BruceW

... The people who set the schedule didn't set this particular game up until a few days ago though. What's one more day? Is one day (a travel day from an away game to another away game, AND a preparation day all rolled into one) enough between games for any team? edit - The spacing between games is odd anyway. The Spurs Hornets played Game 6 last Thursday, then for some reason had 3 days off until Game 7. Why didn't the NBA let them play on Sunday instead, and then have Game 1 of the Spurs/Lakers on Wednesday? League rules prevent favoring a team, hence no extra days off beyond the regular travel day after last team closes out a series. Otherwise, TV dictates when the games will be played..... Billups played, I don't think he looked 100 percent. But Pistons had that same ol' "attitude" again and they lost. It seems it is now ingrained in them that they "have" a switch to turn on and off. Of course, this is all in their heads...I do believe they will bounce back and take game 2 and thus, home court advantage. Boston is the one having problems winning on the road. :bwallace2:

That is why it is always advisable to win in 5 or 6. Go to game 7, pay the price period. :bwallace2:

Yeah, that would be funny but you can bet from now on, somebody is going to win on the road, forcing Boston to start winning also on the road in order to stay alive. :bwallace2:

LBJ'S best teammates are Gibson and Varejo. Varejo had his hands full with the Celtics coverage and Gibson is out for the rest of the playoffs. So LBJ is slightly handicapped don't you think. If Gibson were in the lineup, I don't know if the Celtics could have held on. They are showing a definite weakness in the playoffs (can't win on the road). :bwallace2:

Ok, so that is why someone else mentioned earlier about being familiar with the comic book. I knew nothing about Iron Man. However, I did notice Rhody when he mentioned "Next time baby" but I thought there might have been something in this film. So I was wrong again. I did enjoy the film though. I still think it was torture to sit through all the credits to get to that tidbit, even for those that were familiar with the comic book storys and plots.

Saw Iron Man today. Go to admit that it was very good. Kept you on the edge of your seat or laid back laughing, great combination. I don't think they utilized Terence Howard's talents very well though. To me he just did not pull it off as a senior officer in the military. Don't know what was so great about sitting through all the credits just to see Sammy Jackson drop a 5 second hint about the Avengers. That was torture!

Probably not until they fire him. But then again, if they beat Boston, he will not get fired. :bwallace2:

Stack has always had a mouth problem. Funny he can't get a ring. :bwallace2: Fast forward - - - Brown leaves Charlotte 3 years early, effectively robbing them of 3 years salary, how much does it compute to this time!! The way Chuck is teasing him, there must be something to it. Flash is still young and does not know what to do when a cougar gets his scent. He probably thinks he is macking.

Billups said he will be back for the next game (game 5) even if he is slightly limited. :bwallace2:

No Unfortunately C. Webb is not a HoF player. Yes, he scored lots of points and was a good passer. But he was not a winner and he did not contribute enough to make his teams a winner. C. Webb also did not play the style of basketball that was pertinent to his position. He was a power forward with the "power" removed. C. Webb only mixed it up with other power forwards when he gained more weight from being injured and even then he was reluctant, he wanted to be a big guard (which more than once hampered the real guards on his teams). While he had a very good career and was paid very well, he is not a HoF. ... If the refs hadn't sent the Lakers to the charity stripe 27 times in the 4th quarter during the 6th game against Sac inthe 2002 West finals he would have got one. No, no, noooo. They would only have been in the NBA Finals, so noone knows if he would have gotten a ring or not. And it wasn't the free throws that beat them, it was the batted away rebound by the ex-Laker Divacs that allowed the Lakers to steal that game. And C.Webb did not have the impact of a Karl Malone etc. Look I am a Michigan man myself and I would love for a Michigan man to make HoF but C.Webb just does not have those credentials. It is a little bit more than "just" numbers. Look, who ever was coming out of the West in 2002 was going to win. The Lakers swept the Nets, remember? Divac flopping around on the floor any time someone got within 6 inches of him had more to do w/ that win then his rebounding. But we're getting off on another tangent. Garnett, Webber, Bird, Wilt, Elgin Baylor, and Billy Cunningham. These are the only 6 guys to have ever averaged at least 20 PPG, 9 RPG, and 4 APG for a career. The last 4 are in the hall. OK so he didn't live up to the hype that was surrounding him when he came out of Michigan. Although that had more to do w/ injuries and unrealistic expectations then his performance. When CWebb was healthy he was great. Even when his knees were shot he was probably one of the best big man passers to ever play the game. His career averages would be even better if he had retired about 3 years ago. I thought he dogged it for most of the time that he played in Philly and when I first thought about him getting into the HoF my immediate reaction was,"No F'ing way". But I think I was letting my personal bias get in the way of my better judgement. I think he'll get in. Maybe not first ballot but he'll get in. J.H. You have some good points but one thing I won't do is equate C.Webb in the same breath with Garnett, Bird, Baylor and Cunningham. That is what I meant about "impact" on the game. While I may also be personalizing a bit, the HoF is just not for him. Maybe waaay off in the future as an "old time veteran who was overlooked" but certainly not in the first ten years. At this point we have reached a stalemate, so I can only say "we have to wait and see." So what team is going to win the NBA Finals this year?? I love the Pistons but they still exhibit that schizophrenic personality and right now, I don't see them winning it all. Bruce

No Unfortunately C. Webb is not a HoF player. Yes, he scored lots of points and was a good passer. But he was not a winner and he did not contribute enough to make his teams a winner. C. Webb also did not play the style of basketball that was pertinent to his position. He was a power forward with the "power" removed. C. Webb only mixed it up with other power forwards when he gained more weight from being injured and even then he was reluctant, he wanted to be a big guard (which more than once hampered the real guards on his teams). While he had a very good career and was paid very well, he is not a HoF. ... If the refs hadn't sent the Lakers to the charity stripe 27 times in the 4th quarter during the 6th game against Sac in the 2002 West finals he would have got one. No, no, noooo. They would only have been in the NBA Finals, so noone knows if he would have gotten a ring or not. And it wasn't the free throws that beat them, it was the batted away rebound by the ex-Laker Divacs that allowed the Lakers to steal that game. And C.Webb did not have the impact of a Karl Malone etc. Look I am a Michigan man myself and I would love for a Michigan man to make HoF but C.Webb just does not have those credentials. It is a little bit more than "just" numbers.

No Unfortunately C. Webb is not a HoF player. Yes, he scored lots of points and was a good passer. But he was not a winner and he did not contribute enough to make his teams a winner. C. Webb also did not play the style of basketball that was pertinent to his position. He was a power forward with the "power" removed. C. Webb only mixed it up with other power forwards when he gained more weight from being injured and even then he was reluctant, he wanted to be a big guard (which more than once hampered the real guards on his teams). While he had a very good career and was paid very well, he is not a HoF.

Pistons are still playing with that schizo mindset. I think Flip Saunders is happy but it won't last if they don't toughen up some more.

Man, That Flip Saunders syndrome is always present!!

Perhaps, but they will beat them in six. The Flip Saunders principle still applies until proven otherwise. Guy I am trying very hard to not think of the Flip Saunders principle.

I'm with you on this one Paul, 20 wins is 20 wins. Some will try to discredit Houston by saying look who they played. Well they played the same teams everyone plays and they are doing what winning teams do, beat the teams you are supposed to beat. :bwallace2: However, right now I don't see anyone beating the Pistons in a seven game series.

You just put the hex on him!! :bwallace2:

Yeah, but 2 points is still 2 points. If you only dunk when their is psychological advantage then that is when it is great. :bwallace2:

It was a thing of beauty. Still can't understand why more players don't use the hook shot.

BruceW said: "Let's try, overwhelmingly more and more exposure to computers and computer games, as well as the overwhelming amount of rock and roll aimed at the youth. Movies on DVD. Go to the Blockbuster and you will see more youth than any other age group..." This is a very good point with the exception, I think, of the "overwhelming amount of rock and roll aimed at the youth" part. It's been a long, long time now since rock was the dominant form of popular music. How many generations now have come up listening to primarily rap and hiphop? At least three, going on four... Bill, overwhelming does not necessarily mean dominant in these terms. And I am guilty of lumping rap and hiphop in with rockroll (all youth music that is not jazz) "Jazz may not be dead, but it's smelling funnier by the minute. It's unfortunate, but unless some remarkable players come up with a startling new sound for jazz, it sure looks like "jazz" is very nearly completely installed in the museum." I strongly disagree that remarkable players aren't here right now and plenty more coming up. Bill, that was not my quote. but you certainly have a view to be considered, nice overviews.

It is really amazing the concepts of thought evolving around this thread. One thing I am not hearing is that the "jazz" music of today is not "moving" people. It seems the general belief is there has to be a great "brain trust" about the music, it has to be so esoteric etc. What ever happened to good melody, harmony and rhythm?? There can still be that first thing that happens when you hear something for the first time, "wow, what tune was that?" I hear a ton of good to magnificent players on the Internet from all over the world but most time, I don't hear the feeling of the music. Let me clarify, I do hear the tune; some of the complex things he/she is trying to do or rather is doing; that there is a lot of thinking that went into the tune or maybe not; but I don't hear a lot of tunes that make me want to try an hum it later on in the day or night. Has jazz gone too cerebral??? As for the young people that would certainly lose them if they even paid attention in the beginning. The last tune that moved me (like in the old days) was a tune called "Soul Sauce" (not the soul sauce made famous by Cal Tjader) by a young group called Staboola McPet (a vibraphone/sax led group) that instantly grabbed me. These guys are good but not magnificent but yet the tune (jazz tune) "grabbed" me at first listening. That is the feeling that seems to be missing so much these days. my 2 cents

Actually I didn't answer the first question of the thread. Let's try, overwhelmingly more and more exposure to computers and computer games, as well as the overwhelming amount of rock and roll aimed at the youth. Movies on DVD. Go to the Blockbuster and you will see more youth than any other age group. Well, that's a start. :bwallace2:

Let's try between 1930 and 1950 for starters. Most kids and teenagers were surrounded by jazz, in homes, soda joints, donut shops, juke boxes etc., (yeah, even jazz had hits on the boxes back then). Let's say after 1960 kids were exposed to jazz but less and less. Remember we are talking about young people. So if you were born after 1960, chances are you were young during the declining years of jazz (there is always a decline and rebirth isn't there) so the exposure was less and less. Well its a start... :bwallace2:

I hope so because C-Webb is giving us nothing. The Warriors are just one player away from a championship, sadly that player is Dwight Howard. At this point I would say the title is Lakers to lose. Did anyone really expect C Webb to contribute anything substantial. He is through. I said it before when SA was considering getting C Webb; he is too slow now, no legs, no jumping ability and he is still afraid to power the lane. (He is supposed to be a power forward) (He loves to pass; bullshit, the guards and small forward can do all the needed passing). He ruined Kings only real chance at a title by coming back from injury too soon; he slowed down the Pistons even more than they were at that time; and he is too slow for anybody now; Nellie signed him because he felt sorry for what he had done to C Webb when he was in his prime. Believe it. :bwallace2: This is "the year" for Pistons comeback. (IF THEY CAN STAY FOCUSED)

That's gonna help Denver and Golden State.