Any Du'ers like the NBA?

[TakebackAmerica]

I do, big Blazers fan here.

We've have a 4 game winning streak. Boo yah!

We're 3 games out of the 8th seed.


Damn Nuggets. :growling under breath:

[Goldberg]

1. Eh...it's ok.

Tis not my cup o' tea, though.

I prefer contact sports...like football, hockey, rugby....and a few non-contact sports like baseball.

Go T-Wolves!

[SmileyBoy]

2. Go Wolves, baby!!!!!

If the offense didn't fuck up in the last 9 seconds on Sunday, we would've beat the Spurs.

Oh well, still in 1st place.

[TakebackAmerica]

3. Well....

I thing we'll have the 8th seed in the playoffs this year.

I wager we would upset you in if you're still the number one seed.

[SmileyBoy]

17. Don't smoke crack. It's very bad for you.

It can mess you up.

[TakebackAmerica]

4. What do you think about us trading sheed.

I think Theo Ratliff and Shareef Abdur-Raheem will beat Kevin Garnett and company's sorry a**.


Do you agree?

[aldian159]

7. Agree

Don't forget zach randolf, the future of your club.

[TakebackAmerica]

12. yep.

Randolph is incredible. He scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds tonight, and he only 22 years old.

[SmileyBoy]

16. Theo Ratliff and Shareef couldn't hold a CANDLE to...

The best starting-five in the league:

Kevin Garnett
Sam Cassell
Michael Olowokandi
Latrell Sprewell
Wally Szczerbiak

The only team I fear matching up with us is a fully-healthy Laker squad.

[lazarus]

18. heh

Keep forgetting about the Spurs.

You didn't mess up the offense. Once more, the Spurs' defense rotated way faster than anybody could possibly have imagined.

Keep underestimating the Spurs.

[SmileyBoy]

19. OK.

:D

[lazarus]

22. Besides

Anybody that would put claim a starting 5 with Kandi-man is the best starting 5, well, I wonder. :D

[grannylib]

27. Yes indeed ....T-Wolves all the way! New lineup should get us well

beyond Round 1 of the playoffs this year, if everyone stays healthy

[aldian159]

5. Correct me if I'm wrong

don't the blazers have the longest active streak of making it to the playoffs with something like 24 years in a row?

[TakebackAmerica]

6. You're right.

It's currently 21 years. Hopefully it will be 22.

[aldian159]

Thanks

I'm a Bulls fan (shrugs shoulders like Mike did in game two of the 1992 Finals where he nailed 6 threes in a half) but like the blazers simply because Scottie was on your team. Plus the great 2000 conference finals vs the Lakers.

[aldian159]

9. double post

sorry

[catzies]

41. My team has the second-longest streak.

The Utah Jazz have made the playoffs for 20 years.

Hopefully it will be 21. But it doesn't look good.

Also, the Jazz are the only team who have not had a lottery pick since the lottery's inception in 1985.

Everyone else has. Yes, even the Blazers (from a trade, IIRC).

[lazarus]

44. If the Jazz make the playoffs

I will officially campaign to make Jerry Sloan Coach of All Time. All Coach of the Year recipients from now on will be forced to acknowledge his greatness, and state that he should receive the award instead, but they humbly accept in his honour.

I also think Jerry West should get GM of All Time for what he did with the Lakers, and is now doing with Memphis. Astounding.

[catzies]

58. lazarus, you are as classy as your team. I bow to you.

Is there serious talent in the Midwest Division or what? From top to bottom, every team in it has something to impress.

If the playoffs began today, 1st round would be TWolves/Jazz, followed by Spurs/Nuggets. Wouldn't it be hilarious if that's the matchup that finally sends Minnesota to the second round? I'd be happy just to keep the Jazz's plaoff streak alive at this point, even if it's another first-round-and-out. Lottery schmottery, that's for the other 13 teams to worry about.

I LOVE THIS GAME! (and John Stockton is God.)

[lazarus]

61. Why, thank you!

Understand, I've hated the Jazz due to Malone for years. :evilgrin:

But now he's on the hated Lakers, and I can appreciate what Sloan is doing. He really is something.

AK-47 is something else, entirely. Wow, what a player. Who'd have thought that the power forward to follow Malone would make the All Star team?

Did you notice, at the All Star game, that, when they needed buckets, they went to Duncan, and when they needed a stop at the end of the game, AK was put on McGrady?

[slack]

8. hell yeah.

I'am a great fan of Irk Nowitzki from Würzburg
-> he has to work on his defense.

But my favorit team are the kings. I really love their style. Hope they get the ring this year. Sometimes waiting for webber seems to be waiting for Godot. (see Beckett, Samuel)

[TakebackAmerica]

13. LOL!

I bet that name "Irks" Nowitzki.

LOL!

[catzies]

40. Yeah, but do you know where that nickname comes from?

_irk Nowitzki plays for the _allas Mavericks.

No D(efense). Get it? :P

[TakebackAmerica]

51. that's good. LOL!

[Jack_Dawson]

10. Kings baby!

[Bundbuster]

11. Are you enjoying the Blazers' new makeover?

I think they should have traded Damon S. instead of Bonzi, but I'm hoping they'll improve. I'm still recovering from that hose job against the Lakers in the 2000(?) playoffs - gave up a huge 4th quarter lead and let the Tinseltowners go on to win the Title...arrrgghh!

[TakebackAmerica]

14. Yes.

BTW, That game put a PERMANENT scar on the franchise.

[Bundbuster]

20. It really was

the most horrid sports incident since the Red Sox/Bill Buckner 1986 debacle, which I suferred through as an ex-Bostonian. After 34 years in Colorado though, I'm certainly enjoying the new turnaround Nuggets. I wonder how Pistons fans & management handle watching Carmello Anthony, having passed him over for ??? from Europe, who they don't even play? Not unlike the Nuggets drafting Raef LaFrenz when they could taken Vince Carter OR Paul Pierce OR Antawn Jamison...

[TakebackAmerica]

15. Double post.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

21. Go Mavs!! n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. The NBA can screw itself

Sorry, I just find basketball really super extraordinarily boring and ridiculous and a waste of TV bandwidth.

You asked, I answered honestly.

Basketball is fun to play - and good excercise - but as a sport, it really is a joke. It's irrelevant, and becuase someone scores every 10.5 seconds, it's boring as hell.

Give me soccer, football, golf, gads, even baseball, over basketball.

What a farce of a sport.

[lazarus]

24. So

A lot of scoring is bad. What else makes it a joke? Why is it irrelevant? What makes it a farce?

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. Of all the sports out there, none of which I'm necessarily keen on,

basketball is the only one that truly turns me off, because it's all "get the ball, run down, and either get fouled or score, then give the ball to the otehr team and they run it down and either get fouled or score..." I realize that sometimes the other teams gets the ball and runs it down, but there really is a lot of scoring, which I find to be not very interesting. I much prefer watching football or soccer or hockey or even golf or curling.

Basketball is just back and forth and back and forth all night...

I like watching high school basketball, cuz it's sloppier. But professional, no way.

I'm not saying it's a bad sport, just that is has pretty much nothing of interest to me.

Maybe I just don't understand it. :shrug:

[lazarus]

43. There's a lot of subtlety to it

And, to be honest,I don't get a lot of other sports, such as hockey and soccer. But I acknowledge that they are wildly popular, and so don't feel the need to dimish them simply because I'm not a fan. :D

My team, the Spurs, for instance, is all about defense. Yes, they score a lot of points. But the key is how those points are scored, and how you stop the other team from scoring.

The Spurs will regularly shut the other team down, preventing them from scoring for up to six or seven minutes. That's huge for a game that requires a shot every 24 seconds.

Part of the sports thing with me is where I grew up. The small rural high school I attended had no football, no baseball. Nothing but basketball. So everybody there was a basketball fan. (Oddly enough, there are, or have been in the past 15 years, three NBA players from a 45 mile radius in rural southern Alabama. Two of them have played for my Spurs, and the third is the brother of one of those. Weird, eh?)

So I grew up learning basketball. Others have grown up learning to love baseball, or soccer, or football. I think a lot of it is what sport was most popular in your area when you were young. Or what sport was popular in your family. It's almost impossible to just learn a new sport. I try to learn hockey; a friend is making every effort to engage me, but it's difficult, because of all the subtleties. The best times I have watching it are when we're on the phone, and he can point out specific plays or things that I might miss.

Same with basketball. My wife isn't a huge basketball fan, but she enjoys watching it with me (she says) because I can rewind and point out little things that she might miss.

Try watching the fourth quarter of a Spurs game some time. Watch for three things: How many times the opponent is forced to take a wild shot at the end of the 24 second clock. (that's good defense) How easily Tim Duncan is able to dominate everyone around him. And watch where the ball isn't. You'll see a lot of motion and strategy going on that makes the plays possible if you don't watch the ball.

Or not. Life is short. Find what you love, and spend time on that. :D

[St. Jarvitude]

42. This is exactly why I hate Arena Football

Scoring every drive is not what I consider to be "exciting."

Exciting football is the other team having third and six, fourth quarter, at their own twenty yard line, a minute left, and your team has a timeout. You'll never see that in the AFL.

Much more interesting basketball to watch is, in my opinion, two ranked college teams going at it. Or a rivalry game like Duke-UNC. Scores rarely go above 70, meaning that there's some pretty good defense, and obviously a little bit lackluster offense.

[slack]

25. I forget something

I hope kevin gets mvp-status this year. He's really a great man.

[grannylib]

29. KG for MVP....yeehaaa!

[lazarus]

45. Much as I love TD

I have to say I won't mind if KG wins it this year. I think for the next few years, those two should just trade it back and forth. Or maybe split it. KG could easily have won it last year, as well.

[PVnRT]

26. It's better than being kicked in the nuts

I just can't really get into the regular season, especially when Eastern Conference teams are below .500 and still in the hunt. If they found a way to get some parity in the game, restore the balance between the two conferences, it would make things more interesting. But that won't happen as long as the Larry Bird Rule is still around.

Go Pacers, though, at any rate.

[Bertha Venation]

28. just checking in -- big fat no

But don't let me rain on your parade. Enjoy!

Come on, April!!

[THUNDER HANDS]

30. 12 In A Row BAY-BEE

My Nets are on the way to the Finals....again.

Sorry tv viewers. :)

[nini]

31. Love It.. been a fan for years

Laker fan which will immediately qualify me for a flame fest here. :evilgrin:

However, you should know I'm not a fair weather fan.. been with them through the good and bad since way back in the early 70s when they won 33 in a row in the Jerry West/Gail Goodrich/Pat Riley/Chamberlain/Elgin Baylor days.

And I still miss Chick Hearn :-(

[GOPisEvil]

32. Yeah....must be tough being a Lakers fan...

I mean if you have to go all the way back to the 1970s to find a time when your team stunk, that's really painful. ;-)

I remember when the Spurs were talking about moving out of Hemisfair Arena and into a place that held about 8,000 people because they stunk and couldn't draw flies to watch that crappy team. I remember the 21-61-type years...But I remember 1999 and 2003 more. :evilgrin:

[nini]

33. What happened between 1999 and 2003?

I don't remember :evilgrin:


The Showtime (80s) Lakers were the best in my mind so I feel that loss. However this years team, when healthy, is pretty fun to watch too and should do well in the playoffs.

[GOPisEvil]

34. My memory of those years is a bit fuzzy...

...maybe there was no league going during that time. :D

I have to admit, I cheered for the Lakers over the Celtics in those days, but I REALLY cheered when Philly won in 1983. I was a huge Dr. J fan. I was always more into the ABA as a kid, since those guys looked like they were having more fun. The NBA was so boring.

[nini]

35. HIIIIISSSSSSSSSS - the Celtics! HIIISSSSSSS

Them are fighting words my friend!!! Good thing you cheered for the right team :-) Those were great series back then. Good lord - heart attack time! My grandma was told by her doctor to quit watching because her blood pressure was out of control - haha.

I remember hating Kareem and the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs way back, but whe Kareem became a Laker he wasn't such a bad guy after all.. hmmm


I thought the ABA was cool because of the multi colored ball :eyes: (I was younger then ok?)

[GOPisEvil]

37. Here's a fun ABA site!

http://www.remembertheaba.com/

I loved the 3-colored ball and the big afros. Darnell Hillman had the best afro ever!

[nini]

56. sweeeeeett..

that brings back memories.. And the HAIR!!! haha.

thanks

[lazarus]

48. Now, this is a Laker fan I can respect

Too many Laker fans have Bulls 23 jerseys in the backs of their closets.

I had a lot of respect for those Laker teams. When you pulled people like Michael Cooper off the bench, man, that's a deep team.

And those rivalries with the Celts were a joy to watch.

It's nice to have another team in the elite, though. Shame about the East biting so hard. Although I have a theory about that.

I think the East has sucked since the end of the Boston/Detroit/Philadelphia dominance in the late 80's. Yeah, the Bulls won six championships. But they had MJ.

What happened when MJ took a couple of years off? The West won. Then he came back, won three more. And since then, it's been the West. By pretty much dominating standards.

I will say that, this year, Indiana and Detroit are finally looking like they could possibly give some teams in the West some competition. The thing is, beating a team one time in the regular season isn't the same as beating them in a 7 game series, as Phoenix learned last year. :evilgrin:

And as *allas learned a lot recently. Gaudy offensive numbers can get you gaudy regular season records, but it takes defense to win championships. That's what won them for Chicago, and for LA, and for San Antonio. That's what's going to hurt Sacramento this year.

That's why Detroit is so scary. If they can get 'Sheed worked into the system, and he wakes up and decides he wants to be positive and motivated, they are are a serious force. Both those Wallaces in the paint? Holy crap, they will tear through the East like it's nothing, and have plenty of rest.

The real fun will come with realignment next year. Playoff picture will be totally different (the East adds another sucky team, and a sucky team is guaranteed a playoff spot in the east), and the West gets even tougher.

Stern needs to quit worrying about putting teams in Europe (yeah, he wants to do that in the next 10-15 years. Can you imagine a road trip from LA to Milan?) and start worrying about putting some teams in the East. First up: Move Atlanta to Nashville. Move Memphis to the East. Perfect rivalry. You can slide Chicago west if you want to (Hey, Minnesota is in the Northwest division, why not?) Get some better owners, too.

Or just scrap the whole East/West thing. Go North/South. Or split it 4 ways. Or go to two leagues, like baseball. Something. But right now, the East has 4 teams under .500 that are going to make the playoffs. And the 4 teams that are going to be in the Southeast division next year won't be among them. Sad.

And ratings will continue to plummet, because nobody wants to see a blowout in the Finals. And because the NBA is still stupidly marketing the game as Shaq and Kobe and Iverson, none of whom are going to the Finals this year.

[aldian159]

55. Man, I miss jordan

I wasn't a huge sports fan till 2001, and by then he was a shadow of his former self.

[nini]

57. why thanks! REAL Laker fans do exist..

but like alot of things in L.A.. some are real are some are acting :-)

[bigwillq]

38. Me do

I'm a New Orleans Hornets fan from all the way up here in CT. Followed the Hornets since they became a franchise in Charlotte. Rex Chapman and Muggsy Bogues use to be my favorite players. Now I like Baron Davis

[Tank in Texas]

39. Mavericks All the Way!

Hopefully my team will come out of their fog come playoff time. Go Mavs!

[Anaxamander]

46. I love the NBA, but my team sucks asshole

Yep, I'm a Hawks fan. *cries* I want all other Hawks fans to cry with me... that's right, both of you.

[PVnRT]

47. There are TWO more?

:evilgrin:

[lazarus]

50. Hey, here's a weird Atlanta Hawks stat for you

You'd be doing better in the Western Conference.

Currently, Atlanta is 18-38.

Against teams with winning records, Atlanta is 11-17.
Against teams with losing records, Atlanta is 7-21.

Go figure that one out. And that's after that tough triple overtime loss to Houston.

On the other hand, you're 11-22 against the East, so you're 7-16 against the West.

Your home/away record is virtually identical, btw. 11-16 at home, 7-22 on the road. If you could win a road game against a bad team, you'd be in the playoffs.

That's just weird.

The only other team I can find with a similar record is Cleveland. 13 of their 23 wins have come against over .500 teams.

Well, and Dallas. They have a winning record against both winning and losing teams, but do better against the better teams.

[Anaxamander]

53. That means we're both WEIRD

and inconsistent. It's maddening to try to be a fan of a team like this. And yeah, that triple OT loss to Houston was hard to swallow :(

[Shananigans]

49. I'm all about the T-Wolves

Go WOLVES!!!!!

[Uzybone]

52. I still LOVE the NBA

Ill be a fan forever. The quality of play has gone down across the board, but man when the best are playing it is still a joy to watch.

NY Knicks fan here

[Renew Deal]

54. I like the Knicks

But there hasn't been a lot to like in a while.

[DEM FAN]

59. GO Lakers. Sign Kobe Please To A Long Term Contract.

:-)

[myomy]

60. Long time Heat fan...so..just maybe....(sniffle)..

....