Playoff Matchup Round 2: Lakers (2) vs Mavericks (3)

First time I'm cheering for the Mavs and I'm loving it! It's beautiful seeing those lakers struggle. I hope the Mavs pull it off. laker fans need some humble pie.

 

I don't think it really demands a suspension, it's a bad flagrant, but no malice, no fight, no intent (or major risk) to injure....it's ten times more dangerous when a player is undercut while airborne. Ron just went braindead. I don't think he went over there intending to clothesline him at all. I'd slap a good $250K fine on him and call it a day.

If he gets suspended though, that's fine too.

Bynum calling out Kobe publicly isn't going to go over well...but he's right. Kobe's not in his prime anymore, but refuses to step back and is still reluctant to feed the post even though Bynum and Gasol are getting the job done. Meanwhile, pressure's on Bynum to protect the rim while anyone without an AARP card is zipping past Fisher - I saw Kobe send a lot of "F you guys" looks his way after layups (of course, I saw more than a couple layups where Bynum was several seconds slow reacting).

It's actually starting to remind me of Ewing's last couple of years as a Knick, when he adamantly refused to give up his alpha dog status.

 

He's not thinking. That beast in Artest has been tamed for most of the time in the past few years. It just weasels out every now and then when things aren't going right for him. I guess he needs his psychiatrist again.

 

You've got to be kidding me. I'd rather see any other team beat the Mavs and Spurs. I'm rooting for the Lakers.

 

Me too. I'm rooting for the Mavs to win this series, and then lost the next one.

 

same here. Unfortunately, i can see the mavs folding like a cheap suite with the pressure on...that is their M.O.. I hope they prove me wrong

 

Ron Artest SHOULD NOT be suspended. He tried to hold up the midget Barea after the foul. Ron is used to playing against taller players and that foul would normally be around the waist or body.

 

he tried to hold him up after he clotheslined him in the face while he was simply dribbling out the clock in the backcourt? how kind of ron. i would argue what artest did was worse than many things that get suspensions because this wasn't doing something stupid in the heat of the moment when emotions are flying like say after a hard foul. nothing was happening and artest just went up and smacked him in the face.

 

As long as the Dallas bigs keep setting "hella screens" for JJ Barea the Lakers are in big trouble. Barea is carving them up and having a personal layup drill. For an opposing team it's really dejecting to watch him drive at will and score so easily or create for others because you look at him and you don't expect him to do that cause he's a role player, the smallest guy on the court, the little engine that could etc. yet he does it time after time. Seems like he does it when the game is in reach for the opponent as well. He did the same thing in the Blazers series as well. He's a game changer and he's exposing the older, slower pg's that lack lateral movement first Miller and now Fisher.

 

The problem is which JJ Barea will show up the next couple of games. If he's on, the Lakers are in serious trouble because of their lack of quickness. You could argue that Barea SHOULD be on his game because the Lakers are so poorly equipped for him. Steve Blake seemed like he did the best job staying with him and contesting, but being a flaming disaster on offense more than offset it.

Next season (whenever it starts), the Lakers will have a legit starting PG. Kobe can't cover for Fisher anymore.

 

Obviously, but didn't you say he was too slow?

 

Wouldn't be surprised if he did get suspended...it wasn't flagrant, but intentional...he did try to hold him up but not sure that'll help him...

 

I seriously hope Dallas chokes a 2-0 lead again. That would be best case scenario.

 

he odom in the balls too with his knee. One man wrecking crew LOL. God bless ron artest. Omg i dont' think i've ever laughed this hard at anything.

 

Does anyone know any kinds of numbers on how often the road team goes up 2-0 and ends up winning the series? I can only think of four such series, and they all involved the Rockets:

Suns were up 2-0 against the Rockets in '94 and LOST.
Rockets were up 2-0 against the Spurs in '95 and WON.
Rockets were up 2-0 against the Magic in '95 and WON.
Rockets were up 2-0 against the Mavs in '05 and LOST.

So in two of the four times I know of, the home team ended up winning the series in this situation... which isn't very encouraging for Dallas. I'm sure I'm missing some data here, though. Anyone know of other examples?

(Obviously, I'm specifically talking about series when the ROAD TEAM wins the first two games.)

 

I'm going to vomit if I have to watch a Miami-Dallas finals, the only two teams I did not want to win the title going into the playoffs.

 

There have been a lot more

 

I wouldn't doubt it, but can you give me a few examples?

 

Ron Artest gets 1-game suspension from NBA.
http://twitter.com/KevinDing/status/66228602299105281

 

3 of those scenarios had Clutch City in it.