‘07 Playoff Busts
An injustice anywhere…Earlier today we hit you with some of this year’s playoff surprises. Now it’s time to look at the other side of the coin; the busts of the ‘07 postseason …
Stu Jackson and David Stern
Admit it, guys: You blew it by suspending Amare and Diaw. I’m not saying there should be special treatment given to star players — everyone should be held to the same standards. And yes, a rule is a rule, blah blah yackety-smackety. But there has to be room for interpretation of a rule, especially when Stoudemire and Diaw came nowhere close to being involved in the Horry/Raja/Nash altercation.
The Mavericks
Wow. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. Not in the first round. This is a team that was expected to not only return to the Finals, but a lot of experts had picked them to win the championship. Despite Dallas’ struggles against Golden State in the regular season, few people outside the Bay Area actually thought they’d get upset by the 8th-seeded Warriors. Dallas was supposed to be the Spartans, Marlo Stanfield, the bullies. They were supposed to be kicking the Warriors’ ball over the fence, and instead they got their lunch money taken.
New Jersey Nets fans
Where were you? Granted, the fans who did show up at Continental Airlines Arena did their best at being loud and supportive (I see you, Hov), but there were way too many empty seats for it being playoff time. Personally, I received multiple e-mails from the Nets marketing staff practically begging me to come to their playoff games. Maybe the franchise will get better fan support when they move to Brooklyn.
The entire NBA postseason
Let’s compare ‘06 to ‘07. Last year had thrilling, record-setting moments (16 games decided by two points or less; seven overtime games; four series that went to Game Seven). It had Kobe’s almost one-man upset of the Suns, LeBron and Agent Zero trading big-time shots in a glorified game of H-O-R-S-E, Dirk’s breakout postseason where he played like a true MVP, Phoenix overcoming the absence of Amare to come this/close to the Finals, a rejuvenated Tim Thomas raining threes on everyone with his Tony Yayo impersonation, Sam Cassell turning the clock back to his Houston days, and Elton Brand destroying anyone in his path. Oh yeah, and D-Wade turning into Superman and carrying Miami to the ‘chip.
This year we’ve seen: Anderson Varejao, Manu Ginobili and Devin Harris auditioning for “General Hospital” with all the acting/flopping, one seven-game series (Rockets/Jazz) that was hard on the eyes, the best series of the postseason being forever remembered for the Amare/Diaw suspensions, both defending conference champs exiting in the first round, injuries that either sideline or clearly affected stars (Wade, Arenas, Butler), and a host of other superstars who weren’t even around to see the second round (Dirk, Shaq, Wade, Arenas, Yao, T-Mac, Bosh, D. Howard, ‘Melo, Iverson, Kobe).
Aside from the Warriors/Mavs upset and the explosion of King James, ‘07 has fallen way short of the ‘06 postseason.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Girlybballluver says:
I would’ve loved to see a Cavs/Wizards rematch. I think the Wizards would’ve won. Caron is so underrated.
My team (Miami) made a quick exit. I wasn’t surprised though. I wish Wade had opted for surgery instead of coming back. Now he may not be ready for training camp
June 12th, 2007 at 11:04 am
nick says:
had the raptors gotten past the nets it would have been interesting to see what would have happened it the cavs/raptors series. I know lebron would have had his way with everyone but my question is who would have been able to guard bosh and barganni on the permiter because i know the cavs guys don’t like to come out there.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:30 am
sam says:
much as i love going to nets games, i know people who don’t bother with them anymore cuz the arena staff makes it seem like you’re bothering them by trying to come to the game. then unless you have vip parking, they force you to leave on a small highway instead of the turnpike, so people leave the arena in a bad mood…but i gotta admit they tried to make it feel like the playoffs inside the arena atleast. even had neyo performing at halftime.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
boris says:
I ain’t a fan of Jackson (and not so much Stern either), but you’ve gotta mention that when Stern gave the owners the option of changing the “leave the bench” rule the owners said they wanted it to stay. So I put more of the blame on them.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Chief says:
I know this doesn’t count as a “playoff bust” but it sure did ruin my day when I heard that the softest big man in the game who is also the most under-achieving “superstar” ever; Dirk Nowitzki was named MVP when you have Nash playing like there is no tomorrow and scoring more points in the paint than Dirk and Eric Dampier put together! Other than that this list is definitely legit though I could argue that the exit of the prior years conference champions on both sides was a welcome breath of fresh air showing some counteraction to the predictability that had plauged ‘05 and ‘06.