NBA

Sixers are now in. Iverson is the badass of the league. It looks like they're going to be playing the Pistons too...could be good.

Yeah, if five games constitutes 'good'.

Alright everyone, take notes.

Suns over Grizzles
Spurs over Nuggs
Kings over Sonics
Mavs over Rockets

Heat over Nets
Pistons over Sixers
Celtics over Pacers
Wizards over Bulls

Mavs over Suns
Spurs over Kings

Heat over Wizards
Pistons over Celtics

Mavs over Spurs
Heat over Pistons

Heat over Mavs

So many tough picks this year, I wouldn't be surprised if Nuggs upset Spurs.

I get more and more amazed as time goes on with the Shaq=Title logic. Pistons make the Kobe & Shaq show look like an ABA team, all of a sudden the Wade & Shaq show is going to beat a Pistons team that is better than last year? Sorry, Pistons win the East.

As for the West, I agree it's the Mavs and Spurs. Both those teams are legit and can win it all.

I'd love to see a Detroit/Heat EC final. One thing Shaq and Co. do in that matchup is take away one of Detroit's greatest assets -- inside muscle. Especially if Mourning can play meaningful minutes as a sub early in games, or even alongside Shaq.

Backcourt matchups aren't bad, either. I think Wade's a little better than Hamilton (though Hamilton is a god without the ball, and it's hard to put a value on that). Can Billups play like he did last year?

phoenix in 7.
shaq gets too banged up to dominate...

good logic ...y'all. Heat are unproven. Pistons are as good as last year? Pistons sure make a 2 dimensional team look silly...good match up.

Ha! You must have eaten a lot of paint chips when you were a kid if you don't understand why people think Shaq=Title. He's won three of 'em, fer Chrissakes, and he's the most dominant player in the game. Come on, your Pistons beat a banged up Lakers team that was falling apart last year. Don't get wood over it. Why does being a fan of a team make people lose their grip on reality?

I don't know what will happen this year, but you can mark my words, The Heat are the team to beat, mostly because they have Shaq.

Okay, so now that I've opened my big mouth, the curse should be on, and the Heat should lose in the first round to the Nets....but if they do, the Nets will go on to beat the stupid Pistons in the conference finals!!! Ha! Yeah!!!

Edit (Moderator): Link removed. Posting links to your own blog is against our Terms of Service.<--too bad I didn't *read* the TOS.

Ironic. If you recall, national prognostication had the Lakers winning the finals in five. Now, you say in retrospect, given the Pistons handed the Lakers their own asses, the Lakers were "banged up and falling apart."

Hell, you're not going to get an argument from me that the Lakers were a JOKE - the Finals were a miracle shot away from being a sweep - but be for real: you make this comment as if the Lakers - the team that went through Minnesota and San Antonio, the team that came out of the big, bad West - were, having made the finals, all of a sudden some patsy that had no chance to beat the starless squad from the "weak" East. Talk about losing one's grip on reality.

My point about Shaq is that what's different about the Heat? Wade and Shaq or Kobe and Shaq? Are you really saying the Lakers last season (again, the team that emerged from the "highly superior" Western Conference) are in some way greatly inferior to this year's Miami Heat? That's precisely the logic I call into question - i.e. how so?

In all seriousness - that is, "trash talk" aside - I'm just saying I don't see it. Yeah the Heat "can" beat the Pistons; hell, so "can" the Sixers - anything can happen in sports. But this national attitude, whereby all I'm hearing about is how the Heat are the team to beat just has an air of simplicity: "Shaq=Title."

Your suggestion he's "the most dominant player in the game" I think is nicely refuted by Omar's above link. What is he so dominant at? Statistically, he's no better than the rest of the freaks of the league: Iverson, Bryant, Garnett, James, Duncan, et al.

If anything, Shaq is the most overrated player in league history. Sure, he's a superstar - but does he really live up to his 320 pound, 7-1 frame? He puts up numbers that are comparable to just about every other superstar in the league. 28 points, 12 boards, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Isn't that about what Webber did today in a 21-point loss? Oh, ****, the Pistons must be shaking in their boots; give Miami the title!

Crack. That's the only explanation I can think of for your post, Nietzsche. You're smoking crack, right?

You can say this stuff all you want, but you KNOW deep down, like I do, even though I HATE Shaq and the hype that surrounds him, that if you put him on any team, that team has a chance to go to the finals, automatically, no questions asked. What other player can you say that about?

You can throw meaningless statistics at me all day long, but reality is what it is.

Please, be real, just for a second...he is the most dominant player in the game. They even had to change the goddammed rules a couple years ago, to try to even him out with the rest of the league.

He is not overrated. Hell, I had your attitude about him too, but looking at the Heat of this year, compared to the Heat of last year, you can't deny his greatness. He turned a team that was barely playoff material into contenders for the title. Who else could do that? Name one player who has changed his team for the better that much in one year.

If anything, he is underrated.

I'm not saying that you should hand Miami the title, I am just giving the guy his due, unbiased. Something which you are obviously unprepared to do, because of loyalty to your beloved Pistons.

Hey, good luck with that, but I'm just telling the truth here. If the Pistons play the Heat this year, you tell me, how confident are you gonna be?

Nice post, in the trash-talking sense, I must admit.

Of course, we'll just have to agree to disagree. Might I install the proverbial "We'll see" at this point.

P.S. I think you're just pissed at the Pistons 'cause they did your Sixers today like they did Shaq and the Lakers last year.

Hehehe...gotta love the trash talk.

And you gotta love the beginning of the playoffs...basketball on TV for six or seven hours almost every night...sweet!

I mentioned to a friend of mine, trash talk is actually a major proponent of the excitement of sports.

I used to have a big-time Buckeye fan as a friend, and since he's no longer in my life (he's not dead or anything, but you know what I mean), the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry isn't what it was back when we talked **** back and forth.

In turn, our talking trash to one another only makes the experience of watching the playoffs that much more exciting and enjoyable knowing there's someone out there who thinks you're an idiot.

By the way, the Sixers suck! (Case in point! )

I went to the Celtic's game last night. Blowout. Think I'm gong Monday too.

I'm on Kicky's side with the Shaq debate. You can throw numbers down all you want, but nobody can cover that guy.

I don't think the 2005 Heat / 2004 Lakers comparison is valid, either. The Heat are a team. The Lakers were a collection of egos and has-beens who crumbled under pressure. Nobody in the West challenged them, so we didn't see their real character until the Finals.

...course, as a lifelong Kings fan, there may be a little sour grapes there.

I'm not predicting upset, but, the Rockets are playing very well just now.

Are you suggesting the teams Lakers beat to win the West didn't "challenge" the Lakers. Do you remember who those teams were??