When Yao went down, all I could think of was all the Chinese people tuning in who would have been horribly depressed.
If that happens, HOU is going to the finals. edited to add; IMO, Bynum has to play more for LAL to win.
Quotes from Laker assistant coach Kurt Rambis on the Laker radio today "We were lethargic and rusty" " we missed a lot of easy shots" "Our defensive sets were not properly run, we could not guard Yao the way we wanted to" "Kobe didn't feel that well." "Pau Gasol was tired" "Andrew Bynum played to tight on Yao to open the game and got ticky tack fouls called on him" "Battier and Artest played well vs Kobe, but Battier played within the defensive plan and Artest was winging it" "we will be ready tomorrow and expect to win game 2, and then we'll get one of the ones in Houston and take the home court back" "It's all about us having the home court in game 7"
Go Chauncey. His team seems to be doing pretty well. Joe, are you watching? I am glad we have the cap money now. I know that even with Chauncey, Pistons chances were slim to go anywhere. But most likely they'd still be playing.
The Chauncey this season isn't the same guy who played here last season. Partly I think he's re-energized being at home and has more motivation to do well, but mostly I think he's stepping into a leadership role in a way he never did here. Stepping away from so much familiarity with his teammates may have made it easier for him to take a more active role. It's hard to imagine the teary hotel goodbye going on with JR and Martin.
That would more than likely be a glassy eyed bong session with a farewell poker tourney or something.
So I was debating this with a friend, but has Tracy McGrady finally gotten to the second round for the first time? I know Yao is, but I think T-Mac also deserves it.
He also doesn't have to play referee b/w the coach and players which IMO took a huge weight off his shoulders. He even mentioned before the season started when he was still here how now that Flip was gone, and there was a coach with authority he could finally relax and just play. -------------- They might surprise you LOL. Smith has already starting waxing poetic about him calling him the heart and soul of the team.
T-Mac has most certainly NOT excercised his playoff demons. The Rockets finally got out of the first round BECAUSE of MacGrady's mysterious injury. That team really came together once T-Mac shut himself down for the year. Von Wafer > T-Mac
The guys Chauncey is playing with now are hungrier and more athletic than the guys he left behind. They are more loose and are having fun, where some of our vets were going through the motions and were spent come playoff time.
But keep in mind that they still have not advanced as far as we did last year with Chauncey and all of our unmotivated, unathletic players.
Same scenario, 2 different teams. Scenario: A team with Chauncey Billups playing heavy minutes at PG makes it to the conference finals and loses it in 6 games. In Detroit: fans are upset losing the same way for the 4th year in a row. Chauncey is thrown under the bus by some fans as a contributing reason for the inability to get over the hump. In Denver: he's the mayor. It's all about fan expectations, and I'm glad he's doing well in Denver and their fans are having a blast with it, becuase I remember what that felt like for us. Denver is basically the only team I'm watching in the playoffs now that the Pistons are out.
Look at the minutes GK has been playing CB. This year had the trade not occurred, Stuckey would have kept CB's minutes at a great number.
You know I did not think of that. He has been trying for so long. When he and G.Hill signed with Orlando back in 00 there were reports of how they used to talk about all the championships they were going to win together. At least one of them finally made it out of the 1st round. I would be open to signing Ron Artest. Give him a 1 or 2 year deal.
Looks like Joey Crawford wanted to make sure he gets his name involved in the game first tossing Artest cause he made a gesture about being elbowed in the neck by Kobe and then as a semi makeup, calling a tech on Kobe for taunting Battier. Not sure if Fish will get a suspension or not on his hard hit on Scola, but he did have that guilty innocence about him.
That was awesome when Ron Ron went at Kobe after he was called for the foul for taking the elbow. A true wild card, anything could have happened then. It reminded me of a hyped Steve Jackson sprinting into the crowd and scrum of players to help a fallen team mate the year GS upset Dallas. Sheed would kill Joey Crawford if he shoved him like Crawford did Artest. Some physical ball being played out West.
That game was unwatchable. I've never seen more stoppages of play. Add to that Kobe screaming that Battier can't guard him on every other shot that he happens to hit and Odom talking trash to Scola (you know, cause he's awesome b/c he has Kobe on his team). Then the refs calling absolutely everything whether it happened or not to "keep control of the game", with the ultimate being the ejection of Artest for showing that he got elbowed in the neck. I'm done with that series.
The bad part about the Fish foul was that in post game comments, Phil Jackson said that he and Fisher were surprised that he was thrown out. Fish turned around and literally threw his shoulder-elbow-hip in Scola and then scratched his head as if nothing happen but was trying to rub off the blood....the little punk...
