we don't match up well - although it was two first halves for the cavs and two second halves for the magic

it's so much better than 0-2 i can't worry about that right now

Thats true.

or Orlando blew its chance to put them away. And they need to stop falling behind by 20 early.

This is an incredible pair of conference finals. The matchups are great.....the styles produce great basketball and close games.

I think Cleveland needs to try putting Gibson and Williams on the floor at the same time. Cavs are just not knocking down as many open jumpers as they usually do. Some of their guys (even Lebron for a small stretch) looked tentative to shoot.

I agree with Keith and others....Cleveland just does not match up that well with Orlando. They cant figure out a way to guard Lewis and Turkoglu at the same time. Pavlovic looks awful so they cant go small that way. Maybe go super small with Gibson, Williams, West, Bron and Varejao.

if mike brown wasnt the dumbest coach in the L, i think they could run orlando out of the gym, if they would only run

So how do you analyze a series that is 1-1 where the team that should be up 2-0 has trailed for 93 out of 96 minutes?

you dont. anyone who says they know what will happen is lying. Orlando cant guard Lebron at all.....but Cleveland cant guard Hedo and Rashard at the same time (since both are too perimeter oriented for Varejao to deal with effectively).

If Orlando wins, they need to do so in 6.

i think cleveland is going to win in 5 after seeing these two games

Orlando has one play that works over and over (pick and roll with Hedo and Lewis). Howard was a non-factor in game 2.

If Cleveland figures out how to defend that pick and roll than I agree the Cavs should steamroll and win in 5. But I am not sure they have the right personnel to shut that play down.....so I am revising my pick to Cavs in 7.

I dont really like any of the 4 remaining teams so I just hope the conference finals stay as competitive and as exciting as they have been so far. I have been talking with a lot of friends and family.....most of whom are big college bball fans and hate the NBA.....and they are being sucked in by the quality and competitiveness of the playoffs. This is good stuff for the NBA.

Z shouldnt be playing, but it is kinda hard to bench him after all this time

That's like at the end of Hoosiers with the final play, the coach makes their best player a decoy and all the players stand around giving a look of disgust. Jimmy then says "I'll make it". Kobe should have said the same thing to Phil.

or pulled a scottie pippen

Kobe is no Jimmy Chitwood

Bill Simmon's Twitter:

"ESPN's Ric Bucher is reporting that George Karl plans on coming up with an effective inbounds play by Game 5. Story developing."

It's embarrassing. If you looked at the Nuggets roster, the last two guys you would use to inbound the ball in a key situation are probably Anthony Carter (the shorter player on the squad) and Kenyon Martin (the dumbest player and worst passer on the squad).

Ladies and Gentleman, George Karl!

I want some charles barkley m&ms

those were sweet, and i guess i was wrong about the cavs winning in 5

the cavs had just no ability to slow the game down - it just kept being ugly - they should have lost by 30

although it does seem like every post move howard makes start with an elbow to the gut

props to dwight for hitting his free throws

mike brown is an idiot, they should go small and run, and when Z is in they dont even look to post him up when lewis is guarding him.

No mention of Lebron getting every call imaginable last night? That was worse than any Jordan game I've ever seen.

That refereeing was pathetic. 86 total free throws, what a joke.

I feel like every game the refereeing has gotten worse.

the three at the end was an awful call. otherwise, I dont see what you are talking about. Orlando shot 45 FTs. They were just calling too many fouls period.

it was a bad call but an understandable one - it's hard for a ref to believe a block from behind like that could be clean but it was

Simmons can be brutal and spot on at the same time.





There hasn't been one game this entire season in the whole NBA were the refereeing was good.

Speaking of Simmons, he's got a nice 2 part NBA Playoffs mailbag on ESPN Page 2.


Aaaand... here's the link

The refs were doing everything they could to let Cleveland win last night. To bad the MVP didn't cooperate by putting up brick after brink in the 4th.

lol. Orlando shot ten more free throws even though they are basically a team with one guy who goes to the basket. Lousy, biased refs. There was one horrible call in that game for Lebron and it happened when the game was out of reach.

And yes Lebron had another awful game (41, 9, 6). It's sad to watch you try and justify this. It really is. Cleveland is losing because their vaunted D cant handle the Turk and Rashard....and because Mo williams is having an awful, awful series.

The only reason Orlando is getting more FT's is because they are playing hack a Howard. The reffing in games 1 and 3 have been atrocious and so biased in Lebrons favor it's retarded.

Everyone is saying it, not just me.

The "foul" that put Howard out of the game was ridiculous. When your the defensive player of the year and one of the 5 best players in the league and can't get a fair call against Lebron what do you think people are going to say? That was the cleanest block in this series and the refs were so in shock at Lebron getting shocked like that they automatically blew the whistle.

Lebron ran Pietrus over, block... Lebron jumps into Howard, the only contact is what Lebron created and he knocks Howard over and its a block... and 1. Howard talks to no one on the way back to the bench and gets T'd up, lebron throws a fit showing up the refs 3-4 times after he hacks people on defense and never gets anything called. Mo Williams cheap shot throwing the ball at Howard, not a T... really?

I don't see how anyone can watch this series and not laugh at how biased the refs are being.

i dont think the foul on at the end was a horrible call, since as keith said, it was from behind. i originally thought it was a foul but it turned out to not be even close, but considering it was a block from behind it is an understandable call

Ya last night was a joke. I can remember 4 specific plays where he was not touched at all, and got the call each time. How is he only avg 40 in this series?

Yes the refs are incredibly biased which is why they called traveling on Lebron with less than a minute left the other night which waved off a basket that would have put the cavs up 92-90 in a game they had to have

Mo didn't get a T because all of the refs had their backs turned and didn't see it - obviously they would have called it if they had seen it - claiming it's bias is absurd - it's something that's an automatic technical - and i'm sure they got reamed for missing it

I suppose Dwight's other 4 T's and 1 game suspension are cleveland's fault too - dude throws an elbow every single time he touches the ball

LOL at using a Mo Williams cheap shot as an example since he took the worst cheap shot of the playoffs from Anthony Johnson.

Howard only had 19 FTs, so that leaves 26 more for the other Magic players none of whom (other than the impressive Courtney Lee) go to the basket ever.

I have already agreed the foul that put Howard out of the game was a terrible call. The replay was conclusive it was squeaky clean. But thats it. The others were at best 50/50 calls and the stars always get the 50/50 calls.

If Orlando shoots 55 FTs next game will that be even enough for you. please.

actually i thought Anthony Johnson almost knocking Mo's eye out was more a function of being a big clumsy dude than a cheap shot

possible. it was vicious, though.

pretty amazing he hit the two free throws with a big gash under his eyes

big oafs do stuff like that Bill Cartwright used to injure 1 or 2 teammates every year

AJ is a point guard though.....Mutumbo was infamous for his sharp elbows during his career.

and yes, his two free throws were impressive, but he needs to step it up (along with Delonte and the so-far worthless Pavlovic) or Cleveland is going home. I lost count of how many WIDE OPEN 3s they missed last night.

This is correct. I guess that's what happens when your refs are 60+ years old.

I am seriously thinking of becoming an NBA ref if this lawyer thing does not work out soon. I could not possibly be worse than the current refs.....

umm there is no chance it was a cheap shot, no chance.

and to keith about dwight howards elbows, that's what they teach you

Zydrunas is also killing the Cavs. 38.2% shooting over the first three games. What the hell. the guy shoots nothing but wide open shots.

Step it up supporting cast.

well at least Patrick Ewing is teaching him something - i watch that guy and I think if he had Kevin McHales footwork and moves that he'd average 70 points a game

you cant teach someone Kevin Mchale's footwork. Dwight Howard is an athletic freak whose offense improves incrementally every year. He has nothing to worry about.

Well when you take 8 steps it's hard for them not to call it. And if you notice in my post I said games 1 and 3, I said nothing about game 2 which was officiated about as evenly as a Cleveland home game has been all year.

When they showed the replay of Mo Williams play, one of the refs was looking directly at it with nothing in his way to block the view.

I didn't see the Johnson elbow because I was driving to the card room during that part of the game, but looking at Williams face I bet it hurt.




But they are doing a good job, right?

So a dominant win without Melo going off was nice. JR finally got a few points, too, and the bench overall saved the game. Tons of offensive rebounds didn't hurt.

Game 5 should be fun tomorrow. Seems like the Lakers have made a habit of letting games go when they could put a stranglehold on teams but then coming back and dominating when they absolutely need the win so I'm expecting a very solid effort from LA. Denver will have to play better and smarter than they have this series to get Game 5.

How that ref didn't see West tripping Kobe is beyond me.

only in that they are sucking both ways.

if Daniel Gibson does not get at least 15 minutes in the 2nd half, mike brown needs to have his head examined. finally, some help for lebron.

since mike brown is the biggest idiot in the L, gibson wont get off the bench the 2nd half

Howard gets a T for that. Lebron did more than that after several plays last game. What a joke.

Is there any chance the league can revoke the T?


That was a super weak taunt.

Go Magic!