2005 NBA Playoffs Topic

[Blitz]

Nash can't win the big games. Hahahaha. Bastard.

[Karizma]

The only reason the Suns are down is because of Joe Johnson.Once he's back, this is a completely different series as he'll most likely move onto Parker.

EDIT: Thats now saying that the Suns are gonna win, but the JJ injury has fucked them big time.Turns out it wasn't the play slowlying down stopping them, it was their obvious gap of depth, despite Jim Jackson doing a great job at filling in for Joe...

If the start bumping around Parker like the Sonics and the Lakers last year even, the Spurs could potentially crumble.Q Rich is choking the fuck up though.

Edited May 28, 2005 by Karizma

[D-Extreme]

Right now, the Spurs are in their comfort zone as they head for home with a 2-0 advantage. But I feel they are still praying for something, that the suns will not be pulling off a derek fisher buzzer beater.

Edited May 28, 2005 by D-Extreme

[y2jerichoholic]

3-0 Spurs... BRING OUT THE BROOMS!

I don't care who comes out of the East, just as long as they beat the crap out of each other and go to 7 games.

[naiwf]

I'm glad the "MVP" is being exposed for the piss poor defender he is in this series, but I'm not really enjoying the Pistons winning Game 3 rather easily right now, simply because De-troit . . . SUCKS MY BALLS

[CISS]

Yeah Detroit lost 113-104

[EWRFan]

I dont usually blame the ref's, but the officiating in this game was questionable.

[Malenko]

I'm glad the "MVP" is being exposed for the piss poor defender he is in this series, but I'm not really enjoying the Pistons winning Game 3 rather easily right now, simply because De-troit . . . SUCKS MY BALLS

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Edited May 31, 2005 by Malenko

[y2jerichoholic]

3-1, wow...

this series is still over.

[Sabu]

I dont usually blame the ref's, but the officiating in this game was questionable.

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[naiwf]

I don't understand why the Pistons are whining about taking 11 less free throws than Miami did in that game. 54 to 43 isn't that bad, if it was 54 to 23 I could see them being pissed, but if the numbers were 34 to 23 no one would even care. This is just another reason why I can't stand Larry Brown.

[VerbalPuke]

For once, I agree with naiwf regarding the Pistons. They have no room to bitch about their free throws, considering they did not capitalize on them. There were way too many misses in my humble opinion. There were a few questionable calls and no calls (Billups being hammered and cut open is one that stands out), but a championship team should overcome bad calls. I'm also not a huge fan of Larry Brown as I can not stand the way he treats younger/foreign players. Plus all of this drama of him leaving town is definitely not helping the Pistons chances of repeating.

It's very simple, the Heat want this series more right now. The Pistons defense is lacking, and they have yet to find an answer for Dwayne Wade. The Pistons are by no means out of this series, but I can't say I'm extremely confident right now. If we don't find a way to shut D-Wade down, then it's curtains for the Pistons season and chance of repeating.

I'll say this, if the Heat do beat the Pistons then I hope they go on to win the championship.

[Jester of Death]

PHOENIX (AP) -- The San Antonio Spurs no longer have to worry about being on the wrong side of playoff history -- or about facing Amare Stoudemire.

Career Win Pct. In Elimination Games

Coach                  W-L            Pct.

Tom Heinsohn    10-3      .769

Gregg Popovich    16-5      .762

Bill Sharman        8-3        .727

All they have to think about now is trying to win another NBA championship.

Tim Duncan had 31 points and 15 rebounds and the Spurs' defense keyed a gamechanging 18-4 third-quarter run, giving them enough of a cushion to hold off Stoudemire and the Phoenix Suns with a 101-95 victory Wednesday night that ended the Western Conference finals in five games.

As thrilled as the Spurs are about making the Finals for the second time in three years, and third in seven, they're likely also relieved to be done with this series -- and Stoudemire.

San Antonio led 3-0 before losing Game 4 at home and certainly didn't want to go home for a Game 6 with the Suns halfway to pulling off a comeback that's unprecedented in NBA history, but fresh in the minds of sports fans after the Boston Red Sox did it last October.

The victory gives Duncan's aching ankles and Manu Ginobili's bumps and bruises plenty of time to heal while San Antonio waits to find out whether it will next face Miami or Detroit. The Heat and Pistons are tied 2-2 with Game 5 on Thursday night in Miami. The final round will start June 9, and the Spurs, who won it all in 1999 and 2003, will be the home team regardless.

Stoudemire almost kept the Suns' fabulous season alive by scoring 17 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter, several on the powerful slam dunks that have become his calling card.

His 37-point average in this series broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record for a conference finals first-timer and he set the club record for consecutive playoff games with at least 30 points, doing so in all five. Phoenix hadn't even had a player score 30 points in five straight regular-season games since Charles Barkley in March 1993.

Stoudemire scored the final two points just before time expired, then congratulated Duncan after the buzzer, with the two-time MVP offering congrats of his own.

"These guys are an incredible offensive team and they kept coming but we stuck with it," Duncan said. "These weren't the kind of scores we like to play in but we made it happen."

30-Point Playoff Games Before Age 23 Amare Stoudemire 11 Kobe Bryant 10 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 7 Tracy McGrady 6

Phoenix came into this season never expecting to still be playing in June after winning 29 games in 2003-04. But with an energetic offense, the Suns ran off the most points and most wins in the NBA and charged through the first two rounds. This was only the second time in 15 postseason games they failed to score 100 points, the other also against the Spurs.

With big first halves from Stoudemire and league MVP Steve Nash, Phoenix was up by one at halftime. San Antonio quickly changed that.

Trailing 52-51 a few possessions into the third quarter, a dunk by Robert Horry gave the Spurs the lead, then began a 6:30 stretch that guaranteed they'd keep it the rest of the way. When it ended, San Antonio was up 69-56.

Along the way, the Suns had four turnovers (traveling by Nash, two lost balls by Stoudemire and a 24-second violation), Nash missed three shots, Stoudemire missed another and the flourish ended with Joe Johnson getting blocked twice.

The Spurs, meanwhile, had Tony Parker find his groove by hitting one of his trademark teardrop jumpers and two straight 3-pointers. Duncan passed out of a double team to an open Bruce Bowen for a jumper, then -- perhaps the best sign of all for the Spurs -- Duncan made two free throws.

Phoenix kept clawing and was within 93-90 on a 3-pointer by Jim Jackson with 2:45 left. However, San Antonio has too many players with championship pedigree to fold down the stretch. Duncan tipped in his own miss on the next possession, then a steal by Horry led to a layup by Parker for a 97-90 lead with 50.3 seconds to go.

Duncan was 14-of-24 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, missing only his first one. It barely made it to the front rim, an ugly reminder of his 3-for-12 performance from the line in Game 4.

Ginobili had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Parker had 18, although he was 8-for-21.

Nash scored 21 points, but only three in the second half. He also had 10 assists.

Johnson, whose big performance in Game 4 was the Suns' biggest hope for coming back in the series, cooled off by shooting just 6-of-17 for 14 points. Unlike the last game, his presence didn't help open things up for Shawn Marion and Quentin Richardson. Marion had eight points and Richardson, who went down hard in the first half, was scoreless in 28 minutes.

Game notes

The Suns became the 13th team to lose three straight home games in a postseason. Their '93 team that made the Finals also did it. ... With Phoenix out, the highest-scoring team will not win the title for the 49th time in the NBA's 59 seasons, and it'll be the 27th time the team with the best regular-season record doesn't win it all. ... San Antonio's Tony Massenburg got into the game for the first time this series with 2:53 left in the first half after Nazr Mohammed picked up his third foul. Massenburg has played a key role this series, though -- he was Stoudemire's stand-in during practices.

[naiwf]

A real MVP wouldn't have had his team lose all THREE home games in any series. It's a shame Amare will never win a championship though. The Suns proved that there's no way a team that treats defense as an afterthought can win a championship in modern basketball terms. At least Nashy-poo can look back and tell his grandkids he beat Shaq at something once in his life.

[Karizma]

Fuck LeBron, outta all the young players, Amare is the fucking truth.Imagine what he could do when he develops a better jumper and learns some post moves/footwork.That'll be when he becomes unstoppable.

He's averaged easily over 35 points against THE BEST DEFENSIVE TEAM IN THE NBA and one of the best players in the league, in Duncan, and can play D when he wants to (that block was fucking amazing).

I don't like the Nash hate.Shaq was not the Most Valuable Player, as that Heat team (even minus Shaq right now, not last season) would have made the playoffs comfortably.This Suns side had potential, but with Barbosa running the point, it would have went no fucking where.Nash proved he is a elite calibur player during the Mavs series, he proved he was the MVP during the regular season by turning some young kids into beasts.Sure, he doesn't play defense, but they don't need him too that much when they were beating teams the way they were.Joe Johnson at the start of the series was the key, them missing him and everything he does, ruined the Suns shot.

I also find it amazingly funny that naiwf is the one complaining when before he was going on about how he won't watch the two best D sides, Spurs/Pistons matchups if they reach the Finals, despite knowing full well D wins titles.

Dwyane Wade is torching the Pistons defence too, been extremely impressive.Key for them is EJ playing well offensively, and having a decent game defensively.Pistons though IMO need Sheed to step the fuck up a bit more and play more offensively, and they'd have this series done.If they win game 5, they win the series, otherwise the Heat will bring it back home and win in 7.

Either way, Manu Ginobili or Dwyane Wade are gonna overshadow Duncan and Shaq (if that ends up the matchup) to win the Finals MVP.

Edited June 2, 2005 by Karizma

[y2jerichoholic]

that game was fucking awesome. does anyone know who gets homecourt in the finals?

[D-Extreme]

depends really, Spurs are a no. 2 seed and they will be facing either the no.1 or no. 2 in the east.

If San Antonio faces Miami...it can go either way since, both teams have the same record

BUT

If the spurs face the pistons, SA takes the home court advantage.

The game was really nice. I actually had a hope that Phoenix would force a game six. Unfortunately they didnt..but I wanted San Antonio to make it to the finals. Really I did. I mean, it wasnt like they defeated the mavs to advance to the finals, that would have been a different story.

[Sabu]

I would have thought the Suns would have played better in that series..guess not. Well, now i'm rooting for the Miami Heat to beat Detroit, hopefully it will happen.

[naiwf]

I also find it amazingly funny that naiwf is the one complaining when before he was going on about how he won't watch the two best D sides, Spurs/Pistons matchups if they reach the Finals, despite knowing full well D wins titles.

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[Blitz]

I also find it amazingly funny that naiwf is the one complaining when before he was going on about how he won't watch the two best D sides, Spurs/Pistons matchups if they reach the Finals, despite knowing full well D wins titles.

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There's a difference between liking defense and wanting to watch 79-74 games in the Finals. Defensive basketball is BORING as hell. If I want to watch two teams shoot under 40% I'll flip on a WNBA game. I know of what I speak because I lived through a fucking decade of it with the Knicks in the 90s. Sure, we held teams under 90 most nights, 80 on good ones, and 70 every so often, but when the halftime score is 38-33 there's really no incentive to watching the second half. And no, I will not watch a Detroit/San Antonio series, and I'm willing to bet 99% of basketball fans outside of those two cities won't either.

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