Very Silly Animated Gifs.

[Munkay]

they are not all as nice as we think.

:P

This is why I'm a dog person;)

[DeeBye]

I like this one so much I put it in my sig.

I don't think 1 megabyte images are appropriate sigs. Imagine if everyone did that.

[Alram]

I don't think 1 megabyte images are appropriate sigs. Imagine if everyone did that.

Sorry. I'll take it out. I didn't think.

[Occhidiangela]

Sorry. I'll take it out. I didn't think.

How about them Spurs?

Yee haa!

Occhi

[eppie]

How about them Spurs?

Yee haa!

Occhi

Of course they will win.....they have a dutch guy playing for them.

[Munkay]

How about them Spurs?

Yee haa!

Occhi

I'm just glad we had the cleveland/pistons series. The Spurs marched their way to the finals with little surprise. And I was expecting the Pistons to do it as well, boy was that a great series with the cavs.

Believe me I'm a huge fan of Lebron James, but as a rational being I have little faith in the cavs getting anything done. The Spurs are dominant.

How many rings is that for Duncan? 4? Can't argue he doesn't deserve em.

Cheers,

Munk

[Frag]

Living just south of Cleveland atm, and I'll vouch first-hand what Lebron has done to the energy of Cleveland. He's poured all his sweat out on the court and it's invigorated the town. Pretty neat thing to see.

Not a basketball fan, but it's hard to not be a little excited for the city itself,
~Frag :D

[Lissa]

How about them Spurs?

Yee haa!

Occhi

And if the League get some cajones and actually makes proper rules, there will be a lot of Spurs getting suspended next year (and I'm not just referring to what happened in the Suns series, but over the course of the this year). It's not an accident, no matter how many times you say it is, when opposition players making jump shouts end up with the same injury over the course of a year (moving your feet when they're in the air so that one of their feet will come down on your's and cause their foot to go at a strange angle and either minor sprain, sprain, or break said player's ankle).

[Alram]

And if the League get some cajones and actually makes proper rules, there will be a lot of Spurs getting suspended next year (and I'm not just referring to what happened in the Suns series, but over the course of the this year). It's not an accident, no matter how many times you say it is, when opposition players making jump shouts end up with the same injury over the course of a year (moving your feet when they're in the air so that one of their feet will come down on your's and cause their foot to go at a strange angle and either minor sprain, sprain, or break said player's ankle).

If you check the stats you will see that the Spurs committed fewer fouls during the course of the regular season than any other team in the NBA. They are a quality team of veterans with no need to injure other players. Don't buy into Amare's whining.

In fact, in 2005 Tim Duncan injured his ankle severely when he came down and landed on the foot of Rasheed Wallace.

[Lissa]

If you check the stats you will see that the Spurs committed fewer fouls during the course of the regular season than any other team in the NBA. They are a quality team of veterans with no need to injure other players. Don't buy into Amare's whining.

In fact, in 2005 Tim Duncan injured his ankle severely when he came down and landed on the foot of Rasheed Wallace.

Just because they had low fouls doesn't mean that they don't purposely do things to hurt other players. Take a look at the number of players that had injured ankles this year and who were being matched up again Bowen and how he reacted after each incident. When you have that many players getting injured when facing one specific player, no matter how much the specific player says it was an accident, it's no accident. He purposefully repositions his feet while the other player is in the air so that when they come down, their (the player in the air) feet land on his and then shift to an awkward position and get injured. You can play dirty and still not commit a foul if you know the loopholes and Bowen certainly does.

[Munkay]

If you check the stats you will see that the Spurs committed fewer fouls during the course of the regular season than any other team in the NBA. They are a quality team of veterans with no need to injure other players. Don't buy into Amare's whining.

In fact, in 2005 Tim Duncan injured his ankle severely when he came down and landed on the foot of Rasheed Wallace.

Alram, as I said earlier I'm a fan of the Spurs. But Lissa has a strong argument, to a point. Bowen is the king of jamming his feet under shooters. Do a search on him on youtube if you don't believe me, there are plenty of montages showing just how 'accidental' they really are. Every sport has a number of athletes like Bowen (and he's certainly not the only one in he NBA to commit backhanded moves like this), and it is frustrating to watch.

Aside from Bowen though, I really don't see the Spurs as any different than any other NBA team. And yes, I did watch the sun's series, and no, I still am not changing my mind. Sure, I got up off the couch and yelled when Nash was thrown into the boards. But it's the playoffs, and everyone is emotional.

To be honest, I don't fully understand the arguments that fighting/fouling/pushing/shoving gets 'in the way of the game' (this is a tangent, not directed at you Lissa in any way). Name a time when the sport was played without it? I remember turning 12 and getting fouled hard - a lot. From then on I realized all sports involve a level of physical play.

Gratuitous displays are going to happen. Kobe Bryant isn't going to stop elbowing people in the throat. Does that mean I don't think he shouldn't be punished? No. Sure, send him a fine, possibly make him sit a few games. But I don't see event's like that as a call to be 'more strict' and 'severe' with fines. Look, fining the crap out of Kobe and making him sit for 10 weeks isn't going to make him any less of an a--. The last thing sports fandom needs is the leagues becoming overly strict for 'our sake'. Please. It's the emotion in Spurs/Suns series that makes me such a fan.

Cheers,

Munk

[Alram]

Just because they had low fouls doesn't mean that they don't purposely do things to hurt other players. Take a look at the number of players that had injured ankles this year and who were being matched up again Bowen and how he reacted after each incident. When you have that many players getting injured when facing one specific player, no matter how much the specific player says it was an accident, it's no accident. He purposefully repositions his feet while the other player is in the air so that when they come down, their (the player in the air) feet land on his and then shift to an awkward position and get injured. You can play dirty and still not commit a foul if you know the loopholes and Bowen certainly does.

Do you have a link for that with objective data? I'll gladly read it with an open mind. I googled NBA and "ankle injuries" without finding data to support your contention.

[Munkay]

Do you have a link for that with objective data? I'll gladly read it with an open mind. I googled NBA and "ankle injuries" without finding data to support your contention.

Not exactly a statistic, but this site was a Digg top story a few weeks ago. It's a number of clips (which if you're a Spurs fan I'm sure you've already seen them) that show Bowen at work. In fairness, I agree outright that it's easy to vilify a person by taking select clips and putting them online. I'm sure everyone's foot has ended up in the wrong spot one time or another. But personally I do think Bowen does it on purpose, and does it an excessive amount of time. When he's not playing dirty, he really is a great defensivemen. That I can't take away from him, but placing your foot under a guy whose shooting a jumper? Come on. I'd rather see him just knee someone.

Cheers,

Munk

[Alram]

Not exactly a statistic, but this site was a Digg top story a few weeks ago. It's a number of clips (which if you're a Spurs fan I'm sure you've already seen them) that show Bowen at work. In fairness, I agree outright that it's easy to vilify a person by taking select clips and putting them online. I'm sure everyone's foot has ended up in the wrong spot one time or another. But personally I do think Bowen does it on purpose, and does it an excessive amount of time. When he's not playing dirty, he really is a great defensivemen. That I can't take away from him, but placing your foot under a guy whose shooting a jumper? Come on. I'd rather see him just knee someone.

Cheers,

Munk

The allegation was made that multiple ankle injuries were intentionally caused by Bowen this past season. In the clip where Anthony Parker hurt his ankle, Bruce looks to me like he is moving away from Parker as Parker was coming down.
Anyway, last night I saw James throw an elbow into the face of Manu (no foul called), and in the previous game Pavlovic hurled himself into into Tony Parker while Tony was up in the air defenseless (foul called). Parker was shaken up and did sustain a back/hip injury which fortunately only briefly affected his play. In all probability both of those fouls were not intentional. Basketball is a contact sport and injuries happen. With all the drives into the paint that Lebron makes, I am sure you could put clips together of him hitting other players and make a case--but I wouldn't buy it and I am not sold on Bowen being dirty either.
It was said here that Bowen has caused multiple ankle injuries this year, and I want to see the data that supports that.

[Munkay]

The allegation was made that multiple ankle injuries were intentionally caused by Bowen this past season. In the clip where Anthony Parker hurt his ankle, Bruce looks to me like he is moving away from Parker as Parker was coming down.
Anyway, last night I saw James throw an elbow into the face of Manu (no foul called), and in the previous game Pavlovic hurled himself into into Tony Parker while Tony was up in the air defenseless (foul called). Parker was shaken up and did sustain a back/hip injury which fortunately only briefly affected his play. In all probability both of those fouls were not intentional. Basketball is a contact sport and injuries happen. With all the drives into the paint that Lebron makes, I am sure you could put clips together of him hitting other players and make a case--but I wouldn't buy it and I am not sold on Bowen being dirty either.
It was said here that Bowen has caused multiple ankle injuries this year, and I want to see the data that supports that.

If you reread my posts I think you'll find we're in agreement:)

As far as Bowen, we can agree to disagree. I've seen his foot sneak under too many players to respect the man. I agree contact is part of the game - I guess I'm trying to say that if one day someone flat out pops Bowen in the face I won't be surprised. :P

Cheers,

Munk

PS. Spurs are looking incredibly strong, hope the Cavs can get in gear and at least give them a run for the title. After exciting series' like the Suns/Spurs and the Pistons/Cavs, it'd be a shame to get a dominating sweep in the finals. And no, I don't expect the direhard Spurs fans to agree with me on that.

[Alram]

If you reread my posts I think you'll find we're in agreement:)

As far as Bowen, we can agree to disagree. I've seen his foot sneak under too many players to respect the man. I agree contact is part of the game - I guess I'm trying to say that if one day someone flat out pops Bowen in the face I won't be surprised. :P

Cheers,

Munk

PS. Spurs are looking incredibly strong, hope the Cavs can get in gear and at least give them a run for the title. After exciting series' like the Suns/Spurs and the Pistons/Cavs, it'd be a shame to get a dominating sweep in the finals. And no, I don't expect the direhard Spurs fans to agree with me on that.

Yes, we are in agreement.

And while I am delighted to see the Spurs beat the pants off the Cavs, I agree that more of a showing from the Cavs would make the series interesting. Hopefully they will put up a better fight in Cleveland, but I doubt if they can win more than 1-2 games. The Spurs have them terribly outclassed. I knew that the ultimate winner of the Finals would be the winner of the Spurs vs. the Suns in the 2nd round of the playoffs. The Eastern conference is just too weak with no signs on the horizon for improvement.

My son and I might go to the free Thursday viewing party at the AT&T center; I had tried to get tickets for the SA games, but they sold out as soon as they went on sale.

[Griselda]

If you check the stats you will see that the Spurs committed fewer fouls during the course of the regular season than any other team in the NBA.

That's just because you can lose your job as a ref if you call too many fouls on the Spurs. Sure, they fined Timmy, but who else can say the sort of things he said about Joey Crawford at a press conference and come out ahead? He could have gone directly to the league if he had an issue instead of whining at a press conference. Could you imagine what would happen if Rasheed tried something like that?

Now, I don't think that the second technical and ejection of Duncan in that case was justified. But Duncan's reaction was over the top, and he got a slap on the wrist and Joey Crawford may never work again?

I also believe that Bowen is a dirty player. I'm sure it has something to do with team preference, though, as I can forgive Raja Bell for lots of things that I would condemn Bowen for.

I personally think that the league should do more to combat systematic dirty plays and players who try to injure others. But, I think that they're going completely the wrong direction in trying to stop players from responding emotionally to the game. I like a player who plays with heart, and that means that they're going to be more demonstrative on the court. It seems like Stern is trying to present this really sanitized, safe version of the NBA to the public, and I don't like it at all. Sneaky, dirty plays seem to fly under the radar, because they don't make the highlight reels on Sportscenter the way Rasheed throwing a headband does.

[Alram]

Here is a shot of Bowen attempting to injure Duncan:


If you look close enough you'll see Amare on his way to aid Tim. To his credit Amare never changed his story about the incident.

[Lissa]

Do you have a link for that with objective data? I'll gladly read it with an open mind. I googled NBA and "ankle injuries" without finding data to support your contention.

Munkay pretty much showed a lot of what Bowen is up to. If you bothered to read some of the NBA analysits you'd come across a couple of opinion concerning the Spurs being dirty, and a couple of fact based opinions that say that what Bowen does *is* intentional, he just immediately covers up with an "oops, my bad" comment before the NBA can come down on him. As I said, how many times to people have to get injured by someone doing crap like that trying to injure other players and getting away with doing so because they say, "oops, my bad?" The Spurs are notorious for cheap shots and calling them "good" veteran players is a stretch when they use tactics like that.

[Legedi]

And here I was, hoping to find more Silly Animated Gifs.