any other NBA fans? playoff thread!

[Neal Clayton]

1) lakers = impressive. but utah being soft is alot of that. we'll really see what the lakers are about against houston.

2) denver = impressive. i wasn't a big fan of the chauncey trade from detroit's side, but it made a huge impact in denver. unfortunately for my hornets, the posey trade didn't really work out like they planned, i think they should've continued to develop julian wright, and dealt peja off for younger role players instead. oh well, there's next year.

3) atlanta = very impressive. it's fun to watch joe johnson's development in the NBA. giving him the money they gave him coming from phx was a gamble, but it has paid off. nice to see a local product do well too, being from arkansas.

4) the sixers? the bulls? really? derek rose is another wise gamble apparently. i don't think the sixers win that series, and in fact i'll go ahead and call the magic over cleveland when we get to that point. yeah it may be different with garnett, and yeah the dallas series may be different with ginobili, but the bulls at least still deserve alot of credt for that win considering their youth.

[Jim O'Dell]

Which team will show up for Dallas tonight? I feel bad for the Spurs. They ended up at the show without all their players. Yeah, all teams have to deal with injuries, but theirs seem to have hit at the end of the season. Thank goodness the Mavs are just about healthy just in time.
Watched a little of a few of the other games. Wish the Denver game hadn't been so late. Jim.

[Neal Clayton]

the denver game was a game for one half, but chauncey was on fire (8/9 from three, 36 points), and chris paul could only carry the hornets for one half. david west was completely ineffective.

[Greg Peterson]

Neal, I'll give you the fact that Portland looked horrible against Houston Saturday night. But I'm not ready to concede the series just yet.

Blazers showed their youth big time in game 1. How they come out and play in game two will be very telling. It has been fun watching this team mature and develop a personality. Despite how this season ultimately turns out, the future is very bright.

I use to be a Celtics fan, but that was back in the 70's and 80's. Danny Ainge took a gamble and got a championship last season. But the window on a repeat is very, very narrow and they aren't getting any younger. This is their last chance to reach for the ring.

Sixers and Bulls are pretty exciting to watch.

I could go on and on, but there are some real surprises developing in the first round.

[Jacob Mac]

I am a big Blazers fan, but this probably isn't their year. I think they will take their lumps and learn that playoff basketball is played at a completely different level. It would probably help them to have a few seasoned veterans on the team to help the young guys out. But they are going to be very good for quite some time.

[Neal Clayton]

yeah i don't deny the fact that the blazers have done a very good job of rebuilding that team, but youth shows in the playoffs, it'll take another year or two before they push past the first round and threaten to get to the conference finals. we saw the same thing with atlanta last year. last year they were an upset threat, this year they'll get out of the first round, next year, who knows.

[Robert McGowen]

Got up early and picked up tickets to the Spurs Game 5. Now I just have to wait until noon when the teenagers roll out of bed to tell them about it.

[Chris Padilla]

Naw, don't follow NBA at all....

[Neal Clayton]

do me a favor and call chauncey and tell him he's not supposed to be that good anymore, CP3 is supposed to be the superstar here

[Greg Peterson]

If only Dumars hadn't let Billups go for a song and a dance. If only..........

[Chris Padilla]

do me a favor and call chauncey and tell him he's not supposed to be that good anymore, CP3 is supposed to be the superstar here

CP3 may be the up and coming PG in the NBA (perhaps even the best) but Chauncey may be the best post-season PG in the NBA.

[Tim Morton]

Celtics looked pretty good last night...although i was afraid we were going to have to score 150 points just to stay in the game

[John Fricke]

I'm a sad Pistons fan.... We fired a decent coach (Flip) to hire a coach with no experience. We traded our most beloved player for a malcontent. Sheed has lost it completely. I'm not real sure what Dumars is up to, But there is a lot of rebuilding to do on this team.

[Greg Peterson]

Sheed is such a waste of potential. The man could have been a superstar, but he lacks the instinct or desire.

When he first came to Portland he was amazing. But his temper really got the best of him and he spent most of his time here pouting. He wouldn't even talk to the beat writers. In the end he became very difficult for the Blazers to put out there as a representative of the franchise. His two quote while here were, "sign the check" and "just playing ball". First class jerk.

Denver pulled off one the better trades in recent season. Dumping AI (please, AI, retire) and getting Billups in return. That's the kind of trade that gets GM fired on one side and contract extensions on the other end.

Blazers are playing tougher tonight. I swear the ref's just give Oden a foul for walking on the court. Hopefully next season they start lightening up on the guy. Never been a big fan of the NBA star system, but I guess it works for them.

[Neal Clayton]

I'm a sad Pistons fan.... We fired a decent coach (Flip) to hire a coach with no experience. We traded our most beloved player for a malcontent. Sheed has lost it completely. I'm not real sure what Dumars is up to, But there is a lot of rebuilding to do on this team.

i think that's exactly what he's up to.

if they were going to be a threat to boston, they would have done it last year.

sheed and whoever plays next to him obviously aren't good enough, especially with dwight howard coming up and KG in the east.

so detroit's best option was to start dealing players and rebuilding.

however i don't know why they went after AI. they could've gone with stuckey and dealt chauncey for draft picks if that's what they really wanted to do.