NBA Thread

[Slurktan]

Bah, the Raps have gone ice cold from the field and as such have been stinking it up. That Milwaukee game is bad but not as bad as could be, Milwaukee always does good against us, any jump shooting team can do well because our perimeter D is kind of spotty. Still I'm liking this season, for the most part the defense has been much better (except 3 halves) and I like the way our offensive game tends to flow.

[Caliban]

Yes, but if Skiles is as good of a coach as Caliban makes him out to be...A) They wouldn't have started out slow every year (why can he not motivate them out of the gate?) and Wouldn't get killed in the playoffs by a comparable team.

I'm not saying you should worry. It's clear this is common circumstances, but for a team that's supposed to take the next step forward, all I'm seeing is same ole, same ole.

Just beat D town.

Skiles uses the beggining of the season to shore up his rotation.

Ty Thomas rocked it last night. I love Joe Smith (anybody got a nickname on this guy yet, I dont care for 'Joe Smith').

[add-on]

I'm not saying you should worry. It's clear this is common circumstances, but for a team that's supposed to take the next step forward, all I'm seeing is same ole, same ole.

Definitely agree with you there. This Bulls team I'm watching right now will not make it out of the East, much less be able to challenge whoever comes out of the West. Same ole, same ole.

Nice win for the Bulls last night. And yeah, Thomas looked great for most of the game. That block against Rip was ridiculous. Also, I too am warming up to Joe Smith. He can actually score down low and pop out and hit the 18 footer with decent consistency.

I may have been a little harsh on Ben Wallace before. He has been nursing that ankle for most of the season, so we're not seeing him at 100%. Still, it looked like the Lakers were interested in making Ben part of that deal that fell through. So you can't say that nobody'd be interested in taking him off our hands.

Also, I can't see how Ben gives us a better chance against Shaq/KG/whoever than a Thomas/Smith/Noah platoon (plus maybe Gray if Skiles would get him in some games this early in the season). Especially since Ben's a better off the ball defender than anything.

[Commodore]

The largest audience ever for an NBA game is predicted tonight when Yao and Yi face each other. They are predicting 200 million TV viewers.

link

If the meeting on Friday night of Rockets center Yao Ming and Bucks rookie forward Yi Jianlian alone was not indicative of the global reach of the sport, the game at Toyota Center also will be the first to feature players from six continents.

In addition to the players from North America and Yao and Yi from Asia, the Rockets' Luis Scola (Argentina) is from South America, the Rockets' Dikembe Mutombo (Congo) is from Africa, the Bucks' Dan Gadzuric (Holland) is from Europe and the Bucks' Andrew Bogut is from Australia.

[Bormon]

Wow, I had to go two pages back to find this thread. This to me tells me the state of the NBA product. It sucks (in general). Well at least it used to. I used to be a die hard Celtic fan in the 80's and early 90's. But not just a fan of the Celtics....but a fan of basketball. I used to like to watch basketball. I used to play as much as possible. But something happened in the late 90's..... the game became harder and harder to watch. Instead of a team of five on the court, it became 5 islands trying to get the stats and recognition. Eventually save a few Celtic or Sixer games, I couldn't watch the game anymore.

Recently, I checked out a few Celtic games. I wanted to see if all this hype is worth it. My expectations were low. Sure, the Celtics might win. But who cares, if I can't watch the game. But I must say I was pleasantly suprised. I saw something different. I saw fundamental basketball. I saw assists. I saw passing. I saw a team working together. I don't know if its just that basketball has finally started to get back to the things that made it a great sport or if its this particular team. But I am going to watch a couple more games, and I hope that the trend continues. It makes it even more enjoyable that its my Celtics playing this way.

Is 80's ball coming back to the NBA?

[Jaime L]

Is 80's ball coming back to the NBA?

Only to the Celtics. With Garnett, Allen and Pierce they're one of the few teams that have three veteran, selfless superstars to play that 80s style ball.

As for the thread being on the second page, I just got no enthusiasm for this season. The Wizards are going to be a pretty bad team this year and outside of Boston's emergence, I don't see all that many compelling stories emerging. Last year's travesty of a playoffs took a lot of the enthusiasm out of me.

[Bormon]

Only to the Celtics. With Garnett, Allen and Pierce they're one of the few teams that have three veteran, selfless superstars to play that 80s style ball.

As for the thread being on the second page, I just got no enthusiasm for this season. The Wizards are going to be a pretty bad team this year and outside of Boston's emergence, I don't see all that many compelling stories emerging. Last year's travesty of a playoffs took a lot of the enthusiasm out of me.

I feel your pain my friend. If it wasn't for the fact that the Celt's big three are splattered all over the place, I wouldn't have even paid attention. Hopefully this style of play has a lot of success. Good teams will get copied.

I also think it helps (though maybe not enough) that NBA teams can't just pick players right out of HS. Team work is something that is usually impressed in the college game. I wish the NBA would copy the NFLs rules concerning age.

[Exa Inova]

Only to the Celtics. With Garnett, Allen and Pierce they're one of the few teams that have three veteran, selfless superstars to play that 80s style ball.

You're getting old fast Jaime. 80s style basketball sucked. No way should we go back to the days of illegal defense and continues iso's. yes, the lakers rocked and so did the Celtics but other than that....

I dare to say that the new illegal defense rules and the influx of foreign players made the game more enjoyable to watch. That and the succes of Phoenix (btw, phx=canada, brazil, france, virgin isl.)

I agree that last years play offs sucked and I blame Dallas, Detroit and Horry for that. This year will be great. Yao and McGrady finally healthy, celts relevant, Denver Healthy, NO healthy, NY interesting, other playoff teams all a year more experienced (Raps, Bulls)

[aeu]

As for the thread being on the second page

That's because Chicago sucked big time so far. We need Caliban to energize the thread periodically.

[BLU-RAY]

Anybody know why Starbury is flaking out right now?

Also, I agree with the sentiment that Simmons is getting steadily obnoxious when he writes about football (or at least the Patriots, the rest of his football stuff is mostly tolerable), but he still writes pretty well about basketball.

[aeu]

Anybody know why Starbury is flaking out right now?

Does he need a reason? The man is barely on this planet to start with.

[Greywolf2375]

Does he need a reason? The man is barely on this planet to start with.

It's November - that is his reason. His early season hissy fit from which he comes back and is a complete team player again for 5 minutes.

Exa Inova, "80's style basketball sucked". Are you serious? Yes, the Lakers and the C's were the premier teams, but if anything that was the decade that proved that an individual would not win a title - Jordan. Continued isolations are much more prevalent from the 90's and today - Kobe waiving off the Mailman for a pick? Granted, all star game, but that is todays game more so. It's part of why the Spurs are considered boring - they play a solid, basic fundamental game.

[Rhom]

Well this certainly seems a little premature...

07 Celtics vs 96 Bulls

[Bormon]

You're getting old fast Jaime. 80s style basketball sucked. No way should we go back to the days of illegal defense and continues iso's. yes, the lakers rocked and so did the Celtics but other than that....

I dare to say that the new illegal defense rules and the influx of foreign players made the game more enjoyable to watch. That and the succes of Phoenix (btw, phx=canada, brazil, france, virgin isl.)

I agree that last years play offs sucked and I blame Dallas, Detroit and Horry for that. This year will be great. Yao and McGrady finally healthy, celts relevant, Denver Healthy, NO healthy, NY interesting, other playoff teams all a year more experienced (Raps, Bulls)

80's basketball rocked! Besides the Celtics and Lakers you had teams like the Sixers and the Pistons. I could be biased because I from the east coast. But I miss eastern teams being competative.

[Jaime L]

Yeah, 80s basketball was generally considered the pinnacle of aesthetic basketball. Sure, teams didn't play defense like they do today, but you didn't have to live in Boston or LA to recognize that you were watching something special. And the number of compelling teams orbiting the Lakers-Celtics axis far exceeds anything we've had this decade. The Bad Boys, The Barkley-Dr. J-Moses Malone Sixers, Twin Towers in Houston, the high-scoring Nuggets, The Michael Jordan show in Chicago. The only team today that captures the imagination like those 80s dynasties is the Suns (and people hope the Celtics will as well). But they're overshadowed by the Spurs, a team that at best inspires hatred, at worst, apathy.

And of course there's no rivalry even close to Celtics-Lakers.

Well this certainly seems a little premature...

07 Celtics vs 96 Bulls

So unlike ESPN to completely jump the gun like that.

I feel like they insult my intelligence as a sports fan.

[Bormon]

I feel like they insult my intelligence as a sports fan.

I think its actually more fueled by the Patriots run. The Red Sox win the series. The expectation for the Pats is a run at history. The Celtics are making a good start. Given the other boston area success stories, they are pushing this team onto the same plateau. No serious fan can honestly say that this team's expectations are that high yet.

[Relic]

wow the knicks, 6 games into the season, have imploded. sigh.

[grozeng]

Also, I agree with the sentiment that Simmons is getting steadily obnoxious when he writes about football (or at least the Patriots, the rest of his football stuff is mostly tolerable), but he still writes pretty well about basketball.

But did you see he said the Knicks have the best 6-7-8 players in the league (Lee, Robertson and Balkman - the same Balkman he said was a terrible pick). Can that be true?

[Rhom]

wow the knicks, 6 games into the season, have imploded. sigh.

With Marbury on the team, you had to know it was coming.

"Isiah has to start me," Marbury reportedly said, according to the Daily News. "I've got so much [stuff] on Isiah and he knows it. He thinks he can [get] me. But I'll [get] him first. You have no idea what I know."

Blackmailing the coach never works out all that well in my experience...

[add-on]

Well, now we have another fast-starting team, and so far they are running with the Bulls. The Boston Celtics are on pace to surpass the Bulls' 72 wins and become the second team to win 70 in a season.

Six games into the season.

:sick:

Gods, I hate ESPN.