2008 NBA Playoffs: Your impressions?

I thought we should have a playoffs recap thread, if only to stave off draft and trade fanposts. Yes, by that I mean the names Russel Westbrook, DJ Augustin, Joe Alexander, Eric Gordan, OJ Mayo, Joe Calderon, Jarret Jack, and Devin Harris are officially banned from this thread. NO MORE.

Ahem. Anyways.

I thought the theatrics and dramatic hype of this years playoffs made it very entertaing, I never thought it took away from the actual basketball being played. The drama never overshadwed the quality of the series and there were definitely some noteworthy series/moments that I'll remember (if only till next year). I'm not going to cover all of the series btw, only the ones that interested me most.

The overall theme I noticed was the changing of the guard in the NBA. The young teams, the Lakers, Hornets, 76s, Hawks, Jazz, Rockets; they are all rising into prominence while teams like the Suns, Pistons, Mavericks, and Spurs are increasingly looking like they are going to be looking on the outside in from now on.

First off, and most recent. The Finals.

(An aside about KG) Honestly I don't hate KG too much, from all I've heard he's a good guy. In fact I used to know someone who was neighbors with him in Minny. Apparently he visited him when he was seriously ill at one point to cheer him up. 

The emotional histrionics of the finals celebration were awesome, you could see how happy they were to win the championship. Seeing Kobe look like he was about to cry was just as awesome. It was actually a memorable event as it should be and hearing KG shout "TOP OF THE WORLD MA" like the Kanye West song made me laugh. The stuff before was great too, when he was crying and said "oh f***... sorry", Michelle Tafoya "It's ok". I was laughing hysterically at the last 10 minutes,  and at about the 4 minute mark, I started shouting "GET IT TO 40, GET IT TO 40". The random bleeping when KG would scream stuff like "C'MON MOTHER F*****"  Watching Lamar Odom get pissed off after the Celtics rained open 3 after open 3 on the offensive end was a spectacular sight. Did I say I hate Lamar Odom? The gatorade dumping. Paul Pierce winning a championship in Boston after what a decade? After being stabbed at a night club, after having to play with Antoine Walker for like 4 seasons,it was a great moment.  Infinitely better than last years forgettable Cavs-Spurs.

The turn around was remarkable and definitely the stuff of NBA legend. I mean a coach that led a team to an 18 game losing streak leads them to a NBA championship the next year over their historic rivals, you couldn't have asked for a more better hollywood script. All the "unbuntu" gimmicks aside, you could tell that his players genuinely liked Doc Rivers.The "Comeback Game" (not a big Bill Simmons fan but this is an apporiate title), will probably be an ESPN classic, along with game 5. Overall it was a fantastic series, the quality of basketball played was excellent, and I was actually entertained watching it (unlike the last 2 years). 

The Cavs/Wizards series, I live in the DC area so I followed it more closely than most of you I'm sure...

The whole Deshawn/Lebron fued was just hilarious. The soldier boy-Jay-z analogy by Lebron, then Soldier boy shows up to a game 4. Deshawn doing that stupid "you can't see me handwave", followed by Lebron torching him. The return of Gilbert, followed by the sudden exit of Gilbert  (without telling his coach). 

I liked how Lebron played through all the hard fouls the Wizards landed on him, even though he wore down as the playoffs progressed, and even though sometimes he refers to himself in third person in his interviews.

Hawks-Celtics

Really got to see how a real home crowd can carry a young team, it was refreshing to see a team I wasn't familiar with, and watching the Hawks take the Celts all the way to game 7 was completely unexpected.

The hawks are fun to watch, they have a lot of really athletic guys that get up the floor. Josh Smith is a very talented player isn't he? Joe Johnson was unstoppable in game 5 in that 4th quater. This team should have a bright future and I'm glad, Atlanta has been terrible for far too long.

The ZaZa-KG headbutt was one of my favorite moments of the playoffs. It kind of reminded me of wildabeasts locking horns for whatever reason.

76ers-Pistons

Another young team going against a heavy favorite. Going to 6 against the mighty PIstons was definitely a sucess in my opinion.

The thing I remember most about this series was Samuel Dalembert's head, didn't he have "SD" or something shaved ridiculous like that shaved into his head? Super defense or something.

Magic-Raptors

Chris Bosh "He's (Dwight Howard) superman and I'm Lex Luthor". Indeed, I don't think the Raptors are ever going to beat Orlando unless they get some toughness and dump some of their euro floppers.

 Spurs-Suns

Poor Steve Nash, will he ever get a ring?

The Hornets

My favorite team to watch over these playoffs

I think Chris Paul dismembered the corpse of Jason Kidd and sold his still pumping organs against Dallas.  I was amazed at just how good this guy is. I made him my favorite player who looks like "he could be sort of Indian", sorry LMA.

Anyway a good spring for basketball if I can say so myself.