NBA basketball fans out there?

my lakers are down by 3 games in a row =(

i guess we're really just not playing right as we're trying to save our energy for the playoffs. hope we can pull it off.

We'll see. Kobe's kind of playing like he's not wanting this (even though everyone knows how much he wants this). I don't see a lot of hustling and bustling on the court and perhaps it really is to conserve the energy for the playoff. So we'll see....Artest has been doing a bit better since the beginning of the season and while he's still got a lot of room for improvement (such as corner three's), he's contributing both offensively and defensively. And seriously, who doesn't have a good time when the guy kisses his own bicep when he makes some incredible shots?

gonna make for an interesting playoff season. rooting for laker 3peat but damn is it going to be a tough road.

Alright folks, now that we're in playoff season and as I'm sure everyone who's an NBA fan has a team that he/she is cheering for, here's my take on it.

As much as I enjoy watching D-Rose tearing it up on the floor against the Pacers, it'll be hard for the Bulls to make it too far in the playoff if the team itself can't step up to the plate. A team requires more than just a one-man show (i.e. Rose right now) puttnig up 39 points a game. It has to be a well-balanced team, with all positions covered. Boozer stepped it up on the second game, but he's got a lot to show still. Overall, I'm liking the Bulls if they're able to conquer their own mentality. the boston-ny games have been quite exciting. Who would've thought that NY could put up such a fight against the champion of the east side from last year. I'm still going for the celtics on this round though. The heat, nothing to say there.

In terms of the west side, I wouldn't worry too much for the lakers. I think lakers will prove it to themselves and to the fans that they're still able to take down another championship ring this season. A lot of games are on tonight and I'm sure there's going to be some upset still, but it's going to be interesting coming down the wire.

lets throw up our playoff brackets.... winner gets a kudos?

Spurs/Thunder
Mavs/Lakers

Spurs/Lakers

Lakers

LAKERS!

Heat

Heat/Bulls

Heat/Celts
Bulls/Hawks

Lakers gonna win it all the way!

Game 1 vs New Orleans was a fluke.

Game 2 was more like it.

Can't wait for Game 3!

nice bracket, but pfff LAL falls to OKC? madness

/smack

we will see.
LAL is not really good this year. Seems like Gasol got trapped in a psychological attack, looks really soft out there.

Westbrook/Mayner over Fisher/Blake
Kobe/Brown even Sefolosha/Harden(Sefolosha has been doing a great job on defending Kobe, so does Harden)
Durant over Barnes/Artest
Pau Gasol/Lamar over Nick/Ibaka(gotta admit this)
Kendrick/Nazr even Bynum( Kobe said Kendrick is the best low-post defender in NBA)

Overall: OKC over LAL

/smack is damn right. you musta lose yo dang mind

Come on Dudettes,
give me some reasons why you think LAL is gonna win over OKC. I know it is really hard to beat SAS and LAL in play-off for any team in this league, but I think OKC can go to the Finals this year. and I am not even OKC fan or anti-Lakers guy...

Ok....

Kevin Durant carries that entire team. And I mean, entire team. Maynor doesn't do anything hardly and I know him personally because he went to VCU with me (final four remember us? ) because he doesn't have any hardline active role in the team. He does a few fakes here and there and tries to find the right pass and that's it. Westbrooke is inconsistent, and I don't know a whole lot about OKL but some days he's on fire and some days he's ice cold. Unfortunately, the playoffs don't reward inconsistency.

On the other hand, if you look at the Lakers - you see Bynum, probably one of the most consistent players on the team and even probably the entire league. Also, he plays down low and has the capability to retain a lot of rebounds. So even if Kobe or Gasol is off, he's able to be there for the second chance basket.

Odom, 6th man of the year, been performing phenomenally. Clearly has been able to show that he can step up when one of his teammates is down. He has both the offensive and defensive mindset through knowing exactly when to foul and when to make it into a 3 point play. Artest, 3 point man with the range. No doubt he can knock them down when they leave him open. Blake, excellent with the fast passes.

I honestly, don't think there is a fitter team than the Lakers at the current moment. Sure, Gasol got some downtime and Kobe didn't do much playing in Game 2 but people aren't seeing the bigger picture. If you check out of last year's playoffs, Kobe wasn't that active in the beginning neither. I think they're saving their big guns for later and to help reduce the possibility of injury during the playoffs. The hornets would be nothing without Chris Paul and Game 2 showed you just exactly that.

And don't even get me started on matt barnes and shannon brown. them kids will wreck kids!

In my opinion, Lakers have an excellent chance to win out.

And if I can inquire, why do you think Portland over Dallas?

https://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... -westbrook
I don't see any inconsistency in here.
Are you watching the Portland vs Dallas game? That is why I think Portland over Dallas.

I'm not a lakers fan, nor am I a lakers hater. But honestly, we should be seeing a lot more from the incumbent champion against the hornets right now. I'm not even talking about OKC, which is a super fast team (in my opinion, westbrook will be able to take on fisher anyday, anytime). From what I saw in game 1 and game 2 from the lakers, it sort of seems like they're a bit complacent, that they don't 'want' it. No more hustling & bustling. Sure, Bynum stepped it up on game 2 and he's an awesome center, but one man's not going to carry them through. Much like the bulls, it sort of seems like that d-rose is the only person keeping the bulls alive, which will never work because it's a 5-man game, not a 1-man game (as we've all probably seen from the early jordan's age when he was a complete ball hogger). I'd like to see the lakers moving a bit more and wanting a bit more. At this current stage, I too believe that OKC would take out the incumbent champion.

And I continue to stand by what I said way earlier in the season - ron artest needs to keep practicing his corner three's. He does make them 3's, but he needs to be a lot more consistent with his field goals.

lol you can kudo me up when Dallas takes Portland in this series

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bakfed, I think we are going to be in a disagreement soon haha. I don't necessarily think that the bulls "want" it any less than any other team. The reason it's a one-man team is because of a mixture of lack of skill, communication, and team assists. I agree that one man cannot win the game but to say that no one else on the bulls "want" it more than D Rose is kinda taking it out of the ball court. Hustle and bustle is great but can get you into a lot of foul troubles if you don't play your cards right. And if you're playing against a veteran team like the Celtics, the ref is going to call it on you alllllllll dddayyy llooooonnnggggggg.

yall wait, i have a feeling that kobe and gasol have some tricks up their sleeve that will make up for their current performance right now

Actually a "one-man show" can win the NBA championship.. check out these stats (courtesy a comment from ESPN after Game 2 of the Bulls-Pacers series):

Here are this year's Bulls playoffs scoring statistics for the top 5 scorers:

Rose 37.5
Deng 16.0
Boozer 14.5
Korver 9.0
Noah 7.0

Now, here are the stats for the top five scorers for 3 other title years for the Bulls:

97-98

Jordan 32.4
Pippen 16.8
Kukoc 13.1
Longley 7.9
Harper 6.7

95-96

Jordan 30.7
Pippen 16.9
Kukoc 10.8
Harper 8.8
Longley 8.3

91-92

Jordan 34.5
Pippen 19.5
Grant 11.3
Paxson 7.9
Armstrong 7.3