Posted on 05/23/2010 1:04:40 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
No heart.
I’m not sure you can find a pulsation right now among Orlando’s trio of Dwight Howard, Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis.
With their backs against the proverbial wall, all three came out and laid a gigantic egg.
That’s $50 million that should have just stayed home and watched the Eastern Conference finals on television — because they were all bystanders on Saturday night in Boston’s 94-71 thrashing in Game 3.
Howard went through the first 11:51 without scoring as the Celtics took a 27-12 lead after the first quarter.
The NBA’s most dominant big man finished with a mere seven points in more than 39 minutes on the floor.
Lewis was virtually useless for the third consecutive game in the series, which the Celtics now lead 3-0 with an opportunity to close it out Monday night. Lewis had four points and is averaging five in the series.
-snip-
In case you haven’t heard, no team has dug out of a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven NBA series.
Never.
“We’ve got to win one,” Carter said.
These teams don’t bear much resemblance to the ones that took the floor a year ago in the Eastern Conference semifinals, in which Orlando pounded Boston, 101-82, in Game 7 en route to an appearance in the NBA Finals.
-snip-
Turkoglu was sensational in the postseason a year ago. He even dished out a dozen assists and was clearly the most valuable player on the court in the decisive seventh game. Lee was critical in giving the Magic an offensive spark off the bench throughout the postseason.
That group seemed to mesh together and thrived as the hunter, sneaking up on its opponents.
Now, they have wilted as the hunted.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
Well yeah there is NO comparison to showtime..those were the days..seeing Magic now kissing the butt of the Celtics is really, well, disappointing. Yesterday after the game on ESPN Magic was all giddy about the Celtics..its freakin Magic Johnson, the icon, and he is kissing the Celtics butts..YUCK
It’s unfortunate that they didn’t live up to the personalities I liked on the court. I’m glad I never had athletes as role models. I have my grandpa for that.
I remember when Bird retired and Magic took off his warm-up jersey to reveal a Celtics shirt.. I almost pooped myself. I do respect the Celtics, afterall a lot of my NBA memories involve them and the Lakers from the 80s. But I don’t think I can talk good about them. I think I’d have laughed if I seen Magic going gaga over the Celtics. I hope he hasn’t went to the darkside though... ;)
A ratings bonanza for sure.
Well, supposedly Lebrawn will be heading to the Bulls because his sick and tired of choking in Cleveland, so he’ll bring his hype there. LBJ is definitely carrying his overated supporting cast and that includes an aging Shaq.
No matter where he goes, I’ll think he’s overhyped until he leads a team to the title. But then the hype will only get worse... so maybe I’ll always think he’s overhyped.
Nothing about pro athletes suprise me. A lot of them are narcissistic to a fault and that’s what drives them to success in athletics.
That ain’t gonna happen! Lakers rule, Celtics drool!!
I was watching some ESPN now and AGAIN he was kissing the Celtics butts. Hey it’s all good, let ESPN and others pick the Celtics to win it all, then we can be the underdogs and win. Same thing happened with the Cavs, Barkley and others picked the Cavs to win and what happened..BAM, knocked out 2nd round..so I say let everyone have their fun, we will have the last laugh(hopefully) my friend’s brother flew to Arizona last night to be at the game so he is contributing to the Arizona economy..so TAKE THAT stupid Dems in LA, we are giving back to Arizona, but we are also gonna beat the Suns :-)
As far as Magic goes, I saw him once at the mall here, he seemed like a nice guy, but I’d tell him straight up to give back his 10 percent ownership if he keeps on butt kissing the hated ones. The only player I like on the Celtics is Rondo..amazing ball player..would love to have him on our side
HELL YEAH GO LAKERS!!!
Same here. I stopped being an avid fan of NBA after the retirements by Karl Malone and John Stockton, the end of the “Golden Age” of NBA, IMHO.
I have been surprised at how easily the Celtics have handled the Prestidigitators so far, but one thing I knew... the Celtics would play with heart. R. Allen, Rondo, Pierce, T. Allen, Garnett, Perkins..they are all about heart.
They struggled through a overly injury plagued season and started to get healthy just a few weeks before the playoffs began. This was a team that before the season started many had predicted would lose less than ten games.
Evidently they will dispense with the Prestidigitators, and then they will be big underdogs to the Lakers...just like they were two years ago. Likely they will lose...anyone wanna bet against them?
I agree, let the pontificators pontificate and hopefully motivate the Lakers. A motivated Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant is a nightmare. Even though I dislike Kobe, I don’t root against him. If he wasn’t a Laker, I would though. Rondo is outstanding. I wonder if Artest could guard him every now and again and rattle him? I am a diehard Dodgers fan, but would almost buy a Dbacks hat, just to show support to the state. I might have to track down some sort of Arizona gear and no, not the jeans. ;)
I don’t know about most or all. Most of the well to do I know on a personal level are pretty good people. I know a few doctors and busines owners from where I’m from and they’re the first to help if you need it.
I’m an Angels fan, been one since 2002 when the won the championship(My cousin used to work for the organization, but AFTER they won the title, ever since they haven’t won squat :( ) Can’t stand Ray Allan, can’t stand KG, and I definitely cannot stand Paul Pierce and his wheelchair faking stuff that he did in 2008, that is what we call him on the Laker boards, wheelchair. So Rondo is the only guy I respect on the team, he basically IS the team, the only reason they are kicking Orlando’s behinds is because of him. I think Ron Ron can guard Rondo..but we would need the crazy Ron to guard him, the crazy Ron going into the stands kinda Ron instead of the nice Ron, yeah he could do it. That is why we got him and got rid of Trevor, for his defensive ability so I think he could do it. It’s Pau and Lamar that have been playing great right now, or maybe its pure luck, according to Amare LOL.
“they haven’t enforced the rulebook for about 20 years now.”
I have to laugh everytime someone takes 3 or 4 steps to the basket (not dribbling just walking), and the refs just stand there watching.
No.
Few people are going to make the Celtics underdogs against anybody, given their current virtually unbeatable form, after so easily disposing of the # 1 and # 2 regular season teams (the Cavs and Orlando).
Remember in 2008, Celtics kept losing all their away matches in the first 2 rounds of their playoffs games. This year, they have won 4 straight away games in their playoffs, against the top 2 teams in the league. That's virtually unheard of. The Lakers are gonna find it really hard to subdue these guys.
Lamar has been soooo lucky, right? That was stupid of Amare to say. Now look, Amare, he’s even luckier! :) I never was a big fan of Garnett but I did like Ray Allen for a bit when he was with the Bucks. If crazy Ron guards him, it’ll be like when Rodman guarded Jordan and drove him nuts. Loved Rodman even though he’s nuts. The Angels? Yeeech. Los Doyers!
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