The Basketball Thread

[Korea 734]

I may have never played professional basketball, but I have played and watched enough basketball to understand isolation play.

I don't understand why you bring lin and Asian fans. It has nothing to do with lin.

It does actually..

The concept of Melo iso player came directly from that.

Just as the concept harden was an iso player.

Euro ball or anywhere else ball is completely different than the NBA.

Also, @ TorontoChelsea,

Ill changed it to from best offensive player to best 1v1 offensive player than...

[communicate 2,703]

It does actually..

The concept of Melo iso player came directly from that.

Just as the concept harden was an iso player.

Euro ball or anywhere else ball is completely different than the NBA.

Also, @ TorontoChelsea,

Ill changed it to from best offensive player to best 1v1 offensive player than...

lol are you talking about media perception ???? lol

I have never talked about media perception, I am talking about real basketball play.

Isolation is a basketball play, it is the same everywhere. There is some kind of variation but in the end they are similar.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

What a game from my OKC

Struggled early then went to work, playing stifling defense the rest of the way creating 20 TOs and just real solid defense. And KD led the way again along with Ibaka and Lamb (who's really come into his own with that spot up 3pt shot. Has been vital in helping to create the space on the floor for KD to operate.) and also Fisher with his 5/5 from 3pt land all but sealed it.

LBJ did his thang but besides that first qtr Wade and Bosh were no where to be seen, along with the rest of the team. Great win, shows how great their defense is, even when everyone wants to focus on KD and his 30pt streak, their defense can be impossible to get by with all the length and youth they have. The trapping was excellent with active hands stripping the ball or forcing jump balls constantly.

---What do yall make of Portland right now? Seem to have fallen off that and have gone something like 10-7 past 17 games. Will always struggle with the lack of depth on the bench, even though i believe in CJ Collum's ability he's only a rookie and theres nobody they can count on when Damien and Lamarcus come off.

---Spurs are another team facing a big crisis. Just read they are 1-11 vs. Thunder, Heat, Blazers, Rockets, Pacers, and Clippers but 32-1 vs everybody else....

Still beleive with a healthy WB, it will be OKC vs Pacers in the final with Thunder winning in 6.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Take a bow KD, superb performance that really inspired his team.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Take a bow KD, superb performance that really inspired his team.

Pffft, it was only 33 points!

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

What a game from my OKC

Struggled early then went to work, playing stifling defense the rest of the way creating 20 TOs and just real solid defense. And KD led the way again along with Ibaka and Lamb (who's really come into his own with that spot up 3pt shot. Has been vital in helping to create the space on the floor for KD to operate.) and also Fisher with his 5/5 from 3pt land all but sealed it.

LBJ did his thang but besides that first qtr Wade and Bosh were no where to be seen, along with the rest of the team. Great win, shows how great their defense is, even when everyone wants to focus on KD and his 30pt streak, their defense can be impossible to get by with all the length and youth they have. The trapping was excellent with active hands stripping the ball or forcing jump balls constantly.

---What do yall make of Portland right now? Seem to have fallen off that and have gone something like 10-7 past 17 games. Will always struggle with the lack of depth on the bench, even though i believe in CJ Collum's ability he's only a rookie and theres nobody they can count on when Damien and Lamarcus come off.

---Spurs are another team facing a big crisis. Just read they are 1-11 vs. Thunder, Heat, Blazers, Rockets, Pacers, and Clippers but 32-1 vs everybody else....

Still beleive with a healthy WB, it will be OKC vs Pacers in the final with Thunder winning in 6.

Miami is still a great team but winning back to back means they are probably saving their good stuff for the playoffs. I see them beating the Pacers but it could go either way (nobody else in the East is any good). I have thought Spurs are almost done for about 5 years in a row so until it happens, I can't count them out. They play just such amazing team basketball. Portand has no depth as you say but I also think they need to get Lillard more involved in running the plays. He is a dynamic player and he does too much spot-up shooting right now. Can you imagine what a team they'd have if they took Durant instead of Oden? Of course, they took Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordon as well so they made 2 of the worst picks in NBA history.

The one thing that could stop OKC is Scott Brooks. He loves Derek Fisher and Kendrick Perkins way too much and plays them ahead of much better players. With a different coach, two years ago, OKC wins the finals. He played fisher 25-30 minutes every game and all the 4th quarters ahead of difference makers like Ibaka. In the 4th quarter in a NBA final, with so much talent, why the hell are you playing Fisher and Perkins? At this (and that) point in his career, they're both terrible players. This year, in PER (overall efficiency) Fisher and Perkins are 301st and 320th overall in the NBA. They're awful. When you have young talents like Jackson, Lamb, and Adams who are already much better as is and have amazing upside, why not play them? The question for me is can OKC get past Brooks' love of his crappy veterans.

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

Miami is still a great team but winning back to back means they are probably saving their good stuff for the playoffs. I see them beating the Pacers but it could go either way (nobody else in the East is any good). I have thought Spurs are almost done for about 5 years in a row so until it happens, I can't count them out. They play just such amazing team basketball. Portand has no depth as you say but I also think they need to get Lillard more involved in running the plays. He is a dynamic player and he does too much spot-up shooting right now. Can you imagine what a team they'd have if they took Durant instead of Oden? Of course, they took Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordon as well so they made 2 of the worst picks in NBA history.

The one thing that could stop OKC is Scott Brooks. He loves Derek Fisher and Kendrick Perkins way too much and plays them ahead of much better players. With a different coach, two years ago, OKC wins the finals. He played fisher 25-30 minutes every game and all the 4th quarters ahead of difference makers like Ibaka. In the 4th quarter in a NBA final, with so much talent, why the hell are you playing Fisher and Perkins? At this (and that) point in his career, they're both terrible players. This year, in PER (overall efficiency) Fisher and Perkins are 301st and 320th overall in the NBA. They're awful. When you have young talents like Jackson, Lamb, and Adams who are already much better as is and have amazing upside, why not play them? The question for me is can OKC get past Brooks' love of his crappy veterans.

Maybe Brooks wanted veteran leadership on the floor last year?

Also, both Lamb & Jackson were pretty raw last year in terms of offensive production..

All in All, I just don't see Miami getting a three-peat.

OKC & the Pacers would have to be the favourites...followed by Spurs & Miami.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Maybe Brooks wanted veteran leadership on the floor last year?

Also, both Lamb & Jackson were pretty raw last year in terms of offensive production..

All in All, I just don't see Miami getting a three-peat.

OKC & the Pacers would have to be the favourites...followed by Spurs & Miami.

Veteran leadership is overrated. If you want to give them 5 minutes off the bench to help teach people, fine. It might help. If you want to play them the entire 4th quarter instead of much better players, you're going to lose because of it.And I am talking about Lamb and Jackson this year. Before Westbrook's injury, Brooks was capping Jackson's minutes in order to get Fisher, who hasn't been a good player in 5 years, minutes.And come the playoffs, you can be sure that Brooks is going to rely on "veteran presence" even more.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Veteran leadership is overrated. If you want to give them 5 minutes off the bench to help teach people, fine. It might help. If you want to play them the entire 4th quarter instead of much better players, you're going to lose because of it.And I am talking about Lamb and Jackson this year. Before Westbrook's injury, Brooks was capping Jackson's minutes in order to get Fisher, who hasn't been a good player in 5 years, minutes.And come the playoffs, you can be sure that Brooks is going to rely on "veteran presence" even more.

(Responce to both posts)

Your being imo too harsh on Brooks. Yesterday showed his growth as a coach, we started out with Perkins, saw the mis-match, took him out and he didnt play the rest of the game.

As for the finals of 2012,, yeah perkins was left in too much but there was no jackson, lamb, or adams to count on. Jackson has only come into his own this year, last year he was too inconsistent. We now have a spot up 3pt secialist it seems in lamb and people like Adams who is more refined offensively and capably of scoring just enough points to keep the defense on him during pick nd rolls.

The man most responsible imo was Harden, and his no show during the Finals.. He was the man more so than KD and WB that shot the Spurs out of the gym to win the Western Conference Championship after we fell 0-2 down. He was on another level offensively. Dont know how people dont realize how awful he was during the Finals.

Again, Brooks is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be, we have a better team than 2 years, more complete, on offense and defense.

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

(Responce to both posts)

Your being imo too harsh on Brooks. Yesterday showed his growth as a coach, we started out with Perkins, saw the mis-match, took him out and he didnt play the rest of the game.

As for the finals of 2012,, yeah perkins was left in too much but there was no jackson, lamb, or adams to count on. Jackson has only come into his own this year, last year he was too inconsistent. We now have a spot up 3pt secialist it seems in lamb and people like Adams who is more refined offensively and capably of scoring just enough points to keep the defense on him during pick nd rolls.

The man most responsible imo was Harden, and his no show during the Finals.. He was the man more so than KD and WB that shot the Spurs out of the gym to win the Western Conference Championship after we fell 0-2 down. He was on another level offensively. Dont know how people dont realize how awful he was during the Finals.

Again, Brooks is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be, we have a better team than 2 years, more complete, on offense and defense.

Completely agree with your point.

For me, there are only 4 teams with a REAL chance of winning this year's title: OKC, Miami, Pacers & Spurs

In terms of OKC, it'll be interesting to see how their bench performs in the playoffs

As the NBA analysts say, it's one thing performing in the regular season but it's a whole different level of intensity in the playoffs

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

(Responce to both posts)

Your being imo too harsh on Brooks. Yesterday showed his growth as a coach, we started out with Perkins, saw the mis-match, took him out and he didnt play the rest of the game.

As for the finals of 2012,, yeah perkins was left in too much but there was no jackson, lamb, or adams to count on. Jackson has only come into his own this year, last year he was too inconsistent. We now have a spot up 3pt secialist it seems in lamb and people like Adams who is more refined offensively and capably of scoring just enough points to keep the defense on him during pick nd rolls.

The man most responsible imo was Harden, and his no show during the Finals.. He was the man more so than KD and WB that shot the Spurs out of the gym to win the Western Conference Championship after we fell 0-2 down. He was on another level offensively. Dont know how people dont realize how awful he was during the Finals.

Again, Brooks is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be, we have a better team than 2 years, more complete, on offense and defense.

In 2012 there was no Jackson, Lamb, or Adams, but there was Ibaka and Harden who were even better and he still sat them for Perkins and Fisher. For example, in game 3 when OKC lost by 6 points, Perkins played 34 minutes and Fisher 28. Harden played 34 and Ibaka 22. If he were a normal coach, the Thunder win that game by just playing their better players more. Perkins has been a bad player for year and last night was the first time in 3 years he's made the right move. Hard to give him credit for doing what everyone in the world knew he should have done before.

Aaron Bruski wrote this about last night which I agree with:

"I’ve never seen anything like this in sport, where there is a fairly uniform belief among those that cover the game that a player needs to be benched and for years that's an option that hasn't been on the table. The Heat have always represented the apex of the Thunder's decision to unconditionally love their heart-and-soul center, as Perkins simply doesn't fit on the basketball floor against them, and when you mix in championship stakes it has been a big story in my opinion. The Brooks-Perkins-OKC-Durant-Presti brain trust decided to ride or die with Perkins, and later with Derek Fisher, and it has wasted a three-year championship window for a potential top 5-10 player of all time in Durant. "

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Also, how did Kyle Lowry get snubbed and Joe Johnson make the all-star team? Lowry leads the Eastern PG in PER and and has excellent traditional stats as well AND he's on the third place team in the conference. He actually deserves to be starting for the East. Joe Johnson? He isn't even close. He's actually a below average player in the league according to PER and playing on a bad team and plays bad defense. There were about 10-15 players who should have made the all-star team ahead of him. Playing in New York makes everyone overrated I guess. There were some other snubs, Anthony Davis especially, but the West is so deep that everyone who made it is still deserving. (Except Kobe who has been hurt all year and won't play)

[Amblève. 4,995]

Cavs suck so much, they just lost to the Lakers who had only 5 players available at the end of the game.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Cavs suck so much, they just lost to the Lakers who had only 5 players available at the end of the game.

It's Cleveland, what else do you expect! That city has a sports curse haha, they will never win anything.

But seriously, Dan Gilbert should be the laughingstock of all NBA owners if he isn't already. Reports say Kyrie is leaving, and i wouldn't blame him. Why return to an organization which has shown it can't draft. Why go back to a team situated in CLEVELAND, or why return to a place that has shown they can never surround their super-star players with adequate talent to win/challenge for NBA title.

According to reports, the situation is a mess. Players, coaches, just damn near everybody associated with running the team day-to-day are butting heads. The players aren't paying any attention to Mike Brown, Kyrie and Waiters seem to be arguing almost every week, and then there was Bynum who was also a negative influence in the locker room causing chaos to the team. Not to mention Anthony Bennett, who is making Kwame Brown look like Shaquille O'neal with his disastrous transition to the NBA as a number 1 pick in the National Basketball Association. I honestly just cry as an NBA fan seeing a team run so inefficiently, wow.

Edit: And they just fired their GM today! .

Edited February 7, 2014 by Blue-in-me-Veins

[manpe 10,861]

Wow Sixers are shit, losing by 56 points to Clippers atm

[The Skipper 20,593]

Wow Sixers are shit, losing by 56 points to Clippers atm

Tanking FTW.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Love this call in the basketball Copa del Rey. Spanish broadcasters make everything more exciting.

[The Skipper 20,593]

D. Howard putting in that work: