NBA Regular season games thread

[dano_24_26]

Pau Gasol felt a pop in the bottom of his foot during the Los Angeles Lakers' 92-83 win at the Brooklyn Nets.

Gasol will have an MRI on Wednesday and the fear is that he tore his plantar fascia.

Gasol left the arena on crutches.
Via Brian Windhorst/ESPN

Not good for the pick

[ChicagoCavFan]

Houston has 130 and just tied the record for most 3s in a game with 23.

M Jackson said none of that, going old school by fouling everyone down 30 with 3 minutes to play. Odd ending - couple ejections, coaches not shaking hands. Houston was really trying to get that last three.

[Randolphkeys]

That was easily the most entertaining non-Cavs game I've seen this year. The first half was just insane.

[randymoss1881]

The NBA trade deadline journalism racket is a tricky minefield to navigate. The business is driven by rumors, many of which are founded in truth; others of which are utterly fictitious.

Distinguishing between the two differentiates the good basketball Web sites from the bad sites.

But figuring out who is available is not rocket science if you speak to the right people, and I speak to a lot of plugged-in people on a regular basis.

Here is the latest they are telling me: The San Antonio Spurs are the front-runners to land Al Jefferson in a trade with the Utah Jazz — and they are frontrunners like Secretariat was in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.

Here’s why, followed by a how.

“Those teams are practically incestuous, they are on such good terms internally,” one NBA source told me Wednesday.

Indeed, Spurs assistant general manager Scott Layden left Utah prior to this season after spending several seasons as an assistant coach for the Jazz and joined R.C. Buford’s staff in San Antonio’s secrecy vault front office. Also, former Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey is now doing the legwork for Utah’s grand poohbah, Kevin O’Connor.

The Jazz do not want to lose Jefferson for nothing when he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and they have a former overall No. 1 pick, Enes Kanter, ready to step in and fill the void that would be left by Jefferson’s departure.

Yes, Jefferson makes them a better playoff team. But no, the Jazz are not fooling themselves into believing they are championship material at this point.

And if Dwight Howard is not available on the free agent market this summer, Jefferson immediately becomes the No. 1 center available.

So the time for the Jazz to move him is NOW, and the team with the biggest need for an upgrade at center is the Spurs, whose inability to protect the rim was one of the prime reasons for their collapse in last year’s Western Conference finals when they had won 20 in a row and had a 2-0 lead on the Thunder, only to lose the next four.

Next: The Jazz need a point guard, and the Spurs have two of them not named Tony Parker. So you can expect Patty Mills (who Lindsey is familiar with and fond of) to be the preferable choice over Nando de Colo.

The Jazz also need some value coming back in this trade, and the Spurs have one last Eurostash asset in Erazem Lorbek, who has been profiled on this site by writer A.J. Mitnick.

Presumably they’d also ask for Tiago Splitter, because somebody would need to back up Kanter, and because Splitter is having an improved season in the year his contract expires — meaning Utah would not be taking on any long-term financial obligation.

San Antonio throws in Stephen Jackson for salary-matching purposes (almost an exact match), and voila.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/02...rson-to-spurs/


I think that trade would make the spurs clear favorites for the ring and only okc wuld be able to stop them. A all jeffrerson and Timmy frontcourt is hard to stop and tey would take miami outin five with there weak front line. But add in manul, parker, and a good defender a leonard and its money.

Would love to see the greatest PF of all time win back to back before he retires. Duncan wasnt no diva and never got into trouble dude is first class

[Joe Henderson]

In what universe was Kanter the no. 1 overall pick?

[Jack Brickman]

In what universe was Kanter the no. 1 overall pick?

I'm sure they meant former first round pick.

[godfather]

Is Rondo a little overrated? Hmm, I always wondered if he benefit a lot from the system. Celtics about to drop 6 in a row. Not suggesting they're better without him, but more proof that the heartbeat of team is KG and Pierce.

[shoes22]

Shaq offered to trade Kyrie for Faried just now on Inside the NBA...and Chuck said no.

[Tlyons]

Shaq offered to trade Kyrie for Faried just now on Inside the NBA...and Chuck said no.

Cocaine is a hell of a drug

[shaggyZ]

Shaq offered to trade Kyrie for Faried just now on Inside the NBA...and Chuck said no.

I Like Barkley until he actually tries to talk about basketball. I sometimes wonder if he has watched any games at all. He still thinks the Grizzlies are better than the Clippers and doesn't take the only guy that's in the actual all-star game for his stupid team. He dropped like 8 straight 3's in last years game.

[rabman_gold]

I Like Barkley until he actually tries to talk about basketball. I sometimes wonder if he has watched any games at all. He still thinks the Grizzlies are better than the Clippers and doesn't take the only guy that's in the actual all-star game for his stupid team. He dropped like 8 straight 3's in last years game.

Well, it's not like I don't see where you're coming from, but I also see two different perspectives.

One, they just aren't managers, and now we see why.

Two, Barkey probably got absorbed by the whole "big man" idea again... It's not supposed to be taken seriously guys!

Either way, normally, all-stars don't play often in those games, we'll it's fine. Maybe we'll be entertained this time.

[Jack Brickman]

Pretty sure the only reason Barkley didn't do that trade was because:

1. Kyrie may not play much.
2. That would be admitting he was wrong.

Also, a Kyrie with something to prove is going to be a much more entertaining Kyrie.

[Jack Brickman]

Moondog is the greatest Twitter troll:

Simmons hates John Legend too. RT @mowilliams: What's Bill Simmons talking about Jazz need a point guard. What position have I been playing?

— Moondog (@CavsMoondog) February 9, 2013

[CleveRocks]

Honestly, I did not think Amare would be constructive coming back to the knicks.. I was wrong.

Took him 7 games to blend in. Now he is averaging 17 pts, 5 rebounds with a 65% FG percentage in 24 minutes. I still dont understand why the knicks are playing more imam than copeland, but even so it looks to me as if the money they are spending might actually pay off this year.

[theshowstoppah]

Warriors are going to do a jersey with sleeves... Looks pretty lame if you ask me.

http://www.mercurynews.com/warriors/...jersey-sleeves

OAKLAND -- About 10 minutes into Adidas' pitch about an innovative new uniform with sleeves, Warriors' co-owner Peter Guber had seen enough.
"I went 'Wow!' " Guber said of the August 2011 meeting. "It was a very profound change. And I think Adidas presenting it to us and giving us the option to be the first one to do this demonstrates our willingness to be inventive." On Monday, the Warriors will unveil their yellow, alternate uniforms. They will be the first team in the modern NBA era to play in something other than a tank top.
The Warriors will debut the new unis for their Feb. 22 home game against the San Antonio Spurs, which is being aired on ESPN. They will also wear them March 8 vs. Houston and March 15 vs. Chicago.

If Adidas has its way, the new look will be a growing trend.

"It was the right moment, the right team," said Lawrence Norman, Adidas' vice president of global basketball. "Even more important, the right city. When you launch something as innovative as this -- that will change the way the players look on the court and the way the fans support the team forever -- why not launch it in the most innovative part of the United States?"
The new jersey is much less a T-shirt than the next phase in the evolution of basketball apparel.
It's being called the "adizero NBA short sleeve uniform system." And Adidas boasts it as a revolutionary marriage between performance and aesthetics.
The uniforms are 26 percent lighter than their traditional counterparts, which Adidas said its research revealed was most important to players. They come with the ever-popular moisture-absorbing feature. The sleeves are made with stretch fabric that wraps 360 degrees around the shoulder to ensure full range of motion, because anyone who has played basketball knows how a T-shirt's sleeve can interfere with a jumper.
The shorts -- which have pinstripes inspired by the Bay Bridge -- have been modernized, too. The stretch woven fabric, pricked with thousands of holes, make the bottoms as lightweight and airy as ever.
Bay Area fans will love this part: the uniform is made with 60 percent recycled material.
The Warriors and Adidas, the official provider of NBA uniforms since 2006, worked together for more than a year to bring this concept to life. Several players tested them during their offseason and the Warriors have gone through full practices in them.
"I think it will be a trendsetter," rookie forward Harrison Barnes said. "I think its something it will take people a little bit of time to get used to, but once they do it'll be good. As long as I'm able to shoot and move, that's all that matters."
Representatives from the Warriors and Adidas say they have gotten nothing but positive feedback from the performance end.

The only remaining question is the reception of fans and the basketball community.

Will people take to a shirt jersey? Is this a gimmick waiting to be rejected?

"In the early '90s, I was part of the transition from short shorts to longer shorts," said Warriors president Rick Welts, who established a reputation as a pioneer in his decades working in the NBA office.
"We certainly heard from a lot of basketball traditionalists that short shorts were sacrosanct to the basketball uniforms the way they should be. I'm not foolish enough to think some won't think we're messing with tradition. But I think it's going to be really well received. Over time, I wouldn't be surprised if every team has one."
This jersey was designed with the fan in mind.
The rationale is having a full shirt as the team's jersey allows people to represent their team in more settings. Unlike soccer, baseball and football, basketball uniforms are limited, from a fashion perspective, because they are sleeveless.
The "swingman" jerseys will run about $110, about $40 more than the traditional replicas. The authentic versions will be $300. Both will be available for pre-order at NBA.com and warriorsteamstore.com starting Monday.
Golden State is already in the top 10 in merchandise sales, according to Welts. If fans take to the new alternate jersey, the franchise could see a boon.
"We didn't do this for the sales," Welts said. "This is all about the image of the franchise and being forward."
Welts tried to get the NBA to adopt a short-sleeve jersey once before. In 1985, he saw an opportunity for a ground-breaking uniform with Patrick Ewing coming into the NBA. The Georgetown star was known for wearing a T-shirt under his jersey, sparking quite the trend.
The NBA didn't, and still doesn't, allow players to wear sleeved shirts beneath their jersey. So Welts and then-deputy commissioner Russ Granik worked with MacGregor Sand-Knit, then the NBA's outfitter, to make a sleeved uniform.
"Frankly, with the technology available, we couldn't make it work," Welts said. "It was a lost opportunity. It's taken, what, 28 years to finally do it."
Today's athletes prefer something fitted and comfortable, anything that gives any type of edge. As a result, compression shirts have become a staple in sports apparel. NBA players practice in them and many wear tank versions under their uniforms.
"It's a unique step forward for our product," said Sal LaRocca, the NBA's executive vice president of global merchandising. "There is always an ongoing directive in any company in sports apparel to continue innovating and enhancing. There have been constant developments in sports performance and teams invest millions of dollars in providing things that help players perform better."
This trend inspired Adidas to investigate a short-sleeve jersey idea a couple of years ago.
Golden State, which launched a new logo and uniform at the start of the 2010-11 season, was in the market for an alternate uniform. And Norman, an avid basketball fan and pick-up enthusiast, said he has come to know the Warriors' ownership group as innovative.
In his mind, the collaboration seemed perfect. His instinct was confirmed when Guber and the Warriors jumped at the chance.
"He stopped us midstream," Norman said. "It was the coolest thing. I get chills thinking about it. He just stopped us and was like, 'We are in. Let's make this happen. This is going to be huge.' He just recognized it right away, as if it were a 30-second Hollywood pitch and he only need 10 seconds"