Real Deal

Jarrett Jack happened. Haha, well...Belinelli popped in a three, Okafor had a tip-in from a missed three (if I recall correctly, Belinelli or Ariza shot that one), Chandler choked at the line and missed both free throws, Jack was fouled by Kidd as he took a three...and he knocked down three frees to win it. Dirk went for the game-winner, but Emeka was all up in his jersey.

Damn man, Griffin and Garnett basically shut each other down.

Good game. Philly looks like a good team, and they have for a while now, since Iggy has really stepped up his game and decided he was going to distribute the ball a bit more. I'm not sure how their play will translate once they hit the playoffs, though.

New Orleans, acting like they won the NBA Finals.

UH OH. Kevin Love could have 55 the night he dances with the Lakeshow, and attempts to break the "last 40 years" record. The last time he didn't have a double-double, it was against the Lakers...November 19th, when he was held to 0 points and 7 boards. :o

That's worse. Why not just stick with the shoulder? There's no reason why his arm extended unless it was intentional. If he was pushing off the body, it would make sense only if he was about nine feet tall. Had he come at his head from the start, you could claim it was an accident...that he didn't see where he was leading him, maybe his gloves were in the way, etc. But to hit with the shoulder, then bring the hand up, extend out to the face and smash his face into the wall...that was not by accident.

Damp is playing halfway decent, if you compare it to his expectations in November (he wasn't going to play basketball in the league again). Sheed's back is pretty bad...not really sure if many realize it, but he was advised not to play in the Finals because of it, yet the dude stepped up BIG in that Game 7 and probably did more for Boston than Perkins would've. He's definitely not ready for another playoff run, though.

That was a TERRIBLE ending. I seriously can't believe that happened. LOL, I wish I had a video of my reaction to it live.

What were the possible (not out of question) punishments for this, anyway? Would they actually suspend him for the entire season, or...? I wouldn't oppose a 2-3 game suspension. Even one or two. I just don't see how he got away with it without something happening.

Neutral here, don't care about hockey and have never watched a full game. It looked to me like the hit was perfectly timed. To time something like that, it has to be intentional. He didn't have the puck, and it was clear as day. The still frame DOES show a lot. If he was avoiding it, he wouldn't have stuck his arm out and planted the guy's face into the stanchion. He had a lot of time to react. Given the history (I guess, from what I'm reading elsewhere), it would have to be a very unlikely ordeal, a big coincidence, that this happened the way it did. It would be like Raja Bell jumping up to block Kobe's jumper, and coming down with an elbow to the bridge of his nose, even though Kobe didn't have the ball and didn't take a jumper.

Need a link. In other words, the same offense that got the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Finals in 2007.

Copy and paste the code below, filling in the blanks. All correct answers get you five points. No late entries accepted. If you don't turn yours in by the tip-off of the first game, you miss out, no exceptions. Wednesday, March 9th New York @ Memphis (NBATV) Winner: Leading rebounder: Thursday, March 10th LA Lakers @ Miami (TNT) Winner: Leading scorer: New York @ Dallas (TNT) Winner: Leading passer: Friday, March 11th LA Clippers @ New Jersey Winner: Leading scorer: Atlanta @ Chicago (NBATV) Winner: Player with the most turnovers: Saturday, March 12th Memphis @ Miami Winner: Leading rebounder: LA Lakers @ Dallas (NBATV) Winner: Player with the most threes made:

Well, the last two games James Jones played over 10 minutes, he shot a combined 1-8. I'm not seeing the difference. They are both shooting 41% anyway.

Reality TV show.

OMG... http://twitter.com/#!/MikeeyL_NY/status/45332233715859457 Had me cracking up.

Right...play them instead of LeBron and Wade? They are sitting on the bench because Mike Miller is getting more burn, and because Wade and LeBron aren't going to play 30 minutes per game.

The entire team is the problem. These bench players have had no problem contributing on other teams, which is why you guys were excited to bring them in (ex. Mike Miller). Everyone was pumping their fists when Eddie House pulled up and nailed a game-winning three off of a passed-up shot by LeBron, and people were talking about how he used to hit those big threes in Boston. In Miami, their best offensive players aren't playing defense, and their best defensive players aren't playing offense. You put a particular unit out there, and it will either give up points, or fail to score points. In addition to that, the bench doesn't handle the ball, nor does it get the shots it needs, to either stay hot or keep their hands warm. The team is the problem, not just Bosh, not just Spo, not just the bench.

Post the article and stop baiting. If you're talking about the actual article being posted, it doesn't matter who creates the topic. I doubt a Miami Heat fan would make this particular one, anyway. But the comment made in the initial post was unacceptable, and that's taken care of.

Honestly, I thought the Heat would actually win this game. I'm surprised that they didn't. There's no way they are going to win games by not playing defense, though, because the three all-stars aren't going to combine for 100 points.

Sucks he'll be retiring without a ring.

Why do I feel like this is all an act?

I'll check into it. It's been this way since yesterday for me.

That doesn't make sense. You're basically saying that we can't hate on LeBron for The Decision because it had nothing to do with our team? Two things... 1) According to you, what went down will involve everyone. You told us the Heat duo is better than the Kobe and Shaq duo (I wonder if you want to retract this statement yet), and that they will win 4-5 championships in the first seven seasons. That means all of our teams are screwed, right? 2) I can give you examples of people hating on things that had nothing to do with them. In fact, you did once...when you agreed with another poster when he brought up Kobe throwing Bynum under the bus, said it was a bad thing and he was ignorant for doing it. Why the hate? Drew was not in Miami, there were no trade rumors with the Heat, the Lakers weren't even contending at the time...I'm just curious, what warranted that hate from anyone outside of Lakers nation? Do you know what was on television at around 6 PM? There was a short segment on SC about the Heat's loss. Nope, absolutely nothing else about Sunday's games...just that, same exact ESPN headlines over to the left (about the loss, then about the Heat crying). A lot of this stems from The Decision, and the massive reception they welcomed by throwing their own championship parade before a preseason game was even played. It's the same guy that did everything I mentioned earlier, when he was with Cleveland, shoulder-blocked Spoelstra like he did Brown, makes incredibly ignorant comments about league contraction and the Cavaliers getting what they deserve, and still seems to treat his role-playing teammates like utter garbage when they screw up. Here's a fact: there were more and more people hating LeBron James in the last two seasons with the Cavaliers, not when he was going to the Finals and playing the Spurs. Today, they hate him more than ever, without a single playoff win with a Heat jersey on. It's not about winning or how good he is, it's about his actions and attitude. As much as I hated Shaq, or Pierce and Garnett, or Ginobili and Bowen, Bell and Nash...out of everyone in the NBA today, I would rather any of them win a championship this season over LeBron. I would welcome Shaq and Boston winning the next two (Shaq will retire in two years) than to see James get his, don't care if it puts Boston another two ahead of LA in the championship race. It's unfortunate that Wade and Riley, my boy Chalmers, and a few other players are forced to be a part of that hate.

It's really not that way for me. LeBron will eventually be better than Bryant, due to Kobe's age...doesn't mean shit to me. Kobe has the most defined game since MJ, and LeBron has a lot of work to do. I'm sure people still think Oscar Robertson was a better player than Mike, too, because he was the triple-double machine. I like Kevin Durant, top three favorite player of mine. If he becomes a better overall player than Bryant EVER was, someday, then I'll be cool with it as long as he keeps his attitude. He can get cocky on the court later on, when he can actually back it up, but off the court, it's a different story.

LOL...I really wish I had OTR's old posts, from 2005. Put this topic up at around that time, and the poll is flipped.