Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Donovan McNabb not being black enough for Bernard Hopkins, sexy Spanish mermaids, or the day Pippa Middleton stops getting press, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
The 2011 NBA playoffs have been fascinating. There are just so many great storylines happening at the same time. Young players like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose are taking their games to the next level. The old guard of the Celtics and Lakers appear to be headed to that bastard level — good enough to make the playoffs, but obviously not good enough to win it all. Some mute doppelganger has replaced Mark Cuban. People are fascinated to see how year one of “Miami Thrice” ends. This has been the most intriguing NBA post-season in a long, long time.
How do you think it will play out? Will the Bulls or Heat make it out of the east? Will the Mavericks or Thunder win the west? Who’s going to win the whole enchilada?!? Make your NBA finals predictions in the comments section (please)!
Go Mavs!
I hate Derrick Rose and Lebron. I like Wade though so I'm pulling for Miami
I think it will be really interesting to see the Thunder/Mavericks series, but it won't get as much coverage (especially in my area) or emphasis as the Heat/Bulls series. I know the Heat put up a poor performance last night, but I still think they are fully capable of winning this series in 6. They can improve in the next several games—I don't think the Bulls will improve that much from last night's game. I'm also waiting for Boozer to revert to playing as poorly as he did for most of the Hawks/Bulls series.
The Heat feels like the most hated team in the NBA right now, and I just really want them to win because I'm getting rather annoyed by the bandwagon haters. It's an old horse they are beating to death, and I know the hatred will get even worse if they don't win the championship game. Any team Lebron is on has my support though.
If it makes you feel any better, there are definitely no haters down here, lol. Lots of bandwagon critics (myself included), but not haters.
-M
One of my developer friends watched the game at an Outback Steakhouse in Miami. He was surprised by the number of people rooting for the Bulls.
That's because the Heat fans eat at the Ale House and Hooters. Heh.
Tell your friend to stop going to mediocre restaurants to watch a ball game and go to a real sports bar instead.
-M
They were out of towners. I'm sure it was next to their hotel or something.
I hope the Mavs win it all. It would be nice to see Dirk get a ring. It would be even cooler to watch David Stern hand the trophy to Mark Cuban. I'd love to see Cuban go DX on Stern.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the most entertaining players to watch left in these playoffs, so I'm pulling for the Thunder at this point.
Westbrook makes some piss poor decisions. To me he's like a poor man's Derrick Rose. I really don't like shoot-first point guards.
YES! That's why he's so entertaining to watch. You never know which team he's going to help out next!
Sometimes I want Durant to go all Rock on him and tell him to know his roll.
When he plays like he did last night, you get the feeling that he did before the game.
He seems to nice to do that, especially considering they're allegedly best friends. If anything, I'd guess coach Brooks had a chat with him.
Between Dallas and Oklahoma, I believe that the Mavericks are a better team. I say Dallas in six games.
As far as my Heat go; damn that was a piss-poor second half. There is no shortage of criticisms on the airwaves down here. They looked fairly strong in the first quarter despite all of their clumsy plays, which I've been seeing progressively more of. They were also flat in the 3-pt. department where James Jones and Mario Chalmers usually shine (LeBron and Wade are in this category as well). Their aggressive defense was nowhere to be found. LeBron continues to disappoint me in his defensive game as well as the Heat's overall inability to get offensive rebounds (and a few defensive rebounds to boot).
And for the love of all that is holy, could someone please get rid of Mike Bibby?! I miss Udonis in the starting line up terribly. Also, the lack of a good (or any) center is starting to show. I just hope Spoelstra can keep it together and bounce back with a more adaptive game plan against the Bulls. It's not going to be pretty for the Heat if they head back to Miami with two losses. Momentum in basketball is critical.
The Bulls obviously played better, but I know that the Heat have it in them to beat these guys. I say Heat in seven.
-M
On a related note, I think my image of Spoelstra's "U can't see me" is broken. I'm going to see if I can change the batteries on that and get it working. We need to pull an attitude adjustment on Derrick Rose.
-M
It looks more like Booker T's pose to me. Can Spoelstra do a spinarooni?
I thought the game ultimately came down to rebounding. The Bulls did a great job on the boards and got a lot of second-chance baskets on the offensive glass.
Today is a sick da for me so Celtics in 6! Jk
The Bulls are coming out of the east and I would like to see Perkins in the next round to spite some Celtics management but the Mavs are coming out of the west.
I dislike Noah on the Bulls and I feel like its Dirks time so on that alone I will be rooting for the Mavs.
Can someone explain Kevin Durant's backpack to me?
Rumor has it that he keeps Nate Robinson in there.
-M
@Tokz
Just left gamestop and they wouldn't do anything for me. They wanted to give me $22 trade credit, and I would have had to pay another $30 on top of that to get the 360 version, which means I would have been paying more than a new version for a used copy.
For anyone else reading this and wondering where this came from, I didn't feel like putting it in an xbl message for tokz—the CoD: Black Ops game that I bought came in today, except they sent the PS3 version which is oddly enough incompatible with my 360. haha, weird how that works.
And if anyone wants to play Batman: AA for 360 I have a copy sitting here not being played now. Gamestop was barely going to give me anything for it and I can't find the receipt yet to just return it. I might as well screw them over for all the times they've screwed me over (that's fair right?), but without the receipt I'm out of luck.
Dude! Put the PS3 version of CoD in your 360. If your Xbox gets the RROD when you do this, then we will have six more months of winter.
-M
Haha, I prefer 6 extra months of summer or fall, not winter (especially if I'm gonna be living close to Chicago for winter I don't want it to get/stay worse than it already will be).
Gimme the winter. Summer is just too much for me :)
yeah I'm sure it can get pretty hot there in the summer, do you ever even get snow down there in the winter?
This past winter, no. The 3 years prior we did. First time in over 15 years.
After living in California for 11 years, I've decided that winter is stupid. If my family fought with the Starks, that would be awesome. They'd be all, "Winter is coming." And I'd counter with, "Winter is stupid."
Haha!
@bsu
Email amazon customer service and see if u can return it for a 360 version
yeah I'm just going to return it, but I already got another (should be) 360 version copy sent through amazon prime so it can get here in a couple days. I didn't want to wait to send it back to the person, and then for them to send me the correct copy, so I'll just end up returning this PS3 copy (unless I find someone else who wants to be one before tomorrow morning).
Epic Mickey for $19.99. Very sweet deal.
<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=rt0b3-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B002I0GEXM&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Dirk looks awesome at the press conferences. I love how he takes the mic out of the stand and leans back in the chair.
He made a few crazy shots last night. Everything is going his way for sure.
Going to the Heat game tonight. I hope it's as fun as Sunday's game.
BTW, for those who missed Sunday's game, allow me to re-cap in my own personal way: Wade and LeBron were being double-teamed all night as if daring Chris Bosh to take on the Bulls by himself. Said Bosh to the Bulls: "Hey, what's that number on the scoreboard next to my name? 34? Oh damn, you guys must have been double-covering the wrong men."
Here's hoping they can keep up the intensity tonight as well. As long as they maintain the defense, we should be OK. Bosh and Joel Anthony are an amazing duo if you see them on defense.
On a slightly related note; Dirk scares me; and not just of what happened last night, but because I also remember the last time Dallas came to the AA Arena to play the Heat. It wasn't pretty. That guy is a beast.
Man, I was really, really pulling for the Lakers. Oh well.
-M
The Heat will implode and cause the REAL rapture in Miami!
If it ends up being Dallas and Miami then I favor Miami (though I'll be rooting for the Mavs). 2.5 threats are greater than 1 threat.
I think Dallas can take Miami in a 7 game series. Haslem has to play amazing in order to prevent Dirk from lighting them up. Bosh won't stop him.
I hope you're right, but Miami Thrice is just scary. They're lacking as a "team", but the talent is ridiculous. If Dallas continues its poor rebounding, they're doomed.
and the bench is better in D
I tweeted this and wanted to make everyone aware of how much fun it is to insert the name Sefolosha into the song "Fergilicious". Try it. You'll enjoy.
Interesting analogy from ESPN's Patrick Forde. He's shooting down the comparisons of Nowitski to Bird because he feels that Dirk isn't as good a passer and defender. He called Nowitski a better version of Kevin McHale, due to his excellent foot work and pump fakes.
Not a bad comparison at all. I thought McHale was more of a paint player though. Then again…I'm basing that solely on the fact that McHale ruled me repeatedly in 2k11.
I think McHale was a much tougher player. Mind you, Dirk gets that soft label that most European players get, but I'm not so sure it's 100% accurate in his case. He's not a banger by any means, but he doesn't shy away from the paint or anything.
I need to concentrate to remember McHale as a great player. My initial thoughts — for the last decade or so — drift towards his moronic moves as a general manager. He should fight Isiaiah for the worst player-turned-executive.
matt millen could beat them both if blundering executive moves denote power.
I'm not sure. Thomas' forcing the CBA to merge with another league, sexually harassing a Knicks employee, and allegedly overdosing on sleeping pills is a killer triumvirate.
0-16
Drafting Harrington and those WRs in the 1st rounds in consecutive years.
Millen was pretty bad lol.
He seems to help the C's whenever he has a chance. So I'm cool with however horribly he wants to run the T-Wolves.