NBA Regular Season 14/15

astonaidan

Joey Blue Rodent wrote: »

could see them try to trade randle for a centre not sure who they would get though (and to be fair they could be in for okafor in this years draft)

Hopefully, we aint making playoffs, I want a star draft pick

Carcharodon

killwill wrote: »

I enjoy watching the Warriors. Quick on the break and great shooting. But IMO they rely too heavily on their outside game and that simply is not enough when it comes to playoffs. The front court is not strong enough and it is a shame as their 1-2 are the strongest in the league by a country mile.
I hope I am wrong and they go all the way. I just cannot see it happening.

Yea, I agree, you never see a jump shooting team win championships. They do have that x factor with curry and thompson, so anything is possible, a healthy bogut will be huge for the defense come playoffs and I think iggy will have a big role to play too on the defensive side.
If they get 1 seed and okc get 8th, wow...that will be an exceptiobal 1st round game.

Paully D

Hawks on a 18 game win streak now. They are not getting anywhere near enough attention in my opinion.

padraig_f

Better from Rose last night, more aggressive. Team as a whole didn't play well enough. Without the 3-point shooting of Dunleavy/McDermott, the team needs to play excellent defense to beat the decent teams. The defense wasn't excellent last night, and they lost. I'm optimistic things will improve when Dunleavy gets back.

Chuffed for Jimmy Butler to make the all-star team, it was on the cards for a while, but still great to make it official. Drafted bottom of the first round, you're generally hoping for a decent rotation player from this pick. It's a testament to Butler's work ethic that he's come from there to now be an all-star.

Looking back at the draft, selected 30th overall, but just one of 3 players to make the all-star team:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NBA_draft#Draft_selections

Good lesson for other guys in the league, a lot to be said for hard work.

ButtersSuki

All you GSW doubters………..I keep telling you this team can go all the way this year IF they stay healthy. As valuable as the Splash Bros. are, the key to them progressing is Bogut's health. Not joking on that. Look at how close GS came in the last 2 years to succeeding in the play offs with serious injuries to Bogut and Lee being a significant part in their undoing.

I mentioned their Defense in my post the other day - they are seriously overlooked in this area because of the spectacular play on the offensive end. But how many of you knew GS are the No. 1 ranked defense in the league right now? Seriously.

They also have 2 lock down 20point per game players in Curry and Thompson. That's invaluable to vary the threat in the post season. You're also all forgetting one thing shooters bring to the game - spacing. They open the interior passing lanes and the post so much. And no-one shoots from distance like those two. Another thing distance shooting brings is long-rebounds off misses, which statistically increases the chances of offensive rebounds. Bogut, Lee & Co. will benefit from this. You have a choice - leave Curry and Klay open and hope they miss, or go for isolation D in the post.

One other thing people are forgetting is Curry in particular is not a spot up shooter in the traditional sense and doesn't live or die by just the jump shot to get his points. He doesn't need to be wide open to hit his shot ilke other shooters - I can't ever recall seeing a better shooter off the dribble from distance or a guy requiring so little room to get his shoot off. And he can pass with either hand off the dribble too, where a lot of his assists come from - very difficult to guard that versus a gut who picks the balls up and holds it in both hands prior to passing. It's just the split second difference in the timing that makes all the difference.

Oh, and guess which team leads the league in assists? GSW. Now its that type of team ball that wins championships.

They also lead in points and points differential!

Sooner or later you'll start to realise they're legit.

I picked them to win it all this year with the caveat that they stay healthy (check my pre-season post on this on here if you don't believe me). I see no reason to doubt that now.

If I wasn't so tired I'd give other reasons as to why!

Carcharodon

I really do hope your right, I am just too afraid to say it out loud in case I jinx it. Its still kind if surreal to think that we have a legit team here at last. Still have those pesky spurs to deal with, they just are able to pace themselves so perfectly throughout the season

ButtersSuki

Yup, agree that San An are the biggest threat. They could be the 8th seed come the Play Offs and I'd still see them as the biggest threat. Home court is crucial though for a "young" team like GSW. Remember how hard they pushed the Spurs 2 years ago in the Play Offs? Well both teams are 2 years older now - old in the Spurs case, but definitely wiser in GSW's. They were significantly out coached in the Pop v Jackson sideline battle and though Kerr is clearly a huge improvement, Pop will still have the edge.

But it'll be very hard for even San An to beat the team with the highest assists in the league, highest points per game, highest differential and best defense. That's a LOT to overcome.

D2D

The Hawks 19 game win streak ended last night to the Pelicans

ButtersSuki

GS with 33 assists on 46 baskets last night.

This was on si.com today….

NufcNavan

Steph Curry's aul one is still a milf.

ButtersSuki

NufcNavan wrote: »

Steph Curry's aul one is still a milf.

I didn't want to comment on that, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice…...

ButtersSuki

GSW give up 42 in the first quarter last night, down 22 at 1 stage and win by 14 with Curry throwing in 51 against Dallas. Impressive no matter how you look at it.

Thidp

Curry scored 26 only in the 3rd! Very impressive.

I hope Golden State stay like that.

ButtersSuki

Thidp wrote: »

Curry scored 26 only in the 3rd! Very impressive.

I hope Golden State stay like that.

Have a look at the highlights even and see some of the shots he made. I've never seen a guy handle the ball as well as he does combined with a shooter's eye. No-one creates space space off the dribble in the game like Curry, and no-one has his shot release quickness either. I doubt I've ever seen a player be able to do all of the above as well as him. And he can pass off the dribble off either hand too. Absolutely insane skill level.

Thidp

Yeah, I saw the highlights, he was incredible. He's having a hell of a season so far.

If Golden State stay like that I think the only real threat in the West is San Antonio

NufcNavan

Pretty much everyone is a threat in the West to be fair.

padraig_f

Hey, Warriors @ Hawks tonight.

GoldFour4

It's not on too late either. Brilliant!

padraig_f

I guess with both you're still kind of wondering if they can translate their regular season success to the playoffs. The Warriors are the best team I've seen this season, but the playoffs are a different ballgame and you can hit a bad matchup.

And the same with the Hawks, I'm impressed, but I want to see it in the playoffs before I get too excited (actually I have more doubts about the Hawks than the Warriors).

We'll get a bit of a preview tonight against some quality opposition.

shamrock55

Raps are gone to ****, and have a very tough 8 game run coming up, ill admit i have seen very little nba since the new year

GoldFour4

padraig_f wrote: »

I guess with both you're still kind of wondering if they can translate their regular season success to the playoffs. The Warriors are the best team I've seen this season, but the playoffs are a different ballgame and you can hit a bad matchup.

And the same with the Hawks, I'm impressed, but I want to see it in the playoffs before I get too excited (actually I have more doubts about the Hawks than the Warriors).

We'll get a bit of a preview tonight against some quality opposition.

I'm a lot more impressed with GS tbh. I've tried to catch a lot of the Hawks in the last few weeks and they're certainly a good team but I'd wonder can they keep it up for the next 4 months. Also I think the Bulls and Cavs (Cavs especially) are building for a big finish to the year.

Damn though, Golden State are just a great team. Their depth is phenomenal. They're going to be great for years, looks like their owners are going to pay the luxury tax in upcoming years. It's always a good sign when you have two 50 point scorers in a matter of weeks.

buyer95

The space bowl is shaping up nicely, pity that the networks can't have flexible scheduling. 2 best teams in the league playing each other and it's only on LP.

killwill

What a win for the Hawks. I genuinely doubted they could keep this form up after Christmas but they are playing great ball.

TWolves with the win in the dying seconds tonight too. Fantastic to see Ricky Rubio back. Very efficient PG but needs to start a consistent run of scoring to add to his alround play in order to be classed as great.

shamrock55

Nice win for the raptors last night against lac, 20pts down at one stage too, nice easy game on sun now against the spurs

Mongo

Talks of Stoudemire buying out his contract to join the Mavs to pursue a ring? That would be awesome for the Knicks!

NufcNavan

Very good win for the Pacers against the in form Cavs too.

GoldFour4

Mongo wrote: »

Talks of Stoudemire buying out his contract to join the Mavs to pursue a ring? That would be awesome for the Knicks!

That would be a great pick up for the Mavs too in fairness. Part of the problem with STAT is that he has to live up to the huge Max deal the Knicks gave him back in free agency a few years ago. He was great in his first couple of seasons with them but eventually his injuries just got the better of him.

One of the most underestimated assets in the NBA is a teams medical staff. Phoenix is widely regarded as having one of the top med teams in the league and it shows. Nash left and he has played a handful of games in the two years since is just one example.

buyer95

Mongo wrote: »

Talks of Stoudemire buying out his contract to join the Mavs to pursue a ring? That would be awesome for the Knicks!

Not really that great for the Knicks. Amare is an expiring contract and is coming off the books this summer regardless. That being said I would like to see STAT going to Dallas to play on a good team. He has been a great pro with New York, and I bear him no ill will, he always gave his all whenever he was out there. Never courted controversy and just got on with things.
That being said, I'm not sure the Mavs need a big who can't defend. He could be a decent 15-20 mins bench player for them alright though.

Mongo

buyer95 wrote: »

Not really that great for the Knicks. Amare is an expiring contract and is coming off the books this summer regardless. That being said I would like to see STAT going to Dallas to play on a good team. He has been a great pro with New York, and I bear him no ill will, he always gave his all whenever he was out there. Never courted controversy and just got on with things.
That being said, I'm not sure the Mavs need a big who can't defend. He could be a decent 15-20 mins bench player for them alright though.

My apologies I forgot his deal was up this year. I like Stat and it's a pity he was injury plagued but The Knicks need to blow it up as much as they can and start again

me and the biz

Supposedly the Kings and George Karl in advanced talks. Pete D'allesandro and Kings management want something in place by all star weekend pushing up their schedule for hiring a new coach. Karl seemingly is a huge fan of cousins but judging by his tweets (such as 2 days ago tweeting he wouldn't mind coaching the Magic when they sacked their coach) he's desparate enough for any job.

Either way Kings fans are ****ing sick of this disastrous season after such a promising start and the sacking of Malone which probably makes sense on one level (his rotations were baffling at times) and the alarming blown leads (multiple games where 20+ point leads blown) but the fact was the defence was shockingly different to last season and he had massive locker room support.

Either way I have the feeling a once in a generation talent like Cousins is being wasted