Spurs lost to Memphis, imo they get bounced in the first round. on the other hand, Heat barely got by the Rockets, if anyone is going to take the 8 spot from Hornets, i think it will be Houston
Who will win the west?
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the spurs have lost 4 in a row and people are starting chime in that they are going to get caught. I still think their lead is safe, but they draw the celtics tonight and a loss means either the mavs or lakers are going to be under 3 games back. welcome to injuries spurs! you were the only team that didn't face some this year and all that talk of resting your stars doesn't really matter if your guys are injured when it counts the most. if they are not healthy come playoff time they will not make it very far at all.
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everyone's back in the lineup tonight. they should hold on to the number 1 seed... just barely.
yeah. that number 1 seed is big because it appears the spurs will avoid the lakers and mavs in the 2nd round, but late in the season some of the teams at the bottom have started to impress me a lot more. OKC certainly can beat them. Teams like Portland and Denver are playing well. Midway through the season it looked like it was impossible for the lakers, mavs, or spurs to lose to one of those other teams. even OKC had a slow start. but now these teams are playing strong. it's not out of the question to see an upset or a 7 game series or two..
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i won't be surprised to see SA upset... Memphis has had their number... or the Mavs just because... well... they're the Mavs and the Blazers and Denver are playing good basketball. but I'll be stunned if the Lakers lose before the conference finals... and really, i'll be pretty surprised there too.
said it before and i'll say it now... only team that really has a shot to beat them is the Thunder. They're got the dynamic scorers, a PG who will punish the Lakers in the matchup and with Perkins, the defender who gives Laker big men fits... not to mention a couple other heavies to lean on the Lakeshow.
maybe so....we have seen OKC play LAL in the playoffs recently and they pushed LA to the limit(almost). so it's easy to say that OKC is a tough match for them...same for the celtics. a lot of these other teams don't have recent playoff history with LAL...so obviously LAL are going to get the benefit of the doubt. with the thunder people can simply look to last year and say yeah the thunder give LAL problems in the playoffs...so you win that arguement every day of the week.
The dallas matchup is interesting because they have no playoff history. Anything dallas does in the regular season doesn't matter because of their playoff failures. and if the lakers lose in the regular season then it doesn't matter because of their playoff success or someone was injured or their heart wasn't in it etc. so it can't really known how these teams will match up in a 7 game series when it counts for everything night after night.
the mavs have a deeper team when compared to previous years. and dirk is probably the second best player behind kobe in the west(although durant will soon reign alone at the top). I think they will make it to round 2 at least, but playing the lakers will mean their greatest playoff test ever. even more than what they faced along the path when they made the finals that one year. tonight is a huge game for playoff seeding purposes. of corse if the mavs win it doesn't matter....if they lose they are bums. nothing matters until they beat a team like LA in the playoffs.
another interesting point is a lot of these teams in the playoff race that will face LAL have not faced them lately(in the last 2 years). The last few tough matchups for the lakers have been: Denver, houston, OKC, phx, jazz. Of those teams only OKC is a possible foe. the rest of the club have not faced lakers in the playoffs lately or at all. the spurs have, but it seems like it has been a while since we've even seen those two have a marquee matchup when both were true contenders in the same year.
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it's funny that Manu4Five conveniently disappears when his team goes into the tank.
very true. tonight with a full roster, and rested spurs club, they lost at home by a healthy margin to an elite team. they have lost games without key players. I think they are great, but they are not picking the best time to have these type of problems.
I like what I see from dallas in the first half of LAL game. they are bringing it. hopefully it can last. they need to protect the ball more though. too many careless turnovers.
Cheesewater
(ex-Uriah Heep)
Boy it's a veritable Punk-A-Thon on TNT tonight. First the Celtics/Spurs game in which I wished BOTH teams would get sucked into a vortex to another dimension...and now the Tournament of Idiots that is Lakers/Mavericks.
My bracket (unrelated to position, just random draw):
Jason Terry vs Derek Fisher
Matt Barnes vs Juan Jose Barea
Tyson Chandler vs Andrew Bynum
I wish the Mavericks would just barely beat the Lakers by .5 points and then everyone on both rosters except Shawn Marion would break their ankles walking off the court.
My bracket (unrelated to position, just random draw):
Jason Terry vs Derek Fisher
Matt Barnes vs Juan Jose Barea
Tyson Chandler vs Andrew Bynum
I wish the Mavericks would just barely beat the Lakers by .5 points and then everyone on both rosters except Shawn Marion would break their ankles walking off the court.
elindholm
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He's just waiting for Splitter to put up another big stats line in garbage time so he can come back and crow about it.
Surely Splitter is better than Robin Lopez though.
Cheesewater
(ex-Uriah Heep)
I'm sorry you have to put up with that punk Jason Terry on your team. What a piece of work. That's not fighting that's just cheap crap.
nope, I don't mind terry's antics. I actually like that. every team needs a spark plug. what I don't like is that terry has disappeared offensively the last two times they've played the lakers. the mavs backcourt is the biggest weakness vs. LAL(particularly on defense). if they don't score they will lose. terry, beaubois, kidd, and barea have to score points for the mavs to have a chance. I like the fact that they are being physical with LA. terry gets too scared to go inside.
the lakers have barnes and artest, derek fisher etc. these guys do stuff like that all the time. artest just did a WWE move and earned a foul call.
Don't get me wrong, what terry did to blake was cheap, but it has been a physical game with everyone. and he should get suspended. but you could tell this one coming from the on set. this was a physical game that both teams wanted. the refs started calling T's on petty stuff so it leads me to believe that the players were really pumped on both sides. you knew it was going to happen eventually. barnes almost started a scuffle in the last game when he got fouled hard by cardinal. he has been waiting for that moment.
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they lost by 30. ain't nothing good about a team pounding you into frustration and blowing up.
Cheesewater
(ex-Uriah Heep)
Mavs are soft.
it's funny...you got guys like c webb or other people calling their mavs soft from a chair. they get in a scuffle and people call it cheap and dirty. they get mad because dirk won't hit someone, yet the next play down the court he gives a hard foul and he should be fined? he makes kobe shoot free throws instead of giving a break away dunk, but he's a jerk for doing it? Like I said before the game. There is nothing the mavs can do to be right. If they win in the regular season it doesn't matter. if they lose...they are soft bums. If they fight..they are cheap and dirty cry babies. yet barnes and artest can do anything and they are strong winners. hell they can get drunk and fall down the stairs and it will be praised because they play for the lakers.
c webb...you were soft. if this was coming from someone of relevance then maybe I would respect it. webber has always bashed dirk when given the chance. this is nothing new.
I still think the mavs have a shot. they fought hard in that game, they just couldn't score. give the lakers credit they are the better team.
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yeah at the half everything looked good. they matched up in everything, rebounds, points in the paint, shooting percentage, defense, etc. In the second half it got away from them. they couldn't score other than dirk and the lakers were doing a good job doubling him. when odom started going off the game was over. odom is my 6th man of the year. If you are a 6th man you can't do what terry did and get outshined like that by odom. the hustle and effort was there...except for the 3rd quarter. give the lakers credit because they did everything right and they are clearly the better team. if i were picking the series i would pick lakers.What the heck happened? Mavs lose by 28 after being down only 3 at the half.
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no, but it makes for an interesting playoff series. and it lets both teams know that it is serious. it brings the teams together. I mean what happened when horry got frustrated and hip checked nash in a game that was over? it actually rallied the spurs and hurt the suns. It was still dirty and I'm not advocating it. I still think the nba got it wrong suspending amare who had nothing to do with the play and made an emotional decision to run a few feet. but a simple play like that sent a message right or wrong. and it got the reaction that horry was looking for apparantly.
I'm just saying that you don't lay down and let guys dribble into the lane and get layups no matter what the score is. especially if this is a team you are going to face again. if they took offense to it and wanted to fight then so be it. we know that barnes is going to fight and lose his cool. we also know that he would have done the same exact thing terry did at the other end at some point. again in the last game the same exact thing almost happened, but barnes kept his cool. a hard foul almost caused him to snap. he's been waiting for this chance.
at the end of the day, the mavs have to play a lot better or they will be an early exit.
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a 4-1 series blowout doesn't interest me and that's what that series is going to be.
it hurt the Suns because it decimated our team on the court. what Terry did did no such thing.
right... only problem here is the Mavs probably just gave the Lakers even MORE reason to try and humiliate them. Horry's move was one which took Suns players off the court. Terry's move bonded the Lakers together. The effect of those moves IMO are gonna have complete opposite effects. all Terry did was wake a sleeping giant last night to give them even more motivation.
The Lakers will win the West. The only team that stands a chance against them is the Spurs. Mavs have no shot. None. I am saying it...calling it right now. Mavs have no shot.
I have watched several Mavs games over the past few weeks. The team is still soft both mentally and physically. They are a fun team to watch but they are not a contender.
I have watched several Mavs games over the past few weeks. The team is still soft both mentally and physically. They are a fun team to watch but they are not a contender.
