Garden Of Oden: RELOADED | NLSC Draftees??

[Lamrock]

And so with just two games remaining, the Blazers are fighting for their lives. If they win both, a playoff seed is all but assured. If they win just one, they'll need things to fall into place.

In case you missed it, WEEK 7 RECAP: viewtopic.php?p=1431657#p1431657

[Lamrock]

Blazers' Playoff Hopes In Serious Jeopardy As Knicks Stun Blazers


Carmelo Anthony made a game-winning jumper with 6 seconds left

Knicks [13-13] @ Blazers [14-14] (Played)
Posted by Severin Harding
Posted April 24, 2012, 10:52 PM PST

New York 89, Portland 88

Okay, it's time to hit that panic button now. Courtesy of a game-winning jumper by Carmelo Anthony, the Blazers have now lost three consecutive games, to fall into a tie for tenth place and casting huge doubt on their ability to make the post-season in the competitive Western Conference.

The game was all Blazers in the first quarter, with the team feeding off their home crowd and the urgency of the game. The Knicks managed to stay in it with some poor shooting from the Blazers' backcourt. A late run sparked by Toney Souglas late in the third put New York up three going into the fourth. The final period saw the Knicks and Blazers trading the lead. The Knicks would get the last laugh in all of this, as Carmelo made a jumper with 6 seconds left to put the Knicks up 89-88. With no timeouts remaining, Wesley Matthews sprinted up the court and tossed up a contested midrange brick for the loss.

Earlier this season, the Knicks and Blazers made a trade that sent Marcus Camby and a protected first to the Knicks for Carl Landry and Ronnie Turiaf. In this game, Camby had 7 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks and the win. Turiaf and Landry combined for 4 points and 5 rebounds, but the loss likely means that Portland will keep their draft pick this year.

LaMarcus Aldridge has been so sensational that his monster games are hardly worth reporting anymore. The would-be MVP candidate (if not for his team's record) had 37 points and 8 rebounds on 15-23 shooting. Unfortunately, Raymond Felton played like shit with 2 points on 0-9 shooting to go with 5 turnovers. Other than missing the potential game winner, Wes Matthews had a very solid game. His backup Brandon Roy had a solid outing with 19 points and 6 assists, but on 5-18 shooting.

For the Knicks, who improve to 13-13, got a good game from Carmelo Anthony, but Amar'e Stoudemire was extremely limited with foul trouble, managing just 4 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes of play. The Knicks take a 1.5 game lead over the 8th and 9th place Nets and Bucks for 7th place.

19 24 27 19 89 | PTS: Anthony (26); REBS: Camby (11); ASTS: Billups (7)
27 21 19 21 88 | PTS: Aldridge (37); REBS: Wallace (9); ASTS: Felton (9)

New York notables
Carmelo Anthony: 26 pts, 8 rebs, hit game winner (PotG)
Landry Fields: 18 pts, 3 asts, 6-12 FG
Chauncey Billups: 10 pts, 7 asts, 3 stls

Portland notables
LaMarcus Aldridge: 37 pts, 8 rebs, 15-23 FG, 7-8 FT
Wesley Matthews: 17 pts, 6 rebs, 5 asts
Raymond Felton: 2 pts, 9 asts, 5 TO's, 0-9 FG (Shitass)

[kibaxx7]

Well deserved ASG spot for LMA. Now, playoff hopes hanging on a line. I know you can do it man!

[Lamrock]

Blazers Defeat Golden State, Clinch Playoff Seed
Warriors Celebrate Fan Appreciation Night With 32 Point Home Loss


Greg Oden posterizes the Warrior's front line.

Portland 131, Golden State 99

April 25, 2012 - We fucking did it. After a season where nothing has made sense, we finally made it out of the regular season alive. Barely, but we made the playoffs!

With our three game losing streak, we had fallen to 14-14 and into a position where we controlled our own destiny. In a three way tie with the defending champion Mavericks and the Hornets for 8th through 10th place. If we won this game, we would guarantee ourselves a playoff spot, as we had the tiebreaker over New orleans and Denver. A loss would have eliminated us from contention as Dallas owns our tiebreaker.

Anyway, my apologies for all that technical stuff. The 18-10 Warriors had won their division and were supposed to win. However, Golden State has been questioned as a potential anamoly in the short season. Furthermore, a Warriors loss would guarantee a first-round series with San Antonio, Memphis and Houston, all teams barring the Rockets they defeated earlier this season. (on the other hand, the Blazers, Lakers and Mavs, the potential 6 & 7 seeds accounted for three of Golden State's 11 losses)

LaMarcus Aldridge ran back on defense backwards with a sheepish grin as his long 2 had put Portland up 15 points. We had built the lead with dominance on both ends of the floor. Then, the 24-2 run happened. Aldridge and Oden in foul trouble, whistle, after whistle, after whistle, after whistle, was called, Monta Ellis had 30 points - you get the idea.

I mentioned that it was our 24-2 run, right? Gerald Wallace went absolutely nuclear in the third. He had 14 in the period, and nearly fouled out Golden State's entire frontline. We entered the fourth up by 35 points and would cruise to an absolutely stunning 131-99 victory to clinch a playoff seed. For once, Mark Jackson was absolutely silent. He just watched his team go an entire game without playing a lick of defense.

The win clinches us a spot in the playoffs. Should the Mavericks win their last game of the season against the Lakers, they would take the 7th seed, and we would fall to 8th, playing the top seeded Thunder. Should the Mavs lose, or the Hornets win their final game, we would face either the 18-10 Grizzlies, the 17-11 Spurs or the 17-11 Rockets as the 7th seed (with Denver taking 8th).

Team Stats

32 27 35 37 131 | PTS: Wallace (27); REBS: Wallace (15); ASTS: Roy (8)
21 31 15 32 99 | PTS: Ellis (36); REBS: Lee (11); ASTS: Ellis (5)

Portland [15-14] notables
Gerald Wallace: 27 pts, 15 rebs, 9-15 FG, 9-12 FT (PotG)
Carl Landry: 22 pts, 6 rebs, 9-13 FG
Brandon Roy: 13 pts, 8 asts, 4 rebs

Golden State [18-11] notables
Monta Ellis: 36 pts, 5 asts, 13-22 FG
David Lee: 13 pts, 11 rebs
Shannon Brown: 7 pts, 4 asts, 4 TO's. 2-9 FG, 3-6 FT (Shitass)

This recap brought to you by our sponsor:

Playoff Picture:

z-1 OKC | 20-9 | Games Left: None
x-2 MEM | 18-10 | Games Left: @SAS
y-3 GSW | 18-11 | Games Left: None
x-4 HOU | 17-11 | Games Left: Vs. LAC
x-5 SAS | 17-11 | Games Left: VS. MEM
x-6 LAL | 16-12 | Games Left: Vs. DAL
x-7 POR | 15-14 | Games Left: None
8 DEN | 15-14 | Games Left: None
DAL | 14-14 | Games Left: @ LAL
NOH | 14-14 | Games Let: Vs. MIN

With one day remaining in the regular season, we have clinched a playoff spot, and our fate is in the hands of the rest of the conference. We are currently set to face Memphis in the first round, but if the Mavs defeat the Lakers and the Hornets lose to the Wolves, we will get the #8 seed and face the Thunder. Should we get the #7 seed, we will face either the Warriors should the Spurs win their division, the Rockets should they win the division, or the Grizzlies should they win the division. Portland is 2-3 against potential playoff opponents (defeated San Antonio, Golden State)

[Axel The Great]

Love that Rib City advertisement.

Huge game from Gerald Wallace, clinching a playoff seed wasn't as much of a problem after all. I want to see you face the Thunder, recaps of those games would be interesting.

[Mavs4Life]

Mavs . The WC is jacked up, ROckets in a home-court seed, Memphis at the 2, no way.

[Gamebreaker]

Heh, Warrior Fan Appreciation Night. A perfect simulation!

No doubt they're a serious freakin anomaly too.

Congratz on the advancement.

[Lamrock]

FINAL NIGHT OF THE SEASON

Memphis 115 @ San Antonio 106

In the game that would decide the victor of the Southwest Division, MVP candidate Zach Randolph's 33 points and 14 boards led the way for Memphis, who clinched the second seed. Manu Ginobili had 26 points in the loss while Gary Neal added 22 off the bench.

Dallas 113 @ LA Lakers 104

Surprisingly fighting for a playoff spot until the last day, the Mavs' fate is in the Timberwolves and Hornets' now as Dallas brought back painful memories of last year's second round upset to the Lakers. The Lakers will now take the sixth spot in the playoffs, while Dallas will either take 7th with a Hornets loss, or miss the post-season with a hornets win.

LA Clippers 98 @ Houston 104

Eric Gordon may have out-dueled Kevin Martin 37 points to 34 (and Griffin over Scola 27 points to 17) but the playoff-bound Rockets showed why they were a playoff team, defeating the Clippers and clinching the third seed in the playoffs. The Rockets will face Kobe and the underachieving Lakers in the first round.

Minnesota 101 @ New Orleans 80

How's this for a stunner? At home, against the worst team in the conference, with a playoff spot on the line, and the Hornets go and get blown out. To be fair, Chris Paul and Trevor Ariza were hobbled a bit, but that is no excuse. Chris Paul's final game as a Hornet could very well end up being 12 points and 5 assists on 3-14 FG in a 21 point loss with a playoff seed on the line.

Final Standings:

Western Conference

z-1 OKC | 20-9 | .690% | H: 11-3; A: 9-6
y-2 MEM | 19-10 | .655% | H: 10-4; A: 9-6
x-3 HOU | 18-11 | .621% | H: 9-5; A: 9-6
y-4 GSW | 18-11 | .621% | H: 10-5; A: 8-6
x-5 SAS | 17-12 | .586% | H: 8-6; A: 9-6
x-6 LAL | 16-13 | .552% | H: 11-4; A: 5-9
x-7 DAL | 15-14 | .517% | H: 8-6; A: 7-8
x-8 POR | 15-14 | .517% | H: 9-5; A: 6-9
DEN | 15-14 | .517%
NOH | 14-15 | .483%
SAC | 14-15 | .483%
LAC | 13-16 | .448%
UTA | 13-16 | .448%
PHX | 13-16 | .448%
MIN | 10-19 | .345%

Eastern Conference

z-1 CHI | 20-9 | .690% | H: 12-2; A: 8-7
y-2 ATL | 18-11 | .621% | H: 12-3; A: 6-8
x-3 ORL | 17-12 | .586% | H: 11-4; A: 6-8
y-4 BOS | 17-12 | .586% | H: 8-6; A: 9-6
x-5 MIA | 16-13 | .552% | H: 10-5; A: 6-8
x-6 CLE | 15-14 | .517% | H: 10-5; A: 5-9
x-7 IND | 14-15 | .483% | H: 8-7; A: 6-8
x-8 NYK | 14-15 | .483% | H: 6-8; A: 8-7
NJN | 13-16 | .448%
MIL | 13-16 | .448%
PHI | 10-19 | .345%
CHA | 10-19 | .345%
DET | 10-19 | .345%
WAS | 10-19 | .345%
TOR | 8-21 | .276%

First Round Match-Ups

1 Oklahoma City [20-9]
[15-14] Portland 8

4 Golden State [18-11]
[17-12] San Antonio 5

3 Houston [18-11]
[16-13] LA Lakers 6

2 Memphis [19-10]
[15-14] Dallas 7

1 Chicago [20-9]
[14-15] New York 8

4 Boston [18-11]
[16-13] Miami 5

3 Orlando [17-12]
[15-14] Cleveland 6

2 Atlanta [18-11]
[14-15] Indiana 7

[shadowgrin]

Durant is gonna bury your ass. Your only hope of winning is Westbrick taking over the shots.

[The X]

Severin Harding

Actually, it brings me great sadness to hear his name again

[Kenny]

Well done making it to the post-season

The Thunder are going to be tough to beat, but I think your distaste for them might get you through

[deihatein]

I loled hard on "Rose Garden Tinted Glasses". I don't know why

Congrats on making the post season.

[rise]

haha Miami only had one more win than Cleveland.

Have fun against OKC.

[Lamrock]

2011-12 AT A GLANCE

2012 NBA Playoff Tree:



----------
League Leaders:

Points Per Game
Rose 27.1 Durant 26.6 Nowitzki 26.4 Bryant 26.0 Aldridge 25.9
Rebounds Per Game
Howard 12.4 Griffin 12.3 Love 12.0 Duncan 11.2 Randolph 11.1
Assists Per Game
Rondo 10.1 Kidd 9.8 Conley 9.1 Wall 8.6 Paul 8.4
Steals Per Game
Paul 3.0 Evans 2.8 Wall 2.5 J. Smith 2.4 Rondo 2.3
Blocks Per Game
T. Thomas 2.2 Bogut 2.1 Aldridge 2.0 Howard 2.0 Bynum 2.0
Player Efficiency Rating
Rose 31.1 Nowitzki 29.1 E. Gordon 27.7 Aldridge 27.4 Durant 27.3
True Shooting %
Landry .662% Turkoglu .649% M. Gasol .647% E. Gordon: .644% Horford: .634%

Trail Blazers Player Stats:



----------

Award Race Game:

To be revealed during the first round, are the end-of-season NBA awards. While the coach, rookie and most improved awards look like washes, these are the competitive award races to watch. 10 points for each correct winner you pick.

Most Valuable Player
Kevin Durant: 26.6 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 27.3 PER (Thunder: 20-9)
LeBron James: 23.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.8 APG, 24.3 PER (Heat: 16-13)
Zach Randolph: 19.1 PPG, 11.1 RPG, 21.0 PER (Grizzlies: 19-10)
Derrick Rose: 27.1 PPG, 8.1 APG, 3.9 RPG, 31.1 PER (Bulls: 20-9)
Josh Smith: 17.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.4 APG, 1.9 BPG, 25.2 PER (Hawks: 18-11)

Sixth Man:
Andre Miller: 12.0 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.6 RPG, 18.0 PER (Nuggets: 15-14)
Lamar Odom: 13.6 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 14.2 PER (Lakers: 16-13)
Brandon Roy: 14.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.4 RPG, 21.9 PER (Blazers: 15-14)
Louis Williams: 19.6 PPG, 4.0 APG, 19.5 PER (Sixers: 10-19)
Thaddeus Young: 16.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 15.1 PER (Sixers: 10-19)

Defensive Player:
LaMarcus Aldridge: 8.8 RPG, 2.0 BPG, 1.9 SPG (Blazers: 15-14)
Blake Griffin: 12.3 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 1.1 BPG (Clippers: 13-16)
Dwight Howard: 12.4 RPG, 2.0 BPG, 1.1 SPG (Magic: 17-12)
Josh Smith: 8.7 RPG, 2.4 SPG, 1.9 BPG (Hawks: 18-11)
Tyrus Thomas: 10.2 RPG, 2.2 BPG, 1.7 SPG (Bobcats: 13-16)

[shadowgrin]

Rose, Williams, Howard.

LaMarcus Aldridge: 8.8 RPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.9 RPG

Beast on the boards!

[Lamrock]

Thanks, fixed. I need to do a sweep of my recaps for typos. Sometimes I'll look at one for reference and notice like 5.

Playoff previews will be up later today. Also, I turned one of the posts at the beginning of the thread into the contest information post. You can find all info about the contests (just the award races for now) here.

[Kenny]

MVP: Derrick Rose
6th: Brandon Roy
Def: Dwight Howard

[Lamrock]

2012 First Round Playoff Preview

Western Conference

1 Oklahoma City [20-9] vs. [15-14] Portland 8

The top seeded Thunder will face their division rivals, the Blazers in the first round. Despite some concerns about morale a ways down the roster, but Thunder finished the season with a 20-9 record, tied with Chicago for best in the league. The Blazers meanwhile have had their first (more or less) healthy season since 2008-09 but have struggled with inconsistency and barely make the playoffs as an 8 seed.

The Thunder narrowly won the season series, edging out Portland last week. However, the Blazers' interior presence, emergence of LaMarcus Aldridge, pair of defensive small forwards, recent history of competitive playoff series and decent point differential, you should expect a fairly competitive series.

OKC: R Westbrook T Sefolosha K Durant* S Ibaka K Perkins (J Harden, N Mohammed, N Robinson)
POR: R Felton W Matthews G Wallace L Aldridge* G Oden (B Roy, C Landry, N Batum)

4 Golden State [18-11] vs. [17-12] San Antonio 5

The Warriors have had a Cinderella season up to this point but lost their final game of the season at home. Some believe the Warriors threw the game to avoid the champion Mavericks or the 08-09, 09-10 champion Lakers. Nonetheless, they still enter the first round as underdogs. Despite their emergence, the similarly offensive-minded Spurs look to put last year's first round exit in the past.

GSW: S Curry M Ellis D Wright D Lee A Biedrins (K Thompson, E Udoh, R Williams)
SAS: T Parker* M Ginobili* R Jefferson D Blair T Duncan* (G Neal, K Leonard, M. Bonner)

3 Houston [18-11] vs. [16-13] LA Lakers 6

Much like the Warriors, the Rockets are considered huge underdogs despite their higher seed. Playing the star-studded, recent champion Lakers in the first round was a tough draw for the Rox, but will give them a huge opportunity to prove themselves here. The Lakers, much like the Heat and Mavericks, had a slow start to the season and never quite ignited in the short regular season. Will the Lakers switch into playoff gear these playoffs, or will it be just like last year?

HOU: K Lowry K Martin S Battier L Scola J Hill (T Thompson, J Calderon, M Morris)
LAL: S Blake K Bryant* M World Peace P Gasol* A Bynum (L Odom, M Barnes, D Fisher)

2 Memphis [19-10] vs. [15-14] Dallas 7

The defending champion Mavs just barely made the playoffs (thanks to the Hornets inexplicably losing their final game to the Wolves) and will have an extremely tough series from the get-go. The Grizz have picked up where they left off last playoffs and are one of the favorites for the title. However, so are the Mavs. Watch this one.

MEM: M Conley OJ Mayo R Gay* Z Randolph* M Gasol* (T Allen, D Arthur, G Vasquez)
DAL: J Kidd R Fernandez S Marion D Nowitzki* T Chandler (J Terry, B Haywood, R Beaubois)

Eastern Conference

1 Chicago [20-9] vs. [14-15] New York 8

The best defensive team in the league takes on one of the worst. Derrick Rose and the first place Bulls are set to play Melo and Amar'e, in what should be a "spiritual successor" to last year's 4 game Celtics/Knicks series.

CHI: D Rose* K Bogans L Deng C Boozer J Noah (T Gibson, K Korver, R Brewer)
NYK: C Billups L Fields C Anthony* A Stoudemire M Camby (T Douglas, B Walker, I Shumpert)

4 Boston [18-11] vs. [16-13] Miami 5

This one's going to be good. The Celtics will rematch with the Miami Heat in the very first round, thanks to the Heat's middling at best interest in the regular season this year. Despite the lower seed, the Heat enter the series favorites, but never count the Celtics out against LeBron completely (unless they start relying on a washed-up O'Neal - oh wait...)

BOS: R Rondo R Allen P Pierce K Garnett J O'Neal (T Prince, J Green, J Foster)
MIA: M Chalmers D Wade* L James* C Bosh J Anthony (U Haslem, M Miller, J Jones)

3 Orlando [17-12] vs. [15-14] Cleveland 6

Kyrie Irving and Baron Davis shocked the world by being a surprisingly excellent backcourt duo and leading the lowly Cavaliers back into the playoffs, just one season removed from LeCision. They'll have their work cut out for them as they face Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Considering the game they placed this season was a 113-76 Orlando victory, this probably won't be much like last year's Magic/Hawks series, but kudos to Cleveland for making it back already.

ORL: J Nelson G Arenas H Turkoglu K Martin D Howard* (JJ Redick, R Anderson, G Davis)
CLE: K Irving B Davis A Kirilenko A Jamison A Varejao (P Patterson, R Sessions, O Casspi)

2 Atlanta [18-11] vs. [14-15] Indiana 7

The Hawks enter the playoffs looking sharp as ever and will have that tested against the upstart Pacers. The Pacers once again enter the playoffs below .500 but their athleticism, youth and performance against the Bulls' last year give Hawks fans a rational reason to be concerned.

ATL: K Hinrich J Johnson M Williams J Smith A Horford (Da West, J Teague, R Bell)
IND: D Collison P George D Granger JJ Hickson R Hibbert (C Hayes, T Hansbrough, E Ilyasova)

----------
Playoff Tipping Game

Post your predictions for the first round of the 2012 playoffs! Post the team you expect to win each series, and how many games they win it in. Correctly selecting the winning team will get you 2 points, picking the correct team and number of games, you get 5 points. If you are one game off, you get 3 points. One bonus point is added if you correctly pick the lower seed to win and/or. Correctly picking a seven game series but picking the wrong team is worth one point.

Series to predict:

Thunder - Blazers
Warriors - Spurs
Lakers - Rockets
Grizzlies - Mavericks
Bulls - Knicks
Celtics - Heat
Magic - Cavaliers
Hawks - Pacers

See all active contests here.

[KidJustin]

MVP: LeBron
6TH: Roy
DPOY: Howard

Thunder in 6
Spurs in 5
Rockets in 7
Mavericks in 7
Bulls in 4
Celtics in 6
Magic in 5
Hawks in 6

[Martti.]

MVP - LeBron
6th - Lou Williams
DPOY - Josh Smith

Thunder in 6
Spurs in 5
Rockets in 7
Mavericks in 6

Bulls in 5
Heat in 6
Magic in 4
Hawks in 5

[Lamrock]

Keep the picks coming in guys. Deadline for the playoff picks is whenever I post the game 1 recap - probably sometime this weekend.

[deihatein]

MVP: Durant
6th: Louis Williams
DPOY: Dwight

Thunder in 5
Spurs in 6
Houston in 6
Griz in 4
Bulls in 4
Washed up Oneal in 7
Orlando in 5
Hawks in 6

[Valor]

MVP: Derrick Rose
Sixth Man: Lamar Odom
DPOY: Dwight Howard

Thunder in 7
Spurs in 6
Lakers in 6
Mavericks in 6

Bulls in 4
Celtics in 6
Magic in 4
Hawks in 4

[dare]

MVP - LeBron
6th - Lou Williams
DPOY - Josh Smith

Thunder in 5
Warriors in 6
Rockets in 7
Mavericks in 6

Bulls in 5
Heat in 6
Magic in 5
Hawks in 6

[shadowgrin]

Thunder in 5
Spur in 7
Rockets in 6
Grizzlies in 6

Bulls in 4
Celtics in 6
Magic in 5
Hawks in 5