NBA Regular season games thread

[video=youtube;XKKYUlDyXRg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKYUlDyXRg&feature=player_embedded[/video]

lin needs the ball a lot more, instead of going passive and giving the ball to harden so he can go one-on-five.

Thunder are 20-4. They are better this year.

Rich said:

Thunder are 20-4. They are better this year.

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That Sam Presti is kind of a smart guy.

Off-loads an all-NBA caliber player, and his team is rolling right now riding an 11 game win streak off to a 20-4 start.

Has a team that could very well get back to the finals this year (maybe win it) and yet might be picking in the top 5 of the NBA draft as well to add that player to a team that is already this talented.

Talk about the rich getting richer.

Birdy89 said:

That Sam Presti is kind of a smart guy.

Off-loads an all-NBA caliber player, and his team is rolling right now riding an 11 game win streak off to a 20-4 start.

Has a team that could very well get back to the finals this year (maybe win it) and yet might be picking in the top 5 of the NBA draft as well to add that player to a team that is already this talented.

Talk about the rich getting richer.

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I'm so jealous of that team. Not only do they have 3 of the best young players in the game right now (Westbrook, Durant, Ibaka) They have a group of up and comers buried on that bench. Reggie Jackson, Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones, and I'll include Hasheem Thabeet who has played pretty well. And as you mentioned, they have that lotto pick.

Ibaka had 25 points, 17 boards and 3 blocks last night.

He has taken a huge step from last year and just keeps improving. They made the right choice to give him the deal they did, even if it hamstrung them on Harden. Replacing a scorer like Harden is easier to do than replacing a big like Ibaka who gives them what he does.

Westbrook took a nasty fall last night smashing his face into the court after flying into Blair in the lane. He popped right up to make his free throws but he was apparently wearing a splint after the game according to Dailythunder.com.

Considering his often times reckless style of flying into the lane and taking all the chances he does I was amazed to see in a CNNsi article he has never missed a game in his career, 336 straight. He is like a bionic man, crazy athletic and built like a rubber band that just bounces back no matter what.

Birdy89 said:

Ibaka had 25 points, 17 boards and 3 blocks last night.

He has taken a huge step from last year and just keeps improving. They made the right choice to give him the deal they did, even if it hamstrung them on Harden. Replacing a scorer like Harden is easier to do than replacing a big like Ibaka who gives them what he does.

Westbrook took a nasty fall last night smashing his face into the court after flying into Blair in the lane. He popped right up to make his free throws but he was apparently wearing a splint after the game according to Dailythunder.com.

Considering his often times reckless style of flying into the lane and taking all the chances he does I was amazed to see in a CNNsi article he has never missed a game in his career, 336 straight. He is like a bionic man, crazy athletic and built like a rubber band that just bounces back no matter what.

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Look at the recent history of ubber athletic slashers like Westbrook. Rose torn ACL, Wade shoulder injuries, knee injuries, etc. They can't seem to hold up to the constant abuse they take in the paint. I wouldn't be shocked to see him start missing a lot of games. He's developed more of an outside shot than Wade, and Rose, but players that small often get injured going to the rack so much.

Tim Duncan has 17 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals in fourteen minutes of playing time so far.

He's one of my favorite non-Cavaliers of all time. Even if he beat us in '07.

Bobcats up 5 against the Lakers at halftime :chuckles: Could this be the night where the Cats' 11 game losing streak ends?

Lakers now down 18 in the middle of the 3rd :wtf:

Thunder win their 12th in a row.

Durant w/ 41 and 13 rebs.

Westbrook w/ 27 and 11 assists.

This team is on one hell of a roll right now.

The west is going to be epic, thunder, clips, grizz, lakers chuckles and lets not forget the spurs

Sawduzt said:

The west is going to be epic, thunder, clips, grizz, lakers chuckles and lets not forget the spurs

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The only problem with the West having so many good-great teams is that every round is going to be a struggle for the eventual WC champs, where as the Heat won't have a problem until the ECF (if they're healthy). This means the Heat will have played a couple of likely 5 game series, where as the eventual WC champs might have played multiple 7 game series already. If it's the Spurs you have to wonder if they won't be too tired, same with the Lakers (lol).

I see a problem with Durant winning MVP too. He is the best player on the best team, which is the reasoning for a lot of MVP's (DRose, LeBron), but unlike LeBron, and to a lesser extent Rose, Durant has a great team around him. He has a potential 6MOY on his team, a player that will likely be in the top 5 of DPOY voting, and another top 5-10 player in the league on his team. You can say LeBron won MVP with Wade, and Bosh, but Wade was putting up 22/5/5 (missed 17 games), and Bosh put up 18/8, and we know the rest of the Heat weren't exactly stars... Chalmers was the next leading scorer at 10ppg lol.

Compare those two to the production of Westbrook 21/9/5, Ibaka 14/8, and Martin 16ppg.

Durant has a ton of help compared to LeBron of last year, as messed up as that sounds to say. Durant might qualify for the KG you have too much help that handed Kobe an undeserved MVP (that should have gone to CP3...).

Mdog1 said:

Durant might qualify for the KG you have too much help that handed Kobe an undeserved MVP (that should have gone to CP3...).

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I still remember the year that Kobe won the MVP. There was a lot of debate regarding it because CP3 and Kevin Garnett were really the *top* players that year. The voters widely considered to be a "lifetime achievement" award for Kobe because he never won the MVP before, and they didn't know if his numbers would ever be that good again.

Switching topics, it's nice to see Deron Williams is being exposed for the merely average PG he really is. Drove out Jerry Sloan in Utah after Sloan put in a system that made him look like a top 10 player in the league, then got traded to New Jersey where he hasn't put up anywhere near the numbers he did in Utah. Now he is blaming Avery Johnson for not putting in a system that best fits his abilities. :chuckles:

I'll bet Deron regrets ruining what he had going a couple years ago... and I don't feel sorry for him at all.

shoes22 said:

I still remember the year that Kobe won the MVP. There was a lot of debate regarding it because CP3 and Kevin Garnett were really the *top* players that year. The voters widely considered to be a "lifetime achievement" award for Kobe because he never won the MVP before, and they didn't know if his numbers would ever be that good again.

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Chris Paul should be pissed about that. He had one of the best seasons in history, and lead an average roster to the second seed in the toughest Western Conference in recent NBA history. Every team won 50 games that year in the West, and it's not like Kobe lead the Lakers to a much better record than the Hornets, unless you consider one win a much better record... That's a travesty imo, and the only reason they gave it to Kobe is so he could have one, despite the fact that he never deserved one. Kobe never met the criteria that the media laid out. He put up some incredible stat lines, on bad teams, and he put up very good stats on stacked teams.

Can't change the history, but 2008 should have an asterick.