NBA Regular Season 2011/2012

padraig_f

Lafortezza wrote: »

Flip Saunders fired as coach of Washington. They've had an awful start to the season, but I don't think that Saunders was the problem.
Their core of Wall, McGee, Young and Blatche leads the NBA in immaturity by a mile. Yes they have some talent but I'd say the lockerroom is quite painful to be in.

I predicted this after I saw them against the Bulls. It wasn't just that they were bad, they'd completely given up on the coach. You could see in the third quarter when the game was still winnable (Rose and CJ Watson were both out for the Bulls, with 3rd-string PG Lucas running the point), and they'd stopped trying. There was one embarrassing sequence where the Bulls got 6 offensive rebounds on the same possession. Whether it was the players or the coach, I guess the front-office had no option but to make a coaching change.

padraig_f

kmart6 wrote: »

Shocking performance from the Magic again!

Was wondering what happned there. When I heard Rondo and Ray Allen were out, I bet the Magic -10 points. Went to bed with them up 25, thinking 'easy money'.

Came across an interesting way of viewing the game-flow here:
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20120126&game=BOSORL

Numbers in the player's boxes are: points & 'help value' (essentially every stat except points), more here.

The Magic's 4th quarter numbers are pretty shocking.

kmart6

padraig_f wrote: »

Was wondering what happned there. When I heard Rondo and Ray Allen were out, I bet the Magic -10 points. Went to bed with them up 25, thinking 'easy money'.

No offence but that was a terrible bet considering the Celtics had beaten the Magic on Monday by 31 without Allen and Rondo!

padraig_f

kmart6 wrote: »

No offence but that was a terrible bet considering the Celtics had beaten the Magic on Monday by 31 without Allen and Rondo!

Maybe not my best bet, but unfair to call it 'terrible'. You can pretty much never make a terrible bet on an NBA game (nor can you make a brilliant bet), the lines are just not that far off. The worst you could say is, I made a slightly bad value bet.

The Celtics' first game against the Magic looked more like the exception than the rule, before that, they were 6-9 having played one of the easiest schedules. The only teams they beat to that point were the Wizards (3-15), the Pistons (4-15), the Nets (6-13) and the Hornets (3-15). Every half-decent team they played, beat them.

While the Magic were 12-4 with some good scalps, with wins vs. the Lakers, @ Blazers, and @ Pacers.

I didn't see the first game, but you could never value it over the 15 games the teams played to that point, or to think the Celtics were stronger with Ray Allen & Rondo out.

If you still think the lines are way off, you can get similar value tonight. The Celtics are 3-point underdogs at home against the Pacers, and the Magic are 4-point favourites on the road against the Hornets.

kmart6

Ok, I can see your point, but just this season is so crazy, don't think I'd back any game, all too unpredictable!

Carcharodon

Lafortezza wrote: »

What the hell is going on with the Knicks? D'Antoni to get fired if this awful recent run keeps going.

He doesn't have Steve Nash.

Paully D

Bulls @ Heat tonight.

How do you all see it going?

Lafortezza

Heat on their home court might make a difference I think, really close, both teams are playing really well.
Heat looked great even with Wade injured recently, he came back last game and they looked even better.
Rose was out for several games and the Bulls still won lots of games without him, should give great confidence to the lesser/bench players. Rose returned last game i think and got 34 points.
Heat will win because they have 3 stars, Bulls rely on Rose a bit too much as a star even the rest of their team is miles better than the Heat.

GoldFour4

Stream for the Heat and Bulls if anyones looking

http://coolsport.tv/stream6.html

Paully D

Not looking good for us already.

Rose with 2 fouls (1 ridiculous decision on his part) after 4 minutes and everyone is struggling from the field.

Deng is such a massive loss. The most underrated player in the NBA without a doubt.

Hopefully it picks up soon.

kmart6

Patience!

Deng is highly rated by most around the league, especially this season and last!

padraig_f

Encouraged by that half. The Bulls haven't played well, have a couple of players out, and are only down 5 on the road.

One of the benefits of having Rip Hamilton this year is that Wade will have to work much harder on defense than he did against Bogans last year. Was curious to see if it would affect his offensive output, and he's 1-9 so far tonight.

Paully D

Disappointing to lose that especially as we closed the scoreline on a number of occasions, with a few chances to take the lead in the 4th, a lot of poor decisions and poor shooting cost us, but in fairness we were missing a couple of players and were on the road.

I can't believe Rose missed those 2 free throws that could have given us the lead, he hadn't missed a 4th quarter free throw all season, but he can't be superhuman every night.

Also, VERY POOR OFFICIATING. Letting Wade dictate to them what to do for the whole game he was never out of their ear, getting the call messed up at the end and then allowing LeBron to steal the tip after that! No surprise really though considering the name on the back of his jersey :mad:

There's positives to take as well I guess.

They're a very good team, but with a healthy team in a playoff situation I don't think there's any reason to fear them.

On another note is anyone else apart from me getting seriously sick of watching Miami Heat games, purely for the fact the commentators don't even acknowledge that another team is playing and the whole couple of hours is spent talking about how much LeBron has improved in the low post, how Bosh has become much more aggressive and how Wade is such a leader. It's getting beyond a joke at this stage.

padraig_f

I'm strangely upbeat after that, because I think when equally healthy, the Bulls can now beat the Heat, and also win in Miami in the playoffs. With Deng out, they needed Boozer to have a decent game to have a chance of winning. He didn't, and amazingly the Bulls still nearly won. Though the Heat are a good defensive team, I think it was more of an off-night for him, he missed shots he'd been knocking down.

As for the officiating, I was unhappy with it as well, though think it was partly due to not getting as many calls on the road as you do at home. The whole jump-ball thing was an unfortunate way to end the game. I missed it, and they didn't show a replay, but people on my twitter feed were agreeing that Lebron stole it.

On another note is anyone else apart from me getting seriously sick of watching Miami Heat games, purely for the fact the commentators don't even acknowledge that another team is playing and the whole couple of hours is spent talking about how much LeBron has improved in the low post, how Bosh has become much more aggressive and how Wade is such a leader. It's getting beyond a joke at this stage.

We certainly heard enough about Lebron cycling to the stadium!

I liked Lisa Salters' question to Lebron at the end: "We were SHOCKED when Derrick Rose missed his two free-throws, and then you missed your two..." (as if that wasn't so shocking).

How does Derrick Rose get those one-handed shots to go in so consistently?

CJ Watson's absence was maybe under-rated factor, as Thibodeau doesn't trust Lucas nearly as much. This meant Rose ended up playing 45 out of 48 mins, while carrying the offense on his back the whole time. You can forgive him the missed free throws at the end, as he was 12/12 to that point, had just been knocked to the floor, and must've been wrecked.

Don't go in for moral victories much, but considering the bigger picture, I'm not unhappy.

Paully D

Good post Padraig. I agree with you, just had to let off some steam after the game :pac:

kmart6

Scarlet for ya :P

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

kmart6

Bit of a funny back and forth between Kobe and Rubio after last night!
http://www.marca.com/tv/?v=IdaFvAQGzgf

Kobe to Rubio and Gasol: “You talking about London?”
Gasol: “Oh yeah.”
Rubio: “You’re gonna be there?”
Kobe: “Yeah.”
Rubio: “You know you’re getting the silver medal. You know that.”
Kobe: “[expletive]. I’m taking bets! [laughs] If I win I get the keys of Barcelona.”
Rubio: “I bet what you want.”
Kobe: “I take it!”

Goose_Hyypia

Blake Griffin looks immense

Oat23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w_Vy0lDk_A

Oh my good lord that was amazing.

kmart6

I really don't think it's that great...feel it's been blown outta proportion cause it's him!

Oat23

kmart6 wrote: »

I really don't think it's that great...feel it's been blown outta proportion cause it's him!

I disagree. I don't even like Blake that much, but that dunk was awesome and embarrassing for Perkins!

The only thing it was missing was Stacey King commentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dr5dMsBUY

GoldFour4

Skip Bayless acting the prick as usual and saying he'd give it a 3 out of 10. He finds it hard to praise people doing well.

kmart6

It's almost identical to the one from last year, yeah he does well to rise up, but he's just throwing it in, only difference this year was his fingers glanced the rim! Perkins can't be blamed for it, he rotated over as quick as he could!

I think LeBron's from Sunday was better since he jumped over someone, even though the guy was a short ass!

For Forks Sake

kmart6 wrote: »

I think LeBron's from Sunday was better since he jumped over someone, even though the guy was a short ass!

LeBron's an amateur, let's see him do something like this over the likes of Gasol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMrPjl-927Q

kmart6

Yeah well that is still considered better than both over here!

AGORDEIRE

padraig_f wrote: »

How does Derrick Rose get those one-handed shots to go in so consistently?

Practice!


Oh and lots more practice

AGORDEIRE

For Forks Sake wrote: »

LeBron's an amateur, let's see him do something like this over the likes of Gasol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMrPjl-927Q

Now we're talking!! Thats proper.

Lebron....... dunked over a dwarf

Griffin....... dont think you can classify it as a dunk really. Super athleticism to get over Perkins who jammed both elbows full steam into Griffins chest. But as was lots are saying he is kind of fire the ball through the hoop rather then slamming it home. I suppose he does grab a bit of the ring afterwrads. But seeing as it is the Great White Hope it gets huge coverage.



Both amateurish when compared the that monster from Carter

kmart6

Kevin Love channeling his inner Ndamukong Suh....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SDf5QO_bko

killwill

Meh, it was a bit misleading. He stepped on his checst and I don't think it was a stamp either.
Could have been avoided though.

moneyman

AGORDEIRE wrote: »

Now we're talking!! Thats proper.

Lebron....... dunked over a dwarf

Griffin....... dont think you can classify it as a dunk really. Super athleticism to get over Perkins who jammed both elbows full steam into Griffins chest. But as was lots are saying he is kind of fire the ball through the hoop rather then slamming it home. I suppose he does grab a bit of the ring afterwrads. But seeing as it is the Great White Hope it gets huge coverage.



Both amateurish when compared the that monster from Carter

Have to disagree. Griffin's dunk was monstrous. He took full contact from Perkins, from way out, and absorbed it and managed to put it down. Whether it was technically a dunk is all semantics. It was a dunk IMO, and easily up there with Carter's over Weis. As for the bolded bit, I've never heard him described as that before, considering he's as much black as he is white.


Love definitely stamped on Scola. Deserving of a ban.


Wheres Sea_devil? My Kings beat your Warriors last night :P

kmart6

killwill wrote: »

Meh, it was a bit misleading. He stepped on his checst and I don't think it was a stamp either.
Could have been avoided though.

Looked very deliberate, and the 2 game suspension is justified IMO!

MidnightQueen

Bulls vs The Nets. Whos gona win?

Oat23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxxnuq7oEk0

"At Forward, #5 - He still lives with his mother -- Carlos Boozer."

leggo

Great win for Magic over Heat last night, with Howard posting 25 points and 24 rebounds. I was watching it waiting for Heat to come back as the Clippers and Celtics had against us recently, but they never did. I like the theory that Heat aren't at their best with both Wade and LBJ playing together.

Richard Devos also commenting that he doesn't want to trade Howard and plans on holding onto him. Seems more optimistic than realistic at this stage, but us Magic fans can live in hope...

killwill

kmart6 wrote: »

Looked very deliberate, and the 2 game suspension is justified IMO!

I agree that it was deliberate, I agree the 2 game ban was justified.
I just diasagree with calling it a step onto someones face that is all.

buyer95

Jeremy Lin... Enough said

Carcharodon

buyer95 wrote: »

Jeremy Lin... Enough said

He could well be a flash in the pan but he has obviously found his feet in New York. Remember him with the Warriors, didn't look like anything special but then again maybe all he needed was D'Antoni basketball.

kmart6

killwill wrote: »

I agree that it was deliberate, I agree the 2 game ban was justified.
I just diasagree with calling it a step onto someones face that is all.

What would you all it so?!

Flancrest

So the All Star reserves were announced yesterday. Both Dirk and Paul Pierce are in. While both have been fantastic players over the years these are supposed to be the best players in the league at the moment which being honest niether of these are this year.

killwill

kmart6 wrote: »

What would you all it so?!

I don't get what you mean

leggo

Flancrest wrote: »

So the All Star reserves were announced yesterday. Both Dirk and Paul Pierce are in. While both have been fantastic players over the years these are supposed to be the best players in the league at the moment which being honest niether of these are this year.

Yeah but, in reality, the All-Star picks are just supposed to piss people off and get debates going to hype the game, get good ratings as a result and earn some easy money (otherwise, it'd be done on stats, not public voting).

padraig_f

Congrats to Luol Deng and the other first-time All-Stars....Roy Hibbert, Andre Iguodala, LaMarcus Aldridge & Marc Gasol. Even for team-oriented players like Deng, it must be a big thrill getting named to the All-Star team for the first time.

Sam Smith has a good piece today on Deng's career to this point, which hasn't always been smooth:
Luol Deng finally makes his mark

kmart6

killwill wrote: »

I don't get what you mean

Shoulda been call instead of all!

killwill

kmart6 wrote: »

Shoulda been call instead of all!

Was it not a step on his chest? All I meant originally was it was not on his face.

kmart6

Ah I don't know, the angle on it wasn't great,seemed to kinda takedown him, but not too hard like!

leggo

Lin is having another phenomenal game here against the Lakers. He really reminds me of Tebow in that you expect the run to end every single game...but it doesn't.

kmart6

Overall that is a terrible performance from the Lakers, they lost that game more than the Knicks won it! Pau and Bynum didn't seem bothered contesting the difficult rebounds! MWP was acting the **** in the first half and Brown still let him in! For the two shots Fisher made they were lazy mistakes having his foot on the line! Why Murphy is getting minutes when he can't hit a shot is beyond me...McRoberts was playing much better than him earlier the season and gave more speed on the offense!

As good and all as Lin is coming across it was as if the Lakers guards had never seen a fast guard before! Be interesting to see how last this lasts, as soon as Melo and AS are back he won't be getting as many shots!

Got annoying listening to the commentators with the 'Lin and Kobe going at each other'....they barely guarded each other!

Borisss

Lin-sanity.

MVP.

Knicks for the playoffs.

leggo

Borisss wrote: »

Lin-sanity.

MVP.

Knicks for the playoffs.

I know you're probably being tongue-in-cheek, but if he can keep this run goIng and get Knicks into the playoffs while replacing Carmelo...he could genuinely be the most valuable player to their individual franchise (though how do you look past Durant in saying that).

kmart6

What and Fisher is known for his mobility?!

He's had 4 good games, in his previous 30 or so did nothing, he has to make it consistent!

Talk of him being an MVP candidate is just bullsh1t and I'd really question people's knowledge of the sport to suggest he could be!