2011 WCF: (3) Mavericks vs (4) Thunder

[Drex]

I get the feeling that OKC might even tie the game, but in the end they'll fall short of completing the comeback. Specially with Dallas' shooters, a 3 in the right moment could be devastating.

[deihatein]

Come on, get it going

[hova-]

Dirk is really playing poorly tonight, I also like the defense on him & he does not understand to draw fouls and pass the ball.

Still, as I am the number one fanboy - call me IsuckDirk41sballs - he has hit some important shots - especially that three in the third.

As a team the Mavs started off hot, now it's and 9 point game but pretty open. Let's go Mavs ...

[Drex]

Collison is playing great D on Dirk.

[hova-]

Definitely, but I also feel like Dirk is trying to do too much and his decision making just has not been great tonight. When you hit 1-6 from down town, it's usually because you're taking bad shots. Same goes for Durant on the other end.

[Mavs4Life]

OKC has taken some dumb 3s. There's still time, but it looks like the Mavs may take it.

[Drex]

Horrible execution by OKC, man Why shoot so many 3's when they've been scoring at the rim and stopping Dallas.

[Mavs4Life]

Horrible execution by OKC, man Why shoot so many 3's when they've been scoring at the rim and stopping Dallas.

Exactly. You don't just pull up from behind the arc escpecially with the horrible release. Drive to the rim & try to get some and 1's.

[deihatein]

It's seems Dirk jumper sealed it.

[jonthefon]

I'm glad OKC was stupid and didn't realise getting to the free throw line was the best way to score.

[atlwarrior]

One of the worst shooting performances I have seen in a while by OKC. They shot so bad, it eventually rubbed off on the Mavericks.

[Phil89]

Westbrook got them back into it and then killed their momentum with that missed three. Then Dirk kept making shots.

[benji]

Dirk can't even get 20 points against a team that was in the lottery two years ago. LMFAO.

[jonthefon]

Damn it benji I expected more out of you.

[benji]

That's what everyone says about Dirk after every playoff choke job.

Nobody says it about Kobe Bryant.

[The X]

James Harden is a fucking cocksucking little bitch. Way to outflop JJ Barea you stupid asstwat.

No worse than Barea's flop against Andrew Bynum

[Mavs4Life]

Kobe choked in Game 1 of the semis. And as we said before, the Thunder have improved exceptionally. A win's a win.

[benji]

Nobody's perfect. Get the sand out of your vagina and stop obsessing over the only person to come close in an attempt to distract from the lack of rings on Dirk's finger.

[Andrew]

Thunder had a shot but they got greedy with a couple of bad three point attempts by Westbrook and Harden on consecutive trips down the floor and it cost them. Glad they were able to make a decent run though and keep things interesting in the fourth.

[deihatein]

phpBB [video]

[benji]

Almost as bad as:

phpBB [video]

Actually, what's worst is Mark Jackson's response to the Harden flop:

It is in act, but hold your horses. We're talking about fining guys 10 to 15 thousand? The bottom line is he's trying to make a play

[Andrew]

Awesome. ESPN's finest.

[benji]

The playoffs really emphasize this when you go back and forth from TNT to ESPN/ABC for every game. ESPN's coverage is simply atrocious.

It's obviously cliche to bring up Ernie, Chuck and Kenny but it's still hilarious to watch ESPN spend the last decade desperately attempting to recreate it on all their shows despite the fact no one they hire has the mentality to be like Chuck and Kenny (except Tom Tolbert who they fired for being too willing to talk about his opinion) let alone able to manage two dominant personalities like Ernie does. To the point that they had plenty of footage from TNT that Magic is one of the worst commentators of all time, (Chris Webber on the other hand came out of nowhere to fit in perfectly with Chuck which TNT realized after he had a small trial run back in the day) yet they not only hired him but forced him into the already wasteland of a pre/half/post-game show they have. And they always work in some complete moron like Michael Wilbon and Steven A. Smith who have already spent years on the same network proving they're functionally retarded. (I mean is Tony Kornheiser, of all people, dominating you every single day of your life not enough to convince Wilbon to kill himself?) Meanwhile they refuse to try and use any of their NBA writers regularly, all of whom while also terrible at discussing basketball can at least form arguments and coherent sentences. And it's not like they don't have TV/radio experience, yet because they didn't play in the NBA, there's no place for them! No matter how many NBA players they have to see bomb horribly over the years. (Although they do well as a coaching farm team with Doc Rivers, Avery Johnson, Mark Jackson, etc.)

And the commentary teams just pile on. Kerr, Reggie, etc. seem to be having fun with it. JVG when he's not staring into the camera as if his soul is dead tries (by going insanely in the other direction) but it seems like everyone else just hates that he speaks his mind.

Actually, I should have just posted this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Shootaround or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_on_ESP ... E2.80.9303 They don't have any clue what to do and retool it every year.

Ernie, Chuck and Kenny have been the team since 2000 and even got the post-game show expanded to a full hour. And Chuck has been arrested how many times? ESPN would have fired him instantly. I don't pay all that much attention to NFL, but iirc when FOX finally got a contract they decided to go out and get the best of the other networks (James Brown, Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw, etc.) gave them an hour and freedom, stuck with it and blew the ratings out of the water. ESPN/ABC would seemingly have the ability to do this but they seem opposed to the idea. And then they wonder why their ratings are so shit in comparison to NBC and now even TNT.

And then I can get started on their camera angles like the primary one which is like four miles away from the court, and the fact they're insistent on missing at least one play a game by showing something irrelevant in the middle of play. Or why I don't get that they're even more afraid of being fined by the league than TNT is, unless it's something in the contract.

And what's the deal with seedless watermelon?

EDIT: Actually thinking about it, I think the Rose/Westbrook stuff of recent was a great example of the divide. On TNT you had Chuck bemoaning Westbrook and to some extent Rose for taking so many shots for a PG. Meanwhile, Kenny came at it from his own perspective as a guard that shot a lot, and Webber as guy who used a ton of possessions. (Not all of them well.) While Chuck's point was that there was a better more efficient player (even if it was never stated in these terms, although as an aside I think Chuck has a more empirical understanding of basketball than he'd be willing to admit in that he "sees" the game a lot like statfags do, he's always been big on possession distribution for one) in Westbrook's case and he was (likely from his own experience) more forgiving of Rose due to that. But both Kenny and Webber saw it more about doing it because you should or something. All of them had their point of view, all of them argued it coherently and rationally. I didn't see anything on ESPN like that, even from their own "legends" like Tim Legler and Jamal Mashburn. If they argue about anything it's pointless shit and thus zero passion. The TNT guys if they get into arguments it's about fundamental concepts of basketball and usually passion. They don't even really seem to care about the other stuff even when Ernie prods them. They tend to make fun of that stuff more than anything. And that's why it works.

[Killer Crossover aka OG]

@benji are you a Sports-Journalist or something like this

[benji]

No, I am an actual human being.