Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, Captain Ned

 
Hawkwing74
His Holy Gerbilness
Topic Author
Posts: 13961
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:51 pm
Location: Streamwood, IL

NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 10:50 am

Who are your picks to make it/win the finals?
(yes, I know we already lost the 1st round teams, so it's easier to guess)

West - Lakers (Finals winner)
East - Cleveland
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:02 am

Lakers and Cleveland. Cleveland wins the series is six games. I'm rather torn by this series. I want Kobe to win and cement his legacy, while I also want Cleveland to win and help secure hope that LeBron will stay in Cleveland for his career.
 
Da_Boss
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:16 am

Lakers and Cleveland make the finals.

Lakers in 7. Hopefully.
2011 15" MacBook Pro Ci7 2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1066, Intel 510 256GB SSD
 
mattsteg
Gerbil God
Posts: 15782
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Applauding the new/old variable width forums
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:23 am

Skrying wrote:
Lakers and Cleveland. Cleveland wins the series is six games. I'm rather torn by this series. I want Kobe to win and cement his legacy, while I also want Cleveland to win and help secure hope that LeBron will stay in Cleveland for his career.

A loss would go a long ways toward cementing his legacy too. Could easily go either way at this point - selfish player who couldn't quite get it done without Shaq or player who matured enough to lead a team to the NBA championship.
...
 
idchafee
His Holy Gerbilness
Posts: 14060
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:39 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:24 am

mattsteg wrote:
A loss would go a long ways toward cementing his legacy too. Could easily go either way at this point - selfish player who couldn't quite get it done without Shaq or player who matured enough to lead a team to the NBA championship.


Especially since Shaq went on to win one without Kobe.
YOU CAN RUPTURE SOMEONE'S SPLEEN WITH A WATER BALLOON!!!!
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:41 am

mattsteg wrote:
A loss would go a long ways toward cementing his legacy too. Could easily go either way at this point - selfish player who couldn't quite get it done without Shaq or player who matured enough to lead a team to the NBA championship.


Kobe is selfish just like every all time greater scorer is selfish. It is sometimes hard to fault them when the system is built to support the actions and they can still take all their shots and have a higher percentage than even good scorers.

idchafee wrote:
Especially since Shaq went on to win one without Kobe.


Let's not forget that Shaq wasn't alone in Miami, he had Dwayne Wade who had a ridiculous Finals in many regards.
 
idchafee
His Holy Gerbilness
Posts: 14060
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:39 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 11:51 am

Skrying wrote:
Let's not forget that Shaq wasn't alone in Miami, he had Dwayne Wade who had a ridiculous Finals in many regards.


Wade was the MVP IIRC so this is very true. However, I don't think Shaq's ring says "But he had DWade so this ring doesn't count as much." :lol:
YOU CAN RUPTURE SOMEONE'S SPLEEN WITH A WATER BALLOON!!!!
 
LicketySplit
Gerbil God
Posts: 24502
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Soap Lake, Wa
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 12:03 pm

Bah...the Lakers are going to get there arse handed to them by Houston...and Boston will beat Cleveland in 7..soooo....i see a Boston/Denver final. Yeah...that would be pretty cool.
Just an old sheepdog waiting for some nasty wolves to show...ive got more than enough teeth left.
 
mattsteg
Gerbil God
Posts: 15782
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Applauding the new/old variable width forums
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 12:13 pm

Skrying wrote:
mattsteg wrote:
A loss would go a long ways toward cementing his legacy too. Could easily go either way at this point - selfish player who couldn't quite get it done without Shaq or player who matured enough to lead a team to the NBA championship.


Kobe is selfish just like every all time greater scorer is selfish. It is sometimes hard to fault them when the system is built to support the actions and they can still take all their shots and have a higher percentage than even good scorers.
Maybe he's matured into that over the past few seasons, but for the bulk of his career that just hasn't been true. He's been selfish by holding the ball too much and selfish by refusing to shoot at times, including the second half of a game 7.

The easiest way to beat the Shaq/Kobe Lakers was to lure Kobe into being a selfish idiot going 1-on-3 and hoisting up forced shots while one of the greatest interior players ever didn't touch the ball.
...
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 07, 2009 1:11 pm

idchafee wrote:
Skrying wrote:
Let's not forget that Shaq wasn't alone in Miami, he had Dwayne Wade who had a ridiculous Finals in many regards.


Wade was the MVP IIRC so this is very true. However, I don't think Shaq's ring says "But he had DWade so this ring doesn't count as much." :lol:


I think Shaq's rings say "I had DWade" or "I had Kobe" just as much as Kobe's say "I had Shaq" or potentially "I had Gasol and Odom."
 
Hawkwing74
His Holy Gerbilness
Topic Author
Posts: 13961
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:51 pm
Location: Streamwood, IL

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Mon May 18, 2009 2:06 pm

Can the Lakers keep going when a Houston team down 2 players took them to 7 games? I'm starting to doubt they can beat Cleveland.
 
leor
Maximum Gerbil
Posts: 4878
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:34 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Mon May 18, 2009 3:48 pm

Hawkwing74 wrote:
Can the Lakers keep going when a Houston team down 2 players took them to 7 games? I'm starting to doubt they can beat Cleveland.

they have to get past Denver first . . .
 
LicketySplit
Gerbil God
Posts: 24502
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Soap Lake, Wa
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Mon May 18, 2009 7:17 pm

Celts folded and they were the lesser team....and that sucks..but there is no WAY they get by Clevland and Lebron...as for the Lakers..i hope they lose in 4. Denver is PEAKING at the right time IMOHO...i hope they and the Cavs are in the finals...yep :wink:
Just an old sheepdog waiting for some nasty wolves to show...ive got more than enough teeth left.
 
IAmGhostDog
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 638
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:56 am
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 7:17 am

I gotta' like Denver in the west.
I think getting rid of Iverson and getting Billups was huge.
Cleveland in the east.
They are on a mission.
Should be a pretty good finals.
Sorry you network honcho's.
Kobe/Lebron ain't gonna' happen.
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 | AMD FX8350 Black Edition | Samsung 840 EVO 500GB | Corsair XMS3 16GB DDR3 | XFX R9 390 | Win7 x64
HT Omega Claro | Technics SL-1210 MKll w/ Stanton 681EEE MKlll | Klipsch Promedia v4.1 | Sennheiser HD 580 Precision
 
Hawkwing74
His Holy Gerbilness
Topic Author
Posts: 13961
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:51 pm
Location: Streamwood, IL

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 9:15 am

Sometimes I get paranoid that the NBA refs "slant" the series the way the want it to go with a few well-placed calls. It doesn't help that many NBA calls are very subjective.

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs "helped" LA along. They love those big markets.

/paranoid
 
BKA
Gerbil XP
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:11 am

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 9:21 am

EAST- Cleveland -FINALS CHAMP
WEST - DENVER

I say Denver because the Lakers played Houston with too much arrogance because they knew they could beat them anytime they wanted. They won't get away with that with Denver. They remind me of the Pistons when they played Cleveland in the East Finals a couple of years back, thinking they could just turn it on and off anytime they wanted to and got burned by it. Without Jameer Nelson Orlando won't have a chance and Cleveland also has this guy known as Lebron.
 
LicketySplit
Gerbil God
Posts: 24502
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Soap Lake, Wa
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 10:08 am

Yeah...id like to see a Denver/Cleveland final as well only with Denver prevailing. Ive loved George Karl for years. He got the bum rush here in Seattle..good coach. Chauncey was a huge acquisition for them and Melo is playing the best ball of his career. Since Boston folded without their big man..im pulling for Denver. Screw Kobe&Company!! Now they are passing their poor play off onto the coach which is a crock.
Just an old sheepdog waiting for some nasty wolves to show...ive got more than enough teeth left.
 
Da_Boss
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 11:58 am

BKA wrote:
EAST- Cleveland -FINALS CHAMP
WEST - DENVER

I say Denver because the Lakers played Houston with too much arrogance because they knew they could beat them anytime they wanted. They won't get away with that with Denver. They remind me of the Pistons when they played Cleveland in the East Finals a couple of years back, thinking they could just turn it on and off anytime they wanted to and got burned by it. Without Jameer Nelson Orlando won't have a chance and Cleveland also has this guy known as Lebron.


Naww... Lakers will destroy the Nuggets. here's why...

The playoffs is more about player-to-player matchups than team matchups. What people didn't realize is that even without Tmac and Yao, Houston had the best defensive backcourt in the league in Shane Battier and Ron Artest. Between those two guys, they managed to not only keep Kobe from putting up point totals, but they kept him out of the play all together by denying him the opportunities before he got the ball. Just look at his stats: He never put up huge numbers without taking 30+ shots. What's worse is that his assists are down too. They just took him out the game. The only way LA managed to win was because Gasol steeped up and dominated (which he shoulda been doing from the start), and Bynum plucked his head out of his ass and started playing basketball.

The Kobe issues won't be an issue with Denver. Nobody on that team can guard Kobe. Denver will not outplay LA on the defensive end. Their only hope is get into a scoring race with LA..

Let's be honest: Do you really think Mr. 9000 PPG Kobe and the Lakers will lose in a scoring race with Denver? Not Likely. Unless Melo can find a way to stop Kobe defensively in the same way Houston did, It's a lost cause. Over in 5.

As for Orlando vs. Cleveland? It's over in 5.
2011 15" MacBook Pro Ci7 2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1066, Intel 510 256GB SSD
 
BKA
Gerbil XP
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:11 am

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Tue May 19, 2009 12:58 pm

I agree about the player-to-player matchups. If Gasol and Bynum don't get it together they won't win. Nene and Martin will outplay them in the post. What I don't agree with is how you said Denver will not outplay LA on the defensive end. Billups plays better defense than Fisher as far as I'm concerned and hes a better shooter. I expect a good series without blowouts. It will be interesting to see how the teams adjust from game to game. Wait a minute, LA doesn't adjust from game to game they stick with the same offense and mostly the same defense. We shall see.
 
Da_Boss
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 8:54 am

BKA wrote:
I agree about the player-to-player matchups. If Gasol and Bynum don't get it together they won't win. Nene and Martin will outplay them in the post. What I don't agree with is how you said Denver will not outplay LA on the defensive end. Billups plays better defense than Fisher as far as I'm concerned and hes a better shooter. I expect a good series without blowouts. It will be interesting to see how the teams adjust from game to game. Wait a minute, LA doesn't adjust from game to game they stick with the same offense and mostly the same defense. We shall see.


Well, they stick with the basically offensive and defensive foundations, but they make adjustments. You have to.

Anyways, the game last night pretty much proved what I was trying to get at -- This series is going to be a score-a-thon. Kobe had 40, Melo had 39. Nobody had defense. Though I agree that Billups is a better defender than Fisher is, it's clearly still not enough to stop Kobe at the outside. I also saw that Denver has no answer for Gasol.. yet. Bynum better start stepping up before they find themselves down in the series again.
2011 15" MacBook Pro Ci7 2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1066, Intel 510 256GB SSD
 
BKA
Gerbil XP
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:11 am

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 9:07 am

Yea, the Lakers should consider themselves lucky they got the victory last last night after trailing the majority of the game. Denver probably wasted the easiest chance to steal a game on the Lakers court. I'm just glad it wasn't a blow out. From the looks of last night it will probably come down to game 7 with both teams winning 3 on their own court. Should be a great series, I hate that we traded Billups to Denver but he is excatly what that team needed to get over the hump.
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 2:09 pm

Kobe was stopped. It doesn't matter if he scores 40 points, if it took him 28 field goals and 14 free throws to get there then you're doing your job defensively. That is exactly why Shane Battier is such a force against Kobe. Kobe might still put up a ton of points but by making him highly inefficient you're playing at your greatest chance of winning.

This is also a prime example of why LeBron is SO MUCH better than Kobe is at this point. It also is exactly why Carmelo was far and away the best player on the court last night. 39 points off of 14/20 FGs and only 8 free throws! 4/5 from three point land! That is an amazing game!

Sometimes letting the star "get his" is the best way to plan. Watch how Cleveland is going to play Dwight Howard. Howard will likely get 20 points and 20 rebounds but Cleveland will likely use single coverage on him and cover up Orlando's three point shooters. This is a prime example of why Howard can't take over a game and shows no signs of ever being close to as dominating a force as Shaq was.
 
Da_Boss
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 3:10 pm

Skrying wrote:
Kobe was stopped. It doesn't matter if he scores 40 points, if it took him 28 field goals and 14 free throws to get there then you're doing your job defensively. That is exactly why Shane Battier is such a force against Kobe. Kobe might still put up a ton of points but by making him highly inefficient you're playing at your greatest chance of winning.

This is also a prime example of why LeBron is SO MUCH better than Kobe is at this point. It also is exactly why Carmelo was far and away the best player on the court last night. 39 points off of 14/20 FGs and only 8 free throws! 4/5 from three point land! That is an amazing game!

Sometimes letting the star "get his" is the best way to plan. Watch how Cleveland is going to play Dwight Howard. Howard will likely get 20 points and 20 rebounds but Cleveland will likely use single coverage on him and cover up Orlando's three point shooters. This is a prime example of why Howard can't take over a game and shows no signs of ever being close to as dominating a force as Shaq was.


I believe we have different definitions of 'stopped'. Sure he took 28 shots, but he also scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, including going 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the last 30 seconds. He still proved he's one of the best closers, and still demonstrated that Denver cannot hold him down when it counts.

Not that it's not impressive what Carmelo did last night, but after seeing Kobe score put down 81 points to down a team just to not have that L hanging over his head, maybe Melo shoulda taken 21 shots..
2011 15" MacBook Pro Ci7 2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1066, Intel 510 256GB SSD
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 3:42 pm

Carmelo had nothing to do with that loss. A terrible coaching decision on the inbound pass was a reason. K-Mart putting an absolutely terrible foul on Kobe was a reason. This Kobe as a "closer" is ridiculous, he has one of the worst clutch percentages in the category of "go to" guys in the league. Ironically, Carmelo has the best.

The 81 point game is what happens when a great shooter takes 46 shots and 20 free throws. I'm not saying Kobe Bryant isn't one of the greatest to ever play, he is. I'd consider him in the top 10 of all time. He, however, at this point in his career is a bit overstated and his points in a game are often times not favorable in terms of percentage or his team winning.
 
Da_Boss
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 242
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:27 pm

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 4:15 pm

Skrying wrote:
Carmelo had nothing to do with that loss. A terrible coaching decision on the inbound pass was a reason. K-Mart putting an absolutely terrible foul on Kobe was a reason. This Kobe as a "closer" is ridiculous, he has one of the worst clutch percentages in the category of "go to" guys in the league. Ironically, Carmelo has the best.

The 81 point game is what happens when a great shooter takes 46 shots and 20 free throws. I'm not saying Kobe Bryant isn't one of the greatest to ever play, he is. I'd consider him in the top 10 of all time. He, however, at this point in his career is a bit overstated and his points in a game are often times not favorable in terms of percentage or his team winning.


Maybe we looked at different sites....

http://www.82games.com/0809/QTR4S6.HTM

It looks a lot like Kobe is one of the best 4th quarter players in the game today. Hardly the overstated player you make him out to be, and a lot better than Melo. (7.3 points @ 43.6% vs. 5.1 points @ 41.4%)

Don't get me wrong, it's not that Melo wasn't the best overall player on the court yesterday. He was. It's just that Kobe is the kind of guy who can somehow muster a win from sheer determination. That's the difference between a champion (MJ), and a good player (Dominique Wilkins).
2011 15" MacBook Pro Ci7 2GHz, 8GB DDR3-1066, Intel 510 256GB SSD
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 4:27 pm

I was looking at the "game winning shots" and not the "clutch" and "super clutch", sorry.

This is where Melo is the best and where Kobe looks horrendous. Kobe gets a lot of shots in the final minutes of close games, but his chances of making that big shot are very bad. I would want him on the floor during the final 5 minutes but I would let Melo take that game winning shot.

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm
 
mattsteg
Gerbil God
Posts: 15782
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Applauding the new/old variable width forums
Contact:

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 4:41 pm

Skrying wrote:
I was looking at the "game winning shots" and not the "clutch" and "super clutch", sorry.

This is where Melo is the best and where Kobe looks horrendous. Kobe gets a lot of shots in the final minutes of close games, but his chances of making that big shot are very bad. I would want him on the floor during the final 5 minutes but I would let Melo take that game winning shot.

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

Or even Pau :)

Also...
Skrying wrote:
Kobe is selfish just like every all time greater scorer is selfish. It is sometimes hard to fault them when the system is built to support the actions and they can still take all their shots and have a higher percentage than even good scorers.
He doesn't have a good percentage in these situations...
Skrying wrote:
Kobe might still put up a ton of points but by making him highly inefficient you're playing at your greatest chance of winning.
He is and always has been vulnerable to that.
...
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Wed May 20, 2009 7:55 pm

Breaking back boards isn't going to win the game Dwight!

EDIT: I can't believe what just happened. How in the world did Cleveland let that slip away? Sigh, I had to listen to it over ESPN Radio but it just didn't seem like the rest of the Cavs had the same fire as LeBron.
 
BKA
Gerbil XP
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:11 am

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 21, 2009 5:52 am

Skrying wrote:
Breaking back boards isn't going to win the game Dwight!

EDIT: I can't believe what just happened. How in the world did Cleveland let that slip away? Sigh, I had to listen to it over ESPN Radio but it just didn't seem like the rest of the Cavs had the same fire as LeBron.


They didn't in the fourth quarter because most of their possessions Lebron went 1 on 5. Good hard fought victory for the Magic. I almost stopped watching at half thinking they would get blown out, glad I didn't.
 
Skrying
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1792
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:37 am
Location: Missouri

Re: NBA playoffs finals picks

Thu May 21, 2009 11:21 am

LeBron still shot his FGs at 50% during that "1 on 5" time. I have a hard time blaming him when no one on his team besides Varejao shot anything close to reasonable. Defense is the stat that sticks out the most in the second half for Cleveland. The first half was a great showing of how you can let Dwight Howard have a lot of points but if you keep Orlando's three point guys under control it is a easy win. Unfortunately, the second half was a great example of how letting those shooters hit their mark leads to a quick demise.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On