MVP
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OKC wins tonight, KD with 40 and Russ with 30/10/10.
2013-2014 NBA Season Thread - Congrats to the Spurs, DBD is still a buster
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by big j 33,
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same thing happens but OKC loses & we have playoff thread 3.0 by 10 o clock tomorrow
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Why do yall hate me.
And bro....it wasn't a typo. Trying to type Thunder and typing Tuhnder is a typo. Saying the Thunder and the Spurs are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals is not a typo. Its a dumb mistake.
I mean....the "e" is next to the "w" on the keyboard
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Thunder will get this W tonight
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Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeee
View media item 958658
please dear lord baby jesus let this be OKC's coach next year
View media item 934159
So I'm assuming you must want OKC to lose huh? ...
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Westbrook goes for 50 on Parker 
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no predictions from me. Tough series. Hope it's a great one.
elpablo21
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Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeee
View media item 958658
please dear lord baby jesus let this be OKC's coach next year
View media item 934159
So I'm assuming you must want OKC to lose huh? ...
Kevin Ollie said he wants more than Steve Kerr, that means he's looking for 5.5-6 mil per year. OKC ain't coughing up that dough, ask Harden
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Did miami losing yesterday break the old thread?
I hope this series is competitive but it doesn't look like it will be.
I hope this series is competitive but it doesn't look like it will be.
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no spoilers since the article is short.
[h1] [/h1]
[h1] [/h1]
[h1]Report: Mark Cuban hired former FBI agent to investigate league, referees after 2006 Finals[/h1]
Kurt Helin
May 19, 2014, 4:08 PM EDT
17 Comments
AP
In the annals of NBA referee conspiracy theories, the 2006 NBA Finals are up there with the Tim Donaghy betting scandal and a handful of others offered as “proof” by the tinfoil hat crowd that the fix is in and it comes all the way from the top.
In that series an aggressive and attacking Dwyane Wade got a lot of calls as he drove the lane on Dallas, while jump shooterDirk Nowitzki and the other Mavs didn’t get the calls. Wade was at the line an average 18.3 times per game over the final for games of that series and seemed to get the benefit of the doubt because he was the aggressor.
Mark Cuban was so livid he hired a former FBI Agent to look into if things were fixed.
That according to John Canzano of the Oregonian who did a five-part series on officiating in the NBA.During the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was frustrated after a Game 5 loss to the Heat, and went on the floor to vent to official Joe DeRosa, glaring, too, at Stern in the stands. Earlier that same playoffs Cuban also criticized how the officials are selected for the playoffs. He was fined $450,000 for those two incidents….
What did you expect the guy with the investigation business to say, “I couldn’t find anything?” That’s not how he gets paid.
Officiating in the NBA is far from perfect, something these playoffs have clearly shown. Canzano’s series does a great job in looking at both that and the perception problems it creates for the league. Adam Silver is trying to be more transparent with officiating corrections, but there needs to be more public accountability. There is a fantastic part of the series that talks about the power struggles within officiating crews and how that can skew calls. There’s more.
All of that leads to some to make the next leap to conspiracy theory. But just as is the main flaw with almost any conspiracy — the illuminati, the CIA killed Kennedy, Area 51, etc — it counts on large groups with sometimes competing interests plus often inefficient organizations to maintain perfect secrecy and focus on the end game. The league with its owners and all those referees couldn’t do that if they wanted do.
A bad call is just a bad call. If you don’t want to be subject to the whims of calls late, win the game by 20. Otherwise this is just part of the contest.
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darthska
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Thunder will get this E tonightThunder will get this W tonightI mean....the "e" is next to the "w" on the keyboardWhy do yall hate me.
And bro....it wasn't a typo. Trying to type Thunder and typing Tuhnder is a typo. Saying the Thunder and the Spurs are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals is not a typo. Its a dumb mistake.
@YeezusDisciple
no spoilers since the article is short.
[h1] [/h1]
[h1]
Report: Mark Cuban hired former FBI agent to investigate league, referees after 2006 Finals
[/h1]
[FLOAT=LEFT]
Kurt Helin
May 19, 2014, 4:08 PM EDT
[/FLOAT]
17
Comments
AP
In the annals of NBA referee conspiracy theories, the 2006 NBA Finals are up there with the Tim Donaghy betting scandal and a handful of others offered as “proof” by the tinfoil hat crowd that the fix is in and it comes all the way from the top.
In that series an aggressive and attacking Dwyane Wade
got a lot of calls as he drove the lane on Dallas, while jump shooterDirk Nowitzki
and the other Mavs didn’t get the calls. Wade was at the line an average 18.3 times per game over the final for games of that series and seemed to get the benefit of the doubt because he was the aggressor.
Mark Cuban was so livid he hired a former FBI Agent to look into if things were fixed.
That according to John Canzano of the Oregonian who did a five-part series
on officiating in the NBA.During the 2006 NBA Finals, Cuban was frustrated after a Game 5 loss to the Heat, and went on the floor to vent to official Joe DeRosa, glaring, too, at Stern in the stands. Earlier that same playoffs Cuban also criticized how the officials are selected for the playoffs. He was fined $450,000 for those two incidents….
What did you expect the guy with the investigation business to say, “I couldn’t find anything?” That’s not how he gets paid.
Officiating in the NBA is far from perfect, something these playoffs have clearly shown. Canzano’s series does a great job in looking at both that and the perception problems it creates for the league. Adam Silver is trying to be more transparent with officiating corrections, but there needs to be more public accountability. There is a fantastic part of the series that talks about the power struggles within officiating crews and how that can skew calls. There’s more.
All of that leads to some to make the next leap to conspiracy theory. But just as is the main flaw with almost any conspiracy — the illuminati, the CIA killed Kennedy, Area 51, etc — it counts on large groups with sometimes competing interests plus often inefficient organizations to maintain perfect secrecy and focus on the end game. The league with its owners and all those referees couldn’t do that if they wanted do.
A bad call is just a bad call. If you don’t want to be subject to the whims of calls late, win the game by 20. Otherwise this is just part of the contest.
These anti ref people are pathetic.
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The NBA Playoffs Thread is back!!!
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that VC shot was soooo god damn ill watching live......Vintage VC
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I couldn't ever imagine playing basketball when I'm rollingThunder will get this E tonightThunder will get this W tonightI mean....the "e" is next to the "w" on the keyboardWhy do yall hate me.
And bro....it wasn't a typo. Trying to type Thunder and typing Tuhnder is a typo. Saying the Thunder and the Spurs are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals is not a typo. Its a dumb mistake.
@YeezusDisciple
agreed.
These anti ref people are pathetic.
like let it go, it happened
that VC shot was soooo god damn ill watching live......Vintage VC
These things are so damn beautiful.
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Hot damn!Diaw dropping 40 tonight
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no ibaka scares me, steven adams been hooping tho.
thunder up
thunder up
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Last edited:
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i dont want us to lose.. but that would be a silver lining in losingSo I'm assuming you must want OKC to lose huh? ...
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^ god damn phil is huge
The Spurs aren't totally buying that Serge Ibaka won't come back to the Thunder soon
View media item 979302
When the Oklahoma City Thunder announced Friday that Serge Ibaka was expected to miss the rest of the postseason with a Grade 1 strain of his left calf, many of us instantly began focusing on what Thunder head coach Scott Brooks might do to make up for the loss of his starting power forward in Oklahoma City's impending Western Conference finals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, which begins Monday night with Game 1 in Texas. Several Spurs, however, focused on something else — the words "expected to."
The Spurs aren't calling the Thunder liars or bluffers, per se — they're just not totally buying that the 24-year-old shot-blocker and interior defensive menace won't make a return at some point before all's said and done. Like, for example, Monday night. From Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News:
“I don’t really believe it,” said point guard Tony Parker, who has been cleared to play in the opener after straining his left hamstring in the second round. “I’ll believe when I see tomorrow he is not on the court. It’s hard to believe. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Said Kawhi Leonard, “We’re still not sure if he’s going to play or not, but it doesn’t matter. The Thunder are still a very good team.” [...]
The Spurs have no doubt considered every possible contingency in how the Thunder might adjust without him — including, it seems, the extreme unlikelihood that he might actually play. (Again, appropriate fear.) Not that Popovich would ever admit to such planning to the media.
“It’s really a waste of time,” Popovich said. “When the game starts, everybody will know what’s going on and everybody will adjust both ways.”
Given the success that Oklahoma City has had against San Antonio over the past three seasons (an 11-6 mark, including wins in the final four games of their 2012 Western Conference finals matchup and a four-game regular-season sweep this year) and Thunder general manager Sam Presti's statement leaving the door to an Ibaka return ever so slightly ajar, you can understand why the three-time Coach of the Year would emphasize being ready for whichever lineups San Antonio might face. What scares him most is his team getting complacent or comfortable, which is why he's drilling that "appropriate fear" into his players' heads before the series kicks off on Monday. From Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports:
"We know them very well," Parker said. "I think ball movement, execution [must improve]. We need to execute a lot better, because against them you can't go half-speed. You have to go full speed, and we have to be perfect because they are younger than us and they're more athletic than us. So everything has to be more perfect." [...]
"We know the head of the snake is [Kevin] Durant and [Russell] Westbrook ... so we can keep the focus a little bit more [on them], worry a little less about [what] Ibaka will do," Spurs forward Boris Diaw said. "But they still have a very, very good team."
Added Parker, "[Rookie center] Steve Adams has been stepping up, [veteran forward] Nick Collison is a great player. They can go small. They're going to do different stuff, so we're going to have to adapt. ... We're going to try to contain everything. Like you say, Westbrook and Durant are going to score points. They're great players, and Durant is the MVP, so you're not going to stop them."
San Antonio figures to rely on rising star small forward Kawhi Leonard to, if not stop, then at least make life more difficult for Thunder leader and reigning Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant. It also wouldn't be totally shocking if Popovich also gave Tiago Splitter — fresh off strong defensive work on high-scoring, jump-shooting big men Dirk Nowitzki and LaMarcus Aldridge in the first two rounds of the playoffs — the assignment for short stretches, if only to change up the looks the Spurs give Durant to prevent him from getting comfortable.
Slowing down Westbrook — who is on pace to become just the third player in NBA history to average at least 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game during a single postseason, joining Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy — was going to be a problem for the San Antonio backcourt even with Parker entering the series with a dinged-up wheel. And even if Ibaka is indeed out of the mix, the Spurs will have to reckon with a deep, talented Thunder roster built by one of their own, former San Antonio assistant general manager and "resident genius" Presti. As Popovich is so fond of telling his team during timeouts, it's not going to be easy; it never is at this level.
Still, not only is Presti calling it "unlikely that [Ibaka] would return if we were fortunate to make it past this next series," but the power forward didn't travel to San Antonio for Game 1, still needing a medical scooter to travel and staying behind in Oklahoma to continue to receive treatment. It seems like the fear of an Ibaka return — while part of the overall "appropriate fear" Pop emphasizes — isn't warranted ... at least, not yet.
The Spurs aren't totally buying that Serge Ibaka won't come back to the Thunder soon
View media item 979302
When the Oklahoma City Thunder announced Friday that Serge Ibaka was expected to miss the rest of the postseason with a Grade 1 strain of his left calf, many of us instantly began focusing on what Thunder head coach Scott Brooks might do to make up for the loss of his starting power forward in Oklahoma City's impending Western Conference finals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, which begins Monday night with Game 1 in Texas. Several Spurs, however, focused on something else — the words "expected to."
The Spurs aren't calling the Thunder liars or bluffers, per se — they're just not totally buying that the 24-year-old shot-blocker and interior defensive menace won't make a return at some point before all's said and done. Like, for example, Monday night. From Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News:
“I don’t really believe it,” said point guard Tony Parker, who has been cleared to play in the opener after straining his left hamstring in the second round. “I’ll believe when I see tomorrow he is not on the court. It’s hard to believe. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Said Kawhi Leonard, “We’re still not sure if he’s going to play or not, but it doesn’t matter. The Thunder are still a very good team.” [...]
The Spurs have no doubt considered every possible contingency in how the Thunder might adjust without him — including, it seems, the extreme unlikelihood that he might actually play. (Again, appropriate fear.) Not that Popovich would ever admit to such planning to the media.
“It’s really a waste of time,” Popovich said. “When the game starts, everybody will know what’s going on and everybody will adjust both ways.”
Given the success that Oklahoma City has had against San Antonio over the past three seasons (an 11-6 mark, including wins in the final four games of their 2012 Western Conference finals matchup and a four-game regular-season sweep this year) and Thunder general manager Sam Presti's statement leaving the door to an Ibaka return ever so slightly ajar, you can understand why the three-time Coach of the Year would emphasize being ready for whichever lineups San Antonio might face. What scares him most is his team getting complacent or comfortable, which is why he's drilling that "appropriate fear" into his players' heads before the series kicks off on Monday. From Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports:
"We know them very well," Parker said. "I think ball movement, execution [must improve]. We need to execute a lot better, because against them you can't go half-speed. You have to go full speed, and we have to be perfect because they are younger than us and they're more athletic than us. So everything has to be more perfect." [...]
"We know the head of the snake is [Kevin] Durant and [Russell] Westbrook ... so we can keep the focus a little bit more [on them], worry a little less about [what] Ibaka will do," Spurs forward Boris Diaw said. "But they still have a very, very good team."
Added Parker, "[Rookie center] Steve Adams has been stepping up, [veteran forward] Nick Collison is a great player. They can go small. They're going to do different stuff, so we're going to have to adapt. ... We're going to try to contain everything. Like you say, Westbrook and Durant are going to score points. They're great players, and Durant is the MVP, so you're not going to stop them."
San Antonio figures to rely on rising star small forward Kawhi Leonard to, if not stop, then at least make life more difficult for Thunder leader and reigning Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant. It also wouldn't be totally shocking if Popovich also gave Tiago Splitter — fresh off strong defensive work on high-scoring, jump-shooting big men Dirk Nowitzki and LaMarcus Aldridge in the first two rounds of the playoffs — the assignment for short stretches, if only to change up the looks the Spurs give Durant to prevent him from getting comfortable.
Slowing down Westbrook — who is on pace to become just the third player in NBA history to average at least 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game during a single postseason, joining Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy — was going to be a problem for the San Antonio backcourt even with Parker entering the series with a dinged-up wheel. And even if Ibaka is indeed out of the mix, the Spurs will have to reckon with a deep, talented Thunder roster built by one of their own, former San Antonio assistant general manager and "resident genius" Presti. As Popovich is so fond of telling his team during timeouts, it's not going to be easy; it never is at this level.
Still, not only is Presti calling it "unlikely that [Ibaka] would return if we were fortunate to make it past this next series," but the power forward didn't travel to San Antonio for Game 1, still needing a medical scooter to travel and staying behind in Oklahoma to continue to receive treatment. It seems like the fear of an Ibaka return — while part of the overall "appropriate fear" Pop emphasizes — isn't warranted ... at least, not yet.
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At least we know Adams ain't getting injured because he's a robot.
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