NBA

[Biter]

Also, Artest had 21 points and went 3 for 6 from behind the three-point line.

[Caliban]

In fact I'd give someone even odds and the Lakers right now and not feel too badly about it.

I would take those even odds with almost everything i have. No way Houston wins this series.

[Commodore]

I would take those even odds with almost everything i have. No way Houston wins this series.

I would agree, the Lakers shot awful from outside and Kobe had a down night, and they still kept it close.

[Caliban]

I would agree, the Lakers shot awful from outside and Kobe had a down night, and they still kept it close.

The Lakers have the combination of big men that give Yao trouble. Hes also visibly hobbled. I dont think he can have games like he did tonight. Maybe one. Houston still needs to take 3/6 against the lakers to win this series. I just dont see them doing it. Shame, because i think they are proably my favorite team still playing basketball and a Rockets-Cavs final would much more compelling then Nugs-Cavs / Lakers-Cavs final and would probably set new tv viewing records. Yao and Lebron being the two biggest draws in the world.

The Magic showed how bad the Bulls actually suck. I guess winning handily is what happens when you actually run an offense instead of trying to outslop Boston.

[Commodore]

screw you Kobe, of course there won't be a suspension

[ZANNI_1276]

Boston is about the dirtiest team I've seen in a long time, since the Bad Boys. Well SA Bowen and Thomas are cheapies, but the rest of the team is pretty classy. But Rondo, KG, Perkins, Pierce are all a bunch of dirty cheap players. Skilled for sure, but god I dislike them. It's like someone took a bunch of underdogs that had been picked on all their lives and tossed them together.

Individually they were pretty normal players on bad teams, but together they've grown into something else. It's like they just got sick of being dominated and decided that they'd deal out shit of their own instead of take it. But they go too far with their constant cheap shots and bad attitude. They whine a great deal and just like to bully people with physical/cheap play.

I saw this one way back thread and I had to comment - A-F-U-C-K-I-N-G-MEN.

Here is the big difference though, the Bad Boys were some tough dudes. It is an insult to that Detroit team to even be mentioned with them.

The under dog thing is kinda funny, I have been thinking lately the issue is more like lining up in the boys room stall they are the ones holding the smallest equipment for all to see.

Invididually, though aside from KG, they used to "kinda" play pretty straight up but together they have formed the pussy-fied, super whinny, "who me???" Voltron.

KG is the biggest punk in the NBA. He is a text book bully who is afraid of "certain" players in the Association and that is that - if you want to know who they are think if any big, take no shit kinda player - that is him. Bruce Bowen does not have to pump himself up on the baseline to "tangle" with the likes of Calderon - who I bet would go all Indigo Montoya on KG's ass if given the chance. Though the YT clip maybe heavy handed, shit is real, can't fake the in game antics - Profile in Courage - makes me laugh. He is classless and the worst part of the playoffs for me personally is I will not be able to watch my team send them home whinning and crying. Chicago should have, Orlando will but only if the refs will allow them. Such as the 8 second violation ORL actually was whistled for??? WTF???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxOKp7JtHo

HOU game was great last night, the real test will be which LA team shows up on WED, the reality is HOU can send LA home maybe not at even odds, but they have a shot and at the very least all parties are going to be bloodied and bruised before it is through.

But you would think LA can't shoot as terrible as they did, but again Shannon Brown is in the rotation and HOU defense is pretty damn good. I am pulling for HOU though but this one is going 6 or 7. A Dog fight. BTW - does Brooks have those wheels hidden on the soles of his sneakers or what, more an more I see of him the more I like too. BTW Commodore - good vid post ^, you have to understand, Kobe was pouting about the MVP ahh I mean sick. Talking shit about Ron Artest is what I would call unwise, even if you are buddies some dudes are just wired differently.

Winding down - getting ready for game 1 CAVS v HAWKS. See how it shakes out, maybe a good series but I just don't think it will be, good news is got tickets for game 2.

[ZANNI_1276]

Brooks is insanely quick. He was a great draft pick. Houston grabbed him somewhere around 24 when a lot of people had him projected later. He's going to be a player for years. He has plenty of range as well. Blake is not a bad defender and he had a lot of trouble staying with Brooks in the last series.

I just like the kid. You have seen more of him up your way but the games I have caught but the kid plays a clean game and christ - dude just has wheels.

He reminds me of another NWer - his ability to score/penetrate - Terrel Brandon, though Brandon wasn't nearly as fast they have similar aspects in thier game. I think the most underated aspect is PG who can score, it is the ultimate nuetralizer.

When I read about the rafer trade I was a little confused that maybe HOU was just tossing it in but he has owned it down the wire, people laugh at me when I say the weakest link with the Lakers is Fisher -from a "point of attack aspect" type of conversation he is the guy you go after - on both ends and if you can attack the PG (on both ends) it is one of the chinks in the armor, aside the fact shannon brown is in your rotation. This kid brooks is going to give the lakers trouble and as the bullshit pundits say - he could be an X factor, man, i hate just saying that.

[Biter]

The Nuggets have only made the conference finals once in the NBA. When they did - in 1985 - they were defeated by the Lakers who were on their way to defeating the Celtics in the finals for the first time, after eight unsuccessful attempts. Some more trivia from that year:

- It was the first time all three Texas teams made the playoffs.

- Seven teams from the Western Conference that made the playoffs that year also made the playoffs in 2009. The exception is the Suns who missed out this year, while the Hornets qualified.

- Five teams from the Eastern Conference that made the playoffs that year also made the playoffs in 2009. The exceptions are the Bucks, the Nets and the Bullets (now known as the Washington Wizards). Replacing them in 2009 are the Magic, Hawks and Heat.

- The Lakers were first and the Nuggets second in the West in both years.

- The Bulls were seventh in the East in both years.

- The winner of the rookie of the year was on the Bulls roster in both years - Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose, respectively.

[Relic]

watchin Rondo play i am very impressed by his rebounding. he has an instinct and a desire that you dont see in many point guards. his long arms help too. he's probably one of the best rebounding guards ive seen in some time.

[Andriy Czarchenko]

Make your damn free throws Landry! :whip:

Well I guess Houston´s happy with a 16-point quarter from him. :hat:

[Commodore]

Fisher and Bryant should both be suspended for game 3, the Fisher layout of Scola was blatant (Doug Collins called it a demonstration of Fisher's "toughness"), but the Bryant deliberate elbow to the neck of Artest was almost as bad. I can undertand why Artest was upset, he gets elbowed in the neck and the foul is called on him.

I think Phil Jackson told his team to come out and just bully the Rockets, push, shove, whatever they can get away with.

[Relic]

Kobe's a little bitch and always has been. Remember when he couldnt stop slapping three point shooters in the face a couple of seasons ago? Hope he gets suspended (he wont but whatever).

[Commodore]

I love how Kobe taunts Shane Battier, like a child. He doesn't realize that Shane is on an entirely different intellectual plane.

Battier could care less about how many points Kobe scores. All Battier cares about is whether he made Kobe shoot the least efficient shots possible. If Kobe scores 40 on fadeaway jumpers, so be it, Shane did his job making Kobe take those shots. It's why Battier had a smirk on his face when Kobe was taunting him.

This is the kind of petty sucker punches Kobe likes to pull. And Battier just walked away from that.

[Commodore]

Interesting article in the Washington Times:

I have seen the future, and it is Ron Artest in a television studio waving a table leg.

His makeover gained further credence after his showdown with Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarter of Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Bryant delivered an elbow to Artest's throat and then pretended to be all innocent after Artest rushed him and dispensed a number of choice words at nose-to-cheek range.

The confrontation resulted in one of those crazy, you-have-to-be-kidding moments. All of a sudden, Artest, the erstwhile Auburn Hills nut job, was eliciting these great pangs of sympathy. All of a sudden, the NBA nation was feeling his pain, his rage, his frustration.

The new Artest let it end with words. The old Artest would have decked Bryant, and a number of us would have said, "Well, the pretty boy has had it coming for a long time."

Bryant used to slap defenders in the face after shooting the ball. His supporters called it a nervous tic. Or perhaps it was a form of Tourette syndrome.

The NBA eventually suspended Bryant and, amazingly enough, his involuntary habit of slapping defenders ceased.

Now Bryant has resorted to the old elbow-to-the-throat maneuver, which, of course, the referees missed.

Worse, they ended up ejecting Artest, who let Bryant know that, yes, he has matured over the years but deep down he still has all these demons tormenting him and maybe, just maybe, the next time Bryant feels an urge to deliver a cheap shot his way, the situation could escalate beyond words, with a table leg going through someone's heart.

And if Artest is ever armed with a table leg - the deadly one from his days as a youth in Queens - Bryant will be backpedaling faster than Carmelo Anthony at Madison Square Garden after the normally mild-mannered Jared Jeffries went rabid on him.

Not only did Artest engender a wave of support during his testy exchange with Bryant, but he also gave a postgame breakdown of it that was honest and insightful.

The NBA's former Public Enemy No. 1 went into heartfelt detail about the elbow to the throat. You could imagine the jaws of viewers everywhere dropping in amazement.

Can this really be happening? Artest as a studio analyst in his post-NBA career, with Ernie, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and the Chuckster?

Artest eschewed the typical platitudes bandied about after an especially nasty game. The Lakers apparently were tired of being called wimps and decided to go dirty and mask it as playoff aggression.

That was Bryant's position, and why not? He is the petulant brat accustomed to getting his way and rarely being called on it.

Artest asked Bryant the obvious question: Don't you know who you are hitting?

Bryant raised his hands and avoided all eye contact with Artest, which was incredibly difficult to do because Artest was about a centimeter from his face. If Artest had puckered up his lips, he could have kissed Bryant right on the cheek.

No way Bryant was going to challenge Artest. No way was he going to say, "Get out of my face."

His Smugness later insisted he had heard nothing from Artest, not a word, which could be filed under the yeah-right category.

The NBA saw no reason to suspend Bryant, though a case could be made that the game's reigning hemorrhoid merited a one-game sit-down.

Conspiracy theorists are obligated to chirp about the NBA's unequal justice and David Stern manipulating events in order to have the ratings bonanza of a LeBron James-Bryant NBA Finals.

Yet Bryant's elbow was delivered above Artest's shoulders, which the NBA deems the line not to cross. Dwight Howard crossed that line with an elbow to the head of the 76ers' Samuel Dalembert in the first round and received a one-game suspicion.

Game 3 of the Lakers-Rockets series cannot come soon enough. Bryant showed up Artest and Shane Battier as he talked and mugged his way to 40 points.

Bryant would make a shot and then rub it in with a you-can't-guard-me minishow.

Hey, Kobe, you still missed 17 shots in Game 1 and your team still lost its homecourt edge.

And one other thing: You just might want to stop flirting with Artest's dark side.

I had forgotten about Kobe's notorious habit of slapping defenders in the face on his follow through. This is a nice video compilation of his most notorious dirty plays (not safe for work or kids).

[ZANNI_1276]

Look Kobe hate is almost too easy. You can write a book about what a douche the guy is. Is he a great player - YES. Is he a dirty player - YES. Is he a punk - YES. He is the most fake, insincere, yet amazing ball player - well second best this year and don't think that doesn't bother him either, not getting the all important MVP hardware really upset him because HE wants people thinking and agreeing that he is the best player in the association.

Hey Comm - if you go to an NBA game and KOBE is playing will they let you in or is there some paperwork saying you need to stay a 100 feet away from him?? - I am joking - but damn, you really got wood for the guy and that is coming from a dude who doesn't like him either. :lol:

Part of me was really, really hoping Artest was going to go Auburn Palace on him and wipe his stupid look off his face, but the other part of me was happy that all he did was scare the living shit of Kobe. Because ladies and gentleman that is exactly what he did. He punked him on national television. Now to you and I, that doesn't really mean too much but Kobe's street cred just dropped in the association amongst his peers, he couldn't even look him in the eye - that matters to these guys. I told my buddy that Kobe wouldn't hit him, not his style but he would pepper spray him like some chick getting her pursed robbed.

I can't wait for the game and you're crazy if don't think Houston has a real shot of taking this series. I think the Rockets are going to come out and play well to take the 2-1 lead. Look for a lot of early whistles, Kobe to take about 50 shots and Brooks will run Farmar and Brown out of the building.

Who knows which Orlando team is showing up, but we do know two things - that idiot Alston won't be playing and we just may see Van Gundy actually stroke out live on national television.

[Commodore]

It's more like I'm a Rockets fanatic and as fans tend to do, we create monsters out of our opponents. My Jazz hate is just as profound. I even found a way to hate a Trailblazer in the form of Joel Pryzbilla.

[Piper]

It's more like I'm a Rockets fanatic and as fans tend to do, we create monsters out of our opponents. My Jazz hate is just as profound. I even found a way to hate a Trailblazer in the form of Joel Pryzbilla.

In any long series (and they're all long series these days), you'll always find someone (or many someones) on the other team who gets on you nerves. Sometimes, they even deserve the hate. :P

[Caliban]

They kicked artest out for that? Come on NBA. Thats fucking stupid. Not that it affects the gam,e but seriously, let the the nuts be a part of the game. Thats a regular season foul. That wasnt even a borderline flagrant.

[Commodore]

When Kobe is hitting jumpers like that, not much that can be done. Some of the shots he was hitting were just sick.

If he keeps that up, Lakers will win the series, if he starts missing, Rockets have a chance.

[childe roland]

i agree that those weren't flagrantsin anyway shape or form. also couldn't believe they almost called a flagrant on sasha for wafer jumping directly into his gut. Kobe looks like a stone cold killer right now and the lake show have run Yao to thebrink so the series is lookin godd for now