No, because there won't be a game 7 because the Pistons blow at home.

The league and TV networks have half of their dream final in place with LA winning. The series should be 3-2 (thanks for the apology, Tim Frank). With Rip Hamilton hurt and the Pistons blowing at home, as Gadzooks pointed out, it looks like a throwback NBA Finals match-up.

'Sheed should've went ahead and got that T last game, preferably by kicking the shit out of Bill Belichick.



He's in that picture somewhere...

Oh, and a bit of good news: the NBA will fine floppers next year. Anderson Varejao is fucked.

what the hell is a flopper? never heard of that term in nba.

btw, i'm keeping my mouth shut until the postseason is over, at least for the celts :x

Manu "The First Flopper" Ginobli:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fEef1T_lqwA&feature=related

Raja "Sir Flops-a-Lot" Bell:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8BjhfwVY_p8&feature=related

Lalers vs Celtics (yawn)

I got the Lakers in 6.

You're probably right, but the mental image of Ko-baby lifting the trophy is enough to make me physically ill. :x

Is the fact that very few people outside Mass. and Cali. care about this final indicative of how far the NBA has fallen since the last time these two teams met?

I would so. I don't plan on watching a single game, nor do any of my friends.

I may catch a game or two, I think that while the NBA has fallen from what it was in the 80's (you can thank the player attitudes, referee controversies, and cheapening of the sport itself for that) it has started to dust itself off and become mildly interesting again. If it continues in this direction, it will be a great sport again. It will just take time.

I'm pretty much on the fence on this one - while the games may be the stuff of legends (and there is every expectation that there will be some great basketball being played here) my heart is just not in it. Both teams are the best money can buy (or steal), they were both number 1 seeds, and frankly, I can't see a great human interest story anywhere here.

I love the sport, I just don't really give a shit who wins. :sleep

I don't love the sport anymore, but I hate Kobe and I don't want Garnett to win a title so that gives me two reasons not to watch (if KG wins it I want to pretend like it never happened).

I will be watching every game. This could of been Spurs Vs. Pistons and that would of sucked a whole bunch more. Fuck ya'll I called it.

You really reached with that one.

Yeah, who would have thought the two number 1's would make it to the finals. What are the odds? :confused:

1) It hasn't happened in 8 years

2) The Lakers were NOT the first seed when I made said prediction

suck it

Hawks vs. Nuggets would be just as uninteresting as the final we have. At least the best players are out there.

My prior statement about interest in the final versus what it was in 1987 wasn't based on derision of stars like Kobe or KG, but of the simple fact that a much more select few give a shit today. The NBA didn't know where to go after Jordan, and it still doesn't. Lakers and Celtics is attractive to viewers (and therefore, to ABC/ESPN/Disney) because those team names mean something to anyone who has followed the sport.

I love the game, I just think that a lot of the mystique is gone. I don't know many who are that interested, except people I know from SoCal or Mass. That wasn't the case 21 years ago. Finals series like Spurs vs. Nets haven't helped regain the allure of eras gone by, but I question if that is the fault of the fans or the league and its players.

4 Spurs Championships will do that to any sport, ugh

I don't see what the problem is with the Spurs. Is it the small market? Is it the fact that Tim Duncan doesn't flap his jaws or demand trades? Someone please tell me why the Spurs get no love. It's tearing me up inside, people!

Frankly, I don't give a shit if the Finals lack "allure". I don't need a supposedly flashier big market team to get me to watch the Finals. Good baxetball can come from anywhere, not just from Kobe's cervix or Boston's taint.

They are boring ass basketball to watch that grinds games out to a Hack-A-Shaq halt and also are the more prolific floppers in the league. And while Tim Duncan doesn't flap his jaws about being traded (why would he?) he and his team certaintly do bitch about almost every call making their already slow game slower.

They were fun to watch for their first championship back when David Robinson was an active member of the group. Also they are a Dynasty in a league that is in some definite need of parity. It's not completely their fault (except the flopping shit, which the league promises to work on).

I've never heard of the Spurs having a reputation for whining about calls but damn did Barry have a good reason to. Duncan flapping jaws was a reference to Kobe flapping his labia before the season started and the flopping is not exclusive to the Spurs, nor did they perfect the craft. That shit has been infesting the league for years.

I can see people tiring of the Spurs because of their dominance, but I personally find it refreshing to see a small market team hit the 9 point Hot Spot. I really really really get sick and tired of hearing about the fucking Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks (the only 3 teams in the league if you watch Sportscenter).

Small market is a misnomer. San Antonio is the 7th largest city by population in the country. It's a market that doesn't command national attention, and the working class mentality of the team doesn't capture people's imaginations. Hence, they get no ink. Nobody likes hard workers in America, and yes, I can throw in a Simpsons reference: the Frank Grimes episode. Homer command's attention, but Frank is the better worker.

Boring basketball has been the NBA's mantra since Jordan left the Bulls for good. We just watched a playoffs in which home teams dominated and almost all the games were decided by wide enough margins to make them pointless to watch past the 4 minute mark in the fourth quarter. NCAA b-ball has been the basketball of choice for a solid decade now. NBA stars sandbag their asses off.

Of course people are going to talk about the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks. But other than market shares, people talk about them for all the wrong reasons. LA wouldn't be here without the Gasol trade, period. The Knickerbockers are a god damned disaster and we love our disasters. The Celts bought their way back to the finals, and let's face it, Mass. has been ground zero of great sports this past year. Between the Sox, the Pats, BC, and the Celtics, Boston has had a phenomenal year. I've spilled enough Haterade on the subject, but it's hard to deny. If Tim Duncan flapped his pussy then San Antonio would get some press; he doesn't, so they don't.

Don't hate the game, hate the players. The flopping, the refs, the bitching/fighting/arrests/pot smoking/sandbagging has made this series less relevant than it should be. Not the Spurs, not the markets, and (as one) certainly not the fans.

That was the one time they should of and they didn't. Which was weird.

Well Gad, that's because it's fixed.