Nalod wrote:Milwaukee can be trickey. Losing to anyone would suck but to help close out this tired era in Boston would be a small petty consolation to the lifetime of humiliation imposed by the Celtics on the Knicks!

Its not much, but it would be something.

MaTT4281 wrote:I still enjoy D'Antoni's post-game bluntness.

Mike D’Antoni delivered a postgame rant after the Los Angeles Lakers blew an 18-point lead and lost to the Washington Wizards on Friday.

"This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said. "I told them today, we put our hands in [the huddle], and you guys have probably seen it, we say, 'Championship,' and go out [on the floor]. That's laughable. Championship? You got to be kidding me. Nobody understands the importance of every possession offensively and defensively. Every time they got to come out with some kind of determination to be a good basketball team, and [until] then, we're just, we're fooling ourselves. Right now, that's what we're doing. We're just making a 'sham-mockery' out of it."

The Lakers went to Kobe Bryant down the stretch, but in the final two minutes, Bryant missed four of the five jumpers he took, including an attempt that would have tied the game as time expired.

"I can't explain it, but every time we get up 16 [points], it's like, 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard,' and we start messing with the game,” D’Antoni said. “You start messing with not moving the ball. You start messing with, 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time.' You start messing with the basketball gods, and they get you.

"That ball will roll around and go in for [the opponent] and it will roll around and go out for us because we're messing with the game. If we don't change that, obviously we won't make the playoffs, but if we do, we'll get blown out in the playoffs. You can't be a fairly good team or even a good team without passing the basketball, without understanding what we're doing defensively and honing in and doing it. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's impossible."

Via Dave McMenamin/ESPNLosAngeles

Was watching the game and turned it off because Lakes were up. This morning i was suprised to see they lost.

This is why you don't "Save for the playoffs". Basketball is a game of sustained rhythm!

I applaud the Heat if they go all in to get the record because if you let up, you might not get it back!

Im watching the Heat a bit more in their quest. Im not really rooting one way or the other. I really didn't like the 72' lakers either. They got the streak and beat us in the finals that year. We played 3 finals against them in 4 years and won 2.

That was real rival! Heat are not our rivals. They beat us in the first round pretty good. Its not like "they stand in our way"!

Maybe this year we can make it a better series and with games of significance comes Rivals!

My dream path is Boston, then BKN, then Miami!

playa2 wrote:

NYDiva wrote:I truly believe it will be Denver/Miami in the Finals this year. And I hope Denver beats their asses. LOL

Denver can't beat good teams in the west in a seven game series. Those guys will melt under pressure in the playoffs, nobody is use to taking the last shot. You all will see and understand again why you need a legit go to guy in the association in a seven game series.

YOu're so smart and good at predicting the future, maybe you should buy some lottery tickets!!!

Go Clips

MaTT4281 wrote:I still enjoy D'Antoni's post-game bluntness.

Mike D’Antoni delivered a postgame rant after the Los Angeles Lakers blew an 18-point lead and lost to the Washington Wizards on Friday.

"This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said. "I told them today, we put our hands in [the huddle], and you guys have probably seen it, we say, 'Championship,' and go out [on the floor]. That's laughable. Championship? You got to be kidding me. Nobody understands the importance of every possession offensively and defensively. Every time they got to come out with some kind of determination to be a good basketball team, and [until] then, we're just, we're fooling ourselves. Right now, that's what we're doing. We're just making a 'sham-mockery' out of it."

The Lakers went to Kobe Bryant down the stretch, but in the final two minutes, Bryant missed four of the five jumpers he took, including an attempt that would have tied the game as time expired.

"I can't explain it, but every time we get up 16 [points], it's like, 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard,' and we start messing with the game,” D’Antoni said. “You start messing with not moving the ball. You start messing with, 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time.' You start messing with the basketball gods, and they get you.

"That ball will roll around and go in for [the opponent] and it will roll around and go out for us because we're messing with the game. If we don't change that, obviously we won't make the playoffs, but if we do, we'll get blown out in the playoffs. You can't be a fairly good team or even a good team without passing the basketball, without understanding what we're doing defensively and honing in and doing it. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's impossible."

Via Dave McMenamin/ESPNLosAngeles

I am not a fan of his bluntness. He seperates himself from his team and doesn't take ownership for the losses. He coaches these guys. If they aren't playing right call time out and coach. Maybe you even have a guy sit. He is blunt with the media but he doesn't or can't communicate to his team what needs to be done. I know in ny some said that for most of his tenure he had players that just wouldn't listen and play right. Now he has four future hall of famers on his team and he is saying the same sh@t. Do your job and shut your mouth and you wont have to be the smug guy with the quick quip to compensate for your faults.

CrushAlot wrote:

MaTT4281 wrote:I still enjoy D'Antoni's post-game bluntness.

Mike D’Antoni delivered a postgame rant after the Los Angeles Lakers blew an 18-point lead and lost to the Washington Wizards on Friday.

"This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said. "I told them today, we put our hands in [the huddle], and you guys have probably seen it, we say, 'Championship,' and go out [on the floor]. That's laughable. Championship? You got to be kidding me. Nobody understands the importance of every possession offensively and defensively. Every time they got to come out with some kind of determination to be a good basketball team, and [until] then, we're just, we're fooling ourselves. Right now, that's what we're doing. We're just making a 'sham-mockery' out of it."

The Lakers went to Kobe Bryant down the stretch, but in the final two minutes, Bryant missed four of the five jumpers he took, including an attempt that would have tied the game as time expired.

"I can't explain it, but every time we get up 16 [points], it's like, 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard,' and we start messing with the game,” D’Antoni said. “You start messing with not moving the ball. You start messing with, 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time.' You start messing with the basketball gods, and they get you.

"That ball will roll around and go in for [the opponent] and it will roll around and go out for us because we're messing with the game. If we don't change that, obviously we won't make the playoffs, but if we do, we'll get blown out in the playoffs. You can't be a fairly good team or even a good team without passing the basketball, without understanding what we're doing defensively and honing in and doing it. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's impossible."

Via Dave McMenamin/ESPNLosAngeles

I am not a fan of his bluntness. He seperates himself from his team and doesn't take ownership for the losses. He coaches these guys. If they aren't playing right call time out and coach. Maybe you even have a guy sit. He is blunt with the media but he doesn't or can't communicate to his team what needs to be done. I know in ny some said that for most of his tenure he had players that just wouldn't listen and play right. Now he has four future hall of famers on his team and he is saying the same sh@t. Do your job and shut your mouth and you wont have to be the smug guy with the quick quip to compensate for your faults.

WHen you actually watch Laker games you can see that they are well coached and know what they're doing on both ends. That's how they get out to big leads, but they give up those leads when they get full of themselves and get lazy. That's what MDA is talking about. Hey how about the team full of VETS actually play like the Pros they are supposed to be and earn the money they get paid? You really think it's the coach that necessarily is the sole one responsible for players actually doing what the coach is directing them to do. At some point it's up to the players to actually follow thru. Your bias against MDA is sickening. He said what needed to be said cuz it's true. Unless you actually have watched every game like I have, I doubt you really know what's been going on with the Lakers. Everything he said is true.

These players certainly know what they should be doing at this point. Playing selfish ball and not really digging in on D is not acceptable. You think MDA is not on the bench saying just what they need to do? It's on the players too. They have the ability to defend better and they certainly have the talent to run the offense right and not play lazy BB. They got up big and relaxed. MDA called timely time outs but the Lakers simply didn't respect the Wiz.