2011 NBA Playoffs

Of course Chris Bosh got 34pts. He was the one they allowed to score. If the Bulls lock down Wade and LeBron like they did, Bosh isn't going to do that back to back games. And Boozer's defense sucks.

Of course Noah is going to get fined. Then again, if they're going to fine Noah, they should fine every other goddamn player that ever stepped on court because I'm sure 99% of them have called someone a faggot or worse. Also, I'd put $100 dollars down the fan called him worse. And I bet he's happily telling all his friends "Joakim Noah called me a faggot!"

But you cannot tell me they weren't traveling like fucking pilgrims. They were. And every time the Bulls got on any run they were stopped by a ref call. Complete shit. Game 2 was more of a fair loss, not this one.

 

I love the Bulls and I hated that they have lost the past two games, but I can't believe all the whining my fellow fans have done. At least 75% of the dudes in the office were crying about the refs today. I really don't agree with it. Have the refs missed some calls? Of course. But the last two games have been basically tied going into the last 7-8 minutes of the 4th quarter and each time the Bulls have shit the bed. The Heat have won the 4th quarters and that is why they are winning the games. Thibs and the Bulls have to figure out how to score down the stretch, and I really hope they do.

 

Would you dare question the actions of a 7-foot-tall, angry German man?

I mean, even though you have 3 inches on the guy, that's still asking for trouble.

 

Christ almighty. I haven't seen a meltdown like that since Fukushima. I refuse to believe that this can't be anything but karmic retribution for Clay Bennett. As long as he owns our former Sonics or until Seattle gets another NBA franchise, mark my words, OKC will never win a title.

 

Does anybody in the league change direction faster than Derrick Rose? I sprained an ankle just watching him. Dunk on Joel Anthony was nasty.

I've hated Noah since we played against him in high school (#humblebrag?) but I have to admit, players that can affect games without needing any plays called for them are incredibly valuable. And fun to play with.

 

Which is the major difference between this incident and the Kobe one, and why the fine should be less. Still, I can't remember the last time I heard a grown man call another grown man a faggot. Are they going to start busting out "honkey" and "polack" soon?

 

Wait. Are you implying that a player getting in a fans face and yelling at him is a lesser crime than a camera merely catching him saying it to a teammate on the bench (not even directed at the subject of the insult)?

I don't understand that logic at all. And I hate Kobe.

 

For the record Kobe directed his insult at a ref. I guess the league is saying that the fan provoked the comment from Noah, and Kobe's was unprovoked and directed at a ref who made a call.

Anyways, this was a terrible game to watch as a Bulls fan. A game they should have won, but they didn't.

My prediction is this: Bulls get every call in game 5 and win it by 10-20 points.

Heat win game 6.

 

For what its worth according to Noah the fan said something about Noah's mother. I also read an interview (http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/29445/joakim-noah-thats-not-who-i-am) that said Noah's family had a gay family friend growing up that he referred to as mom. Taking that together I'm pretty sure that guy said some horrible shit. I know pro players need to be the bigger man, but I'm not going to rake a guy over the coals for this one.

 

I'm baffled after tonight's loss. Can anyone explain Chicago's final possession in regulation to me? Why in the fuck Rose shot that bullshit off-balance jumper with a little time left just blows my mind. Slash to the basket and draw a foul? Use your remaining seconds to get in a better position? Really--that was the play that was drawn up? Jesus.

As a native Akronite, I'm 100% for the Bulls just saying "fuck it" in the next game and playing like the late-80s Pistons. I want blood from LeBron on that court and I want it now. Miami is way too close to a championship, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to see some of the hardest fouls in history committed against them in game 5. Is this a realistic viewpoint? Absolutely not. But I can tell you that if someone manages to "accidentally" give LBJ a career-ending injury during this series, I will be masturbating to the replay footage on a nightly basis for the rest of my life.

/angryrant

 

It would be smart for Chicago to turn it into at 90s Heat-Knicks game. The Bulls looked real soft in these past few games and I'm surprised. They need to lay the wood on the Heat, they have 3 real players for Christs sake. Hit them early, hard, and often and Chicago might stand a chance. Lebron's reaction to the charge they called towards the end or regulation when he obviously elbowed Deng (who was giving space) was the sign of a little bitch. They all need some hard fouls to knock them off the pedestal they put themselves on. I don't really care about either team, but the Heat are the embodiment of the superstar gets the calls mentality that is undermining the NBAs attempts to prove they don't play favorites. If Wade/Bosh/Lebron drive to the basket one more time blindly hoping for a call (and not attempting an actual shot) someone needs to murder the fucking refs. They let Lebron have his own "crab dribble" which involves roughly 35 steps and he still bitches when they try to cut down on it. He's a fucking coward and a cry-baby.

 

Especially since it was basically the exact same play that didn't work right before it?

The Bulls last two possessions were fucking awful. When it came down to the game on the line, the Bulls have Rose and nobody else able to create a shot. It was like deja vu of the Celtics-Heat series when it was Pierce and nobody else.

Maybe the Bulls gut out game 5, but I think they lose in 6.

 

Noah owned up to it and admitted it was a mistake. That's about all you can do. The NBA is trying to teach them to dig into another bag of responses outside of "faggot". There are a million things Noah could have called the guy and not paid $0.10 in fines.

I am all for the concept of "you pay for a ticket, so you should be allowed to heckle", but there is a line. You should be able to say anything you want about the player and his game, but once you bring family members into it, that is out of bounds. Guys should be able to report those "fans" to security and they should be removed.

 

It's a different league. Do you think that Boozer foul on Bosh would have been called Flagrant in the early 90's? I think it was a hard playoff foul and would not have been upset to see them skip the Flagrant part.

That wasn't Deng that drew the offensive foul on James, it was Ronnie Brewer.

I seem to remember Chalmers grabbing Rose out near the top of the key and yet they still allowed him to dunk on continuation.

The Heat are doing the same thing to the Bulls that they did to the Mavs in '06. If you dont want to stand in and take a charge, then get out of the way and don't slap at the ball. Look how many charges the Heat have taken in the series. That is a huge part of their defensive strategy.

 

I thought James' defense on Rose in the closing minutes was impressive. Even Rose admitted as much. There were a couple of shots of Rose on the bench near the end of regulation and he looked shell-shocked. He chucked up those shots because he did not think he could get around James.

Chicago must find a solution to this otherwise with Rose as Chicago's sole option at the end Chicago won't win a close game.

Anyone from Clevland (or anyone else from the East) have any thoughts about Brown as the new Laker coach? I know very little about the guy but as a Laker fan I am very curious.

 

Even though any time anyone complains about the refs they are a whiner as evidence by my last post even though the refs fucked the Bulls in game 3.

In game 4, the Bulls fucked the Bulls. Fairly officiated game, especially with Joey Crawford in the mix! Lots of make-up calls, and I'm fine with it.

Thibs, come on man, get Korver out there, he gets two shots and if he misses both, tell him to foul someone so he can come out the game. He's useless if he's not hitting shit.

Everyone already said everything else. This hurts more because I was at a bar that's right down the street from the United Center and it was feeling good in there before it all went to shit.

I'll be surprised if this doesn't get milked to a game 6 or even 7.

Go Bulls.

 

If Jerry Buss hires Mike Brown to coach the Lakers, the city might very well erupt in riots in the same way it did after the Rodney King verdict. If there's a more inept coach in the NBA, I'd implore anyone to point him out to me.

EDIT: Huh, so how about that. Apparently, it's already official. Might as well be the end of an era. Have fun with mediocrity, Lakers fans!

 

As the resident rabid Cavs fan, I'll bite on this one (and I know I'll be in the minority here, even among Cleveland people).

I like this hiring, but only conditionally.

Mike Brown was a student of the Poppovich school of defense. Cleveland turned into a hell of a defensive team during his tenure, and despite the offense mostly flowing through one guy (may he burn in hell forever), the defense was a team effort. He really cultivated the games of guys like Anderson Varejao, who went from flopper to a hell of a defender. He knew how to run a help system effectively, and it really showed. My favorite footage of their defensive system in action was definitely the Christmas Day game against the Lakers. Beautiful stuff.

Now the big condition: this Mr. Potatohead-looking motherfucker HAS to fill his assistant spots with the best offensive minds he can find or the city of Los Angeles will eat him alive. It was his undoing in Cleveland, and it will be his undoing in LA if he doesn't step things up. Whatever the Buss family needs to do to lure the right people in, they need to do it quickly before things unravel. Whether they keep a single shred of the triangle offense is going to be very interesting.