The Rest of the Playoffs

Hi,
I didn't watched the whole game just bits and pieces. I happened to see the part with Birdman shoving TH. One more prove that the league not only wants but does everything possible to propel Mia into the finals.
It was so obvious that the Birdman not only initiated the altercation but did exactly the same thing that Bulls' Mohammed was ejected for. The refs had ample opportunity to review the whole thing but gave out only a flagrant 1. I bet that if TH was initiator or, it was a regular season game it'd be an ejection.
Also, all those fines for flopping and flagrant fouls after the fact are just smoke and mirrors.
Oh well, it's really sad that integrity of the game and sportsmanship are sold for extra 5 million viewers...

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
I didn't watched the whole game just bits and pieces. I happened to see the part with Birdman shoving TH. One more prove that the league not only wants but does everything possible to propel Mia into the finals.
It was so obvious that the Birdman not only initiated the altercation but did exactly the same thing that Bulls' Mohammed was ejected for. The refs had ample opportunity to review the whole thing but gave out only a flagrant 1. I bet that if TH was initiator or, it was a regular season game it'd be an ejection.
Also, all those fines for flopping and flagrant fouls after the fact are just smoke and mirrors.
Oh well, it's really sad that integrity of the game and sportsmanship are sold for extra 5 million viewers...

AK

Exactly right.

During the game they said the $5,000 dollar fine that Lebron James got for flopping in Game 4 was equivalent to $14.50 for a man making $80K a year...i.e. CHUMP CHANGE.

Birdman suspended for game 6:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/31/3427087/nba-suspends-chris-birdman-andersen.html

What happened to Nazr Mohammed for the same thing was the Birdman's fate. Fair is fair.

Just about guarantees a return to Miami for game 7.

Those 3 refs should also be suspended for rest of playoffs. Letting Andersen stay in game changed the entire dynamic.

what also changed the game was DJ Augustine, can't believe this guy was a first round lottery pick, who drafted him?

mrkleen09 wrote:During the game they said the $5,000 dollar fine that Lebron James got for flopping in Game 4 was equivalent to $14.50 for a man making $80K a year...i.e. CHUMP CHANGE.

There's an interesting article about flopping on Grantland. The author's contention is that the fines for flopping are not designed to actually stop flopping, just to give the league the appearance of doing something about flopping. Which makes it like a flop -- appearing to be one thing when the reality is the opposite.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/63835/flopping-in-the-nba-a-history-of-nonviolence

mrkleen09 wrote:Those 3 refs should also be suspended for rest of playoffs. Letting Andersen stay in game changed the entire dynamic.

mrkleen,

Andersen deserved the flagrant. He initiated the confrontation and shoved Hansbrough. He did not throw a punch, nor slap at Hansbrough, and certainly didn't land one. He two-hand shoved him in the chest. Furthermore, his attack did not present a significant threat to Hansbrough's safety (i.e. he didn't deliberately cut his legs out from under him while he was up in the air. Part of the reason for this might be that Hansbrough can't get up in the air, but you know what I mean). It was clearly overly aggressive and provocative and unprofessional, but not dangerous.

As such, I believe a Flagrant 1, not a Flagrant 2, was appropriate. A Flagrant 1 is a technical, a Flagrant 2 is an ejection.


bob

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I've had my suspicions about this league and Game 5 confirmed those suspicions. The NBA favors Mia... What other excuse is there for Birdman not getting ejected immediately with all of the game replay footage seen? Not only did he do a blind shove to TH's back, he instigated further conflict by shoving TH in the chest. If viewers at home can see it then the refs should, too. He seemed quite deliberate in his actions, intending to hurt another player.

Quite disgusted. If an INDY player did this, they'd have been ejected on the spot. It happened to Nazr last series.

Wade and Bosh's irrelevance is taking it's toll on James.

....what idiot was calling Bosh a sure Hall of Famer?

TV Pundits are useless as always.

29-15 3rd QTR adv. for Indiana. All I could say was "Wow." Pacers were impressive. They had a few miscues but for the most part did quite well.

I can tell James is frustrated. Wade and Bosh aren't holding up their end of the deal. Miami Cavaliers anyone?

In either case, I think we've seen the last of Wade being a major threat in this league.

agreed Wade looks done, couldn't happen to a bigger ASSHOLE, karma baby!!!

WOW! Game 7 back in MIA for all the marbles. Time for the ol' cliché...Anything can happen in a Game 7. (Actually, that one is really dumb because Game 7's are very predictable for the home team.)

14 Points is a nice margin to win by. Indiana is confident that they can beat Miami Monday. I'm praying they do.

Equally important, Lebron is certainly having to take up the reigns overwhelmingly.

James: 10-21 FG, 29 points
Bosh: 1-8 FG, 5 points
Wade: 3-11 FG, 10 points

Other notables:

Ray Allen: 2-8 FG, 6 points
IND committed 18 turnovers.
IND outrebounded MIA by 20, 53-33.
MIA was 26-72 FG, 36.1%
Paul George: 11-19 FG, 28 points, 3-5 3PT, 8 REB, 5 AST, 3 STL.

Final Thoughts:

George's statline was impressive.

Indiana's defense is incredible this series. They allowed a couple games to get away from them, but they've effectively locked both Wade and Bosh down. In Game 6, Wade/Bosh were held to 4-19 FG.

James will get his 25-35 points regardless, but if you can lock down the support Mia is beatable.

kj88,

The most glaring stat is the rebounds. That is ludicrous. It appears if they can double up LeBron before he gets the ball and come off Bosh since he is useless in this series they may be able to win. Although what they have been doing is effective. Just letting him get his 30 as you say.

I don't know what Stern has in store for us tomorrow. It would be nice if he would force the refs to get LeBron in foul trouble early and see if IND goes for the jugular. LeBron still needs to get over himself. That reaction he had to the foul and then running all the way to the other end of the court was pretty high-schoolish. He's been in the league long enough that that was really uncalled for. He should have been ejected.

Monday may go down to the last minute. It would be appropriate. How unmemorable will this series be if MIA just blows them out tomorrow. It would go down as one of the most incredible of all time if IND blows them out. Nobody's expecting that one.

The old cliché goes, Game 7 is why you play for home court. That one extra game goes to the team with the better record during the regular season.

This is the only Game 7 in this year's playoffs, right? We all want to see the look on LeBron's, Dwade's, Speolstra's collective faces if things go sour tomorrow. MIA has at least put themselves poitentially in that position Monday. As they say, anything can happen in a Game 7!

I haven't read the article on ESPN yet because the power just went out and I can't retrieve it but it said Hibbert was fined $75,000 for a gay slur.

OK, that's just about enough. $75,000 for a gay slur and $5,000 for flopping?!! The NBA is completely full of idiots. If you reverse the two everything should be just fine. Give me a break.

Well, folks, I'm afraid tonight is going to be the game the Heat have been waiting for. Dwade and Bosh will return to their normal selves and MIA will win by about 8-10 points or so. IND has pretty much scared the crap out of MIA, but this is showtime. And if you thought LeBron dominated just the 3rd quarter in Game 5, expect to witness 48 minutes of the awesome power of a fully operational death star tonight with no place to hide. MIA can unfortunately do this at will and tonight is will.

All great teams can do this. IND has been like that annoying mosquito or fly that won't quit buzzing around your head that you keep swinging at and missing. Until you outsmart it and kill it. Not like a normal fly killing. You sit like you normally do, letting it buzz around your head and casually shoo it away...until it lands. Then you reach for the largest book in the house and literally drop the hammer on the poor unsuspecting bastard, annihilating it beyond recognition, following your conquest with maniacal words of anger and/or laughter of "And don't you EVER F@%(%K with me again!!"

Sorry people. I told everyone how IND had to win this thing. They chose to sleep through Game 5. They can try to be part of the 2% Club and win a Game 7 on the opposing court, but only a gambler will place their money on that bet and walk away broke every time. (Sam, or anyone, what is the actual percentage, just curious but I know I'm very close. I know we are one of those games but they are very, very few and far between.)

Of course everyone knows I will admit it if I am wrong and nothing would bring me more pleasure, well except if UNC has to pull down one or two of their NCAA Men's basketball championship banners as a result of the ongoing academic-athletic investigation...but I digress, than to see MIA implode tonight.

The one thing that is predictable in the NBA is series basketball and the outcome. This one is very predictable unfortunately. This will not be a balloon game. Those days are gone. Maybe next season IND. You have certainly made MIA look out of sorts. And Steven A. has expressed it correctly. MIA, currently assembled, will not win a championship next season if they stand pat, literally.

Indeed, anything can happen. But what will happen is it will be SAS v. MIA starting on Thursday.

db

dbrown I disagree

cowens/oldschool,

On the last paragraph? Or just on my whole general ranting?!

db

Dbrown,

You or anyone can look up this stuff yourself simply by googling. I googled "game 7 road team wins nba," and the very first entry gave me the answer (although I had to count a little). In the NBA, the road team has won 20.5% of the 112 game 7s.

The list does not include games from best 3-of-5 series or best 2-of-3 series.

The Boston Celtics are way ahead of the also-rans with a .724 record in game 7s (21-.

Sam

Actually, I roughly counted all the Game 7's won by the visiting team. 23-112. That's much more than I thought, roughly 20%.

For Conference Finals where the visiting team wins Game 7, the number is higher, 6-20 for 30%.

For Finals, there have only been 17 Game 7's of which only 3 have been won by the visiting team.

So, IND stands a better chance than I had originally thought. Much better.

db

P.S. oldschool I was doing the same thing you were while composing this, just broke it down further by round!

dbrown the outcome, Pacers a resilient bunch, they haven't clicked on all cylinders yet either. I'm seeing a bigger team wear out a smaller team. If I can't watch my C's beat the Heat, whats better than watching a creation by an all time great Celt beatdown on the Heat?

Nothing better. I want what you want! I'm just playing the realistic card early! Pacers better click tonight or it's watch the Finals from home for them!

If the Pacers win, I will rank this right up there with UNC having to pull down 2 of their NCAA Men's Basketball titles, if the press ever picks up on it!

IND winning tonight would be a major upset.

dbrown4 wrote:Nothing better. I want what you want! I'm just playing the realistic card early! Pacers better click tonight or it's watch the Finals from home for them!

If the Pacers win, I will rank this right up there with UNC having to pull down 2 of their NCAA Men's Basketball titles, if the press ever picks up on it!

IND winning tonight would be a major upset.

IND winning tonight would be a major upset? Ya think?

steve3344,

As cowens and I figured out, it not as major of an upset as I originally thought, but it certainly isn't expected. It's still better than 2:1.

db