2008 NBA Playoffs Thread

I was surprised that there wasn't a thread dedicated to this yet, so here it is!

Anyone see that sloppy Celts-Cavs game? That was rough for me to watch, and I'm a fan of the Celts! A win's a win though. On the plus side, I love TNT's coverage of the NBA playoffs. Ernie, Kenny and Sir Charles in the booth rock, and Marv Albert, Dick Stockton and Kevin Harlan are money for play-by-play.

Magic-Pistons and Lakers-Jazz tonight! I've got the Magic and Lakers winning.

reply to post by Megaton


Not as many NBA fans as i thought there would be... mabye if they tried marleting without Rap Music...

Anyway, I love the lakers, and i can see them sweeping thru the entire plaayoffs...

The whole year the east has been weak, now we are into the 2nd week of LEastern Playoffs, and its bad, the Celtics look bad. Unless they threw games, in order to have 4 home playoff games in the first round, which would net the celtics like $5 million dollars in extra ticket sales for games 5&7...

I would love to see a Lakers-Celtics Finnals..

Hornets are for real, i knew they were good, but not thid good, the only team i am scared in the playoffs...

Moving ahead in time a bit, the Celts took the Cavs in 7. The Celts need to win some road playoff games. The Eastern Finals start tomorrow night in Boston. Detroit is fully capable of winning one in Boston. The Celts are getting fatigued, the Pistons have had a week off.

I don't follow the West that much, but the Lakers look tough.

Spurs took game 7 tonight, which is unfortunate for those that dread another San Antonio vs. Detroit potential final, which should be everyone. Interest in the NBA is already pretty dead, although this season has shown promise of potential growth in watchability.

Celtics don't have to win on the road to win it all, but it would probably help. I like their chances against Detroit, as Ray Allen is due to find his jumper any day now. I hope every series goes to seven games, it adds drama and keeps the boasting of Celtic dominance to a minimum in fear of jinxing everything.

reply to post by Kwyjibo



There's still lots of interest in the Boston area. I'm watching them more than I have in years. It's because of KG, Paul, and Ray Allen, mostly, but I like the whole team, Rondo down to Big Baby.

I agree with you about the boasting leading to jinxing. Look at what happened to the Pats. I'm still bummed out about that!

Awesome that you are from the Boston area, although I was looking forward to debating the intricacies of the next series; but only because you're ability to disagree with people is unparalleled and I welcome the challenge, although that is neither here nor there. The Celts do have an awesome team worth rooting for, if for nothing else than to see the NBA return to it's days of former glory that were ruined by Jordan and his blatant push-off on Russell, but again that's besides the point.

The Pats loss is still fresh in the minds of New England, and the Celtics haven't been exactly blowing away the competition. This is of course for the best because people outside of New England are insanely jealous of our domination of all sports worth watching. Also I do realize that my presence in New England had little (provable) effect on the teams therein.

reply to post by Kwyjibo

Also I do realize that my presence in New England had little (provable) effect on the teams therein.

That only works if you are a New England sports fan. Some of the most rabid, loving, but at the same times the most fickle and will- kick- a -player- to-the- curb fans in the world.

It only works because of the total good-vibes that we give to the teams. The sum is greater than the total.

On another note - Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter last night! Go Sox!

reply to post by jsobecky


The fans get a bad rap, I blame the media for most of the player bashing, although apparent fickleness is the negative offset of unmitigated passion (possibly). Awesome Lester no-hitter, although that's off topic. Too bad there isn't a thread specifically about how its possible that Boston owns at sports so much.

Also I like your theory about the good-vibes, kind of a collective consciousness thing. Boston fans get stereotyped as being annoying because they think they're "better" than other fans, but it's not our fault we're so much better than other fans.


Seriously though it would be great to see an LA vs. Boston final.

Also off topic....the construction worker who had buried the Sox jersey in the new Yankee stadium now says he also buried a scorecard of Game 7 of the 2004 Sox-Yankees playoff series. And he's not telling anyone where he buried it.

Ok, we are down to 4...

Bostan v Detroit

LA v San Antonio

I got Detriot in 6...
Lakers in 6...


And i would love the Bostan-LA series... more then anything...

But, since the NBA does not deserve this, Boston is going to lose to Detriot... Boston is a better team, but... one of either Bostan, or LA is going to lose, i think it is more likly for Bostan to lose...

KG was some mental problems in the last mins of games... Ray Allen is a negative now... but Paul Peirce is still the Man...

Its strange that the 2 most unsung heros of BOTH game 7's were old big men? Kurt Thomas, and PJ Brown... who between them have like 30 years of NBA experience! Not to mention Robert Horry... who is still playing for his 8th NBA RING! Having Big Shot Bob back in LA is going to be intresting... i am so exicted for the LA-SAS series...

Also, the return of Ariza for the Lakers should be intresting... i realy want to see less of Radmanavic in the Spurs series...

We got a good game at halftime... 40-41 boston... which is good news for Detorit... if it stays close... Boston could lose... just be happen everything is good in BoSox town... just be content to beat up on the Yanks...

I don't think any self-respecting NBA fan would hope for anything less than a Boston vs. LA final. Detroit and San Antonio are fine and good, and even though I don't believe there are any fans of them on this particular board, I respect their right to compete despite their taking the NBA finals to a level of boredom that is only rivaled by the depths of High School Spanish classes.

I share your concerns about KG and Ray Allen, as their play hasn't exactly inspired me to put all my money on the Celts taking it all despite them "deserving" it. Neither of them has played for teams that have been this good and I see them cracking under the pressure to a certain degree. I however welcome this as it adds to the drama of the whole thing.

PJ Brown has been coming up pretty big in all those little ways that only veterans can. Not like Horry who has gone from "big shot" Bob to "cheap shot" Bob. Of course I'm horribly biased but the Spurs are so awful to watch it gives me a headache.

Anyway it looks like it'll be interesting to see what happens, and it's about time that people could get excited about the NBA, even if its just overzealous paranoid Celtics fans such as myself.

I'm also hoping the Celts make it to the finals, and now they're one win closer! I don't think that Ray Allen will be this cold all series, he's too good of a shooter. Pierce's performance in that game 7 against LeBron was nothing short of amazing.

On the Western conference side we've got Game 1 on TNT tonight! I honestly don't know who will triumph here so the first game should set the tone. I can't wait to see Kevin Harlan and Marv Albert call this game, it's going to be EPIC.

Ray Allen is too much of a veteran pro to stay in this shooting slump. He will have a breakout game soon, I'm sure.

NBA action is becoming more popular, and that's good. The Celtics revival had a lot to do with it. Also, there is only one day between games, which keeps interest up there.

Who said Detroit in 6?

Considering Billups' health, Celts took game 1 despite another no-show Ray Allen performance, and their home court advantage...

I'd give it to Celts in 6.

Of course none of that matters if Ray remains unable to make an open three. They need him to play better if they want any chance of beating the Lakers or the Spurs.

Sweet mercy...


I cant belive that LA came back from down 20...

Thats crazy... the Lakers made up 20 pts, in less then 18 mins...

This is hige, San Antionio truely lost thier chance at this series... This is worse then the blow that San Antionio delivered to PHX in the first round...


In the Jr. Bracket, Detroit has beaten Boston, at Boston... I predict that Boston is going to be in full-blown panic mode now... and we no longer have to hear that they CAN win without winning on the road...


Its done, Boston must win on the road now... can they do it...

Can they do it? They better do it! They have the talent. But I wonder if Doc Rivers is tough enough to instill the will to win it all in this team. He seems too laid back sometimes.

Originally posted by jsobecky
Can they do it? They better do it!

They JUST Did it...

So, they finnal have that off thier chest... if they win game 4, they can close it out at home, and that would be nice....

Also, the Lakers gave the Spurs an old fashion beat down last night... you dont see many 30 pt blowouts in confrence finnals...

Also, it was the 3rd time in the last 4 games, the Lakers led from Wire to Wire in a game... i cant ever recall that happening before...

All the Lakers need to do is steal one in San Antonio now... and they have 2 chances to do it...

reply to post by TKainZero


I could feel a sense of determination in the Celts early on. Early foul trouble for KG and Ray, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise - it made the bench step up.

Some of those fouls were cheap. No complaints, that's the way the ball bounces, but the second one on KG, for example. He was definitely being held.

Big advantage for the C's on the boards, too.

Im glad that Sam Cassel got in the Game...

Did doc just forget about him...

I mean, he was brought in for the playoffs right... like for mabye going against Detriot...

Mabye...


It was big for the Celts... Boston has to feel SO much better now...

reply to post by TKainZero


Sam hadn't played much if at all before last night. He's such a cool dude - he admits, he's in there to shoot, and he's not afraid to take the shot. What a veteran!

And, the C's held Detroit to a total of ONE 3-pointer! Much better than game 2.