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Great game tonight. This series will go seven games.

Avery just figured out D'Antoni's lame system and we'll win the next four .

This ones going 7.

Hopefully Miami will beat Detroit, also.

vonkaar wrote:Avery just figured out D'Antoni's lame system and we'll win the next four .

You mean not letting Steve Nash drive the lane and kick out to the shooters? Or the one where Steve Nash drive the land unobstructed and make a lay up?

what?

D'Antoni's lame system.

That was actually a decent game last night. I haven't liked Basketball much for a long time, but if more games were like some of these playoff games, I might get interested again. The last time I really followed the NBA was in the heyday of the Showtime-era Lakers. Now, watching THAT team play was a thing of beauty: Kareem in the middle, Magic being a major diety, Worthy swooping in to the basket, and hell, even Rambis with his coke-bottle nerd-glasses getting in there and beating the crap out of people.

I just couldn't watch endless series' of 84-79 games where it seemed no one could actually shoot the ball, or had ever heard of actually, you know, PASSING, and where the Fast Break was a subject for history books, not something teams relied on for a large portion of their offense. Since that's largely what basketball devolved into in the 90s, I completely lost interest. (Having the Warriors as the local team didn't exactly do lots to spur my interest further, either)

-Arlos

Phlegm wrote:D'Antoni's lame system.

okay... and then you said, "not letting" which would be... 'his' system?

Nash beating the mavs' defense has little to do with D'Antoni's coaching.

"Run fast"

gee, that was tough

he's so overrated it's ridiculous.

His system reminds me of Doug Moe's system in Denver a while back: fuck defense.. try to score as fast as you can. D'Antoni's system is not as bad as Paul Westhead's Loyola Marymount system though.

he's so overrated it's ridiculous.

You're just pissed off that in a sport dominated by African Americans with thyroid problems the best player is a short greasy Canadian.

He's not even in the top5... top10 probably...

he's an amazing TEAM player... about as good as anyone in the league... but individually, he's no big deal. "Best player?" Hmm... Kobe... Lebron... T-Mac... AI... Dirk... Tim... Garnett... Wade... Arenas... Shaq... Shawn Bradley...

besides, I wasn't talking about Nash. Nash isn't overrated. I was talking about D'Antoni.

Avery may indeed have figured the Suns out...

And it's a team game.. Teams win.. Individuals don't mean jack. I despise stat mongers who don't really understand the true nature of the game.

Like Allen Iverson? I hate how people think of Allen Iverson being so great just because he scores a lot. Well shit, pass the ball for once please.

None of the guys that you would call 'stat mongers' have ever played with anyone worth building a team out of...

Markarado wrote:I hate how people think of Allen Iverson being so great just because he scores a lot. Well shit, pass the ball for once please.

Allen Iverson was #8 in the league in assists. That beats out Dwayne Wade at #11, Lebron James at #12, Kirk Hinrich at #15, Sam Cassell at #16, Tony Parker at #20... you know, some of the 'big' names in the guard world. He plays on one of the worst teams in the league... of 'course' he has to score a lot. Maybe he'd pass the ball 'even more' if he had someone to pass it to... for once in his life.

So, Iverson would be playing in the finals if only he were surrounded by superstars, like Nash is?

Maybe next year Philly will be able to get an All Star to make their team better. Someone like... Chris Webber.

Chris Webber isn't an All-Star anymore.

Steve Nash is a much better player than a lot of those folks, Vonk. Would you really want Arena on your team instead of Nash given the chance?

Arenas is a moody crybaby who doesn't take criticism well.

Shrug, I was thinking 'pure talent' list. Any of the guards would destroy Nash 1on1... but no, I'd totally take Nash over most of them =p. T-mac has more natural talent than Nash... Kobe has more natural talent than Nash. Garnett has more talent... They are 'better' ballers. And you can't say who is a better teammate because... Nash still hasn't won anything, Kobe has. T-Mac has never played on a team that should even be IN the playoffs, let alone to the championships... so... who's to say? Nash has the "Kidd" factor that makes him so special... he makes everyone around him so much better. Like... Magic. But Kidd and Nash don't have what Magic had... Magic could dominate - completely by himself. Teams don't go into a game and figure out how to 'stop Steve'. They merely try to slow him down.

And Iverson 'was' in the finals when he had an 'almost' decent team. It was still pretty shitty... but he led them all the way... gaining the MVP that year... and then got demolished by the Lakers. Since then, his team was piece-by-piece dismantled around him, and he's still managed to stay in the front-running for scoring champion, year after year. Iverson would KILL to have someone like Marion or Diaw on his team. Seriously, he's a thug... he'd probably murder someone to have players like that. You think that Phoenix would give up either of those for Chris Webber? You think Philly wouldn't JUMP at the chance to make that trade? The whole league would laugh at the Suns. I freaking hate all this talk as if Nash is playing with a bunch of scrubs.

whatever...

game 4...

What I like about this series is Avery's refusal to play D'Antoni's lame ball. And every press conference, every post-game... D'Antoni talks as if we just can't hang... we are too slow and our centers are a no factor... yet we are up 2-1, our victories were 'convincing' while theirs was a close, nail-biting comeback 1 point win (really now... if you watched the game, you know what I speak of). After game 3, he STILL did it. He's STILL convinced that AJ is going to have to go small... give Marquis a lot of playing time... put Stack into the starting lineup and force Dirk to play the 5. He doesn't think that we can beat them at conventional basketball.



Avery Johnson ftw

Stack has actually done well in some key moments in the game. It's so...unstackhouse like.

As for Nash, I don't think he's playing "without" talent. But do you really think it's a coincidence that all the players that play with him are having career years?

IMO if you look at the history books he's probably one of the worst MVPs ever, he's definitely the worst two time MVP winner, but the competition wasn't that good.

Kobe was better this year no doubt. I would have given it to him over Nash. But aside from him and Dirk, no one else is either at his level yet (LeBron. Wade) or still sustaining there past greatness (Shaq, Duncan, AI, Garnett). He's lucky he peaked while basketball was really in a transition, but aside from Dirk and Kobe I don't think you can really make a case for anyone else as MVP.

for mvp, no... I agree with the whole post... other than putting Kobe over Dirk .

I was talking in pure talent. In that regard, I say AI has more natural basketball talent than anyone in the game.

It is pretty sad that AI has wasted most of the prime of his career on some really awful teams. There are certain players that remind me a lot of John Elway in that regard. (just for the record, I never liked him, going back to when he refused to get drafted by a team, absolute BS). Anyway, he was gifted enough that he could, sometimes, carry a team to the top all by himself, if he had even slight talent around him, but not so great as to be able to win the whole thing that way.

I've actually liked AI over the years, disagree as I might with some of what he does. No one's ever been able to even come close to saying that he ever didn't give his absolute all out there on the court. That same kind of attitude is why I was behind Owens for years, until he got SO bad outside of games that his in-game contributions just didn' tmatter any more. (If he'd shut up and played out that year, He'd be making more there than he is now in Dallas, he wouldn't be one of the most hated athletes in America, and Eagles would've won the super bowl)

He's one of those players I'd like to see at least once get a real team around him so that he can make a real shot at a title someday. Barkley & Malone were a couple I felt the same way about.

-Arlos

I'm just full of agreement with my liberal sports brethren today.

Hopefully AI gets traded this summer to an actually decent team. It'd have to be the right situation, though. I can't imagine the explosions that'd happen if he went to the Lakers, say. Hmmm, maybe the Suns should take a run at him. rofl. Imagine the team of Amare, Marion, Nash, Iverson & whoever else they want to stick in there.

-Arlos

Of the places I could see AI being moved the lakers would def be up there. If Philly was just looking for cap relief I think really think Kobe and AI could co-exist on the same team. The triangle doesn't really need a pure PG, you just need someone to bring the ball up the court which either Kobe or AI could do.

NY could be an interesting place too. I'm not sure who Philly would want back it might happen. Larry Brown would have to ok the deal though I think, unless the rumours of his buyout are true.

I think the most likely spot would be Minny. If Minnesota wanted to take on a ton of salary they could finaly get a second fiddle to KG. Those two would instantly be the best duo in the league and their games work so well together.

I really see him being moved soon, I just don't know what Philly would be looking for in return.

There's no doubt Iverson is a great player, but in a team game, I always wonder if a guy like him is part of the problem as much as the solution.

Could he handle being the #2 guy on a team?