They are trying to steal Kevin Love now. Hats off to the Spurs on the day of the ping pong ball lottery. The NBA draft is so fickle, where generally over half of the top ten picks don't make an impact, and the vast majority of the rest of the draft washes out of the league quickly. The Spurs struck gold with David Robinson and Tim Duncan, but they were the first overall picks. However to get Hall of Famers in Tony Parker (28th pick) and Manu Ginobli (57th pick) is a testament to the front office and culture of the team. Now the next great Spur is appearing in Kawhi Leonard, and where was he chosen? The 15th pick in the 2011 draft. Take a look at the players chosen in front of him http://www.mynbadraft.com/2011-NBA-Draft-Results/ If it was re-held today Leonard is a top 2 pick (Kyrie Irving has been an excellent player on a terrible Cleveland team). The Spurs put a hurtin' on OKC last night, and have that look. Fully expect Miami to come out with a bigger sense of urgency and beat the Pacers tonight.
and Joe was right. Actually losing Masai Ujiri after Karl last year was what killed the Nuggets. Kroenke put his son in charge because he had all the credentials of playing basketball at Duke, so he's fit to run an NBA team. But hey, Kroenke owns the Avs too, and they managed to get that one right. for now.
My prediction is a Spurs-Heat finals after the boot to Paul's head. And for the side show, who oh who will take Kevin Love from my beloved yet cursed Wolves?? :angry-banghead:
A little surprised there hasn't been any mention of Dwayne Wade's double 'accidental' hit on George's head as being a possible cheap shot. Saw the replay a bunch of times and while Wade probably didn't intend for George to get a concussion he looks to be intentionally trying to make contact. Lance Stephenson of the Pacers said a few things about Wade before the series and if it was his knee on Wade's head there would be a major controversy. Even in Game 2 Indiana had their chances and have played better than in the 2 previous series. The Heat will still get by, but being in the Finals 4 years in a row are starting to look they've been taking a toll. OKC will show some pride in Game 3 after being demolished by the Spurs in Game 2. San Antonio has got that title look, a split in Oklahoma finishes this series in 5. Encore, everyone says that he will be traded before the draft. My guess is Golden State (David Lee, Harrison Barnes or Klay Thompson, plus a pick would be a decent trade given the circumstances)
Agreed on the Golden State trade that it seems the most likely, although I wouldn't sleep on the Cavs trading the #1 plus Bennett (last year's #1) and a future first round for Love in order to entice Lebron back to Cleveland.
and the latest evidence in the "why the Spurs organization is the best in any sport in this country -- and likely in the world" argument: In game three in OKC the third quarter featured the following stat: The Thunder took 22 foul shots; the Spurs took none. When I saw that stat I was stunned. Considering that both teams like to play tight defense, that seemed a little ... I don't know ... home-ish. But in all the television and print media in this city, all of the criticism Coach Pop and any of the players leveled concerning game three was directed at themselves. "We didn't execute well." "We allowed ourselves to be outplayed." "We weren't organized enough." Proud of Pop, proud of the ownership, and most proud of the players. The fans? The tears on Facebook [and I assume Twitter] would have been enough to refill our aquifer bled nearly dry by the frackers downstream. But fans have that right.
Popovich is a HOF coach. First ballot. This series looks to be a battle. In any event, I enjoy Pop's post-game press conferences - they're rich.
I'm interested to see that John Ringo was fined for complaining about being kicked in the head by THE GREATEST CLUTCH PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE. This is right up there with Doc being fined for calling 3 consecutive bad calls that cost him the game -- and maybe the series -- crap. Oh, yes. The NBA has a wonderful commissioner. What a guy and what a league!
The Commissioner isn't involved w/discipline and/or fines except for big cases i.e Sterling, Ron Artest. The league is hyper-sensitive to critics of refs and more so since the former ref Tim Donaghy scandal 5 or so years ago. Every coach or player knows before they step to the microphone at the post game presser that as soon as they rip the refs they can expect their wallet being lighter. Not sure what is worse, not being able to criticize the refs without paying or getting the leeway to condemn the refs the way they do in English football. Steve Bruce, Neil Warnock, Sam Allardyce crying about the refs (even though their teams were dominated for 90 minutes) makes me :angry-banghead: Conspiracy theorists (no sport has more than the NBA) who will say the stars get every call, were out on the radio this morning saying LeBron was intentionally taken out of the game w/foul trouble because the refs wanted the series to go longer....double :angry-banghead:
There's more bollocks talked on talk radio about the NBA than all other sports combined. "The refs wanted the series to go longer… " I ask you :lol:
One OKC home domination away from this being the strangest, and least competitive 7 game series in league history :shock: Every game has been a snoozefest for the neutral, but a great display for fans of whichever team has been playing at home. Kind of expect Spurs to have a real shot in Game 6, but it wouldn't be a shocker if the Thunder hammer them.
Good for the Spurs, they need those days before the Final (especially Tony Parker who's ankle issue is adding to his myriad of injuries). Justice last night, as I was going to have to rip the refs for HD, who made a couple of 'non-calls' in the final minute of regulation that were frankly worse than those Clipper calls the series before. With a minute to go TIm Duncan got fouled literally 3 times by two different guys on the same play (and not ticky-tack style either, it looked like they were intentionally putting him on the line) and no whistle was blown. Then Ginobli had a goal-tending hoop not called (how all 3 refs missed it is beyond me). OKC got it to OT, but the Spurs hung tough and finished them off.
I have to say I'm warming up to Lebron. He needed to get away from where he grew up like any super talented kid. Still . . . The way he did it and the Boston series; that was always my only issue. I hope someday he admits he wishes he had a redo. Perhaps Cleveland's latest fortune in the draft lottery is to set up Lebrons return rather than makeup from the nba for overlooking the lebron, wade, bosh collusion
As a basketball fan, I can appreciate great players even if I'm rooting against them. Lebron definitely falls into that category. He's an amazing player; I just hope his team loses. I have 3 main reasons for that: (1) The way he left Cleveland. It's a business and he has every right to go to a bigger city where he can make more money and have a better chance at a championship. It's just a slap in the face to everyone who's a fan of a small market team. The Spurs and the Packers among others have shown that it can be done; it's just that small market teams face additional obstacles. And the hokey BS decision show really rubbed me the wrong way. (2) The business about changing his uniform number. Lebron announced that he was going to change his number from 23 as part of an effort to retire Michael Jordan's number throughout the NBA, the way baseball has done with Jackie Robinson's 42. First of all, he changed his number to 6, which of course was worn by Dr. J and Bill Russell (11 championships in 13 seasons, far better than Jordan). That shows an appalling lack of knowledge of NBA history. Secondly, Jackie Robinson's impact was far beyond sports. To compare Jordan winning 6 championships to what Jackie Robinson accomplished is laughable. The whole retire-the-number business is about Jordan's ego. (3) I attended the game when Miami was in Sacramento this season to play the Kings. They rested Duane Wade, Ray Allen and Bird Man. That part I don't have a problem with because that gave the Kings a chance to win, and the Kings did in fact win. What really ticked me off happened before the game when the teams were introduced. It's a standard ritual before NBA games that they announce the starting 5 and the players go out on the court. When the Heat starters were announced, they ignored it and never left their bench area. In nearly 30 years of attending Kings games, that's the first time I EVER saw that. The height of arrogance. Help us Obi Wan Popovich, you're our only hope ...
Every sport has copied the NFL in stretching out the season for further exposure, but I don't get how taking extra days when the 2 teams ain't leaving San Antonio makes sense. They took off 5 days before Game 1 and now 2 more before heading to Miami... :angry-banghead: Not going to give LeBron too much grief over the cramps, but why didn't someone tell him to get rid of the sleeves on both his legs and elbow. If anyone has ever wore one of those will tell you, the amount of sweat caused in that area of the body (the sleeves are soaked when done exercising) had to contribute to his cramping.
