2008-09 NBA Season

[JohnBM01]

Boston lost at home 105-103 in Overtime against Chicago. Detroit got owned at Cleveland; 104-82(?).

Can't wait to see how my Rockets perform in Portland. We haven't made it out of the first round since 1997. Portland is a more favorable matchup for my Rockets than Utah or San Antonio. However, I'm not purely confident the Rockets will get past Portland in this best-of-7 series.



As usual, if my Rockets don't advance, I don't really care who wins the NBA Championship (as long as it's a Western Conference team). It's how I am in pro sports compared to college- if my favorite team's still in it, I'll keep watching and following. If the latter happens, couldn't care less who wins.

 

[JohnBM01]

It's official- my Rockets won 108-81. Next game is Tuesday at 8:30 PM CDT. I hope the Rockets can continually play this hard! They didn't do me proud... they did me DAMNED proud! Let's keep it up, boys!

 

[Omnis]

Hopefully we'll see Heat vs. Cavs in the east, and then Dwayne Wade and friends can go own Kobe for another title.

 

[JohnBM01]

(The Cleveland coach) won Coach of the Year, beating out Rick Adelman (Houston coach) for second. You like this pick for Coach of the Year?

 

[JohnBM01]

Game 2 of the NBA Finals takes place between Houston at Portland. Rockets lead 1-0 in the series. Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks played huge roles in the win on Saturday. Wonder if the Rockets can play this consitently...

 

[TS]

(The Cleveland coach) won Coach of the Year, beating out Rick Adelman (Houston coach) for second. You like this pick for Coach of the Year?

I would've picked Eric Spoelstra (Miami Heat coach) as COTY, he was able to turn that team from a total disaster into a playoff contender with minimal player changes.

I don't think Mike Brown (Cavaliers coach) really deserved it, it was mostly the combination of all the players, LeBron, Mo Williams and others coming together throughout the season and playing great.

 

[JohnBM01]

Rockets lost 107-103. Bad free throw shooting by Houston and some terrible foul calls were to blame. The series heads back to Houston for Games 3 and 4.

Also, congratulations to Dwight Howard on winning "Defensive Player of the Year," as well as being the youngest to get such an honor.

 

[a6m5]

Rockets lost 107-103. Bad free throw shooting by Houston and some terrible foul calls were to blame.

Feeling is mutual. Yao must teach our bigs how to body & bump the cutters without getting a whistle. Overall, just like the Game 1, the officiating was laughable. This time around, they didn't only screw the Blazers, but Houston as well. Way they were making up calls & calling the "make-up" calls were just hilarious. Out off of the Blazers - Houston ball. Next time around, Przybilla touches it last.... Blazers ball. They should just come out and say it: Some nights, they have no idea what the hell's going on, with so much B/S going on(superstar treatment, "cleaning it up", etc.)

We can't beat Houston. With the refs taking away the lanes from our cutters(mainly Roy), we'd have to shoot flawlessly, or has to play spectacular rest of the way. Or Houston can stay home. Won't happen.

 

[JohnBM01]

No more Dikembe Mutumbo after that season-ending injury. I sometimes wish I could chant... "THANK YOU DEKE! THANK YOU DEKE!"

 

[Giancarlo]

Classy dude. As Alonzo Mourning's college roomate, he was there at Zo's jersey retirement ceremony. 👍

 

[a6m5]

Yeah, I've read that he's finally retiring. Too bad his career had to end this way.

 

[JohnBM01]

At least Deke retired doing what he loved- playing basketball. I thank him for his service. He could have gone to any team and played for any team. However, he chose my Rockets and played his butt off. Best of luck to Dikembe Mutumbo.


Game 3 between the Rockets and Trail Blazers takes place Friday night in Houston.

 

[JohnBM01]

Cavaliers won Game 3 in Detroit to go 3-0. As for my Rockets, we took care of Portland. It was a stormy Friday night, especially for the Trailblazers. We're 2-1 in the series. The next game is this Sunday night. Have to see if my Rockets can continue to play with purpose and play with heart.

 

[Giancarlo]

The Heat are destroying the Hawks tonight.

 

[JohnBM01]

Game 4 is tonight for my Rockets against the Trailblazers. If we win tonight, then we'll have to try to win at Portland to close out the series.



Detroit has been eliminated from the playoffs. So their season is over.

 

[JohnBM01]

Wow! Rockets won 89-88 against Portland. We have to win one more game to advance to the Second Round. That game is Tuesday night in beautiful Portland.

We've put away Portland only once- in Portland by 27. This team can put up a fight. So it's not like we're expected to beat down Portland like Cleveland beating Detroit. Game 5 this Monday!

 

[JohnBM01]

My Rockets have a chance to close out this series. Trouble is, they have to do it in Portland. The Rockets control their own destiny. How they play in Game 5 could determine if this series goes 5 games, 6 games, or a full 7-game set.

The predictions that I've seen on Yahoo! Sports on this series:
Kenny Smith: Rockets in 7.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Trail Blazers in 7.
Johnny Ludden: Trail Blazers in 7.
"Ball Don't Lie": Trail Blazers in 7.

I tell you... some people just have no faith in teams. But, those are just predictions. There's predictions... then there's reality. We'll see what the Rockets can do in Game 5 tonight.

 

[JohnBM01]

The winner of the Houston/Portland series gets the L.A. Lakers in the 2nd Round. And if the Rockets keep playing like they did so far, and if they end up advancing... they'd better play MUCH better than what they've shown in the first half so far in Game 5.

 

[JohnBM01]

We must have really pissed off Portland to where beat the s:censored: out of my Rockets. We lost 88-77, and I think the Rockets could have played much better instead of letting the Trail Blzers beat us on both sides of the ball. Either we thought this was going to be easy, or the Trail Blazers were just too tough in their house. So what do I say? POUND their asses back in Houston. It's give-and-take. Rockets had better do a damned better job than the lackluster performance they've shown tonight. And if the Rockets do win this series, the Lakers will sweep the Rockets if Houston played like they did tonight.

Game 6 is on Thursday night- Portland at Houston.

 

[a6m5]

I just got back from that game, and I feel dirty. Portland fans, myself included, has been complaining about the officiating during most of the series.

Tonight, IMO, the refs bailed us out. They made calls that were not there(against Houston), and they made calls that we've been begging for since Game 1(about..... time). Still, amazingly, Yao got away a lot. I just have to laugh.

Again, I was not excited about the win at all tonight. But I was about meeting couple of throwback Blazers; Jerome Kersey & Brian Grant. I also got to say "hey" to the Blazers President, Larry Miller. President Miller was cool, friendly. Brian Grant, I've met him before, and he's an extremely nice guy. Very surprisingly, Jerome Kersey, not so much. I got to shake hands with him, and got a chuckle out of him when I called him "one of the greatest Blazer of all-time", but my buddy, amongst some others got totally ignored. Very disappointing, since he's one of the most popular Blazer, ever.

I'm sure the officiating will shift back toward Houston's favor by Thursday(how wrong is this?). I'm just glad I got to see the Blazers one last time before the season's completely over.

 

[JohnBM01]

Three quarters are down, and Chicago leads 86-73. At about 8:30 PM CDT or so, Game 6 with Portland at Houston is coming up. This series winner gets the Lakers in Round 2 (and God help either team that advances to the 2nd Round).

 

[peeweegary]

If rondo doesnt get suspended in the next game (*facepalm*). NBA officiating has been terrible this year. They're just manipulating the outcomes. It's ridiculous. May as well have no rules to the game.

 

[JohnBM01]

Now Tony Kornheiser can stop reminding us that the Rockets haven't advanced to the Second Round. Portland is beautiful, and I'd love to go to Portland... but the Rockets won't have to go back to Portland because they (punching his palms) beat down the Trail Blazers 92-74.

I'm not confident at all that we'll beat the Lakers. However, ANYTHING can happen. Also, MAD props to the Celtics taking care of business in Chicago for Game 6 in Triple Overtime!

 

[Slick6]

Even though they didn't win, tonight reassured me why Ray Allen is one of my favorite players. He's a very smart player, shoots like nobody's business, drives into the paint with good success, doesn't throw a fit after every play, and a great clutch player.

My guess for the championship will be between LA and Boston again, or LA and Cleveland. Note, I am not biased towards the Lakers, in fact they're one of my least favorite teams, but they do have talent.

 

[Giancarlo]

I saw the end of that triple overtime game. Allen really does have ice in his veins.

 

[a6m5]

Boy, I caught only until the third quarter(I had my own basketball tonight), but Blazers bench didn't even show up tonight. I do wish we could have ended the season little bit more on a stronger note.

I don't want to take anything away from Houston, I also don't want to sound like a sore loser, because I'm not. We lost. Period. But I honestly wonder: Certain rules flat out did not apply to Yao Ming in this series. He just collided mid air with any Blazer who took the ball to the hoop. Literally, he was almost NEVER called for it. No block, no play on the ball. NBA effectively made Portland an jump shooting team, most of the time.

Will the officiating stay the same in the second round? When I think of NBA players who the rules doesn't apply to(welcome to the WWF B.S.), it's LeBron and Kobe. Extra step, offensive fouls, it doesn't matter. Will Yao be able to chest-bump Kobe, the same way he did against Roy? I really don't give about the Lakers-Rockets series, but I will be watching closely, just for the officiating.

 

[JohnBM01]

The first match between the Rockets and Lakers will be in L.A. this Monday night. I was a bit confident about the Rockets taking down Portland. And with all due respect to Portland, now the hard part- take down a very game Lakers squad. We have the talent to compete with the Lakers, but my confidence is severely low that the Rockets will take down L.A. (Lakers, of course).

A sad deal is that this was the final broadcast of the season listening to Bill Worrell, Clyde Drexler, and Matt Bullard here on Fox Sports Houston. So I'll have to watch TNT and (sigh) the "Always Hate Houston" ESPN/ABC networks. Congratulations to all whom have already advanced to the Conference Semi-Finals. Who do you all have winning Bulls at Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals?

 

[kjb]

As much as I hate the Celtics I believe they will win tomorrow night.

 

[JohnBM01]

^ And you'd be right. The Bulls are out of the playoffs with a loss at Boston. They lost 109-99.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Hawks will meet Cleveland after their beatdown over Miami earlier today. Right now, the Mavericks are playing in the Mile High City against the Nuggets.