***Official NBA Thread***

[duffer]

Yeah, it's one big conspiracy, we know.

Every game this series has turned into a foul fest in the 4th. If that's not taking the game over then what is?

EDIT: See, 6 fouls in 4 minutes already. Makes for a terrible game to watch.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Every game this series has turned into a foul fest in the 4th. If that's not taking the game over then what is?

EDIT: See, 6 fouls in 4 minutes already. Makes for a terrible game to watch.

But that's playoff basketball. If a player commits a foul, they can't just ignore it. Yeah, there are always marginal ones, but it's the same for both team (although your bias will tell you otherwise).

Nene 4
Bynum 4
Fisher 4
Billups 3
Ariza 3

It's not like the foul trouble is going against YOUR team.

Look at Nene, made a dumb foul on a tough shot. It's his fault he is on 4 PF's, not the officials. Same goes for Ariza and Fisher, they have made some dumb reach-in fouls, it's their fault, not the officiating.

 

[duffer]

Playoffs are generally ref'd to a different standard to the rest of the season. Most of these fouls are offensive initiated contact or genuine challenge calls which is what's pissing me off right now. Very few clearly defined fouls in this game so far.

It's an issue the league has with Stu Jackson more than anything but it's reducing games to FT contests and is far less watchable.

Ah well, work meeting means I'll miss the 4th q. Shame, hope the Nuggets get up.

 

[Fusion]

All even after 3. Shame you'll miss the 4th Duffer, I expect it to be a thriller.

 

[Fusion]

Nuggets losing their cool. I would've thought they had learned from the Mavs. Whining and pouting isn't going to help.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Nuggets haven't scored in about 7 minutes. Terrible.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Dumb technical from Nene. Now on 5 fouls, and the Lakers threatening to run away with it.

 

[Fusion]

Kobe almost got his head taken off there by Melo.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

3-2 to LA, now back to Denver, and then hopefully back to LA again for an awesome game 7.

Odom was big in this one. LA needed more effort on the boards, and Odom came up big. Also 9 blocks between Odom and Gasol.

 

[Fusion]

Well I was wrong predicting the 4th qtr to be close. Lakers won it rather comfortably in the end. I fully expect Denver to win game 6 and I expect a close game 7. I would say the Lakers are the favorites ATM.

 

[Furball]

Heh, Nuggz still haven't gotten an inbounds play.

And scoring 40+ is the least you should expect when you're taking 30 shots a game. It's not his fault that he has a team of scrubs or Mike Brown doesn't bother coaching offence but up to a point you have to question how much a guy dominates the ball when his team ins't winning.

He had to dominate the ball in the last game though, given that the rest of his team decided to throw up bricks for the 2nd half.

Case in point, there was one point during the 3rd quarter where LeBron drove at the net, the entire Magic defence shut him down and he somehow despite being crowded out under the rim got a pass out to the number 13 (West iirc) who had a wide open 3, and he bricked it.

I'm fairly sure all of Williams' points came in the first half as well.

 

[duffer]

I never blamed Lebron for that, I blame his coach for not bothering to set up any offensive scheme apart form a Lebron iso or a high pick for Lebron. The team is set up for one player to more or less do everything and that can only work up till a point. And Delonte going 7-15 wasn't the problem, he plays great defense is safe and smart handling the rock and that's about his ceiling for offensive production; they have zero post up players and Mo is their second best player and All-Star support. (heh)

They need a floor coach like Chauncey or Kidd because with Brown they are pissing against the wind as far as a championship goes. Still think they've got a couple of big trades in them though, they have some nice contracts they can use.

Sort of happy I missed the last quarter. Reading a thread on a Spurs forum on it and it sounded painful. Missing 11 shots in a row, wow.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'm fairly sure all of Williams' points came in the first half as well.

Nah he had two good drives for lay-ins in the third.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

The only way the Nuggets were winning this series was if they won it in 6 at home. That game 3 loss is gonna come back to haunt them. There's no way the Lakers lose a game 7at home.

In fact, the Lakers really should've won this series in 5.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

In fact, the Lakers really should've won this series in 5.

You can throw that the other way though. If not for their **** inbounds play, the Nuggets could already be Finals bound.

 

[duffer]

Bill Simmons on twitter:

More fixed: Game 5 Den-LA, or the "random" lottery in Shawshank when Red & his buddies were picked to work outside on the roof?

And three minutes later probably after his boss called:

Just kidding, I actually thought LA deserved to win & would have won even w/o those 2 bogus Nene calls & 37 no-calls on 'Melo.

But seriously after watching the replay I thought Karl benching Melo for the first 4 minutes while the rest of his team were playing like ass water was the thing that gave all the momentum to LA. Goddamn I hate him so much, D-League tactician.

EDIT: Some more fallout from the game here and this pearl:

The Denver Post (Mark Kiszla) reports after the Lakers beat the Nuggets in Game 5: In an accusation that goes straight to the heart of the sport’s integrity, one member of the Nuggets shook his head in disgust after the game, and could not believe how cheap it was for Los Angeles to buy a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals. “The Lakers paid $50,000 to win that game. They got their money’s worth,” said a Denver player, not wanting to be identified for fear of retribution from the league

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

30-10 to the Cavs.
Mo showing up. LeBron shooting jumpers.

Great start. Want this one to go to Game 7 too.

 

[duffer]

Magic are switched off, they're resting on their homecourt by the looks of it. Dangerous attitude.

 

[Johnners]

Whoa, shooting 76% to Orlando's 26%.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Haha, all these cynics.
The Nuggets played like ****, and the best team won. Just like in the previous games where LA played like ****.

Players should stop crying and play.