Jordan4life_2007

I'll say it right now (and I'm sure I'll be reminded that I've been wrong in the past): I'll be surprised if the Bulls don't lose both games in Philly before they get back home. With the Rose injury and a total ass-whoopin' at home, their confidence has to be on fumes right now.

Sixers have outscored the Bulls 50-20 in the last 18 minutes.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 1, 2012 -> 09:09 PM) Sports radio in Chicago going to be just awful tomorrow It should be. This isn't even a game in which you can pin it all on Rose being out.

And lol@the Hawks. No Allen. No Rondo. No problem for the Celtics.

Sixers are +7 on the boards. Unacceptable for a team with little size.

lol@Holiday. Wow. This clown won't miss.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 1, 2012 -> 09:00 PM) Easily the worst quarter of the season. Just awful. I could be off. But I counted 5 dunks in that quarter alone. The Bulls just don't allow that. And if this is the real Evan Turner, the Bulls are in trouble.

Easily one of the worst defensive quarters of the year for the Bulls.

Why the hell has Turner been crap most of the year?

God damn AI is athletic.

John Lucas looks like Arnold Jackson. But that was furious right there.

Bulls offense is very efficient so far.

Good game so far. The Bulls are definitely not lacking energy wise.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 1, 2012 -> 07:08 PM) The Pacers were 1-3 against Miami this year, losing by 35, 15, and 2, while winning their one game by two. I'm not sure how that is supposed to make me think the Pacers can stick with Miami? The Pacers actually won their one game by 15. Point remains the same. If LeBron had torn his ACL, everybody here (including me) would have the Bulls in the finals. Badger just like to be different.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 06:00 PM) Hibbert 12-9 West 12-6 Hansbrough 9-4 Miami front court: Bosh 18-6 Haslem 6-7 Anthony 3-4 Hibberts per of 19.4 (i do hate this stat) was better than Bosh's per of 18.8 I do love Hibbert though, I guess Im nostalgic for Georgetown Centers. lol. You hate the stat but you're gonna use it anyway if it can somehow support your case. You had the audacity to say that Hibbert, like Howard, gives the Heat major match-up problems. That's just false. Anyway, this is now entering Balta/2K5 territory. If LeBron tears his ACL instead of Rose, the Bulls are automatically in the finals. Ain't nobody gonna be saying "look out for the Pacers." I'm done now.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 05:47 PM) Why can the Pacers beat the Heat? Its pretty simple, the Pacers have Hibbert/West, where as the Heat have Bosh/Haslem and friends. If Hibbert can stay out of foul trouble and the Pacers can get the rebounding edge against the Heat, it could be a really long series for the Heat. In the game where the Pacers won, they outrebounded the Heat 49-33 (+16), including 14 offensive rebounds. In the games where the Pacers lost they were outrebounded by 6 and 11 respectively. Furthermore the Pacers squad is just not a great defensive match up for the Heat. Its likely that Lebron takes Granger, which then puts Bosh on West and Wade rotating on whoever they think is more dangerous at the moment (Collison, Price, George, whoever.) When you look at that the clear problem for the Heat is Hibbert (much like the Howard situation) except for the Pacers PF is better than the Magic. Either way, there is likely going to be a front court mismatch for the Pacers that the Heat just do not have an answer for. Now this is not to say the Pacers will win, or even will be the favorites, it is more to suggest that if the Heat do not play their best game and the Pacers can take advantage of what should be there inherent rebounding/inside advantage, the Heat could lose. It has nothing to do with the Bulls or Rose or anything. If you go back through this thread, I dont post much until after NCAA season. I just dont have the time to be seriously following 2 basketball sports at the same time, so most of my activity comes after the NCAA tournament. Now that we are in the playoffs and you have some indication of what the match ups would be, its easier to talk about. Im not sure if I said it, but another poster said that it would be huge for the Bulls to avoid the Pacers in round 2 and I agreed with that wholeheartedly. The implication obviously was that the Pacers could have given a healthy Bulls a challenge. I personally find discussing the actual match ups more interesting than saying "The Heat cant lose". Now maybe the Heat will win, they have to be the favorites, but favorites dont always win. Other than overrating the hell out of Roy Hibbert, I don't really see where you're coming from here. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion. I can only speak for myself, obviously. I just don't get why you're so dumbfounded that nobody is talking about the Pacers when it's been Heat/Bulls all year.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 05:24 PM) I guess because I thought maybe people in this thread had individual opinions and would want to discuss basketball, instead of merely saying "There are only 2 good teams in the East and with Rose injured no one can beat the Heat." If I wanted that type of hard hitting news, Id start watching ESPN again. I don't recall you (I could be wrong) at any point this season saying the Pacers could beat the Bulls or Heat. Now that the Bulls are pretty much out of the picture, are you just trying to force yourself to believe that the Pacers can do it? I mean, lay it out there for us. Why can the Pacers beat the Heat?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 05:13 PM) What are you talking about? I commented how no one was talking about the Pacers. I then said if they play the Heat the Pacers could give them a good fight. How is that putting anyone through? Its merely discussing a potential playoff match up that may occur. No where did I say the Pacers wont lose to the Magic (I just dont think the Magic would have a shot at the Heat) thus my comments about if the Pacers play them. I guess its more interesting to talk about a match up like the Pacers- Heat, then a match up of the Magic - Heat. (edit) And as usual the discussion of a potential Pacers-Heat series devolved into, no one can beat the Heat. Nobody has been talking about the Pacers all year. It's been obvious since mid-January who by far and away the top two teams in the conference were. Now that Rose is down for the count, why would people start talking about the Pacers now?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) lol This is exactly what Im talking about. Why dont we just give the Heat the trophy? The Pacers (a team that beat them by 15 this year) cant beat them, so why even play the games? Well, you've already got the Pacers playing the Heat. Aren't you right there doing the same thing you accuse others of doing? And yeah, we should just give the Heat the eastern conference. Sure, a catastrophe could always occur - which is why the games will be played. Just highly unlikely.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:38 PM) No I completely understand your point, it just is irrelevant. Good teams lost to bad teams all the time. 1 game does not mean anything. If they go on and win this series in 5 or 6 games, it really doesnt matter. When they play the Heat the focus is going to be entirely different. You keep acting like 1 game where the Pacers lost by 4 points is some sort of harbinger of things to come, that a team cant possibly lose 1 game and then come back and play well. I just entirely disagree. If the Pacers advance, their series with the Heat will start 0-0, regardless of what happened in the previous series. I can bring a plenty of examples where a team loses more games than their opponent in the series before and then beats the opponent. I can bring examples of teams who lost a game in the first round and won the Championship. There just is very little correlation that if you lose a game in a round you will do worse in the next round. No. Contenders don't lose at home in the playoffs against Jason Richardson-led teams. That's just no good. Now you've given an Orlando team that already had no confidence going in hope with the next two games in their building. It doesn't matter if their focus is going to be different vs the Heat. Focus is not going to beat Miami. The Pacers are just not that good.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:21 PM) Im not comparing the teams at all. Your contention is that losing a game in the first round means something. My contention is that what matters is winning the series. This isnt baseball where if you play an extra game maybe you wont have the best pitching match ups. Its basketball, 1 extra game doesnt mean squat. And my point continues to evade you. No one team in the NBA is built around 1 guy the way the Magic are built around Howard. The Pacers won the lotto when they drew Orlando. When you get a break like that, you sweep that team and move on. If they have to dick around with Orlando, what the hell are they supposed to do with the Heat?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:07 PM) Heat series went 5 games last year in the first round losing to the lowly 76ers, amount of games a series goes means nothing. Case and point, the Mavs went 6 games in round 1 last year, then only last 3 games the rest of the playoffs. The Heat did not lose game 1 at home and were up 3-0 at one point. Are you really comparing the Howard-less Magic to last year's Blazers? QUOTE (That funky motion @ May 1, 2012 -> 04:10 PM) Bless the internet. We wouldn't have beauty like this 15 years ago.

lol@that lame excuse for the game 1 loss. And in game 2 they outscored the magic 30-13 in the third quarter. So basically, 1 good quarter out of 8 against the worse team in the playoffs at home. Hardly impressive. The fact that this series is likely going at least 6 games is shameful on the Pacers part.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 03:43 PM) Popping off early? That would be the Bulls fans who said the Bulls cant beat the Celtics. Asking why everyone is acting like the Heat have a cake walk (ie not even suggesting that the Pacers could give them a series), is not popping off. Its legitimately asking why do Bulls fans think that the Heat should have asterisks, etc, and not even talk about the Pacers? The Magic are pretty much the worse team in the playoffs. The Pacers have already inexplicably lost game 1 at home and didn't look good at all save for one quarter in game 2. They're supposed to scare the Heat? And that's assuming they win their current series. Nobody was talking about the Celtics, who more than have their hands full with the Hawks right now, beating the Bulls until Rose went down.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 1, 2012 -> 03:36 PM) The Heat are whiny b****es, I dont see anyone acting as if they arent in the playoffs. The Pacers are a good team, they can give Miami a fight. It's 1-1 and the next two games are in Orlando. You're popping off just a little bit early there.