NBA Discussion

Look at the eastern conference finals. Boston would be furious if their hockey team AND basketball team blew a 3-0 lead. I hope Orlando does it.

True thats becoming a series now as well. I hope the Suns beat the Lakers tonight and again whenever game 6 is. They need to do what they did in game 4 as they did a good job of removing kobe from the game as far as scoring goes

No interest in the Celtics series? lol. Well you do live in Arizona so i see your point. I haven;t actually been watching the series but it seems like the 2 benches will decide the Suns/Lakers matchup as the phoenix bench has been huge the last few games. That is the lakers one flaw, they don't have a good bench.

The Celtics could have won game 4, they had possession of the ball at the end of the game and a timeout(s) remaining, plus possession of the ball, so the smart idea would have been to call a timeout, make a 3 point, even a 2 point play and win the game. They lost it in overtime and the Magic winning that game has given them the motivation to get back into the series. Magic have momentum now, so I'm thinking they'll tie the series and win game 7. Celtics have a few injuries to deal with now too, so they have to step it up for game 6 if they want to close out the series, otherwise I see Orlando reaching the NBA Finals. Suns/Lakers has been an interesting series too, with LA in a similar situation to Boston, with having a few game lead. I'm guessing maybe the players become complacent when they're in control of the series. It's more likely though that Stan Van Gundy (Magic coach) and Alvin Gentry (Suns coach) studied the games and told their players they've still got a chance to win and to stay motivated, which is why the Magic & Suns have improved and are now more in contention to reach the finals.

Well whatever the reason both the underdog teams are giving the favorites a run for thier money. That said both series should be interesting.

Also interesting is this could be the last series with Phil Jackson as head coach for the Lakers since rumor has it he would have to take a paycut to stay and both the Bulls and Nets could pay him more

Yep, they mentioned on NBA Fastbreak about Phil Jackson possibly coaching the Bulls again. I think having Phil Jackson back at Chicago would be something which maybe would interest LeBron in signing with Chicago, along with another top free agent like D-Wade, Chris Bosh etc.

Boy if the bulls get Jackson, along with lebron and wade/bosh, i'd be willing to call the Chicago Bulls the NBA finals favorites.

Heard that he doesn't he doesn't have a lot of interest in going back to Chicago but Jeresy on the other hand

I wouldn't want to be the nets coach lol, their best player is injury prone, and they lost their first 19 games or whatever. It's gonna be hard to sign free agents as well.

I don't know either way but I wonder if the lakers would be the same if jackson left

I wouldn't think so. Jackson and Kobe make that team. I'm sure kobe would be angry if he left. It would sure be intersting to see who'd replace jackson.

Kobe seems to be ball hog and I doubt he be too upset if jackson left since he was there before jackson

really? kobe is that old? lol. we'll have to see, this wil surely be an eventful offseason

According to wikipedia

During the 1996 off-season, however, the Lakers acquired 17 year old Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets for Vlade Divac. And Jackson didn't come until 1999

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LA_Lakers dry spell area covers kobe and the next listing covers jackson

Wel, i'm sure the hornets feel pretty dumb trading bryant. although divac was pretty good from what i remember of him.

You have to wonder sometimes about the trades in pro sports and the team when the person traded either goes on to great things or fails

Yeah in my team the Minnesota Timberwolves case, most of their trades have been busts, including trading away Ray Allen and Brandon Roy.

In the Suns case its be a yoyo a lot though I think the best one I remember of recent memory was trading Shaq as he just didn't fit with the team. Another one that was good was when we got Barkley and went to the finals against the Bulls in the lates 80's or early 90's back when it jackson, jordan and pippen among others on the Bulls

Yeah, Barkley was a great player. the Timberwolves lost 3 first round draft picks in tampering with joe smith's salary, and got kinda jipped in trading Garnett for no one but Al Jeferson.

As I said you have to wonder about some of these trades or even draft picks that are great in say college but fail at the pro level or are never heard from again after they are drafted

Yep. Well tommorrow we'll have to see if Boston finally puts Orlando out of its misery.

or if Orlando prolongs it

well, if Orlando prolongs it, it would be a huge blow for them to lose game 7, and vise versa.

never said anything about that but keeps boston on their best game

It was an exciting game between the Suns & Lakers. LA have been lucky this season, and if that luck continues, they have a very good chance of retaining the NBA Championship. Although I think the Suns still have a chance but need to defend at important moments, like when Artest hit the winning shot in game 5.

After how Boston played in the last game, I'm thinking the Magic will tie the series 3-3. Celtics have to play again like they did in the previous 3 games, although maybe Stan Van Gundy has now found the answer to beating Boston and with Lewis & Nelson playing better, they have a good chance of winning this series now. If Dwight Howard plays like he did in game 5 and also if Vince Carter steps up it'll be difficult for the Celtics to get back into the series.