NBA 09/10 Season

scottie pippen

lol, that’s shockingly bad!
Going to watch that Lakers game tonight, got NBA broad band league pass, its great – can watch matches up to 48hours later, spoiled for choice. Watching one match a day or more if I can fit it in.

Sea Devils

The Wizards (7-16) have to be the biggest dissapointment of the year so far. Flip Saunders should be tarred and feathered.

Sure they have shortcomings, but Arenas, Butler, Jamison, Haywood, Miller should get you a .500 record just based on talent alone:o

scottie pippen

Haven’t watched any of the wizards games so far.

watched the bull at home v the Lakers, think It was one of the most exciting games of the season (so far)

great defence from the bulls overall but not good enough to stop 20points in the first half from Kobe with a broken thumb,

had hoped see a better match up between Gasol & Noah, but Gasol seemed play a really lazy game

Sea Devils

scottie pippen wrote: »

Haven’t watched any of the wizards games so far.

watched the bull at home v the Lakers, think It was one of the most exciting games of the season (so far)

great defence from the bulls overall but not good enough to stop 20points in the first half from Kobe with a broken thumb,

had hoped see a better match up between Gasol & Noah, but Gasol seemed play a really lazy game

Did you see the shot Kobe made last night against the Bucks?. I don't know why people are saying he walked. Maybe I'm just not looking very clearly. He defintely walked/ charged on the previous play though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opi9xczhJ6w

Either way the Lakers got fortunate again.

Carcharodon

Sea Devils wrote: »

Did you see the shot Kobe made last night against the Bucks?. I don't know why people are saying he walked. Maybe I'm just not looking very clearly. He defintely walked/ charged on the previous play though

Either way the Lakers got fortunate again.

Can't really see that either, didn't watch the game but just from watching that clip, it seems strange to let Kobe go one on one with the defender, double him and live with a shot from another player.

Sea Devils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdkBZgQoF2s

Even though I'm not Fisher's biggest fan after his Golden State days and that game 2 was just a terrible collapse down the stretch by the Warriors, I'm sort of hoping he wins. That was an unbelievable night if you were watching as a neutral.

Kinetic^

Yeah I'd go with Fisher as well tbh.

Carcharodon

Anyone but Fisher in my opinion, no matter how sick his kid gets, it still won't make me change my view on him.

Carcharodon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo161w6nUUk

What a lovely sight
Delighted Lakers got a good ass kicking tonight, Cavs were more physical and extremely good on the defensive end, Varejo had an excellent game.
Kobe and some others on the team just acted like big babies when they didn't get the calls they wanted, Kobe knocking over Williams after he didn't get a call was just below the belt, nothing said bout it of course......

Celtics beat Orlando in a poor game, didn't watch all of it but Celtics have a strong defensive and did well to isolate Howard.

Sea Devils

I don't think I'll see Laker fans get that passionate again especially considering how quiet the Staples Centre is most of the time:eek:

Lebron really outplayed Kobe though. He got his teammates involved and was fantastic without the ball which allowed Mo Williams and company to utilize parts of the game that are neglected like their playmaking. Van Gundy pointed out at one stage that he made some really good reads off of the back screens/pin downs.

Kobe had a fairly deceiving statline though in that he failed to get his teammates open looks and as a result they didn't get going on offense . His decision making left a lot to be desired.

Defintely will try and catch a lot more Cavs games though. Impressed with the way they took full advantage of the Lakers lethargy.

Lafortezza

I've been in Staples and in Madison Sq Garden for NBA games, and the difference in fans is amazing. I think alot of the people who turn up at Staples aren't in any way hardcore about their support, they go to be able to say that they were at a Lakers game, and they were only 8 seats back from Jack Nicholson or whoever.
The Knicks fans on the other hand are nearly all very dedicated to the ups and downs of their team. The cheering when things were going well for the Knicks was amazing, and at the same time they weren't shy about shouting abuse if somebody did something stupid on the court.

Interesting to see Boston and LA tied for best record in the league, Orlando and Cleveland in the East have the best chance to bump Boston in the playoffs and get to the finals.
And the Lakers have it a bit easier in the West, not many teams to pick over them in a 5-7 game series.

Carcharodon

Looks like McGrady could be leaving the Rockets sooner rather than later.
Although he has had an injury plague couple of seasons I think he could be a good pick up for a team. He is a great professional with bags of talent and a point to prove.
Would love if the Warriors picked him up, think it is the only chance that they could get a big time player to come to them, a player coming off injury or a player with a bad rep like Davis had are their only chance of getting real quality in.
Don't think McGrady will be short of options though, don't think he has too long left on his contract either.

Sea Devils

Carcharodon wrote: »

Would love if the Warriors picked him up, think it is the only chance that they could get a big time player to come to them, a player coming off injury or a player with a bad rep like Davis had are their only chance of getting real quality in.
Don't think McGrady will be short of options though, don't think he has too long left on his contract either.

I'd take somebody like McGrady for sure. He's an huge expirer and in any case with all the expensive contracts the Warriors have, it might mean they could actually go after a decent Free Agent in 2010.

Carcharodon

Celtics lose their second in a row on their road trip, after losing to B Dizzles buzzer last night, they lose to Warriors tonight after having big lead, was a good game to watch although Celtics looked out of sort in second half. Thats six in a row they have lost in Oakland
Warriors take on Lakers tomorrow night, could be a great game, Warriors are coming off wins against Suns and Celtics, have their big men back and the Lakers are coming off a another big loss to the Suns tonight.
Kings continue to play well, could be a team for the future, good win against Denver tonight.

Sea Devils

Yeah that was a nice win. We're 6-7 at home and I've no doubt that if we could play at Oracle 82 times the Warriors would defintely be at .500. Unfortunately we're the worst road team in the League at 3-14 which is one of the reasons why I can see us being blown out tonight.

The Kings are coming along very nicely. That 35 point comeback against the Bulls was just insane and they defintely should have beaten the Lakers in that double OT game. It's not nearly as flashy as those J-Williams C-Webb teams and while I don't think there's nearly the same talent level, there is the feeling that something special could be brewing.

Carcharodon

Yea, if I had to bet on it, I would bet on Warriors getting blown out but they are on a little run of good form plus the big men are back, so if there ever was a time..... Ellis needs to be brilliant despite playing all of last nights game, plus one or two more need to be exceptional.
Hope they can push the Lakers at least, looking forward to the game, probably severe anticlimax though.

Carcharodon

Warriors lose to Lakers, 118 to 124, good effort in all fairness by the Warriors, they had the Lakers rattled for large periods of the game but in the end, the Lakers had that extra quality.

Must give credit to Warriors, they passed the ball and never gave up, Ellis was relatively quite but still effective, everyone made contributions in their own respect.
Some silly turnovers, especially by Curry and Radmonavic, were very frustrating to watch, Warriors struggled to deal with the Lakers full court press.
They could not handle Bryant, not too much you can do with him though, he was unbelievable tonight.
Lakers seemed to always knock down the 3 at the perfect time, pulled away that little bit whenever Warriors looked like making a push.
Gasol absolutely killed the Warriors inside, he was so hard to deal with.

Not the biggest fan of Magette but man does he get to the line, its impressive.

I think Lakers could be unsettled this year by some teams, they get easily frustrated and very testy if things don't go their way, I really can't stand any of them. Vujacic is so annoying it is actually funny !!!

Sea Devils

I'm not a great belieiver in moral victories but I think last night would be an exception. Other then Nelson not playing Curry and Randolph in crunch time (in fact Randolph played only 20 minutes) and the Free Throw shooting was a eyesore but other then that we played as well as they could have in a game that shouldn't have been that close.

Sea Devils

I think the NBA must be one of the few Leagues where two players who have barely played this year (Iverson and T-mac) top the voting for the All Star game. Hopefully there are some fans who are voting them in on purpose just to show the flaws in the whole thing otherwhise it just means making the All Star team isn't that meaningful anymore.

Hopefully the NBA willl just change it and allow coaches/ players to vote

jimmay

Sea Devils wrote: »

I think the NBA must be one of the few Leagues where two players who have barely played this year (Iverson and T-mac) top the voting for the All Star game. Hopefully there are some fans who are voting them in on purpose just to show the flaws in the whole thing otherwhise it just means making the All Star team isn't that meaningful anymore.

Hopefully the NBA willl just change it and allow coaches/ players to vote

I think maybe there should be some criteria in that a player must play a certain amount of games to be eligible to start as an All Star. However I disagree that coaches/players should soley be responsible as it is a fans game and there would be no incentive not to mention the income the voting generates. As far as I'm aware in the other leagues the fans decide aswell. It is part of the excitement of getting involved and also interesting to see who gets the most votes, etc.

The players/coaches do have a say on the bench afaik. If anything fair play to TMAC and AI (who I wouldn't be the biggest fan of) to command such fan loyalty and garnering such immense support that is if anything a testament to at least one of either their talent or popularity.

Also I started a AllStarGame thread for more discussion

Sea Devils

jimmay wrote: »

I think maybe there should be some criteria in that a player must play a certain amount of games to be eligible to start as an All Star. However I disagree that coaches/players should soley be responsible as it is a fans game and there would be no incentive not to mention the income the voting generates. As far as I'm aware in the other leagues the fans decide aswell. It is part of the excitement of getting involved and also interesting to see who gets the most votes, etc.

I undestand it's a fan driven league and the NBA wants them to get involved in many ways as possible but it just seems ludricious that the likes of T-Mac (who's only played 6 games so far) would start over Steve Nash who's been superb this year. Take away the fans voting and do you really think the Coaches and Players would make the same mistake?.

Iverson and Mcgrady don't even deserve to be mentioned as all-star caliber players, let alone start for it.

scottie pippen

I won’t continue on with the all-star talk here.

Last game I watched was the kings & Lakers from new years day, I usually watch them a day late on nba.tv.

I felt bad for the young king’s team - to play so well and then at the last second - Kobe scores another game winning buzzer beater, I know a lot of it is down to his skill,
but he has to be blessed!
I think this was almost identical to the one they scored against the heat a while back.

in the last few seconds of the game the kings called for a time out, which I think messed up the game for them, as one of their players had possession of the ball and was unmarked running towards the Lakers basket, if they made this shot, the game might have gone to over time

Sea Devils

Did anybody hear or read about then Gilbert Arenas/ Javaris Crittenton incident and the fact that they both pulled out guns over gambling debt. Hopefully Stern suspends them for the rest of the season.

And just on the Kings Westphal is probably on the shortlist for COY which arguably nobody expected considering how bad they were last season and how long he was away from coaching. I'd look for them to move Kevin Martin for a decent PF since Hawes has developed a nice outside shot and they could create matchup problems with that sort of combo.

scottie pippen

yeah I haeard that the incident was exzaggerated

but also read this

On December 9, Gilbert Arenas welcomed his third child into the world. Apparently after his daughter was born, Arenas had a bit of an epiphany – he didn't want guns in his house anymore. So he brought them to work. But as you may know, that's a no-no in the NBA.

"The Washington Wizards have learned that Gilbert Arenas stored firearms in a locked container in his locker, unloaded and without ammunition," the Washington Wizards' said in a statement. "The Wizards organization and Arenas promptly notified the local authorities and the NBA and are cooperating fully with law enforcement during its review of this matter and will have no further comment at this time."

There's no word on the type of guns, or how many Arenas brought to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., but they were secure and in a locked box. He brought the guns to the arena because he didn't know what to do with them, but a week later he turned them in to team security who he asked to give to the D.C. police. Arenas is not facing any criminal charges or any punishment from the team or league at the moment.

"I wouldn't have brought them to D.C. had I known the rules," Arenas told the Washington Times. "After my daughter was born, I was just like, I don't need these anymore. I don't want them around the kids. We are working with the league and the authorities."

Sea Devils

Well I must admit that that version of the story is a lot more believable than the thug-Gilbert version of the New York Post. I can't picture Arenas in a Wild-West style gun standoff....

Kinetic^

Either way he's a bit of an idiot.

Carcharodon

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Either way he's a bit of an idiot.

True but most NBA players are idiots to be fair, the whole thing is probably being blown out of proportion to be fair, something to fill the news while they take a break on Tiger. They could make an example out of him if things don't get cleared up quickly.

In other news, did anyone see the Warriors v Nuggets tonight, one of the most bizarre finishes I have seen in a long time, only from the Warriors :rolleyes:

Managing to throw away any good work they did in the last few minutes of the game.
The refereeing was absolutely shocking and very very questionable, they must of had a bet on the game,Donaghy style, firstly not giving the Warriors the timeout when Magette grabbed the rebound was bad but then giving the Nuggets the call on a similar play moments later.
Then calling the foul on Ellis when the Nuggets threw up a three at the buzzer, this call is not as questionable cos Ellis did swipe but didn't contact in my opinion.
In fairness Ellis should get most of the blame, why on earth would you go so hard at the player when he is near half court, no time left and on his bad hand, so incredibly stupid, worst defending ever, Smith was never ever making the shot in a million years, shocking.
Then Ellis laughing at the end of the game with not a care in the world, what an ass.

Sea Devils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQl1m031oxE

In spite of what happenned last night and the fact that the Warriors continue to find new ways of losing, it's still been a excellent season. Curry has developed far quicker then I thought, Monta (despite his really low Basketball IQ) is putting up 30 every night, Jackson was traded and we're tanking like I thought we would, currently with a 15.6% chance of landing John Wall.

The only way this year could be better is if we gave Randolph more playing time, Biedrins stopped being so soft and Maggette got traded.

Sea Devils

I was reading reports about the possibility of Andrew Bynum being traded for Chris Bosh that could be finalized by Wednesday. I'd seriously doubt that would happen, but just throwing it out there.

padraig_f

Looking forward to tonight's Bulls-Celtics game (though probably wouldn't be if KG was playing). The Bulls are better than their overall record suggests, with Tyrus Thomas back and Derrick Rose fully healthy, they've played some of their best basketball in the last 10-12 games.

I think it's a winnable one for them, and will be more like the playoff series last season than the blowout defeats they suffered earlier this season. I'm tempted to have a bet on them at 5/2.