Free Experimento: OPEN THREAD FOR 2ND HALF
I'm not going to beat around the bush, I am openly rooting for the Lakers tonight, and I am pissed.
Phil Jackson comes out with a brilliant gameplan, but they can't play defense worth a damn. Stop fouling.
Boston is looking tougher, rougher, and more aggressive.
Andrew Bynum is needed.
Labels: open thread, playoffs
posted by Dr. Lawyer IndianChief @ 6/08/2008 10:22:00 PM
46 comments
46 Comments:
this game is a joke already.. congratulations boston, you have ruined a beautiful sport.
the un-FD play of boston is a big part of it yeah, but a bigger part is LAs pisspoor D. giving up crazy open looks from behind 3 and jumping into the popcorn machine (is that the right phrase) on every other possession.
i only got to watch kobe on a handful of occasions this season, but to me he seems awful content settling for tough fade aways (more so than normal). . .is this typical of him?
i started out really caring who won this series and now we are only halfway into game two and i dont care at all.. celtics are making the game so ugly i just want it to be over so i dont have to be embarrassed to call myself a fan of the NBA
the only way the lakers get back into this is getting to the line. if they keep taking jumpers we can call it a night (I AM the poor man's dr. jack)
so the only way they get back into the game is an impossibility.. because they sure arent going to get any calls.. says a lot about the sport.. i feel like kicking a trash can
Only their third free throw. Amazing.
Radmanovic is useless
the only thing i'm looking forward to is whatever heat shoals is cooking up right now.
Whenever Ray Allen shoots now, all I can think is that he's narrating his actions: "Pow!", "Got em", etc.
Thanks, deBoer.
Um, yeah, I just said to Joey "I have no idea what to say about this game."
But I think I have an idea of something.
At least I can feel good about Rondo and Powe playing well, even though I hate the Celtics.
How about Boston being better on both ends than San Antonio, and the Lakers being unsure what to do when they face adversity?
I'm flat out ecstatic for the temporary truce Kobe worked out with his team to fall to shambles.
Through three, the Celtics have 28 FGs on 25 assists, 83 points, and tons of transition. I guess I dont see whats so ugly
I can't believe I'm blowing my sunday afternoon/evening watching this tripe.
The lakers are at fault too here, man. If it wasn't for their shitty interior D, this game wouldn't be an embarrassment.
I am not a Boston fan, but I still don't get the whining here. The Lakers have only gotten called for about 5 more fouls (as of this timeout). The FT discrepancy is because no one but Gasol and Kobe are shooting anything but jumpers. The former was having a hell of a game. He'll always have that poster of him over Gass in the first quarter.
hey everyone...redeem your night with these:
decent political video from slate
new bishop lamont mix
settle down y'all: no injustice here, no ideological conflict of FreeDarko versus not....just two teams, neither of which would be even an average NBA champion, one of which has suddenly become afraid to attack the hoop....
nick, john, matt, brian, jonathon...can't you guys use some kookier names?
The Bishop Lamont Soundtrack has altered the outcome of this game.
Don't get the complaining either, and that was before things just got very interesting. And Laker fans should stop whining and maybe ask somebody on their team to go to the rim.
I do not understand the Celtics hate from FD bloggers. Is it because they beat the Hawks???
It's probably because they took likeable stars stuck in bad
situations and turned them into winners through semi-shady means.
FD-type thinking tends to glorify the potential of maverick stars; KG, Allen, Pierce's "If Only" nature suddenly became a reality, but it felt like they sold their souls to get there.
It doesn't help that they are a team that is boring to watch - even in a loss where he didn't play terrifically, Kobe did some things that made me sit up in my seat. The Celtics play a style of ball that is relatively fundamental and uninspiring (to me, at least). It's like watching a really advanced WNBA team. Even Pierce isn't the flashy player he was a few years back.
Also, add me to the list of people with uninspiring names - it's just easier to use a google login tied to my e-mail than to set up a separate blogger account.
It seems to me that neither Boston fans or LA fans will be particularly happy after this game, LA because they're down 2-0 and Boston because they have to hear for the next couple days about nothing but the comeback. That's the way the media works I guess.
Everyone has been talking about what a transcendent season this has been and it really has, in many ways, but damn if something hasn't stuck in my craw the whole time. I really felt it tonight. I can't tell you how annoying I'm finding the storylines ESPN keeps pushing in this series.
Please, Chris Paul in the Finals next year?
Also utterly ridiculous 3-point shooting from the Lakers in the fourth quarter. Unconscious.
how exactly is Boston "ruining a beautiful sport?" What the fuck are you people talking about?
Free Darko- where 120-pound Zack Braff lookalikes fail at using ebonics and proofreading.
Suck the shit out of my ass with a straw.
That first half was ugly. I'm a Celtics fan, and I was even disgusted with the officiating, simply because the Lakers will probably be enjoying a free throw advantage of their own in Games 3-5. If the refs only called it evenly . . .
However, I love how Phil Jackson was complaining about the officiating after the game. I think a man who's coached teams and players who've gotten nothing but the benefit of the doubt from the refs over the years needs to reflect on what he's saying before he opens his mouth.
@Bigsaxmo: Then why the hell are you commenting here in the first place?
The interior D of the Lakers put the team in a hole. The Lakers site has an interview with LO where he says he has some injury but won't get specific. I'm not sure that made a difference anyway but seeing as how tentative LO was until the 4th quarter, I'm guessing the injury may be in his decision making muscle.
The interior D of the Celtics is what keeps the Lakers from attacking the rim. If Kobe isn't attacking how do you expect Luke or Radman to? I hear Pierce has an injury to his knee. I think he tweaked it or something during game one. Anyone know anything about that?
The refs suck (now I sound like a SA, Sac and Portland fan, which is a bad sign). There were too many ticky tack fouls called on the Lakers and not enough of the fouls against the Lakers were called. But, if Boston's D wasn't so octopussy then we would be talking about how how the Lakers won despite the adversity. That said, I can hope the refs call it the Lakers way 3-5, then when Boston wins game 6 we are left with what it is this series was destined to become, a single elimination game for the ring.
I have a suggestion for ABC. Rather then hit the angle of the Lakers coming home and home cooking helping the team out, maybe the real angle is in finding out how the refs adjust. The fact that the Lakers wear yellow on most home games, does that confuse the refs? Does that explain the Lakers' near domination on Sundays? Is it like baseball where the ball is harder to see for hitters against certain backgrounds? Does the white background make it harder to see fouls by the home team or just easier to see fouls by the away team? Is there a routine that refs follow so they remain consistent in their inconsistency? Maybe a morning jog in Cambridge and a sip from the Charles River gets their mind right about who to call fouls on. Maybe a Lord of the Rings hotdog from Pinks and measuring their foot-size against Humphrey Bogart at Mann's Chinese Theater gets the whistle working for the right team for those games. What do they do when the Lakers play he Clips? There are so many angles to this and to think that ABC goes with a fluff piece like Powe growing up partially homeless in Oakland. Come on, this isn't the Superbowl.
Those black and whites of Pierce and Kobe, taken with them kissing and cradling the trophy remind me of a table photo album of parents with their first infant, but less erotic.
Maybe this isn't right, but I have a theory about NBA (and basketball in general) officiating, and it goes like this:
If you watch soccer, a sport with a lot more running, you can see that good referees are always trying to put themselves in a position to make the right call. They're always trying to get an unobstructed view of the action around the ball, and they do this by running around on the field. Obviously, this isn't an option so much for NBA refs, but I do feel like many of them don't move around nearly enough to see the plays properly. Oftentimes, a call will be made about some action under the rim by a referee standing on the sideline, or somewhere else where it's clear that he can't really see what just happened. I think basketball needs a rule that requires refs to retire at 45 and makes them really work during the game, instead of just stand around.
Man, this is just a case of one team getting the calls and another not. Don't tell me that "Lakers aint tough" BS, cause they took on the Spurs and the Jazz who live on paint shots. Lakers better not slip up in LA if they want to win this series
I saw maybe 5 bad calls against the Lakers (that's including a few bad no-calls), and 2 against the Celtics. Not much of a disparity, really. People just look at the end FT totals and freak out, but aside from Gasol, which Laker put himself in a position to get to the line??? The lack of transition D and letting Leon Powe have his way, etc. are indeed toughness issues, Hypotoad. Or whatever you want to call it.
FD is confusing
Confusion is FD.
I love FD, but I've got to wonder why the Boston hate has come on so hard as of late. I get that we all love Lamar (as a Heat fan, I grew to love him stepping into the "cagey, unpredictable vet" role), but what Paul Pierce is doing this series (if not these playoffs), emerging from obscurity to place himself in the conversation with names like Lebron and Kobe, has to be at least somewhat interesting from a narrative standpoint. Dude put up 28, had 8 assists, and was 4-4 from the arc. That's a pretty impressive and versatile display of skills, no?
Also, the more I read the site, the more I wonder whether or not the style involved in playing ugly, brutish basketball is being missed. It's like when people said the South ruined hip-hop: No, it just came with a sound that was a little more raw, but when executed well was no less significant/stylish.
My friends, that was a good game, and I think this reeks a bit of "I liked that album before it got reviewed on pitchfork," style analysis. The free throw disparity was 1/2 Leon Powe's nonstop aggression, 1/2 Lakers never taking it inside except for Gasol. I'll grant you, Ray Allen did nothing exciting, but since when has he this year? Pierce had 19 points or something in the first half! Rondo faked a pass behind the back, went up with it, and then threw it to Powe behind his back in the 4th quarter! Lakers nearly won! No, it's not GS against Dallas last year, but if that's your benchmark for playoff enjoyment, you're going to be disappoitned quite a bit of the time. This wasn't the best game I've ever seen by any means, but it was definitely a good one.
FD contains multitudes. Boston isn't uniformly FD, and I can't speak for Shoals or Silverbird on the topic per se. Also, Recluse makes a point of supporting Perkins and Rondo. I even myself said that THIS game I am cheering for the Lakers. That all may change as the series go on. This is liberated fandom.
I meant Boston isn't uniformly NON-FD.
Everyone needs to stop with this "the Lakers weren't taking it inside" myth. I don't know what the final numbers ended up being, but at halftime -- y'know, when they were enjoying a 19-2 free throw disadvantage -- the Lakers had a 24-12 advantage on points scored in the paint. I've never really understood how they calculate that number (specifically, whether or not it includes free throws that result from fouls in the paint), but either way, it's pretty clear that the problem was bigger than just the Lakers.
WV: fblnpbzj - free brooklyn with primo brezec's jumper
bernard snowy is right.The Lakers attempted more shots in paint than Boston.
see shots in paint from ESPN Box Score.
Shots in paint/FTs
Lakers:
First quarter: 11-0
Second quarter 10-1
Third quarter: 7-2
Fourth quarter: 7-6
Boston:
First quarter: 3-5
Second quarter: 5-14
Third quarter: 6-6
Fourth quarter: 5-12
At least Lakers took it inside as much as Boston. (Fts don't count as shots attempted)
See this thread
http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t=66584&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
I encourage the FDniverse to perform a thought experiment: If you hadn't seen the first two rounds of the playoffs, would you still be dogging Boston? I feel like a lot of the blowback here is because (1) Boston looked like it was going to duck the championship mantle, and (2) with the pressure to write SOMETHING about most every playoff game, there's a natural tendency to over-weight the short-term storylines.
Take the longer view. Hell, if you jumped in a time machine right after the KG acquisition and ended up watching this game, IMO there would be a 2,500 word essay up right now on how Pierce was finally about to get his deserved due, Ray Ray was killing himself on D for the first time ever, and Rondo was doing crazy Rondo shit.
Boston has played like an anti-champion for all of three weeks this year. For the other 6 months, they've been the best team. I know LO is fun and everything, but it seems like things are slightly off the rails here.
Pierce is undeniably FD...except for the whole injury BS thing in Game 1, which was not entirely his fault...but really hurt his FD cache.
KG is not FD with the Celtics, because he's gonna win his ring without really having to have a big performance in these playoffs. He's come up very small in huge situations (4th quarter game 1....passing up a lot of post-moves to kick it outside last night) and the Celtics are seriously winning in spite of him.
At least when he was with Minnesota he had to have two extra-clutch games for the Wolves to reach the WCF (game 7 vs Sacramento and that game 5 I believe? where he got that shot to clink around the rim and then go in).
Recluse likes Rondo and Perkins but I think they're too cocky for their contributions.
I shouldn't really have to defend myself though. I'm all about the short-term storylines.
Important non-sequitur for me personally: part of being FD is a certain underdog quality...that should explain a lot.
Another important non-sequitur: a lot of my Boston ire is directed toward their fans. Sorry for being predictable.
That was undoubtedly the WORST officiated game I have ever seen in an NBA Finals. Totally lopsided....atleast call both sides the same way. The Lakers were getting called for tick-tack fouls in the first quarter while the Celtics got away for shit until atleast the 4th quarter. Just horrendous.
Just a quick point of interest (coming from someone who turned off the game after the third quarter): Dan Crawford, who reffed the game last night, has been called out by Flip Saunders (while on the Wolves), Larry Brown (Pistons), and Mark Cuban (Mavs) for notorious systematically team-biased officiating over the past four years. Just found that interesting.
KG hasn't stepped up these playoffs? 28 & 8 in the first game against Cleveland - with a game winning shot in the last 10 seconds; LeBron boned his attempt. 33 in game five against the Pistons, in a must-win. 24 & 13 in game one of the finals; while Pierce had 2 points in the first half, KG had 16 & 6. Last night his shot wasn't falling so he goes and gets 14 boards.
Nothing is perfect. He's not gonna get you 38/21 every game. What he is gonna do is be the backbone for the best defense we've seen since DRob and Duncan were together. He is gonna provide a culture of unselfishness that Kobe never could - notice how Sasha and Pau weren't expecting some of those passes?
I don't have anything real smart to say. It just boggles the mindgrapes to see Boston - and mainly KG - get overlooked and forgotten like this.
Underdog is FD? Vegas must not have gotten that memo.
Correction: I like Rondo and Powe, not Perkins. I can't stand Kendrick Perkins.
Post a Comment
<< Home