NBA Playoffs 2012/13

Carroller

Why the f*ck is this deferred coverage on ESPN

Nuri Sahin

Grizzlies struggling in Game 1 shocker. Not really. Some overreaction on Twitter though. They'll adjust and tighten things up. Z Bo is playing like he did early doors in the Clippers series.

Paully D

Rockets and Mavericks interesting Howard:

http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

I think he'll stay with the Lakers, but the Rockets move would be intriguing.

ButtersSuki

Wow, what a bad game for the Grizzlies. I didn't see any blowouts in this series but they were so badly beaten last night they have to be questioning themselves after that performance. On the other hand, Spurs hit a franchise Playoff high number of 3 pointers so they're unlinkely to shoot like that again this series. I can see this going 7 now, and I'm back on the Spurs after seeing how healthy and hungry they look.

Paully D

I enjoyed this, photos of players as rookies. There's athletes from other sports mixed in, but plenty of NBA guys too:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...rookies/page/8

As an example:

Noah:



Dirk:



LeBron:

Paully D

This is from last season, and probably has been posted before, but I've just seen it now. Fantastic, especially the Magic and Kobe and Jordan and Rose parts near the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjY6pDQ0CZg

ButtersSuki

Paully D wrote: »

Rockets and Mavericks interesting Howard:

http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

I think he'll stay with the Lakers, but the Rockets move would be intriguing.

And the 'Dwight to "insert Team/City here"' roundabout starts again.:rolleyes:
This is the man who wore a "Loyalty" T-shirt in his last weeks in Orlando after getting his coach sacked. Poor Dwight must be feeling a bit lonely what with no-one having pandered to his ego or him being in the news for at least a whole hour now.......

The message to teams from Dwight is this - form an oderely queue, tell me how amazing I am, tell me how much you're going to pay me, tell me how amazing I am, tell me how you're going to build the team around me, tell me how amazing I am, tell me I can pick the coach, tell me how amazing I am, tell me I can fire him if I change my mind, tell me how amazing I am etc. etc.

His behaviour last year almost made "The Decison" look classy. And what has he learned? Nothing clearly, as he's about to do it again.

ButtersSuki

From nba.com:
Report: Jordan changing Charlotte's name to Hornets


By Steve Reed
Posted May 20, 2013 7:35 PM - Updated May 20, 2013 8:07 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is changing his team's name to the Hornets, said a person familiar with the situation.
The person said Jordan will detail the timetable for the change to be completed at a press conference the Bobcats have scheduled for Tuesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press Monday on condition of anonymity because the name change has not been publicly announced.
NBA deputy commissioner and COO Adam Silver previously said it would take "about 18 months" for the Bobcats to change their name. That means Charlotte could once again become the Hornets by the 2014-15 season.
The Hornets resided in Charlotte from 1988-2002 before then-owner George Shinn moved the franchise to New Orleans.
The New Orleans Hornets recently changed their name to the Pelicans.
Silver said in an April interview if the Bobcats decided to change their name to the Hornets it would be "an enormously complex process and a very expensive process for the team. From everything to the uniforms, to the building, to the letterhead to the signs on the offices - all of that has to be taken into account."
While he didn't estimate how much the change would cost, Silver did say the fact that the league owns the rights to the name Hornets could help speed up the transition process.
"I'll let [the Bobcats] speak to their own time line, but we're supportive of whatever they do," Silver said in April.
The Bobcats conducted a Harris Interactive poll in January to determine if fans were in favor of a name change. The Bobcats have never announced the results of those polls.
The name Bobcats originally incorporated the first name of the team's initial owner, Bob Johnson, who later sold the team to Jordan in 2010.
In February, Jordan weighed in on the idea of changing the team's name to the Hornets in his monthly "Chairman's Corner" column on the team's website, but was non-committal on his intentions.
"Judging from the emails you've sent me, the opinion seems to be very mixed," Jordan said on the team's website. "Some of you have said we should change the name and some of you have said we should not. In fact, a few of you even suggested that we should change the name to something new altogether, and not use Bobcats or Hornets."
Jordan added that "there are a lot of factors to take into account and a lot of information to sift through. This is a decision that we will not take lightly and we will not make hastily. We want to do what we believe will be in the best interests of our organization and our fans."
The NBA board of governors is scheduled to meet in July and it's possible they could vote on the name change at that time.
Although the Hornets never experienced much playoff success in Charlotte, they were extremely popular team among fans.
The Charlotte Hornets had a sellout streak of 364 games - a span of nearly nine seasons - before interest began to sag in the final years and Shinn relocated the team.
The Bobcats haven't been nearly as popular in part because of their struggles on the court.
They've only been to the postseason once since they began play in 2004 and finished the 2011-12 season with a 7-59 record, the worst winning percentage (.106) in NBA history.

ButtersSuki

Vinny Del Negro and the Clippers "part ways" according to NBA.com. No surprise but I do feel a tad sorry for him considering the Clips won their highest number of games in a season ever and their first ever Divisional Championship. Player power.......

stuchyg

Regarded as one of the most strategically incompetent coaches around in most circles though

Paully D

Thoughts on tonights game lads?

The bookies have moved Spurs another half point from Sunday night, so the Spurs are now +5.5 favourites. Difficult to see the Grizzlies not adjusting for tonight and the Spurs surely won't shoot like they did from downtown again tonight.

I think the line is about right.

stuchyg

Is there a reason the WCF will have played 2 games before the ECF have even started

stuchyg

Just watching NBA Tonight atm and they are talking about the draft, Shabazz isnt even top 10 in the projections. Can remember reading about him in Slam 3/4 years ago and he was being touted as a sure fire number 1 pick in his class

Paully D

stuchyg wrote: »

Just watching NBA Tonight atm and they are talking about the draft, Shabazz isnt even top 10 in the projections. Can remember reading about him in Slam 3/4 years ago and he was being touted as a sure fire number 1 pick in his class

Gained a reputation for being selfish on the court, concerned about his own statistics rather than the teams play, and then it was revealed he was actually a year old than listed. That's the reason for the fall.

Dublin Red Devil

Paully D wrote: »

Gained a reputation for being selfish on the court, concerned about his own statistics rather than the teams play, and then it was revealed he was actually a year old than listed. That's the reason for the fall.

There is a thread for the draft.

leggo

No idea what to make of tonight's game. Z-Bo won't have another terrible game. 2pts isn't the kinda game you can give the defence all the credit for...it's just one of them days, a weird anomaly when he may be banged up and tired over the playoffs. SA still have to be favourites given how convincingly they won the last game, but it could honestly go either way.

padraig_f

Hope I'm not making the mistake of over-reacting to one game, but gonna go for the Spurs to cover the -5. People say they won't shoot as well again from 3, and that's probably true, but it wasn't just the good shooting, but the open looks they got. With their experience I think they know to keep their foot on the gas, so I don't think there will be a letdown effect. Memphis will play better for sure, but they need to make up a lot of ground, they have problems on both offense and defense.

padraig_f

Grizzlies a bit sharper on defense tonight, offense is still really struggling.

They got unlucky with Conley in foul trouble, his 3rd wasn't a foul, and he played 8 only mins in the first half. Hollins probably should've left him out there despite the 3 fouls, you're on the road, you need to roll the dice a bit. He sat most of the first half, and they're in a big hole now.

Spurs are such a class above it's ridiculous.

I had to say it didn't I?

padraig_f

Deleted User wrote: »

I had to say it didn't I?

Haha, they got real sloppy. Amazing stat there:

'Spurs had 83 pts with 8:11 left, now at 85 with 26 secs left.'

padraig_f

Overtime and the Grizzlies have been the better team in the second half, got their two bigs working. Duncan on 5 fouls.

At least in basketball the timewasting is entertaining :P

padraig_f

Spurs hang on, Duncan with a big OT. Happy enough to see the Grizz lose after Tony Allen faking that head-injury to win the flagrant at the end of regulation.

kmart6

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

There is a thread for the draft.

The irony considering how you've posted before!

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Grizzlies struggling in Game 1 shocker. Not really. Some overreaction on Twitter though. They'll adjust and tighten things up. Z Bo is playing like he did early doors in the Clippers series.

No suprise except for the result. Fell asleep before the game so can't really comment as such, but that second half will be of real concern for Pop and co. Fingers crossed the Grizz can't win Game 3 at the very least and make a series of it.

As for those commenting on the spread pre-game, all the trends pointed towards Grizz covering Game 2. Bit of fortune involved but +5.0 was the side of the line to be on.

Lafortezza

stuchyg wrote: »

Is there a reason the WCF will have played 2 games before the ECF have even started

It's to do with TV scheduling. I think it is ABC that are contracted to have 1 game on a Sunday each week during the playoffs so they moved the WCF game 2 around.

I'm rooting for the Griz in this series, but I'm happy enough with either team from the West having the size to cause MIA problems. MIA loves their small ball with Bosh at the 5 and Duncan/Splitter have been playing well together through the Playoffs. Both SAS and Mem have solid wings to slow down LeBron too. OKC or GSW would have been destroyed by MIA if they made it out of the West.

Paully D

Enjoyed this. 20 minute interview with Luol Deng. A bit of basketball talk and a lot of talk about his humanitarian work, plus some stuff on his early life as a refugee, his relationship with Scottie Pippen, his love of soccer, loads of other topics too. He's a great guy!

Nuri Sahin

Turnovermania is runnin' wild for the Pacers early doors.

Paully D

Probably the most calls I've ever seen on the Heat during the first part of a game since the ''Big Three'' era started.