest just molested Kobe all night and took their chances on the rest of the Lakers finally stepping up, but even still there is no way MJ only scores 15 points in a Game 7 - ever, he wanted the glory and was prepared to take the risk of looking like a selfish ***** to get it. Mind you, MJ never went 5 years without winning a title once he got one either.
I love studying this kinda thing!

[nutty]

Hmm interesting, Ive found Kobe to be more of a streaky shooter, if he isnt in the game he tends to throw the ball around abit more and not make the shots rather then forcing it. While I didnt see game 7 he only hit 4-12 from the field, if your only shooting .33 your surely not going to especially if you have the talent around him like he does.
Kobe often gets compared to MJ but in reality its not even close.

The first game of both series have been played, Lakers won 105/103 and Magic won as well, LeBron had 49 points (20/30 from the field) and 8 assists, im going to head home and watch that he looked fairyl dominating from the highlights, but I guess it comes to what I kinda said before which the magic have a more skilled team and if LeBron has to do everything they wont win.
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/playo ... recap.nba/

[Jiminee]

He just always cops so much heat when they lose and het takes tons of shots that I think he advoids it now.
In the first 6 games he took 31, 27, 28, 17, 19 and 27 shots s to just take 12 was a big adjustment.

Kinda weird results in both Game 1s though, Lebron and Carmelo had huge games and sill somehow lost.