Damn! CP3 had awesome figures. The 3-pt shooting killed them. On the other hand, the Celtics are completely shutting down James. Is it because of their defense or is James just having a few bad games?

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Originally Posted by stunnerzinc

Damn! CP3 had awesome figures. The 3-pt shooting killed them. On the other hand, the Celtics are completely shutting down James. Is it because of their defense or is James just having a few bad games?

James is literally being shut down by the Celtic Defense and unfortunately other players except for Wally and Ilgauskus are not stepping up their games. In short James is effectively fighting with 5 Celtics, he is literally boxed by around 3 defenders and thats hurting Cavs. It happened last year NBA finals when he was shunned down by the Spurs defense and its happening now with the celtics.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Lakers are already riding high with Kobe's MVP and also two consecutive wins in this series or should I extend to say that they have been unbeaten here in the Playoff's routing Denver Nuggets(4-0). This is the only team who had not dropped a game here in the playoff's and are looking damn very good with Odom,Gasol and Fisher supporting Kobe.

Carlos Boozer should come into his own with Deron Williams,Mehmet Okur and Kirilenko also joining the party to help Utah register their 1st win of the series @ home to challenge the Lakers.

TV LISTINGS:
May 10th Live : 5:30 AM IST ESPN : Western Conf Semifinals : LA Lakers Vs Utah Jazz (GAME 3)

May 11th Repeat : 04.00 AM IST ESPN

Prediction: Oh my Bad! its better i keep my mouth shut as i am very bad @ it but again i cant resist giving heads up to Lakers as they are looking like champions again.Phil Jackson is one phenomenal coach and ofcourse Jerry Sloan is a highly rated one too but certainly his players need to fire soon.

[rsjaurr]

Thanx VJ for updating me about Lakers.They were my fav team till they lost to D.Piston/SA Spurs.They had very good players like Kobe,Shaq,Robert Horry(?),Fisher and another tall man whose name i forgot & who was specialist 3point shooter along with Horry.

After that loss and with their coach Phil resigning they just disintegrated and many players including Shaq.Nice to know that they have found winning way.

How can i forget a match when Fisher scored 2 points to win a match with only 0.3 sec remaining.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Originally Posted by rsjaurr

Thanx VJ for updating me about Lakers.They were my fav team till they lost to D.Piston/SA Spurs.They had very good players like Kobe,Shaq,Robert Horry(?),Fisher and another tall man whose name i forgot & who was specialist 3point shooter along with Horry.

After that loss and with their coach Phil resigning they just disintegrated and many players including Shaq.Nice to know that they have found winning way.

How can i forget a match when Fisher scored 2 points to win a match with only 0.3 sec remaining.

No problem about the updates and yes lakers are looking good and I was a LAKER fan too when Shaq was there and once he moved out i moved my loyalties . However to me Kobe is a great great talent but he is more selfish ...well what can anyone say..his relationship with Shaq went sore and Diesel wanted to go out.
Are you talking about Rick Fox of the early 2000,2001 and 2002 team and he is used to score effective 3 pointers from the periphery.

Man you made me get back to memorylane about the most amazing Game 5 of 2004 between Spurs and Lakers. With Lakers leading 72-71 with just 0.4 seconds on the time slot Tim Duncan scores a 2 and then Fisher pulls out a buzzer beater much to the astonishment of Spurs and its fans. Here's the youtube link, where he puts the basket and runs into the Locker room with every one stunned. Awesome Stuff man with Lakers winning eventually 74-73..an all time great NBA game.

YouTube - derek fisher 0.4 shot

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Jazz comes back in the series to trounce Lakers by 104-99 and make the series interesting.Having had the home court advantage for the first time in the series, Jazz dishes out the first defeat to Lakers in this year playoff's. Boozer, Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur all come good as needed against Kobe's 34 points and the decisive quarter being the 2nd when Jazz outscores the Lakers by 29 to 20.
The next game too is @ Utah and Jazz would try to come back strongly to equalize the series before returning to LA for the 5th Game.

[rsjaurr]

Originally Posted by VJ_MAVRICK

Are you talking about Rick Fox of the early 2000,2001 and 2002 team and he is used to score effective 3 pointers from the periphery.
YouTube - derek fisher 0.4 shot

yup........He is the man i was talking about.

And thanx for the link.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Eastern Conference semis have reached midway with the Pistons taking on the Magic in Orlando @ 5:00PM EST and the Celtics taking on the Cavs in Cleveland @8:00PM EST.

Pistons versus Magic:
Leading the series 2-1 is an edge for the Pistons but unfortunately Chauncey is still doubtful because of the hamstring injury he suffered in Game3. Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun and Rasheed Wallace will try to turn on the tables and take a crucial 3-1 lead going to the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit for Game5 and there by have home court advantage and support. Need to see how Dwight Howard and co respond to this game as I should say they have a good chance of squaring the series. My prediction being Magic has the edge solely as Billups might sit outside.

TV LISTING: ONLY IN NORTH AMERICA @ 5:00PM EST IN ESPN
NO TELECAST IN INDIA

Celtics versus Cavaliers:
Celtics enjoy the best record in the league and with Hawks taking them to a seven game series in the first round, they will try their best to shut the doors on Cavs so as to avoid another consecutive seven games which might be draining before the Conference Finals. KG, Pierce and Ray Allen will have their task cut out and need to come out good in this first road game of this series. On the other hand King James and co need to step up the gas and nail the Celtics in order to be alive in this series. Cavs might spring out a surprise beating Boston in their home court.

TV LISTINS:ONLY IN NORTH AMERICA @ 8:00PM IN ABC
NO TELECAST IN INDIA

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Pistons rally past Magic @ Orlando to take a crucial 3-1 lead going back to Detroit for Game5. The absence of Chauncey Billups did not stop the No2 team in the East from motoring past Orlando Magic by 90-89 on Saturday to take a 3-1 series lead.
Tayshaun Prince dipped the game winning layup with only 9 seconds left on the clock sealing the win much to the surprise of Magic and its fans. Rallying back a 15 point deficit in the 3rd quarter with Tayshaun scoring 17 points and Rip Hamilton scoring a 32 points and Rasheed chipped in 16 points with 8 rebounds. For Magic Dwight howard, Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis did score @ regular intervals but Tayshaun sealed out the win out of surprise.
The Teams return to the palace of Auburn Hills where Detroit will try to close out the series for good and i certainly think its going to end that way.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Cavs rolled back into the series against the Celtics and no its not James's extraordinary effort, but thanks to the support cast of the Cavs with Delonte West, Wally and Ilgauskus providing the knockout punch to the league's No1 team. KG, Pierce and Ray Allen could not rally past the cavs defense and thanks to the Big Ben Wallace who made his presence felt in the paint. The first quarter had seen the best of cavs game where they had taken a 19 point lead ending it @ 32-13 and maintained the lead right through the last quarter and finally ending the game @ 108-84.
For the first time in the series the Cavs looked like the defending eastern conference champs and they played as a team and i think Celtics will be having a test of their skills now to really go past behind the Cavs.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Yea! You read it right as the Jazz routed Lakers and so did the Defending Champs Spurs to square the series 2-2 with still 3 games left in the 7 game series.
Jazz forced the game into OT with 108 each and then nailed the Lakers 123-115 as Kobe and co failed to notch up the points to knock the Jazz. This was an important game for Jazz as it was @ home and also a great time to match even the series with the Game5 @ Staples Center. Deron Williams came up good with the support of Boozer and Kirilenko and now the series stand 2-2 and anything could happen from here.

In the other high voltage series between the Spurs and Hornets, the defending champs rolled back over in the series by defeating Hornets 100-80 and will be going into Game5 @ NewOrleans with 2-2 match up. The second and third quarter combined, the Spurs dished out 61 points together with only 39 points for the Hornets. I think with the series squared, it will be Hornets who have to come out good to avoid an elimination in the next 2 games and if necessary the 7th game. But with the way the Spurs came back in the series, it will be an uphill but achievable task for the Hornets and only time will tell who will be the worthy winners.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

The Cavs rolled back into the series with a clinical 88-77 win against the league's best team making the series a thriller to watch. The teams return to Boston for Game5 to get the much needed win which will put the winner in the driver seat to close the series in 6 games. But as the series is progressing, it will be go into Game7 and one never knows who will get the best out of it.

Celtics looked less than ordinary and tried to be @ par in the first three quarters against the Cavs but then in the 4th quarter they got relegated with only 12 points scored giving the Cavs the edge and finally the game. The game was full of defense @ its best with King James the only scorer in either teams to cross 20 points and he finished with a game high 21 points with valuable support from Wally, Gibson and Ilugauskus.

On the other hand, the Celtics made a mess of a much needed win to their advantage with KG,Pierce and Ray Allen not even close to their best and it says volumes about the Cavs Rebounds with a tally of 34 and the much needed assists which the Celtics lacked in their game.

With the series squared it is anybody's game now, but somehow the Celtics have this knack of getting back strongly no matter the odds and the next game is @ Boston much to their advantage.So, only time will tell who is the worthy winner to put up a clash in the Eastern Conference Finals with either the Pistons or the Magic which is by itself another promising series there.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Detroit nailed down Magic and the series beating them comprehensively by 4-1, though a couple of games were close. Billups was still inactive due to the injury and that meant it was another uphill task for the Pistons without the All Star Point Guard. But Richard "Rip" Hamilton made his presence felt when he scored 31 points for the pistons who outclassed the Magic particularly in the 2nd and the 4th Quarter.

Tayshaun, Rasheed, McDyess and Stuckey chipped in to finish the game5 91-86 ending Magic's Playoff run. For the Magic Turkoglu was the highest scorer with 18 points and Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard looked less than ordinary scoring only 14 points each and that meant Pistons were never threatened by this young team.

Pistons will be waiting for the winners from the Celtics and the Cavs series and they would be hoping that Cavs to come through to defeat last year's Eastern Conference Champions to whom the Pistons eventually lost in the previous year's East Finals.

UPDATE ON HORNETS vs SPURS: Hornets lead Spurs with still 2:20 Mins remaining on the clock by 89-77 in Game5 in New Orleans with the series tied 2-2.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Hornets increased their home court winning streak by punching the blow on the defending champs defeating them in the crucial game5 @ NewOrleans by 101-79. Interestingly and quite noticeably the Spurs went back into their problems of scoring less in the 3rd and the 4th quarters as had happened in the first two games.

David West of the Hornets made the Spurs sulk with a game high 38 points and 14 rebounds and was supported by Chris Paul,Morris Peterson, Jennero and Peja to trounce the champs by 22 points. Tim Ducan scored only 10 points, with Parker scoring 18 and Manu Ginobili scoring 20 points for the Spurs.

Hornets scored 28 and 29 points respectively in the 3rd and 4th quarters as against 11 and 21 of the Spurs in the same duration. This debacle clearly explains for the loss and the young Hornets will be going back to San Antonio for Game6 to close the series but everyone knows what the defending champs are capable of. The next Game6 will be a thriller to watch for sure.

[WhiteKnight]

So it is now to the Conference Finals

After few years, all the usual suspects are here in the finals. The four most successful franchises in NBA are in the finals. Bulls is missing badly though.

Spurs are back on track the way only true champs could do. I wouldn't be surprised if they crush Lakers.