Both Eastern Conference series are going to be physical as ****.

I agree. If he comes back on Monday I will lose all respect for him.

Noah and Boozer are playing better. Also, Chicago at that time relied upon Rose too much offensively. Heat put LeBron on him and they really floundered. Now that they spread the scoring out among a number of players, they may actually be better prepared to deal with the Heat.

You may be right about the over reliance on Rose, but the Heat are better now too. Much more efficient on the offensive end. I do think the series should be far more competitive than it would have been with that soft, lazy Nets team, though.

Chicago beat Miami twice this season. I don't think it's as much as him abandoning his team as getting his mind right about his knee kind of like berry and Charles for the chiefs this year. I hope he comes back. If he doesn't, oh well.

I pretty much already have.
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Heh, it almost feels like the Spurs and Heat got a 1st round bye.

OP updated

Monday night! Go bulls!

Same here. I hated him with Memphis because my Jayhawks were playing them in the title game and that he was a Calipari player which speaks for itself. Then I had to like him because my Bulls drafted him and he grew on me and now this. I should've known better than to like or trust a Calipari player. Scum.

Bill Simmons on Rose:

Q: Can you hold it against Derrick Rose for not coming back?

Absolutely not. See, Gilbert Arenas affected the NBA in four ways …

1. He's the first NBA star who tapped into the potential of connecting with fans on the Internet (with his groundbreaking Agent Zero blog). Then Twitter happened, and Facebook, and Instagram, and now we're at a point where Kobe could run for president because he's so good at social media. In fact, I think I'd vote for him in 2016. As long as he wasn't running with Dwight Howard.

2. After he bolted Golden State for the Wizards, they named a rule after him — the Gilbert Arenas provision, which makes it easier for teams to sign their own restricted free agents who were second-round picks.

3. They also named three unwritten rules after him: "Don't bet large sums of money with teammates during poker games on chartered flights," "Don't bring guns into the locker room for any reason," and "Don't give someone a massive nine-figure contract if you're not positive he's healthy."

4. He's the all-time "came back too soon" cautionary tale for anyone who suffered a major knee injury. Gilbert tore a meniscus near the tail end of the 2006-07 season, came back too soon, reinjured it in November, missed much of the season, came back too soon a second time, reinjured his knee in the playoffs, came back too soon the following fall, had a third surgery, and ended up playing 15 games total in two years. Make no mistake — he was NEVER the same.

Now? He's a cautionary tale, the name that floats through the head of any player who wants to keep pushing himself to play, feels really good … but doesn't totally trust his knee yet. Magic Johnson's biggest professional regret is coming back too soon during the 1981 season. He knew his surgically repaired knee didn't feel right, but as Magic tells it, you start feeling that pressure from every direction. Fans, teammates, coaches, the owner, you name it. And it's not even intentional. Might even be something as simple as someone saying, "How's the knee feeling?," only they make eye contact for an extra second and you start thinking, Does he not believe me? You get in your own head. You feel guilty all the time. Your confidence is shaken. You can't do the one thing that always came easiest to you. So you start pushing yourself to come back, tricking yourself, convincing yourself to feel a certain way. And that's when you can get in trouble.

As Magic put it, When you're ready, you know. If you're wondering even a little? Then you don't know. I think that's where Derrick Rose is right now. He's in his own head. He doesn't totally trust his knee yet. His hammies still hurt. And yet … he feels horrible that he can't help his team. So he's vacillating, and fortunately, GILBERT ARENAS keeps flashing through his head in all caps. Over everything else, that's Arenas's real legacy. Nobody wants to be The Next Guy Who Came Back Too Soon.

It's all mental now. Rose is ready when "he's" ready

its not all mental, its when your knee and all the ligaments around it feel healthy. If he's not feeling that its strong enough then why force it? The doctors may say, hey its healed 100 percent, but the muscles arent and it feels weak, so why push it?

I dont blame him, he's a young guy that has a bright bright future. I hope he doesnt force it back before he feels 100 percent.

I don't blame Rose at all for not playing. He'll be back next year 100% ready.

True Bulls fans in it for the long haul should be fine with his decision. Do you want a really good Rose for the next 12 years, or the next 4?

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the Grizzles ML today.

It's more mental now he has to trust his knee. I'm fine with him sitting because I don't want him coming back and ****ing it up worse

Nets fired PJ. http://uranus.ckt.net/~gochiefs/bowrofl.gif

I hope Jeff Van Gundy doesn't go there. I love JVG, but I hate that Nets team

The Thunder are ****ed.

Two tired teams. Grizz completely settling for perimeter shots, Thunder still trying to figure out how to score.

Somebody let Gasol know the game has started.

Well, Grizz are sleepwalking, so chance for Thunder to build a lead going into half.

That rip through foul is bullshit

Fisher misses on a three and then fails to find a wide-open Durant at the three point line. HAHAHAHA. **** THAT GUY

Durant. Money.

Durant is such a boss.

Memphis should have put Allen on him late

Gasol blew it. Randolph had great positioning

Nothing like giving a game away. Ridiculous.

Breaking news: Durant is great.

Good call. Damn Durant has been unconscious in this game.

OKC has gotten their fair share of calls down the stretch...

Hes adjusting to being the man. This could be deadly to the rest of the league going forward.

This should be a great series.

LMAO Stupid jackson

Durant unconscious

Good win Thunder. Jackson got lucky.

Memphis should have won that game but threw it away. They'll need to get one on the road eventually, so this was a waste of a great opportunity they may not get again. This series going to be a battle.

He's probably, no most likely, my favorite non-KU player in the Big 12 of the past decade. Even when I hated the pressure he was putting on KU, I loved watching him play. Really love that he's transferred his skills to the next level.

Durant is great, but Prince let him do what he wanted with zero resistance. Hollins dumb for not putting Allen on him at times.

Somewhat playoff related. Lebron won the MVP award but missed being selected unanimously by 1 vote. Some stupid media person voted for Melo.

Pacers get Game 1 and changed home court advantage

So I go from a bullshit T Ball umpiring call today pissing me off to watching comeback wins by the Thunder and Royals on the DVR. Awesome is restored.

I agree. It used to drive me ****ing crazy when you guys had Allen and Battier. Tony Allen can pretty much **** with anyone.

Serge just sucks against Memphis.

Seems like no matter what we play 5 point games against you guys. I was expecting them to hit a 3 at the end, and when Reggie fouled all I could do was laugh. I can't shit on him though. He's being thrown to the wolves and is performing well over all. It's going to be great next year to have him and Russ together.

I have no idea who will win this series, but still lean to the Grizz. As OKC wins without Russ their confidence snowballs. I think it's important for Memphis to take game 2. However, I don't see home court being much of a factor in this one. Both teams have won on the others court many times, and have won big games on the road in the playoffs. The best team will win that day despite location.

Definitely, good to take a game that Memphis had control of all day. Also good to watch a game without Brooks man crushes killing us. Perk and Fisher both need quality minutes in this series. Although, I never want to see either one of them near this team after next year :)

This is going to be another long hard fought series.

Dan LeBatard has apparently taken credit for it... which is funny since he's out of Miami. But he may be trolling, really can't tell yet. He is getting killed on Twitter and retweeting all of it though. GoChiefs wishes he could get 1/1000th the attention LeBatard is getting, ultimate troll job.

Either he's lying and drawing attention to himself, or he actually did it to draw attention to himself.

@NOTSportsCenter: Kevin Durant makes 6 of his team's last 7 shots, media: "He's pretty good."
LeBron makes a layup in the 4th quarter, media: "OMG MVPPPP!!!!"

Tweet would work better if we didn't just watch Durant and the Thunder struggle terribly against a far inferior team in the Rockets last week. Or, you know, if LeBron wasn't very clearly a far better player than Durant.

LeBron, although I don't like him, is far better than Durant.

Grizz just didn't seem to have the same urgency they showed in the Clippers series. Despite having the lead, they settled for perimeter shots far too often, especially in the first half. It was as if they were content to just keep the game close in the first half. They came out and played more of their style in the 3rd quarter to get that double digit lead. Conley was aggressive, and they went to the post to initiate more often. Perkins/Collison/Ibaka were pretty good defensively, but you still have to start your offense there; it opens up standstill outside looks.

Defensively they were pretty awful most of the day relative to their typical performance. I actually think this might have been Hollins' worst game the entire post-season. They weren't doubling Durant, although there was a big there on most penetrations. But why do you drop the guard on the weakside to go with Prince and the big? The only way the Thunder beat you is if you let Martin get off, and you give Fisher open looks from 3. Griz allowed both of those things to happen, and they allowed Durant do whatever he wanted, except get all the way to the rim (which is fine with him). Meanwhile, Allen sat almost the entire 4th quarter despite protecting a lead. Asinine.

Not to mention, the reaction wasn't "he's pretty good". It was, "holy shit, this guy is an absolute stud".

Or that, because he had a ridiculous 4th quarter and is a total stud. But I didn't know this whole LeBron vs. Durant measuring content was still a thing.

LeBron is better, people. If it wasn't obvious before now, just watch the games.

The Rockets lost 15 games less than the Thunder, but OKC was also without their co-best player and making adjustments, and still beat them twice on the road. Miami beat a team Houston might be able to sweep while being 100% healthy. The tweet and your comparisons are both absurd. Everyone knows LeBron is a better all around player than Durant, but Durant is making the best out of a difficult situation.

It's the next version of Jordan vs anyone. People are going to argue about it just to blab.

Any team that doesn't double the shit out of Durant right now is making a mistake. I don't respect McHale a lot, but he was on point with that strategy. I hope the Grizz continue to role with that :)

I'm not sure Jordan ever had anyone as close as Durant is to LeBron. Zeke, Clyde, Kemp/Payton, Barkley, Malone/Stockton....Hall of Fame guys but none were ever really close. While LeBron is definitely the best player, Durant is a beast ---- and he's still only 24 damn years old (4 years younger than LeBron).

You at least have to mix it up. Prince, Allen, Pondexter, double-teams, etc. By the 4th quarter, he knew exactly what he could get and couldn't get. You just can't let a great player get that comfortable.

Houston can't play any defense and their offense consists of James Harden and a bunch of relative scrubs running around playing undisciplined basketball. OKC, even without Westbrook, should have been able to handle them easily considering Durant's presence. They didn't. Not sure what is absurd about pointing that out (or pointing out that LeBron is a far better player than Durant).

Magic was pretty close to his value in the late 80s. Really nobody all that close for his prime years in the 90s other than perhaps Robinson (with his huge defensive presence) and to a lesser extent Malone.

Barkley, Malone, Drexler, Robinson, etc. all getting mention for some 90s love, but no ****ing Olajuwon? **** this thread.

I picked players that Jordan clashed with directly over the years; he never really mixed it up with Houston. Hakeem was great, but his peak was during Jordan's first retirement.

I agree, but Magic was on the downside by the time MJ hit his stride. i was going for Jordan's peers to contrast LeBron/Durant.

No question.

Agreed. Just a totally different basketball era. Jordan's era was swimming with talent, but it was largely about team basketball. You wonder if the NBA relaxed some of the rules on hand-checking if you'd see a completely different brand of basketball during that time. It's like comparing Drew Brees to Joe Montana.

Durant has a long way to go to be an elite player, particularly in terms of playing better defense. But I still think his killer instinct is more like Jordan than LeBron's. Durant is miles behind LeBron and will never, ever match up to LeBron in terms of talent, but you can't help but wonder what the kid will be like when he peaks.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...fqM/story.html

He was trolling. Gary Washburn from the Boston Globe was the lone vote.

Yeah I know. Im just a huge Olajuwon homer. Here's a cool Bulls/Rockets clip. The ending is best.

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Why am I not surprised the Rockets won that one? :)

Mad Max was a talented dude, too bad he was nuts.

Yeah. He was. I was too young to really appreciate those Rockets teams, but Maxwell was a favorite. Looking back on old clips, I remember why.

But back to the thread topic. Im really pumped about this GS/SA series. Would be great to see the Spurs blow an open path to the Finals.

I always loved the front line of (H)Akeem and Thorpe. That second team was garbage, though.

Would have loved to see my bulls play the rockets during the mid 90s

Chicago hanging tough. Not sure they can keep it up

Chicago just doesn't have the firepower on offense. When the Heat start making shots, it wont' be much.

The Dream Shake. When done right, no can defend.

Late in games has been nate Robinson time lately. we will see if he can carry them.

On pace for 74 points lol.
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The Bulls missing half their team are still game.

Coach Thibodeau is the best coach in the league.

I haven't been keeping up. I figured Deng would be back, but apparently he's dying in a hospital somewhere

no doubt. Now if they had an actual scorer in this game they might have a chance. I expect Lebron to take over any minute