Detroit vs. LA Finals

[cheesestar]

id have my money on la. this is a really crappy series for me. a lose-lose situation. if detroit wins my friends go all out and say how much detroit is better than the mavs. if the lakers win, i get to see the team i hate most win another title. dangit.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Eastern Conference Finals aren't over yet.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: SaltwaterChaffy
Eastern Conference Finals aren't over yet.

thay arent ending in game 6 either.

[cheesestar]

im assuming it because its in detroit and jermaine's hurting

[mavsfanforever]

We have seen detrot lose at home with o'neil and tinsley playing injured.

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky

thay arent ending in game 6 either.

I think they will, unless Carlisle gets his head out of his ass and puts Artest on Rip. If that happens, I don't know what the result will be. Artest is a great on the ball defender, but does he usually chase guys around screens like he will have to against Rip?

[cheesestar]

hasnt artest been playing rip? if he hasnt carlisle has just pulled a nellie. what other offensive threats are there? prince isnt as much of a threat as rip. i think the only other option would be rasheed but isnt rasheed bigger than him?

[cheesestar]

Artest is hurt too.

doesnt seem to serious but could limit artest's effectiveness

[EricaLubarsky]

Artest is one dirty player. Whacking Rip's nose intentionally when he is wearing a mask because he broke his nose?!?!?

[MavsFanatik33]

LA wont let Detroit win, but the Piston's defense just might be able to pull off the unthinkable...you never know

[dalmations202]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky
Artest is one dirty player. Whacking Rip's nose intentionally when he is wearing a mask because he broke his nose?!?!?

The move by Rip leading up to it wasn't the classiest of moves either.

[MikeB]

Who actually thinks Detroit can win more than MAYBE 1 game?
Defense is great but you have to score to beat LA and 74 points or less won't cut it.

[dalmations202]

Originally posted by: MikeB
Who actually thinks Detroit can win more than MAYBE 1 game?
Defense is great but you have to score to beat LA and 74 points or less won't cut it.

I think Detroit gets 2. LA just doesn't seem to be able to turn it on this year and stay focused. They seem to sleepwalk some nights, assuming they are going to win anyway.

[MavKikiNYC]

SPORTS OF THE TIMES
Star Power Could Give Lakers an Edge
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

Published: June 3, 2004


THE N.B.A. finals begin Sunday in Los Angeles, and the question is how much respect the Pistons will get against the Lakers. Will the officials give blue-collar Detroit an even shake?

The Lakers have four future Hall of Fame players - Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. The Pistons have a Hall of Fame coach, Larry Brown, and may have two potential Hall of Fame players in the two Wallaces, Ben and Rasheed.

Sports is a pure form of unscripted drama: each game has a different ending, an unexpected twist and a new hero each night.

But there are nights during the regular season when the N.B.A. is less serious drama and more farce - the old-school Harlem Globetrotters, with confetti being thrown out of a bucket, an opponent's shorts being pulled down and various tricks being performed that can be done only by bending the rules.

Some N.B.A. games seem like arranged marriages - the idea is not that the couple live happily ever after but that the family endures. In this case, the family is the league.

A sore spot re-emerged Monday night during Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, when Referee Eddie F. Rush asked the official scorer during the fourth quarter how many fouls O'Neal had committed after he was whistled for an infraction against Kevin Garnett. The public address announcer at the Staples Center said that it was O'Neal's fourth foul, when it actually was his fifth.

Ronnie Nunn, a referee for 19 seasons but in his first year as director of the league's officials, defended Rush and called his action "pretty common behavior by an official.''

"Would I say it happens every game? Probably not," Nunn said yesterday from his office at N.B.A. headquarters in Manhattan. "The officials are charged with the responsibility to go to the scorer's table if there is any kind of question about what's indicated on a game clock, which type technical a player got or if there is something confusing that the table might have down that is not correct in the mind of the official.

"The No. 1 issue for officials to be vigilant about those things is the fear of having to employ more detailed rules when you miss something. So officials are more cognizant of making sure that table is running as smoothly as possible because going back and changing things involves rule changes, which can be seen as protestable, and no official wants to have anything concerning rules that they have misapplied."

I really don't believe that Rush wanted to make sure the N.B.A.'s big payday - Shaq - stayed in the game. He wanted to clarify conflicting information.

What Nunn - and N.B.A. officials - must sense, however, is that the Rush incident gave energy to the notion by some of double standards and favoritism orchestrated by N.B.A. officials to extend a playoff series, protect players or exact revenge.

The N.B.A. is often the most scripted sport this side of wrestling: you have calls for stars, calls against scrubs; noncalls and makeup calls. Calls that accommodate physical play and tight calls that give finesse teams a fighting chance.

Nunn disputed this characterization that officials participate in a fabricated drama.

"There are so many myths out there that people buy into,'' Nunn said. "You've got rookie calls, the power-of-winning-teams calls and then you have the special player and superstar myths. I don't know how that began, but it's just not true.''

But Nunn conceded that there was an unevenness to officiating that he addressed this season. An unevenness, by the way, that has nothing to do with quality but with consistency, coordination and uniformity of a 59-member officiating staff. In some ways the officials are like 59 mom-and-pop shops, each with its own guidelines and philosophies of how to call a game. This is what gives the appearance of favoritism - conspiracy - when there is a simple lack of uniform guidelines.

How often do we hear commentators say that one official has a short fuse and will "T you up" in a heartbeat, while another official does not have as quick of a whistle.

"I don't want officials to have individual and singular philosophies," Nunn said. "We're beginning to take that out in terms of the way we engage coaches and players. I don't want anyone to lose their personality, but want them to shave that personality to fit the uniform they wear.''

This season, Nunn worked to eliminate what referees routinely called tempo calls. He established that marginal contact was not to be called a foul.

The uneven officiating opens up the N.B.A. to criticism that can be eliminated by making standardized calls.

"This is a more sophisticated time in officiating, and we have to be more sophisticated in meeting standards of scrutiny,'' Nunn said. "The way in which to do that is to take away any of the things that would bring question upon us."

But the Lakers have two megastars, two fading stars and Phil Jackson.

"That's totally, absolutely unequivocally irrelevant," Nunn said. "Totally irrelevant."

I hear Nunn, loudly and clearly. And I believe him.

But even in the best of worlds, that is a lot of star power to resist.

Lakers in six.

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: dalmations202

The move by Rip leading up to it wasn't the classiest of moves either.

I agree. NBA needs to act to make sure that these shots to the groin don't go unaddressed. There seems to have been a flurry of this kind of play in the playoffs--Garnett tapping Fernando What's-his-Name, and not getting a call; Darrick Martin delivering a shot to Brad Miller, resulting in a double ejection; then Hamilton's shot which resulted in Artest's ejection. The shot to the groin is one type of cheap shot that will almost always incite a quick reaction.

Players like Artest and Miller need to keep their cool, but if the league can determine after the game that a player intentionally delivered a shot to the groin, then they should consider instituting some sort of suspension.

[dalmations202]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC

I agree. NBA needs to act to make sure that these shots to the groin don't go unaddressed. There seems to have been a flurry of this kind of play in the playoffs--Garnett tapping Fernando What's-his-Name, and not getting a call; Darrick Martin delivering a shot to Brad Miller, resulting in a double ejection; then Hamilton's shot which resulted in Artest's ejection. The shot to the groin is one type of cheap shot that will almost always incite a quick reaction.

Players like Artest and Miller need to keep their cool, but if the league can determine after the game that a player intentionally delivered a shot to the groin, then they should consider instituting some sort of suspension.

That move by Rip was a classic. Years ago, I actually had a coach teach that same move as a blockout move on a shooter. As long as you get your body turned, the refs never call it. The person getting popped always worries about it happening again though. Of course, you always had to worry about the retaliation, because it was coming.