*NBA THREAD* Abe will be missed (4 Viewers)

[EYLive]

Celtics no longer insisting on getting Bledsoe.

Rivers and KG for Deandre and a 1st round pick. This'll be huge for the Clippers. I wasn't sold on Lionel Hollins or Shaw as coach for this squad.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Yeah, Ferris already posted something along those lines. But I'm glad you are bringing some quality posts into the discussion.ETA: And I actually don't mind Danny Green. Guy has carved out a nice role, worked hard going from D-league to a big contributor in the finals, but he isn't any more valuable than TP or Duncan at this point. If he has another 25 point game to close out the series, that might change.

I was just giving you a hard time. Thus the Not to toot my own horn, but if you stick around, hopefully you'll find that I do bring some quality posts to the discussion every once in a while.

And definitely stick around if you're thinking about it. I starting making the transition from a college basketball fan to an NBA fan a few years back with a huge assist from the awesome regulars in this thread, and I'm much happier for it.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Celtics no longer insisting on getting Bledsoe.

Rivers and KG for Deandre and a 1st round pick. This'll be huge for the Clippers. I wasn't sold on Lionel Hollins or Shaw as coach for this squad.

I kinda thought George Karl would be a good coach for CP3 and Blake. A little Payton-Kemp flavor there.

 

[sporthenry]

Yeah, Ferris already posted something along those lines. But I'm glad you are bringing some quality posts into the discussion.

ETA: And I actually don't mind Danny Green. Guy has carved out a nice role, worked hard going from D-league to a big contributor in the finals, but he isn't any more valuable than TP or Duncan at this point. If he has another 25 point game to close out the series, that might change.

I was just giving you a hard time. Thus the Not to toot my own horn, but if you stick around, hopefully you'll find that I do bring some quality posts to the discussion every once in a while.

And definitely stick around if you're thinking about it. I starting making the transition from a college basketball fan to an NBA fan a few years back with a huge assist from the awesome regulars in this thread, and I'm much happier for it.

Fair enough. Rough Monday. I know you have quality posts, just a snipe. But yeah, I find myself starting to make the transition as the college game seems to be deteriorating and it seems to be happening just as the NBA game is becoming more advanced. I know I've been accused of my limited understanding of offense but I actually appreciate the seemingly more sophisticated offenses (although it just might be a better outlet through guys like Lowe). Still has a ton of ISO elements (which it can b/c the guys are almost too good) but with college basketball trying to set basketball back 50 years, it makes sense to migrate to it more. 82 games is still a lot and I don't think I'll be following the random Raptors/Heat game but I find myself tuning in more and more to the big games during the regular season.

 

[Daywalker]

I don't disagree Green should be the MVP if SA wins. I just find it funny game to game how the media plays this series. So if The Heat win......who will be the MVP?

Right now the last two games Dwayne Wade has been really good. If the Heat are to win this series. Lebron has to be great.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I have not watched or listened to any reactions from last nights game on any of the major sports shows. Are the talking heads leaving The Heat out for dead again? Or is there a decent amount of them thinking Miami at home can pull this off?

I'd say they're generally leaning Miami.

One of the questions in the 5-for-5 roundtable this morning is "Will a team win back-to-back games in this series?" The response was unanimous there would be; if the Spurs don't close it out on Tuesday, they won't win game 7 on the road.

Basically they have no clue what will happen in game 6 but amazingly they are unanimous in what will happen in game 7. Right.

 

[TobiasFunke]

.But yeah, I find myself starting to make the transition as the college game seems to be deteriorating and it seems to be happening just as the NBA game is becoming more advanced ... it makes sense to migrate to it more. 82 games is still a lot and I don't think I'll be following the random Raptors/Heat game but I find myself tuning in more and more to the big games during the regular season.

 

[ArbyMelt]

Miami is just playing pitiful defense. Case in point, Mike Miller was red-hot and the Spurs have totally shut him down. Danny Green is red-hot, and he still is getting WIDE open looks. Just bad defense. Its not like Danny Green can penetrate off the dribble. Mike Miller is a huge defensive liability, I would start Battier and put him on Danny Green.

 

[EYLive]

Celtics no longer insisting on getting Bledsoe.

Rivers and KG for Deandre and a 1st round pick. This'll be huge for the Clippers. I wasn't sold on Lionel Hollins or Shaw as coach for this squad.

I kinda thought George Karl would be a good coach for CP3 and Blake. A little Payton-Kemp flavor there.

Me too, he would have been my first choice. But for whatever reason, Karl was never mentioned as a candidate for the job.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Who wouldn't want to shell out big bucks to Monta Ellis?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/monta-ellis-says-only-difference-between-him-dwyane-181032869--nba.html

Good luck with that.

 

[Abraham]

I like how every free agent is close to Dwight Howard and the two would love to play together. Good times. Is there any way on earth Howard is sitting their thinking "you know, my best chance at a ring is me, Jeff Teague, al horford, and Kyle korver....and monte Ellis!"

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

I like how every free agent is close to Dwight Howard and the two would love to play together. Good times. Is there any way on earth Howard is sitting their thinking "you know, my best chance at a ring is me, Jeff Teague, al horford, and Kyle korver....and monte Ellis!"

I guess there could be if Howard was not very bright and only marginally in touch with reality.

 

[Pick]

I approach Finals MVP like regular season MVP. Which guy if you remove fubars his team the most? Not perfect for sure.

Given that rationale, I gotta think Parker or Duncan, right? Take away Green and there's a chance someone else shoots those same shots and maybe even makes a few. Take away Duncan or Parker and the dropoff is pretty bad.

Having said that, I think it'd be cool if Green won it.

 

[henryghot103]

Word out of Sac Town is the Kings like Cousins.

#No Homo

 

[tommyGunZ]

I think Duncan will win MVP if SAS wins the series and I wouldn't think the voters as a group got it wrong if he does. He's the constant who makes everything else they do work.

I agree with this, but I'm very surprised to see you making this argument.

Glad to see I can still surprise you after all these years, GB. To be clear, if I had a vote it would be cast for Green. Also, I think I'm underestimating the press on this: on the 5-for-5 roundtable this morning, the panel was unanimous on Green as series MVP so far.

As remarkable as Green's shooting display has been, I don't know that I would ever be able to give an MVP to a role player.

I don't think it will matter anyway. LeBron will be the series MVP. No way he lets a championship slip away from him needing only two wins at home while he's in his prime & paired with 2 starting All Star teammates.

 

[sporthenry]

I approach Finals MVP like regular season MVP. Which guy if you remove fubars his team the most? Not perfect for sure.

Given that rationale, I gotta think Parker or Duncan, right? Take away Green and there's a chance someone else shoots those same shots and maybe even makes a few. Take away Duncan or Parker and the dropoff is pretty bad.

Having said that, I think it'd be cool if Green won it.

Agreed. I think it is sort of like Duncan's career in a nutshell. Puts up tremendously solid numbers but gets sort of trumped by flashiness. I think the Finals MVP often seems to be the best player on the winning team. Now usually that person is just so much better than everyone else like Dirk was but even times like '08, Ray Allen probably could have won but Pierce was the heart of that team.

He is having a great series and advanced stats love him, but just looking at counting stats, Parker and Duncan seem to be playing just as well. So if that is the case, I'm rewarding Parker/Duncan for not just their finals performance but the whole playoffs, season and in Duncan's case career.

 

[tdoss]

I still vote Timmay! for MVP if SAS closes this out...unless Green hits another six or seven 3-pointers.

The guy really is the axle grease...

 

[Grady Wilson]

I just find it funny game to game how the media plays this series.

Isn't that the way it usually is in a series that goes back and forth?

 

[Britney Spears]

Celtics no longer insisting on getting Bledsoe.

Rivers and KG for Deandre and a 1st round pick. This'll be huge for the Clippers. I wasn't sold on Lionel Hollins or Shaw as coach for this squad.

I kinda thought George Karl would be a good coach for CP3 and Blake. A little Payton-Kemp flavor there.

Whoa lets not insult the all-time greats.

 

[HellToupee]

can the Clips just agree to Dannys terms

 

[Raider Nation]

FWIW (if anything) Gottlieb thinks Parker grabs the MVP if SA wins.

 

[Britney Spears]

Ferris, the 96 MVP was Gary Payton, the year the Sonics won the championship. I remember it like it was yesterday. What a great year.

 

[sporthenry]

Agreed. I think it is sort of like Duncan's career in a nutshell. Puts up tremendously solid numbers but gets sort of trumped by flashiness. I think the Finals MVP often seems to be the best player on the winning team. Now usually that person is just so much better than everyone else like Dirk was but even times like '08, Ray Allen probably could have won but Pierce was the heart of that team.

He is having a great series and advanced stats love him, but just looking at counting stats, Parker and Duncan seem to be playing just as well. So if that is the case, I'm rewarding Parker/Duncan for not just their finals performance but the whole playoffs, season and in Duncan's case career.

I know it feels like I'm picking on you. I'm not trying to pick on you; I genuinely want you to understand it all better.

Duncan has won league MVP twice, Finals MVP three times, and is generally regarded as the best power forward of all time and a top ten player of all time at any position. He hasn't been trumped by flashiness anywhere near as much as his proponents claim. In 2007, Duncan was SAS's best player all season and Ginobili was SAS's best guard all season, but Parker was fantastic in all four games of the Finals. He had very favorable matchups, and Popovich exploited the mismatches. Duncan played really well in Games 1 and 2, but struggled in Game 3 while Parker hit a dagger three that put the game away. Duncan played OK in Game 4 but really struggled with his shot, while Parker was fantastic in all facets of the game. The enduring image of the series was Parker doing whatever he wanted with the ball, and was awarded Finals MVP despite being the team's third-best player all season.

As for 2008... Garnett was the heart and soul of that team. Pierce was the heart of the franchise for a decade, but Garnett was the heart of that title team. He arrived via trade and instantly changed the culture of the franchise. He got the team to buy into assistant coach Tom Thibodeau's defensive scheme and got everyone playing hard D as they shot out to a big lead in the standings. Garnett was the frontrunner for league MVP until he got hurt, and only 74 games played when other viable candidates missed less time killed his MVP campaign. Anyway, Garnett was BOS best player in the regular season and in the playoffs, and was by quite a large margin. Then in the Finals, Paul Pierce outplayed Kobe, and winning that matchup was so critical to BOS's success he won Finals MVP. Garnett played well in most facets of the game but struggled shooting the ball.

When in doubt, go with the guy who scored the most points. This is going to sound like blasphemy, but the real MVP of the 1996 Finals was Dennis Rodman. He controlled the glass by himself, and made the biggest plays down the stretch in the only closely contested game of the series. Jordan actually wore down a bit as the series wore on always being guarded by either Gary Payton or Nate McMillan. MJ had a 5-for-19 in CHI's first closeout opportunity, and a 6-for-19 in the series clincher. But were the voters going to give that award to anyone other than Jordan? Of course not.

Lastly, if you want to reward Duncan or Parker for their performance in the entire season or full career, there's no rule saying you can't. I can see the logic behind looking beyond the Finals games to see who played in a fashion representative of their body of work and who just got hot at the right time. But that also acknowledges that the award is for something other than how they played in the Finals, which is a bit nonsensical.

It's hardly unprecedented. Hot hands get rewarded all the time at the Final Four. Would anyone who watched UNC all season in 2009 say Wayne Ellington was a better player than Lawson or Hansbrough? How about the next year when Kyle Singler got the the Final Four MOP over his national POY teammate Nolan Smith? At the pro level, we've seen Magic and Bird get passed over at Finals MVP time for the likes of James Worthy and Cornbread Maxwell. Heck, Magic's first Finals MVP was pretty much for how he played in one game of a 6-game series; Kareem was the better player all season and postseason.

Well now we're conflating F4 MOP and Finals MVP. I don't think the two have much correlation.

As for scoring, I agree when the gap is like '96 with MJ at 27 and Rodman at 7.5. But we're talking about 2 points/game in this series. I don't think that is a big enough especially to compensate with what the rest of Parker/Duncan bring.

Your other examples are from the 80's. It seems like the voting criteria has changed quite a bit. But I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Shrugs]

I like how every free agent is close to Dwight Howard and the two would love to play together. Good times. Is there any way on earth Howard is sitting their thinking "you know, my best chance at a ring is me, Jeff Teague, al horford, and Kyle korver....and monte Ellis!"

I guess there could be if Howard was not very bright and only marginally in touch with reality.

So you're saying there could be.

 

[Grady Wilson]

As far as the Green debate, being a UNC homer, I say he deserves it. He might not be the MVP of the Finals, but at this point he's without question the Most Outstanding Player of the Finals.

 

[matuski]

Anyone arguing Duncan has received enough recognition in his career has a short memory.

The NBA obviously knows and has known... the NBA audience has had no idea. Even now when most seem to buy into the expert opinion of Duncan as the best PF ever, most are just taking their word for it, having never actually watched Duncan over the years (in any meaningful quantity).

Is it cooler now to spout Duncan's greatness? Yes. Does that mean people actually have the firsthand appreciation they got they got for Shaq, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron? No, of course not. I don't know all the reasons behind Duncan remaining out of the limelight.. I know he preferred it this way, but also that he never received the national TV time these others did and do. I can't count the number of times here people lamented watching the "boring" Spurs.

Bottom line, most people do not know how good Duncan was/is. It wasn't cool to watch him in his prime, but it is necessary now to say they did.

 

[Todem]

I think The Heat will go with Battier in the starting lineup. Just a hunch. He will be attached to Greens hip tonight.

I also want to see the Heat get physical tonight. Put parker on his ### if he drives in. Send some messages. Dish out a few hard fouls and send a message. It can help slow down what SA has been able to do in the paint. If Riley has had any input since game 5's loss.....that would be it.

Heat big tonight.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Yeah, I agree that many really do not know how great Duncan has been. I was talking to a friend at work recently - he is a casual NBA fan at best - and he argued that David Robinson was better than Tim Duncan has been.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Other than maybe a few closer games down the stretch, this Finals could not possibly have unfolded any better. The two best teams in the league (two best by far since Westbrook went down), with the slight underdog pre-series holding a 3-2 lead but still needing to win one of possibly two road games to clinch. James, Wade, Parker and Duncan all still playing the game in mid-June. Hooray for basketball.

 

[got_nugs]

Other than maybe a few closer games down the stretch, this Finals could not possibly have unfolded any better. The two best teams in the league (two best by far since Westbrook went down), with the slight underdog pre-series holding a 3-2 lead but still needing to win one of possibly two road games to clinch. James, Wade, Parker and Duncan all still playing the game in mid-June. Hooray for basketball.

BS! It would be better for basketball if the Heat swept this series and the last v the PaceCars and allowed its fans the ability to sleep!

ugh.

 

[Abraham]

I also want to see the Heat get physical tonight. Put parker on his ### if he drives in. Send some messages. Dish out a few hard fouls and send a message. It can help slow down what SA has been able to do in the paint. If Riley has had any input since game 5's loss.....that would be it.

IT would certainly behoove Miami to let the Spurs know that the lane is not open and driving unabated won't be easy. But I don't think any of the Spurs are going to get overly rattled by being fouled on their way to the hoop.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Unlike the 2010 Celtics, I doubt the Spurs are gonna pull the "We'll lay down in Game 6 and just win it all in Game 7" routine tonight, so I expect a close game wire to wire. We haven't gotten a game still in doubt in the last minute since Game 1; I think we will tonight.

 

[Todem]

Well no doubt The Spurs play this game like a game 7. They have too.

I am very nervous. I can't lie. The Spurs are a tremendous team. I had little to no doubt last year against OKC. But against a proven veteran layden team like The Spurs with Pop coaching......man.

As far as Duncan. I have watched his entire career and no question one of the all time greats. And no doubt in my mind the best PF to ever play the game. I put him slightly ahead of Karl Malone. So sound fundamentaly. Just a great old school type of player. I would say Lebron and Tim Duncan have the highest basketball IQ in the game today.

 

[Slapdash]

I hope the Heat win 6 going away setting up an epic game 7 that should go down to the wire.

 

[got_nugs]

I hope the Heat win 2 games tonight and close this out. Tonight.

Pretty amazing, this series could come down to a game 7 bounce of the ball, which may decide whether or not ultimately "the blueprint" is remembered as a success or failure and whether or not this team stays together. 1 bounce.

 

[matuski]

Anyone arguing Duncan has received enough recognition in his career has a short memory.

The NBA obviously knows and has known... the NBA audience has had no idea. Even now when most seem to buy into the expert opinion of Duncan as the best PF ever, most are just taking their word for it, having never actually watched Duncan over the years (in any meaningful quantity).

Is it cooler now to spout Duncan's greatness? Yes. Does that mean people actually have the firsthand appreciation they got they got for Shaq, Jordan, Kobe, Lebron? No, of course not. I don't know all the reasons behind Duncan remaining out of the limelight.. I know he preferred it this way, but also that he never received the national TV time these others did and do. I can't count the number of times here people lamented watching the "boring" Spurs.

Bottom line, most people do not know how good Duncan was/is. It wasn't cool to watch him in his prime, but it is necessary now to say they did.

You seem upset.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/64426/miami-and-texas-bad-decisions-and-legends-welcome-to-the-nba-finals

"To the Spurs fan, if you don't like the Spurs, or if you think the Spurs are boring, you simply don't understand basketball. You must not really appreciate THE SPORT if you can't appreciate this team. Even Lakers fans aren't that obnoxious. Likewise, Tim Duncan is the most underappreciated player of his generation, says the Spurs fan, ignoring that every basketball fan on earth would call him the greatest power forward of all time. Finally, the Spurs fan knows deep down that his team is the only team really playing The Right Way. Everyone else? Just a bunch of me-firsters out there freelancing like it's an All-Star Game. If only they could all play like the Spurs …"

Yes, I must be.

Fortunately, my post stands true, and that makes me feel a little better about myself.

 

[coyote5]

I hope the Heat win 2 games tonight and close this out. Tonight.

Pretty amazing, this series could come down to a game 7 bounce of the ball, which may decide whether or not ultimately "the blueprint" is remembered as a success or failure and whether or not this team stays together. 1 bounce.

Right, the series loss to the Mavs and the other 2 blowout losses in this series will have nothing to do with that.

 

[TobiasFunke]

I hope the Heat win 2 games tonight and close this out. Tonight.

Pretty amazing, this series could come down to a game 7 bounce of the ball, which may decide whether or not ultimately "the blueprint" is remembered as a success or failure and whether or not this team stays together. 1 bounce.

Right, the series loss to the Mavs and the other 2 blowout losses in this series will have nothing to do with that.

Or the nine consecutive Eastern Conference playoff series the James-Wade-Bosh Heat have won since they joined forces, which apparently don't count for anything in the eyes of the public ... although you can be sure that if they'd lost any of those nine series we would never ever hear the end of it.

Tom Ziller did a great article on the weirdness of defining legacies this way today. Good read if anyone's interested.

 

[Frostillicus]

Rudy Tomjanovich was sweaty. His voice was hoarse, and his bones were tired. It had been a long, tough series. But the world was listening, and when Coach grabbed the microphone, his words rang through loud and clear.

"I have one thing to say to those non-believers," Rudy told the world. "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion."

Those eight words are etched into NBA Finals lore forever.

We will never, ever underestimate the heart of a champion.

But what about the other guys? What about the guys who just don't want it bad enough? What about the guys who would rather be famous than great? You know, the guys who want all the credit but can't cash the checks.

The NBA Finals are upon us, and the Spurs are putting together another June masterpiece. But as I look at all these champions, I can't help but wonder. What about LeBron James?

These Finals have been a study in contrast. On one side, the Heat won a championship last year that history will ultimately remember with an asterisk. This year, as they try to win their first honest title, they have speed, power, size, and skill. It's heart that's the question mark.

On the other side you have the San Antonio Spurs. They’re smaller, they’re not as fast, and nobody thought they could get this far. For 10 years fans have been counting them out, underestimating Tim Duncan’s championship heart, sometimes forgetting they even exist. But San Antonio won't go away.

They won't stop reminding us what makes them different, what's always made them great.

There’s no I in class. Just a bunch of Spurs teammates who understand what it's all about. And then there's King James. With the I right there in the middle.

America's got Finals fever this week, but the man on the throne is ice-cold, and the media's already coughing up excuses for him. Well, don't let them pull the wool over your eyes.

We’re watching a sheep in wolf's clothing. His bark may be convincing, but reality bites.

It's not to say that sports is one big morality play where true virtue is rewarded and weakness is exposed. Sometimes champions falter. Like Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open this week. He's one of the most remarkable athletes of this generation, but Sunday on the back nine, he couldn't quite get the job done. It happens.

LeBron is another story, though. Watching his story unfold the past few days, I'm reminded of an article in The Atlantic a few weeks back, celebrating the 125-year anniversary of "Casey at the Bat." As the Atlantic wrote: "Casey's downfall illustrates the enduring sports dictum that arrogance, both on and off the playing field, should never go unpunished. That truism is why many NBA fans turned against LeBron James when he took his talents to South Beach, and then felt vindicated when his Miami Heat were trounced in the Finals the next season by the Dallas Mavericks."

Indeed, first there was Casey's strikeout in Mudville back in 1888, then there was LeBron in 2011, now it's 2013. Here is history repeating itself again.



"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;

But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
That was LeBron all year long. This is LeBron now:



The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.
Miami knows how Mudville feels.

And sure, OK.

I hear you, Heat fans.

The series isn’t over. Maybe it won’t end that way for LeBron. Anything can happen. Twenty years after Ernest Thayer turned a sports column into poetry, it just so happens that another titan of the typewriter penned a sequel. Casey hits a home a run at the end of Grantland Rice's version, and everyone goes home happy.

It’s too early to say which ending gets written for LeBron James. But while you wait, I can’t help but wonder. If Grantland Rice were still typing takes today, would he be defending the King, or marveling at San Antonio's Four Horsemen?

All I know is what Rudy T taught us. The heart of a champion shows up on the biggest stage possible. The equation’s pretty simple, folks. Champions don’t lose championships.

And if you’re keeping score in the stands, these Spurs have never lost in the NBA Finals. LeBron, though? We've been watching the NBA's Casey Stengel for a few years now.

In 2007, a Spurs sweep. Strike one.

In 2011, a Mavericks upset. Strike two.

In 2013 … strike three?

We’ll see.

Swing hard, LeBron.

 

[TobiasFunke]

And if you're interested in some counterprogramming after reading that outstanding Ziller column, Frosty has been kind enough to give us the worst column in the history of sportswriting!

ETA: Not really fair to post a Troll Tuesday column without the link that would give as a clue as to what it was, Frosty

 

[matuski]

Anyone else notice how often Lebron feels like he has to remind everyone around him that he is a leader?

Just stop.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

He is a nonfactor. Tired argument.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

He is a nonfactor. Tired argument.

Maybe. But I'm knowledgeable about the NBA, even though I don't like to watch it. You don't think the fact that I can wake up this morning and say, "I know Joey Crawford will ref Game 6 tonight" and then it ends up happening, isn't a PR problem?

 

[Cliff Clavin]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

 

[TobiasFunke]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

He is a nonfactor. Tired argument.

Maybe. But I'm knowledgeable about the NBA, even though I don't like to watch it. You don't think the fact that I can wake up this morning and say, "I know Joey Crawford will ref Game 6 tonight" and then it ends up happening, isn't a PR problem?

Apparently not knowledgeable enough to know that he's already called a game of this series and did an excellent job.

If you knew he was gonna ref when you woke up this morning, why did you wait until it was announced to post here? Seems like your post would carry a lot more weight if you posted it when you knew it, rather than when everyone knew it.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

Will do. Me, and a lot of other people. Ratings are down across the board, even in San Antonio and Miami -- for a variety of reasons.

 

[TobiasFunke]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

Will do. Me, and a lot of other people. Ratings are down across the board, even in San Antonio and Miami -- for a variety of reasons.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inferiority complex of the American hockey fan.

Sorry Dickie, but taking a #### on the NBA for no reason isn't gonna change the fact that 99% of sports fans couldn't care less who wins the Stanley Cup. Keep pretending it counts as a real championship if your team wins it, though.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

Will do. Me, and a lot of other people. Ratings are down across the board, even in San Antonio and Miami -- for a variety of reasons.

Fantastic. Means absolutely nothing to me but I'm glad you're excited about it.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

Will do. Me, and a lot of other people. Ratings are down across the board, even in San Antonio and Miami -- for a variety of reasons.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inferiority complex of the American hockey fan.

Sorry Dickie, but taking a #### on the NBA for no reason isn't gonna change the fact that 99% of sports fans couldn't care less if your team wins the Stanley Cup.

Has nothing to do with hockey. I love college hoops and would like to follow the NBA like I did in the 1980s. The game today just has little to no appeal to me, and I am not alone.

 

[Moe.]

In the least surprising development ever, Joey Crawford will be one of the officials for Game 6.

Things like this are why I stay away from the NBA.

Then stay away and whine about something else.

Will do. Me, and a lot of other people. Ratings are down across the board, even in San Antonio and Miami -- for a variety of reasons.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inferiority complex of the American hockey fan.

Sorry Dickie, but taking a #### on the NBA for no reason isn't gonna change the fact that 99% of sports fans couldn't care less if your team wins the Stanley Cup.

Has nothing to do with hockey. I love college hoops and would like to follow the NBA like I did in the 1980s. The game today just has little to no appeal to me, and I am not alone.

Thanks for making us aware, really appreciate it.