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Josh Smith (photo. Blake Peterson)
Did this really happen? On the day we come together to celebrate our favorite women, the Dallas Mavericks gave the Los Angeles Lakers a very un-motherly funeral, 122-86, to complete a cold-hearted, embarrassing sweep of the defending champs. Will Phil Jackson walk away after suffering his first sweep in 21 playoff series? Could this be the “Phil-nale,” if you will? (sorry) The Mavs are playing as well as anyone left in the playoffs. And Mark Cuban is pretty pumped about it … It’s hard to say it was their defense that did it after putting up a buck-twenty, but Dallas had the perfect storm (game plan and personnel) to shut down the usually-prolific Lakers. When they’ve fallen in the Phil/Kobe era, the Lakers have fallen hard, and by packing the paint like a basement apartment with their bigs (Tyson Chandler = shut down) and daring L.A. to shoot perimeter jumpers, the Mavericks successfully did what no one thought possible – slaying the Gasol-Odom-Bynum three-headed interior monster. The added perk (not that Perk) was it forced Kobe outside and off the free-throw line. He was okay in this one (17 points on 7-of-18 shooting), and was really the only Laker to show up in the first half, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he was great, not when the opposing team hits 15 more threes. After a few minutes in the second quarter, the lead was already 10 and growing, Laker fans were already on their fourth Coors and Kobe was already on his sixth “look of disgust.” It felt inevitable. Dallas hit nine threes before the second was even halfway over; Jason Terry, 9-of-10 on threes for 32 points, Peja Stojakavic, 6-of-6 from three for 21 points…when you tie an NBA Playoff record for threes made with 20 (THEY HIT 20 THREE-POINTERS!) you’re probably going to win a lot of games … If this was really his last game, Phil should’ve worn a ring on each finger, and then punched Gasol in the face for embarrassing him throughout the playoffs and for allowing Marc to steal his brother’s spot at the head of the dinner table … And so much for sportsmanship. After falling into a 30-point hole, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum got mad, they got frustrated and then they got ejected. First Odom and then Bynum on a blatant cheap shot on J.J. Barea (22 points, eight assists). It was your typical David and Goliath-type scenario, except in this version David didn’t do so hot. Bynum dropping a bow was bush-league, and appears to be the only tough-guy move he has. We’re sure the Mavs will use the week before the Western Conference Finals to shake off any ill effects of that foul play. As we say, on to the next one … This summer, Kobe should make a “ship his a$% out” sequel, this time for the whole squad … Ron Artest is the king of blown half-layup/half-dunks … The nightcap saw the Atlanta Hawks rebound to pull Game 4 out 100-88 at home, sending the series back to Chi-town all knotted up. It was all about Josh Smith. We had mentioned in some back-Smack that all that jump shooting wasn’t the way Smith should play. Well, he responded with a huge game (23 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists) and was the difference. We’d almost forgotten how skilled Josh is for a dude his size until he started throwing lobs to Al Horford (20 points) and a full-court heave to Joe Johnson (24 points). Late in the game, Atlanta kept running a guard-to-guard screen-n-roll that left Smith playing a pseudo-point forward spot as his man rotated over to help, and he killed it. Every possession in the fourth was a product of Smoove playing with a brain. This one might go seven if he keeps bringing what he had tonight. But alas, he’s still Josh Smith … And we love the move by Larry Drew to again start a center in place of Marvin Williams (Jason Collins in this case) to move Horford to the four and Smith to the three. That’s where they belong if the Hawks are looking to cause some legit matchup problems … Damien Wilkins drove baseline and missed an easy dunk at the first-half buzzer. Are we still sure he’s Dominique‘s nephew? … Speaking of the Human Highlight Film, Derrick Rose had a play in the first half where he tip dunked his own miss. We haven’t seen that since ‘Nique … Now there’s no living group of people that appreciate Rose more than we do, but it’s hard to appreciate that many consecutive fourth quarter possessions where the dude didn’t even consider running a set (32 points on a meager 12-of-32). The Hawks got offense from everyone from Jeff Teague to Lil’ Scrappy (they ended on a 16-4 run). On the other end, every Bulls’ possession was Rose putting his head down and barreling towards the rim. So far in these playoffs, exclusively running a D-Rose iso late in games has been money more often than not, but we’re just starting to question how much longer the one-man-show can keep working. With that said, it’s making our brains hurt trying to think about ways to guard him. Generally the only effective responses we’ve received all involve firearms or the NCAA. In the postgame, the TNT guys got into a huge argument over how many shots is too many for Rose. Chuck repeatedly said that it’s Rose job to get other guys shots and can’t take that many. C-Webb said he has to shoot that much. Who y’all going with? … We’re out like Zen.
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first!!
Andrew Bynum is a punk!!!
That was sick! Jet & Peja 15/16 from beyond the arc + the little guy driving to the hoop on autobahn sized lanes – sick!
That hit by Bynum was fucking weak. I’d like to see someone cheapshot his ass while he’s in the air and injure him for the season (not that it takes much, that break away steal/dunk he got on Dirk last game nearly did him in). You’d think a guy who has BEEN injured with season ending injuries repeatedly all his career would be more understanding of that shit. What a fucking mindless piece of shit.
Good night Lakers, was good. Hard to hate, since as a team they’ve had more success than pretty much any team recently, but as someone who likes to fuck with people, it’ll be great seeing the fans go HAM today. If yall need a hug, let me know.
Rose watching old Allen Iverson tapes? Boozer is pretty much useless, and I’d consider Rose a bad point guard if he actually did pass it to Noah (unless he is already touching the rim), but damn he’s gotta tame it a little bit.
What is up with people saying Noah is an elite defender? The guy is a hustle guy…straight out. He can’t seem to guard people on the block at all, even small forwards are beasting him it seems. Guy has heart on the offensive glass, but he needs to get stronger. He might be in the bottom 10% as far as strength goes for big guys in the league.
bukake my ass, kid… lol
all this talk of dwight being traded to lakers already – orlando better get bynum, gasol and odom for howard and arenas… any other scenario is a massive fail. include bass of whoever, but if you can’t dump arenas on the lakers if they want howard, someone fire smith
go mavs, get that chip… ya’ll definately deserve it after this round
fuck miami and they’re punk moves
I dont think ive never seem a team play a game like the Mavs just did. Unreal. The ball movement, the shooting, the defense, Dirk getting a dunk(!), rebounding.
Are the Mavs the favorits right now? Deepest team still standing, legit superstar, legit defense and legit shooting from 4 different players.
And yes Rose needs to take all of those shots. Watch the games and you’ll see its not Rose forcing it, its just that Chicago has exhausted all other options and Rose is the only one consistently able to create his own offense on this Bulls team.
First off, how do u guys not the address the “Inadvertent whistle” which was a huge difference in the game. I have never in my life seen a ref call a foul while some1 was shooting a 3 then say it was in inadvertent whistle. And how is that even a jump ball situation, the bulls shouldve got the ball back atleast. That call was a 7pt swing, where DRose couldve cut it to 3 instead atl went up 8 then 12, and it was ball game.
Overall, Bulls played awful defense with that bullshit trapping which gave the hawks atleast 5 open layups and i was flabbergasted when they tripled team joe johnson 30ft basket and he wasnt even a factor. And offensively, only drose and boozer showed (finally but his awfulness couldve been our good luck charm) up. Nobody else made a shot or was scared to shoot. Or they got the rebound down low wide open, fumbled it away and didnt even attempt a layup but passed it back out. The bulls were just played bad but was still in the game with 2mins to go.
props to josh smith for channeling his inner lebron but that aint happening again. And that drose tip dunk was bananas. Its still Bulls in 6 and we will win game 5 by atleast 12pts.
Ps. remember the lakers? hahaha, too soon
Also, Im riding with CWebb that drose has to take the # of shots he takes cuz no one create there on shot besides him and whenever he misses he creates easy putback oppourtunites for the bigs. And its not his fault when he does pass it, his teammates cant make a shot. And how can u fault a player let a pg who scored 34pts while being doubled team essentially the entire game?
Charles barkley was dead wrong on this one
fuck em…..
glad they’re gone.
swept. that shit is funny.
…waiting for the excuses….
Bynum…. The first 7-foot tall bitch I’ve ever seen.
really? take four full steps before laying out a midget?
your momma oughtta slap the shit out of you Andrew
Benny should be suspended 2 games for that inadvertent whistle call at that juncture of the game. He took the game out of the players hands with that call because that resulted a 5 point swing that pretty much sealed the game. Josh smith should remain in the small forward spot because he is so much more effective on the boards at that position. Korver is a liability for the Bulls at the end of games because he cant defend anyone on the Hawks and they just isolate and attack that matchup. One good sign for the bulls was Boozer and he needs more touches when he has it rolling like that, they should use him instead of Noah on the high pick and roll because the Hawks are just blitzing Rose and leaving Noah open. I Hope my Celts even up the series next game….
damn, can’t believe my lakers went down like this. no effort from them plus mavs playing great= sweep. this will be longest summer in lakers history since 2004. if lockout really happens, don’t think lakers will have championship team in next 3-4 years. in 2 years kobe will be too old to carry team, who know who will stay of current laker roster. maybe if we get dwight, but somehow don’t think him and kobe will work well together. who knows. i wish lakers could get pat riley for a summer, to drill all lakers for 3 months, like he used to do to showtime lakers, then to fire all except kobe and bynum. they weren’t flawless, but at least they tried to do something in this series. ah well, can’t win it every year i gues…
Well..that hurt.My lakers got pulverized.
Kudos to the mavs.This was a team built with the express intent to match up to the Lakers and they did just that.60% shooting from 3 pt land is hard to deal with period.Add in fluid ball movement and sloppy rotation defence and its a nightmare to deal with.Hope you win the whole thing.Your real fans deserve it.
@ control
That shyt from bynum was hella f’d up and I wouldn’t feel sorry bout him getting a heavy ass fine and a few suspensions next season.If that was peja that could easily have been a career ending fall.Odom,not as much.Doesn’t have a history of that type nonsense.Just frustrated.
@ lakernation
We’ll get em next time.Props to lakers organization for always trying to get a championship caliber team.Toiling in mediocrity for years on end is something I’m glad they don’t tolerate.I’d give gasol a pass for this year on the strength of what he’s brought to the team..Another similar season is inexcusable.Imma let mitch do what he does best though.Seems like Kobe and Bynum were the only ones that showed up for these playoffs.
To the haters,fuck,your no-balls-having-don’t-even-have-a-team-only-show-up-here-when-lakers-lose-stupid-ass.It’s been fun shining on you cats since forever ! We’ll be back.
Apologies,kinda long,but my team just got swept lol.LAter.
yeah, rose is allowed to take 30 shots…but he needs to control himself on turnovers, especially in the 4th. The bulls looked like shit all day and were still in it up until 3 minutes before the end…and what, J Smooves miss and tip wasn’t nice enough to mention? On a layup no less (which may be harder than dunking back the miss from midrange, seeing as there’s less time to land and move). I wonder if Larry Drew talked his players into playing like dogshit for the last month of the season. Maybe I’m a jaded fantasy owner that had too many Hawks, but they were awful heading into the playoffs….I’m out like Drew Sr. playing incredibly ridiculous mind games with the rest of the NBA…
I just can’t help but think that the Bulls could really use a scorer like Ben Gordon coming off the bench…
Dear Mrs. Bryant, Mrs. Odom and especially Mrs. Bynum, Happy Mothers Day
yours sincerely
– Dirk
Let us reflect on the fact that this NBA season ushered the exit of Hall of Fame coaches Jerry Sloan and Phil Jackson in (for a lack of a better term) not so elegant circumstances. Goodbye triangle offense as we know it. Goodbye flex and pick and roll as we know it.
This might also be the season when the Duncan, Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Pierce, Garnett, Shaq(?), Kobe, and Nash era makes its last big splash before slowly fading into the sunset.
By the way, I was dead wrong in predicting a Gasol versus Gasol Western Conference Finals.
no1 in the future will care if the went out like champs. the only thing they would know that mattered is that they lost, they weren’t 2011 champions
You know you got problems if you let Peja’s corpse burn your a$$
At the end of the day I’ll take the three Finals apperances and the two championships. I’d much rather take that than just win 50 games every year for a decade. As a Lakers fan it doesn’t seem like too long ago when Kobe was out there playing with Kwame and Smush barely trying to stay afloat. We can deal with the end of this era like we did at the end of Shaq’s reign. All I can hope is that the Heat don’t win it.
At least San Antonio fought against Memphis.
BYE BYE KOBE!
Man. This game was really something. I have never seen a game where a team was basically hitting everything. Jason Terry was funny at the press conference: “I was just shooting without seeing the rim” – Dirk was holding his laughs… At the end Kobe and Bynum were the only ones who came out to plaaaayyya. Also I would not exaggerate Bynum’s foul. It was cheap but not as crazy as you might think. Man Artest is regressing in his b-ball skillz: that missed layup was ugly. It is true what they say he is a missed layup to happen. Can Derek Fisher please stand up and go to the bench. He needs to admit things and accept what he is. Derek – it was nice while it lasted but you are forcing it now. I really thought Lamar matured and could be a consistent contributor. But not the case. Now some mastery is required of Buss and Mitch to pull some miracles here. Kobe lost a lot of his magic. No doubt about it. I hope he admits that to himself and therefore can be a better leader on a new Lakers team. Like the wise guy in the wall street movie said: “Enjoy while it lasts, ’cause it never does”. Man I bought NBA league pass for over 70 bucks…
Let us reflect on the fact that this NBA season ushered the exit of Hall of Fame coaches Jerry Sloan and Phil Jackson in (for a lack of a better term) not so elegant circumstances. Goodbye triangle offense as we know it. Goodbye flex and pick and roll as we know it.
This might also be the season when the Duncan, Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Pierce, Garnett, Shaq(?), Kobe, and Nash era makes its last big splash before slowly fading into the sunset.
By the way, I was dead wrong in predicting a Gasol versus Gasol Western Conference Finals.
Why is my comment awaiting moderation??? Are aliens already banned from this site?
That shot from Bynum was the cheapest I have seen in a long time. Taking a guy out in the air is one thing, but getting your body weight up into a sensitive area like that is messed up. Could have easily broken a few ribs.
just as in howard is a physical specimen for the centre position, bron as a small forward and rose as a pg, josh smith is also blessed some god given abilities that he should really be utilizing to the effect of last nights game more often. Way to go josh smith, keep it up!
“Derrick Rose had a play in the first half where he tip dunked his own miss. We haven’t seen that since ‘Nique”
did you see that Josh Smith did the same thing? Floater, then dunk the miss!?
Did two different writers do these recaps? The LA-Dallas one is complete shite and the ATL-CHI recap is flawless.
Haven’t watched the Lakers game yet, but will surely watch all of it.
One things comes to mind.
WHERE THE HELL IS LAKESHOW84?????
Seriously.
Dude haven’t showed up since the game 3 loss.
Just doing the routine ‘where the fans at’ check that’s prevalent here in Smack.
Show yourself, man. Being a semi Laker fan, I know YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT.
30 shots seems about right for Rose. Keep in mind he is a one man fastbreak. About 6 to 8 of those attempts are difficult 1 on 3 shots [that we’ve come to expect him to make] so you can’t fualt those. Nothing wrong with calling your own set if you know you can take your guy off the dribble/pick n’ roll. Most of his attempts come in the flow of the offense. Maybe he was just having a Westbrook moment.
Granted, at the end he was playing hero-ball but could you blame him. Boozer hit a few shots early on. Outside of that every non-Rose basket came off of some type of hustle play. The offense was not working.
How about Jeff Teague… Dude is bringing his B+ game.
@QQ, it is like 3am in LA. Let the man sleep. I’m sure when he finishes watching LA Championship videos 8 thru 12, polishes off that Ben n Jerry’s Americone Dream in his Pat Riley 3-peat shirt, he will be here giving a detailed analysis of what went wrong and what LA should do going forward.
Meanwhile…
Leroy Green is doing the Humpty Dance in his Jason Terry swingman.
Haha, not really hatin’.
Cat has been postin here in Dime , reppin the Lakers ever since, so I do respect that cat, for real.
Just feels a little weird that with all the hate the Lakers are taking right now, only K Dizzle was left to defend them.
Kobe has just left the top 5 in the league….n i hope nobody ever brings up the him with Mike argument again
Although I am sad to see the Lakers’ run end, I’m glad Kidd and Nowitzki are getting their shot to win a title. The Lakers were just embarrassing; they showed no heart. And to add injury to insult, Odom and especially Bynum acted like bad losers. A 36-point elimination loss by a defending champ is just unacceptable.
[theresastatforthat.blogspot.com]
To me Dallas is the beste team in the nba right now. No doubt about that. But when it comes to a final against Lebron and Wade anything can happen. It will be interesting to see this rematch of 2006. Lakers, Bynum shame on you!
Dyaaaaammmmnnnn!!!
Dallas went Gears of War on Los Angeles! They didn’t just wanna kill them they straight executed them to victory. Not a laker hater or a Mav fan but I’m a big Dirk supporter and this is a career-defining moment for him and I couldn’t be happier for him. Hopefully this can propel him to that elusive ring and well-deserved induction into the annals of NBA history.
ATL stand up!
I was stoked that they managed to avenge themselves against Orlando but now they’ve far exceeded my expectations tying the series against Chicago when I didn’t give them a chance. Hopefully Larry Drew keeps a copy of Game 4 in his archives for future reference as the blueprint for the team.
Jeff Teague has come out of nowhere to Derrick Rose the MVP and and his Chicago team. Kirk Hinrich going down with that hamstring injury has been a blessing in disguise. Teague (at least in THIS particular round) has played like the point guard we expected him to earlier in the year. Regardless of the outcome if Teague can bottle his play up and carry it over into the next season along with a healthy Kirk Hinrich I believe we’ll finally have solved our issues at the point. Love also has to go out to J-Smoove. He shot like shit but the other facets of his game were on full display especially with his passing and playmaking. We’ve seen glimpses of his LeBron-esque ability and Larry Drew needs to strongly consider running the offense through him throughout the rest of the series
D. Rose needs to at least let Boozer do his thing on the offense, he just takes too many shots and didn’t even run plays.
All Highlights from Game 4:
[www.nbaplayoffs2011.org]
Speaking of the Human Highlight Film, Derrick Rose had a play in the first half where he tip dunked his own miss. We haven’t seen that since ‘Nique …
just that d wade does it nearly every second game
@QQ
i’m laker fan and there is nothing to defend here. lakers were no show. you can make an argument that lakers didn’t show any effort at all (and they didn’t) but truth to be told, mavs outplayed us. as i’ve said few days ago, mavs are fun to watch. playing D, sharing ball…
as for lakers, like i’ve said already, it’s going to be a long summer.
so all i have to say is i been telling people for hte last 2 seasons the lakers had no bench and it was killing the starters. the bench is THE reason the lakers got destroyed the way they did. if they didnt give kobe 25-30mil over the next 3 seasons, and gasol 18-19+, and bynum 15-16m all over the next few seasons they might be able to afford a bench. they have terrible contracts so good luck trading off guys like artest on walton and fisher. kobe has to many miles, gasol has to little heart, and the lakers as a team have to little bench.
lets see who and when kobe starts throwing people under the BUSS for good. will kobe burn another bridge like he did with shaq?
Refs fuckin up the game as usual! “Inadverdent whistle”!? WTF is that!? Hats off to Josh Smith though. Damn he was all over the place. At least Boozer decided to show up(somewhat). And yes, Rose has to shoot that much. You all saw when he kept trying to hit Kyle Korver for WIDE OPEN 3s but kept building high-rises with those bricks. Oh well, Bulls in 6
And the curtain finally comes down on the Lake Show! I had a field day letting all the LA Clowns fans have it! If I were at a spelling bee and they asked me to spell Lakers I would say P-U-S-S-I-E-S! First Lamar Scrodum with the cheap shot, then Andrew Bynum showed how vagine he was with the elbow to JJ. And Kobe is the biggest hypocrite in basketball. When Bynum gave a hard foul to Beasley he said,”I’m proud of him”, but when you gettin your asses handed to you and Bynum knocks JJ out the air then its,”You never want to hurt anybody out there” or whatever bullshit he said. GTFOH! Take that L like a man son. But turnabout is fair play. Kobe rapes a white woman and 8 years later a 7 ft German rapes Kobe! LMAO!
@ rangerjohn
Take this season aside,that’s fair market value dude.Gasol is making what an All-star forward with his skill set makes.Compare that to KG.Kobe,about 3 mill more per year over fair value and Bynum too.Your squad drafts like the Clipse.You get ’em for cheap.I’m a tad envious.Luke walton makes what george hill and tiaggo splitter make combined.Gotta fix that,but in terms of wins/salary,we’re good.
@ QQ
Lakeshow84’s on that same vacation island you went to after your magic started getting hammered lol. just kidding bro,you know I had get at you man.Real talk,respect you cuz.Since day one you been on the Magic tip win or lose.
@jdizzle
Far as I know Kobe’s given plenty of props to the Mavs squad in this L,showed love on the way off the arena.What else did you want ? And that last sentence.Was that really necessary ? This is shit I was talking about.
I admire Bynum’s talent and skill but what he did to Barea made me lose all respect for him as a man. Clearly, he still hasn’t matured enough to the point where I’d want to build a franchise around him. With that being said, I got a hunch that he will have his ass “shipped out” like Kobe said a few years ago.
Imagine a package with Lamar Odom and Bynum for Dwight Howard and some other role player, maybe a JJ since LA needs some shooters. I have a feeling Dwight will not re-sign with the Magic after next season when his contract is up and unless Orlando wants to let two franchise big men walk away and receive nothing in return (1st Shaq, now Dwight), they’ll probably pull the trigger on some deal.
What do y’all think?
@ skeeter
if QQ finds out where you live..you’re a dead man lol.
I wouldn’t trade Lamar though,prolly throw Drew+Fish+Blake and cash for Howard and JJ.Don’t know if Orlando wants to lose two franchise centers to the lakers though.
my bad *drew+fish+shannon + cash*
c ya phil
the refs shoulda called that game midway thru the third damn
QQ
you know real fans are hard to find dizzle and lakeshow are some of the few real ones. (i read that sentence again and it just doesnt sound right. hows my english on that one?)
It’s time to man-up and realize that Derrick Rose isn’t anything more than a tall Iverson. He’ll only pass if he’s stuck or he absolutely KNOWS it’ll be an assist. Rotating the ball, no. Making the extra pass, no. Forcing shots even with double or triple teamed, yep.
KOBE IS A SNITCH… just like how he baited out Shaq and his girls on the side.. he baited out PAU and his girl on the side..
KOBE IS A BITCH…
LAKERS GOT PWNED…
NUFF SAID
[www.latimes.com]