I care a bit, my team here in MN actually has one of the best young players in the league in Love and what is looking like a damn good point guard in Rubio.
So I guess reports of Kobe's demise have been somewhat exaggerated. Never would have expected him to compete for the scoring title this year, but he's #2 right now and I doubt Lebron will end up at #1.
Apparently he is taking a shot every game for pain in his injured wrist. I wonder if he can keep that up all season long.
There are two teams in the West and four in the East with winning records on the road. I guess home court advantage is going to be strong this year.
Wow, looks like Kevin Love tried to imitate Ndamukong Suh last night and stomp on a guy, I think he will be getting a call from the comish and miss a few games.
Huh, apparently the Sixers are ridiculously deep. 8 of their 9 players scored 8 or more today. And the last one was a starter who still managed 4 points. Definitely seem like a great regular season team who are going to fall off once the playoffs start and benches get shorter.
This is hilarious. Javale McGee running back on defense while his team still has the ball. Go Wizards! Also, Lakers could really use Jeremy Lin right now.
I know as a Lakers fan I'm supposed to hate him, and he does say stupid crap every now and then, but I like the guy. I hope he somehow ends up as part owner of the LA football team.
I don't want Hanacker to feel like he's the only one in here, so let me throw this out there: how many games before Linsanity, Anthony, and STAT finally "click" and have an insane monster game? I'm going to say 4 games, and that they blow up Boston on March 4.
That is a cool picture, even if it comes at the expense of the Lakers. That didn't work out so well. I think Rondosanity has taken over. 18/20/17 is a ridiculous line. How does a point guard grab 17 rebounds?
Yeah, it was a nice prediction, and for a little bit of the game it almost looked like it could happen, but man did Rondo dominate that one. The Knicks have so much potential, though, that I can't imagine that it won't click for them sooner rather than later.
As a long suffering Knicks fan, I hope you're right. Unfortunately, playing in NY, or at least on the same team, seems to be kryptonite for Amar'e and 'Melo. If they can't motivate themselves to come out w/ aggression and tenacity, every game, the Knicks aren't climbing too far north of .500 ball.
Yeah, I was a Knicks fan as a kid, starting with the Bernard King era, and was a huge fan of the thug-era Knicks of Ewing, Oakley, Mason, and Starks, but lost all interest in the NBA when Scott Layden ruined the Knicks. Linsanity has rekindled my interest in the Knicks and the NBA, so I really hope they start to gel and make a decent run.
My heart broke when Charles Smith didn't dunk the ball. I still followed the team but I never recovered from that Game 5.
After today's game against the Celtics, I kinda feel like I like Pau, Kobe, Bynum, Fisher, and MWP and hope they don't trade any of them. Bynum for Dwight straight up, sure, but other than that I'd be okay with not making a huge move. We may not win a title, but seeing them go to Bynum for the final play instead of Kobe makes me happy. Also, I guess Linsanity is over for anyone outside of NY. It was fun while it lasted. Kinda glad I can stop rooting for the Knicks, though.
Everyone on ESPN constantly says that Knicks fans all pine for a blue collar, hard-nosed, defensive team like the Charles Oakley era. Is this more true than for other fan bases (as a Lakers fan, I just want a team that wins - doesn't matter if it's a showtime team or a grinding, defensive team) or is it just trying to shoehorn in a convenient narrative?
I think it's somewhat true - the Houston/Sprewell-era Knicks had some moderate success, but they never enjoyed the popularity of the Ewing/Oakley/Starks-era Knicks. I think it's partly that signature identity of those Knicks as hard-nosed defensive thugs, just kind of playing a bruising, ugly style of basketball that nevertheless enjoyed a great deal of success. I think it's also a fondness for the players of that era over the players brought in through the ineptitude of Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas. The Knicks haven't really had an identity since the Ewing-era, aside from being a bit of a trainwreck.
Give me a tenacious defender over an offensive superstar any day. I became a pretty hardcore Knicks fan in 86, Ewing's second year in the league. The success of the team was always defined by defense. From Rick Pitino's liberal use of the full court press, Kenny 'Sky' Walker jumping and flailing like a madman to defend the inbound pass, to Ewing, Oakley, and Mason patrolling the paint. There will always be talented athletes in the league but there's nothing like effort and will on the defensive side of the ball dictating the flow of the game. I remember when the Knicks were just staring to make moves in the Atlantic division, they had Xavier McDaniel on the team and their rivalry with the Bulls was starting to take shape. X-man had a chip on his shoulder about beating the Bulls. He postured that if he walked into the Bulls locker room, he'd be the only man walking out. Such macho bullshit, but I loved it. Of course the Bull's prodigious talent broke my heart many times over, but I'd still prefer to take my chances with a strong defensive team every time.
This is an interesting article. I knew the Warriors weren't a great franchise, but I didn't realize how poorly managed they'd been in the last 35 years. I forgot Arenas was a second-round Warriors pick.
So, playoffs... Whoever Lebron has been hiring to go after other Eastern Conference superstars to injure/trick into doing really stupid things to injure themselves or get suspended is doing a really good job. His road to the finals looks wiiiide open now. The Celtics might be the only roadblock, but I don't trust them at all this year.
I would just love to see the heat lose to the pacers. I so want James to go through his entire career with zero NBA titles.
I thought they were good after Game 5 but I knew they were done after Game 6. Now I'm stuck tepidly rooting for OKC.
Damn, I was so hoping the celtics would beat the Heat, now I have to root for OKC to keep Lebron from a title this year.
Okay, I'm jumpin' on the Thunder bandwagon. I wanna see LeBron have to make excuses during the pressers.
I can't get on either bandwagon and it turns out I can't even stand to watch these games, but in the few minutes I did watch I noticed the OKC Arena plays music during Miami's possessions. I've seen it done in other arenas but not as consistently or aggressively. Ironically I even heard some Lil' John Beats. Why not just blast the sound of angry cats or LeBron's mom's voicemails from jail? Or how about the NBA doesn't let anyone play music during play and fix the shitty refereeing while they are at it?
Anyone else catch game 4? The pace of the game in the first half, but especially the first quarter was unbelievable. OKC hit damn near everything in the first, and then just settled for unecessary jumpers to let miami back in the game. Thats been the knock on them all year, but westbrook was pretty much the only one attacking the lane on a regular basis, and he was excellent tonight. Durant scored his usual, but contributed almost nothing else. Also, what exactly happened to James Harden? I mean I know he's picking up Lebron frequently on the defensive end, but really, he had more turnovers than fg made tonight (and that missed breakaway late in the fourth). If he plays even decently on offense, the thunder take this game.
I saw the end of it. Was not expecting Chalmers to play that well. I feel like the Spurs would have played the Heat a lot better.
