NCAA Bracket Madness!!111

[CarpetCrawler]

The Celtics were never good as everyone said, I laugh at the bandwagoners that joined the celts in 2008 to see what's happening to their team now.

Well, to be fair, that 2007-2008 team was near-immortal. Even the Lakers cowered in fear. Pau Gasol earned his "Mister Softee" nickname during that Finals series. They had KG/Allen/Pierce combo, with great back-ups like James Posey (Him leaving really killed that team) and Eddie House. The team from last year was hurt in the Playoffs, though it did give us that amazingly entertaining Celtics-Bulls first round series, which is the greatest first round series that I have ever seen. Now-a-days, though, they're a walking corpse.

Kevin Garnett is NOT better than Tim Duncan, fact.  It was a bunch of BS that KG got like Defensive player of the year and a whole bunch of 1st nba teams...

Are you saying that throughout his whole career, KG has never deserved his All-1st NBA Team selections? And to be fair, KG's Wolves teams never had anyone, other than in the  2003-2004 season, in which they played a tough Laker team in the WCF. Duncan always had a great supporting cast, from the days with Sean Elliott, David Robinson, Steve Kerr, Avery Johnson, to the days with Manu, Parker, and others. The Spurs were really the only team that could compete in the West with the Lakers for a few years. Then everyone got older.

The only reason the Celts did well was because they had one of those "new team highs", where all the players were extremely motivated, as seen by KG bawling like a little baby.

Heyyy, the Celtics are still the 4th or 5th best team in an Eastern Conference that's stronger than ever. This is definitely not a "new team high," they're this good because they ARE this good. They have the talented squad. Even without KG this team is still a 45-47 win team, and that's nothing to poke fun at, especially if your favorite team hasn't been great since you were in 5th grade...

Also, complete BS that Lakers got Pau Gasol, just throwing it out there.

Agreed 100%.

I know this is far fetched, but the spurs are rolling.  When Tony parker comes back from injury, I can see them going deep to the playoffs and having a slim chance at the title!  They have totally been underachieving this whole year w/ a rusty manu for most of the season and Jefferson not knowing the Spurs system, but as we can see Manu is back to his 2007 6th man status with his 30+ game nights.

I don't know... I could name a few teams that I think have a better chance at this point (The Suns, the Jazz are back to form, if the Nuggets can collectively knock their heads together. The Nuggets story is unfortunate, because if George Karl wasn't out they'd be in prime contention to knock off the Lakers, who are WEAK this year.)

One of my favorite things about the day was everyone being so surprised at Ray Allen sinking 3 after 3. Well, dunno where they've been lately, but he's been doing this for what... a career now?

LOL, I've been explaining this to people who didn't follow him in Seattle and Milwaukee. He's like Reggie Miller (ARGH) in that sense.

I just loved how KG was talking mess at the end of the game, despite LeBron scoring 1 more point in the 4th quarter alone than KG did the entire game. The Cavs really don't have to do anything at this point, so I'm not surprised by the overall lack of enthusiasm throughout the game (they have some sure-wins coming up regardless, like against the Pacers). If they hadn't gotten that one last technical foul, LeBron wouldn't have gone into his "Rage Mode" and it would've been a 20 point blowout, I bet.

The Lakers have the same problem, they don't care when they know they're a lock. You know, for the past five years, the Pistons had done this, and due to their laziness they never amounted to what their fans wanted them to be, either. And I'm talking about the Flip years (Though I'd love for my Knicks to fail in the ECF every year...  ) And yeah, LeBron in his suitcase mode is beautiful stuff, like in the 07 ECF.

And Carcar, if LeBron doesn't win MVP, I am going to rage myself. He's definitely the undisputed frontrunner (he's lapping everyone else at this point). I sincerely doubt he'll stay in Cleveland if they don't win the championship.

He won't stay for sure if they don't win the title. And I still think he won't stay if they DO win the title, personally, but the chances of him staying would definitely be higher.

Also: How 'bout them Sox!?!?/1/1!!111  Beckett was absolute garbage today, though, not sure what's going on with him (even though he did have like a 5.79 all-time ERA coming into this game; don't even wanna know where it's at now). I don't usually fault pitchers for not doing well against the Empire, cause it's kind of the best hitting money can buy (literally).

Kudos to the Sox for holding off what I think is the team that is most likely to steamroll the AL this year, but I don't understand when people make that "money can buy" argument. I mean, shit, if your team had that much money, wouldn't they do the exact same thing? I mean, isn't it just bitching because your team can't do what they can do? People make it sound like it's cheating, but it's really not... I mean, if the Nationals had that much money, then... on second thought, they'd probably screw that up too. Nevermind.

Nonetheless! Glad to see Pedro throwing out the first pitch in the ol' #45. I need him to sign somewhere before mid-season this time--by far my favorite pitcher and, despite proving last year that he's still got some good stuff (even with his velocity being way down from yesteryear), he still can't get going. There were early rumors he was going to end up back with the Mets, and I think that's a good enough fit. C'MON, PEOPLE!

Oh man, don't hope he signs with the Mets, Jd-. That team is a DEATH TRAP. I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy to sign with them, unless I hate them so much that I want them to have eternal Tommy John surgery or something. I think his time in NY was the only time Pedro ever looked like the league was running off on him. He played pretty well in Philly during the Playoffs.

(I hope you aren't a Yankees fan, or else we are destined to be mortal enemies)

I'm one of the few New Yorker's in the world who like BOTH the Yanks and the Mets, myself. There are people that think it's death to be a fan of the Yankees, or the Mets, on either side. My Mom has been a fan of the Bronx Bombers since she was young (She still has her old Yankee team yearbooks from the 60's and 70's) and my Dad is a Met fan, so it's kind of hard to take sides in the Yanks-Mets war.

[ranger]

Well, to be fair, that 2007-2008 team was near-immortal. Even the Lakers cowered in fear. Pau Gasol earned his "Mister Softee" nickname during that Finals series. They had KG/Allen/Pierce combo, with great back-ups like James Posey (Him leaving really killed that team) and Eddie House. The team from last year was hurt in the Playoffs, though it did give us that amazingly entertaining Celtics-Bulls first round series, which is the greatest first round series that I have ever seen. Now-a-days, though, they're a walking corpse.

I was stating that the reason the Celts did that well that year was because of that "new team high".

Are you saying that throughout his whole career, KG has never deserved his All-1st NBA Team selections? And to be fair, KG's Wolves teams never had anyone, other than in the  2003-2004 season, in which they played a tough Laker team in the WCF. Duncan always had a great supporting cast, from the days with Sean Elliott, David Robinson, Steve Kerr, Avery Johnson, to the days with Manu, Parker, and others. The Spurs were really the only team that could compete in the West with the Lakers for a few years. Then everyone got older.

I meant Kg didn't deserve the all nba teams after he joined the celts.  Especially that Defensive player of the year award; you aren't good at defense simply because you holler around like a gorilla!  That was a BS award and there were so many other players that deserved it.  On the whole debate with KG vs Timmy..there was always the statement that KG didn't have a great supporting cast, which is true.  Okay, let's put him on the celtics.  Now that he's on a better team, he still can't control the game like Duncan can, he's in no way shape or form a better defensive player, and his stats are abyssal (to everyone who uses the fact that KG is better due to the better stats).  Duncan has no athleticism what so ever and manages to put 20 and 10 his whole career or more.  Also, after the 1999 and 2003 Spurs team retired, Duncan didn't really have anyone.  They had some rookie french guard who really stank, and some unknown Argentinian player.  Duncan definitely had an influence in making tony parker and manu ginobili the way they are today.  And besides, the Spurs supporting cast has been stinking the past 3 years.  Besides the big 3, we had shit players - oberto, francisco elson, michael finley...and we still managed to win a ring in 2007.

Heyyy, the Celtics are still the 4th or 5th best team in an Eastern Conference that's stronger than ever. This is definitely not a "new team high," they're this good because they ARE this good. They have the talented squad. Even without KG this team is still a 45-47 win team, and that's nothing to poke fun at, especially if your favorite team hasn't been great since you were in 5th grade...

well, that sucks.  But too bad, Celtics dominated during the 80's, so its only fair they do shitty for another 20 years.    And I wouldnt say a 45-47 win team.  They will probably be barely over 50 this year...Without KG, it would be a 2 man game between PP and Allen.  Allen's getting old, and his threes can only do so much.  And we have all seen what a team w/ only PP can do...  the Eastern Conference, I'll admit, has gotten stronger, but still is nothing compared to the West.  That record has a lot to do w/ playing craptastic teams like the Bucks, Charlotte, Indiana, etc.

I don't know... I could name a few teams that I think have a better chance at this point (The Suns, the Jazz are back to form, if the Nuggets can collectively knock their heads together. The Nuggets story is unfortunate, because if George Karl wasn't out they'd be in prime contention to knock off the Lakers, who are WEAK this year.)

Yeah that's true, it's definitely far fetched, but Spurs have been playing their best basketball for the whole season.  They are rolling, I'm sure beating the lakers w/o a true PG must be a huge confidence booster.  And like I said Manu is HOT.  Basically, when Manu is putting up 30+ pnts a night, there's no stopping the Spurs.  He is the ultimate X-factor, I know that as a spurs fan, all my friends know as spurs-hater...  There is literally no team that can stop Manu when he is rolling, as seen by the latest wins against the Cavs, Lakers, Magic, and Celtics.