Well, the Knicks have won their first playoff game since I was at Duke.
I don't know about you guys, but this development has changed my life forever.
Agreed. They miss Noah as a facilitator on offense, and they can't count on much from Deng against Igoudala, who is an excellent defender. Luol just doesn't have the first step or quick release to keep Iggy off balance, especially with his left hand all but useless with the wrist injury. Watson has been in a funk too - he is no D-Rose, but is a much better player than he has shown in this series. Just about everything that could go wrong for the Bulls has in this series.
Well, the Knicks have won their first playoff game since I was at Duke.
I don't know about you guys, but this development has changed my life forever.
How long will it be before they win their second???
It could be a while. They're starting Mike Bibby at point guard in Miami, and they're well over the cap for next year and can expect to lose a few core players from this year's team. (Smith and Novak, for example, can expect sizable raises, while Lin -- who I'd assume will be back -- and Fields are restricted free agents.) Plus, Amar'e gets a year older, and Chandler and Anthony are no spring chickens. And they still have the most loathsome owner in professional sports and a voiceless, puppet front office.
Other than that though, they're in great shape.
It's pretty close, yeah. Sterling might have it by a nose since I've seen no indication that Dolan is racist. It depends on how much you can tolerate Dolan's musical stylings, perhaps.
In a night where the Bulls offense was purely offensive, they still took down the 76ers. Solid defense was backed by a strong outing by Carlos Boozer, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds on 9-20 shooting. Luol Deng had a fantastic night as well, 24 points and 8 rebounds, he also had 2 blocks and 2 steals
Would have loved to watch the game, but it was televised on NBAtv. Blech.
Last edited by theAlaskanBear; 05-09-2012 at 09:17 AM. Reason: wrong box score
Anyone else get to see the Pacers-Magic game? There was some classic stuff in the game for Duke fans. Three times HansBlahBlah ended up guarding JJ one on one off of a switch. The result, 2 layups and one trip to the foul line. Then to make things even better, there had to be 5 times in the game where HansTravel caused contact and didn't get a call. He had this confused, open mouth, lost look on his face like he couldn't understand where the Carolina refs all went. It was hilarious. Pacers won the game as Collison went off in the 4th quarter (and some of the Magic were out of gas).
It's going to be interesting to see what happens with SVG, Howard and the Magic roster in the coming months.
Boozer looked terrific in the 3rd quarter. He didn't do much in the 4th. Deng was just great. The highlight of the night (as a Bulls fan, not as a Duke fan) was Brewer just swallowing a shot attempt by Brand. Brand got an offensive rebound inside and went up for a layup. Brewer came from behind with a sweeping block attempt and blocked it so emphatically that he just caught the ball with his blocking hand and starting the transition opportunity the other way. Unbelievable. It was nice to see Watson be productive in spite of not shooting well (7 assists).
The lack of offense isn't all that shocking considering the Bulls played without their best offensive player (Rose) and one of their best passers and offensive rebounders (Noah). But it was nice to see the defense carry the day. There was one scary moment when Gibson rolled his ankle on Allen's foot and had to hobble to the locker room. He came back later and provided some energy down the stretch, but his ankle is a concern. It will be interesting to see how much he and Noah heel up before Thursday's game in Philly. If they can go, I think the Bulls still stand a decent chance of making it to round 2. Unfortunately, they'll be facing a tough test against either Boston or Atlanta if they do manage to make the comeback.
I'd say the Pacers and Magic would do well to make a trade of some type. The Pacers need shooting, the Magic need bulk, and they havet's going to be interesting to see what happens with SVG, Howard and the Magic roster in the coming months.
expendable players in both areas. Wouldn't mind seeing J.J. in Indiana (maybe the Pacers could trade Handsblow somewhere), although the Pacers
aren't that quick either.
This Clips Grizz series has been absolutely phenomenal. Memphis is a significantly better squad to me, but CP3 is by far and away the best player on the court all the time. Blake has all the talent in the world but he's one of the most overrated players in the NBA RIGHT NOW. He had a great last game though. I find myself always pulling for the Clip-show because I've grandfathered them in to one of the teams I root for because they typically have so many Duke players. The Grizz miss Battier more than I think a lot of people care to say or realize. Here's to hopefully another great game.
I watched the 4th Q last night. Just when it looked like the Griz were going to blow that lead, CP3 came up gimpy with that groin and Mo Williams stopped hitting shots. Watching this game, and the Celtics v Hawks the night before, I could not get over 2 defensive highlights:
-Quincy Pondexter making CP3s life very difficult down the stretch
-Al Horford getting switched onto Rondo on the last play of the game and somehow staying in front of him for 3-4 seconds and forcing a bad pass. That kid is a 7 footer and he was moving his feet like a cat! Now that he is back, the Hawks are a different team. I don't know if they can win 2 in a row, but, man, I forgot how good he is.
The Bulls are back to playing Bulls basketball (dominating the boards, playing suffocating defense). If they could just score, this would be a blowout. Instead, they've only just taken the lead here in the 4th quarter. The Sixers didn't get an offensive rebound until the 4th quarter, and still have 0 second chance points.
The Sixers may wind up winning, but they're playing like an inexperienced team tonight.
Uggh. And after saying that the Bulls played great, they just made two inexperienced mistakes at the end. Up one, with the ball, under 10 seconds left, Watson (80% ft shooter) passes to Asik (45% ft shooter). Asik gets fouled, misses both. Then, the Bulls compound the mistake by crashing the offensive glass (and failed). This allowed a fast break by Iguodala, who got fouled with 2 seconds to go. He hits both, Bulls missed the desperation shot, game over, season over.
I'm sick right now. The Bulls played without their best player and their best interior player and won comfortably at home and then should have won Game 6. But a couple of brain farts at the end and that's all she wrote.
Oh well. Great game from Deng. Bad shooting game from Boozer. Tough way to lose.
76ers against the Celtics.
The head coaches of both teams have sons who played for Duke.
SoCal
Kobe has to be one of the most frustrated people on the planet tonight. He has the flu, therefore you think that Bynum and Gasol would step up in this game, right? Nah. Bynum pouted again and Gasol played like he's ready for the Olympics.
Lawson was on fire the whole game. Brewer and Faried played well also. Game 7 on Saturday. I think that the home team wins around 82% of the time, but I'll still be watching.
Since Elton's on the sixers, that gives them the edge, ex Duke player wise. Hard to say how the seriesThe head coaches of both teams have sons who played for Duke.
SoCal
will turn out; both teams have been kind of up and down. I think the C's played about as well as they
could against the Hawks and still barely got by. The sixers took the first two meetings, but the C's won
the one down the stretch and played better later. I say Celtics in 7, since they have home court, but with
old players out there, injuries could stop them at any time.