Built Ford Tough

http://www.thehoopsreport.com/article.aspx?id=710 Kanter is probably who I would like to see the Raptors pick at 3 should they not move up or down in the lottery, but all of this dodgning competition is starting to worry me. I can understand not working out against other top draft prospects because a lot of the players projected to go in the top 5 do this, but him refusing to participate in the Hoops Summit and not going out and signing with a Euroleague club or something like that after it was clear that he wouldn't be ruled eligble for the NCAA is a bit worrisome if you ask me. If there is a lockout next season it will literally have been 2 years (or a year and a half if half the season is lost) since he has played in any real competitive basketball. The thing that gets me the most is that he sounds like he might try and dictate where he is going to be drafted as well. I heard something about how he may not work out at all for specific teams and if he tries to dictate where he is drafted like Rubio did a few years ago, I would just say screw it and not draft the guy. If a player is 18 years old and already trying to dictate where he plays, you know the guy probably isn't going to be very loyal and there is a very good chance that he just bounces at the first opportunity to go to a bigger market.

Never said that you said anything about Dirk (although I can see why it looks that way as I didn't really clarify that, which is my bad). To be fair, though, if you are talking about the Mavs "being exposed as the chokers that they are" you are most definitely talking about Dirk. It may be indirectly, but it is still labelling him as a choker, at least as far as I am concerned. Still, no matter how poorly the Lakers may or may not be playing (I literally wouldn't know since the only games I have watched are a couple of Mavs games), beating the Mavs will do nothing to expose them. The only way that the Mavs can come out of this series with people talking about them as chokers, and having a valid argument, would be if they get a 3-0 series lead and end up blowing it. I just found your comment about exposing them of being chokers pretty funny considering how much of an underdog they are going to be in that series.

I still think that if the Lakers are willing to spend the money that it is pretty much a guarantee that he will land in LA. No team, or at least no team that Howard would be interested in joining, would be able to offer a more appealing package to Orlando than something centered around Bynum and a bunch of draft picks. Not only will Howard play for a storied franchise, play in a city that is perfect for his whole acting aspirations, but he will become the face of the Lakers in a few years when Kobe decides to call it quits, which will only increase his fame even more. Bynum continuing to play well (at least looking at the numbers as I haven't really watched much of the playoffs so far) for the rest of the playoffs would only make this more of a possibility as a great playoffs that helps the Lakers win their third straight championship will only up his value and could easily make teams forget about the chronic injury problems that plauge him. But yea, even if he doesn't end up in LA like I expect, I don't see him sticking around in Orlando for much longer. Problem with this thought process is how exactly do the Magic get Paul in Orlando? They aren't going to be able to sign him as a free agent with contracts like Arenas, Turkoglu, Redick, Nelson and Duhon on the roster. I see absolutely no incentive for the Hornets to trade him to the Magic considering they literally have no young talent worth trading for and any draft picks that they get are going to be late 1sts with Howard and Paul on the same team. I have no doubts that getting Paul could convince Howard to stay in Orlando, but I see no way in which Paul actually ends up in Orlando considering the situation that the Magic of put themselves in financially and talent wise.

How exactly would the two time defending NBA Champions, and heavy favourites, beating a clearly inferior team who would be a heavy underdog expose the heavy underdog of anything? It is pretty funny how much shit Dirk gets for "choking" considering how well he consistently plays in the playoffs and how he plays even better in elimination games. It is a shame that he will likely never get a championship and will always be labelled as a choker, despite the fact that it is a hell of an accomplishment to put his team into the positions that he has year in and year out despite the fact that he has, for the most part, had a pretty mediocore supporting cast for the majority of his time as a bonafide franchise calibre player.

With the Magic taking yet another step back this season and getting eliminated by the Hawks in the first round, do you think this is the final time we see Howard in an Orlando Magic uniform? The team has no young talent on its roster, is loaded with terrible contracts and filled with aging veterans who are continung getting worse as each season goes on. They have pretty much no way to inject the team with any sort of legitimate game breaking talent, which is what they desperately need in order to compete in the East, and I can't see Howard being too thrilled with the future of this team. His contract is up after next season and Smith and company must realize that he will not sign an extension with them, so will they move him this summer to actually get some value for him? Simply put, this team is a complete mess and outside of unweilding loyalty, I can't see any reason for him to stick around on this sinking ship.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't that the Grizzlies announce team? I only saw the last minute of regulation, but I'm fairly certain that was the Grizzlies team. Don't games on NBATV usually have team broadcasts? They don't have specific broadcast teams like TNT or ESPN do. At least that is what I always thought. It is kind of common for team announcers to call players by nicknames and first names and things like that. They aren't supposed to be impartial like a Marv Albert is supposed to be.

The high stick is what would anger me the most. Don't know who the Bruin player was that knocked it down, but the stick was definitely high. Have no fear, though, PK is here. What a shot. That was ridiculous. I don't really care who wins (I guess I'm cheering for Montreal just because they are Canadian and because there is the possibility that a Boston loss makes their draft pick more valuable for the Leafs), but I just hope this game goes into overtime so that the series isn't decided on a blown call like it was looking to be. PS: How big are those Price saves right after the B's 3rd goal now? His save on the Kelly breakaway, the glove save he made and one other one are absolutely huge now.

Eller is a beast. Didn't realize he was that strong to send Chara flyng like that. This game has had some awesome dives with Subban's in the first (loved how he turned his head to see where the ref ways before going down, haha) and now that one from Chara. Can't wait to see how epic the next dive will be. PS: Nice shot by Plekanec on the shorthanded breakaway. The Habs have come out in the 2nd period like the Bruins did in the 1st. I don't know what happened to the Bruins, though. They were absolutely flying and all over the Habs in the first, yet they decide to come out in the 2nd and sit on a one goal lead? Baffling.

I absolutely love the officiating in this game. This is how playoff hockey should be played. Call the obvious stuff and let all of the chincy hooks and slashes go. The refs are doing that and as a result, this game has an awesome pace to it. Very entertaining game thus far.

On the bright side, he did start to settle down a bit in the 2nd half of the first period. That save he made on Toews was the kind of saves that he was making in Games 1 and 2 (didn't see Game 3, but from what I heard he was good then as well). He let out a few rebounds, but for the most part he was controlling them well and when he did let out a few juicy ones, his defense was in a great position to clear them. But yeah, I can definitely sympathize with you given his history. I know what having a shaky goalie back there can do to a fan from the days of Toskala and Raycroft (and even Giguere and Gustavsson this season were pretty nerve racking to watch). EDIT: Wow at those stats. I knew that Bolland has shut down the Sedins, but I didn't realize just how badly he has outplayed Henrik this series. 6 points to Henrik's 1 and +6 to Henrik's -7. That is just complete domination.

Great move by Kesler to set up Burrows. That is the kind of play offensively that the Canucks have needed from him all season long. He has done a really nice job of shutting down (for the most part) Toews and Kane, but the Canucks definitely need him to contribute offensively, especially with the Sedns being relatively useless whenever they play against Bolland. Vancouver needs to maintain this energy, though. You knew they would come out guns blazing to start this game but the big thing for them is maintaining the energy level that they played with in the first two games of the season. PS: Lol at that Luongo save. How shaky did he look there? Canuck fans probably have a heart attack every time a shot is taken at their net with how shaky he has been.

Brutal hit from behind by Lucic. I don't think he was intending to injure Spacek like he did, but when you are staring at a guys numbers and still drive the guy into the boards with such force like that, you just don't finish your hit like that. Absolutely worth the major (although the game miscounduct is debatable). Spacek is done for the game for sure and I wouldn't be surprised to see him miss game 7 if there is one, especially considering Montreal's arena is notorious for the hard glass they have. EDIT: Ouch, tough break for the B's as Bergeron puts the puck over the glass about 30 seconds into the major. Not only does it hurt to go down 2 men, but losing Bergeron, who is undoubtedly the best defensive forward for the Bruins, makes it even worse.

Subban played that 5-3 perfectly. The Bruins were cheating over to him way too much and he read it very well. Very nice pass from him cross ice to Cammalleri for the one timer. Thomas had absolutely no chance to save that one.

Montreal is really going to miss Wiz in this game, though. Mara is a solid stay at home defenseman and all, but the Habs literally have one defenseman who can move the puck now in Subban. He is going to have to play a lot of minutes tonight considering his shut down role and the fact that he is the only reliable puck move that the Canadians have back there. Quite a lot to ask of him. Boston definitely needs to target Subban every time he has the puck and make sure to finish their checks on him because wearing him out will really put a hurting on the Habs defense. You can see the result of this already as the Habs have definitely had their troubles clearing the zone during the first 8 minutes or so of the game.

Boston was just given a gift from the refs. Puck is clearly not covered (not even close to being covered) and the ref blows it down because he is out of position, which results in the Habs being completely robbed of a goal. Terrible luck for the Habs.

Lakers will offer Bynum and picks and that will get it done, especially if Bynum continues to have a relatively strong postseason. Nobody will be able to match that offer and you have to imagine that the Lakers are on the top of Howard's list considering his actng aspirations.

Didn't see the Vancouver game tonight, but it should be interesting to see the fallout from the Bickell hit on Bieksa. People went ape shit over Torres hit on Seabrook, but if you ask me Bickell's hit was worse considering he left his feet. If people think Torres should've gotten a major and a suspension for his hit, I'd love to see them try and defend that hit considering it was pretty much the exact same thing except Bickell left his feet while Torres didn't. Other than that, it looked like a fantastic game. The Canucks seemed to have the edge in play for the majority of the game but a couple of poor plays from Schnieder outside of his net and a questionable penalty shot were all the Hawks needed with how well Crawford was playing in the net. Even though the Canucks are my second favourite team behind the Leafs, part of me is absolutely loving this and would almost even enjoy seeing them lose Game 7 simply because of how cocky and arrogant a large amount of the Canuck fans that I know are. It would be nice to give them a few jabs about blowing a 3-0 lead, even though it doesn't mean much coming from a guy who is a fan of a team who hasn't made the playoffs in like 6 years.

I never said their defense was poor. I said it wasn't particularly great, which is 100% true. And what about their offense? The guy lets in 2 goals and his team is lucky to get a win. They gave him 1.6 goals of support in 5 playoff games against a rookie goalie. Nuevrith played solid, don't get me wrong, but the Rangers putrid offense made him look a lot better than he actually is. I just don't see how my argument is old considering it is 100% true. The guy can stand on his head for a 5 game stretch and his team can easily lose 4 of those because he gets absolutely no support offensively. I'm also not saying that he was lights out or anything like that this year as he was solid, but not great. However, it doesn't change the fact that he is a top 5 goalie in the league who's prime will likely be wasted on mediocore teams that he has to carry.

And this is why they need to allow that bear hug rule that Brian Burke always advocates. Don't get me wrong, Richards definitely could've played that better as the shove was unecessary, but if you are allowed to wrap him up like Burke always talks about, you avoid what could easily end up as yet another concussion for Tim Connolly and possibly the end of his career given all of the problems he has had with concussions in the past (although this is unlikely). PS: What a save by Boucher on Myers (I think). Don't know how he managed to track that puck and come away with that save.

The difference between Miami/Chicago and Boston is that everybody was saying that those series (Miami's and Chicago's) weren't even going to be close and would consist of 4 start blowouts, while a decent amount of people were saying that the Knicks could actually push the Celtics to 6 games, maybe 7 if they are lucky and in a 7th game with players like Melo and Amare, who knows what could happen. I'm not disagreeing with you, but at the same time, I can understand why a Celtics fan would say something like that after all of the talk about how the Celtics might lose to the Knicks and how they have no shot at winning it all after the Perkins trade.

The same can be said about the Bulls and the Heat, though. Sure they may not be playing against "hobbled" teams, but both of those series could easily be 3-1 for the lower seeded teams. Take away a couple of poor performances down the stretch and the Pacers could've swept the Bulls and aside from Game 2, Philly could easily have won all the other games against Miami if a couple of bounces went their way. None of the top teams in the East have looked particularly great in the playoffs so far.

As much as I liked it the first time, I have to admit that it got really lame when they did it for about the 3rd time and was just downright stupid after the 4th time. Ovechkin was all over the place yesterday, though. I haven't watched much of this series (saw game 3 and bits and pieces of others) but Ovechkin was definitely a force out there yesterday. Every time he got the puck he created some sort of scoring opportunity and looked like the feared Ovechkin who put up 60 goals a couple of years ago. I don't know if it was something he changed or if Giardi and Staal just ran out of gas, but he was an animal out there. You have to feel for Lundqvist, though. Guy stands on his head year in and year out but simply gets no support from his teammates. He is a top 5 goalie in the league without a doubt, but I can't help to feel that his career is going to be wasted on mediocore teams that he has to absolutely carry every night. He would be absolutely scary if he were to ever get any sort of help in front of him, particularly offensively (even though his defense isn't particularly great either).

Bad call by Lavy going with Leighton if you ask me. It is simply unreasonable to expect a goalie to come into an elimination game, in the opposing teams arena no less, after having not played for basically the entire season. He played well for them last season in the playoffs, and he looked solid in relief of Boucher last game, but this was just too much if you ask me. On the other end of the rink, Miller has been absolutely fantastic and has made probably about 5 huge saves already to keep his team in the game. If Leighton doesn't let a couple of softies in and Miller doesn't stand on his head in that period, this game could easily be 3-1 for Philly instead of Buffalo. That is what a franchise goalie can do for you, though. Philly of all teams know the importance of having a reliable goalie back there.

Caps fans chanting "We Are Louder" was awesome.

Anybody watching the Canada/USA U-18 Semi Final? USA had a 4-2 lead with 2 minutes left in the game and one of their d-men purposefully sent the puck over the glass due to Canada's sustained pressure and got a delay of game penalty. Canada pulls Subban and then end up scoring with a 6-4 advantage from a Murphy shot from the point. Then with about 45 seconds left they score another goal off of an insane pass from Murray and the Canadian forward had an open net for the tip in. Game is in OT right now after a ridiculous final 10 minutes. EDIT: And the States score with about 4 or 5 minutes left in OT after Murphy jumped into the rush and just missed with a huge slap shot. The Americans got the puck and went down the ice and took advantage of Murphy being caught deep in the Americans zone. The US player fired a wrister off the post and in.