Built Ford Tough

Gasol with 2 fouls in 30 seconds. Guy has completely checked out of this series.

Why not? The Mavs are chokers, after all, and the Lakers were going to expose them on it.

Look at my avatar. Do you think something like that is going to bother me?

Why? The Lakers were going to expose the Mavs as the chokers that they really are. Well, what better time than down by 24 in an elimination game on the Mavs homecourt?

Peja gets a steal, runs down the court in slow motion, which was about as fast as he could go, and gets a lineup. Then when running up the court to get back on D, he holds his back and hobbles like an old man. Gotta love it.

What is wrong with how Bynum has played? Its not his fault that he gets looked off everytime he gets good post position. The guy can only do so much when he gets 1 touch every 5 possessions, even though he has probably the best matchup of any Laker in this series as, despite how good of a defender Chandler is, Bynum's size is simply too much for Chandler to be able to handle. It isn't a coincidence that almost everytime that Bynum has touched the ball good things have happened for the Lakers.

A similar thing happened to me yesterday with the OKC/Memphis game. They didn't show it live but showed a replay of the game once the Celtics/Heat game started. I actually found it pretty funny. Marion has missed two easy shots in the lane already and Dirk has missed two easy looks as well, which is uncharacteristic for him. I don't understand what is going through Gasol's head, though. The guy has Dirk Nowitzki on him, which is an obvious mismatch in the post, yet he continues to jack up face up jumpers without even trying to get into the lane. For a guy who's game is so dependent on a great understanding of the game, he sure is making some stupid decesions this series, both offensively and defensively.

I won't post the explainations (they are at the links provided if anybody wants to read them), but here are what Tim Chisholm (writer for TSN, for those of you who don't know) considers to be Colangelo's best and worst moves during his time with the Raptors. Best 5. Trading Charlie Villanueva for TJ Ford 4. Trading Hedo Turkoglu for Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones 3. Signing Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa 2. Trading for Amir Johnson (doesn't mention Sonny in his title, just Amir) 1. Drafting DeMar DeRozan and Ed Davis http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/tim_chisholm/?id=364846 Worst 3. Trading TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and 17th pick (Roy Hibbert) for Jermaine O'Neal 2. Trading Shawn Marion and Kris Humphries for Hedo Turkoglu, Antoine Wright and Devean George 1. Signing Jason Kapono for the full MLE for 5 years http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/tim_chisholm/?id=364740 Thoughts on his lists?

And the draft just keeps on getting stronger. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110507/SPORTS03/305070108/Terrence-Jones-spurns-NBA-draft-returns-Kentucky-basketball?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Dirty play by Artest. You could see him losing his composure on that Marion play when he shoved him into the bench, but that shot to Barea's head was a joke. Completely unecessary, especially considering the score. Where was the physicallity from you when the game was still in reach?

Well ok, scratch that last part of my post then. Dirk is the best power forward in the league and it isn't even close.

But Randolph >>>>>>> Dirk, right? (not saying you said this, just saying in general)

How the hell are you supposed to defend that? Jesus christ.

Kind of a tough situation for Haywood to be in there. Either hang onto the rim and cost your team two points or let go and break Fisher's neck. Personally, I would've went with option two, but I can see why breaking somebodies neck and possibly ending their career might linger on a dude's conscience. PS: Barea is picking apart the Lakers defense right now. That simply cannot happen.

Blake is awesome. I don't know what the hell happened to him this season, but every time I've watched the Lakers play he has looked like complete trash. I thought he was a superb pickup last offseason, but he looks like a complete waste of space out there. Lakers really need to do a better job of defending the 3 point line if they want any chance of winning this game. I don't understand how you give a team like Dallas open look after open look from three, especially considering they have literally no interior presence on offense. What are you collapsing the paint so much when it is the deep ball that has constantly burned you on defense?

Deshawn Stevenson banks in a three from straight away and then proceeds to hold up three fingers and mean mug to the crowd. Love it!

Except that he was already in the locker froom for like 30 minutes.

Fire Boudreau and hire a real coach would be a nice starting point. The arena is booked for a concert or something like that on Thursday and because of some scheduling conflict, they couldn't push the game back to Friday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2011/news/story?id=6467089 This is awesome.

Nice help defense from Marion to strip Kobe of the ball. It was particularly impressive simply because of how easily he blew by Stevenson which gave Marion very little time to react and get over there in time, let alone manage to strip Kobe of the ball as well. Too bad Stojakovic fumbled the pass on the 3-1 that proceeded the play. In hindsight, Kidd probably wishes that he passed the ball to Marion who is much better in transition than Peja is.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=6468133 Still think that Howard should've won the award, but I can't say that I didn't expect this. Rose had this award won by the All-Star break.

Even though I'm fully expecting a short and fairly non-competitive series, this is really the only series that I am interested in at this point in time. Dirk is going to have to have his way with Gasol if the Mavs are going to have any shot at all in this series, and even then, they will be unlikely to come away with a win unless he gets some consistent help from his supporting cast. When that cast consists of guys like Terry, Kidd, Barea and Terry, the only consistent thing about them is that they will be inconsistent. Kobe off to a nice start with 7 points already and Dirk has really taken advantage of Gasol's reluctance to defend on the perimeter.

This game is almost exactly like the Thunder/LA series from last year. The Thunder can score and keep it close due to the talent of Durant and Westbrook offensively, but they are getting absolutely dominated inside by the length of Randolph and Gasol. OKC has played relatively well on defense during the initial offensive possession, but they just can't finish the play off with getting the rebound. Even when Randolph or Gasol aren't coming down with the rebound themselves, they are able to keep the play alive and allow one of the wing players to come in and get the board off of a tip out or something like that. The Thunder are the better team, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they end up losing this series simply because of how outmatched they are down low against Randolph and Gasol.

I'd be willing to give him a 2 year, $20M contract or something like that. A 3 year deal may be something that I would be willing to do, but I don't think that I would be willing to give the $10M/yr team on a deal like that. I don't think that I would be willing to do a 4 year deal, though. I understand the thought process in thinking that if he does stay healthy you now have him locked up on a long term deal at a very reasonable prce, but I think that a 4 year deal is just too long of a period to take on a guy who has missed 3 full seasons worth of games in his first 4 years. As far as ABL's question about a team needing a center, I would be all for the Raptors giving him a look and offering a contract. I still think that if he can stay healthy that he can become the best defensive center in the game (yes, better than Howard) and lord knows the Raptors need both a legitimate center as well as a defensive anchor. He would definitely be worth the gamble, but like I said above, I'm not to sure how willing I would be to give him a 4 year deal, but hypthetically speaking, if the Raptors did sign him to a 4 year deal, I don't think that I would be too upset about it just because of the possible game changing impact that he could bring defensively if he were to stay healthy.

I would. I really don't see how it is hilarious to think that, either. Its not like Lopez is anything special anyways. The only hilarious thing in ths thread is hearing how nobody can come close to matching Denver's package for Howard. If you are losing Dwight, you might as well swing for the fences and go after a guy who has the potential to be a near franchise player and multiple time All-Star. I wouldn't want a guy who, at best, is going to be a decent 2nd option who has no real impact anywhere other than scoring. Sure Lopez is the safer option as he doesn't have injury problems, but if I'm dealing my franchise player I am going to go for broke and that is Bynum. Even if he is a huge bust for you and gets injured, you are looking at a top draft pick for the next couple of years and you just cut ties with him when his contract expires or possibly sign him to a cheap one or two deal. I can understand your thought process in taking Lopez over Bynum, but if I was running a team I wouldn't go the safe route, which Lopez s. Give me the potential dominant big on both ends of the floor over the solid scoring big man who does little else, even if the odds of Bynum reaching that level are very remote.