Durant's got the MVP sowed up for me, Westbrook is his and OKC's biggest obstacle to the title, he had 7 turnovers last night and was 0-13 the night before. They should have traded him for CP3.
Nba 2011-2012
- Thread starter ha_rooney
- Start date
LA wins again & Kobe looks healthy - that fadeaway was 
My prediction that Dallas would make it to the finals again doesn't look very good right now. If the Lakers go out at any point then I hope OKC goes all the way, they are an exciting team to watch & Durant is one of the nice guys in the NBA despite being an elite player.
My prediction that Dallas would make it to the finals again doesn't look very good right now. If the Lakers go out at any point then I hope OKC goes all the way, they are an exciting team to watch & Durant is one of the nice guys in the NBA despite being an elite player.
//
Another close game for Miami, and my boy wins it again!
Miami with a 4-0 start to the season..
James with 34 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds!
Miami with a 4-0 start to the season..
James with 34 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds!
James can do all he wants in the regular season, he needs to prove himself when it matters in the 4th quarter of the finals.
LeBron is beasting without a doubt. Surely only a matter of time before he loses the choke tag.
On another note, great game from Rubio. 12/12/6 in 30 minutes. He's doing very well, great player to watch too.
On another note, great game from Rubio. 12/12/6 in 30 minutes. He's doing very well, great player to watch too.
You can't show off with your stats against the Wolves, everyone puts up their best numbers against those guys. Some talented players, but woeful team.
Pacers didn't look that good but did well to win in overtime. David West can really shoot, reminds me a bit of Karl Malone with the low post jumpers.
Pacers didn't look that good but did well to win in overtime. David West can really shoot, reminds me a bit of Karl Malone with the low post jumpers.
To be fair, LeBron does that stuff against pretty much everyone. The only person that can stop him is himself.
Thank god he's so good at stopping himself, then. In the playoffs, anyway. His teams have been at or near the top in win during the regular season for years now.
I'd hate to see how good Miami would be if they actually played basketball the right way.
I'd hate to see how good Miami would be if they actually played basketball the right way.
Nice way to end the year with a win for the Lakers. Not the best performance from the team, Bynum was a beast. Kobe shared the ball but almost cost us in the last minute by being greedy.
Galinarri's open lay up miss to tie the game was
Galinarri's open lay up miss to tie the game was
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo ignore everything I said about the Kings.
My memory is shit, did you say nice things?
14 pts, 2.8 assists and 2.8 re's is not enough from Tyreke Evans, is he still not healthy yet?
They're allowing 24+ assists a game and collecting less than 14 themselves, not good.
14 pts, 2.8 assists and 2.8 re's is not enough from Tyreke Evans, is he still not healthy yet?
They're allowing 24+ assists a game and collecting less than 14 themselves, not good.
I can't believe Cousins has asked for a trade, you had a great squad coming together, considering Dalembert has gone this isn't good news for the Kings.
Miami up 65-37 at HT and Lebron has scored 4
That's not what I'm talking about. If the team just sucked, everything would be okay.
We're still not sure what happened. His agent is denying he ever requested a trade.
This?
Not that either. Apparently we actually are running plays. Just not very good ones.
Defense isn't just the thing you cover with de-paint.
Okay?
Okay?
D-fence? We use lots of images of fences for defense on the screens at basketball games. It's an old joke.
And of course 'de' being a phonetic spelling of how some accents say 'the'. The fence isn't just something you cover with the paint.
Nothing worse than explaining a joke...you know you didn't get a laugh and you know you won't for the explanation either.
Wait, you're a Yank too! why you no get my joke? Or are you just IN Cali?
I just don't get what defense has to do with any of this. I know the team isn't great at it, especially in transition, but it's not awful either. Even transition d can be tied to poor offensive execution.
Anyways this relates to my comments regarding the players' maturity. Specifically Cousins, though maybe I should've lumped our coach in there as well.
It's like the joke 'Denial isn't just a river in Egypt?', suggesting that someone is in denial, just like saying 'defense isn't just something you cover with paint' suggests they need to learn to play defense. But if we discuss it further I think it needs it's own thread.
They can obviously score the ball, if their opponent scoring average was in the bottom half they would be in the playoffs.
I heard about the Cousins trade request, I didn't realize it was a big deal, and he was forced to sit out the game. I've heard his attitude problem mentioned a dozen times, you'd think he was Ron Artest. I'm always very wary of players without the proper attitude, give me less still and more heart any day.
They can obviously score the ball, if their opponent scoring average was in the bottom half they would be in the playoffs.
I heard about the Cousins trade request, I didn't realize it was a big deal, and he was forced to sit out the game. I've heard his attitude problem mentioned a dozen times, you'd think he was Ron Artest. I'm always very wary of players without the proper attitude, give me less still and more heart any day.
I know the joke. I get it. You don't have to explain. I'm saying that Cousins demanding a trade has nothing to do with defensive problems. At least according to all the comments that were reported. That's all. I understood the joke from the very beginning.
They're sixth worst in the league in FG% (40%) so far and worst in FT% and assists so their obvious scoring ability isn't as obvious as you think.
Yes, they give up a lot of points, which is definitely the overall thing you're trying to stop on defense. But they're twelfth worst in opposing FG% and best in the league in opposing 3PT% so while the defense isn't ideal, once again it's not awful. They're not committing an extraordinary number of fouls either, so where else do the opposition's points come from? Transition baskets, which happen more frequently when you miss a lot of shots (which then inflates the FG% because those are easy baskets you're giving up). Same reason why their offensive rebounding average is second in the league to New Orleans, a team shooting under 40%. The half court defense has actually improved quite a bit.
Now I know you're going to say transition defense is a big part of defense. Absolutely. I wholeheartedly agree. Our guards are in no-man's land sometimes when it comes to deciding whether to help with rebounding or scramble back on defense. That absolutely needs to be fixed.
That said, fast breaks are always high percentage plays for the breaking team anyways, though you can reduce the extent to that if you do enough to disrupt the run. If you actually watch this offense play, the shot selection, movement, and passing have been absolutely dreadful, and you've quoted stats before that would certainly indicate that's the case. And that's top to bottom. Our big men have games where they shoot in the 20-30% range. The most effective way to stop a fast break is to make sure your opponent doesn't have a chance to get one, and you do that by putting the ball in the basket and making them inbound the ball. They can drop their average points allowed by 2-4 points per game if they just quit being stupid on offense. Currently it's at 93 but that's a bit skewed from holding New Orleans to 80 today (it was at 101 before tonight). Of course, the Lakers, Blazers, Bulls, and Knicks certainly aren't awful at scoring either.
Clips need to turn up the heat some more.
Right, it was way too late at night, excuse my pedantic spasm.
Those are some interesting stats, though of course it's very early in the season. One problem like you said is they can't make the easy buckets inside because they don't have strong interior scoring, they don't get many easy buckets. This is one of my big problems with many NBA players/coaches these days, PFs who want to shoot from range so they're not around to get boards and don't get easy buckets from the post. But then I grew up watching the NBA in the golden age of centers, where post play was king, so perhaps I'm a bit biased. Now the center is almost extinct and
But then team play is also on the wane, it's about slashers getting to the rim and finding the match-up you like best on the court and pushing it relentlessly. The Kings are only rarely going to have a match-up among the starters that favors them, offensively or defensively, while their opponent has 3 or 4. Yes, they can create their own shot on the perimeter, and they have players that can penetrate, but they're not that good at making the right pass when the defense decides to collapse on the lane.
Did you want to say something here?
I agree though with what you are saying about "the true center days are over in the NBA", as the only true center in the NBA (probably) is not getting his team anywhere these days..
No worries. Late for me too and it now looks like I was trying to be clever by being coy or something.
It's not just ranging, which I certainly won't downplay as a problem, but it goes even beyond that on this team. Yes I don't mind the occasional jumper, but I just can't stand it when players make things harder than they have to be.
You mentioned Shaq earlier in this thread and I wrote something about how I used to hate him (for obvious homer reasons) and thought he was an oaf with a limited skillset that just powered through people and scored easy baskets all the time. Now after watching years of big men, especially on the Kings, who are so rushed to just wildly chuck the ball at the rim from close range and pray it lands in the basket, I've grown to appreciate the directness and general simplicity (probably the wrong word, because he was definitely more skilled than I give him credit for) of Shaq's play. Every opening you gave him he took and he always did it aggressively. Borderline violently. Every opening you didn't give him he opened up for himself anyways and always did that aggressively as well. He never made things any more difficult than they had to be. For lack of a better phrase, he attacked the space better than any player during my basketball lifetime.
It frustrates me to not see big men finishing strong at the rim. When you're that size, the highest percentage shot is the dunk, and half the time these guys are throwing granny shots at the rim from 5-10 feet away. Sometimes off-balanced. I'd be okay with it if there was some method to the madness, but they hardly even use the backboard anymore as if it's some sign of weakness. If there's any "post play" it's often with blinders on with guys who have already decided they're going to shoot by the time they get the post-entry pass.
Can't disagree with any of that.
And regarding the slashers, don't get me wrong. I love Michael Jordan and appreciate wholeheartedly what his legacy is supposed to mean to the game, but I do think his legacy has inadvertently screwed up the league somewhat. And it's infuriating because he was a much better and far more complete player than what most of the guys in the league who strive to "be like Mike" are trying to imitate. I know this practically flies in the face of what I just said, but so many of these slashers are coming into the league with a skillset limited to "explode to the basket; dunk with fury" and no versatility at all. It's fine when that's in conjunction with a lot of movement and passing on offense, but when it's limited to isolation play, it's awful to watch.
So Miami with their first loss this season.. Those back-to-backs are always tough for a team that depends on athleticism in its approach.
My boy had a night to forget.. He better deliver in the next game, because Miami needs to bounce back.... And I need some fantasy points! He killed me today..
Up for discussion: How are the Heat going to beat the zone?!
My boy had a night to forget.. He better deliver in the next game, because Miami needs to bounce back.... And I need some fantasy points! He killed me today..
Up for discussion: How are the Heat going to beat the zone?!
I also agree with all that. Shaq was a tremendous passer, his ability to find cutters when he was double teamed was a huge asset, certainly under appreciated. Being a Lakers fan it's hard to be fair here, Shaq certainly pushed the boundary of what's a foul offensively, and I think the refs let him go too far. They sort of unfairly decided to start calling offensive fouls once he lost his superstar status, on moving to the Suns.
But like you said, he didn't try to make it any harder, he spun for a layup, he'd give you a head-fake then go with power, and he was pretty good from 10 feet with his strange baby-hook type shot. He also ran the floor very well for his size, thus the nickname 'the big cat', in testament to his agility.
I think you're exactly right about Jordan and all the slashers, players don't learn the things like blocking out and using the sort of footwork Tim Duncan has at his disposal, one of the best post players I've ever seen, probably 2nd after Hakeem the Dream. People don't often back defenders down in the post, and even if the team runs a play, the don't seem to have any idea who is going to shoot and when so they can crash the boards for rebounds.
The Bucks were actually doing a really good job of actually playing basketball with inferior players and winning a fair bit, before Bogut went down. I'd say 1/3 of their buckets were layups created by passing and finding the open man, moving the ball faster than the defense could switch.
Probably another factor is all the kids getting drafted early, they don't get the 4 years of college ball to learn all the details, they try to get by on athleticism alone. It may make for better highlights, but the games aren't as good, imo.
So Miami with their first loss this season.. Those back-to-backs are always tough for a team that depends on athleticism in its approach.
My boy had a night to forget.. He better deliver in the next game, because Miami needs to bounce back.... And I need some fantasy points! He killed me today..
Up for discussion: How are the Heat going to beat the zone?!
The Mavs had a lot of success with the zone in the finals, I heard, not surprised to see them getting more of it. Their game is about losing your man on the perimeter, which would create confusion and a need to switch in man-to-man, which would leave someone open. But in a zone you plan to switch, they're happy to let you move to the next zone and it doesn't help to create space.
It's a good strategy to make Miami change their attacking style, but the zone has it's weaknesses.
The Hawks have been brilliant so far tonight. The Bulls haven't really shown up yet...
More dross from the Kings.
They shot 43-107 overall, including 3's, vs 52-99 for Memphis, without Randolph. 41% from 2 vs 55%, and only 13 assists, Evans was the only starter with more than 1 assist, and 19 turnovers as a team.
I can guess they were shooting from distance as usual, guards took 48 of their 83 shots from 2.
They shot 43-107 overall, including 3's, vs 52-99 for Memphis, without Randolph. 41% from 2 vs 55%, and only 13 assists, Evans was the only starter with more than 1 assist, and 19 turnovers as a team.
I can guess they were shooting from distance as usual, guards took 48 of their 83 shots from 2.
The saddest part is that Isaiah Thomas and Jimmer at the end of the game played semi-well and that pushes the overall shooting % up a little bit. By the end of the first quarter, they were shooting 25% and were down something like 38-17. They somehow came back to even it up at 52 in the second quarter. If you take that away, imagine how absolutely god awful the bad periods were.
Are they at least trying to play inside out, or is it about dribbling past your man from the 3 point line?
It's like they start the game knowing they need better ball movement, etc, but then just forget after a while and start forcing stupid plays.
Huge games from Kobe & Bynum give Lakers a good win. I think it's evident from the first games that Mike Brown wants to utilise Bynum a lot more this season, although that could cause some friction between him and Kobe who is still the #1 guy on the roster and will demand the ball at all times.
The way Bynum has started it doesn't appear we'll go for Howard yet. I'm actually not sure about the Howard situation as the Nets can't move for him without Lopez & we've not made any moves yet either. I still hope he's a Laker player by next season.
The way Bynum has started it doesn't appear we'll go for Howard yet. I'm actually not sure about the Howard situation as the Nets can't move for him without Lopez & we've not made any moves yet either. I still hope he's a Laker player by next season.
Bynum's first ever 20-20 game and no surprise that LAL have played much better with him in the lineup. If he can keep performing like he has so far, he may finally take that step to the level his potential belies, and that will only benefit the club (and perhaps make Orlando consider him a solid replacement for Howard).
Great comeback by the Bulls as well.
Great comeback by the Bulls as well.
Wade is out for tonight's game against the Pacers, that should give us a chance!
David West reminds me of Karl Malone, this guy is automatic on the baseline from 18 feet in, scary.
David West reminds me of Karl Malone, this guy is automatic on the baseline from 18 feet in, scary.
I think it's good that Wade is missing tonight.. Obviously not for my fantasy points (I'm ****ed there)!
This will give some other players more playing time and more responsibility. It's still early days in the season, and it's not really a big deal if they lose now.. They can use this opportunity to build a better team for the finals this time (of course if we get there.. I'm still a realistic man.).
Having said that, I think the Heat will win tonight.
Wow. Lebron really got me scared there..
Good win for Miami. Bosh looks more comfortable this year, and really enjoying himself this time around.
Now it's time for revenge...
Good win for Miami. Bosh looks more comfortable this year, and really enjoying himself this time around.
Now it's time for revenge...