2009-2010 NBA Season, Lebron to Miami!

[Moss]

Do you really think Kobe would be ok with taking a few games off to rest nagging injuries? No way.

[Kibble]

His knees will start to go to shit, he's almost at 1200 games played if you take out his first two seasons.

[Dimmauk]

The thing I can't figure out is how the hell can he shoot as well as he is without using his index finger. He said he's replaced that motion with his thumb, but how does that even work?

Maybe its because nothing is really wrong with his finger? Remember when Jordan faked the Flu and scored a shit ton of points? Same bullshit.

Or, his finger is really hurt, they are giving him good treatment(drugs) and supporting his finger with splints? But that means his finger might not heal as fast or at all. I dislocated my finger in my shooting hand, and had it popped back into place, and I still was able to play, but it still hurts from time to time.

[Heavencloud]

Man, the Blazers playing now with only one of their starters from last year (Brandon Roy), and have now managed to make it to #3 in the west (due to some others losses, but meh). Seems like we're gonna burn out eventually but I'm loving this season so far.

[kisada]

yeah, heart wins games but it in the end they'll still be limited by their bodies. they're planning on playing only 8 guys on monday and by the time they reach the playoffs they're gonna be either completely worn out or having to deal with more injuries from those who are healthy now but hurt cause they played too much.

as long as you have system players, the problem with injuries isn't so much the fact that talent isn't there (though of course it matters), but when you have people missing you can't have good practices. sometimes you have a bunch of guys on the court who look like they've never played with each other, and it's probably cause they can't, at least in practice. with brandon roy you can get by on just superstardom and heart for a while, but their lack of ability to hold a decent practice will eventually bleed into live games.

i'd watch out for all the times that mcmillan calls a play coming out of a TO in tomorrow night's game. he is one of the best i've ever seen in out of timeout play execution, so if they are nailing everything and their plays aren't breaking down, then it's likely that the lack of practice isn't bothering them and that it isn't going to. but if you see only simple plays like pick and rolls or a lot of botched stuff with roy having to bail them out then they're probably hurting really badly behind the scenes.


btw steve blake getting pneumonia in the middle of all this is just, like, wow. there must be some serious black magic or something going on in portland.

[GRT]

the Blazers outta go see a witch doctor/shaman type thingy or other, that team looks more cursed than the Clippers this season, without the losing of course

[jmc]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...127_nba02.html

I swear to god, niggaz and dey guns...

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...ndedbynba.html


and

he's

OUTTA

HERE!

about time.

[Heavencloud]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...ndedbynba.html


and

he's

OUTTA

HERE!

about time.

Aww I used to like Arenas, but I really don't understand how he could be so stupid.

[jmc]

Aww I used to like Arenas, but I really don't understand how he could be so stupid.

oh, I loved watching him play........ very very good player.


I just dont like stupid people.

[Tylerl]

GILBERT, NOOOOOOOOOO

[GRT]

I suppose Stern could no longer wait to pull the trigger.

[kisada]

the lake show is soft as hell. their D isn't nearly as good as the D i saw from them last year.

the lakers really let themselves get reamed in the paint. obviously they didn't have pau tonight but even then it's not like he was first team all-defense to begin with. i thought artest was supposed to bring the pain and make them super tough but it just hasn't really happened. to be fair, craig smith kind of owns the lakers interior D pretty hard whenever he matches up against them, so it's not like they could have done much to stop him.

this game really makes me think if boston stays healthy and sheed finally gets into shape by the end of the season (and stops shooting so many 3's), that i'd have to bet on them for sure (assuming it's boston vs celtics). the lakers just aren't gonna have an answer for sheed's post game.

[GRT]

Drawing conclusion from one game much?

The very night before that Clippers game the Lakers' defense was impressive as friggin hell. Even the Clippers game wasn't lost much because of their defense per se, but cuz Kobe was cold as ice and they had to run back every other possession for transition defense, and that on top of this being the second night of a back-to-back just wore down everyone's stamina.

[Heavencloud]

Ya one loss for the lakers is really not a big deal, at all. I think it's already safe to say they're going to the finals and probably going to win another championship. Teams like the Cavs and the Magic just don't have it (again). I know it's early but at this point it's just too predictable.

[RakEx]

Lakers vs. Celtics.

7 Games.

49% Lakers
49% Celtics
2% Margin of error

[Heavencloud]

Lakers vs. Celtics.

7 Games.

49% Lakers
49% Celtics
2% Margin of error

Possibly, really depends who has an injured big man. If Garnett is out, Celtics are out, if Gasol is out, Lakers are (probably) out. If both are healthy, I can see a somewhat even matchup but I still think the Lakers have a little edge.

[Moss]

It's still early in the season, teams have plenty of time to sort shit out.

[kisada]

grt, though you bring up reasons/excuses for why they lost this one game, i'm not really talking about one game in a vacuum. and i'm not just talking about last night's game; i'm talking about other games as well when they've had breakdowns.

last year the lakers were extremely effective with active traps and swarming the ball. this helped greatly, in part, to mitigate the fact that their interior defenders aren't really that tough; they get banged around by players who are strong.

i like their defensive system (at least what it's supposed to be) quite a bit. they put lots of pressure on the ball and they make it difficult to attack. but when they're not pressuring the ball, they're not tough enough playing straight up (except kobe and artest) to just bully people out of the paint, despite their size advantage. they're just soft and get exposed when they don't can't to attack the ball.

obviously they're the best team in the west, no denying it. and when they're active defensively they are terrible to play against. but that doesn't mean they're not soft; their defense hides it well and covers it up for the most part.

[GRT]

I like how you bring up how they can't "bully people out of the paint" when the Lakers is one of perhaps only 3 or maybe 4 teams in the entire league who actually have any post up game.

And "Sheed's post game"?? LOL?? Thanks for the giggle before bed, buddy.

But ya ok, soft it is.

[kisada]

i think it was rather clear that i was talking about the laker's defense, and not their offense. let's pretend for a second that your reading comprehension wasn't completely off, and instead just say you either disagreed or didn't understand my point. i'll start over again.


one of the things that big men who are of average or worse ball-handling skills hate is when defenders come after the ball, after they put it on the floor. this is how you beat dwight howard. this is how the dubs destroyed nowitzki's rhythm in that epic playoff upset (and his ball-handling is actually fairly good for a big man). you pressure them when they try to dribble and it takes them out of their game.

so when the lakers aren't doing this and not doubling and stuff, logically they're forced to man up, right? well as i said, they aren't really very tough on the inside. bynum is good defensively but he mostly denies with his length. pau is smart but he's not as strong (nor motivated to fight hard for the paint) as his other counterparts at the PF spot. the only one who is aggressive and willing to take the hits is lamar odom. but even then he's not an overpowering beast either.

when they face up against bruising pf's or c's, if they're not trapping then they kind of get run over cause neither pau nor bynum are typically interested in a grind it out, physical battle in the paint. odom has the mentality to do it but that's about it. so when those aggressive frontcourt players go after them on the inside, there is a lot of shying away. this is the definition of soft basketball. neither pau nor bynum like getting hit; they're just not physical players despite the positions they play. and again, odom is just not that strong. this was particularly evident against the clippers when craig smith (who is 6'7 but 260 or so) repeatedly got whatever position he wanted in the low post.

the lakers have a very good defense, a top 10 one. but their defense was better last year than this year, imo. it's at its best when they are actively trapping and pressuring the ball. the (stupidly nicknamed, imo) bench mob was fantastic. i just haven't seen that same, consistent level of defensive activity from them this year as i did last year. i can't really blame bynum for not being tough down low because he's still kind of young and he might pick up that tenacity some day (though i wouldn't put money on it). but pau is notorious for being a softie. though you'd probably think otherwise, it's not really just a biased opinion; he's got a long-standing reputation for not showing a lot of fight in the low post and that's something that's shared by a lot of committed basketball watchers. i mean i can't stand the lakers, but i think pau is great. i just happen to see him (and bynum and odom) for who they are, defensively.

i can't stand the lakers for a lot of reasons, but i won't not give credit when they deserve it. they just don't deserve it for being "tough" on the inside.


anyway, re: sheed. if you think he's not good or whatever i'd like to hear what your opinion is of his post game.