2013-14 NBA thread v. Adam Silver Lays the Pipe on Donald Sterling ©2014antigoon

[contest_sanity]

Whether you were a fan or not of the NBA yet in 2002, the following Grantland oral history of the 2002 Western Conference Finals is an amazing read.

As a huge Kings fan at the time, it was an agonizing outcome to lose to the Lakers yet again, especially when the Finals were pretty much a cakewalk that year.  Looking back now, though: it is one of the most dramatic, controversial, and down-to-the-wire series of all time:

https://grantland.com/features/2002-western-conference-oral-history-los-angeles-lakers-sacramento-kings/

[KevShmev]

To me, the 2002 Sacramento Kings have a good argument for 2nd place on the list of teams that were screwed out of a championship by awful officiating.  Number 1 is still the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals.

[ReaPsTA]

Read the whole Kings article.  Thought it was great.

[contest_sanity]

To me, the 2002 Sacramento Kings have a good argument for 2nd place on the list of teams that were screwed out of a championship by awful officiating.  Number 1 is still the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals.

At least the Cardinals have some championships. Poor Kings: who knows when they'll be able to become contenders again?

Read the whole Kings article.  Thought it was great.

EDIT: isn't it amazing how sports truly can be a game of luck and inches sometimes? How many things had to go perfectly right (for the Lakers) and perfectly wrong (for the Kings) on the famous Robert Horry play that kept the Lakers in the series? I mean, look at this gif:

[ReaPsTA]

At least the Cardinals have some championships. Poor Kings: who knows when they'll be able to become contenders again?

Thomas, Gay, and Cousins are an intriguing core.  Unfortunately, they also have a bunch of other awful contracts.  They have 68 million in salary committed for next year if Gay exercises his option (not a certainty, but I'd bet on it) and that's not including what they spend on Thomas.  Awful situation.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

EDIT: isn't it amazing how sports truly can be a game of luck and inches sometimes? How many things had to go perfectly right (for the Lakers) and perfectly wrong (for the Kings) on the famous Robert Horry play that kept the Lakers in the series? I mean, look at this gif:

I agree 100%. It's the reason why I think championships are over-valued when ranking basketball players.

On another note, the Heat won nicely tonight with a B- game. The Nets are in trouble. They might get one win at home, but that's probably it. I'd be shocked if the series went six games.

[Syzzle]

Ray Allen>Pierce and KG

[Dimitrius]

Yeah, I read that and thought it was yet another fantastic piece by Grantland! It sucks that Webber didn't want to be interviewed for it though, it seems he doesn't like to talk about things in his career as he also didn't participate on the Michigan Fab Five doc.

And what they say in the piece is true, people always talk about game 4, but never about the calls (and noncalls) that helped the Kings in the 5th game. And even if it was a fixed game, they still had a seventh game they could've won, so yeah. Same thing happens with the 86 Red Sox and 03 Cubs.

[antigoon]

Deron "Roy Hibbert" Williams

[j]

To me, the 2002 Sacramento Kings have a good argument for 2nd place on the list of teams that were screwed out of a championship by awful officiating.  Number 1 is still the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals.

2006 Mavs.

/homer

-J

[Syzzle]

The Mavs in 06 just got beat by the greatest Finals performance in NBA history. Only Mark Cuban and salty Maverick fans blame the refs.

[j]

^Lol, game 5 son.

I'm about as cynical a Mavs fan as there is.  The Mavs didn't play to win, for sure, and the refs aren't to blame for their lame performances.  But there was some seriously bogus officiating that contributed to putting them away.  Anybody who watched knows that.

And Wade had a great series, but "greatest Finals performance in NBA history?"

-J

[contest_sanity]

^Lol, game 5 son.

I'm about as cynical a Mavs fan as there is.  The Mavs didn't play to win, for sure, and the refs aren't to blame for their lame performances.  But there was some seriously bogus officiating that contributed to putting them away.  Anybody who watched knows that.

And Wade had a great series, but "greatest Finals performance in NBA history?"

-J

Yeah, definitely hyperbole to call Wade's 06 series the greatest. 

For anyone interested in that Game 5 fiasco, here is a play by play breakdown of all the possibly "blown" calls -- really cool article:

https://www.82games.com/game5refs.htm (and same author also went back and did Game 6 of 2002 as well)

[KevShmev]

I see Syzzle is continuing his trend of saying outrageous things in sports threads that no one should take seriously.

Anyway, the '06 Mavs were definitely on the short end of some major calls in that finals.  If every NBA game was officiated the way the end of some of those games were - where breathing on Wade was called a foul - every game would take sixteen hours to play since both teams would be shooting free throws non-stop.

[ReaPsTA]

Pacers 34 Wizards 33 at halftime.

Playoffs need to have no conferences for seeding.  What a joke.

[contest_sanity]

Did the Wizards really just score a total of 63 points in a playoff game? Holy shit!  Jordan scored 63 by himself once in the 86 playoffs against the C's, LOL

[Azyiu]

Well done, Pacers. Didn't think you would come out and play such a strong game prior to Game 3. 

[ReaPsTA]

The Pacers Wiz series is actually interesting now.

[black_biff_stadler]

The second round is doing everything in its power to cancel out the awesomeness of the first round.

[KevShmev]

Plus, the predictability of the NBA is showing again.

In the 1st round, only one real lower seed won (I consider 4/5 to be basically an even match-up), and that was the lower seed everyone thought would win anyway, the Nets.

And it's looking like the conference finals will be the two 1 seeds, one 2 seed and either another 2 or a 3 seed.

Contrast that to hockey where anybody can win in any round.

[black_biff_stadler]

Yep. In 2006, didn't one conference's 5, 6, 7, and 8 seeds all win their opening round series?

[ReaPsTA]

Plus, the predictability of the NBA is showing again.

This isn't really an issue to me.  I know luck plays a part in all sports, but what's cool about the NBA is that you can look at the champions every year and know that each one was probably the best team the year they won.  In Football, Superbowl winners are basically meaningless.  It's fun but not anything to be taken seriously.

[black_biff_stadler]

Superbowl winners are basically meaningless.  It's fun but not anything to be taken seriously.

So, the team with the best record in each conference only has to win two home games to play in the SB yet they're still somehow the best even when other teams play as many as three road games just to get there? I think you're overvaluing the regular season.

[ReaPsTA]

Superbowl winners are basically meaningless.  It's fun but not anything to be taken seriously.

So, the team with the best record in each conference only has to win two home games to play in the SB yet they're still somehow the best even when other teams play as many as three road games just to get there? I think you're overvaluing the regular season.

I don't think the line you quoted said what you think it said.

[Azyiu]

 

[j]

Portland just can't hang with SA at either end.  I'm starting to think SA has a legitimate shot at the title.  I don't see OKC or the Clips giving them too much trouble, at least if they continue playing the way they are.  And the Heat are being lulled into complacency by their shitty eastern conference opponents.

-J

[Azyiu]

Portland just can't hang with SA at either end.  I'm starting to think SA has a legitimate shot at the title.  I don't see OKC or the Clips giving them too much trouble, at least if they continue playing the way they are.  And the Heat are being lulled into complacency by their shitty eastern conference opponents.

-J

I agreed. Toward the end of the regular season, I thought the Spurs were the most focused team of all. They knew this is their final legit chance at a title with this group, and I bet they intend to do whatever necessary to get back to the Finals this year!

[black_biff_stadler]

Superbowl winners are basically meaningless.  It's fun but not anything to be taken seriously.

So, the team with the best record in each conference only has to win two home games to play in the SB yet they're still somehow the best even when other teams play as many as three road games just to get there? I think you're overvaluing the regular season.

I don't think the line you quoted said what you think it said.

I thought you were belittling the legitimacy of the Super Bowl.

[ReaPsTA]

I thought you were belittling the legitimacy of the Super Bowl.

Now I'm really confused.  What I'm trying to say is that being the winner of the Superbowl doesn't mean a whole lot, because luck plays such a huge factor.

Do you agree with this?  Disagree?

[black_biff_stadler]

Disagree about 90%. I'll only concede on the smaller sample size, 1 versus at least 4 games in all 3 other major North American sports.

If a "lesser" team beats a "superior" team in the SB, they've pretty clearly proven they are the best since luck is a very minimal component while the superior team's performance can't simply be apologized away by luck. They get an extra week to heal injuries before the divisional round and then both teams get two full weeks to heal up and gameplan for the SB.

[Jamesman42]

Select a team: San Antonio Spurs

Select mode: God Mode

[KevShmev]

Remember that the Spurs looked this good two years ago before losing four straight to the Thunder, who match up well against them.  If I am a Spurs fan, I am rooting like hell for the Clippers to take the Thunder out.

[senecadawg2]

Yeah the Thunder could be a problem, but as of right now my money remains on a rematch of last seasons's finals. Hopefully San Antonio doesn't blow it this year.

[Syzzle]

Scott Brooks is officially the worst coach in the league 

[ReaPsTA]

Scott Brooks is officially the worst coach in the league 

Doug Collins really nailed it on the postgame show.  He talked about how, when things get tough, the Thunder don't have a team mentality toward their offense.  They lean on Westbrook and Durant.  They never ran any actions to get themselves good looks down the stretch, which is a huge part of why they lost.

And I still have no idea why they didn't foul at the end.