2011 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Covert Rain]

Personally I would be shocked if Dallas did not win the Championship this season regardless of the opponent. This Dallas team was made for the Championship and this year they can weather the challenge because of the way are put together. Dirk is playing like an MVP, they have veteran leadership, size and their depth gives them the edge. This is my prediction and I will stand by it.

Dirk is the best player in the playoffs to this point IMO. LeBron would be my 1B so to speak. It's close but I give the edge to Dirk. Nobody has been able to stop him. I just don't think Dirk has another "unstoppable" player on that team like Miami does.

 

[Cheesebeef]

That appears to me to be the case.

But I understand Perkins isn't 100% healthy. We'll see what his effect is when he is.

not sure I buy that Perkins didn't make a difference. Last year's Thunder team was an 8 seed that won 2 playoff games and got bounced in the first round. This year's Thunder team (with Perk being the only different player on it) was a 4 seed, won 9 playoff games and got to the Conference Finals. Those are pretty big steps for a ridiculously young team to take.

but yes... it destroyed what the Celtics had built. That team was so tight chemistry-wise which is what made them so tough to beat. I mean, that team last year had very little bench and KG still hobbling and almost won the title IMO because of the tremendous chemistry and know how that team had. Disrupting that with a major trade that not only monkeyed with chemistry but also made them smaller just made no sense whatsoever.

 

[Lorenzo]

Dirk is the best player in the playoffs to this point IMO. LeBron would be my 1B so to speak. It's close but I give the edge to Dirk. Nobody has been able to stop him. I just don't think Dirk has another "unstoppable" player on that team like Miami does.

I agree. the mavs are different than the heat and some of these other playoff teams with multiple all stars in the sense that they do it by committee. they have so much depth that it is tough to stop them all. just when you think you've stopped one or two of them....here comes another guy stepping up. even in that game 3 in OKC dirk and terry both had bad games, but they stepped up when they had to to win the game. a year or two ago there was no way that the mavs would win a single playoff game if terry and dirk both scored below 20 in a game.

 

[Folster]

not sure I buy that Perkins didn't make a difference. Last year's Thunder team was an 8 seed that won 2 playoff games and got bounced in the first round. This year's Thunder team (with Perk being the only different player on it) was a 4 seed, won 9 playoff games and got to the Conference Finals. Those are pretty big steps for a ridiculously young team to take.

but yes... it destroyed what the Celtics had built. That team was so tight chemistry-wise which is what made them so tough to beat. I mean, that team last year had very little bench and KG still hobbling and almost won the title IMO because of the tremendous chemistry and know how that team had. Disrupting that with a major trade that not only monkeyed with chemistry but also made them smaller just made no sense whatsoever.

I don't buy it. Perkins barely played this season for either team due to injury. He didn't play a single game until Jan. 25 and only played 12 games (started 7) for the Celts prior to the deadline deal. He played only 17 for the Thunder. The Thunder's improvement this year wasn't due to him, but to another year of maturation and development of the team. I'd point to Westbrook's improved regular season play as the biggest factor for their improvement.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I don't buy it. Perkins barely played this season for either team due to injury. He didn't play a single game until Jan. 25 and only played 12 games (started 7) for the Celts prior to the deadline deal. He played only 17 for the Thunder. The Thunder's improvement this year wasn't due to him, but to another year of maturation and development of the team. I'd point to Westbrook's improved regular season play as the biggest factor for their improvement.

I don't know. the thunder without Perkins were playing .646 ball prior to Perkins, and played .765 ball with him. And I'm pretty sure stats showed they improved defensively with Perkins in the lineup as well.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I can't stand watching Miami play. For a supposed "great" team, they play such an un-great brand of ball... Their collective fundamentals are so bad. They consistently look so average and seem to win a lot of games simply because the other team played more badly than they did. I mean, with 3 "Superstars", this is what we get? Meh... they'll beat the Bulls eventually. But, if the Mavs don't choke, the Heat could be in bigtime trouble....

 

[Proteus]

Ugh. The Heat win 83-80 after being down 77-64 with 3:14 left in the 4th quarter.

Rose missed a free throw with 26.7 seconds left in the 4th quarter that would have tied the game at 81.

I really don't like the Heat.

 

[Cheesebeef]

jesus... when did LeBron become not just clutch, but RIDICULOUSLY clutch?!

this will be the most exciting NBA Finals since Bulls v. Suns. Tons of superstars, ALL in their prime. 7 game war and the Heat take it at home, pissing off pretty much the entire world.

 

[Gee!]

Heat going to the Finals.. I wasnt ever scared about this series as I stated before it started.. They were some exciting games and the Bulls will be contenders for years to come.. But this year was never meant for them.. They are a couple years away, maybe one more year away..

But yes.. My Heat baby win it and about to show the Mavs something they havent seen this playoffs yet..

 

[Cheesebeef]

and Boozer, in a must-win, tallies 6 points, 5 boards. Dude's the PF version of Phoenix Suns Shawn Marion. Tortilla.

 

[Cheesebeef]

If I'm the Bulls, I'd make a hard push for a Noah/Deng and picks for Dwight trade.

you match Rose/Howard up and you have the uber-super-star Rose needs to play with. Otherwise, the Bulls are gonna be second fiddle to the Heat for a while.

 

[Folster]

If I'm the Bulls, I'd make a hard push for a Noah/Deng and picks for Dwight trade.

you match Rose/Howard up and you have the uber-super-star Rose needs to play with. Otherwise, the Bulls are gonna be second fiddle to the Heat for a while.

They also should have pursued Stoudemire instead of Boozer in free agency. They could have used his scoring, and imagine if Thibodeau actually got Stoudemire to play D. James and Wade screwed them over by making them wait, but they likely wouldn't have competed with NY's offer for Stoudemire anyway.

 

[Cheesebeef]

They also should have pursued Stoudemire instead of Boozer in free agency. They could have used his scoring, and imagine if Thibodeau actually got Stoudemire to play D. James and Wade screwed them over by making them wait, but they likely wouldn't have competed with NY's offer for Stoudemire anyway.

have always thought the same thing. It's not even like they got Boozer because he was a better defender then Amare. He's a better rebounder, but not all that much and he just shrinks in the playoffs every year. You put Amare on that team with Rose and they probably don't lose anything on D and have a legit power player to go to, not to mention someone who Rose could KILL people with on the pick and roll.

Giving Boozer 80 million will haunt the Bulls for a while i think, kind of like that ridiculous 66 million dollar contract the Cavs gave Larry Hughes instead of offering it to Joe Johnson back in the day.

 

[slinslin]

As expected Miami easily put away the Bulls.

Mavs won't do much better.

Derrick Rose was not a worthy MVP should have been Howard or Lebron anyway. The Bulls had the best record and all but that was largely due to their defense. 39%FG shooting in the playoffs for Mr. Rose.

 

[JCSunsfan]

K

They also should have pursued Stoudemire instead of Boozer in free agency. They could have used his scoring, and imagine if Thibodeau actually got Stoudemire to play D. James and Wade screwed them over by making them wait, but they likely wouldn't have competed with NY's offer for Stoudemire anyway.

amares offense only game makes him a poor fit in lots of situations

 

[slinslin]

Boozer is much worse defensivelz than Amare.

 

[Covert Rain]

Boozer is much worse defensivelz than Amare.

Let's not get ridiculous now. Amare is worse.

 

[Lorenzo]

Heat going to the Finals.. I wasnt ever scared about this series as I stated before it started.. They were some exciting games and the Bulls will be contenders for years to come.. But this year was never meant for them.. They are a couple years away, maybe one more year away..

But yes.. My Heat baby win it and about to show the Mavs something they havent seen this playoffs yet..

I think the mavs will give the heat something that they haven't seen either. Like when your 5th or 6th best player comes off the bench and scores more than 20 points. and it is all based on how this mavs team is assembled. our best player shooting a fade away jumper(to close the game) is not a weakness. it is actually a high percentage shot.

I think this will be a good series and the two best playoff superstars are playing head to head. but the best team will win this series. that will be the mavs. simply put...for the heat to win this series they must get contributions from other players. wade and lebron won't win this series alone(with their high scoring)...no more than westbrook and durant couldn't.

 

[Magnus]

Yes, but the Heat also have Bosh, who has been the number one scorer on several occasions during these playoffs.

They need just one more guy from the bench to produce well, and that's it. It can be Haslem, it can be Mike Miller, it doesn't really matter. I don't like the Mavs chances all that much, but I'll be pulling for them, I think Kidd really deserves a ring for his excellent career.

It will be a great series to watch, that's for sure.

 

[Gee!]

I think the mavs will give the heat something that they haven't seen either. Like when your 5th or 6th best player comes off the bench and scores more than 20 points. and it is all based on how this mavs team is assembled. our best player shooting a fade away jumper(to close the game) is not a weakness. it is actually a high percentage shot.

I think this will be a good series and the two best playoff superstars are playing head to head. but the best team will win this series. that will be the mavs. simply put...for the heat to win this series they must get contributions from other players. wade and lebron won't win this series alone(with their high scoring)...no more than westbrook and durant couldn't.

Heat have the second best defense.. And dont discount Haslam, Miller and Bibby and sometimes Jones..

 

[Lorenzo]

Heat have the second best defense.. And dont discount Haslam, Miller and Bibby and sometimes Jones..

well this game is going to come down to the 4th quarter in most of the games. I really doubt that either team is going to get blown out of games. although dallas clearly has more of an explosive offense. both teams know how to close it out. both teams have multiple guys that can hit game changing shots. this won't be like the OKC or Bulls matchup for either team. this will be a new challenge for each team because both teams have multiple players that can hit big shots in the clutch. the dallas bench is clearly better than the miami bench. not even close. but the miami heat have 3 all stars in their prime to dallas' one.

 

[slinslin]

I doubt we will see more than 1 or 2 20+ point scoring games from any Mav player in the finals except Dirk and maybe Terry.

 

[Lorenzo]

I doubt we will see more than 1 or 2 20+ point scoring games from any Mav player in the finals except Dirk and maybe Terry.

dallas is built for balanced scoring. so they don't need multiple guys to score 20. the heat do though. If dallas can hold the big 3 players to under 90 points per game I think they can win the series.

 

[Russ Smith]

I agree with you analysis. that pretty much sums it up. in game 2 I actually thought that brooks was fortunate to win with that lineup. that small lineup worked for a little while, but the mavs had opportunities late in the game to come back from that 10 point lead. ultimately they ran out of gas offensively, but I do recall dirk having 16 of his 29 points in that quarter. brooks was billed a "genius" by some people for benching westbrook, but I actually thought he was lucky. should we really be surprised by any of these results? all year long dirk averaged about a point per min played against this team. they lost all their games at home to dallas. westbrook was having idenitity problems in the prior 2 series against weaker opponents. so I'm not shocked that those issues carried over here. the lights were just a little brighter.

at the end of the day the thunder were the most difficult team for the mavs to handle at the offensive end. they had guys that could hit outside shots and penetrate the lane at will. then their big guys were active on the boards and made the mavs pay when their bigs had to rotate to guard the lane. these were problems that portland and LAL really didn't present to dallas. these are problems that either the bulls or the heat would present to dallas as well because of their dribble penetration like the thunder.

I just think this was a manner of one team being too young and not able to close games out. they could get to the free throw line, but when they needed to hit big shots it seemed like their was way too much confusion. at the mavs end it was simple. they were going through dirk for everything down the stretch. and he came through every time.

Agreed on the last part but I do think if Brooks does a better job they probably are still playing. I think Dallas wins it in the end they are more experienced, but OKC got hurt by some of the moves Brooks made.

My real concern is that Westbrook gets his head on straight, he had way too many technicals and lost his cool too often. he's a fiery kid was at UCLA too but I can see his frustration wtih things there and I don't think it's I want to shoot more, i think it's what kind of offense is this?

That incident that got him benched in game 2 even Brooks admitted they didn't run the play and Westbrook was waiting on guys to move. he got mad, Brooks told him pass the ball and he said I was running the bleeping play. To me that says why don't you work on getting guys to execute the play and not pile on your 22 year old PG when the media is all over him.

Will be interesting I don't think it's KG and Marbury part 2 but I do think Brooks has some work to do with the offseason.

 

[Cheesebeef]

dallas is built for balanced scoring. so they don't need multiple guys to score 20. the heat do though. If dallas can hold the big 3 players to under 90 points per game I think they can win the series.

you said the same thing about Chicago.

The Big 3 aren't going to average 90 ppg and don't need to. Come on man, you're basically saying LeBron, Wade and Bosh ALL need to average 30 PPG to win the series. that's silly.