The Spurs are 2007 champs!(much more inside)

cry me a river.

the team that wins the championship is the team that deserves it.

well thats not always true but to each thier own right

Stupid lame Detroit... Looks like this one is over. Cavs up three, shooting FT's. I really wanted Pistons in 5. I hate the Cavs, and their udll style of play. A Spurs-Cavs finals would suck; 4 dull games all won by SA.

Coming down to the wire in Cleveland...

Lebron fouled with 4 seconds left. How does he respond?

Wow...Lebron hits them both. The ECF has become a competitive series again. All the Cavs need to do is win one game at the Palace (which they nearly did in games 1 and 2) and they have a brilliant shot at reaching the NBA Finals. Daniel Gibson has really emerged during these last 2 games , and Cleveland is going to be real good next year if Gibson continues to play well.

i still stick by my prediction of Spurs over Cleveland 4-2 in the NBA finals.

Stupid lame Detroit... Looks like this one is over. Cavs up three, shooting FT's. I really wanted Pistons in 5. I hate the Cavs, and their udll style of play. A Spurs-Cavs finals would suck; 4 dull games all won by SA.

But the Pistons-Spurs would be 7 dull games.

Stupid lame Detroit... Looks like this one is over. Cavs up three, shooting FT's. I really wanted Pistons in 5. I hate the Cavs, and their udll style of play. A Spurs-Cavs finals would suck; 4 dull games all won by SA.

But the Pistons-Spurs would be 7 dull games.

7 Dull Games that can go either way is better than 4 dull one-sided games, that eventually end ups with the Spurs easily winning their 4th title.

Plus, the style Cleveland plays will make those 4 games, much more painful to watch.

Also, Geraldo Riviera is a Cleveland fan, so its hard to root for them.

i would take 7 games over 4 anyday.

Cleveland beat San Antonio in the regular season matchup 2-0, so i don't think it'll be a 4 game sweep if cleveland can even make it there

It's really ashame Utah is in this position right now though :/, I really am impressed with deron williams brilliant play against SA.

Cleveland has really stepped up to the plate, if you remove a couple bad 3rd quarter performances in game 1 and 2 cleveland wins the series in 4 games. Cleveland has been the better team than detroit in all of game 3 and 4, and in quarters 1,2,4 in game 1 and 2. So we'll see if they take one at the palace.

The word is detroit's not on their 'A' game in game 1, and it was the same in game 2, and 3, and 4. My personal opinion is great cleveland defense, because detroit really takes advantage of everything cleveland gives them (some dunks and layups), but 80% of their shots are forced because of great defense, particularly I notice larry hughes on chauncey billups.

Gibson in my mind is going to be a great point guards in the future, he makes really smart decisions for a rookie (he knew detroit was pressing him on the perimeter so he drove to the basket and shot mid-range for 21), and he has point guard instincts as they said at half-time or at the post-game, they showed him spread the floor for his alley oop, etc.

Detroit everyone said would take atleast one in cleveland because of being such a great road team, but surprisingly the crowd and environment got to them because they made some poor decisions at the end (chauncey's leaning 3 with 21 seconds on the shot clock, 34? left in the game)

I'm really interested to see the Drew Gooden and Rasheed Wallace matchup for the rest of this series as well. Both guys showed some serious emotion for their team, and it was a fun matchup to watch.

i personally dont think either of the eastern teams have a chance to stop the spurs. its just a matter of time now and they will be the champs.

i think cleveland has a greater chance of beating sa then detroit, because cleveland has a player capable of single handedly winning games. detroit is consistent, but the year they won they won because of their d which is now weaker than it was.

but in the end, i'd agree and bet on san antonio. they have the best player in the game in td, and manu is playing well.

Spurs offence > Cavs offence

Spurs defence > Cavs defence

I still think Detroit is finals bound, but I don't know if they can take down SA.

i think cleveland has a greater chance of beating sa then detroit, because cleveland has a player capable of single handedly winning games. detroit is consistent, but the year they won they won because of their d which is now weaker than it was.

but in the end, i'd agree and bet on san antonio. they have the best player in the game in td, and manu is playing well.

Not true.

Detroit in 2005 pushed the spurs to 7 games. This Detroit team, in my opinion, is much better equiped to beat San Antonio team then the one in 05. The only thing that could hurt them is the coaching.

The only thing that could hurt them is the coaching.

which is hurting them now........

take Chauncey OFF the ball......that's when Cavs can't guard him!!!!!!

At the risk of selling the Jazz short, it would seem the Spurs are three quarters away from the NBA Finals barring a huge turnaround in Utah's fortunes.

i think cleveland has a greater chance of beating sa then detroit, because cleveland has a player capable of single handedly winning games. detroit is consistent, but the year they won they won because of their d which is now weaker than it was.

but in the end, i'd agree and bet on san antonio. they have the best player in the game in td, and manu is playing well.

i agree, i feel the cavs have a better shot also and pretty much for the same reason you stated. the pistons have some good depth to use for fouling players like duncan but right now i dont know what the hell they are doing with thier subs. lebron is pumped right now. he has taken a beaten in the media and will do anything to reinstill the confidense people had in him prior to this season. he wants to be known as that dominate guy and this is his chance to prove it.

The media doesn't have as big of an influence as it would like you to believe.

At the end of the day, Lebron is one guy. And even if he starts to beat the Spurs by himself, the Spurs are good enough to contain him and make the other Cavs beat them. Thats a huge question mark for them.

for reasons stated, all good points.... thats why i'd bet on the spurs.

but i can't discount 'one guy.' if he really brings up his level of play, who knows what can happen; the spurs defense has never really made it a point to 'shut down' true superstars - more so there counterparts. which, like you all said, is questionable in terms of the cavs. personally i think that the cavs are another year or two from really developing, (i wish they had gone after joe johnson instead of hughes though....) but if something incredible happens, anything can occur.

i don't think the pistons have a truly dominant player on either end anymore - MAYBE billups, but he is off. i don't think this piston team is as good as the 2005 team. that team and its identity was tight. replacing wallace, who was dominant defensively, with cwebb doesn't cut it. but i could be wrong.

also the cavs seem to have all the momentum, and their defense is underrated a bit - because its a little ugly.

On paper I dont think this Pistons team is better then the 2004 or 2005 team. But my point is that this current team is a much better matchup with the spurs then the 2005 one.

If you remember back to that series, the Pistons were most effective against San Antonio with a Rasheed/McDyess/Prince/Rip/Billups lineup. The reason wasn't they were better without wallace defensively. It was becuase Detroit had two guys up front that could hurt the Spurs. Thats what turned the series around for them in games 3 and 4.

i think the spurs are better equipped to handle them this time around. duncan seems very healthy, tp and manu are on, oberto i think can handle either mcd or sheed or maxiell better than nazzy or rasho, vaugn is a better backup pg, barry is looking comfortable in the system, and finley is now a spur - if manu doesn't show up, odds are finley will. the spurs have actually gotten better. i do not think detroit has gained anything to what they were, more versality? sure. but the spurs are also much more versatile now than perhaps ever.

i guess we'll see.... IF detroit makes it through. but i think i'd still be more afraid of cleveland, the way they are playing right now.

Does anybody thinks the Pistons can win?

I do, but somebody has to step up big time. The thing is that the Spurs only have 2 top level defenders, and the Pistons have 5 potentional offensive weapons. If Bowen guards Rip, and Duncan guards 'Sheed, Billups, Prince and Webber/McDyes could power the Pistons to a championship.

The things with cleveland are:
1) lack of experience/knowledge, they are extremely young (lebron is young, but he's more mature than some vets are)
2) LeBron is consisteny usually, but everyone else is not. every once in a blue moon larry hughes makes shots, Z scores 20 about once per 3 games in the playoffs so far, Drew only had big night 2 times, sasha only hit a couple big shots all year, and one night gibson has 21 points like a couple nights ago, one night he can't get his head in the game (because he's a rookie)
3) Inconsistent coaching (mike brown is brilliant one night, but horribly stupid the next -- mainly because he's young though)

I mean, they are playing some great basketball right now, and other players are stepping up to help LeBron, daniel gibson only 4/7 FGS and scores 21 points, 12/12 FT though. He is a second round draft pick, and a rookie, rarely will a rookie step up like this, but he is making brilliant decisions on the court for cleveland, and is a threat to detroit because of his excellent outside stroke, his surprisingly great court vision, and his ability to take advantage of an open lane and drive - oh, he also shows a lot of hustle on the defensive end.

We don't know yet, but IF cleveland makes the ECF I think they will give SA a run for their money, detroit = 0-2 vs. SA in the regular season with 90 ppg, cleveland = 2-0 vs. SA in regular season with 79 ppg. This basically makes noticable the possibly underrated cleveland defense?

I think cleveland matches up better against SA than detroit matches up against SA.

though I also think cleveland can't matchup with detroit, they matchup much better with SA.
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Also, Utah should celebrate a great year, WOW. No one expected them to come this far. As far as I can tell Utah did deserve to be where they were.

Gotta love deron williams too, he has quite an amazing stroke for a young guy, and he will be one of the better point guards in the NBA in the very near future.

I don't care, as long as the winner beats the Spurs

I don't care, as long as the winner beats the Spurs

I dont think that will happen...I see you being a Mavs fan, and I dont like you...LOL...Spurs are definitely winning it again this year, because the other two team, well they're good but Spurs are better...

The media doesn't have as big of an influence as it would like you to believe.

At the end of the day, Lebron is one guy. And even if he starts to beat the Spurs by himself, the Spurs are good enough to contain him and make the other Cavs beat them. Thats a huge question mark for them.

all they gotta do is injury him and the series is a lock