Witness the Return of the NBA Season

by Atma Brother ONE on Jun 3, 2007 10:53 AM PDT in NBA

Just before Conference Finals began I declared the NBA season over. Well thankfully I was only half right.

The Western Conference finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz was incredibly painful featuring such lowlights as the Jazz fans overtaking the Pistons' fans as the worst in the NBA and the Spurs unable to even sell out their arena during this series. However the Eastern Conference Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons was an absolute thriller every night. I barely watched the snoozefest that was the 2007 Western Conference Finals (I think I discovered the cure for insomnia!), but I caught every 4th quarter of the Cavs-Pistons series. Man, talk about the right time to flip on the TV switch. Next to the Golden State Warriors' amazing 1st round upset of the Dallas Mavericks the Cavs-Pistons series was the best series of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

A few random, unsorted thoughts on the Cavs winning the Eastern Conference crown:

Lebron is 22 years old. 22!

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Witness.
(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

I'm still in utter shock that the Cavs outplayed the Pistons in every single game of this series. The Pistons are lucky they weren't swept. Great D by the Cavs.
For as bad as Coach Mike Brown appears to be as an offensive coach he's equally great as a defensive coach. His "we're a no excuses team" after that close Game 2 loss was the line of a champion- well, at least a Leastern Conference one.

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Props to Grimace!
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

This Cavs team reminds me of the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers that won the East and stunned the Fakers in a memorable Game 1 NBA Finals (the Lakers won 4-1). The Allen Iverson, Eric Snow, Dikembe Mutombo, Raja Bell, Derrick Coleman, Tyrone Hill, Aaron McKie, Matt Geiger, Todd MacCulloch, Kevin Ollie, George Lynch, Jumain Jones, and Larry Brown Sixers were a great defensive team that handed off the offensive game to the superstar.

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The 2007 version of the 2001 76ers.
(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Pistons' impressive 5 year streak to the Eastern Conference Finals probably isn't even over yet. The Leastern Conference is so bad, they should be able to pull a 1 or 2 seed for a few more seasons. I dig most of their players individually, but collectively in addition to their barbarian fans they're painful to watch or root for.
I'd be pretty upset if I were Rasheed after getting an offensive foul call after another Sideshow Bob flop, but what was Sheed thinking kicking himself out of a possible Game 7?

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What was Sheed thinking?
(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Spurs in 5 in the NBA Finals with Tim "never" Dunking taking home the honors. Sure Bruce Bowen is dirty and Flopboli is incredibly annoying to watch, but give these guys their due- they are the best team in the NBA right now. They are greater than the sum of their parts.

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Congrats Cleveland, but I don't think you want to face the Spurs.
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Spurs should unfortunately easily win the NBA Finals, but the big question remains: who will flop more- Manu Ginobili or Anderson Varejao?

Boobie for three... Boobie for three... Boobie for three... Boobie for three... Boobie for three...

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Boobie in da house!
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

From around the web:

Making his teammates better [Yahoo! Sports]
City embraces its Cavaliers [ESPN]
LeBron James is in the NBA Finals [YAYsports! NBA]
Hello, Cleveland! [True Hoop]
Name That Straggling Polymer [Free Darko]
I can watch the NBA Finals now! [Bright Side Of The Sun]
It's Over....Again [Need4Sheed]
Like a fat kid to cake, destiny won’t be denied [HoopsAddict]
Pistons’ run comes to an end [Gorilla Crouch]
Boobielicious pulls a LeBron [100% Injury Rate]
Cleveland Rocks [Our Book of Scrap]
Cleveland Beats Detroit 98-82 Head To NBA Finals [Slam Dunk Central]
King James Has Arrived! [Lakers4Life]
Boobie Smooth [Dime]
Cavaliers Class of the East [HOOPLAH.. NATION]
Daniel Gibson's Uncanny Shooting Carries Cleveland to the NBA Finals [20 Second Time Out]
The Basketball Diaries - Boobie's Everywhere [Foul Balls]
Finals dreaming [Real and Fake Sports Musings]
Usher Is Going to the Finals (And, I Guess, the Cavaliers) [NBA Basketball and Other Unrelatedness]
It is Done: Cavs & Spurs Meet In Finals [Deuce of Davenport]
Cavs Shock The World, Just Not Me... [Feat the Sword]
The Cavs are Eastern Conference Champions [jbeaniesports]
Q&A Session With LeBron James - 06/02 [Slam Dunk Central]
"Robin" Gibson Comes Into The Rescue [Pabaon Sports]
Playoffs Live Blogging: I’m Part of the Witness Protection Agency [HOOPLAH.. NATION]
It's Only Fitting That LeBron Advance To The NBA Finals After Beating The Pistons [The Sports Oasis]
Check out Ballhype for more links

Also check out djchuckdeez's diary congrats to the cavs.

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Comments

technically still over

the spurs are still gonna roll to the title. it's probably gonna be even easier for them now. the cavs made the east interesting tho

by AJC3317 on Jun 3, 2007 1:44 PM PDT reply actions

The only player in the league

that I can see being able to guard LeBron 1 on 1 is Ron Artest. I don't think anyone else can check the juggernaut that is LeBron.

Marv Albert: "I ain't trippin'!"

by ZombieWarrior on Jun 3, 2007 4:05 PM PDT reply actions

f the cavs

f the spurs. go warriors, everybody else can kiss my behind. and for the record i can guard lebron

by stevenro59 on Jun 3, 2007 4:54 PM PDT reply actions

detroit played better first 2 games

they won those 2 games guy. and why is daniel gibson name boobie now - out of no where.

by stevenro59 on Jun 3, 2007 4:59 PM PDT reply actions

detroit did not play better....

the only reason why detroit won the first two was cause....1)marshall didnt make the open 3 even though lebron could have easily taken it himself and 2)lebron wasnt yet able to close out a game, hughes missed an OPEN shot, and varajeo or however you spell his name missed the tip in..this easily could of been a sweep....then after that lebron was just lights out

gibson is called boobie now because when they did a bio of him during the game, it said his nickname was boobie...so there you go

by boomdizzle5 on Jun 3, 2007 9:23 PM PDT up reply actions

wow.

seriously. this thread is a captivating example of why people shouldn't bother posting if they have no clue what the hell they're on about.

"I make love to pressure." -Stephen Jackson

by coma @ Golden State Of Mind on Jun 3, 2007 9:26 PM PDT up reply actions

the out come of the first 2 games

dtroit won both... there for detroit was the better team that those 2 games, and if the cavs played the better game, they would have swept the piston.
question that

by stevenro59 on Jun 3, 2007 9:53 PM PDT up reply actions

oh.

okay. you said that before. that must mean its right. if you had watched those two games you would know better. question that.

"I make love to pressure." -Stephen Jackson

by coma @ Golden State Of Mind on Jun 3, 2007 10:11 PM PDT up reply actions

watched them both

the pistons one, you cant argue who the netter twam was that night... cavs cooked under pressure, and they used that to win the next 4 games...cant handle the truth. if you win you are the better team, NO MATTER WHAT.

i agree that the pistons couldnt keep up with the cavs because billlups is old rip is old and wallace is out of his damn mind.

by stevenro59 on Jun 4, 2007 3:15 AM PDT up reply actions

so in game 2

if the refs called the obvious foul when Rip hacked Lebron and the Cavs won the game, that would mean the Cavs were the better team that night?

I hope you see why this logic is flawed.

In fact, since every game was close (maybe excluding the last), I don't really think either team was that much better. They looked to me like two great teams that were very evenly matched.

More Hardware Coming!

by gsw4life on Jun 4, 2007 5:14 AM PDT up reply actions

finally some right logic

i really dont think if a score is within 3 (or close thoughout a game)
that you really cannot call a team better because when its that close it is a toss up from mostly luck like the shots missed or having the crazy refs that dont call or do call calls. just like the cavs games. this was practically a sweep and to me it was especially they won 4 straight.

by 24k state fan since 87 on Jun 4, 2007 6:49 AM PDT up reply actions

ya I've been trying to make this argument

about the Utah series, since people seem to think that Utah won easily, even though the first two games, in Utah, could've went either way

More Hardware Coming!

by gsw4life on Jun 6, 2007 4:04 AM PDT up reply actions

i will settle with that

by stevenro59 on Jun 5, 2007 12:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Spurs boring?

Okay, first of all, I'm in no way calling out Atma, because everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and also his opinion that the Spurs-Jazz series was boring is shared by the majority of people. But I dunno, as a die-hard basketball fan, I wouldn't miss a final four playoff game no matter who was playing. I know we've seen the Spurs in the playoffs every year, and for some people that may get old, but not for me. The Spurs-Mavs series last year was amazing. I guess I just hope any basketball fans out there don't keep reading the Spurs are boring (not just here - as I've said, everyone says this) and decide they'd rather get another Madden game in their franchise mode than watch a Finals game.

More Hardware Coming!

by gsw4life on Jun 4, 2007 5:29 AM PDT reply actions