Slog

My pick? Slow-moving lady hips all the way, baby! (oh and by the way, who was your pick last year?)

Hoo Wee, them's some nappy-headed hoods...

Yes, someone in Seattle cares about basketball! I am also routing for the Suns. I hate the Mavericks. I love Dantoni's philosophy of fast and fun compared tp Dirk the Jerk and life or death Avery.

I'm also rooting for the Suns. I was born and raised in Phoenix.

Woo Hoo! Go Suns!

travis: suns, duh. i think they didn't have much left after the two seven game series against the lakers (fuck kobe) and the clippers--not enough to get past the mavs.

yes lsk3ster, yes! (though i have nothing against dirk) you should read :07 seconds or less: my season on the bench with the runnin' and gunnin' phoenix suns by jack mccallum. he chronicles last season, goes in depth on player and coaching personalities. a great read.

i am trying to kill the part of me that gives a shit about pro sports. basketball was the last one i cared about. the sonics have almost driven the final nail in the coffin.

you'll be better off PARTICIPATING in a sport than sitting on your ass watching glandular freaks jump around.

ugg. the NBA is horrid. maybe the worst of the big three pro sports.

i can barely watch the NFL, and it's my favorite.

give me my florida gators and nothing else!

I'm like you, Max. I've been holding a pillow over the face of my pro-sports loving self. Soon to be former self. I love college hoops (especially March Madness), and I play myself. I can't bear to pay $40 to see a bunch of lazy, spoiled jerks play ball (well, that describes 2/3 of the players & teams, at least). Once my Sonics life-force is snuffed out, I'll moved on to the M's, I think. If and when they ever get player salaries and ticket prices under control, maybe I'll venture back.

Dallas. Why? Attrition.

Dallas has a 1st round bye against Golden State, then gets to coast in 5 games against Utah or Houston in the 2nd round.

Phoenix has to play the Lakers in the 1st round. 7 games of Kobe will sap their strength. Carmelo and Iverson will sap the strength of San Antonio. Then SA and Phoenix will play 7 more games of mutual assured self-destruction. The prize for winning that series?

A well-rested Dallas. Around game 4 or 5, SA or Phoenix will start collapsing.

Angela, since you appear to be new in town, I’ll give you a quick primer on pro sports in Seattle: we don’t really go ga-ga over a team unless they’re good. Last time the Supes were in the playoffs everyone was watching—Nate McMillan put a solid team together out of not much. Ditto for the M’s and Seahawks—they got no love until they stopped sucking. UW football is the only sport here that gets big support no matter what. Then again, it’s been around as long as the pro teams have on the east coast.

That “Seattle doesn’t like basketball because it’s too white” is utter crap. Basketball was a big #1 here when the Supes played in the finals two years in a row in the 70’s, back when the NBA was the #4 pro league—and Seattle was even more white.

So we don’t go all ga-ga for crap teams like a certain other coast does. Any city that would go ga-ga for Nick Collison and Luke whatshisname deserves no respect.

I don’t know where you were when the UW was playing during March Madness in 2005 and 2006, but the bars were packed. Play the game right and we’ll come.

In Seattle we don’t really go ga-ga over a team unless they’re good. Last time the Supes were in the playoffs everyone was watching—Nate McMillan put a solid team together out of not much. Ditto for the M’s and Seahawks—they got no love until they stopped sucking. UW football is the only sport here that gets big support no matter what. Then again, it’s been around as long as the pro teams have on the east coast.

That “Seattle doesn’t like basketball because it’s too white” is utter crap. Basketball was a big #1 here when the Supes played in the finals two years in a row in the 70’s, back when the NBA was the #4 pro league—and Seattle was even more white.

So we don’t go all ga-ga for crap teams like a certain other coast does. Any city that would go ga-ga for Nick Collison and Luke whatshisname deserves no respect.

I don’t know where you were when the UW was playing during March Madness in 2005 and 2006, but the bars were packed. Play the game right and we’ll come.

Come playoff time I really feel the pain of living sans cable. What websites do you recommend for coverage? I can't deal with espn.com and all its video.

BB, thanks for the condescending, local fair weather fan's primer. i'm not asking seattle (where i've lived for 8 years) to go "ga-ga" over a shitty team (though, incidentally, rooting for one is what real local loyal fans do). it seems to me folks in seattle don't dig the nba game (and to clarify, i am talking about pro ball here) that much. i'm heartened to see there are a slog readers who are enthusiastic.

but fact: the nba gets less respect (not just in seattle) than other pro sports and the reasons have everything to do with whiteness/blackness. eventually i'll post about that.

My pick: San Antonio over the Heat in 6. If it goes to 7, the Heat win.

I know thise are not chic picks but Dallas and Phoenix play an offense first helter skelter brand of basketball that has not succeeded in the playoffs for 20 years. Neither of these teams will win anything this year (or ever).

angela, it's not so much white/black as complete lack of defense. every game is one hundred something to one hundred something.

college ball is just as black, but they block, go for steals, run back up the court after their teams scores, etc.

The Suns CAN beat the Lakers and that ball-hog supremo Kobe in the finals, no problem there. Whoever ends up playing San Antonio, I feel sorry for - also feel sorry for the viewer because the Spurs are boring. I pick Suns/Dallas in the West with maybe the edge going to the Suns. By the way, WTF is up with Joey Crawford going nuts on Tim Duncan, of all players? Duncan's mellow; he's no Iverson or one of those jerk showboaters. The ref threw that game Sunday.

One more then I'll shaddap: At one point in the 90s, the Sonics were so good, they were scary - no one wanted to face the Sonics. If they get a good team again, this town will rally.

and up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong while watching how his penis patches got wet at http://www.averagepenis.mysize.ws