The Basketball Thread

[Reddish-Blue 2,503]

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 2,503]

(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 20,609]

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 20,609]

D. Howard putting in that work:

[Amblève. 4,995]

Denver's probably the only team that has not one player participating in the ASW, lol.

[manpe 10,861]

All-Star game about to begin, who's watching?

[NishC300 1,865]

All-Star game about to begin, who's watching?

Me along with the cricket (not a regular NBA viewer unfortunately)

Never got this about the NBA. The game time was 3 am yet it starts just before 4