Interesting Possibilities in the East

[Bricklayer]

Well, with the West matchups all sewn up, anything significant that is going to happen in the last few days of the season is going to happen out here in the East.

A couple of things to watch:

1) LeBron is now in serious danger of not making the playoffs as the Cavs continue their freefall. He's AVERAGING 32.8pts 9.6rebs 6.5ast 2.2stl and 0.8blks in April and still they lose -- 3-7 this month. They are tied with New Jersey, both teams have 2 games left, and the Nets have the tiebreaker.

2) Philly still has a chance to avoid the #7 seed (and having to face Detroit) and can catch Indiana for the #6 seed (and Boston). Indiana is one game ahead, but they have lost three in a row and their final game is at home against Chicago, while Philly's is home against Atlanta. What happens tonight might make things either easier or tougher on Indiana -- Chicago has two games left and needs to win one to clinch the #4 seed. If it wins tonight against the Knicks, it won't need to win on Weds. + may take it easy. If it loses tongiht, it will need the Weds. game and Philly will have a real shot to escape instant death int he first round and make a little noise.

 

[iheartBrad]

I hope Philly moves up to the sixth spot...I'm interested in 1) seeing the rivals Philly vs Boston in a PO series and 2) It pushed Indy back down to seven which would force them the meet *gasp* the Detroit Pistons in the FIRST round--again rivals..

As for LbJ and the Cavs its really out of their hands right now...they really gotta hope that NJN loses

I think that the Bulls will get the win over the Knicks tonight and get the HCA ...and can you imagine the Bulls in the fourth seed going into the POs...I know if you told me that at the beginning of the season I would have slapped you in the face...also cuz the Bulls are sucha young team they are REALLY going to need HCA probably more than any other team in the POs who has it...that Bulls v Wizz matchup is gonna be a good one

damn there really are gonna be some entertaining first round matchups more than I can remember happening in a long while

 

[Webber4tHREE]

it is good to see that webber will be in the playoffs with his new team

 

[love_them_kings]

it is good to see that webber will be in the playoffs with his new team

I agree, I was very excited when Philly clinched a playoff spot. Just couldn't stand the thought of Webb sitting at home watching the first round of the playoffs.

Will be interesting to see how the East shakes out -- it's crazy that it's still up in the air right now.

 

[bojan_pecanac]

I agree, I was very excited when Philly clinched a playoff spot. Just couldn't stand the thought of Webb sitting at home watching the first round of the playoffs.

Will be interesting to see how the East shakes out -- it's crazy that it's still up in the air right now.

Why not? He sat out 50 games last season and came back and everything went wrong.

 

[Superman]

Why not? He sat out 50 games last season and came back and everything went wrong.

...

 

[Mad D]

Why not? He sat out 50 games last season and came back and everything went wrong.

Do you honestly think the ending result would be any different if he sat out the whole year? Out defense was porous even without the man.

 

[Bricklayer]

Why not? He sat out 50 games last season and came back and everything went wrong.

Yeah, at least partially because several wimps on the team quit playing. I'll take the guy fighting through a career-threatening injury over the ***** not playing his hardest because he's a baby anyday. But we've had this discussion before.

 

[Superman]

Strong words there, Brick.

 

[Bricklayer]

Strong words there, Brick.

Meant to be. Enough is enough.

 

[Superman]

Who spit in your bean curd?

 

[LPKingsFan]

Agreed.

Edit: with Brick, not Supes latest post

 

[bojan_pecanac]

Some people are blind to see that Webber is the reason the team screwed up in the playoffs. Who had the best record in the NBA before Webber came back?

 

[bojan_pecanac]

Alright, so what. Do you still honestly think we would have a championship banner hanging from the Arco rafters that year?

No, but we would have made the Conference finals and Kings games would have been unselfish (like they were before Webber came back) and fun to watch.

 

[Superman]

Some people are blind to see that Webber is the reason the team screwed up in the playoffs. Who had the best record in the NBA before Webber came back?

We've been down this road before, come back up it and went back down again. No reason pouring lemon juice on an already painful paper cut.

Simply put, there were bigger factors involved in the team's poor performance down the stretch than Webber's return (Bobby's injury, Brad's injury, Peja and Vlade giving up, etc.) And when the playoffs came around, Chris still averaged a double-double and played just as hard as anyone else did.

That having been said, I don't see any reason for this thread to turn into yet another Chris Webber bashing/defending thread. We've had about 32,000 in the past year and a half. Like Brick said, enough is enough.

 

[bojan_pecanac]

We've been down this road before, come back up it and went back down again. No reason pouring lemon juice on an already painful paper cut.

Simply put, there were bigger factors involved in the team's poor performance down the stretch than Webber's return (Bobby's injury, Brad's injury, Peja and Vlade giving up, etc.) And when the playoffs came around, Chris still averaged a double-double and played just as hard as anyone else did.

That having been said, I don't see any reason for this thread to turn into yet another Chris Webber bashing/defending thread. We've had about 32,000 in the past year and a half. Like Brick said, enough is enough.

What else were they suppose to do? You cannot play a team game on a team with Weber. When did Vlade touch the ball when Webber came back? Never. When was Peja taking 20+ shots when Webber came back? Never. The team would have been MUCH better off with Webber sitting out.

 

[Mad D]

It was just classless to say something like that Bojan. You know how much the man meant to the city of course people are going to get all heated when you say something like you intial post.

Like Supes said lemon juice in a paper cut.

 

[Bricklayer]

Some people are blind to see that Webber is the reason the team screwed up in the playoffs. Who had the best record in the NBA before Webber came back?

Who had perfect health, had played an overwhelming number of terrible teams on their home court, were lousy on defense and the boards, and thought being pretty and cute were all that mattered? But you know what...I agree that Webb's return disrupted the team. And that falls almsot entirely in the so-the-****-what category, because he tried. He wanted it. If certain other team mebers had that much heart things might have turned out differently.

 

[Superman]

What else were they suppose to do? You cannot play a team game on a team with Weber. When did Vlade touch the ball when Webber came back? Never. When was Peja taking 20+ shots when Webber came back? Never. The team would have been MUCH better off with Webber sitting out.

I was hoping you'd let sleeping dogs lie, but some people just don't get it.

Chris Webber was the foundation of the Sacramento Kings "team game." He was the player who averaged almost five assists a game every season, the player who's successes and hard play almost always translated into Kings' success. You make yourself sound like ignorant when you make comments like the one above.

About Peja: no star player has ever given up the way Peja did last season. He stopped moving without the ball, stopped working hard to get open looks, and basically just decided that he didn't give a damn. He had two 8 point games in the semis alone. TWO! At least Chris played hard every minute he was out on the court.

It's pretty much obvious that it's a national pride type of thing, and that's fine. Take pride in your players. But I'm a Kings fan. It's obvious to me (and most other knowledgeable Kings fans) that the team that was winning regular season games was going to sputter and fail in the playoffs without someone who could score some points in the middle.

In fact, look at the team that knocked us out of the playoffs. The T'Wolves had beaten us three teams during the regular season, with Garnett having tremendous games against us. What makes you think that we would have had a chance beating them in the playoffs without Webber?

 

[bojan_pecanac]

Chris Webber was the foundation of the Sacramento Kings "team game." He was the player who averaged almost five assists a game every season, the player who's successes and hard play almost always translated into Kings' success. You make yourself sound like ignorant when you make comments like the one above.

Kobe averages 6 apg this season, does that make him unselfish?

About Peja: no star player has ever given up the way Peja did last season. He stopped moving without the ball, stopped working hard to get open looks, and basically just decided that he didn't give a damn. He had two 8 point games in the semis alone. TWO! At least Chris played hard every minute he was out on the court.

Webber's return caused that.

It's pretty much obvious that it's a national pride type of thing, and that's fine. Take pride in your players. But I'm a Kings fan. It's obvious to me (and most other knowledgeable Kings fans) that the team that was winning regular season games was going to sputter and fail in the playoffs without someone who could score some points in the middle.

Wouldn't have sputtered if the team played the way they did before Webbers return WITHOUT Webber.

In fact, look at the team that knocked us out of the playoffs. The T'Wolves had beaten us three teams during the regular season, with Garnett having tremendous games against us. What makes you think that we would have had a chance beating them in the playoffs without Webber?

We would have kept the #1 spot and went on to play a different team in the semis.

 

[love_them_kings]

Wow! I can't believe that mentioning that I'm glad Webb is in the playoffs led to yet another tangent about how he personally destroyed our season last year. Give me a break! Webb came back, we had injuries, our schedule changed drastically for the worse, and the team struggled. Webb was fighting through an injury, and we needed him to get as healthy as possible for the playoffs. It worked, and he was our most consistent player through the playoffs.

As far as I'm concerned, the way Webb was able to play in the playoffs was justification for the way he was brought back into the team. We came close to getting somewhere, and if he had still been at 25%, instead of say, 70%, we would have had no chance. End result the same, and this way at least we gave it our best shot! The team before Webb came back was fun to watch, and was enjoying exploiting a relatively cushy schedule. They were not built to seriously content for anything.

But again, that was last year. This year Webb is on another team, and we know that we don't really have to worry about a championship run. We can relax and enjoy the playoffs for what they are worth. And I, personally, am glad that Webb will be playing in the playoffs as well. I look forward to watching.

 

[loopymitch]

Why not? He sat out 50 games last season and came back and everything went wrong.

I thought we were blaming Finley for everything not Webber. We lost because he played??? I don't think so. Things went wrong but it was not his fault. We blaming him for world hunger and the price of gas being so high now??? I think it"'s ridiculous to blame him. Unfortunately he is no longer with us so can't we just leave the past in the past and wish him well in the play offs. I do, go CHRIS.

 

[Superman]

Kobe averages 6 apg this season, does that make him unselfish?

This isn't the first time I've heard Chris Webber's situation be compared to Kobe's, and I know it won't be the last. Still, it's funny as hell.

My point was that Chris Webber - as a big man - set the pace for our League leading offense several seasons in a row, and the reason for the was because he was one of the best passing forwards in the game. He was central to our "team game". If you wish to ignore that because it blows your "Webber + Kings = Disaster" premise, that's fine. I won't ignore the obvious, though.

Webber's return caused that.

Webb's return didn't cause Bibby to clam up. Doug didn't stop playing hard.

If Peja were a true professional, he would have continued to play hard no matter what.

Wouldn't have sputtered if the team played the way they did before Webbers return WITHOUT Webber.

No, they would have been run clear out of the building. No Bobby, hampered Brad, dilapidated Vlade, plus a more athletic Dallas team would have beaten the socks off of us without Webber, the one player that the Mavs could never handle (even at 50%, he put up a triple double in the playoffs against them).

We were constantly beaten up by the Wolves without Webber. Nothing would have been different with him.

We would have kept the #1 spot and went on to play a different team in the semis.

The Spurs, to be exact.

The point is that the Kings before Webber, though nice to watch, weren't going deep into the playoffs, if they even managed to get out of the first round.