****OFFICIAL 2012 NBA PLAYOFFS THREAD****

[dirk digler]

Great sports weekend with the draft and now the NBA Playoffs starting today

First Round Matchups Today:

76ers vs Bulls
Knicks vs Heat
Magic vs Pacers
Mavs vs Thunder

Sunday:

Jazz vs Spurs
Celtics vs Hawks
Clippers vs Grizzlies
Nuggets vs Lakers

[okcchief]

K ****ING D!

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Kobe 1 of 8 in the 4th. I wonder why they lost the lead?

He thinks he's MJ. Lol

[milkman]

Originally Posted by SPchief

Kobe 1 of 8 in the 4th. I wonder why they lost the lead?

The Lakers actually maintained a 10 point lead through the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter, when Kobe was on the bench.

They had good spacing and ball movement in their offense.

That changed the minute Kobe returned to the floor.

[KC_Connection]

Gasol wasn't involved at all in the offense and Bynum only took a significant role in the first half. It was all Kobe jacking poor shots and that wasn't enough at the end.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

He thinks he's MJ. Lol

He's not MJ.

But the reality is, those Bulls were well coached and they continually put themselves in great positions to score when MJ made passes, and MJ did a great job of finding open shooters.

Both he and his team understood, even with the greatest player in the game, it was still a team effort.

Kobe and these Lakers do not.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by milkman

The Lakers actually maintained a 10 point lead through the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter, when Kobe was on the bench.

They had good spacing and ball movement in their offense.

That changed the minute Kobe returned to the floor.

Yeah...they were playing quite well when Artest was the main facilitator for a bit there and everyone was moving the ball around. That ended fast, though.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by milkman

He's not MJ.

But the reality is, those Bulls were well coached and they continually put themselves in great positions to score when MJ made passes, and MJ did a great job of finding open shooters.

Both he and his team understood, even with the greatest player in the game, it was still a team effort.

Kobe and these Lakers do not.

That's always been my beef with Kobe. He doesn't make his teammates better. MJ didn't earlier in his career until Phil came along and preached what you mentioned in your post. Kobe is too sporadic and undisciplined. Always has been.

[CaliforniaChief]

Milkman is right: all the movement, spacing, passing, and rhythm disappeared the moment Kobe came back.

Prior to that, Sessions was killing OKC in the lane, and other guys were more active. With about 5 minutes left, it was Kobe backing down Harden and throwing up prayers. It's a miracle they stayed ahead/close as late as they did.

Lots of respect to OKC for winning that game. Westbrook and Durant were incredible.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

If OKC can keep this team together...watch out for a long time.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

That's always been my beef with Kobe. He doesn't make his teammates better. MJ didn't earlier in his career until Phil came along and preached what you mentioned in your post. Kobe is too sporadic and undisciplined. Always has been.

Where we have always disagreed is that I don't believe that MJ made his teammates better.

They got better looks because the defense expended so much focus on MJ, but he wasn't a guy that made his teammates better in the same way that Magic, Isiah, and Bird did, or the way that Chris Paul does.

[KC_Connection]

When Kobe entered the game in the 4th, the Lakers were up by 11. For the 2nd game in this series, LA collapsed almost entirely because of him (2 for 10 in 4th). If that was LeBron James taking poor shot after poor shot without facilitating to teammates, he'd be getting absolutely skewered by the media.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by milkman

Where we have always disagreed is that I don't believe that MJ made his teammates better.

They got better looks because the defense expended so much focus on MJ, but he wasn't a guy that made his teammates better in the same way that Magic, Isiah, and Bird did, or the way that Chris Paul does.

I love you anyway

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

When Kobe entered the game in the 4th, the Lakers were up by 11. For the 2nd game in this series, LA collapsed almost entirely because of him (2 for 10 in 4th). If that was LeBron James taking poor shot after poor shot without facilitating to teammates, he'd be getting absolutely skewered by the media.

I think he will after this one.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

When Kobe entered the game in the 4th, the Lakers were up by 11. For the 2nd game in this series, LA collapsed almost entirely because of him (2 for 10 in 4th). If that was LeBron James taking poor shot after poor shot without facilitating to teammates, he'd be getting absolutely skewered by the media.

I don't think James can win any way with the media.

If he gets his teammates involved, he's labaled as a guy that doesn't want the ball in his hands.

If he takes a lot of shots and misses, then he's labeled a choker.

The funny thing is, MJ, when the Bulls were winning championships, missed a ton of late game shots, and it was his teammates that were hitting the critical game winners, more times than not.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

When Kobe entered the game in the 4th, the Lakers were up by 11. For the 2nd game in this series, LA collapsed almost entirely because of him (2 for 10 in 4th). If that was LeBron James taking poor shot after poor shot without facilitating to teammates, he'd be getting absolutely skewered by the media.

In fairness to Kobe he was shooting close to 60% prior to the 4th. So he probably thought he could keep it going.