NBA 2014 Playoffs and Offseason

[Hiromi]

Well might as well get the first sports thread rolling

Bulls have gone fishing, thanks to giving up I believe 8 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, including two sequences in which they gave up at least 3 in a row, including the last sequence which came off missed free throws of all things and basically allowed the Wizards to ice the last minute of clock off.

Over the off season they HAVE to improve their scoring, and given that they need to amnesty Boozer whose one of the few people on their team who CAN score(but whose defense was so bad it kept him on the bench during the fourth quarter all season long, and the only reason he played last night was Taj Gibson getting hurt. And well that many offensive boards surrendered is critically telling). They can't just close their eyes and wish for Derrick Rose to magically fix it, number one Derrick Rose is officially injury prone until proven otherwise, there's absolutely no guarantee that he'll ever be the player he used to after spending the better part of three seasons on the bench due to knee injury, secondly, one player is not going to make a drastic difference on the NBA's last place offense.

Thunder choke again(and Crawford's stupid antics aside Kevin Durant has been choking at the free throw line all this series). If the Thunder go on to lose this series two things are probably going to happen. Number one GM Sam Presti's job is going to be seriously looked at, this team has stayed the same if not gotten worse over the last two seasons, they still haven't recovered from the Harden trade. Kevin Martin left(making that trade so ridiculously one sided it's comical), and what big name free agent pickup have they had since then? Caron Butler? Kendrick Perkins is the laughing stock of pretty much every advanced metric, and he's still taking up 8-9 million off the cap while being one of the few amnestiable players left in the league.
The second is Scott Brooks is officially on the hot seat. Russel Westbrook has not progressed as a Point Guard, the experiment has pretty much failed at this point. He needs to be in the two guard position with someone else trusted to carry the majority of decision making. The teams offensive game plan is awful, and Brooks does not draw up good plays(final possession of game 5 is proof of that), it's basically hand ball to Kevin Durant or Westbrook and pray. Basically the Thunder are more or less the pre Decision Cavs, carried by extraordinary talent, but woefully outmatched in roleplayers and coaching schemes.
And that brings us to a last point, the annalists need to hold Durant to the exact same standards they held Lebron. To be fair I'm starting to see signs of this.

Some early indicators seem to point to Sterling's forced Clippers sale vote as being unanimous whenever it happens, so it's good to see the owners willing to follow through.

[gregyo]

Would like to know what the **** is going on with my Rockets.

[Hiromi]

Raptors up by 20 in the third, Nets better start something soon otherwise they'll find themselves in the same shoes as the Pacers and just unable to score enough to have a chance.

Edit: Mike D'antoni has resigned as Lakers head coach, so that must have been what Stephen A. Smith was hinting at this morning.

[Vibranium]

Mike D'Antoni has resigned as Lakers HC...per ESPN and Adam Schefter

jeez that dude knows everything

[Hiromi]

Apparently it stemmed from the Lakers refusing to pick up his 4th year option.

I wonder who or if he gets another gig. I'd hope no, but he's a big name that might be enticing for certain franchises if nothing else.

[Jabare]

San Antonio taking care of business

[Hiromi]

Dallas still played that game surprisingly close, I could still see this series tipping either way.

[Deathstroke]

Mike D'Antoni has resigned as Lakers HC...per ESPN and Adam Schefter

jeez that dude knows everything

Good move, D'Antoni was just not going to be successful with the Lakers.

[kalorama]

Dallas still played that game surprisingly close, I could still see this series tipping either way.

Dirk is having the worst shooting postseason of his career and, even with that, the Mavs were in position to win games 1 and 4. If he'd shot the ball anywhere close to his normal efficiency rate, the Spurs would have gotten swept in 4.

[emac1790]

Nets lose. Drake uses his lint brush on his jeans.

[Hiromi]

That game was Joe Johnson's career in a nutshell, 4 points in the first half, 26 in the second half. Raptors tried to give that game away but managed to hold on with some huge shots.

[emac1790]

I'm pretty sure Kobe is happy

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...angeles-lakers

[Hiromi]

Houston and Portland is basically both teams taking turns at big scoring runs.

[Jabare]

This has been a busy year in L.A. between the fall of the Lakers, the rise of the Clippers. Kobe, Blake Paul.

The Donald Sterling mess. And nwo this.

[tg1982]

San Antonio taking care of business

The Mavs'll get them next time

Dallas still played that game surprisingly close, I could still see this series tipping either way.

Yeah they are, they're making it a pretty good series. It could go to a game 7.

Dirk is having the worst shooting postseason of his career and, even with that, the Mavs were in position to win games 1 and 4. If he'd shot the ball anywhere close to his normal efficiency rate, the Spurs would have gotten swept in 4.

He put up 26 today, so maybe he's getting there.





Go Mavs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!