IF AND WHEN WE GET MIAMI IN THE PLAYOFFS

[plskeepbibby]

simple question?? I know we can win this series but do you think the NBA will give this series to Dewayne Wade because they think it is better TV?? It scares the crap out of me because they give like 10 players in the NBA some bullsh*t phantom calls.

[MrRyda]

Will he get calls? Yeah. But didn't the NBA "want" Boston to whoop us last year? Yeah, but we still gave them a run for their money until we went to Boston and flat-out sucked. In the end, as long as we play good ball, the rest will take care of itself. Plus, having home-court advantage doesn't hurt either.

[plskeepbibby]

REFS CAN TAKE OVER A GAME MORE SO THAN PLAYERS

[TanAdam]

How quickly people forget the Miami vs. Dallas finals. Granted it was a finals and one a bigger stage than round 1 of the playoffs, but the calls DWade got in that series were retarded. It would be tough to watch it that sort of thing happened against the Hawks in the playoffs.

[jerrywest]

All the refs need to do it is call it tight when Wade is banged on the lane. 1 or 2 calls can tilt a close series. Early foul trouble to one of our bigs can change the complexion of the series. Refs don't even have to cheat. If a couple of borderline calls go their way, we could be toast. We have to win it overwhelmingly.

David Stern wet his pants thinking about LeBron vs. Wade in the playoffs. Everyone got bills to pay.

I so hope Miami falls to 6th, and take out Boston in the first round.

[tonegully]

Well if i was the coach and they were going to give Wade touchy calls. Id put in someone to give a hard *ss foul in the lane. If the refs gonna call that crap. Might as well earn our fouls.

[DrReality]

I so hope Miami falls to 6th, and take out Boston in the first round.

That would be a good thing. But this challenge will be the same when we play Boston and face pissyPierce, or if we play LA and Koby, Lebron, etc. That's the facts of life. And we have to figure out how to deal with it. If we play TEAM DEFENSE, we can weather this storm.

[hawkman]

Well if i was the coach and they were going to give Wade touchy calls. Id put in someone to give a hard *ss foul in the lane. If the refs gonna call that crap. Might as well earn our fouls.

You make a pretty good point there Tone. Trying to tip toe around him gets you saddled with foul trouble anyway. You might as well "regulate" that by letting him know that it's going to be rough inside the lane early on. The refs in today's NBA WILL make their phantom calls, so you have to get to the player and get into his head. That's how it used to be in the early to mid 90's in the East. I'm not talking anything over the top or dirty, just some good old fashioned Eastern Conference playoff basketball.

[jerrywest]

I so hope Miami falls to 6th, and take out Boston in the first round.

That would be a good thing. But this challenge will be the same when we play Boston and face pissyPierce, or if we play LA and Koby, Lebron, etc. That's the facts of life. And we have to figure out how to deal with it. If we play TEAM DEFENSE, we can weather this storm.

LA, Cle, Bos, Orl can, & will likely, beat us without refs help. Miami can't. It'd suck to bow out of first round when we deserve to go as far as second round. Anything further than 2nd round this year is a bonus.

[DrReality]

Their schedule: 10 of their games are on the road!

Wed, Mar 18 @ Boston 7:00 PM

Fri, Mar 20 @ New Jersey 7:30 PM

Sun, Mar 22 @ Detroit 1:00 PM

Mon, Mar 23 Memphis 7:30 PM

Wed, Mar 25 @ Indiana 7:00 PM

Thu, Mar 26 @ Chicago 8:00

Sat, Mar 28 Milwaukee 7:30 PM

Mon, Mar 30 Orlando 7:30 PM

APRIL OPPONENT TIME (

Wed, Apr 1 @ Dallas 8:30 PM

Fri, Apr 3 @ Charlotte 7:00 PM

Sat, Apr 4 @ Washington 7:00 PM

Tue, Apr 7 New Orleans 7:30 PM

Fri, Apr 10 @ Boston 7:30 P

Sun, Apr 12 NY Knicks 6:00 PM

Tue, Apr 14 @ Atlanta 7:00 P

Wed, Apr 15 Detroit 8:00 PM

Edited March 17, 2009 by DrReality

[Diesel]

simple question?? I know we can win this series but do you think the NBA will give this series to Dewayne Wade because they think it is better TV?? It scares the crap out of me because they give like 10 players in the NBA some bullsh*t phantom calls.

It's very simple.

The NBA and ESPN/ABC really wants to see:

Lebron/NY

in the first round.

Lebron/Wade in the 2nd round..

And

Lebron/Celtics in the EC Finals

With

Lebron/Kobe in the Finals.

I am hoping for Hawks beat Miami 4-1.

Hawks beat Cavs 4-3 second round.

Hawks beat Celtics 4-2 Finals.

Hawks beat Lakers 4-2 Finals.

[Diesel]

Well if i was the coach and they were going to give Wade touchy calls. Id put in someone to give a hard *ss foul in the lane. If the refs gonna call that crap. Might as well earn our fouls.

Exactly. Give him the same foul that Marvin gave Rondo last year!

[jerrywest]

I so hope Miami falls to 6th, and take out Boston in the first round.

That would be a good thing. But this challenge will be the same when we play Boston and face pissyPierce, or if we play LA and Koby, Lebron, etc. That's the facts of life. And we have to figure out how to deal with it. If we play TEAM DEFENSE, we can weather this storm.

Sixers has an impossible schedule. Pistons have a better chance of passing Miami. That loss to the Grizzlies could be detrimental. Then again, if Pistons get really hot to overtake Miami, they'd be hard to beat.

[crimedog]

Will he get calls? Yeah. But didn't the NBA "want" Boston to whoop us last year? Yeah, but we still gave them a run for their money until we went to Boston and flat-out sucked. In the end, as long as we play good ball, the rest will take care of itself. Plus, having home-court advantage doesn't hurt either.

I don't see any reason why the NBA would ever want a series to be uncompetitive. I think Stern & Co. would have to have been completely thrilled at the outcome of that series. It was a) 3 extra games which means more room for ads b) compelling ball which meant more room for watching and c) set up more compelling ball for the future as ATL gained exposure and the Celts-Hawks game on nat'l tv this season got HUGE ratings.

As far as whether a team can beat a superstar. The same great defensive team beat Lebron and Kobe this past offseason. As annoying as it will inevitivably be to see DWade get star calls all game, he is legitimately a takeover player who we should be more concerned about than the refs.

[plskeepbibby]

So i am assuming that most of everyone is somewhat on the same page as I am. It's such bs and it really urks me. MARIO should foul WADES *ss hard as hell in game 1 and set a tone. I agree with going for the hard foul early. I think that we can beat them but even having homecourt advantage, we will still have our backs to the wall. I would love to play the s*** pistons with or without A.I. i feel like we can sweep their punk asses.

[jerrywest]

I don't see any reason why the NBA would ever want a series to be uncompetitive. I think Stern & Co. would have to have been completely thrilled at the outcome of that series. It was a) 3 extra games which means more room for ads b) compelling ball which meant more room for watching and c) set up more compelling ball for the future as ATL gained exposure and the Celts-Hawks game on nat'l tv this season got HUGE ratings.

As far as whether a team can beat a superstar. The same great defensive team beat Lebron and Kobe this past offseason. As annoying as it will inevitivably be to see DWade get star calls all game, he is legitimately a takeover player who we should be more concerned about than the refs.

If ESPN/TNT/NBA appreciated us based on our performance in the Celtics series, they'd have given us more national game than the Sacrament Queens and Washington Bullets.

Wade vs. LeBron will be like Bird vs. Magic. Instant classic. Jackpot.

[TruJerz]

Will he get calls? Yeah. But didn't the NBA "want" Boston to whoop us last year? Yeah, but we still gave them a run for their money until we went to Boston and flat-out sucked. In the end, as long as we play good ball, the rest will take care of itself. Plus, having home-court advantage doesn't hurt either.

took the words out my mouth. NBA wanted the Celtics to at least get to the finals but they almost got beat twice by us and the Cavs. But DWade and the refs do make me worry a bit. the NBA can be a crooked league lol We just gotta play hard and take care of our homecourt and we should be fine

[crimedog]

If ESPN/TNT/NBA appreciated us based on our performance in the Celtics series, they'd have given us more national game than the Sacrament Queens and Washington Bullets.

Wade vs. LeBron will be like Bird vs. Magic. Instant classic. Jackpot.

They didn't appreciate us any more but the league only profits by having a longer series in the playoffs. Why on earth would they be upset about the 3 extra national TV games that came with a 7 game series? If the league is all about money, like you're implying, they'd want EVERY series to go to 7 games and get the most amount of money possible.

I guess they could get paid by the networks in terms of series instead of games, but that wouldn't make any sense.

Edited March 17, 2009 by crimedog

[jerrywest]

They didn't appreciate us any more but the league only profits by having a longer series in the playoffs. Why on earth would they be upset about the 3 extra national TV games that came with a 7 game series? If the league is all about money, like you're implying, they'd want EVERY series to go to 7 games and get the most amount of money possible.

Its not all black and white. Its grey. Wade vs. LeBron will get a lot of casual fans in it. Hawks won't draw that crowd. If refs controlled everything, every series would go to 7 games, but they don't. They can only tilt the field a little. Sure, we can beat the heat. We just have to beat them overwhelmingly. If its a close game, they'll win it.

[crimedog]

Its not all black and white. Its grey. Wade vs. LeBron will get a lot of casual fans in it. Hawks won't draw that crowd. If refs controlled everything, every series would go to 7 games, but they don't. They can only tilt the field a little. Sure, we can beat the heat. We just have to beat them overwhelmingly. If its a close game, they'll win it.

My point was just in response to the guy who said the league wanted the Cs to stomp us.