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MATTS-MATICS: NY Jets vs NY Rangers |
BRAVE Fan Talks REDSKINS
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SABRES, PENS, SHOTGUNS & METS |
BILL BUCKNER WAS INNOCENT |
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Spring Break Training PART I |
Spring Break Training PART II |
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TheMatts
Posts:1598
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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BOSTON, MA – A brief lesson in basketball history: The two best franchises in the history of basketball meet on the parquet floor Thursday night as the NBA Finals begin. That’s the lesson - period. Still, there are basketball fans that love this match-up and basketball fans that hate this match-up. Be that as it may, anyone who takes a moment to digest the scope of the two squads and their glorious past can really appreciate what it means. The Boston Celtics have 16 championships in 19 Finals appearances. The Los Angeles Lakers (Minneapolis included) have 14 championships in 28, that’s right –28, Finals appearances. Make that 20 and 29 when 2008 is counted. This sport has TWO New York Yankees and TWO Montreal Canadians. In fact, the Boston Celtics could be considered the most successful professional team of the four major sports. They own a 26.2% winning percentage (for titles) in the history of the NBA. That is winning your sport’s crown a little more than once every four years. The Yankees are second with 25% and the Canadians are at 24.7%. Another way to look at Celtic success is their .842 winning percentage in Finals. The Celtics also have an enormous edge in head-to-head competition against the Lakers, going 8-2 in those. That streak includes an unbelievable 6 in 8 years (1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969) during an unprecedented run of 8 straight titles. The first 5 of those Finals saw Hall of Famers Bill Russell, Bob Cousy (through 1963), Sam Jones and John Havlicek take on Hall of Famers Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. A new twist was added in the 1969 championship – Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, the most dominant offensive player ever. The heavily favored Lakers went down to a fading Celtic dynasty 4-3 as Boston caught wind of Laker celebration plans before the start of game 7.
"A lot of things can happen but the Lakers can not beat us. They can't beat us,” said Bill Russell on the eve of the game.
In the 1970’s both teams had some success but not against each other. The Havlicek/Jo Ho White/Don Nelson Celtics beat the Kareem Bucks in 1974 and the Suns in 1976. The Lakers, meanwhile, lost two Finals in the 1970s, both to our beloved New York Knicks and a heroic Willis Reed. Chamberlain got his lone ring as a Laker in 1972 against a Willis-less New York squad. LA fortunes would improve when they drafted Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the 1979 NBA draft. With Magic, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper, Los Angeles would take home 5 titles in the 1980s including 2 at the expense of the Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale Celtics. Those Boston teams would grab 3 championships themselves in the 1980’s but only one against LA. More importantly, the best individual competition in NBA history (Bird vs. Magic) rejuvenated the sport and ushered in an era of unmatched popularity. That popularity continued under Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwan, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. So, how can we size up the current renditions and this year’s Finals? Here’s our long and short of it: As virile and promiscuous as he can be, Kobe Bryant will never be Chamberlain. “We knew Wilt the Stilt and you sir, are no Wilt the Stilt.” Celtics in 7.
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Nick C
Posts:131
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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| Can we hang Ollie Perez from the rafters? I took a nap yesterday just so I could watch the current hot streak continue. The guy was just ridiculous. At least Willie looked pissed for a change. And this a-hole is pitching for a contract??? Scott Boras will have trouble spinning this. |
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lenny
Posts:36
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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| Kode has 3 rings and got the Lakers to the Finals by himself this year. Wilt had one ring. How do diss him like that? |
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Dude
Posts:608
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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| while this matchup is enticing and i am excited for a finals that doesn't feature the watching paint dry spectacle the spurs and pistons had made it in recent years, it will not meet up to the grand hype the league and abc and building it as. . . yeah, david, i know its niche sport but how about that stanley cup game last night. . . 3 OT's a game tying goal with less than :40 seconds to play? wow! Now that was exciting! i barely felt the need to tune over to the perez fueled debacle on sny. Let's hope this and the nba finals both go seven games. Kudos to YS for his brilliant retort yesterday. |
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Vinny From Brooklyn
Posts:132
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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lenny - i dont know who kode is but he must be good if he got the lakers where they are.
matts - why would baseball make the mets play espn sunday night knowing they had a god damn game the next night on the west coast. perez sucked but he had to be jet lagged. its bull crud. |
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Dude
Posts:608
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| 06-03-2008 - SelecA - |
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| vinny-- perez flew out ahead of the team so he wouldn't be jet lagged. he is just a headcase. |
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ActiveForums 3.6
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How Philly Won |
One Of Our First
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ROY HOBBS ON STEROIDS??? |
MEAGHAN & JAKE: COOLEST FANS |
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Nobody Remembers The Loser |
Giant/Super Tuesday |
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MATTS-MATICS: Hockey Nuts Go At It |
See us on: "Law & Order" |
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MATT FACTS:
Chad Pennington is NOT a Brett Favre fan... Hillary Clinton and Don Nelson have never been seen in the same place... Jerry Manuel is not related to Charlie ManuelJerry Manuel is not related to Charlie Manuel... Somebody namd Michel coaches the Pittsburgh Penguins... Tiki Barber quit the Giants. The Giants then won the Super Bowl... The New England Patriots only lost ONE game out of 19!!! Aaron Heilman was actually funny in re to Eli and Plaxico Burress helping the Mets as a pitcher and outfielder, respectively. Repeat, Heilman was funny... Jessica Simpson would rather date Tom Brady - trust us... Eli Manning is better than Archie - now... Alyssa Milano is a Met fan. RRRRR... Rickey Henderson speaks in the 3rd Person... Shawn Green has big ears... Howard Johnson likes to stay at the Holiday Inn, ironically... Sandy Alomar, Sr. is the youngest of 9 kids. That's why he was quick around the dish. Jiminy Cricket was the Philly Phanatic in a previous life…Fred Wilpon is pals with Sandy Koufax... Mike Ditka is a really tough guy.. Buffalo has a Triple A baseball team. They are NOT called The Snowballs... Chan Ho Park has people thinking of naming a ballfield after him - it would be called Chan Ho Park Park... John Maine has never been, oddly enough, to Maine... Curt Gowdy, Jr. has never been to Yellow Knife, Canada... Kevin Mitchell played 6 positions for the Mets in '86 and, according to Doc Gooden's book, didn't like cats... John Olerud & Wayne Gretzky have never been seen in the same place... Kevin McReynolds now makes his living doing laugh tracks for sit-coms... Tony Gwynn is nearing 300 lbs... Carlos Beltran has Mercedes Benz dealerships named for him in Barcelona, Spain... Willie Montanez was called Guillermo by Lenny Randle... Rusty Staub beat Jeff Kent in a race – TODAY... Jay Horwitz is a dynamite Cricket players – somebody said... Jeff Wilpon was a decent minor league catcher... Ziggy Palfy lives in Slovakia and is a big Met fan... Superman Returns, yet still can’t hit Billy Wagner... David Wright will win the Triple Crown – on a horse... Omar Minaya is Tobey McGuire’s stunt-double in Spider Man 3... Hilary Clinton has Mr. Met pajamas – we think... Albert Einstein was a HUGE Met fan... The Metropolitan Opera House was named for the Mets after their 2nd season in ’63... Wally Backman, ’86 sparkplug, considered changing his name to Wally Back-Matt... Neil Allen and Mike Stanton, former Mets, have Allen & Stanton Streets on Lower East Side named for them.
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