NBA Season Thread 2013-2014

PizzamanIRL

Nick Young 2 - 0 LeBron

Nuri Sahin

Seriously, feck off Young.

Nuri Sahin

Made profit in play, but Nick Young is some prat

GoldFour4

Some random nba.com reporter interviewing POP before the game...

Me: "What did you get for Christmas?" Popovich: "None of your business. And I'd ask what you got, but I don't care."

Nuri Sahin

Let's go Spurs.

Nuri Sahin

What a start for Houston!

Manu is keeping Spurs in this.

Another road win it looks like here.

Dublin Red Devil

Nice 10 pt cushion here for Houston.

Nuri Sahin

Thank Santa for in play betting. Home teams are now 0-4 today. Does Clippers make it 0-5?

Dublin Red Devil

Good win for the Rockets. Well closed out, James Harden the high point man with 28

Dublin Red Devil

2nd returns in for All Star

East
1 LeBron James (Mia) 854,105
2 Paul George (Ind) 712,808
3 Carmelo Anthony (Nyk) 580,795
4 Dwyane Wade (Mia) 565,455
5 Kyrie Irving (Cle) 524,000

West
1 Kevin Durant (OKC) 850,728
2 Dwight Howard (Hou) 408,623
3 Blake Griffin (LAC) 399,357
4 Kobe Bryant (LAL) 723,031 ( If Kobe doesn't play, Stephen Curry has the next highest vote)
5 Chris Paul (LAC) 533,647

Dublin Red Devil

Wow looks like Teague and Irving went at it to put their mark as best PG in the east.

Nuri Sahin

This above folks demonstrates quite clear that someone here just looks at box scores for points scored and nothing more. Either that or he's a troll, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to admit the latter and dig himself further into a hole

_________________

Great games in Cleveland and Portland tonight, well worth a watch if anyone has league pass or NBA TV. Alridge, Griffin and CP3 had awesome games.

For the Hawks up in Cleveland, very much a case of winning the battle, but losing the war if the reports over Horford are true. Real shame for them as they've been ballin' lately, him, Millsap, Korver and Teague. Latter of which was sensational. Unlike Kyrie, he actually plays defence. Kyrie put up points, but made so many boneheaded plays. Have to had seen it.

Nuri Sahin

Oh and James Harden tonight was just loltastic. Dwight wasn't much better. Lin came up big for the Rockets.

BQQ

I'm glad the league has admitted Blake Griffen shouldn't have been ejected against the Warriors.

I know the hype is annoying, but that's not his fault.
He improving and adding stuff to his game and maybe one day he'll live up to it.

A lot of teams seem to target him for rough treatment, which is fair enough, but the refs have to penalise those fouls.
Unbelievable that it was Blake that picked up 2 techs - one for getting elbowed in the throat and the other for being treated like a ragdoll by Bogut.

PizzamanIRL

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

Good win for the Rockets. Well closed out, James Harden the high point man with 28

Yeah he played a stormer. Was on fire. Couldn't miss from anywhere on the court.

Nuri Sahin

BQQ wrote: »

I'm glad the league has admitted Blake Griffen shouldn't have been ejected against the Warriors.

I know the hype is annoying, but that's not his fault.
He improving and adding stuff to his game and maybe one day he'll live up to it.

A lot of teams seem to target him for rough treatment, which is fair enough, but the refs have to penalise those fouls.
Unbelievable that it was Blake that picked up 2 techs - one for getting elbowed in the throat and the other for being treated like a ragdoll by Bogut.

His numbers in regular season games have usually been very decent. However, he's quite often shrunk with the eyes of the world are on him come Playoff time. Till he performs in the Playoffs, there will always be question marks.

As for his ejection. Yeah, it was soft and certainly a bad call, but after seeing some of the decisions and **** stirring he's done out there himself to get players ejected even and his flopping, well I have no sympathy for him.

Dublin Red Devil

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

This above folks demonstrates quite clear that someone here just looks at box scores for points scored and nothing more. Either that or he's a troll, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to admit the latter and dig himself further into a hole

_________________
.

Well you admit Teague has been sensational. He's one of the more improved players in the east, Irving is a superstar, He's class all the way. Your judgement of him is clouded by your desire to inseminate John Wall

Nuri Sahin

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

Well you admit Teague has been sensational. He's one of the more improved players in the east, Irving is a superstar, He's class all the way. Your judgement of him is clouded by your desire to inseminate John Wall

What in the flying **** are you on about?

I'm well aware he's been very good this season and was excellent last night, and if you had watched the game, you'd have seen that instead of just looking up the final scores and basing your opinion on that alone. I actually missed your Harden comment which no doubt adds to the point I just made. All you see is 40 points Kyrie scored last night for example. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't see the numerous turnovers in critical times (he had near double digits and some of the most stupid turnovers anyone is bound to see this season), the lack of defence and unwillingness to trust his teammates whatsoever, and thus take on stupid shots. I gyazo'ed this after your comment last night. You're incapable of looking at the bigger picture.



Shame turnovers weren't put up on the graphic, but at least Kenny mentioned it on TNT last night after the game, thankfully.

Teague was another level compared to Kyrie last night. No two ways about it.

Unlike you, I do not let some bizarre hatred of a player cloud my judgement of an an ENTIRE team like YOU do with Wall and the Wizards (cheek if you to make out I do this is ****ing incredible), and down play every single thing they do!

Nuri Sahin

Suns @ Warriors is on BT Sport in the early hours of tomorrow, game of the night easily.

buyer95

Just watched the Portland Clippers game there. Fantastic basketball from both teams. Trailblazers just seem to have a knack for winning close games. They don't play outstanding defence, but their exceptional FT shooting(82% as a team) allied to them being such a great 3 point shooting team makes them come out on the right side of those close gams more often than not. They move to 3-0 in overtime for the season after last night. You have to feel for the Clippers though, after 2 great performances back to back and to come up with nothing to show for it is tough. Matt Barnes' headless foul towards the end really cost them as did some poor free throw shooting and Jordan fouling out...

Totally off topic, but anyone who even has a passing interest in basketball should watch the free to air documentary on Irish basketball in the 80's on tonight. The sport was huge, way bigger than rugby and many NCAA standouts graced our courts. "We Got Game" is what it's called, on at 10.30.

Edit: BREAKING: Westbrook out till after the all star break after undergoing microscopic surgery on his knee today. Scary for OKC, Westbrook by his own admission hadn't missed a game since high school through injury before his knee injury in the playoffs last season. Pity for OKC, they were really balling.

Nuri Sahin

No doubt one person here is happy.

Gutted for Russ.

Reggie has been playing great this season, so hopefully he can do an adequate job filling in for him for the next 6-8 weeks. OKC got some big games coming up too. Patrick Beverely might not want to travel with the Rockets up to Oklahoma when those teams meet.

buyer95

Rumours swirling that the axe could be about to fall on Jason Kidd. When Woj is reporting it, it looks like things could move fast. The Nets are currently riding the crest of a 4 game losing streak. The game tonight vs the Bucks is about as "must win" as it gets for coaches. Lose that, and the next 3 are Pacers, Spurs and Thunder, and there all in their building. Kidd could not survive 4 more losses in a row.

One nugget stands out from the Woj's piece. "If Kidd wants an early exit with the $10 million left on his contract, he's following the proper blueprint: Blame the players, alienate everyone and, above all, keep losing." The implication obviously being that Kidd has quit on his team, and no longer wishes to be the teams coach. That he's angling for an escape route while holding onto the money that is owed to him. This is stunning stuff, and to be honest if it wasn't someone of Woj's standing within the NBA journalist circle I would not believe it. It all reflects badly on Kidd, regardless.

Source http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jason-kidd-losing-support-within-nets--locker-room-223432794.html

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

For the Hawks up in Cleveland, very much a case of winning the battle, but losing the war if the reports over Horford are true.

Horford tore his right pectoral muscle. He's out indefinitely.

Paully D

buyer95 wrote: »

Rumours swirling that the axe could be about to fall on Jason Kidd. When Woj is reporting it, it looks like things could move fast. The Nets are currently riding the crest of a 4 game losing streak. The game tonight vs the Bucks is about as "must win" as it gets for coaches. Lose that, and the next 3 are Pacers, Spurs and Thunder, and there all in their building. Kidd could not survive 4 more losses in a row.

One nugget stands out from the Woj's piece. "If Kidd wants an early exit with the $10 million left on his contract, he's following the proper blueprint: Blame the players, alienate everyone and, above all, keep losing." The implication obviously being that Kidd has quit on his team, and no longer wishes to be the teams coach. That he's angling for an escape route while holding onto the money that is owed to him. This is stunning stuff, and to be honest if it wasn't someone of Woj's standing within the NBA journalist circle I would not believe it. It all reflects badly on Kidd, regardless.

Source http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jason-kidd-losing-support-within-nets--locker-room-223432794.html

It was absolutely ridiculous to give him the job anyway IMO. You can't have a rookie coach in a situation like Brooklyn's, over a team full of newly signed, veteran players. Garnett and Pierce are also complete shells of the players they have been in the past. The worst thing for their fans is that the front office have virtually blown up their next five or six years on those trades made during the offseason so things will get even worse.

Nets to be the biggest underachievers this season looks to be one prediction I got right anyway.

stuchyg

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Horford tore his right pectoral muscle. He's out indefinitely.

Isn't this the same injury that caused him to miss the guts of a season not too long ago

buyer95

Bummer about Horford, this thing with the best players getting injured is actually depressing.

On a more lighter note, things are falling to pieces in New York. Knicks owne rJames Dolan apparently addressed the player yesterday, telling everyone that no trades or coaching changes are on the horizon. You don't say. In order to find a willing trade partner, you must have something to offer. Melo and Chandler are untradable, Felton is one of the worst starting point guards in the league, Bargnani is well Bargnani, J.R-don't make me laugh, the guy played his way into a contract and is content to chuck now, and Shumpert has been on the trading block seemingly forever. I could go on, but in a nutshell, the Knicks are more or less stuck with this roster for now due to their cap problems. STAT is on 20 million a year, Bargnani is widely overpaid, Chandler is a player I love, but is constantly battling injuries, but when he is on the court does justify his sizeable contract.

Secondly, for the Knicks to fire Woodson, Dolan better be sure he can appoint someone who will do a better job. Right now I don't see him being able to do that. Phil Jackson is the pipe dream, but why would the old Zen master want to get off his arse and coach a team like the knicks, a team who are nowhere near contending? Why would someone like George Karl, Lionel Hollins or either of the Van Gundy brothers step into a situation as volatile as this? In the middle of the season, no less. It's not good being a Knicks fan right now.

Asked afterwards about Dolan's message to the players, World Peace had this to say. "I'm not a player, I'm an alien.I don’t focus on anything else. Aliens only want to win championships. That’s it. Injuries is not a focus. Trade talk is not a focus. Nothing is a focus. Gluten-free pasta is not a focus, which I would rather have gluten-free pasta. Hey, if I have to have regular pasta. It is what it is. I’m still going to try to win a championship. Nothing will distract me from my focus, my galactic mind. "

NufcNavan

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

What in the flying **** are you on about?

I'm well aware he's been very good this season and was excellent last night, and if you had watched the game, you'd have seen that instead of just looking up the final scores and basing your opinion on that alone. I actually missed your Harden comment which no doubt adds to the point I just made. All you see is 40 points Kyrie scored last night for example. Nothing more, nothing less. You don't see the numerous turnovers in critical times (he had near double digits and some of the most stupid turnovers anyone is bound to see this season), the lack of defence and unwillingness to trust his teammates whatsoever, and thus take on stupid shots. I gyazo'ed this after your comment last night. You're incapable of looking at the bigger picture.



Shame turnovers weren't put up on the graphic, but at least Kenny mentioned it on TNT last night after the game, thankfully.

Teague was another level compared to Kyrie last night. No two ways about it.

Unlike you, I do not let some bizarre hatred of a player cloud my judgement of an an ENTIRE team like YOU do with Wall and the Wizards (cheek if you to make out I do this is ****ing incredible), and down play every single thing they do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htiURZVuoks
This vid shows Kyrie's shortcomings very well.

Dublin Red Devil

Come on T Wolves

Dublin Red Devil

50 - 38 Rubio sinks both free throws

Dublin Red Devil

Beautiful steal and fast break dunk by Brewer there