Welcome to the Peanut Gallery. A coalition of NBA bloggers that are ticked off, depressed, angered and ready to jump off a bridge because their respective team isn't in this year's playoff picture. But one step to recovery involves group discussion of this year's playoffs, and we'll continue this talk therapy over the course of the post season.  Here is their thoughts on the opening weekend of this season's playoffs.

This session's guests?

What did you think was the biggest story from the first weekend of the playoffs?

Ben (Fanster's Phoenix Suns Community): I think it has to be the 76ers beating the Magic.  I'm not sure anyone saw that coming, and certainly not me.  Stealing one in Orlando has the makings of this series going 6-7 games and I definitely didn't see that.

College Wolf (TWolves Blog):  Celtics.  Lose.
 
P.S.  At. Home.

Kyle (Truth About It): Many will point to Houston blowing out the Blaze in the Rose Garden as the big story, or even the closeness of the Bulls-Celtics series....

But how about those Atlanta Hawks? When they lost Josh Childress to Europe, how many people thought they were going to improve by 10 wins.

Marvin Williams has really stepped up his play this year (his PER went up a point and a half to 16) and Mo Evans/Flip Murray have surely worked out.

D-Wade is a warrior, so I'm not giving the series to the ATL just yet, but if they do advance, don't consider the Cavs a lock. The Hawks pushed the champs to the limit last year....if they've used that experience to learn to win on the road, who knows? (I'd still predict Cleveland over Atlanta in six though.)

U-E (Hoop Heads North): Chicago over Boston with the rookie Derrick Rose coming up big in his first playoff game was big. And Philly coming back from 18 down to beat Orlando equally impressive. But KG being out for Boston and Orlando's injury problems coming into the playoffs take a little away from those stories for me.

The biggest story in my mind was Houston's complete manhandling of the Blazers in the Rose Garden because it was so unexpected. Coming into the game, the Blazers were on a roll, winning their last 6 regular season games. They were also 34-7 at home. Meanwhile, the Rockets have been without Tracy McGrady since February and have gone only 20-21 on the road this season. But right from the opening tap, the Rockets dominated, working the inside-outside game to perfection. Yao just kept scoring at will down low, opening the way for the supporting cast of Aaron Brooks, Ron Artest and Luis Scola to get themselves going. They also were able to get defensive stops at one end, then score at the other anytime the crowd got a little bit excited.  I've never seen the air go out of the Rose Garden so quickly. Hopefully the young Blazers can regroup as I was expecting this to be a tight series.

What player makes you to cringe when seeing them in the playoffs?  It might be a former player of your team, or just someone that you say to yourself "WTF? He doesn't deserve to be here..."?

Ben (Fanster's Phoenix Suns Community):

College Wolf (TWolves Blog):

Meeeeeekki Moore and Stephon Mebury.  I mean, really?

 Kyle (Truth About It):

Then again, Kevin Garnett is annoying as well....kinda glad he's out. Him barking and cussing from the bench for no damn reason makes me really wish the Bulls won game two behind the unfathomable Ben Gordon.

I don't mind the Nuggets, would rather see the Hornets advance, but you gotta love/respect the job that Chauncey Billups has done this year. But then I think about Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith....both those dudes are flat-out annoying....fugazi if you will. I know I all but picked the Nuggets to get to the West Finals, but I can't see myself truly pulling for them in rounds one or two.

U-E (Hoop Heads North): Stephon Marbury. The only thing that will make me stop from cringing seeing him in the playoffs is if he's dribbling down the court and suddenly his head explodes and the 21 million dollar's worth of salary he made for being on the Knick's roster this year flies out of his bulging noggin and lands in the lap of a kid in a wheelchair.

If you could adopt one of these playoffs teams to root for, who would it be?

I'm really rooting for the Hornets now.  At first, I rooted for the Blazers but I've found my hatred for Denver is greater than my liking of the Blazers.

College Wolf (TWolves Blog):

I would go with the Celtics in the East (I was a fan of them BEFORE the KG trade), and New Orleans in the West.  I really, really, really, really, really love CP3's game, and like Dave West and Posey as well.  Plus, Hilton Armstrong is a space cadet, and I now enjoy him after sitting behind him at a TWolves game and observing his antics.  Plus, they play the hated Nuggets, so if they could somehow knock Denver out that would be icing on the cake.

Kyle (Truth About It):

My dad's a big Hornets fan, and I've got ties to New Orleans, so I don't mind adopting them....just don't think that NOLA has much in the tank for a realistic run.

For the East, I'll probably adopt the aforementioned Hawks. They are fun to watch and I really love the complete game of Joe Johnson. And besides, Atlanta could use some extra fans.

The Pistons are my team first and foremost, but beyond that, I'd have to say the Denver Nuggets. I really like how Chauncey Billups has come in and helped the Nuggets come together as a team. After rooting for him with the Pistons all these years, I'm still happy to see Mr. Big Shot come up huge in Game 1 against the Hornets.

Great session guys, we'll continue this therapy over the next month.

Are you a depressed fan? Join the discussion, let's talk it out. Post your comments below and give us your thoughts/rants....

Photo credit: (Basketbawful)

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Comments (1)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment Preview