The NBA Playoffs 2006

[Brett]

Marion was an All-Star before Nash came to Phoenix, was he not?

I didn't say the Lakers will beat Phoenix, I said Phoenix is not excited to play a Laker team with Kobe playing well, especially when they're not.

[Romeo Delight]

Brett, you don't think Phoenix being the No 2 seed in the West with a completely new team is not an outstanding achievement?

[POJO_Risin]

I'm exiting from this conversation...

don't want or need to go into a Lebron vs. Kobe battle again...

especially when there's understatin' goin' on...

there's no way Lebron wins it this year...

IMO, it's between Kobe, Nash and Nowitzki anyways...

say what you want about Lebron's D...but you take him off the Cavs roster...and you lose 25 wins...

and the Lakers wouldn't lose that much more...

[POJO_Risin]

I agree Phoenix has a bit of a new team...

but Marion having a career year probably has more to do with opportunity than anything else. I'm not saying Nash doesn't have anything to do with it...he DOES...

and Raja Bell added to the team actually made them better...where as Quentin Richardson was a scorer...Bell has proved to be a scorer and their best defender...

IMO...Nash makes them a great team...but they'd be a playoff team with another decent point guard there...

IMO...

Nash shouldn't have won last year...or this year...

Last year Shaq IMO...this year Kobe...

[Brett]

Originally posted by DavidFlamma
Brett, you don't think Phoenix being the No 2 seed in the West with a completely new team is not an outstanding achievement?

Well they're not the second best team in the West, the Mavs are. I mean are you going to argue the Denver Nuggets are the third best team in the West, because they won that shitty division, when the 6-seed Clippers have a better record, and the 7-seed Lakers may well too? The seeding thing is useless.

I think Phoenix has had a good season, I'm not marvelling in disbelief, they have a lot of good players. They're also starting to run out of gas the last month, so we'll see.

[Brett]

I don't think it really makes a difference, the NBA Finals are going to be the Pistons and the Spurs again anyway.

[POJO_Risin]

Is anyone really marveling in disbelief about the Suns?

I seem to recall all the moves they made making them a legit contender...maybe a #1 seed...

and they lost Amare...

and they drop down the list a bit...about to where they should be...

I don't see this season as vastly different from last season...just without Amare...I know that's a big without...

but still...Phoenix has some players...

[POJO_Risin]

I don't see anyone beating the Pistons...although they have looked mortal recently...and there are a couple of teams that could give them some issues if they play up to snuff...

I can't say anyone other than the Spurs...because truthfully...there haven't been many West teams that have proven to be able to beat them...

I'm not convinced about the Mavs...we'll see if their D holds up...

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Is anyone really marveling in disbelief about the Suns?

I seem to remember all of the talk at the beginning of the season was that it would be a feat to be in a position to make the playoffs once Amare got back.

So obviously they have overachieved.

[Warham]

The Mamba was SICK last night.

Without KoBe, the Lakers would have won about 15 games this year.

[Romeo Delight]

He seemed to enjoy beating up on the hopeless Blazers a little too much, although it was fun to watch.

[Warham]

It was too close a score to call it 'beating up' on somebody.

It's a professional sport, not an amateur event. There's no mercy rule in the NBA, so if those guys on Portland didn't want KoBe to score 50, they should have sent five guys after him.

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Warham
I
It's a professional sport, not an amateur event.

Thanx for the tip

I'm just saying that the after the basket histronics were a bit much, given the competition, even if this is the NBA.

Having said that, it was great to watch.

[Brett]

Originally posted by DavidFlamma
He seemed to enjoy beating up on the hopeless Blazers a little too much, although it was fun to watch.

It was a close game until the last five minutes, he had to be in there.

Of course he beat up on those hopeless Dallas Mavericks too by outscoring them through three quarters by himself.

[Romeo Delight]

No way this happens:


Terry Porter rounding up investors to buy Blazers
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Former Portland Trail Blazers guard Terry Porter says he is rounding up potential investors interested in buying the Blazers and the Rose Garden arena.

Owner Paul Allen told The Oregonian in Los Angeles on Friday night that he has come to terms with selling the troubled team, which has the worst record this season in the NBA and which, he says, has been costing him millions of dollars to keep afloat.

He said he planned to attend Portland's home game against Golden state Saturday night, and "that could be my last home game as Blazers owner.

"I've come to terms with it."

Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, has lobbied for public funding for the team but hasn't found it in a city and state that are strapped for cash.

He said there are several scenarios that might unfold, and that he doesn't know yet how it will turn out.

He said any decision probably would be before the June 28 draft. He deflected questions on what the asking price might be.

Porter, who is one of the more popular players in franchise history, played for Portland 10 years beginning in 1985 and later coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two years. They fired him at the end of last season. He also was an assistant coach for a season for the Sacramento Kings.

Porter still holds some Portland franchise records. His time with the Blazers included the 1990 and 1992 seasons, when the team got to the NBA Finals. They won their only championship in 1976-77.

He said he will be in Portland soon to meet with wealthy prospects. Some of the richer Oregonians, including Nike Chairman Phil Knight, already have said they want no part of it.

He said his group already has $100 million in debt financing lined up but would not say how much they hope to raise, or from whom.

Porter said he also will approach other former Blazers.

Paul Swangard, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said the problem is a relatively small pool of very rich prospects in the Portland area, a pool that gets smaller when those who don't much care about NBA basketball are winnowed out.

"There's probably money. There's just a question of whether the money's there for basketball," he said.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has said the franchise and the Rose Garden are worth at least $300 million.

Andy Brimmer, a spokesman for Allen's privately held investment company, Vulcan Capital, said the group is "open to any reasonable option that would fix the broken economic model."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2410098