NBA 2012 Playoffs

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun May 06, 2012 9:43 pm

No, you fools! Der Fuhrer has recalled Dirk Nowitzki and shall splice him so that he is bigger.... stronger.... faster than before!!

My chants of "anyone but the Lakers and Knicks" seems to be doing OK. Speaking of chants, is "CelticsChants" the most embarrassing thing on twitter?

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed May 09, 2012 10:39 am

It's close.

The Lakers' dream of a sweet is being rudely hindered by the Nuggets, who beat the Lakers at home last night, taking the series to 3-2 in the Lakers' favor.

Big drama in the Orlando Magic camp this week. Van Gundy may or may not be back next year, and Dwight Howard may or may not be back next year, but neither one wants to come back if the other one is there. They'll have time to hug it out now that they're out of the playoffs in round one.

Despite the fact that pretty much anyone you've ever heard of on the Bulls are out now with injuries, somehow they pulled out a victory against the 76ers, taking the series to 2-3. The Bulls are (barely) hanging in there against an 8th seeded team. If a miracle occurs they might make it to round two, but they won't make it past that.

The Clippers are up 3-2 in their battle against the Grizzles, and hope to close the series out Friday. When the Clippers are hitting they're hot, but Memphis' defense simply will not quit.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed May 09, 2012 7:30 pm

The Heat have officially put away the Knicks, to no one's surprise. Series ends 4-1 with the Heat going to the second round.

Right now the Memphis Grizzlies are up 46-30 in the second half against the Clippers; then again the Clippers have been making incredible comebacks in the second half, so it'll be interesting to see how this one fleshes out.

I have watched so many basketball games over the past two weeks that I've been dreaming about it.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed May 09, 2012 8:26 pm

You buying an NBA Jam, Flack!??! Come on! NBA Jam! What if you get one of the ones with Charles Barkley in it?!

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Thu May 10, 2012 8:59 am

Funny, I just played NBA Jam the other night on the Super Nintendo. It's weird to see how many team names have changed since the release of that game.

Last night in game 5 of the Clippers/Grizzlies series, both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul suffered injuries -- a sprained knee (Griffin) and a sprained hip (Paul). The Grizzlies ended up winning by (I think) 18. It's now 3-2 (Clippers).

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri May 11, 2012 1:45 pm

Jesus H, man. I should just stop watching basketball during the year and only watch the playoffs. Last night was amazing.

First, let's talk about the Celtics/Hawks game. Man, that game was close all. night. long. Despite their age, the Celtics took the lead in the final minutes and held on to an 83-80 victory. Series ends 4-2; Celtics play the first game of round two this weekend.

Next up were the 1st-seeded Chicago Bulls vs. the 8th-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. With the Bulls up by one and with just seconds to go, they dish the ball to Omer Asik (a sub-500 free throw shooter) who was immediately fouled. After missing both, the 76ers dropped a bucket and with an unbelievable finish, the 8th-seeded 76ers bested the Bulls and will advance to the second round, where they will be pounded heartily with their two key players out with injuries.

And then it was the Lakers' turn.

In the first few minutes of the game, the Nuggets dropped a 3, another 3, a 2, a 3, and another 2, making an opening run of 13-0. Kobe Bryant showed up with a stomach bug and was taking not only medicine to suppress the "vomiting and diarrhea", but was also getting IV's of fluids pumped into him before the game to battle the dehydration. Kobe does as Kobe does, overcoming even the flu and dropping rocks from outside. Even when everyone else gave up, Kobe was the only one doing anything ... even handing out justice, like on this play.

[youtube][/youtube]

That's a flagrant-1 for Kobe, after smacking Kenneth Faried in the head and knocking him out. Stay classy, Lakers!

The Nuggets bested the Lakers 113-96, sending the series to game 7. GAME 7!

Other Nugget news was the indefinite suspension of Chris "the Bird Man" Andersen for "Child Endangerment" charges (read: kiddie porn). Apparently before the game the sheriff, acting on a tip form the FBI, showed up to Andersen's home and took all his computers, hard drives, and USB sticks. Back when Andersen was playing in Oklahoma for the relocated Hornets, he was kicked out of the league for failing a Class-2 drug test (cocaine). The guy obviously needs help and may soon be getting it in a federal "pound me in the ass" prison. Which is too bad, as I used to really like the guy when he was in OKC. Very fun to watch.

Tonight the Clippers face the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were down 1-3 in the series but won Wednesday night, taking the series to 2-3. And, during that same game, two key Clippers (Chris Paul and Blake Griffin) were injured so we'll see if they are playing 100% tonight.

YOUR OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER ... well they are relaxing because they closed THEIR series out 4-0 by sweeping last year's champs.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun May 13, 2012 6:39 am

Last night, the Celtics played the 76ers in the race to see who will get demolished by the Miami Heat. I watched the first five minutes of it and the last five minutes of it.

The real game last night was Game 7 in the first round series between the Denver Nuggets and the LA Lakers. The Nuggets were fighting to get to round two, but many Lakers were apparently fighting for their jobs.

Both teams came out hot, with the Nuggets down by one at the end of the first. But then the Lakers do what the Lakers do; they turned up the heat. Gasol lit up and started playing physical (a rare occasion for that seven-foot puss) and turning offensive rebounds into points. Kobe, over the flu, helped drive the offense. One point at a time, the lead grew until the Nuggets could not catch up. Final score, 96-87, Lakers win in 7 and will play YOUR OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER starting Monday night.

Metta World Piece of Shit returned last night and definitely had an impact on the game -- not the same impact he had on James Harden's head, but similar. When one analyst last night asked what World Peace should do before heading to Oklahoma to face the Thunder, his partner quipped, "hire more security."

Good idea.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun May 13, 2012 6:39 am

Results of Round One:

Eastern conference:

The Philadelpia 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls, 4-2.
The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 4-2.
The Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic, 4-1.
The Miami Heat beat the New York Knicks, 4-1.

Round two is the 76ers vs Boston, and Indiana vs. Miami.

Western conference:

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 4-0.
The LA Clippers "flopped" past the Grizzlies, 4-3.
The LA Lakers squeaked past the Denver Nuggets, 4-3.
The Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Dallas Mavericks, 4-0.

Round two is the Spurs vs Clippers, and OKC vs. Lakers.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:20 am

I edited my last post to reflect that the Clippers beat the Grizzlies in game 7 to make it to Round 2.

Throughout the series, the Clippers have been publicly called out multiple times in regards to their flops. Chris Paul, got love him, is getting a reputation as a serious flopper, and it appears to have rubbed off on Blake Griffin as well.

As round two begins, take a look at this video: The Best Actors in the NBA.

[youtube][/youtube]

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:21 pm

Word out here is that some broad told Birdman she was 21 and - ha ha - was only 17, and then tried to extort money out of him. A shining example for her gender.

I still can't believe that they let Artest back in for a game 7. Why even suspend the guy at all if he can come back for a game seven? How do you not figure that into your suspension if you're David Stern? God, all commissioners in all sports are useless. The OKC can not beat the shit out of Artest enough for me to be happy.

... It seriously does kill me. We all know that Stern would like the big market teams with stars to win every series, but from time to time it'd be nice if he wasn't so goddamn obvious about it. "Hmm, Denver/LA could go to a seventh and deciding game.... better make the suspension end right before it if it does!"

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 14, 2012 5:16 pm

It is a given that Artest will get the shit booed out of him tonight, but there's actually a movement to try and get people to give him the silent treatment and turn their backs on him when he comes out. That's kind of dumb, as there's no way they're going to get 18,000 people to do that so instead they'll still get a thousand people booing so it'll just be quieter than it normally would. But the movement has a point in that guys like Artest thrive off of being the bad guy, and booing him is likely to just fire him up.

Also, pretty much all local reporters and announcers here have stopped calling him "World Peace" and have gone back to Artest, the idea being that anyone who throws an elbow like that (again, one that would be illegal in MMA!) loses the right to be called World Peace.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon May 14, 2012 8:50 pm

It was a pathetic, attention-grabbing act of desperation from a circus sideshow of a man. He does not deserve the respect of us repeating whatever stupid thing he picked as his name. I would be more inclined to think that he finds it funny that the rest of us have shown this "name change" thing any respect at all.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:17 pm

I expected to hear a lot of things tonight. I expected to hear the OKC crowd boo loudly every time Artest touched the ball. That happened. I expected to hear the crowd cheer every time things went right for the Thunder. I heard that. But I was NOT expecting to hear this:

"The Thunder are up by 35 over the LA Lakers."

And yet, that's what I heard.

The league revolves around the Lakers, and I'm sure the post show will talk more about what the Lakers did wrong than what the Thunder did right, but ... man, this one in particular felt good.

No, it felt GREAT.

In the highest scoring game of the playoffs, Thunder beats the Lakers in game one, 119-90.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue May 15, 2012 7:26 am

How difficult is it to get tickets? (Did you go to game 1?)

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:45 am

Prior to the playoffs, scalping tickets in Oklahoma was illegal. The law stated that tickets had to be sold at face value or less.

About a week before the playoffs started, the law was changed so that (a) tickets can now be sold for any price the seller wishes, but (b) tickets can not be sold within 500 feet of the arena. The idea is that scalped tickets can be purchased online or through various legal methods, but not by guys standing outside the arena on game night.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-council ... le/3667306

So, what has been the result of this?

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/tix/3016913121.html

"Two tickets to Wednesday game. Sideline loud city 6 rows up. 325OBO. StubHub price without the fees. Call or message me for more info or if you want them. 405-519-5365."

Face value of those tickets are either $10 or $20.

A lot of the tickets are subsidized. Places like Chesapeake get hundreds of tickets and give them to employees and stuff. Those people either go, or give the tickets to friends. Or at least they used to -- now they're on Craigslist for hundreds of dollars.

So no, I haven't been to any playoff games.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:58 am

I'm going to state that this is all Ron Artest's fault.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue May 15, 2012 1:14 pm

And now for a joke from my 10-year-old son.

Q: What's Ron Artest's favorite food?

A: ELBOW macaroni!

This has been a joke from my 10-year-old son.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:02 pm

Pinback made a joke at his wedding.

"Freddie Mercury said to the other members of Queen, 'Won't any of these musicians have sex with me?'

And one of them said, 'Brian may....'"

This has been: Pinback made a joke at his wedding.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed May 16, 2012 9:41 pm

I am so freaking drained from watching that game that I can barely muster the strength to drag my fingers across they keys ... but for you, my fans, I will.

Thunder comes back from being down by 7 to win by 2 in Game 2 against the Lakers. Thunder wins, the series is now 2-0, and moving to LA on Friday night.

The Celtics blew out the 76ers earlier tonight.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Thu May 17, 2012 6:38 am

Flack wrote:Prior to the playoffs, scalping tickets in Oklahoma was illegal. The law stated that tickets had to be sold at face value or less.

In Oklahoma or in Oklahoma City? Not to nitpick, but the story you referenced says that the City council, not the state legislature, changed the rules.

Flack wrote:About a week before the playoffs started, the law was changed so that (a) tickets can now be sold for any price the seller wishes, but (b) tickets can not be sold within 500 feet of the arena. The idea is that scalped tickets can be purchased online or through various legal methods, but not by guys standing outside the arena on game night.

They have notices along the Verizon Center in Washington, DC that any resale of tickets at all, for any amount, below, at, or above face price, is illegal and punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 90 days.