To be honest, I haven't really been into this season all that much. Like you said, it's been pretty predictable thus far. However, I did not think the Celts would be this good.. this soon, though. They have the best defense in the league and their average point spread is just amazing so far. They're blowing teams out on almost a daily basis.

But yeah, that Steve Nash interview was pretty hilarious. Good stuff!

"But we're gonna pick it up in the second half."

As a Canadian, he has lots of experience watching hockey players with no teeth, so, you know, he's got it down.

Houston's playing sub-par, and McGrady hurting his knee doesn't help. They haven't been scoring, with shoddy shooting from their bench (among other things - free throws and just general percentages).

On the subject of injury, Alonzo Mourning appears to be done for his career. He tore the patellar tendon in his right knee, and he thinks he's done, so I'd say he's done. Finishing your career because of injury isn't a great way to go out, and from everything I've heard and read, he doesn't seem too pleased about it either.

Corrected.

Haha, yeah. Boston been beast. Though my Wizards just beat them two games in a row. :p

Anyway, as for more surprises of the season: Portland "No More Jail" Trail Blazers, winning 18 of their last 20. Wow.

Oh, and the Hawks vs. Heat game gets a do-over. lol

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Kidd is off to the Mavs. :mad:

There goes the Nets. <_<

Well, it's looking more like a trade that needed to happen. Given all the rumors surrounding Kidd for the last who-knows-how-many years about trades, they at least got something reasonable (I think anyway).

But it's definitely looking like something for the future rather than for the right now (for the Nets). Harris has a great upside, but I don't know if here's completely there just yet. And you got two more first rounders, but that could take time to work out for the team as well.

Yeah... Other teams in the East at least attempted to trade and get better. Even though the Nets were amazing a few years ago, they weren't the same as they were back then, so I guess change is needed.

I was hoping that Kidd could at least get his 100th Triple-Double before he left, but it's too late for that now. :mad:

Kidd did a good job on Sunday showing why he wasn't put in the end of the game on Thursday against the Spurs. Speaking of that Thursday game, I can't get enough of the Dirk+Dampier EPIC FAIL:

YouTube Video

Guess I'll do the obligatory hey-it's-the-playoffs post. Damn the west stacked. The match-ups weren't finalized until the very last day, but they should prove to be interesting. Too bad Golden State didn't get in (*womp*womp*). I'm surprised with Philly and Atlanta getting in. I wouldn't have called either before the season started. Too bad they'll get powooned in the first round. Anyway, the brackets:

Left Coast:
1. Los Angeles Lakers
8. Denver Nuggets

4. Utah Jazz
5. Houston Rockets

3. San Antonio Spurs
6. Phoenix Suns

2. New Orleans Hornets
7. Dallas Mavericks

Right Side:
1. Boston Celtics
8. Atlanta Hawks

4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Washington Wizards

3. Orlando Magic
6. Toronto Raptors

2. Detroit Pistons
7. Philadelphia 76ers

Will T-Mac finally get past the first round? No.
Can the Spurs beat the Suns without cheating? No.
Will Dallas be out in the first round again? Yes. EPIC FAILURE coming.

Of course, the first round match-up I'm most interested in is the Wizards/Cavs. It'll be the third straight time these two will meet in the playoffs. Cavs won 2 years ago in a fierce series, where LeBron got away with everything ever; but that's okay, he's allowed to travel and foul and whisper stuff in other players' ear at the free throw line now. Cavs won last year with the Wizards decimated by injuries. This time, the third time, the Wizards will win, thus igniting the rivalry. I'll be going to the first 2 Wizards home playoff games, so I'm cised.

Man, DC sports playoffs are hurting my wallet... 2 Caps games and 2 Wizards games so far. Also what's up with these "outs": Caps "red-out" and Wizards "white-out." I like the end of the accompanying email: "Be early. Be LOUD. Wear white!" ... as opposed to "Be White!" LOL.

I'll probably post some predictions later, but it's hard to say how the West will play out. Somehow I think the Suns or Lakers will come out on top and of course face Boston, possibly Detroit. We'll see. How nostalgic would a Celtics/Lakers finals be?

Also, if Kobe gets MVP, which is sounding more and more likely, I'm gonna flip. It really should be Chris Paul. And MIP has gotta be my boy, Hedo, just to make it 3 straight years the MIP has been on my fantasy squad.

Additional Spam:
Oklahoma City Landmasters, anyone? I need to own my own NBA team. Just getting post happy, but NBA owners apparently approved the Sonics move, so now it just depends on the litigation. Seattle is supposed to keep the Sonics name for a possible expansion team in the future, so Oklahoma City's gotta start brainstorming some names. =p

i can't see the cavs getting past the first round this time, ever since that trade they haven't been playing that well. cavs vs wizards should be an exciting matchup. i'm calling a 3pt game winner by arenas on game 6 to win the series (lol, i wish).

i'll be watching the magic vs raptors series closely as well, it should be raining treys every game. it should be a close series, possibly going into 7 games if the raptors can play like they did a couple months ago.

Nothing too surprising quite yet.

-Timmy hits a game-tying three to send their game to double OT where they win the game.
-Cavs and Wizards in a close one. Wizards can and will get this series.
-Iverson gets ejected. Smooth.
-Chris Paul should be MVP.
-Oh, 76ers beat Pistons in Detroit! :D :D :D

As much as I love the Wizards, I think Charles Barkley was quite right when he called them "the dumbest team in the history of civilization." Even I didn't think there was any need to get Cleveland all riled up and now it looks like all the talk is coming back to bite them now. They've come back from 0-2 before (against the Bulls in 05) but I'd need to see more out of this team, because I'm starting to get worried here.

As Bill Walton-esque as that sounds, it's true. It also doesn't help that the Wizards played terribly that Game 2. They need to cool their heads and stop going for the big physical hits (glad Haywood isn't suspended, otherwise we'd be finito). Game 1 could've gone either way... sure Cleveland is "supposed" to win at home, but Wizards are supposed to win at home as well, and I hope they do since I'm going to both games. I better not be disappointed.

Let's just call this what it is. The race for second place. Can't Beat Celtics.

True... though the Wizards can, as they have 3 of their 4 games this season. A Wizards/Celtics match-up next round would be huge because that' has surprising upset special written all over it. Eh, it'll be interesting fo' sho'.

Anyway, epic series so far. Everything's 2-0 or 2-1 so far, except for the Suns totally getting manhandled by the Spurs 3-0. Also a shocker: the Sixers are up on the Pistons 2-1. This might be the most exciting Round 1 of the NBA playoffs in years.

Anyway, I bore witness to one of the most epic beatdowns/:LeBronfail:s in the history of man in the Wizards' revenge-pwning the Cavs 108-72. The white-out thing worked out so much better than I thought it would, it was crazy. Anyway, we gotta even the series up tomorrow, and hopefully Soulja Boy will be back for the game:

http://images.sanemonkey.com/gff/sou...wizards_01.jpg



The "storylines" in this Wiz/Cavs series are mad entertaining. :p

Wow, no one cares about the NBA Finals being Celtics/Lakers? This is exactly the opposite reaction David Stern is hoping for.

Oh, I do. It's definitely the most epic and interesting NBA Finals series in a long, long while since I'd usually watch all the other rounds, then stop when it's the *yawn* cheating Spurs in the finals. (About that Laker's/Spurs game with the blown foul call the NBA reviewed... fuck that; the shot clock should have reset the play before anyway, thus eliminating the situation. :3:) Oh, I also just didn't wanna double-post in this thread for like the tenth time.

Anyway, Game 1 was huge. There was also the uber-dramatic moment when The Truth went down, ina bad-sounding injury. Then it was mad LOL as he came back under 2 minutes later! Ray Allen aka Jesus [Shuttlesworth] must have did some did some kind of miracle. I liked Simmons comment on future casts of this game on ESPN Classic: :tpg:

I don't really know who I'm cheering for. Celtics since their window for winning a championship is very small (this year or next year, I think). Lakers have a while since they're all on the good side of 30, but it'd be legendary to see Kobe win the MVP (though it should've been CP3), win the Finals, and win in China this year, 23-style.

I like how the Lakers can't ever seem to beat the Spurs in the playoffs without some kind of controversey ('sup Derek Fisher). But yeah, since my team is out, I'm definitely going with the Celtics, because I could never in good faith go with the Lakers and still call myself a Spurs fan.

Yeah, Game 1 had its moments, but I wonder if the Celtics can keep it up for this whole series. Kobe is just too awesome, so even though Boston does have a pretty solid team, I don't know how much of a chance they stand. I hope I'm wrong obviously, as the last thing I want to see is the Lakers win another championship, but if I was a betting man I'd put my money on the Lakers.

An excerpt from .hack//AI buster 2, which I just finished reading earlier today:

This story takes place in 2014. Well, they didn't see this one coming. The series has been amazingly EPIC/HUGE/GODLIKE/LEGENDARY/RIDICULOUS/ETC so far, including that out-of-nowhere biggest comeback in the history of man in Game 4. Bill Walton actually wouldn't be all that out of place to say that. The last 4 quarters of the year could be coming up. Will Doc stick with a lineup that works? Will Lakers play D? All this and more in the possible conclusion of one of the greatest finals in the history of earth.

EDIT: Also like how the refs stole what would've most likely been a national championship away from the Sacaemento Kings in 2002. Ha, cheating.

I stopped caring about basketball because I thought it was rigged. Thanks, vindication.

Additional Spam:
Good lord. The Celtics are up by 25. With 6:48 left in the third.

I can't say it's over yet, but shit. That's rough.

Not much has changed since then either, and it's now 7:10 in the 4th. I'm not a betting man, but I'd say this series is pretty much over.

YOU AND YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Good on the Lakers for the stiff upper lip. No stupid fouls, no idiotic reactions. No anger and misplaced pouting. Just playing it out.

Ha, finito. Pierce gatorade'd the court, and there's a random Boston Asian in front of their bench. Epic blowout.

I must say though, the highlight of this series was during the opening videos at about the 1:30 mark, when Michael Jordan flies to the basket with the ball in his right hand, brings it down, and switches it to his left to lay it in before landing... :tpg:

YouTube Video

Cue the Corner Stone Cues "Requiem for a Tower, Movement IV" highlight reel. GG.