NBA Regular Season 2010/2011

Sea Devils

John Wall with an eye opening stat line tonight. 29 points, 13 assists, 8 turnovers, and 9 steals. Almost a quadruple double if you count turnovers!

ButtersSuki

Whlst 9 steals is very impressive; 8 turnovers is shocking for a PG. I'm sure he probably had 10 versions of his dance though........

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

And on Bosh - he was the big fish in a small pond and now finds himself a distant and clear No. 3 in Miami.

It's starting (from today's nba.com):
ANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – One of the main reasons Chris Bosh decided to take his talents to South Beach and join LeBron James and Dwyane Wade was exposure. He wanted more of it and knew he’d get it there as opposed to what he’d experienced in Toronto.
Be careful what you ask for Chris, because you’re probably getting more than you bargained for these days. And it’s not just from NBA types who have raised eyebrows about Bosh’s performance so far (he’s averaging 13 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the 4-1 Heat). It’s coming from all directions.
Sports Illustrated NFL guru Peter King chimed in on Bosh in his Monday Morning Quarterback:
I know less about the NBA than I know about Norwegian politics. But I did leave the basketball game wondering how in the world anyone would think Chris Bosh is on LeBron’s and Dwyane Wade’s level. It should be the Big Two and Three-Quarters in Miami instead of the Big Three, shouldn’t it?
It’s one thing for the basketball punditry to question Bosh’s ability to thrive alongside James and Wade, but when an impartial observer like King decides to take that shot, it makes you wonder.
Even more curious are the words of one of Bosh’s former teammates in Toronto, who painted an interesting picture on the state of affairs post-Bosh in a Raptors uniform, courtesy of my main man Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (who continues to hit home runs early in the season).
Jarrett Jack, one of Bosh’s best friends since their days at Georgia Tech, offered this extremely insightful take:
“Sometimes when you play with a superstar or an All-Star type of guy, you tend to defer,” he said. “I think all of us do. ‘Get it to Chris, or get it to LeBron [James] or get it to Dwyane [Wade],’ without doing your normal, instinctive, aggressive thing. [With Bosh gone], it allows people to spread their wings, grow and see where they are as players for an overall season, which is kind of cool. We don’t have to worry about, if we don’t get him 25 shots, it’s going to be hell on Earth. It’s kind of cool being able to go out there and play.”
Bosh still has plenty of time to find his groove and do exactly the same for the Heat, “just go out there and play.”
We are, as Heat fans reminded us here at the hideout last week after that loss in Boston, just days into a season that will stretch into the summer of 2011.
We’re not writing Bosh off . Not yet. We’ll wait on the real Bosh to show up.

Sea Devils

Who's your favorite player that doesn't play for your favorite team?

Mine is Rondo. He's so damn fun to watch. There isn't another player in the league that plays quite like him. Very unique, and he's on a different planet with his passing right now:eek:

Carcharodon

Sea Devils wrote: »

Who's your favorite player that doesn't play for your favorite team?

Mine is Rondo. He's so damn fun to watch. There isn't another player in the league that plays quite like him. Very unique, and he's on a different planet with his passing right now:eek:

Yea, I think playing at Celtic has helped Rondo immensely, I always thought he was a bit similar to Ellis for some reason, he has really developed his game though with his passing.

I am quite fond of Rose at the moment, could develop into a great player.

RMDrive

Sea Devils wrote: »

Who's your favorite player that doesn't play for your favorite team?

Mine is Rondo. He's so damn fun to watch. There isn't another player in the league that plays quite like him. Very unique, and he's on a different planet with his passing right now:eek:

Nash. Magician.

RMDrive

Carcharodon wrote: »

I am quite fond of Rose at the moment, could develop into a great player.

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/top_plays/2010/11/04/20101104_dotn.nba/?ls=iref:nbahpt2


:eek:

ButtersSuki

RMDrive wrote: »

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/top_plays/2010/11/04/20101104_dotn.nba/?ls=iref:nbahpt2


:eek:

Saw that this morning - nasty.

ButtersSuki

Call me boring but I like the more fundamentally sound players. Like to watch Manu Ginobli go to work and Nash and Nowitzki to a lesser extent. Really starting to admire Brandon Roy's all round game too.

Though his scoring outshines other aspects of his game, Kevin Durant is really turning into a special player (though he's admittedly had a poor-ish start to the season). His World Championships performances were the difference between gold for the USA and no medal at all.

Sea Devils

RMDrive wrote: »

Nash. Magician.

Good call on Nash. A basketball genius. Aside from Rondo some others .

-Duncan
-Manu (he's a Hall of Famer, IMO, even though I doubt he'll make it)
-Kevin Durant
-KG (he's also a basketball genius )
-Luis Scola
-Tyreke Evans
-Josh Smith

padraig_f

RMDrive wrote: »

Nash. Magician.

Nash for me as well.

I am quite fond of Rose at the moment, could develop into a great player.

Apart from his physical talents, a great attitude as well, I mean the attitude of a winner. Won rookie of the year, went away in the summer and improved his jump shot. Became an all-star in his second year, went away and added an effective 3-point shot to his game. It will be also interesting to see this year if he can improve his defense working with Tom Thibodeau.

Another example from this early stage of the season: after 2 games he led the league in scoring, with his 39 against Detroit. I saw some talk after that game wondering if he could lead the league in scoring over the season. I don't think that was ever going to happen but in the next game I was expecting him to continue taking a lot of shots. But he recognised Deng getting hot early and didn't take a lot of shots at all, the result: Deng scores career-high 40 points, Rose gets career-high 13 assists, in a win over Portland. It's something of a cliché about a player caring more about getting the win ahead of any personal stats, but in Rose's case, I really believe it's the case.

Will be interesting to see him and Rondo go at it tonight. I read that they didn't get on and that was partly a factor why Rondo was cut from the USA team this summer, to reduce friction in the squad. I don't think Rose will take it personally (not so sure about Rondo though!) but for the Bulls in recent years, the Celtics have been the yardstick. With a lot expected of the team this year, I'd expect them to be fired up for the game tonight.

Carcharodon

padraig_f wrote: »

Nash for me as well.



Apart from his physical talents, a great attitude as well, I mean the attitude of a winner. Won rookie of the year, went away in the summer and improved his jump shot. Became an all-star in his second year, went away and added an effective 3-point shot to his game. It will be also interesting to see this year if he can improve his defense working with Tom Thibodeau.

Another example from this early stage of the season: after 2 games he led the league in scoring, with his 39 against Detroit. I saw some talk after that game wondering if he could lead the league in scoring over the season. I don't think that was ever going to happen but in the next game I was expecting him to continue taking a lot of shots. But he recognised Deng getting hot early and didn't take a lot of shots at all, the result: Deng scores career-high 40 points, Rose gets career-high 13 assists, in a win over Portland. It's something of a cliché about a player caring more about getting the win ahead of any personal stats, but in Rose's case, I really believe it's the case.

Will be interesting to see him and Rondo go at it tonight. I read that they didn't get on and that was partly a factor why Rondo was cut from the USA team this summer, to reduce friction in the squad. I don't think Rose will take it personally (not so sure about Rondo though!) but for the Bulls in recent years, the Celtics have been the yardstick. With a lot expected of the team this year, I'd expect them to be fired up for the game tonight.

Yea, Nash for sure, just take him for granted at this stage along with the like of Wade, Williams, Dirk etc
Bogut has really caught my eye since last year.
I love watching Gasol play, just a pure quality basketball player, pitty he is with LA.

Looking forward to game tonight, should be an intense game hopefully.

Carcharodon

Oh you got to love Shaq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Rd8taiXp8

Sea Devils

Early days yet but wow when was the last time we ever won a game holding a team just to 40% shooting.:D.. Our Defense looks SO much better from last year it's not even funny. Much better rotations, communication, and intensity. Could be a fun year to be a Warriors fan.

Carcharodon

Sea Devils wrote: »

Early days yet but wow when was the last time we ever won a game holding a team just to 40% shooting.:D.. Our Defense looks SO much better from last year it's not even funny. Much better rotations, communication, and intensity. Could be a fun year to be a Warriors fan.

That game was far more enjoyable to watch than any of our 1 million point games over the past few seasons.
Our defense is far from perfect but what impresses me is the intentions to do the right thing, especially the rotations and now with a workhorse like Lee, he really adds that extra work ethic which can only rub off on others.
Ellis and Curry are combining very well and have too bigs to help them out, Biedrins has upped his game this year by the looks of it. Wright is fitting in nicely and finding his grove.
All and all, could be a very interesting season, push for playoffs

Sea Devils

Carcharodon wrote: »

Biedrins has upped his game this year by the looks of it

Biedrins still has the habit of getting into a lot of foul trouble and is picking up a lot of unnecessary fouls. He also doesn't have the same quickness that he used to have. Hopefully when Udoh and Amundson come back our interior Defense will be a lot better.

RMDrive

Some game between the Pacers and the Nugets. Pacers win 144-113. They score 54 points and make 20/21 shots in the 3rd quarter alone. :eek:
Dunleavy hit 5 3s in the quarter to score 24 points (31 overall).

When the Pacers get going they can shoot the lights out but they will probably be held to 71 points in their next game. Such is the life of a young team in transition I suppose.

Overall I think Bird is making the right moves.

ButtersSuki

Boston take down the Heat in Miami with Jesus Shuttlesworth droppping 35 and hitting on 7 of 9 threes. Nice! And Bosh was awful again. It's tiring getting up/staying awake for these games but that one was worth it.

Oh, and check Rondo's dunk!

Sea Devils

I think LeBron must be the only superstar athlete I've ever heard who complains about his coach playing him too many minutes.

MIAMI – The words would come out of Old Man Riles’ playbook, a young coach desperate to rewire confusion and calamity into something strong and sure. Oh, this is no surprise. Oh, this will be great for us come the playoffs. With his declarations of processes and timetables, Erik Spoelstra sounded like a new-age CEO spinning the shareholders. His Miami Heat are soft, staggered and fragile to the touch.

“In the last 48 hours, we’re getting to know each other,” Spoelstra said. “This is good. You need to face this adversity.

“You need to stumble.”

Yes, they’re getting to know each other. With two horrific losses within three days at American Airlines Arena, the Heat are mortified to find themselves fighting to stay above .500, and Spoelstra is getting to know his superstar, LeBron James(notes). Chris Bosh(notes) came and went, Dwyane Wade(notes) stood in the corners and watched. Most of all, James found himself in postseason shape, closing a loss to the Boston Celtics with a missed layup, two missed free throws and a corner 3-pointer off the side of the backboard.

The world’s bearing down, times are tumultuous, and James is the one Heat star in playoff form.

“For myself, 44 minutes is too much,” James declared. “I think Coach Spo knows that. Forty minutes for D-Wade is too much. We have to have as much energy as we can to finish games out.”

There you go, Coach Spo.

Get to know him well.

Two days earlier, James had done nothing in overtime and ultimately decided the difference was a Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Sloan, who knew exactly what the Heat were going to do. James never takes responsibility, never says, “I’m the MVP and I need to do more.” He didn’t do it in Cleveland, and he’s never going to do it in Miami. Now, 44 minutes in a grudge game with the Celtics is too much. Always an out, always an excuse.

The Celtics were machinery. They beat up the Heat, obliterated them on the boards and bludgeoned them in a 112-107 victory. The Heat were never close, even with a late fool’s-gold rally that never truly threatened the Celtics. With their brilliant passing, precise shooting and ferocious physical play, no one exposes the flaws of these Heat like the Celtics.

Boston believes it can bully these Heat, believes they’re susceptible to games of the mind and body. When it was over, Big Baby Davis marched out of the showers and declared: “No one can spoil this night. Good for us to come in and spank that ass.”

As the Celtics hung around town for a couple days before the game, they loved hearing the Heat lament about how tough teams had been on them, how they’d been targeted for physical play. So the Celtics started laying out Miami players with forceful screens, flagrant fouls and crushing shots at the rim. They harassed Wade into missing 10 of 12 shots and made James work for his 35 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Frequent isolations are reducing Wade to an offensive sidebar, and the death of ball movement is turning these Heat into something so eerily familiar with the Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron, and four guys watching LeBron.

There’s time for the Heat to become a more fluid, more polished offensive team. They’re not missing X’s and O’s as much as they’re missing a mindset. They created something that they played make-believe about embracing. They talked tough about reveling in a world that despises them, only to find it’s a bigger burden of scrutiny than they ever imagined.

Make no mistake: Wade and Bosh don’t want to be bad guys. It isn’t in their DNA. Bosh is a goofball who dresses up like a cowboy on YouTube. He loved the idea of coming to Miami for max money without max pressure. As Bosh figured, the big shots belonged to D-Wade and James, and he’d get all the benefits without the burdens.

“At times it will be bumpy, and this is a bumpy stretch,” Spoelstra said. “Nobody said this was going to be easy.”

No, the Heat just acted that way. They act surprised that people want to pop them in the mouth, that TVs and websites crackle with disdain for them. All those players like Eddie House(notes) who thought they were going on tour with a rock band? They’re now under the kind of daily national – even global – examination that they’ve never experienced. No one ever cared whether House missed a week’s worth of 3-pointers in the past. Now it’s dissected and digested everywhere.

And let’s face it: They’re getting buried because of LeBron. Now, they’re the bad guys, and they’ve never had to deal with the thickness of that haze. They turn on the television, the Internet, and people are wishing ill, reveling in the small failures of a young season. In a lot of ways, James is cut out for it. He’s oblivious. He surrounds himself with so many yes-men, so much skewed perspective, that his lack of self-awareness almost benefits him.

Before Spoelstra let the Heat leave the locker room on Thursday night, he declared that it was “us against the world.” Only, it isn’t the Heat against the world. It’s the Heat against themselves, against the backdrop of a hysteria they created through a smoky stage, public preening and promises of five and six championship rings. Spoelstra is kidding himself when he talks about a “different timeline” to develop the Heat, when he suggests that a 5-4 record isn’t such a big deal.

The Heat are long on talk and short on toughness. Right now, this is a mentally soft team that the Celtics exposed and will expose again – unless the Heat find some leadership, some character, some staying power. Riles would send his protégée to the interview room deep inside American Airlines Arena, and the words were straight out of his self-help manual: a young coach embracing the adversity and declaring it’ll make his team stronger come playoff time. Only, Spoelstra knows full well that he had better win, and win big, or he’ll never make it to the playoffs.

Erik Spoelstra pulled the pages straight out of Riles’ playbook, trying to transform chaos into a coachable moment. After the second devastating loss in three days, Spoelstra gave the Heat a big speech about staying together, about a world that would want to do harm to them. Yes, we’ll get to know each other now, Spoelstra said with a sigh. We’ll get to know all about us.

Times are tumultuous, and here was LeBron James, claiming that 44 minutes had worn him out, that he had nothing left in the end, and that Wade had played too much as well. One night, and King James had an issue with too many minutes on the floor. Always easier to blame some vague force, always easier to escape the responsibility. There you go, Coach Spo. There’s your star. Enjoy him.

Sea Devils

Also forgot to mention that Kevin Love was just off the charts tonight. The first 30 and 30 double double in 28 years. Unreal.:eek:

ButtersSuki

31 and 31 is freaky. My brother saw love play at UCLA years ago and said he was good, didn't really buy into the hype until that performance. One caveat though - it was NY!:D

Also see he's doing the old Moses Malone trick of getting 2 or 3 rebounds on the same play by missing underneath the rim and putting it back in after a few gos!

Great to see LeBron moan. It's still early but I hope this continues as I'm really enjoying watching Miami disintegrate.

ButtersSuki

Meant to post this before, but forgot.

Sea Devils

Cleveland's 5-5 without Mo Williams for 5 games, and a starting lineup of...

PG: Ramon Sessions
SG: Anthony Parker
SF: Jamario Moon
PF: JJ Hickson
C: Anderson Varejao

:eek:

ButtersSuki

Sea Devils wrote: »

Cleveland's 5-5 without Mo Williams for 5 games, and a starting lineup of...

PG: Ramon Sessions
SG: Anthony Parker
SF: Jamario Moon
PF: JJ Hickson
C: Anderson Varejao

:eek:

The key to that is Mo Williams is out!

Sea Devils

ButtersSuki wrote: »

The key to that is Mo Williams is out!

True that,;)

I actually think the Cavs will be better than people assume they're going to be. They're an excellent defensive team, and it's amazing how other player's talents come out when one guy isn't dribbling for 15 seconds.

ButtersSuki

From si.com:

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2010/11/18/odens-time-in-portland-may-be-over/

You'd have to wonder about Portland's luck - drafting Sam Bowie ahead of Jordan and now Oden ahead of Durant. Plus Brandon Roy looking likely to miss some time due to his arthritic knees......not good.

Sea Devils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9aSOZMp7Tk

I'd never seen #1 before. It was like Troy Hudson unnecessarily hit the jump button on NBA 2k.

AI crossing MJ twice was sick too.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

From si.com:

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2010/11/18/odens-time-in-portland-may-be-over/

You'd have to wonder about Portland's luck - drafting Sam Bowie ahead of Jordan and now Oden ahead of Durant. Plus Brandon Roy looking likely to miss some time due to his arthritic knees......not good.

I have never been overly impressed with Oden and I think with these injuries he is destined for the scrap pile and it probably wouldn't bother him too much either.

I can't believe how well Williams has the Hornets playing, thought they would struggle to find consistency but are doing the opposite.
I also can't believe how bad the Clippers are playing, was probably expecting a bit much but thought they had a good mix of youth and experience. Griffin is playing well though on a positive note.

Sea Devils

Looks like we have our first trade of the regular season.

Hornets get: Jarrett Jack, David Andersen, Marcus Banks
Raptors get: Peja Stojakovic, Jerryd Bayless


Excellent trade for the Raptors, and I only kinda sorta understand what the Hornets are thinking here.

Peja's a $15.3M expiring contract. I can't help but think that you could get a better player than Jarrett Jack in return. On top of that, Bayless is a pretty talented scorer as well. Jack is a very nice backup PG, but CP3's going to be playing big minutes and he's not a great fit at SG. Andersen's a so-so backup big, I guess.

I just think they coulda gotten more for Peja's expiring.

padraig_f

A significant result last night with the Bulls beating the Mavs in Dallas to go 2 and 1 on their 7-game west coast trip. What's becoming clear is the Bulls, even without Boozer, are already a significantly better team than last year.

A couple of factors...
1. Youth/improvement. While making the playoffs the last 2 years, the core starters are still very young. Rose and Noah in their 3rd season, Gibson in his second season. All 3 have improved their games this season. Rose with a better jump shot, including 3s now, and more consistent scoring at the rim (gone from 20 pts/6 assists to 25 pts/9 assists). Noah adding more offense to his game (from 11 pts/11 rebs to 15 pts/13 rebs (2nd in NBA)) and Gibson also adding more of an offensive threat (from 9 pts/7 rebs to 12 pts/7 rebs).

2. Better coaching. Tom Thibodeau has come in with a reptuation as a defensive specialist, but in fact the Bulls have improved offensively across the board (as you can see from the stats above). Luol Deng is a slightly older player than those 3 but has been improved by the coaching. Last year he averaged 17/7 shooting the worst shot in basketball, the long 2. This year Thibodeau has him turning those long 2s into 3s and cutting to the basket more.

The defense is a work in progress, and there were some growing pains with Bulls committing too many fouls early in the season. But there are signs of things coming together, making some good offenses, like the Mavs and Spurs, look very ordinary at times. They've also made a number of shutouts to go on runs. e.g. at Houston the other night, when it was tight at the end of the 3rd quarter, they went on a 15-0 at the start of the 4th quarter to effectively finish the game off.

3. More depth. The Bulls front-office did a great job over the summer strengthening the roster. Whereas last year the team had inexperienced young players coming in and blowing leads, this year they've got experienced players coming in, maintaining or adding to leads.

- Kyle Korver is the best pure shooter in the team and adds a much-needed 3-point threat. The Bulls were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams last year and it made it very hard to finish off teams. This year they have Korver shooting close to a league-high 3pt %, and with Rose and Deng starting to shoot 3s, they can score heavily when on top.

- Ronnie Brewer, defensive specialist from Utah, coming back from injury but looks like he'll contribute significantly, aggressive defender and high-percentage finisher around the rim.

- Omer Asik at backup centre has been a very pleasant surprise. Rough around the edges offensively but already contributing useful minutes on the defensive end, blocking shots, rebounds, taking charges. Seems to have good positioning and understanding of the game, should improve as he gets more playing time. The Bulls have at times played Noah at PF and Asik at centre, giving them a lot of length, which is something they never had last season.

A lot of the preseason analysts had the Bulls winning 45-50 games and going out in the 2nd round of the playoffs. They're already 7-4 and have played Boston, Oklahoma, Denver, Portland, Houston, San Antonio & Dallas. They have Carlos Boozer to come back in the next couple of weeks. From the early going they look on course to surpass the preseason predictions and I think they'll now be realistic contenders for the Eastern Conference title.