Dumars practically built the Nuggets. :)

btw : The Knicks and Nets are a combined 1-18 so far, yikes ...

And the Kings win their 4th straight without Kevin Martin. I´m sensing a trend. Allways thought the guy is to terrible as a passer/creator (maybe the worst of any 20+ scorer) to have the ball in his hands as much as he has, stalls the offense and makes it easy to defend the Kings.

Afflalo is a good defender definitely, has a knack for playing position defense. Good to see he found a place where that´s being valued :)

This is ridiculous ! Brandon Jennings scored 55 points against the Warriors, 3 short of Wilt Chamberlain´s rookie record. 21-34 from the field, 7-8 from 3, 6-8 FTs.
29 in the 3rd to lead the Bucks back into the game, then added 16 more in the 4th for good measure.

Yes, it´s the Warriors. But still, damn :eek: He´s scored 32 in a win against Denver before and averaged 20 a game before (now 26 on 50% FG, 54% from 3. )

Bucks are 5-2 to start.

Now, the guy averaged like 7 a game in Europe and shot <40% from the field and <25% from 3. If anyone still thinks Europe is easy and/or stats there are even remotely comparable to the NBA can´t be helped ... It´s 2 different games, not just 2 different leagues.

That kind of point guard play will kill Scott Skiles if those shots aren't falling.

I said that Ty Lawson would be the best PG in this draft class. After looking at all of the rookie PG's thus far, I may have to back down. It looks like Brandon Jennings is the best. At least for scoring. He has a lot to learn about running an offense. . . but shooting 60% and scoring the way he does, he's an unbelievable talent.

All I will say is this: Bench Rodney Stuckey. He's a perfect 6th man like Ben Gordon was in Chicago. Find a way to get rid of Tay and Rip, but I know that's very unlikely. At least deal one. Let Will Bynum run the point. The kid is electric as hell and can really distribute, at least compared to Stuck.

Plus, even though he is just at 6 feet tall, he is really active on both ends.

Anyway, it won't happen because Dumars is stubborn but whatever.

Problem is, the Pistons have like 3 6th men - Stuckey, Gordon, and Charlie V.

I thought Stuckey would be a better PG than he is, but definitely seems like he's a combo-guard leaning to the SG side of things.

Agreed, though Lawson's dunk the other night... oh my...

That was my youtube link above.

Words can't express how solid Ty Lawson has been for the Nuggets this year.

they are asked to do different things, so they are hard to compare. Just for fun, here are the Per48 numbers for Lawson and Jennings:

Lawson - 22.7 points (52.7% FG, 50% 3PT, 94.1% FT), 4.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 2.20 steals, 2.4 turnovers, 2.82 A/TO ratio.

Jennings - 36.3 points (49.6% FG, 56.7% 3PT, 82.8 FT), 6.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.62 steals, 4.9 turnovers, 1.50 A/TO ratio.

Those are good numbers for most players. The fact that you are talking about the 18th and 10th pick in the draft is amazing for their respective teams.

Flynn and Evans have also been good, though they both have lower shooting percentages.Curry, Teague and Maynor all look like solid NBA players. Jrue Holliday looks raw, but has talent as well.

I haven't even talked about other positions yet. I thought last years draft was supposed to suck?

And Griffin was the consensus top guy.

Man, I can't wait for him to heal up and get back on the court. Nice win for the Clips last night over the Thunder on the road, BTW.

I always thought it was ridiculous that Lawson fell as far as he did. I admit to being completely surprised at Jennings, though.

I cannot believe the Warriors were able to unload Stephen Jackson. They just shipped him to Charlotte along with Acie Law for Raja Bell and Vlad Radmanovic. They're saving $21 MILLION, with only Vlad's $6.9 million player option (which he will surely exercise) left after this season. That is ridiculous. And they got someone back who actually plays defense! With Azibuike out for a long, long while, I'm interested to see how the lineup shakes out. Now if Nelson steps down or is relieved of his head coaching duties (yeah, right), Christmas really will have come early for Warriors fans.

Yeah, I didn't mention other positions, but there are some great ones there too. Griffin will be there without a doubt, Blair is playing well, Harden looks pretty good. . . this could turn out to be a much better draft than people thought it was.

Nuggets play the Clippers this week. Be interesting to see if they bring it on the road or take the night off as they do sometimes.

Interesting theory proposed by the Clips' announcers in the post game last night. They said that, with the way the fans are down on the Clips' slow start and how much everyone can't stand that Dunleavy is still coaching the team, that the team gets really down at home, almost feeling like it is a hostile crowd, and it is contributing to their poor play. Case for this #1 being how the Clips blow late leads at home, and how they lost to the Thunder at home, but then they go on the read and beat the Thunder.

No players say this, mind you, just a theory of the announcers. I don't know that it doesn't have some weight. The only Clips fans are diehards, for obvious reasons (plenty of room on the bandwagon, lol), and for the most part, the diehards think Dunleavy makes dumb decisions on the bench and with his substitution patterns and that his coaching style limits the potential of most of the current roster (particularly Baron and Gordon and Thornton).

I personally have been for the Clips bumping Dunleavy up to GM and hiring a guy who wants to go a quicker pace myself, although not too fast--Kaman is still a key part of our game (although I have always felt he would still be better in quick pace offense than people give him credit for; he actually has some good athleticism for a big 7' white boy).

And the Grizzlies release Iverson (mutual agreement) Retirement in 3,2,1 ... ?

I´m sorry, but this utter lack of adaptability is laughable ... 3 games !!!

In a weird way i see Jackson playing well under Larry Brown and with the Bobcats. He sure gooing to get the green light with al those scoring-impaired guys on that roster. Still doesn´t make any sense for them... If they could have somehow gotten an effiecient shooter/scorer (Michael Redd maybe) they could have been a good playoff team for a few years, this way it´s 35-40 wins and maybe an 8th see once in the next 3 seasons ...


Stephen Jackson is off to Charlotte - Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sports


Suns beat the Rapors last night btw, Nash with another game winning left handed layup (albeit 40 seconds before the end ;) ). Frye with 6-8 from 3, 3rd time this year he hits 6.

Now in 4 home games has 21-32 from downtown (so on the road a paltry 11-36).

Bosh is averaging 28/12 through 10 games btw.

Houston beats the Lakers, Bryant was apparently hurt. Hope it´s not too serious... Brooks with 33, Landry 15/10, Andersen 19 points off the bench. The Rockets outrebound the Lakers 60-38.
Budinger a huge factor even with his shot not falling (another good rookie).

speaking of Rookies : Beaubois starting for Dallas (albeit limited minutes still) and going 6-6 , the guy is really explosive and talented. No one expected him to even come over, now he´s contributing getting his chance due to injuries.
The guy has some serious upside with that ridiculous athleticism and a good jump shot. And he can defend.

Man, it may be because he has played on a bad team most of his career, but Redd is anything but efficent. We get a load of Bucks games over here thanks to Bogut being in the lineup, but Redd is really a major chucker at this point. It's no fluke that the Bucks have been playing so well without him IMO.

Wally Z is gonna get a crazy contract in a sign and trade this season. He was supposedly in the mix for a Cavs trade for Stephen Jackson.

Happy that Brown decided to work in JJ into the starting lineup.

Me too. I hope he transforms into a pre-injury Speights.

whomario touched on it, but Chase Budinger is off to a very nice start as well, and he was later in the second round than Blair...

Nowitzki hits the gamewinner to beat the Bucks in OT, Mavs quietly off to a good start at 8-3 largely playing without Josh Howard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pphZxPiCfk

Shawn Marion injures his ankle though ...

Beaubois 12 points on 5-9 shooting and a +13. The guy is even throwing down alley oops :D
Jennings with some trouble finishing plays early but hit a few in the 2nd half, still 25/8/9 (8-22 shooting though)

Atlanta beats Portland , spoiling Rudy Fernandez´ best game of the season :(

What's with Atlanta!! Great start.

So apparently Raja Bell would rather go through with season ending wrist surgery than play for the Warriors. He'll be an emergency player tonight, then go under the knife in the coming days. Also, a Monta Ellis trade is apparently inevitable. Don Nelson, everybody!

Fitting end to Iverson's career, great player, horrific team-mate/personality. Maybe the Knicks give him a shot to re-deem himself, but that guy will never do the things that an aging vet needs to do(like accept a bench role).

Very good article from FOFC's own TheDawgsAreOut: http://www.basketballprospectus.com/...?articleid=780

God, I'd love it if the Cavs could get Ellis. Although a Mo/Monta backcourt would suck defensively.

Moe Mantha was a great defenseman!

I hate the Warriors. I'm just gonna quit watching. Trading Richardson for Brandan Wright was the beginning of the downfall. Ugh. I should have seen it coming.

Portland has beat the hell out of horrible opposition this year. They have one win against a +500 team. (the 6-4 Rockets)

They continue to feast in the next few weeks. 10 of their first 22 games will be against the Wolves (3), Grizz (2), Hornets, Bobcats, Warriors, Nets, and Knicks.

We really won't know how good the Blazers are until a rough stretch in late December. They'll play the Suns at home, @Magic, @Heat (b2b), @Dallas, @Spurs (4th in 5 nights), home against the Nuggets.

I'll see how they play in that 6 game stretch and then decide how good they are. (yeah, I know they don't give a damn what I think, but I want to judge them against real teams before I call em a championship contender)

Definitely agree about that.

Now Outlaw is going to have surgery, let´s see how they go about that in terms of the rotation. They´ll then have 2 players coming back at some point in Batum (who was slotted in at the starting SF again, albeit likely again in a 15-20 mpg role) and Outlaw.

Blazers owner Paul Allen just got diagnosed with cancer btw, 2nd time after he successfully beat it 20 years ago.

Azubuike out for the season for the warriors ...

Now there´s talk about Ellis getting traded. Apparently Nelson interrupted him when Ellis wanted to adress the team after a loss (against the clippers) and basically told him to shove it ...

Jameer Nelson out 4+ weeks.

Brandon Jennings is singlehandedly making me watch the Bucks (and the NBA) again.

I know it's early in the season but I'm really happy with the Bulls this year. Kind of considered this a waste year that would be used to develop Rose and see if Thomas and Noah can play while waiting for the big 2010 FA class.

But they're actually a good team. The defense is vastly improved thanks to the loss of Ben Gordon. Noah really worked hard in the offseason and is becoming one of the best rebounders in the game. Deng is starting to play up to his contract and is becoming a lockdown defender who plays within the game and hits his shots.

If we beat Sacramento tonight (up by 12 now), we'll be 6-4 against the 2nd toughest schedule so far. A win on the road against Cleveland and taking the Nuggets to the final shot on the resume. All this with Salmons shooting well below his career averages and Rose still getting into shape and recovering from his preseason injury. Tyrus Thomas has also been injured all season. Basically, the offense should only get better.

I have no dreams of them making the Finals or anything, but do think they can get to the 2nd Round and put up a good fight if Rose develops. Would put us in a great position to nab a big name free agent next season. Would have to be enticing to Lebron, Wade, or Bosh to step into a team like that which won't lose anyone.

I know, I'm actually really upset that I can't make the Bucks-Hornets game when the Bucks are in town next week. Schedule conflict I can't get out of, but I just have to repeat to myself that I'm really upset about missing the Bucks... it sounds so bizarre...

The warriors only dressed 7 tonight that could play. They go to Boston tomorrow. It should be fairly ugly I'd think.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the first team to 10 wins is the Phoenix Suns. Not sure I buy this Suns team as a legit threat, but it looks like a top 6 seed in the west isn't out of the question.

It's amazing how much better this team plays by simply swapping Shaq for Channing Frye.

So far, so good, even if Hickson was going up against Golden State's "bigs". :D

Shack is hurt.

I seriously can't believe someone thought it was a good idea to trade for him. And deal with paying him a quarter million/game. I doubt he dresses for more than 50 games.

They still need another scorer and someone who can guard Ray Allen/Rashard Lewis

The funny thing is that the more they win, the worse they look for bringing in Shaq a couple years ago.

I disagree. I and everyone I know who knows a whit about basketball knew from the second that deal was made that it was just about the dumbest deal ever made.

To us, it doesn't make it look worse. It only makes us look more right.

Wanna suck me off after you finish doing yourself?:p

:p

And here I just assumed you were one of the ones who knew he was right, too.

Ariza loses shoe. Artest throws shoe into stands. Ariza wears shoe. Artest hits three.

Agree about the Suns/Shaq
Who cares, makes it all the more fun this season :)
Dudley plays great right now ! Barbosa not even at full capacity.

Don´t think they can challenge for the finals, but considering the expectations and the roster they have a 50 win season with maybe a first round win would be a huge success allready.
What´s encouraging for the rest of the year is that they are winning a bunch of close games.

New Jersey still winless at 0-11 now ... Brook Lopez and CDR combined to take 53 shots last night.

Some talked about Hibbert before the season, update : 13/9 with 2.5 Blocks in 27 minutes (still 4 fouls a game)

sth else : The Thunder are now above 50% at 6-5. Durant, despite shooting terrible from long (and also mid) range, is averaging 28.5 points a game.

Hard to fault him for not buying into S Jackson's whiny look at me act.

That said, I've never seen a coach so obviously mail it in trying to get fired so he doesn't have to quit and forfeit the rest of his contract. It's unreal.

I think Kerr made a big error in trying to make the Suns more like the Spurs when he came in. Trading for Shaq, hiring Terry Porter - they just weren't good fits. Now, I think he realizes that this team is what it is - and you may as well try to maximize the team's current concept with the role players you bring in.

The bringing in of Grant Hill, Frye, Dudley, Jason Richardson and drafting of Dragic have all been good moves with that in mind. The Shaq move was one made of desperation when the team's parts at the time (Marion, Bell, Diaw, injured Amare, injured Nash) were starting to scuffle.

J-Duds is awesome!

GO BC!!!

+1,000,000

The trade was ridiculous from the start. I Think it is for Cleveland too. I don't think Cleveland is better than Orlando or Boston and I'm not so certain the Hawks are better than they are as well. (though with less star power, it'll be a pain in the ass for the Hawks to get a fair shake from the refs in the post season)

I'm not sure what's gotten into Joakim Noah, but he is playing like an absolute beast nowadays(and he looks like one too, he must be pushing 260+ pounds, not bad for a seven footer who used to be a string bean, he and his trainer deserve a ton of credit). No need for Tyrus Thomas at this point in time.

He actually bothered to hit the weight room in the offseason, and now has the body to match his intensity. He's massively improved.

edit: Nice to see a Bulls rook who actually bothered to put in the effort required to improve. Unlike Tyrus.

Problem with Tyrus is that if he hit the weights and bulked up he'd lose the only attribute that makes him any good at all - his explosiveness.

Agreed, but meant it in a more general fashion. Tyrus doesn't need the weight room - he needs to learn how to play basketball.

Ah yeah, sorry, missread your post. Definitely agree with you though, Tyrus hasn't really improved at all from a basketball IQ standpoint since college IMO.

Good Gawd, I hate how this Clips team plays. Davis is like a shell of himself. All of the good qualities are gone, leaving just a guy who jacks up miserable shots at 33%. And Dunleavy is hands down the worst bench coach in the league, who yet somehow combines it with a presumption he's right about everything.

They can't do anything about Baron, but for Gawd's sake, please finally fire Dunleavy.

Elton Brand actually looked like... well... Elton Brand today. 19 pts, 11 rebs, 6 blks. When's the last time he had a line like that?

Also, EDDY CURRY sighting! 10 points and 4 boards in 12 minutes. Is that a career high in rebounds?

That would be about the time he was promising BD to come to LA, so they could win championships together.

He thinks he's a perimeter player. Heard him do an interview on Monsters of the Midway one morning and he kept saying how he has always been an outside player and his game is not inside. If he'd learn a couple moves in the post and play within the flow of the game, he could be a nice 15-10 guy who is amongst the league leaders in blocks. Wouldn't be able to handle the bigger power forwards defensively but could outrun them and cause havoc on the breaks.

on a per 36 scale it might be :D

Another return : Jamison gets 31/10 on his season debut, Wizards beat the Cavs by 17.

Raja Bell plays for the Warriors despite his hand aching. Won´t put off surgery but wanted to play once and help his new team out.

Dallas beats San Antonio in a duel of aching teams (Dallas missing 3 starters, spurs miss Parker and loose Ginobili with a groin strain in the first quarter), Nowitzki with 41 points.

Going to have to emphasize it again, even risking sounding like Kelly Dwyer at ball don´t lie blog on yahoo (who is a nice read btw) : Zero TOs. The guy scores 41, takes 29 shots, goes to the line 12 times. And doesn´t turn it over once (and yeah, no assists this time, i know ;) ), only 1 TO in his last 4 games averaging 30+ points. As a 7 footer handling the ball and putting it on the floor... He´s one of those guys who made the absolute most of themselves due to hard work. Him and his personal trainer made him the perfect player for his abilities.
Never could have been more than an average traditional post guy so they made him the best face-up big man in the history of the league.

Spurs don´t look too good right now, their defense flat out sucks right now.

I enjoy reading your recaps. You know your stuff and keep it neutral so much so that I don't even know what team you're a fan of. Thanks.

Dirk looking good in games that dont count again!

What? Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't he aces in the season and playoffs that they made the finals?

he has allways been great in the playoffs and has by far more outstanding games than bad games in big games. He´s averaging 25.5/11.6 (5th and 6th among current players, 12th and 24th all time respectively btw) for his career in the playoffs.
He averaged 25/10 in the playoffs in 6 of his 9 seasons and his worst playoffs is that 20/11 line against the warriors.
He is 8th all time in terms of PER, is 5th among active players in terms of win share in the POs.

But that´s what selective memory will do to you. One bad series against the Heat (where he still had 23/11 with an ok TS% despite bad shooting from the field) with one distinctly unclutch moment followed by a bad first round series (where he still had 20/11 !!) a year later where they were terribly prepared to play an unorthodox warriors team and suddenly he´s a soft and unclutch guy ...

people don´t grasp that a great player can win games but a great player can also play great and still loose at times. It´s 5 on 5 (+ reserves) ...
I mean, look at this past season. He put up 35/12 against the Nuggets (who defended him well !) with good passing and they still lost. Because the Nuggets were the more talented team. Because he had to play and attack for 48 minutes and got tired in the end. Which isn´t his fault. Credit the Nuggets.

call me a homer, i´m fine with that :)

I'm not a huge Dirk fan, but I remember that game 7 in San Antonio he pretty much won by himself in the final minutes to get Dallas to the Semis that year.

EDIT: He had 12 points in the 4th quarter and had 37 points, 15 boards, shot over 50% and 0 turnovers for the game. That seems like a pretty "clutch" effort to me.

Dirk is ridiculously under appreciated. He's an incredibly gifted basketball player. We've been hearing about the next "Dirk" for years and he never appears.

That should tell people something right there.

The Spurs do look like garbage.

Chris Douglas-Roberts has looked good this year.

Reading The Big Book of Basketball by Simmons. It's better than I thought it would be.

Cool. I think I'll ask for this as a possible birthday or Christmas gift.

It's 12.50 on Amazon right now.

Amazon.com: The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy (9780345511768): Bill Simmons, Malcolm Gladwell: Books

Dammit, I just bought it for $37Cdn.

Awesome, thanks for pointing that out.

Bulls-Lakers should be good tonight. Undereported story of the year for the Bulls is that Derrick Rose has been bad this season.

Yeah, what's up with that? Ankle still bothering him?

Combination of ankle and rust from not playing much in the preseason, according to an article I read today. He's at about 80%.

Bingo.

He's shooting 37% on jumpers right now. That's 73% of his shot attempts. His roland rating is a -7.3.

Last year he hit 41% on jumpers, 60% of his total shots. So the ankle is bothering him and not letting him drive as much. The jump shot sucks. And the Bulls offense is really suffering.

The Bulls offensive efficiency rating is 27th in the league. Their defense is 3rd. That adds up to a very average team. The offense gets better, they'll get better.

Just saw large chunks of the Lakers-Bulls game.

1) The Bulls offensive system is terrible. Don´t say "but it´s the Lakers" and they shot 45%. The Lakers didn´t even try on defense, they didn´t have to, and those were as bad and inefficient a 45% shooting than you´ll see in the NBA.
Doesn´t help that they still don´t have any sort of lowpost threat.

2) The Bulls defense is pretty good.

3) The Lakers offense is better. Especially with Gasol.

4) Gasol was born to play in the triangle.

Deeper into The Big Book of Basketball.

He lays out a great case for Russel over Wilt (not that it's especially hard, but he does it well) He then has a pretty good retrospective of the history of the league. (cliff notes version)

I've looked through his player ranking and the only one that jumps out now is Allen Iverson. He's WAY off on that one. Good forward by Gladwell. I'm enjoying the book.

I read the first chapter last night (The Secret). I like that concept and like how he spells out out pretty simply (i.e. basketball and hockey are different in terms of chemistry being so high up in importance).

The ankle excuse has gotten old with Rose. He's just not real aggressive, seems to settle too much. I see him in transition and he seems fine with passing it off or shooting a jumper instead of taking it to the hole.

The offense also seems really disorganized. It wasn't as apparent last year as Gordon bailed them out of a lot of bad trips. My biggest concern is they have this phenomenal talent in Rose and are letting him develop under Vinny Del Negro.

Has anyone here read Big Game Small World by Alexander Wolff (who writes for SI.com nowadays) ? Pretty damn great book containing essays (10-15 Pages) on basketball arround the globe. From Illinois to Bhutan, from Ontario to Brazil. Some pretty interesting stories told here about the ever cited "love for the game" all over the world.
Includes an excellent write up on how the balcan war impacted the legendary Jugoslavian national team with players like Kukoc and Divac.

I also immensely enjoyed loose balls by Terry Pluto, very informative book on the history of the ABA with all it´s crazy annecdotes :D

John Feinstein wrote a couple very fine books as well, Let Me Tell You A Story is a sort-of biography of Red Auerbach where Feinstein mixes biographical paragraphs with annecdotes as told by Auerbach himself during meetings of a lunch group of him and a number of close friends he met over the years (from ex players , coaches to his brother, lawyers and guys from the secret service) as well as info on those persons and how Red sees them and they see Red. Fenstein originally wanted to participate just once to write a piece about that group, ended up becoming a regular when Auerbach invited him and let him tell his stories for him.
Very much loved the idea and setting in which he told Auerbach´s story here.

Also found The Punch very good, here he tells the stories of both Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington before and after the Incident that shocked the NBA.
Shows Washington as a man who made a colossal mistake but who also was a great person and not just "the guy who almost killed Rudy Tomjanovich" and that he was a product of a very misguided way of thinking around the league. If people talk about "the good old days where there were still enforcers" they certainly haven´t seen this punch ...
He just has a knack for telling stories and both Washington and Tomjanovic give plenty of material to tell from.

Nice win for the Magic in Boston tonight. Orlando's excessive turnovers were matched by Boston's inability to hit open threes. Carter didn't shoot a high percentage and had some iffy moments but he made some key buckets in the second half. Hopefully at some point this season they'll get all the big guns together for a decent stretch, Carter, Lewis, and now Nelson have all missed some games but they're still 10-3.

Del Negro, in my opinion, is indeed part of the problem.

The other part of the problem though, is the fact that the Bulls have no consistent outside shooters. They can close down Rose's driving lanes and leave the perimeter unguarded because there's nobody on the team who can consistently hit the outside shot.

boooooooooooooo

Nuggets just getting raped tonight. Things were going well in the first quarter, then Kenyon chewed out a ref over a horrific call. After that, the Nuggets just stopped getting anything.

This is the perfect example of a game where the total fouls don't tell the story. Melo drives and gets hammered, still hits the shot and it cuts the lead to 14. Thornton cuts, gets blocked from behind by Melo, clean as day and the ref from teh three point line calls a foul. Karl finally had enough and took a T. I thought Karl was going to punch the ref for a second. Can't believe he's still in the game.

If I had to bet money, the Nuggets will get every call in the fourth quarter to "even" things up. But they are too far behind and will certainly lose this game.

Lest you think I'm putting this all on the refs, Telfair, Thornton and Butler have all had terrific games. And outside of Melo, no other Nuggets perimeter player is hitting shots. Denver would likely be down in this game without going up against two teams, but it'd sure be nice to find out.


edit: As I typed the post, Karl almost got his second T. A ridiculous touch foul on Davis gets called. Nuggets players just laughing at this point.

FYI: I was unbelievably wrong.

The Nuggets made a run and the officials still won't give them a call. Melo attacks the rim, gets body parts ripped off an no call. I have no idea how GK is still in the game. He's done just about everything to get kicked out, somehow he's still there. My guess is he will not finish out this game.

Sheeeeed ! 7-45 from 3 in the last 8 games... Boston really needs a playmaker of that bench, no one there can really give them a boost on his own.

The Blazers played the dumbest game of basketball i´ve seen this season. There was no excuse to loose this game. Oden dominated in the first quarter and punished the Warriors for their small lineup (threw moore and Randolph around like rag dolls at times, on one of his dunks he ha Randolph on his back ending up a good 4 feet away lying on the floor ...) then doesn´t play the Rest of the half with ZERO Fouls and of course the Warriors then run, run, run... Then you bring him back cold when the warriors have gotten comfortable driving the ball ...
Nate McMillan is a serious problem, period.

I hate how Boston matches up with Orlando. I look at the Celtics strengths like this:

Unbelievable interior defense
Terrific size at most positions, allowing them to take a lot of wide open 15 footers
Rondo penetration

Then look at Orlando. They don't give a damn about the size, because they are long and athletic as well. Plus they take KG out by the three point line most of the time. They don't care about interior defense, because they know they can shoot 38% from three land and know they can keep pace anyway.

They also have size, which really limits the amount of open shots the Celtics can usually get for themselves. I watched Garnett take a turn around 21 footer last night, how many teams does he have to do that against? As for the Rondo penetration, Orlando is long and athletic and can challenge anything he brings up.

Don't get me wrong, Orlando still has problems. But every single time I see them play the Celtics I come away thinking they can take them in a 7 game series, Garnett or no Garnett.

Since the Hornets fired Scott, they have played their both rookies. (When they barely played one beforehand.) Since then Collison has lead the team well in Paul's absence and Thorton has 5 straight double digit scoring games off the bench. So much for Scott's idea that the rooks weren't ready.

Oh, and the Hornets have beaten a conference leading team in two straight games, first the Suns and now the Hawks. Hornets will struggle to make the playoffs still, but the two terrific rookies suggest a not so dim future afterall.

In fairness to Scott (or any coach that doesn't play rookies), we don't see what they are doing in practice day in, day out.

Some of these rookies may have nice starts and then collapse once the league has film on them. That said, NO was in serious trouble early and every minute Devin Brown plays is a minute too much, so maybe I see your point.

Pistons complete a winless West Coast road trip tonight vs the Suns.

Kuester seems like a good coach, it's just a shame the roster he has to work with.

I really hope the Pistons move Rip and/or Tay, get something of use, and then pocket a lottery pick and add a legit PF. Then you can slide Charlie Eyebrows to the 3 where he is most effective and see what shakes out.

Okay, this is pretty dern cool.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Video-Kobe-playin-H-O-R-S-E-hits-over-the-bac;_ylt=AhW8tbR_vW6UZ9Ah_IiSib28vLYF?urn=nba,204184

I thought it was illegal to shoot over the backboard?

Way to miss the forest for the trees, lol. :)

Not for a while

Blazers finally with a really, really good game against a decent oponent.
Miller is coming off the bench again btw, Webster starts, and looked outstanding tonight and was truly leading the 2nd unit. The box score backs that up, a +30 in 27 minutes.
Outrebounded the Bulls by 20 and are definitely the best rebounding team in the league.
Oden dominated Noah on his way to 24/12, Aldridge 24/13, Rudy with a good game as well.

Grizzlies win their 4th in 5 games. Gasol continues to be rock solid, still averaging 15/11 with 2 blocks shooting 63%.

Oden is playing a lot better than earlier in the year. That said, I still need to see the Blazers beat a quality opponent. They still have 1 win against a +500 team this year.

Gasol is an all star if the game were played tonight.

Only in Golden State could Mikki Moore and Radmanovic be in a starting 5 at this stage of their careers.

Actually, at this point, I believe it is required they both start for either of them to start. As they are virtually the exact opposite of one another, they balance each other out. If one started and the other didn't, the resulting mismatch ripple effect would destroy the universe.

You may well be right. :D

Have injuries hit the Warriors so hard that they are actually running with 6 players today?

He did well to avoid the block there, but you can see how impressive a shot blocker Oden is as well.

nice dunk :) Still, i think it´s allways a good thing if a big guy is willing to end on that post for the outside chance of blocking the shot. Shaq f.e. never did that and it pissed me to no end ... I swear, there hasn´t ever been a human being that big that could move out of the way that fast, he´s be a hell of a spanish matador :p One minute there´s this 350 pound obstacle in the way, the next it´s like a suburbian street at 4 in the morning ... Isn´t part of the job description to, you know, try to get in the way of people flying towards the basket ?

Oden (and Aldridge) dismantled the Bulls big guys this game though, was no contest.

But i´m not so uptight not to enjoy the dunk by Rose :) Dind´t another bull have a good one that same game on/near Oden as well ?

Oden really is much more agile/mobile than last year, weirdly that has gotten him into trouble at times as he´s moving to much and challenges too much (and tries more wide-spread moves on offense).
Last year he got into foul trouble because he was slow to react, this year mainly because tries to do way too much and a lot of things that big men nowadays simply get whistled for by default ("he just checked a guy half a foot smaller ? That has to be a foul." *whistle* Wait, he moved around a smaller guy and another one had to jump in to draw the charge ? Nah, the little guy obviously was there all the way. *whistle* ).

I´m very optimistic about his play so far :)

A lot of Oden's fouls, from what I've seen, have been fairly stupid and avoidable. He just doesn't want to get beat, so he reaches and tries everything to stop the shot when he should just put his hands straight up and allow the odd basket here and there, realising that sometimes it's more important to allow a basket than foul, because you're more valuable to your team on the court than sitting on the bench.

Prime example was the Spurs game a few weeks ago. He picked up two quick fouls on Duncan in the first quarter, and both were just stupid fouls where he put arms forward instead of sticking them straight up. A rookie mistake, which is no big surprise considering how much time he has missed. Still, looks like he's improving on this already, and I like Portland's "one foul per quarter or it's to the bench" rule for him.

What i hate about the Blazers right now : There definitely is such a thing as being too methodical and the Blazers simply over-do it in the half court with just way too many predictable sets. Plus slowing down the tempo that often and considering their personell is just beyond me. Of course they shouldn´t suddenly become a run and gun team, but you have 2 bigs that can really run the floor, you bring a 3/4 on as your backup PF, you got a guy like Fernandez who is a terrific fastbreak player, you have a PG in Miller who is great at running the break.

I really like their upside in terms of the postseason as they have guys that draw double teams and attention in the halfcourt and can get the ball deep (not just Oden and Aldridge, also Roy and especially Miller post up) but MacMillan needs to get that stick out of his ass and be a lot more flexible as far as strategy goes.

Last season´s exit against the Rockets was telling in that regard where they flat out refused to look for early offense when that´s the one thing that can really hurt a team with an all-league Lowpostplayer that also happens to anchor the defense.

Take it for what is worth. AI announces his "plans" to retire.

Michael Beasley does his best impression of Lorenzo Charles to give the Heat a good win at Orlando.