the lake show

You're getting it from all sides now buddy !


Yeah- I totally whiffed on the FORE CAST. Ooops.

I still recommend tequila over coffee in the am though.[img][/img]

Gotta roll guys. talk later.

now every time bob gets the blues he walks the soles right off his shoes

can't wait to get there, ... but we have 2 more W's to go first !

If Ron Artest is lucky, Paul Pierce will let him carry his bag from the team bus to the locker room. That will be the extent of Ron's impact on the finals.

mrkleen09 wrote:If Ron Artest is lucky, Paul Pierce will let him carry his bag from the team bus to the locker room. That will be the extent of Ron's impact on the finals.

MrKleen,

I hope I'm wrong, but I think you are.

Pierce has not been getting the foul calls he used to get. He regularly gets bounced around now, especially on drives, and that's by players who get less respect from the refs than Ron-Ron. Ron Artest is a physically punishing defender and, in the playoffs, the refs tend to let players "play their games". Not good news for Pierce.

Having said that, the way to reduce Artest's impact, IMO, is to NOT do the usual Paul Pierce on top with the ball wheeling-dealing ISOs. Artest is taller (by an inch), heavier (by 20 pounds or so) and stronger. He's also pretty damn quick for his weight and enjoys bouncing people around. If he reaches in and grabs, they'll call a foul but if it's just body? I'm not so sure. What they should do is send Paul into the low blocks and then pin Artest on the baseline with a downpick from Perk or KG and then pop Paul out to the free throw line and pass him the ball. He'll be in shooting range, he'll have a beat or two to get a good look at the basket as Artest fights through the pick, or he may have a mismatch if Perk/KG's man switches. Either way, we don't have to worry about Ron Artest playing roller derby with the Captain. Beat Artest with team movement, not just individual movement.

bob

.

mrkleen,

We can only assume that your Artest comment was for entertainment purposes only.
Durant might have a comment or two about Artest's defense.

tjmakz wrote:mrkleen,

We can only assume that your Artest comment was for entertainment purposes only.
Durant might have a comment or two about Artest's defense.

Not a joke at all. Durant averaged 25 ppg and shot nearly 11 FT per game against the Lakers. If that is good defense, I will take my chances.

Paul Pierce will get his points against Artest. There is no way Artest has the foot speed to stay with Pierce on drives - and Pierce is a veteran who will get calls on Artest hacks.

I think Artest is a good defensive player. Pierce is a better offensive player. I am not worried about the Lakers defense in the slightest. Offense and rebounding, yes. Defense - not at all.

tjmakz wrote:Yes, we will have plenty of time to discuss/debate a Lakers/Celtics series.

Unless he was sick or something, I can't believe how ineffective and timid Rashard Lewis is in this series. (Another guy that is not up for the battle mentally).
Since April 1st, Lewis has scored over 20 points in 1 out of 18 games. Pathetic, especially for a guy making over $18m/year.
Boy, I bet Orlando misses Turkoglu...

He got schooled in the Finals last year also. Guys like KG and Pau are mobile enough to contest his 3s, then they pound him on the low block.


They are definitely missing Hedo. When paired with Lewis they really caused problems for teams, and he delivered in the clutch for them a lot last year.

I thought letting Turk go and replacing him with Vince was a huge mistake last summer.

Replacing Turk, who frequently came up big for them last year, with Vince, who is the biggest choker in the world, seemed like a disaster. Insead of resigning Gortat and signing Barnes and Brandon Bass (who never plays), they could have kept Turk and made the Vince deal anyway. Vince would have been a helpful addition if he didn't have to carry the burden in crunch-time.

But instead, he's added to his fabulous post-season legacy.


I wouldn't be surprised to see the Raps and Orl try to bring in a third team looking for cap relief and do a 3 way deal with Vince going to the third team and Turk goiv back to Orl.

Maybe Turk goes back to ORL, RJ goes to the Raps and Vince to the Spurs. RJ is a bad fit there and the Spurs were interested in Carter last summer.

I don't think you will find anyone on this board that thinks that Artest didn't do a great defensive job against Durant. You must not have watched the LA/OKC series. Durant was 43 for 123 from the field. He shot numerous air balls and was flustered for much of the series. In games 5 and 6 Durant was 10 for 37 from the field.
This whole year Pierce has looked dramatically slower then any other time in his career.

bsh,

I don't think SA would trade for Carter since they re-signed Manu. With Parker and Hill needing minutes, it's not like Manu can play some PG. Vince and Manu really can't move to the SF slot.
I don't think any team will take Turk's 4/$44m contract. I am sure he will play better then this year, but I don't think even Orlando will want him back.

tjmakz wrote:I don't think you will find anyone on this board that thinks that Artest didn't do a great defensive job against Durant. You must not have watched the LA/OKC series. Durant was 43 for 123 from the field. He shot numerous air balls and was flustered for much of the series. In games 5 and 6 Durant was 10 for 37 from the field.
This whole year Pierce has looked dramatically slower then any other time in his career.

I watched the OKC/LA series. I saw Durant go through stretches where his shot was off. Sometimes it was because of Artest - sometimes it was because the kid is 22 an putting too much pressure on himself.

I find it funny you want to give Ron Artest ALL of the credit for Durant having a tough shooting series....yet you want to give Rasheed Wallace NONE of the credit for where the Celtics find themselves.

mrkleen09 wrote:If Ron Artest is lucky, Paul Pierce will let him carry his bag from the team bus to the locker room. That will be the extent of Ron's impact on the finals.

Kleen-

you are hilarious. I got a good laugh out of that one.

Paul Pierce averaged 18 pts, 4.5 reb, and 3 asst while shooting 47% and 41% on 3s this year

vs LAL he averaged 13 pts, 3.5 reb, and 2.5, while shooting 40% + 36% on 3s


I'm sure that's purely a coincidence.


Kind of like this one:


Kevin Durant:

Reg season: 30 pts, 8 reb, 3 asst 48% fg 37% 3s

vs LA in Rd 1: 25 pts, 8 reb, 2 asst 35% fg 29% 3s



Epic Fail, Klen. Epic Fail.

tjmakz wrote:bsh,

I don't think SA would trade for Carter since they re-signed Manu. With Parker and Hill needing minutes, it's not like Manu can play some PG. Vince and Manu really can't move to the SF slot.
I don't think any team will take Turk's 4/$44m contract. I am sure he will play better then this year, but I don't think even Orlando will want him back.

They can play VC at the 3 some, but if they were going to do it, I would think they'd also look to deal Parker or sign someone like Travis Outlaw for the MLE. They could use his athleticism and shotmaking.

Manu likes coming off the bench anyway, and they could essentially have a 3 man rotation of Manu, Vince and Outlaw at the 2 and 3.

mrkleen,

Artest dominated Durant defensively in almost every game and Durant is tall, long, fast, athletic and has a great shot.
Why bring up Rasheed? He has nothing to do with this discussion.
43 fouls vs. 27 rebounds in 13 games for a 6'10" guy is crazy.
If he was playing this way and Boston was losing, you guys would buy him a 1 way ticket out of Boston.

SA might deal Parker but it will probably be for a true SF or big man.
They need to move RJ. He has lost so much of his athleticism from his NJ days. He is not a good fit on their team.

TJ-

a lot of Sheed's fouls are hard fouls on guys who would otherwise be dunking or getting layups. That's called playoff basketball.

Especially with their depth up front (so they can afford to use fouls) and the Magic's (and Howard's especially) poor FT shooting.

You're barking up the wrong tree there.

I'm not barking up the wrong tree. I don't have a problem with the fouls. He is averaging only 2 rebounds in 18min/game and has scored over 6 points only 3 times in the playoffs. Boston has had rebounding problems all year and it gets worse when he enters the game.
His laziness on defense and rebounding is the same as it was during the regular season.

Then you haven't been watching.

Gotta go. Peace.

sheed is a new man in the playoffs and i HAVE been watching. Defense and all. Way different. Complicated guy though.

babyskyhook wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:If Ron Artest is lucky, Paul Pierce will let him carry his bag from the team bus to the locker room. That will be the extent of Ron's impact on the finals.

Kleen-

you are hilarious. I got a good laugh out of that one.

Paul Pierce averaged 18 pts, 4.5 reb, and 3 asst while shooting 47% and 41% on 3s this year

vs LAL he averaged 13 pts, 3.5 reb, and 2.5, while shooting 40% + 36% on 3s


I'm sure that's purely a coincidence.


Kind of like this one:


Kevin Durant:

Reg season: 30 pts, 8 reb, 3 asst 48% fg 37% 3s

vs LA in Rd 1: 25 pts, 8 reb, 2 asst 35% fg 29% 3s





Epic Fail, Klen. Epic Fail.

Pulling stats out of context - now that takes talent Sky.

We will have to see how it all plays out.....but I think we both know Paul Pierce will come up big when the Celtics need him....no matter who is covering him. Artest is a good defender - but he's not that good...and not good enough to nutralize one of the best big game players in the NBA.

And if Pierce has a game in the next round where he scores more than 20 points - your little analysis above will be the "epic fail"

tjmakz wrote:If he was playing this way and Boston was losing, you guys would buy him a 1 way ticket out of Boston.

If Rasheed wasnt playing much better they WOULD be losing.

As for running him out of town, I think we will keep him long enough to frustrate the Lakers and bring home #18.

i have to say i'm a little concerned that if the C's don't do something like bobh suggests to respond to artest's D on pierce, PP will have a long series. he is less quick afoot than he was in previous years (and we all know how quick THAT was) and we've all seen he's not getting the calls going to the bucket this year, regular or playoff's, that he used to get.

i frankly have no idea why, since he often gets bodied up hard and hit going to the rim. what does it take to get the calls?
if artest is smart, he won't hack him on driving in (which might draw the call), but on going up when he gets to the basket. THAT'S the call that's just not coming much this year ...

but is that the match up that will be pivotal in the series? i doubt it. C's survived CLE with PP scoring poorly. i suspect that once again, our low post bodies and the fact that nobody contains Rondo, plus that it's like playing whack a mole to try to keep all of the Big Three Down, are going to be where the action is and the series is decided. that may be true aside from a possible Kobe outburst in a given game, of course, and there's differing opinions as to whether that is good for Lakers team play.
many say, not good.
we'll see. (and SOON ! )

Michael

I believe that all the pieces matter.

I will take what has happened so far and where we will end up over changing something (not getting rasheed/getting someone else) and what that would/will result in.

We are looking pretty good.

BSK

for anyone to say ONE player shuts down or limits another is a bit wrong sure they MAY have a little effect but how many times is it really mano-o mano. (this is presicely the reason Boston is where they are) tTJseems all consumed in Sheed playing poorly ? Fact is w/o him we might be down 2-0 or may not even be here at all. And I know you agree to that.

Pulling stats tell very little. This was Durants first playoffs and I'm sure that alone can account for a bit of a lower % by itself. Perhaps he did (and I know cause I saw it) force it a bit as he felt he had too. In a short series averages can vary a lot.

Artest is no where near the defensive player of 2-3 years ago nor is Paul as much of an offensive threat. Thing is for this team he doesn't need to be. Right now about the only player for the C's that cannot afford a BAD game is Rondo. ( by bad I mean few assists and too many shots IMHO) So far in this post season the C's have played 13 games. Not once as the same player led the team in scoring 2 straight games.

As you well know it's not about ONE player (ask any Cleveland fan)

beat