That's no consolation for Spurs fans.

In a game of this magnitude, why didn't they use the replay to correct what the league (belatedly) says was a foul? I mean, the NBA has done so in lesser games. Toward the end of the regular season, the refs mulled about the replay monitors for at least 10 minutes on a debated foul in the Cavs-Sixers game. This was of far more importance in the LA-Spurs playoff series. I don't understand the inconsistency.

While this is not a blast on the Spurs, why is their pattern continuing of not being able to get back the year after they win the title? That's 4 times now that they've won it all since 1999 and 4 exits before the Finals the following year. If history is a predictor, expect the Spurs to get back next year and win it all again. I understand it's tough to win in any league, but it's equally tough to keep that level of intensity all the time.

Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkk you Flip, Tay, Sheed. A god damn 28-11 run before all the fouling begin. Are you serious? What bullshit. Up 10 to start the 4th and you score 11 points in 12 mins. What a joke. God I hate this team. /rant

Joe, please fire Flip and break this team apart. Sheed is done, wasnt playing D,couldnt score, in foul trouble again, he needs to go.

Well, after round three I'm 11-3. My Finals pick is:

-Los Angeles over Boston

I'll be very surprised if the Celtics win 2 games against the Lakers. This is such b.s. that there are now 6 days until the start of the Finals. What the hell is the point in waiting when both teams are sitting around? Off with David Stern's head, yet again. A guy who did so much for the league in the late 80s/early 90s is killing it now.

I'm starting to believe all the conspiracy theorists....

I agree. I understand the players need a few days off to travel, rest and prepare for the biggest series of their lives but 6 days is a little overkill. Then the league will wonder why the ratings are down again (because people forgot about them!) I will say this though however, I do play on watching all of the Finals games and I haven't even watched an entire game throughout these playoffs yet.

Hats off to you Irishman for watching all of the Finals. If I were you, why bother now to watch a game in its entirety. What you do is what I also do - which is a huge problem the league has. I find it nearly impossible to watch an NBA game from start to finish. The reason for me? The last 5 minutes of a game are nearly insufferable with all the timeouts, the endless fouling, and tv timeouts.

Then throw in the fact for eastern time zone fans, these games don't end until 12:00 or 12:30 a.m. When the Cavs were in the Finals last year, I didn't stay up for any of those games because I had to get to bed for work. I recorded them sure, but if fans like me (I have to believe I was not the only one) don't stay up for their home teams, who the hell is really watching these games en masse? Not nearly as many that used to is my guess.

You're out Flip. You're not a playoff coach. Things could get rough with this move we're trying to make in the East.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/SPORTS0102/806030431

I listened to Joe on one of the local sports radio stations. He was adamant that NO ONE on the team was untouchable and that there would definitely be some more changes. He refused to put all the blame on Flip. Joe said that none of the players upped their game in the playoffs. He sounded quite pissed off actually...

He should be. This is a team that's been to 6 straight Eastern Conference Finals and what do they have to show for it? 2 NBA Finals appearances and 1 title. They've lost to 3 different teams the last 3 years also.

For anyone that's interested...
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/press_conf/pc08_dumars_080603.asx

A slightly different take.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_9470632?nclick_check=1

I'm rarely happy to see someone lose their job but I don't think Flip was ever a good fit with this bunch anyway. He knew the drill when he got there. And he's still owed over $4.5 million..

So who are the Pistons gonna replace Flip with, Lilo?


I have ranted against the unnecessary delays in the NBA postseason for a few years. But this just came to me clearly recently that completely supports my position of keeping these series tighter, ala MLB & the NHL. I'm not a hockey fan, but the Stanley Cup Finals has been entertaining and played on a perfect pace to keep fan interest high. I digress.

OK, the Super Bowl is on a neutral site, so I understand the need for a fixed date and location. In the NBA, they have no idea ahead of time which teams will be playing in the Finals, so why have a fixed start date? The Lakers have been off since last Thursday, while the Celts clinched on Friday. Then they don't start the Finals until tomorrow? Why - what is the logic of not being able to adjust the following series schedule accordingly? It can't be because of media coverage, hotel availability, etc. There is no reason that these Finals could not have started on Monday, giving both teams 2-3 days of rest from the conclusion of their previous series. Then Game 2 of the Finals is not until Sunday!!! WTF?! As I said, this is exactly the justification many people have for losing interest in the NBA, which was once as popular as NFL football.

The only thing I can think of goombah is the players have a chance to rest like in the NFL (2 weeks to prepare for SuperBowl Sunday). Granted, as you said this can't be planned ahead of time because the Boston series could have gone 7 games, in which case they wouldn't have had a lot of time off. But I agree, they should reschedule but the league doesn't care. They probably think that the more you wait, the more exciting and "hyped" it can be.

Well the local reporters, bloggers and talk show hosts seem to think that the job is Michael Curry's to lose.

If you remember him he was the starting small forward for the Pistons under Rick Carlisle. He wasn't much of a player then but was President of the Players Association and is supposedly a smart intense guy who always wanted to coach. This year he became Flip's assistant coach, apparently at Dumar's direction.

Maybe he's "someone really good who hasn't made his rep yet"


Other names bounced around include the usual suspects like Jeff Van Gundy, Avery Johnson and the other current top assistant coach, Terry Porter, who is also angling for the Phoenix job.

Joe said that by end of next week he would expect to have hired a coach.

Whoever it is is going to be someone that either commands the players' respect or can go out and get it. I'm not sure Curry is that guy yet. Avery is definitely more intense than Flip but that's not hard to be. Does he have the hunger and drive to be a champion? I don't know. Personally I'd like Porter to get a shot because he's done it before.

Of the four core starters (Prince, Billups, Wallace and Hamilton) I hope that at least two are gone before start of next season. Locally people are giving Wallace the most grief but as Joe said, none of them did enough.

Yeah the late starts and delayed time between games is just strange. The Super Bowl starts at what, 6:30 or so EST. People on the West Coast still watch it.

I think Avery Johnson should get the job with Detroit. I think he could do well with them

I think the League's hands are tied in re-scheduling the start of the series. The TV networks pump in a lot of money for the television rights, and that price includes a substantial say in what date and time the game should be played. Both series were over by Friday, but could have gone on til Sunday. ABC, I'm sure, didn't want to alter its prime time schedule, and probably loves a Thursday night Game 1. Also, Game 1-7 tickets were likely sold prior to the conclusion of the play-offs and while the tickets always state that the dates are subject to change, sports leagues don't like changing the dates unless there is a compelling reason. Another factor in scheduling the game, is the hockey championship. The NHL and NBA look at each other's schedules to avoid such conflicts, if possible. Similarly, before the baseball playoffs were expanded, MLB would avoid Monday post-season games, in part, because of Monday Night Football.

I think though that everyone hit on a big reason. The NBA and ABC love the hype of this match up. The two most storied teams in basketball history going at it again. This won't be Bird and Magic, but it should be a great series with big ratings. I think that the Celtics are the better team and if the Lakers win, it will be due to the superior coaching of Phil Jackson over Doc Rivers.

I don't doubt anything you describe Klydon. But every reason you listed are abysmal excuses, particularly letting a television network dictate a league's championship round. What you describe is the very essence of what is wrong with the NBA. If David Stern had any stones whatsoever, he would tell ABC or whatever network to go screw themselves for not wanting to alter "Dancing with the Stars" for a week or two. When the league was at its zenith in the mid-1980s to the end of the Bulls/Jordan era, Stern did not capitulate at all. The series were crisp, concise and, best of all, entertaining. Stern could easily negotiate better terms if he had a spine.

The NBA, more than any other league, is killing its ability to draw new fans with these 9:00 PM EST start times. When they're a bit older, I wouldn't let my kids stay up to watch an entire game that will not end until 12:00 AM at the earliest.

**************
I think the Lakers will definitely take one of the first two in Boston. Then, in the Finals format, the teams go back to LA for three. I think the loss in the 2004 Finals still sticks with Kobe. He is the best player in the league and now has a decent supporting cast. I don't see how the Celtics will hang with the Lakers. Then there is the added motivation of Phil Jackson to move past Auerbach on the all-time coaching title list.

I can't really argue with your points here. However, the only factor I'm afraid of is the fact that the Celtics have home court advantage, where they've been next to impossible to beat in the playoffs (only 1 home loss thus far). I predict Boston to win tonight with L.A. winning Game 2.

I can't disagree with you. The same thing has hit post-season baseball. Most kids on the east coast don't get to see the final out of the Series. The tail sometimes wags the dog.

The starting game times are bad, for MLB baseball, I agree. But baseball spaces their postseason games out perfectly, both within the series and for the start of the next round.

When you and I were kids (I think we're close in age), was there anything better than coming home from school in October and having the LCS being played in the afternoon. Or better still, before sports was all over cable, what was better than the MLB game of the week played after the airing of Mel Allen's "This Week in Baseball?"

Afternoon playoff baseball is magical. The Game of the Week was required viewing, and Mel Allen's This Week in Baseball was like a Christmas special every week. It was especially captivating because it predated ESPN and Baseball Tonight.

Yes, I used to love listening to Garigiola and Tony Kubek call the MLB Game of the Week. What was the name of that show Johnny Bench used to host either right before or right after TWIB? It was a kids baseball show and Bob Uecker used to be on it regularly too.

I remember something like, "The Baseball Bunch" that came on Saturday mornings.

That's it Beth E. Thanks!!

I watched the 1st quarter last night and dvr'd the rest. What was the extent of Paul Pierce's injury? They said on the radio in was a sprained meniscus, but I heard Pierce came back later in the game. Does it appear serious? I think the series will go back to LA even after Sunday.

From the box score, it does not appear as if any player went crazy scoring. But Boston had double digit production out of the big 3 plus Rondo. Kobe had a quiet 24.

L.A. couldn't get their shots to fall and wouldn't rebound (especially on the offensive end). I don't think Pierce's injury is serious as he was out hopping on it from the locker room and played fine the rest of the game. If it was bothering him, he didn't show it. Kevin Garnett had a big game and is playing like he wants to win his first championship. L.A. was doubling up Pierce but might have to start thinking about doing that on KG instead. Allen had a pretty quiet night as did Kobe as you mentioned.

Wow, L.A.'s looked bad in the first two games. They couldn't hit their jumpshots or rebound (especially on the offensive end). We'll have to see what Boston team shows up (the team that's only lost 1 playoff home game or the team that's only won 1 playoff road game).

My pre-Finals assessment isn't looking too good at the moment. Boston has surprised me. LA has every right to whine for only getting to the charity stripe a measley 10 times last night. But the Celtics deserve a lot of credit. Rondo was pretty amazing w/16 assists las night. Boston has been horrific on the road in the postseason, so let's see how they do for 3 in a row in LA.

I think there were some questionable calls in Boston's favor too, but I thought LA did more fouling than Boston did. I think Boston's defense is much better than LA's, and Boston will one of the three games in LA.

I was surprised with the quality of play Boston has received from some of the bench guys.

I agree. At one point during the game the Celtics had taken 26 free throw attempts while the Lakers had only taken 3!