General Chat / Official NBA Playoff Predictions/Discussion Thread

LOL....game just ended and I must say the Lakers had a lot of help from the refs...sure there were lots of fouls called in the first half, most of which were fouls and good calls, but look at the second half...Shaq had 4 fouls at half time, and guess how many he had at the end of the game....of course...4....refs came through in the end...I mean Lakers...or...whatever.....Go Pistons!

Adding insult to injury, AP, I'm going to make a general statement that deals with people who watch basketball in general.

Please, for the love of god, if you don't know about basketball, please don't pretend to by saying "wow they missed a shitload of fouls on (insert the team you hate here)".

2 points.

1- It takes foul trouble to make a player check himself. 4 fouls in the first half would be considered foul trouble. If you were watching the same game I was, you would've noticed that Shaq was making smarter plays/moves, not getting a load of help from the refs. He's played long enough to know how to control himself. It is physically possible to not get ejected when you come into the second half with 4 fouls; it happens all the time, just apparantly not often enough to teams you dislike.

2-Say it with me now.Letting them play. The 3 sweetest words (ok, it's up there, not the best) to hear in basketball. The refs call plays to the pace of a game. Sometimes you just let them play through when miniscule fouls do not warrent a break in the pace of the game. Hardly ever will you see refs let one side play and the other not. You're forgetting that this is their job; if they favor, they are endangering their career as a ref...to think that NBA higher-ups would not notice this is straight up insane.

Ok, rant over. That stuff just really bugs me.

Well, all that might have made sense if I didn't know about basketball, or play it for 9 years. However, I do know about basketball, and have played it for 9 years. So, you cannot tell me your thoughts about the game and expect me to just accept them as facts. I know that players are more careful when they have more fouls, who wouldn't be. I realize that it is very possible not to get fouled out even with four fouls at the half. I guess you really just did not watch the game. Had you seen the game, you would understand me when I say that Shaq got away with at least a couple obvious fouls...and plenty of not-so-obvious ones. It sure seems like the Lakers get called for a lot less fouls when they are on their home court...I don't have all of the stats...but I'm sure they point that out as well. I also understand that the refs can let them play. In my opinion, they let them play too much. NBA games are travel/foul fests anymore...but the refs let them play. Sure the refs call fouls at the pace of the game...but when that pace clearly favors one team...and the refs let them play through some miniscule fouls on that one team, it is clearly hurting one team and helping another. Also, the NBA higher-ups don't care if the refs help out LA. They want the big bucks and just look at the fans at LA. All of the famous stars there, most of whom don't know a thing about basketball and are just there for publicity and they think it is the cool thing to do, make the ticket prices higher and bring in more money. You apparently were not watching the same game I was. I saw missed calls. You didn't. You say I'm biased against the Lakers, but it sounds like you are biased for the Lakers. It's over anyway. I'll just be rooting for Detroit now.

Right right... NBA always wants LA to win. That's why the Spurs won the Finals last year.
But what you say? They made LA lose last year so as not to be suspicious?

Home team usually gets the benefit of the doubt on fouls from the refs. Minnesota had the same advantage when they were at home.

All you ask is the refs be consistent. In actuality, throughout the series, the Lakers often were getting called for lame fouls like hand check or other stupid calls. Not all the calls were like that, but many were. The officials were often inefficient, calling a flury of fouls in one quarters (on both teams) after calling nothing in the quarter before.

Stop complaining about fouls. Foul shots do not make a game. The Wolves were in game 6 until the Laker defense clamped down and forced 7 of 21 shooting. That's 33%. That's not going to win games, fouls or not.

So quit your bitching and watch Detroit lose to LA in 6!!!!

Pistons in 7.

yeah

Did I mention I'm a Pistons fan?

Swing and a miss, 0-2 count for 'chu girlfriend *snap snap snap*

Corkscrewed's analysis of the NBA Finals, with Predictions

Match-up:
West #2 Los Angeles Lakers VS East #3 Detroit Pistons
Prediction:
Los Angeles Lakers win in 6 games.
Lakers win Games 1, 2, 5, 6
Pistons win Games 3, 4
Background:
The Lakers come in having gone through an easier-than expected series against a battered Minnesota team that was definitely not at full power. Detroit comes in having won an ugly, defense-dominated series against Indiana. Without a doubt, the two best teams in both conferences have reached the Finals to ensure a series that will, for the first time in many years, truly be worth watching.
The Pistons present the first team with a real shot of winning the Finals since Michael Jordan and the Bulls won in 1998. With their stifling defense, front court Wallace menaces, crisp team play, and excellent coaching, they have shown that they can play with the best of them. The Lakers, though, are marching on the path of a team of destiny. They were assembled for one purpose: to win a championship. Payton and Karl can sense the finish line, and with their first championship within grasp, they are hungering for the ultimate prize in the NBA. For the league, this series with both teams from major television markets will be a ratings boom. Most importantly, however, it should be an awesome final round to watch.
Laker Challenges:
The biggest question for Laker fans will be whether or not the team will show up on a consistent basis. If they play to their fullest, free-flowing potential, a sweeping victory is not out of the question. The heartwrenching catch, then, is that inconsistency that they have displayed throughout the season. Indeed, the only thing consistent about this team is its inconsistency. They pull out to big leads, get lazy, blow leads, make mistakes, turn the ball over, then try to scramble for a desperate and miraculous victory. Detroit, however, is not a team that will roll over even as the Lakers are shooting themselves in the foot. The Pistons are tough and physical and will make LA pay if it makes dumb mistakes. Smart basketball is the key to victory and another ring.
Then there is Shaquille O'Neal's free throw shooting. He's pathetically well under 50%, so who can blame a team for fouling him? In the playoffs, you do whatever it takes to win the game, even if it means sending a guy to the foul line to miss 7 out of every 10 foul shots. Detroit has a deep bench; they have a lot of fouls to give. Shaq had better find some sort of flow before his ineptidue at the foul line costs his team the championship.
And finally, there is the bench. Kareem Rush came up HUGE for the Lakers in game 6, propelling them to victory with his scorching three point shooting. He need not score 18 a game in the Finals, but he needs to pose a threat against the Pistons so that they don't always double and triple Shaq and Kobe. Essentially, because the Pistons have a deep bench, the Laker bench must rise to match it. Detroit is deep, which means they can got to more options. The Laker supporting cast must rally around the team leaders and support them to enable victory.
Piston Challenges:
With four future Hall-of-Famers, the Lakers can overpower the Pistons, so Detroit must use its ugly but stifling defense to keep the Lakers from getting into offensive flow, where they can be extremely destructive. Detroit has to contain Shaq and Kobe while making sure the others do not burn them with open makes.
Detroit also has shown a knack for not playing to their potential, as shown in several losses to New Jersey and Indiana. They can beat themselves too, sometimes, so they need to stay focused.
The front line of Wallace and Wallace need to stay in the game. Rasheed needs to overpower Malone--something that Garnett and Duncan have failed to do in previous series. That may very well be the key matchup of the Finals.
Laker X-Factor: Third scorer. Be it Fisher, Rush, Payton, Malone, or whoever, someone needs to help out on the pressure against Shaq and Kobe.
Piston X-Factor: Chauncey Billups. The Lakers were lucky to see Cassell at about 10% basically during the Western Finals, but Billups needs to step up and be the clutch guy that he is. Interesting that the Lakers see awesome point grounds every round this year; at least they have practiced, but Billups, if he can outshine Payton, could turn the favor over to the Pistons. They'll need him to play well to win the series, no doubt.

Laker X-Factor: Third scorer.  Be it Fisher, Rush, Payton, Malone, or whoever, someone needs to help out on the pressure against Shaq and Kobe.
Piston X-Factor: Chauncey Billups.  The Lakers were lucky to see Cassell at about 10% basically during the Western Finals, but Billups needs to step up and be the clutch guy that he is.  Interesting that the Lakers see awesome point grounds every round this year; at least they have practiced, but Billups, if he can outshine Payton, could turn the favor over to the Pistons.  They'll need him to play well to win the series, no doubt.

Well golly damn, the Lakers' X-factor didn't show up (Kobe and Shaq had like 56 of the 75 points) while Billups had like 22 to lead the Pistons.

Great game by Detroit; we have to make adjustments. Game 2 is a must-win, because this was an upset. I'm not surprised that Detroit won, though, just disappointed.

I'm really happy with how the Pistons played last night. If they keep their second half game for the rest of the series, they may have a shot. Shaq totally ripped into them in the first half, but the Pistons adjusted and instead of trying to stop him, they tried to stop everyone from getting the ball to him. It worked, and Shaq didn't see the ball too often in the second half. The defense was brilliant...and if Rip AND Billups manage to hit in the same game...watch out...

It's still going to be a very close series though. We've all known that the Lakers are good, but I think more people are starting to see the Pistons as a great team as well instead of a "good team that's gonna get swept". The Lakers are going to come back swinging hard, so I hope Larry Brown has some answers come tomorrow.

It's still going to be a very close series though. We've all known that the Lakers are good, but I think more people are starting to see the Pistons as a great team as well instead of a "good team that's gonna get swept". The Lakers are going to come back swinging hard, so I hope Larry Brown has some answers come tomorrow.

I couldn't of said it better.

But the Lakers can't really always rely on Kobe and Shaq, I mean look at last nights game, Kobe and Shaq scoring most of the points?! Comeon, the team needs to score...Gary Payton with what 2 points? I'm suprised that Karl and Gary didn't even make atleast 10 points in adding all the points that they scored.

It was a good game. I think I should just watch the games with it on mute. The announcers are what really get to me. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't hate the Lakers so much. But anyway, Detroit played great defense and ran a few great set plays. I think their approach to the Lakers is very good. What they did most of the game was let Shaq take the shots when he had the ball. The Piston's focused more on guarding the other four players and making Shaq be the one to beat them. Of course one player can't do that, and the Pistons won. Shaq made a good effort though. Kobe also played well, though not as good as he could have played. This is partially due to the defense and partially due to him just being off. Payton and Malone just don't have it anymore. I saw a bunch of plays where Malone was left wide open and he did not capitalize. They still have an impact, just not quite what it used to be. For the Pistons, Rasheed picked up a couple cheapies early, but was able to contribute when it mattered. Prince played really well. Rip was off, so the Lakers better be ready if Detroit can get everyone playing well. Billups played a great game. I'm glad Detroit won, even though all of the sports analysts continually talked about the greatness of the Lakers the entire pregame, game, halftime, postgame, and even today. Lakers will come out strong in game 2, I hope the Pistons will be ready to counter and maybe even take the W.

The officials are bitchy shits.

2 straight fouls, no call, what bullshit.

That was an ESCAPE. We were up by 11 in the third and blew it as Chauncey carried the team during that quarter. We were down and dead with 45 seconds left and ultimately came back when Kobe saved the Laker season.

I'll take the win (we're still undefeated in overtime this season), but we gotta stop killing ourselves. The support came tonight, but WAY TOO MANY offensive rebounds for the Pistons and turnovers for the Lakers.

We need to fine-tune that offense and play cleaner. I'll take two out of three games in Detroit, OR we can make history and win all three games!

Go Lakers! Don't beat yourself!!!

My Pistons just went nuts on the Lakers. This was one of if not the best games we've played all year...and what a time to do it. To think that this could've made us 3-0 on the series (I still haven't forgiven Rip for how much room he gave Kobe...even with his great game tonight)....crazyness. It's still going to turn out to be a great series though.

I think that Phil Jackson put some bench players in the mix near the end to make sure they lost terribly. He wants his team to know that they can't get complacent.

Detroit has fully and completetly outplayed LA in 10 of the 12 quarters they've played against each other. I'd say it's already quite obvious who is the better team.

Pistons in 6. Lakers will find a way to steal one of the next two, but it won't matter. Thank God... Larry Brown is long overdue.

If the Lakers play like this the rest of the series, Detroit DESERVES to win the Finals. That was disgusting. Detroit outplayed, outhustled, and outworked the Lakers in every single way. I'm still trying to figure out why they didn't win by at least 30.

I think that Phil Jackson put some bench players in the mix near the end to make sure they lost terribly. He wants his team to know that they can't get complacent.

He put his bench players in because the "regulars" weren't doin their job.

We put Darko in...and if you follow Pistons B-ball, you know that putting him in is just like saying "Wow, you played bad enough for us to play Darko".

^ That's what I was thinking. He came in and I was like, "Crap, we're getting beat so bad they put DARKO in there!"

Lol yeah...but I have to agree with the announcer though...in a few years he's going to be good. He's got the size now, and he just has this general "want" to be better...he can play, he's just having an incredibly rough time merging into the NBA...I think people tend to forget that over-seas basketball is WAY different than the NBA.

And on a personal note, I'm glad that we didn't get Melo...I think he would've messed up the team chemistry.

Remember, Darko is only 18 years old. When Kobe came in the same type of stuff happened. The kid is going to be really good, eventually. Still, not a bad way to strat off your NBA career with a title takes a lot of the pressure off.

As far as the Lakers go, they are strating to show the weakness that everyone knew they had. Too old (minus Kobe) and no bench. As much as I made fun of the Eastern Confrence this year, i still think they have the best Defensive teams. It's also good to see someone finally shut Derick Fisher down, that guy is to the Lakers what Horry used to be. Hunter comes right in and roughs him up good thereby frustrateing him and killing the emotion of the Lakers. Leave it to the Lakers to not respect anyone, you know they came in thinking they would have an easy time with the Pistons...oooppps! they put that trophy in thier case a little to fast.