Getting Excited About The Playoffs?

[keith crime 8]

Nets are looking tough Mavs are fading I can't see anyone but Detroit Miami or San Antonio winning it all - maybe Denver will shock and get their in the WestI'm a huge seller of the Mavs and the Suns - even though i'd like the suns to do wellbring Amare back was a huge mistake

[Athos 0]

Looking forward to it.Love the NBA, but my 2 biggest complaints about the Playoffs are the best-of-7 first round and the 2 weeks it takes to play the championship.Miami is the most intriguing team to me. Will Shaq be healthy? And will this roster be able to gell for a strong championship run?Tough to bet against the Pistons, though.

[Frinkenstein 0]

Nets are looking tough Mavs are fading I can't see anyone but Detroit Miami or San Antonio winning it all - maybe Denver will shock and get their in the WestI'm a huge seller of the Mavs and the Suns - even though i'd like the suns to do wellbring Amare back was a huge mistake

I'm more excited about tonights NCAA championship game!

[Azreous 0]

bring Amare back was a huge mistake

Expecting too much of his return was a big mistake. However, Amare came back on his own timetable as a way of testing his progress, and the Suns kept his minutes under strict limitations. Bryan Colangelo (before he fled from Sarver to Toronto) and D'Antoni both said they wouldn't bring Stoudemire back unless he felt comfortable and ready to play. His knees just weren't as recovered as he thought (hoped?) they were, simple as that.The playoffs should be pretty decent, especially if we follow the ongoing Rasheed Wallace technical saga. Every other game he gets T'd up is a suspension now, and the leash is shorter in the postseason.

[keith crime 8]

yeah but with Amare 1.they still risked re- injury and 2. they raised the hopes of the teammates that he would be back which were crushedI also think Rasheed is better able to behave in the playoffs - supposedly he's a decent guy he just loses it because he's so competitive

[tuckermitchell 1]

How bout them Kings? starting to look scary and if they can fight up to 7 or 6 they could be a handful for the mavs or suns.

[princeof56k 0]

I wont really get excited about the playoffs until the second round. Some interesting series should start to happen there (Spurs vs Mavs, Pistons vs Cavs, Heat vs Nets)The one first round matchup I'm hoping for: Suns vs Lakers. Either Kobe, the Suns, or both are going to break some kind of scoring record in that series. I wouldnt miss a game if it actually happened.

[KowboyKoop 0]

NBA Playoffs?? Wake me up in two months when they are getting somewhat towards the end.......

[keith crime 8]

NBA Playoffs?? Wake me up in two months when they are getting somewhat towards the end.......

the first koop statement i sadly totally agree with - the first round is a joke and takes forever

[jayboogie 0]

NBA Playoffs?? Wake me up in two months when they are getting somewhat towards the end.......

This would depend on whether your team is in the playoffs or not. If your team is in it, you'll still pay attention, but otherwise it does seem tedious and things don't get interesting until the Conference Finals barring an interesting rivalry.

[RuffRidr 0]

NBA Playoffs?? Wake me up in two months when they are getting somewhat towards the end.......

Ya, they should have never switched from a 5 game series to a 7 game series. The previous one was a lot funner to watch with the prospect of first round upsets.The other thing I hate about this year is their stupid seeding system. The way it is now, the Spurs and the Mavs are going to collide in the second round, instead of the WCF, while the Suns are going to skate into the WCF. There could have been so many good matchups if the stupid thing was just record based. Oh well.It is a fun time of year to be a basketball fan. There is no denying that.--RuffRidr

[Kurtman213 0]

Ya, they should have never switched from a 5 game series to a 7 game series. The previous one was a lot funner to watch with the prospect of first round upsets.The other thing I hate about this year is their stupid seeding system. The way it is now, the Spurs and the Mavs are going to collide in the second round, instead of the WCF, while the Suns are going to skate into the WCF. There could have been so many good matchups if the stupid thing was just record based. Oh well.It is a fun time of year to be a basketball fan. There is no denying that.--RuffRidr

The Denver vs. Phoenix Series will be a very competitive series in the 2nd round. So I wouldn't say the Suns skate to the WCF

[KowboyKoop 0]

This would depend on whether your team is in the playoffs or not. If your team is in it, you'll still pay attention, but otherwise it does seem tedious and things don't get interesting until the Conference Finals barring an interesting rivalry.

Well yes, I know. However, I don't have a particular NBA team I root for....so I don't have that. Even if I did though.......man that format is just WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too drawn out. I say eliminate the first round altogether and only let 8 teams in or maybe 12 teams.......but 15 7 game-series altogether?? Atrociously boring unless it is your team involved...and even then it would seem a bit long. I'll follow the playoffs, but I ain't watching anything until only 4 left probably.

[Hobbes 1]

The problem isn't necessarily the 7 game series, it's the fact that they only have two games each day during the week because of TV. So you have one series play a game on Monday, then have to wait until Friday for the next game. The first round was great when they had four games on each night, staggered starts, with TNT and TBS televising them all.

[kers2 0]

Ya, they should have never switched from a 5 game series to a 7 game series. The previous one was a lot funner to watch with the prospect of first round upsets.The other thing I hate about this year is their stupid seeding system. The way it is now, the Spurs and the Mavs are going to collide in the second round, instead of the WCF, while the Suns are going to skate into the WCF. There could have been so many good matchups if the stupid thing was just record based. Oh well.It is a fun time of year to be a basketball fan. There is no denying that.--RuffRidr

The problem isn't necessarily the 7 game series, it's the fact that they only have two games each day during the week because of TV. So you have one series play a game on Monday, then have to wait until Friday for the next game. The first round was great when they had four games on each night, staggered starts, with TNT and TBS televising them all.

I'm combining these two posts and calling them my own

[Azreous 0]

The Denver vs. Phoenix Series will be a very competitive series in the 2nd round. So I wouldn't say the Suns skate to the WCF

Only if A) Camby is healthy and B) Melo averages 35 a game for the series.

[princeof56k 0]

The Suns should easily beat the Nuggets if they indeed face each other in the second round. I say "If" mainly because the Nuggets will have to fight hard just to get there. As of right now, the Nuggets would face the Grizzlies and the Grizzlies actually have the better record. Another side note is that Boykins is hurt right now.The Nuggets arent bad. Their good enough, and so is their coach, to win one game. Maybe they win two, but its not going seven. I see a lot of blowouts in that series. If a team is questionable to make it to round 2, there is no way they can keep up with the Suns.

[Kurtman213 0]

The Suns should easily beat the Nuggets if they indeed face each other in the second round. I say "If" mainly because the Nuggets will have to fight hard just to get there. As of right now, the Nuggets would face the Grizzlies and the Grizzlies actually have the better record. Another side note is that Boykins is hurt right now.The Nuggets arent bad. Their good enough, and so is their coach, to win one game. Maybe they win two, but its not going seven. I see a lot of blowouts in that series. If a team is questionable to make it to round 2, there is no way they can keep up with the Suns.

No way, with a healthy Camby the Nuggets would out rebound the Suns by 20+ a game, and the Suns would get nothing from inside the paint.If Amare was healthy, I'd pick Suns in 5 but without Amare I'm picking Nuggets in 7

[princeof56k 0]

No way, with a healthy Camby the Nuggets would out rebound the Suns by 20+ a game, and the Suns would get nothing from inside the paint.If Amare was healthy, I'd pick Suns in 5 but without Amare I'm picking Nuggets in 7

Well I guess anything can happen, and its a little strange even discussing this match up since the Nuggets might actually get bounced out in the first round (their first series is absolutely not a lock), but all the evidence points to the Suns beating the Nuggets easily.1: The Suns are 9 games ahead of the Nuggets.2: In head-to-head competition, the Suns won 3 of the 4 matchups.3: In the one Denver win, they had to go to triple overtime to do it. In the 3 Suns wins, they won 2 of them by good margin. Not a good sign.4: You are greatly over estimating the Camby effect. He played in all of the 3 Suns wins, and MISSED the game in which Denver won (which I admit is wierd). Camby played extremely well before he got hurt and has now come back down to Earth.5: The Nuggets are a better rebounding team than the Suns, but not by much. remember the Suns do have Marion, use their quickness to get the boards, and ofteen the opposing team is out of position. Statistically speaking the Suns grab more boards, but style of play affects that stat a lot. Very very small edge to the Nuggets. So small it hardly matters.5: Amare's injury means nothing. They played all year without him and still played well. Even if Amare came back, he wouldnt be healthy anyways. The Suns will get to, and lose in, the Conference Finals with or without him.6: Earl Boykins is hurt.7: The Suns have looked mortal over the last couple of weeks and have played worse than they are capable of. Despite that, they still beat the Nuggets just a couple of weeks ago. You know its bad when the Suns beat you easily and then complain they were not very sharp that night (yes that actually happened).Basically the Suns are just the better team. Thinking this series would go 7 implies the teams are evenly matched in which they clearly are not. I would be shocked if that series went 7.

[Azreous 0]

Many good points.

QFT.Camby is a monster inside, but who else is going to somehow magically get the Nuggets to outrebound the Suns by 20? Francisco Elson? 6-8 Reggie Evans, who is a worse rebounder than Marion? Come on.I wouldn't deny the Suns would probably be outrebounded in, say, four of the five games in that series, but you're going a bit overboard.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

Pacers finally won a game last night. Don't know if I'm happy or sad. A lottery pick sounds a lot better than a 1st round loss!Although if they stay a number 7 seed they always play Miami tough. I would hate to drop to 8 and play Detroit.

[Athos 0]

The Pacers have been just brutal down the stretch.Tough to watch. And I agree, there's no way a playoff appearance equals anything other than a first round exit.But the draft seems extremely thin this year. ...Sorry 'bout that. Was just looking for the silver lining.No luck yet.

[Kurtman213 0]

QFT.Camby is a monster inside, but who else is going to somehow magically get the Nuggets to outrebound the Suns by 20? Francisco Elson? 6-8 Reggie Evans, who is a worse rebounder than Marion? Come on.I wouldn't deny the Suns would probably be outrebounded in, say, four of the five games in that series, but you're going a bit overboard.

You forget how big the nuggets backcourt is with Ruben Patterson, Carmello and Andre Miller. If Kurt Thomas doesn't get healthy the Suns will be relying on Boris Diaw and Shawn Marion as their Power Forward and Center spot, and neither of those guys are considered a great paint presence.

[Azreous 0]

You forget how big the nuggets backcourt is with Ruben Patterson, Carmello and Andre Miller. If Kurt Thomas doesn't get healthy the Suns will be relying on Boris Diaw and Shawn Marion as their Power Forward and Center spot, and neither of those guys are considered a great paint presence.

Again, I don't deny they'll get outrebounded, but this 20+ margin nonsense is a jopke. The Jazz rolled out their big lineup two weeks ago featuring 6'9" Kirilenko at guard, in a game where the Suns conceded rebounding as an edge all game in favor of a pick-and-roll half court offense to take advantage of their edge in speed, and they STILL only outrebounded Phoenix by 19.And if Kurt Thomas does get healthy in time, suddenly the Suns' backcourt is bigger than the Nuggets with the exception of Nash, who won't be bigger than anyone except Earl Boykins.

[Kurtman213 0]

Again, I don't deny they'll get outrebounded, but this 20+ margin nonsense is a jopke. The Jazz rolled out their big lineup two weeks ago featuring 6'9" Kirilenko at guard, in a game where the Suns conceded rebounding as an edge all game in favor of a pick-and-roll half court offense to take advantage of their edge in speed, and they STILL only outrebounded Phoenix by 19.And if Kurt Thomas does get healthy in time, suddenly the Suns' backcourt is bigger than the Nuggets with the exception of Nash, who won't be bigger than anyone except Earl Boykins.

Yea, I agree, Thomas getting healthy will be a huge factor on the 2nd round