NBA Basketball

[uli]

NBA 2013/14


NBA schedule to be released Tuesday; some matchups already leaked

By The Associated Press
August 1, 2013




Stephen Curry reportedly will be playing on Christmas Day against a main division rival. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK — The NBA regular-season schedule will be released Tuesday.

The schedule will be unveiled during an NBA TV special program at 6 p.m. ET that will highlight opening-week matchups and other games of interest.

It also will be posted along with the show on NBA.com.

Some marquee games have been leaked. The Orange County Register reported Thursday (via CBSSports.com) that the Los Angeles Clippers will play the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported last week that the NBA champion Miami Heat will open their season at home against the Chicago Bulls and play the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 25.

[uli]

Carmelo Anthony's 62 Point Night (January 24, 2014)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeYmRC0hFJc

[jwaggs]

Zach LaVine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYbx_PV3318

[moldyfigg]

I remember when basketball was a good game. The NBA is a circus.

[hornplayer]

I remember when basketball was a good game. The NBA is a circus.

Imo basketball is still a good game. Just not the pro version...

[bluenoter]

I remember when basketball was a good game. The NBA is a circus.

Imo basketball is still a good game. Just not the pro version...

Here's a thread (it just needs to be dusted off):
NCAA Basketball

[moldyfigg]

I lost interest in college hoops when the good players went pro after their freshman or sophomore years.

I still remember that great Florida team where the players stayed until they graduated.

That's a long time ago and hasn't been repeated since.

[steve(thelil)]

I remember when basketball was a good game. The NBA is a circus.

Total bullshit. I'm guessing you stopped really watching years ago when it was characterized by no defense and selfish play and now you don't know the players so you have no interest. So you think of the NBA as the soap opera crap about salaries and free agents you overhear in the media.

If you actually followed the NBA and watched games you'd see the defense and conditioning are the best they've ever been and the good teams' offenses are unselfish and exciting and team play is at a premium.

If you watched the Spurs last year or the Hawks and Warriors this year you'd see that the game has evolved into something very exciting and intelligent and complex.

[steve(thelil)]

I lost interest in college hoops when the good players went pro after their freshman or sophomore years.

I still remember that great Florida team where the players stayed until they graduated.

That's a long time ago and hasn't been repeated since.

There are plenty of teams that go far in the tournament with seniors. And it's only a handful to a dozen top freshman who leave each year. Of last years 30 players drafted in the 1st round, 9 left college after their Freshman year.

And the Florida team you speak of wasn't that long ago. Noah was on it. And it was well into the era when many of the very top tier of prospects top prospects left for the after a year of college.

That team just happened to have players who stayed, partly because none were top NBA prospects as Frosh or Sophomores.

Also, as far as a team with Seniors going far in the tourney "not happening again" since Florida repeating, Butler made it into the NCAA finals 2 years in a row quite recently (3 and 4 years ago, I think), with only 1 player - Gordon Hayward - who left before graduating.

And THIS Year, the very well rounded talented SENIOR Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin is a favorite for college player of the year honors. You'd probably really enjoy watching him as much as you enjoy bloviating that all of the good players leave after 1 year.

[jwaggs]

Nice video on this point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3y7cWmoBCI

[uli]

thelil, are you rooting for the Cavs now?

[steve(thelil)]

thelil, are you rooting for the Cavs now?

ULI! it warms my jaded heart to talk hoops with you!

Yep. I will always root for Lebron's team.

That said, early in the season, well before he took his 2 week "get healthy" break I KNEW his back was bothering him AND that he had no explosiveness (which we now are told that was from the back AND knee pain). His handle on the ball was obviously (to me) affected by his stiffness. His turnovers were WAY up.

Since the 2 week rest/rehab, he has played better, at times maybe even at his all-time best.

But he has not been the same force EVERYWHERE on the court that he was. Partially because he is older and not quite as strong - and partially because they realize they can't use him up like Cleveland and Miami used to - you are NOT going to see him guard a big powerful center OR a speedy point guard like the old Derrick Rose. And you are not going to see the chase down blocked shots as frequently.


And yet, he still is compared to HIS best and it's hard to measure how good he is compared to other GREAT players like Steph Curry, James Harden and Anthony Davis. I still don't think any of the other guys can help their team in as many ways as Lebron can. When his TEAM needs to get other players involved, he can run an offense like nobody else. When they need him to take over the scoring he can do that. Still, I am not happy to see the games where he takes over 30 shots, since Lebron at his best is as a ballhandler and distributer.

[uli]

thelil

good to see you sticking with your man. I am still rooting for Miami and all the other four teams i picked 3 or 4 years ago in each conference.. the only team i dropped was Boston when they traded Rondo. Have replaced them with the Bucks because i thought they have a nucleus of young players who are fun to watch and maybe they the team that could be a contender in the future. i don't follow sports news a lot and don' know why they traded Brandon Knight. I was however a bit disappointed but not enough to drop from my list. and yes the knicks are still on it too. Carmelo and the zen master deserve it.

Will watch leBron closely tonite.

The league seems to be more competitive as ever. More so in the West but the East is not chopped liver either.

Go Knicks!GoBulls!GoHeat!GoBucks!
Go Grizzlies!GoBlazers!GoWarriors!GoThunder!

[steve(thelil)]

Uli: I've always liked that you root for a bunch of teams. And I admire loyalty, although when it comes to basketball I look at it that I am more loyal to a style of play more than specific teams, so my loyalties change.

ALTHOUGH, maybe if it wasn't so painful to be a Knicks supporter and/or they were really competitive, maybe I'd be loyal to them. They were my favorite sports team ever ......at least since the Mantle/Maris/Berra/Ford, etc Yanks.

But with the Knicks in the crapper, I guess the teams I'm rooting for are Cavs, Hawks, Spurs and Warriors.

I find myself weirdly rooting against the Heat because I view their problems as confirmation of how valuable LeBron was to them. Since the hoopla about Lebron, Wade and Bosh choosing to play together, I think people didn't appreciate that other than Lebron, they really were NOT an especially talented team. They won their first title with a starting center, Joel Anthony and a point guard (Chalmers) who would never have started on any other contender.

This year, losing only LeBron as a key player - but adding Deng AND monster center Hassan Whiteside, they are not a good team and everyone is finally aware of how weak they were at the point guard position. With Bron, the same basic team was a perennial finalist and 2 time Champs. By contrast, this year, with the point guards having to run the offense in 'Bron's absence, people might realize it.

[uli]

thelil
the rooting thing is strange. probably the best way to enjoy the game is to drop it all together. when i picked the teams i picked them because i liked to watch them play most. maybe some other considerations, underdog etc have played a role as you can't pick them all. or maybe one should. my loyalty has not been with the organisation but with players,

lebron is still the man or so anybody sez even if the stats may not bear that. but to hell with stats also (next year together with rooting)

i never understood your downgrading of the heat, to say that wade or bosh are not exceptional talents is plain wrong imo.Their present problems have much more to to with injuries than anything else. the positional arguments are weird because with Lebron you don't need a high caliber point guard. the second time around they even had Allen, without his 3 in game 6 the series would have been over.


Anyway I hope you like the present Cavs better. To me they almost seem to be modelled after the heat. and with PG Irving and centers Mozgov and Perkins
nothing should keep them from winning it all.for organisatioal reasons (Gilbert) I would prefer If they had to wait for a year.

for tonite I enjoyed the wins of my bulls and my blazers.

[steve(thelil)]

Wade and Bosh are very talented when healthy and strong - an off and on thing for Wade over the last few years. And yet, with the same team around them except for Deng - a fine player - in place of Lebron, they were not even a .500 team this year.

Wade was once a guy who could make his team MUCH better and everyone on his team lookbetter. Those days are gone. Bosh never was. Despite his numbers, his Raptors always sucked.

Like your hero Carmelo - you scoring worshipper you - there are guys who have great skills and can play valuable roles, but whose styles of play do not make their teammates better - or their teams as much better as one would think.

It's just not a coincidence that Carmelo's teams have NEVER done ANYTHING in the playoffs. What player has ever performed his best as Melo's teammate? Iverson and Camby and Billups and Nene on the Nuggets? Nope. Stoudemire (who was an MVP level player until the Carmelo trade) on the Knicks ? Nope.

You tell me whose game thrived playing with Carmelo.

Similarly, it not a coincidence that Pau Gasol seemed lost and done as Kobe's teammate on a SHITTY Laker team but is back to an ALL STAR on the unselfish and defense oriented Bulls.It's not a coincidence that Gasol and Dwight Howard DID NOT WANT TO PLAY IN LA WITH KOBE, and have reestablished themselves after leaving the Kobe-dominated Lakers.

But LeBron left the Cavs and they went from finalists to sucking. He left the Heat and they went from 2 time champs and 4 straight year finalists to sucking. On the Cavs, he made fucking Mo Williams look like an All-Star (he actually made an All-Star team!). On the Heat, people (including you!) thought Chalmers was a valuable NBA point guard. He went from that to what everyone believes was a HUGE liability at point.

[A. Kingstone]

Bloody hell Thelil! You have time to post about basketball but no time for the emergency room sex toy thread?

[uli]

So what do you think of the players who surround lebron now in the cavs, thelil?

Irvin imho is a better PG than Chalmers and seem to have pretty well adjusted to Lebron. But does he still play point guard? Love had crazy numbers with minnesota and was an all star before but i dont think this year. his numbers have dropped considerably. i do'nt hold that against him, he plays a different role now he has to adjust to Lebron too. Neither of them has ever even reached the. playoffs. i am not sure but besides perkins and maybe mozgov with the nuggets the two other players who have playoff experience are Smith and Schumpert as members of the hitoric melo knicks.

[steve(thelil)]

Great Question, Uli (and Great observation, A Kingstone!)

I don't know about the other Cavs.

Even at their best this year they seem to be too much about isolation on offense and not enough ball movement and spacing.

. Love IS playing a different role, but he is also clearly not as confident or accurate with his shooting. And like you, I wonder about Kyrie having a true point guard, mentality.

But there have been moments when they were really clicking on all cylinders on offense.

The guy I love is Tristan Thompson, a real hustle and muscle power forward off the bench. I'll be amazed if JR, a real bonehead if there ever was one, keeps it together mentally. I hope so because he and Shump on defense will be really important on defense, since I don't think you're going to see Lebron switch to guard the opponent's best offensive player - be it guard, forward or center, like he used to. And in the playoffs he used to do this practically every game.

[uli]

hope you saw last nites game between san a. and the cavs. very tight and entertaining game. not htat the spurs did not play well. but Irving was in the zone and took over the end of the game. 57 baskets. but you are right offensively mostly isolation going to the basket and making the impossible shot( including 3s like the one that sent the game into overtime. as you know from my admiration for melo i am not an absolute opponent of isolation and consider it exciting to watch when it can lead to a win over a well playing team. on defense the matchup lebron/leonard was a basketball lover's delight.
.

[steve(thelil)]

Sure isolation is great to watch when it works.

It's just that spacing and ball movement by teams with great court awareness is more likely to get GOOD shots in the clutch and the teams that excel at that are more likely to be consistent enough to win it all.

Who was the last team to with a title that was NOT an excellent ball movement team. Who was the last NBA title team that consistently relied on isolation plays in the clutch in the playoffs? When was the last time an NBA scoring champ was on the NBA championship team?

I don't know either.

[uli]

ithink today is officially march madness. what better time to theorize nba basketball with thelil

Sure isolation is great to watch when it works.

It's just that spacing and ball movement by teams with great court awareness is more likely to get GOOD shots in the clutch and the teams that excel at that are more likely to be consistent enough to win it all.

i couldn't agree more in theorie.

When was the last time an NBA scoring champ was on the NBA championship team?

I don't know either.

i don't think there was any since and my best guess would be Michael Jordan, most possibly the greatest basketball player ever. Multiple times. everybody knows that;

[uli]

i don't think there was any since and my best guess would be Michael Jordan, most possibly the greatest basketball player ever. Multiple times. everybody knows that;

my guess was not completely accurate the great kobe bryant did it in 2007 i believe.

[steve(thelil)]

i don't think there was any since and my best guess would be Michael Jordan, most possibly the greatest basketball player ever. Multiple times. everybody knows that;

my guess was not completely accurate the great kobe bryant did it in 2007 i believe.

Kobe led the league in scoring in 2007 at over 31 points a game.

The NBA champs that year were the San Antonio Spurs, whose leading scorer was Tim Duncan. He scored exactly 20 points a game, less than 2/3 of what Kobe scored.

[uli]

you are right, thelil. the last and only scoring leader after Jordan who also won the championship was Shaq wih the lakers 1999 - 00. MJ was the leading scorer during all six seasons he won the rings. maybe it has something to do with the triangle. go Melo!

ps entertaining game on now between GS and Blazers. two of my favorite teams