OPEN THREAD: Day 36 of the NBA 2k8 Playoffs

Boston has reclaimed it's home court advantage.  Finally winning on the road, perhaps the Celtics of 2008 will replicate some the complete and balanced teams of the 80s.  I won't count the Pistons out though.  They've been able to match up well, physically, with  their opponents.  i expect this series to go to 7 games.

Tonight's game of the Lakers at the Spurs may have more hype than usual.  Why is that?  Because Charles Barkley mentioned on the TNT broadcast that Kobe with Gasol and Odom is a better team than the Shaq and Kobe era.  His colleagues on camera along with some critics on the web scoffed at this statement given that the Shaq and Kobe era produced three championships to the current triad's zero.  I will say watching Gasol received passes from Odom and Kobe for easy flushes down the middle in a half court set is a beautiful thing to see; creating beauty in a space of chaos. 

Continue reading for tonight's predictions!

(G3) Lakers at Spurs (Lakers lead series 2-0): Crossing my fingers, that a win tonight will officially end the Spurs reign of terror on the NBA in the first decade of this millennium.  I'm not faulting them for their tremendous play; i wish our Warriors could achieve this level of efficiency and discipline.  But damnit, why do they have to have a bunch of not-likeable players? I've grown to like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to some extent for the ease that they get into the lane.  Maybe it's because they're always whining when something doesn't go their way.  Maybe it's those ugly jerseys.  Or maybe cuz they're too efficient.  At any rate, they're just not likeable. 

With that said, the Lakers are one of few teams that have been able to win on the road during the playoffs.  Entering Spurs territory and none of the home court advantage that they got in LA, the Lakers got to step up.  I imagine the Spurs to be rejuvenated being at home (or David Stern will have called the Lakers higher-ups or the referees making an executive decision that the Lakers will HAVE to lose, for the purposes of more commercial $).  Outside shooting by the Spurs will keep them in the game.  Bruce Bowen has his one monster game per series with six from beyond the arc.  Kobe shoots horribly and Jordan Farmar reverts back to the pumpkin when the clock strikes 8:30pm EST, the time when the game begins tonight.