Western Playoffs 2011 Thread

The only downside of the Mavs winning is having to listen to Carlisle postgame conferences.

Yeah but if the Mavs do pulloff this win, then for the first time in 3 years, I won't have to see all those Laker pennants flying from the windows of every other car in SoCal during May, June, July and August...

I have faith.. mavs sweep. I think the mavs can take whoever is in the other bracket too

Phil "Coach Brown"ed his troops, IMO.

There's no way anybody could expect all of this "I'm gone no matter what." stuff to not affect the players.

From a coach all about the mind game, this entire situation seems pretty lacking in class, not to mention a horrible way for him to play himself off of the stage.

No matter what Dallas or anybody else does.....it appears that Miami has a carpet laid out to the finals this year.

Heaven forbid LeBron choose poorly.

Wow...Memphis comes back from 17 down near the end of the 3rd to win and go up 2 games to 1 in the series...

21 and 21 for the dude that wanted to play for us.

Zebo vs Dirk in the WCF? Could happen...much to Stern's chagrin...

He chose the better coach...and PG...

Yup.
I don't think the roll call stops there.

You could probably make a list in one category or another that includes the entire Memphis squad over the bunch Joe has crumpled together.

Promising young starting SG SF combo- Grizz
Perimeter defenders - Grizz
Big center that plays big- Grizz

Don't let Powe ever get back to form, they'll be exceptionally frightening.

Zach obviously would have been stupid to come wallow in this mire Joe has created.

It's raining 3's in Dallas. The Mavs are up by 24 at halftime with their bench outscoring the Lakers starters. Bring out the broom!

I might have stopped leaving Jason Terry open after the first 7 or 8 three-pointers that he made.

[SARCASM]
I really feel bad for Kobe and the Lakers. I wanted Coach to go out with a blaze of glory...
[/SARCASM]


I hope Dirk gives Kobe the "face" after the game....

The lakers did not even defend the three in the second half..The Jet was 9-10 and Peja was 5-5 overall as the Mavs hit a playoff tying 20 three pointers.

The two fragrant fouls were un-called for and Bynum's was really bad as he did not even go for the ball, but for the body. He said in the post game comments that he was kind of "salty" about guys waltzing through the lane for ez layups. Lamar says he was embarrassed by the 30 pt deficit and just over reacted on his foul against Dirk.

Wonder how long the Lakers will be remembered for their unsportsmanship in this close out game, since Mike Terrico had to once again mention the Pistons walking off the court in the no-hand-shake incident in 1991.

Phil made it official in his post game comments that this was his final game of coaching..and he was a little upset that he was fined $35K this morning as the leagues final decree on him. It won't make up for the NBA's loss of revenue for the Lakers sitting the rest of the post season off.


So far Charles Barkley's prediction of Spurs going down to the Grizz and the Mavs kicking the Lakers behind is making him a genius or a soothsayer..

I'm guessing that Phil will be back, but not with the Lakers. He'll probably take a year off, but then return. I'm sure he doesn't want his last coaching game to be the forgettable memory that his sorry players put together. He always seemed to provide calm and steady leadership with class, and his team showed none of those qualities in their last game together.

I hope BOZO Bynum gets a 10 game suspension to start next season.

If he sits out a year he will be 67 years old if he decides to comeback. The Lakers were embarrassed by the Pistons the last time he supposedly semi-retired, until Dr Buss convinced him to comebacl a year later.

This time however, his back and hips are weary and not sure if he wants to go through another 82 game regular season, let alone the pre and post season. I only see him coming back to coach a sure fire contender and if the Knicks were to get CP3 and D'antoni was failing he may comeout to go there....if jeanie Buss lets him..

Great three OT game that I am sure plenty of east coasters slept through.

Once again the Grizzlies, who had an 18 pt lead in the second qtr fell behind by 10 with less than 4 minutes to go in the game and came back to hit a three in regulation by Mike Conley to send the game into the first OT.

Conley and OJ Mayo who also hit a couple of threes, both fouled out in that 1st OT and the Grizz were still able to take it into a 3rd OT because Russell Westbrook who despite scoring over 40 pts, still took at least 33 shots where this game could have been over if he had just passed it to Durant who only took 20. Durant went over 9 minutes between the 4th qtr and the first OT without even getting a shot.

I like both of these teams, but with their helter skelter play I can see either them getting passed the Heat, so looks like Dallas has the best chance....unless the Bulls do the honor first.

Oh by the way the Thunder won this game in the third OT thanks to Durant

Sounds very competetive. Both teams earning their bones.

It was a great game. Like Dre said, if they just gave the ball to Durant in the 4th quarter, or even in 1st OT, everybody could've gone to bed earlier.

I think the Grizz lost it at the end of the 1st OT. There was less than 24 seconds left on the clock with the score tied and OKC had the ball. Conley stole the ball and drove hard to the basket, but two OKC players beat him there. Instead of trying to finish and drawing a foul, or calling a timeout, he passed the ball out for a rushed, nonsense 3-pt attempt. The Grizz could've won it if they were able to get set up.

It was a crazy game though. Big shot after big shot. OKC can go far in this postseason if they can remember to pass the rock to Durant.