So who is still watching the playoffs? (with poll)

The rest are pretty boring.

your really taking Cleveland over your Lakers? I agree though, Cleveland is hungry and that linebacker guy is pretty good…

I have been an Aaron Brooks fan for several years and this afternoon he set a career high scoring 34 points!!!

I am amazed that the Yao-less Rockets could win against the L*kers, but then I guess that is why they play the games.

Finding myself watching the NHL playoffs over the NBA playoffs when they’ve been on against each other (which is often.) I still pay attention, and read a bunch of the ESPN.com stories, but this year just feels too inevitable, and this round just doesn’t seem good enough in the NBA to watch night in and night out.

Although I am halfway paying attention to the Magic/Celtics

I’m rooting for the Rockets foremost, with a little bit of rooting for the Magic, though I doubt either team will make it for obvious reasons. This year is clearly the Cav’s to win or lose as they choose. And they look like they are choosing to win.

I’m a HUGE fan of Battier. I love the guy. Artest is slightly behind him, and I like Brooks too. And the Houston bench can just play amazingly, can’t they? Talk about taking up the mantle, having both your centers knocked out of the playoffs and putting in the 6’6" Hayes at center and winning against the lakers? That’s…well…sigh that’s amazing.

I love watching playoff basketball and i really dont understand why they dont show the player intros before the games. Most of the time i really dont care what Hubie Brown of Jeff Van Gundy has to say before tip off. I want to hear Chauncey “BA BA” Billups

cause I don’t want him a year up on MJ, and I don’t want Flobee to win, cause… well… Yeah, I just don’t, that and I don’t want him to EVER win another ring without Shaq, even though I can’t stand the Big Hacktus any more then the Ring Bearer. My Dream would have been Houston, and Orlando, but that’s not likely.

You picked the Nuggets over the L*kers in the WCF?

I know the L@kers aren’t exactly wowing anyone by letting the Yao/McGrady less Rockets manhandle them, but the Nuggets haven’t exactly had a murderer’s row of playoff opponents.

The Nuggets are playing well, but they were in a bracket with the 3 worst playoff teams (I think the Jazz would have had a great shot beating anyone but the L#kers): The old and injury plagued Spurs, the exhausted/injured Hornets and the Mavs who are down 0-3. The Spurs lucked into the 3rd seed (12-7 in games decided by 3 or less plus that OT win against the hornets in the finale). The top 4 in the West going into the playoffs definitely were the L$kers, Nuggets, Rockets and Blazers and it’s really too bad that we had to play Houston and then they had to play LA in the next round. I think all those teams beat any of the other 4 teams in a series and if either the Rockets or Blazers ended up in Denver’s place, I think they would have made the conference finals too.

I swear I’m not bitter about getting the 4th seed.

I’m only watching if it’s convenient. I’ll watch the East v West though.

but I no longer care… the refs have ruined it for me. And why are they not replaying the last few seconds of that game? They did it for stupid Shaq last year, so why not now when it actually matters? totally lame.

The East is incredibly dull. Pencil in Cleveland.

Off topic, but I wasn’t sure where to post this since I don’t see a junk drawer for today. Just wanted to say thanks to whoever made that Sergio flyer…I thought it was hilarious and I have posted it on the bulletin board outside my office.

Haven’t watched a game since the Blazers got eliminated. Still follow the scores to see who won, but never actually bothering to watch. Would like the Rockets to win, but other than that, can’t really generate those feelings to care.

More interested in what happens with the draft, free agency, trades and off-season improvement for the Blazers than what the rest of the NBA is doing.

though I think it might be a one time boost from losing Yao, sounds strange, but it happens.
    The Orlando Boston series is pretty good, I just want to see boston lose, I think Orlando is not smart about playing match ups. Every point in the first quarter was in the paint, practically, then they end the game shooting 3’s. Orlando could have won that. Denver Dallas is just sad.
    I used to live in Denver, and I grew up in Colorado, so I follow them and they look really good. Billups was the trade of the year. No one ever again would be able to trade A.I. for anyone, especially a Billups quality guy. I am really looking forward to a lakers denver WCF, just because it should be a very entertaining game.
  Cleveland against whoever is so boing, clevland is just too good, its boring to watch. I’m not even sure why, but I hope they don’t win a championship. Though it would be nice for Cleveland to win one before LeBron leaves.
  By the way Timbo, my wife and I have decided that if Houston beats the Lakers there is a good chance Kobe will come to the Blazers. Kind of a joke, but if they did somehow lose what do you think it would do to the team?

Finally I’m proven correct that the only reason he ever got any run is because he plays in LA.

if a game happens to be on, and happens to be a good game.

I don’t really have a favorite right now. I always root for the underdog, and I can’t stand the Celtics, yet for some reason I couldn’t root for the Bulls.

I dunno, go Cavs I guess. I’m sure I will passionately hate LeBron once he wins a title and then stands as a perennial obstacle to Blazer success, but I’ll enjoy it for now.

I’m watching as many games as I can, this is finals time for me so I’m watching way more than I should. Some observations:

—Haven’t seen a team get intimidated off the court like the Hawks in a long time. I would be embarrassed to be one of their fans. Although if I was asked to guard Lebron, I would probably fake a couple injuries.

—It’s so disappointing to see Yao get benched for the season because he tried to play through an injury. I hope T-Mac is humiliated sitting next to him. Yao’s injury also put an end to what I thought was the most impressive ball I’ve ever seen from him.

—What’s with Kobe doing post-game interviews with headphones around his neck? If his skin broke out he’d look like half the tools from my high school.

—I agree with Timbo. Denver looks tough. Although there’s no one on the roster I like to guard Kobe, I still think they could steal a series from LA. Also, Cuban is trying to give David Stern a heart attack, what with calling K-Mart’s mom a punk and shoving a cameraman.

—Boston is done. That team has a fork sticking out of it. That said, this has been the most impressive run I’ve ever seen out of a zombie team. All Boston hatred aside, there has to be some love for a team with no hope fighting as hard as they are.

 as well as the end of a magic-76ers game

We took the long term approach. Get good young guys and build. I think when Boston lost out on a top pick the year before last they did the ultimate get good quick plan. Get top veterans, trade promising young talent. They got lucky Rondo is so good. It worked , they won a championship. Now we see the downside, one guy gets hurt, and they are done,at least as far as being a top contender. Also the guys are older so there is more chance that one will be injured, perhaps seriously, and end their run. So what do they do? How long until they can rebuild? I mean, could they have actually peaked? If so, how long do Boston fans enjoy having a great team that can’t quite get back to the top? Total instant gratification. This has all been said before, but it’s interesting to see how fragile it all is for them.

…I’m a basketball fan who loves the Blazers. And I’ll admit I’ve loved other teams just as much. Of course I was playing on them or coaching them (not NBA teams, obviously). Had a team of 5th graders once that went 12-2. At the beginning of the season we played what is called a jamboree — one quarter against four different teams. We won by a combined score 43-0. Those guys were awesome.

Lakers over Houston Magic over Boston
Denver over Dallas Cleveland over Hawks
Denver over Lakers Cleveland over Magic
Cleveland over Denver
I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t go that way.

i’m not less interested, but i’m less committed this year. Previous years I would never miss highlights on game night and would catch any close fourth quarter at least from the conference finals forward. This year I’m paying attention and am interested, but there has been an extended cool down period this last week due to the Blazers actually being in the playoffs and the energy that went into that (combined with a trip to southern california)..

tomorrow (… tonight?) I will be at Staples rooting for no one to win! Hopefully I’ll see at least one ejection..

Don’t like Boston (although better without KG), the superman stuff in the slam dunk contests have really turned me against D. Howard (I still believe he is overrated), and I get oh so tired of Lebron, Lebron, Lebron. I’d root for any team over the Cavs but of course they are a shoo in to win the east which is the main reason not to watch any of the games there.

The west. Oh Timbo, don’t sell out now, there is no way the Lakers will allow the Nuggets to get by them. They are much too deep and motivated.

Lakers vs. Cav’s? Hard to call. Lakers beat them twice in the regular season. But maybe I’m just letting my dislike for Lebron get in the way. In the Chicago era, I became so sick of the over-hyping by the media regarding Jordan and I find the same thing happening with King James. I won’t watch another Cavs game until the finals or the maybe the Eastern Conference finals if by some miracle Boston or Orlando is threatening to beat them.

I’m enjoying the series for the most part. The east has been boring except for the Celtic’s inability to win a series outright, but LeBron is worth watching anyway.

I’m looking forward to a LA vs. Denver Clash of the Creetons! One can only guess how many technicals are going to be called in that one. I think the biggest thing to come out of that series isn’t going to be a WCF champion, but rather an economic boom for the NBA’s offices due to the fines from that series alone. I’m waiting for K-Mart to do a Tyson and take a chunk out of someone’s ear.

The main thing I’m watching for is the potential competitors during the 09/10 playoffs. So far, I’m not liking what I’m seeing. We got pushed out by the physical play of the Rockets and the inexperience of most of the guys who haven’t been in a playoff series. If we have to face a team with the defensive mindset of Denver who loves to intimidate and bully I think we’re going to have a hard time competing unless our style of play is significantly different by the post-season next year.