Official NBA thread

[YanksHater213]

I don't think the Rockets will get past the first round, again.

 

They kept it close with the Celtics tonight, but I still don't see any way they'll do it.

 

McGrady took a beating tonight, and looked HORRIBLE on the defensive end. Yao looks even slower than in years past, got rejected by the rim not once but twice. If they're going to do anything, it's going to be on the back of Artest, and not either of those two guys.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

In other news' date=' the Sacramento Kings absolutely suck. I figured we'd be bad this year, but our defense has been even worse than I expected - it's probably the worst in the NBA. We also just went 0-4 on our East coast road trip. Freakin awesome. The young guys like Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes have looked pretty good so far so at least that's encouraging. Fortunately we oughta have a lot of cap space in the next couple off-seasons, so bringing in a big time FA could be a possibility.[/quote']

Yeah, its looking like I blew that one. Still a lot of season to go though.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Yes' date=' because on a team with AI, Rip hamilton, and Sheed (hell, and Tayshaun), they're going to be focused on Rodney Stuckey.[/quote']

Stuckey won't be on the floor with AI and Hamilton, and he's a more dangerous scorer and Tayshaun (and maybe Sheed, at this point).

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

The Spurs are just old. Take away Duncan/Parker (and Ginobili when healthy) and have a look at the rest of their roster. It's not pretty.

Well to be fair, have they ever had a really decent roster outside of those three?

 

 

 

The Spurs will be fine, they never really turn up the heat until mid-January anyway.

[YanksHater213]

Stuckey won't be on the floor with AI and Hamilton' date=' and he's a more dangerous scorer and Tayshaun (and maybe Sheed, at this point).[/quote']

 

Stuckey will be on the floor a lot. These are the 3 lineups they'll use:

 

Stuckey

Iverson

Hamilton

Maxiell/Johnson

Wallace

6th Man: Prince

 

Stuckey

Iverson

Hamilton

Prince

Wallace

6th Man: Maxiell

 

Stuckey

Iverson

Prince

Maxiell/Johnson

Wallace

6th Man: Hamilton

 

Those are the 3 ideal lineups that they'll used, and even Dumars hinted at it the other day that they'll be going small and running A LOT.

[YanksHater213]

Watching the Rockets last night, I think people are looking too much at how sexy of a pick they look like on paper.

 

-Kendrick f***in Perkins made Yao look like George Muresan. Yao looked to me even slower, and playing in the Olympics will only hurt him in the long run. He got rejected by Perkins on a fadeaway turn around "jumper", and got rejected by the rim shortly after.

 

-McGrady made no effort on the defensive end. When I say made no effort, it's not even an exaggeration. When Ray would drive, if he had even a half of a step on him, T-Mac would just stand there and depend on the help defense (which was nowhere to be found). Adelman finally switched it up and put Artest on Allen with a few minutes left in the game. He's going to get hurt sooner or later, made an unnecessary dive into the stands that he could have gotten really hurt on, and was grabbing his knee after a huge flop and TERRIBLE call by Scott Foster.

 

-Artest isn't the type of player that can carry a team. He's not consistent enough on a nightly basis to carry the Rockets when McGrady and Yao don't show up or get hurt.

 

-This is a team that needs Battier back BADLY.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

McGrady's lack of defensive presence was pretty alarming. I know there were rumors swirling during the summer that T-Mac was being shopped, the Rockets may have to seriously think about unloading him now. Though its probably too late to get anything useful.

[ORS]

Amare is having a "Kneel before Zod" night.

 

Going into the 4th:

 

15/17 and 11/11 for 41, 6 boards, 6 dimes, 4 steals, 2 blocks

[Dojji]

Powe is taking over the game. Amazing to have a guy off the bench who can do that stuff.

[TheKilo]

Leon Powe is awesome.

 

Also, http://www.talksox.com/forum/other-sports/11495-2008-2009-boston-celtics-thread.html

[Crazy Rob]

4-1 good start

[Dojji]

Hawks 5-0 on the young season. Looks like there was a reason they were such a tough kill last year.

[msubulldogs21]

Atlanta has dropped 3 straight after starting 6-0. They lost at home to New Jersey tonight.

[Jasonbay44]

Lakers finally lost last night, before that they looked like the Harlem Globetrotters.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3717209

 

 

Warriors trade Al Harrington to the Knicks for Jamal Crawford. There's also rumors that Randolph is on his way out of New York, possibly headed to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. Sounds like the Knicks are in official contract dumping mode for the LeBronathon in 2010.

[YanksHater213]

They better get rid of Randolph because a Harrington/Randolph clash is more than inevitable...

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

They better get rid of Randolph because a Harrington/Randolph clash is more than inevitable...

You got your wish.

 

 

The deal I mentioned above went down, except Mardy Collins is also heading to the Clippers.

 

 

New York, with these trades, now figures to have enough money freed up in 2010 to potentially sign two of the marquee free agents out there.

[YanksHater213]

That wasn't my wish, I wanted them to have turmoil and blow the season, but thomas,, mobely and harrington will be solid for the knicks.

[The Real Boss]

That wasn't my wish' date=' I wanted them to have turmoil and blow the season, but thomas,, mobely and harrington will be solid for the knicks.[/quote']

 

HAHA!

[See Red]

Nuggets went off on Toronto tonight.

 

132-93. Not bad.

[msubulldogs21]

Nuggets went off on Toronto tonight.

 

132-93. Not bad.

 

Dang. Didn't top them scoring like 170 something against Seattle last year though. Now that was crazy.

 

Pacers came back from a 15 point deficit and beat the Lakers on a crazy tip-in as time expired tonight.

[wowgolds987]

well clippers are good but dont act up just 3 games to the season, 79 more games remaining n the timberwolves will come with a revenge on there head tonight

[See Red]

well clippers are good but dont act up just 3 games to the season' date=' 79 more games remaining n the timberwolves will come with a revenge on there head tonight[/quote']

 

I must admit, this is a fascinating approach to spamming -- and the English language.

 

However... what the f*** are you talking about?

[Cocos Disciples]

That was epic. Truly epic.

[msubulldogs21]

That was epic. Truly epic.

 

That post ranks up there with Jason Varitek's dad posting about his 1 year $79M contract.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

well clippers are good but dont act up just 3 games to the season' date=' 79 more games remaining n the timberwolves will come with a revenge on there head tonight[/quote']

Were you in a month-long cryo nap?

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

I post on quite a few forums, mostly basketball, and the hate that Kevin Garnett is getting is just staggering. What's great is, nobody ever accused him of being a thug or punk when he was in Minnesota. f***, he was considered a model player there. Last year, no one accused him of being a prick except for a couple of angry Hawks fan after the Pachulia thing. Now that he's a winner, everyone wants a piece of him.

[msubulldogs21]

Very true, Jacoby.

 

In other news, the T-Wolves (who "will come with a revenge on their head tonight"... despite the fact that they aren't playing...) fired their coach today. I would include his name, but I doubt anyone really knew who he was anyway. Kevin McHale will take over as coach for now. If his tenure as HC is anywhere near as successful as his GM'ing, we're in for a wild ride!

[YanksHater213]

McHale is slowing moving from the best 6th man ever to the guy who ran Minnesota into the ground.

[See Red]

McHale is slowing moving from the best 6th man ever to the guy who ran Minnesota into the ground.

 

My best friends wife (also my roommate, as I live with them) knows Kevin McHale pretty well -- I guess their families are good friends.*

 

*That added nothing to the conversation, and I apologize for that.