The 2008-09 NBA thread

[bezerker]

mylife.com

[Yoda]

i\'m taking some Tums and going to bed.    Celtics gave me heartburn.     What a piss poor performance by the defending champs and now they can\'t even defend their title.  somebody look up the stats on the last time a defending team got bumped out in such a massacre sort of way.  Ugh.  Awful.    At least when the Knicks of the 90s choked, they choked at the actual finals.

Not sure that you can do an exact comparison, but if you\'re looking for defending champions that don\'t make it to the finals, it has happened quite often.  The Celtics have done it 4 times previous to this year:

47-48 Baltimore Bullets, 49-50 Minneapolis Lakers, 50-51 Rochester Royals, 53-54 Minneapolis Lakers, 54-55 Syracuse Nationals, 55-56 Philadephia Warriors, 57-58 St. Louis Hawks, 65-66 Boston Celtics, 66-67 Philadephia 76ers, 68-69 Boston Cetlics, 69-70 New York Knicks, 70-71 Milwaukee Bucks, 72-73 New York Knicks, 73-74 Boston Cetlics, 76-77 Portland Trail Blazers, 78-79 Seattle SuperSonics, 79-80 LA Lakers, 80-81 Boston Celtics, 82-83 Philadelphia 76ers, 84-85 LA Lakers, 89-90 Detroit Pistons, 92-93 Chicago Bulls, 94-95 Houston Rockets, 97-98 Chicago Bulls, 98-99 San Antonio Spurs, 01-02 LA Lakers, 02-03 San Antonio Spurs, 04-05 San Antonio Spurs, 05-06 Miami Heat, 06-07 San Antonio Sprurs, 07-08 Boston Celtics

Does your cousin feel embarrased or are you assuming that?  I feel bad for actual fans, but I don\'t feel bad for people that became #1 fans after they won it all last year.

[Drew_Kingsley]

Recently:

The Heat won the NBA Title in 2006, then got swept out of the first round by the sixth-seeded Bulls in 2007.

The defending champion Spurs dropped a game seven at home in 2006.

The Lakers were eliminated at home by San Antonio by a game six score 110-82 as defending champions in 2003.

Shit happens.

[Vassillios]

The Celtics didn\'t have their whole team the entire playoffs. I think they did really well for what they had. Beating the Bulls was huge, considering every one of those games was so close. It would have been nice to beat the Magic but there is no way they would have been able to take on Lebron without KG and Powe. Huge stepups from Big Baby and Rondo throughout the playoffs. I\'m proud of the boys.

[wildcoyote]

The Celtics didn\'t have their whole team the entire playoffs. I think they did really well for what they had. Beating the Bulls was huge, considering every one of those games was so close. It would have been nice to beat the Magic but there is no way they would have been able to take on Lebron without KG and Powe. Huge stepups from Big Baby and Rondo throughout the playoffs. I\'m proud of the boys.

Agreed.  Great effort from the young guys.  I\'m glad to see they didn\'t give up when KG went down.  

I also have to agree with those in this thread who said what a great time it is for the NBA.  Looking forward to the Conference Finals in each side quite a bit.

[SkyePrizm]

Does your cousin feel embarrased or are you assuming that?  I feel bad for actual fans, but I don\'t feel bad for people that became #1 fans after they won it all last year.

I assume he is.  i remember how it was to be his age and love a team.  He lives up on the RI/MA border so he is a big celts fan.  And he\'s a big UCONN fan.   Most of my family are celtics fans...i always cheered for the Knicks...  but got into the Celts after Ray Allen ended up there cause he was one of my favs at UCONN.

The Celtics didn\'t have their whole team the entire playoffs. I think they did really well for what they had. Beating the Bulls was huge, considering every one of those games was so close. It would have been nice to beat the Magic but there is no way they would have been able to take on Lebron without KG and Powe. Huge stepups from Big Baby and Rondo throughout the playoffs. I\'m proud of the boys.

I am proud and not proud.  A team shouldn\'t depend on one or two guys.  Their bench needs to be deep.  And they have a deep one. it just depends on what night you get them.  I am disappointed because I think they should have at least gotten to the Eastern Conference finals.  I knew they couldn\'t win it all without KG, but i thought they\'d at least get half way.....

[Drew_Kingsley]

The Celtics didn\'t have their whole team the entire playoffs. I think they did really well for what they had. Beating the Bulls was huge, considering every one of those games was so close. It would have been nice to beat the Magic but there is no way they would have been able to take on Lebron without KG and Powe. Huge stepups from Big Baby and Rondo throughout the playoffs. I\'m proud of the boys.

In the span of two weeks, I became a huge fan and then a big detractor of Kendrick Perkins. No doubt, he is a great role player to have behind KG and Powe, but I now feel like his all-star efforts are definitely an aberration.

The Celtics, as a team, have nothing to be ashamed of. Certain players can definitely look at certain individual performances and get a little pissed, but, as I\'ve said before, Boston took an excuse to mail it in (KG\'s injury), and turned into motivation to overachieve.

Give KG back to the C-Words and Jameer Nelson to the Magic, and let\'s play this series again next season.

And to be fair, let\'s also see the Spurs with Ginobli and a healthier Tim Duncan, and the Rockets with T-Mac and Yao.

[zuke583]

Give KG back to the C-Words and Jameer Nelson to the Magic, and let\'s play this series again next season.

good chance that will happen. unless the bulls make a run, which they most certainly will not, once gordo gets his money. to think they had a chance at kobe...

either way, all they\'ll be playing for is a chance to lose to the lebrons for as long as he\'s healthy (and it won\'t matter what team he\'s on)

[Igziabeher]

I assume he is.  i remember how it was to be his age and love a team.  He lives up on the RI/MA border so he is a big celts fan.  

where on the RI/MA border?

[SkyePrizm]

I assume he is.  i remember how it was to be his age and love a team.  He lives up on the RI/MA border so he is a big celts fan.  

where on the RI/MA border?

I\'d be surprised if you\'ve ever heard of it, but a small little town called Burrilville.  Half my family lives there.....

[Igziabeher]

I know Burriville.  when you live in a small town no one ever heard of on the MA/RI border, you tend to know the other small towns no one has ever heard of in the area.

[SkyePrizm]

I know Burriville.  when you live in a small town no one ever heard of on the MA/RI border, you tend to know the other small towns no one has ever heard of in the area.

dude, then you definitely know what spring lake is.   I spent many a summer day there growing up.  I used to live with my RI family in the summers....

What town are you from?

[ChrisPitch]

Andrew Bynum has a better offensive game than Kobe? The Rockets held to 70?  21 and 18 from Pau? Lakers completely dominate from wire to wire? Well, maybe I didn\'t expect all those things to happen, but I did expect a win and that\'s exactly what we got. And hey, even Sasha remembered how to find the bottom of the net.
Go Lakers!

By the way, if the Lakers-Nuggets series goes 7, it will be opposite Phish at Fenway, thus continuing my lifelong trend of marquee sporting events and concerts coinciding. Don\'t see that happening though. Lakers in 5.

As far as the Celtics, we all knew the chance of them getting back to the finals was remote with no Garnett, but seeing as how they got routed in a home Game 7, thus marking the first time the parquet leprechauns have ever squandred a 3-2 lead, you have to pissed as a Celtics\' fan and thrilled as a Lakers\' fan. But hey, at least Pierce stepped up in the big spot. Pfffffttttt........

Cavs in 7.

[wildcoyote]

As far as the Celtics, we all knew the chance of them getting back to the finals was remote with no Garnett, but seeing as how they got routed in a home Game 7, thus marking the first time the parquet leprechauns have ever squandred a 3-2 lead, you have to pissed as a Celtics\' fan and thrilled as a Lakers\' fan. But hey, at least Pierce stepped up in the big spot. Pfffffttttt........

So, I gather you haven\'t been watching? I\'ll bring you up to speed.

The Lakers looked sloppy and soft against Houston.  Denver looks solid, deep, and tough.

If I were a Lakers fan I\'d be concerned with Billups after Fisher and Farmar got abused by Brooks.  I also wouldn\'t get too excited about Bynum. He had a few nice games when he was mostly being guarded by 6\'6" Chuck Hayes.  Nene and the Birdman are going give him and Gasol hell.  

On the upside for LA Kobe\'s got to be thrilled to leave Battier and Artest behind.  He\'ll go for 45+ in Game 1.

Denver in 7.

Cleveland in 5.

[Vassillios]

Anybody else watch the ESPN special "kobe doin\' work" this past weekend? it was directed by spike lee.

i didn\'t think it was all that great.. basically it was kobe just doing commentary on a game against the spurs from last year. would\'ve been cooler to see him doing everyday things, rather than just watching a game, which we see him do all the time.