NBA

[RoosterMarty]

Sorry I made my decision that Gasol was the MVP by watching the games, not looking at stats.

Kobe scored 23 pts in a row in Game 5 or something like that yet they still lost so stats don't always tell the true story.

[White Line Fever]

Sorry I made my decision that Gasol was the MVP by watching the games, not looking at stats.

Kobe scored 23 pts in a row in Game 5 or something like that yet they still lost so stats don't always tell the true story.

And where was gasol that game.

Getting carried by Kobe.

[RoosterMarty]

Gasol didn't touch the ball because it was always in Kobe's hands.

Just look at Artest's post match interviews, he has mentioned that before and Kobe wanted to win so bad he tried to do it all himself instead of bringing his team mates in. Quite often when Kobe puts up big numbers the Lakers lose as he is trying to win the game alone, when he brings his team mates into the game the Lakers are extremely difficult to beat.

[White Line Fever]

Gasol didn't touch the ball because it was always in Kobe's hands.

Just look at Artest's post match interviews, he has mentioned that before and Kobe wanted to win so bad he tried to do it all himself instead of bringing his team mates in. Quite often when Kobe puts up big numbers the Lakers lose as he is trying to win the game alone, when he brings his team mates into the game the Lakers are extremely difficult to beat.

Valid point.
Didn't look at it that way.

On another note...
I have Foxtel, and set a reminder on IQ to record the game on ESPN.
Then Saturday night had all the boys around for Game 7 frothies night.
Then with 2:20 on the clock it stopped and said "End of recorded programme"
Absolutely filthy, it was a repeat that i recorded, and Foxtel still stuffed up.

[the big bang]

the first thing i learnt when i got foxtel IQ, always, always, ALWAYS record the program that's on after the one you actually want to record. yes, sometimes it's pointless, and the show/game finishes on time, but then it's a simple click of the delete button to get rid of it. way rather have to do that than miss the last few minutes of a show/game.

[Gozu]

Finals- Kobe. What a joke that was, he almost single-handedly cost them the title in Game 7. Gasol was the true winner.

Regular season- LBJ. As if it would be anybody else.

and Pau's free throw shooting in that game 7 went along way to secure the chip?

KOBE'S FINALS AVG - 28.6ppg, 8reb, 3.9ast, 2.1stl,
PAU'S - 18.6ppg, 11.6reb, 3.7ast, 2.5blks.

Pau was awesome in the finals, but i'd still say Kobe deserved MVP. Would have been silly to not give it to him because he shot poorly in one game.

Kobe shot poorly for the whole series (40.5%).

[the big bang]

Finals- Kobe. What a joke that was, he almost single-handedly cost them the title in Game 7. Gasol was the true winner.

Regular season- LBJ. As if it would be anybody else.

and Pau's free throw shooting in that game 7 went along way to secure the chip?

KOBE'S FINALS AVG - 28.6ppg, 8reb, 3.9ast, 2.1stl,
PAU'S - 18.6ppg, 11.6reb, 3.7ast, 2.5blks.

Pau was awesome in the finals, but i'd still say Kobe deserved MVP. Would have been silly to not give it to him because he shot poorly in one game.

Kobe shot poorly for the whole series (40.5%).

as opposed to 45% from the regular season.

always going to happen when he was double and triple teamed the whole series.

[RoosterMarty]

Instead of trying to shoot over 3 players he could have passed it?

[brod]

Finals- Kobe. What a joke that was, he almost single-handedly cost them the title in Game 7. Gasol was the true winner.

Regular season- LBJ. As if it would be anybody else.

and Pau's free throw shooting in that game 7 went along way to secure the chip?

KOBE'S FINALS AVG - 28.6ppg, 8reb, 3.9ast, 2.1stl,
PAU'S - 18.6ppg, 11.6reb, 3.7ast, 2.5blks.

Pau was awesome in the finals, but i'd still say Kobe deserved MVP. Would have been silly to not give it to him because he shot poorly in one game.

Kobe shot poorly for the whole series (40.5%).

as opposed to 45% from the regular season.

always going to happen when he was double and triple teamed the whole series.

Im with the Rooster here...and the major stat that sways me is
Assists 3.9 in Finals v 6.2 in the rest of the playoffs

In the Finals he was down on major parts of his game
FG%
3pt%
Ast
TO were up

and to consider the extra job/work Pau Gasol had to do with the Lakers playing with a starting centre who could not jump or move laterally (well illustrated by the fact Gasol had 2.6bpg v 1.6 bpg career)

Another interesting thing is over 18% of Gasols offensive came from the offensive glass, while a massive 49% of Kobes offensive was from isolation plays and with him as the primary ball handler

[brod]

This amazed me (is the quality of player that different??)

The price of moving up in the NBA draft has been established. And it's expensive.

Two sources told ESPN.com that the Portland Trail Blazers paid the Golden State Warriors $2 million to move up 10 places when the teams made a trade Monday exchanging the 34th and 44th picks in the second round of Thursday's NBA draft.

Numerous teams, especially the teams that have cleared salary space, are interested in buying up second-round picks to fill empty roster spots.

The price tag attached to Monday's Blazers-Warriors deal sets a bit of an economic precedent, showing the price is going to be high.

[Gozu]

The reasoning for that might be is often the top 2 or 3 picks in the 2nd Rd (31, 32, 33 overall) are European guys who are usually mid-late 1st Rd talents but due to longish contracts with their club teams in Europe are considered too risky to blow a 1st Rd pick on due to the wait for them to come over and the possibility even that they might never come over.

[brod]

The reasoning for that might be is often the top 2 or 3 picks in the 2nd Rd (31, 32, 33 overall) are European guys who are usually mid-late 1st Rd talents but due to longish contracts with their club teams in Europe are considered too risky to blow a 1st Rd pick on due to the wait for them to come over and the possibility even that they might never come over.

Good Call there Gozu, makes sense

[brod]

Finals- Kobe. What a joke that was, he almost single-handedly cost them the title in Game 7. Gasol was the true winner.

Regular season- LBJ. As if it would be anybody else.

and Pau's free throw shooting in that game 7 went along way to secure the chip?

KOBE'S FINALS AVG - 28.6ppg, 8reb, 3.9ast, 2.1stl,
PAU'S - 18.6ppg, 11.6reb, 3.7ast, 2.5blks.

Pau was awesome in the finals, but i'd still say Kobe deserved MVP. Would have been silly to not give it to him because he shot poorly in one game.

Kobe shot poorly for the whole series (40.5%).

Interested to hear more of your thoughts Gozu re: Finals MVP

[Gozu]

Finals- Kobe. What a joke that was, he almost single-handedly cost them the title in Game 7. Gasol was the true winner.

Regular season- LBJ. As if it would be anybody else.

and Pau's free throw shooting in that game 7 went along way to secure the chip?

KOBE'S FINALS AVG - 28.6ppg, 8reb, 3.9ast, 2.1stl,
PAU'S - 18.6ppg, 11.6reb, 3.7ast, 2.5blks.

Pau was awesome in the finals, but i'd still say Kobe deserved MVP. Would have been silly to not give it to him because he shot poorly in one game.

Kobe shot poorly for the whole series (40.5%).

Interested to hear more of your thoughts Gozu re: Finals MVP

It is what it is. More often than not the Finals MVP goes to the leading scorer/star player from the team that wins so with the Lakers winning I would've expected Kobe to get it. I think Gasol probably deserved to win it (especially with how badly he out rebounded the Celtics bigs) but when the "star player" on the team averages ten points a game more than you (despite how poorly he shot during the series) it shouldn't be a surprise.

Now if Kobe had have shot 38% from the field like he did when he shot the Lakers out of the 2004 Finals series that might be a different story

[brod]

Seeking a scoring threat and willing to take on a significant contract, the Milwaukee Bucks acquired forward Corey Maggette in a trade with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
The Bucks also got a second-round draft pick from the Warriors, giving up guard Charlie Bell and center Dan Gadzuric in return.
Maggette played in 70 games with 49 starts for Golden State last season, averaging 19.8 points per game. He will be expected to provide offense for a team that may lose John Salmons, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent.
Salmons is going to opt out of his contract with the Bucks, Bucks general manager John Hammond told ESPN.com's Chad Ford.
"Corey has been a consistent scorer throughout his career," Hammond said in a statement. "He shoots a solid percentage from the field and has shown the ability to get to the free throw line. We're looking forward to having him in a Bucks uniform."
Tuesday's deal leaves the Bucks with three selections in the second round of Thursday night's NBA draft.
Maggette, an 11-year veteran, ranked 19th in the league in field goal percentage (.516) last season and had the league's highest scoring average for a player who logged fewer than 30 minutes per game. He has three years and approximately $31 million remaining on his contract.
Bell played in 71 games with 39 starts for Milwaukee last season, averaging 6.5 points, 1.5 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game. Gadzuric appeared in 32 games with six starts, and averaged 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per game.

[Gozu]

The San Antonio Spurs George Hill will be on Thursday Night Live tonight on One HD.

[brod]

He hasnt even been selcted in the Draft but,

On the eve of the NBA draft, John Wall introduced his new shoe with Reebok.
Reebok officials did not release contract terms. Yahoo! Sports, citing anonymous sources, reported the deal is for five years and $25 million.
The "ZigTech Slash" is part of the ZigTech collection of Reebok.
The guard from Kentucky said he had other offers, but the key for him was the chance to be the face of basketball for Reebok.
"I needed to grab the opportunity and run with it," he said.
His shoe commercial will debut during Thursday's draft, when Wall will likely be drafted No. 1 by the Washington Wizards.

[brod]

"I'm leaning towards retiring but I have not made up my mind," Jackson said.

The 64-year-old coach told Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss that he planned on completing a series of medical tests and evaluations by Thursday. He then plans to drive out to his summer home in Flathead Lake, Mont., on Friday, spend a week checking in on the results of those tests and make his final decision a week from Friday.

[brod]

The Miami Heat have traded their way out of the first round of Thursday's NBA draft but, in doing so, cleared more cap space by sending the 18th pick and guard Daequan Cook to Oklahoma City for the No. 32 pick in the second round.
Miami announced the trade Wednesday evening.
The Heat were not enamored with the quality of players in the draft and wanted to clear cap room, a source told ESPN.com. The net result of losing Cook's $2.2 million salary for next season and the value of the 18th pick is in the neighborhood of $3 million.
The Heat, then, have a payroll currently at $44 million, which puts the franchise closer to signing three max-contract players -- their own free agent Dwyane Wade and possibly two others.

Going to be an interesting off-season, still think the biggest free agent will stay at home

[brod]

The Chicago Bulls have a deal in place that would move Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick to the Washington Wizards, freeing up enough cap space to pursue two maximum-salary players in this summer's free-agent market, sources with knowledge of the Bulls' plans said Thursday

Its all about the free agents this off season