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*NBA THREAD* Abe will be missed (2 Viewers)

Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
General Malaise said:
Also, Moda Center is the worst name in sports history for an arena. Rose Garden was great. Moda Center sucks. Portlanders are pissed, protesting at games.
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Sounds like a great place to buy to buy a modernist sofa.
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:lmao:

That might be cool if that's what it was....but it's not. It's a health care provider. Say, do you know what pleases people the most about healthcare in this country? When their rates go up and their provider is paying $40 MM for the naming rights to a stadium. People love that.

 
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Also this:

PORTLAND, Ore. — During the third quarter of the Portland Trail Blazers' 111-104 victory Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a 12-minute stretch in which LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 points, a fan's sign was flashed on the Moda Center's JumboTron.

"La-MVP."

Aldridge was that good Wednesday. In fairness, though, he's been that good all season, arguably the biggest reason the Blazers sit atop the Western Conference with a 16-3 record. Unleashing a feathery turnaround and face-up jumper that repeatedly found the bottom of the nets regardless of the resistance applied by two-time all-defensive teamer Serge Ibaka, Aldridge finished with a team-high 38 points and 13 rebounds — not to mention five assists.

"I've been saying it from the start — he's the best power forward in the game," Blazers guard Wesley Matthews said. "He's just willing us right now."

He played like the best player on the floor Wednesday, even with the likes of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in the building.

"He was shooting turnarounds from almost the three-point line on top of our bigs and knocking them down," Durant said of his fellow University of Texas alumnus. "That's what great players do. They come through in the clutch and make shots and he's a shot-maker.

"It looked like great defense on our part but better offense."

Predictably, those two were terrific, combining for 54 points, 33 from Durant.

The Thunder (13-4) had beaten Portland seven consecutive times, and after two periods, an eighth seemed to be coming.

A contentious end to the first half produced the game's first and only double-digit lead. Blazers coach Terry Stotts was miffed by a foul drawn by Westbrook as he was shooting a three-pointer, and his complaints yielded a technical foul. The visitors led 59-48 at the intermission.

But the Thunder were on the tail end of a road back-to-back, one night removed from a harder-than-expected triumph at the Sacramento Kings. Tired legs were evident in the third quarter, when the Blazers erased all of the 11-point halftime deficit and eventually took a 70-69 lead.


Tired legs and plenty of Aldridge.

With 4 minutes, 20 seconds left in the game left, his put-back of a teammate's miss gave the Blazers a 99-98 lead, and the 6-11 forward snarled as he raced back down the floor.

That, according to Matthews, is a sign of his evolution.

"He's taking more ownership of this team," Matthews said. "He was always a staple, a centerpiece, but now, he's embracing it. This is him. He's coming into his own."

He then scored the next six points for the home team, whose fans rose to their feet and roared in response.

"I don't know if I have the words, to be honest," Stotts said. "Offensively, obviously, he can score. I liked his toughness, his leadership, his competitive fire — as much as he played very well, a lot of the tangibles I really appreciated as well."

But even if Aldridge was the best player on the floor, he needed a sidekick. Last season's rookie of the year, Damian Lillard, struggled matched up against Westbrook and hounded into first-half foul trouble. But he proved fearless in finishing with 14 points and six assists.

And there's plenty of help, a different member of the starting lineup or a suddenly robust bench assuming a leading role. Against the Thunder, Batum was huge, drilling a three-pointer with 29.6 seconds left to lift Portland to a 108-104 lead.

Seconds later, in response, Durant's three-pointer was off. Aldridge snared the rebound and was fouled. At the line, he sank both free throws, his season-high 37th and 38th points, and the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Chants of "MVP" rained down from the stands.

"It was humbling to have that moment here," he said. "I've been here so long, had very few of those type of chants here. That was fun — it made the night that much more complete for me."
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I realize he isn't liked much, but I would be shocked if we could come up with an agreeable list where melo isn't a top 20 Player.

 
Abraham said:
I realize he isn't liked much, but I would be shocked if we could come up with an agreeable list where melo isn't a top 20 Player.
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Depends on what defines top 20 for you. If it is just points, then yup, he is. If its everything (in no particular order):

1. LeBron

2. Durant

3. Chris Paul

4. Paul George

5. James Harden

6. Kevin Love

7. Steph Curry

8. Anthony Davis

9. DeMarcus Cousins

10. John Wall

11. Aldridge

12. Howard

13. Westbrook

14. Duncan

15. Parker

16. Dirk

17. Horford

18. Irving

19. Gasol

20. Asik

21. Lin

22. Parsons

Then there is guys like Hibbert, Vucevic, Griffin, West, Drummond, Lawson, Deron, Lopez etc. who will be better than Melo over the life of his next contract.

 
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Cliff Clavin said:
Abraham said:
I realize he isn't liked much, but I would be shocked if we could come up with an agreeable list where melo isn't a top 20 Player.
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Depends on what defines top 20 for you. If it is just points, then yup, he is. If its everything (in no particular order):

1. LeBron

2. Durant

3. Chris Paul

4. Paul George

5. James Harden

6. Kevin Love

7. Steph Curry

8. Anthony Davis

9. DeMarcus Cousins

10. John Wall

11. Aldridge

12. Howard

13. Westbrook

14. Duncan

15. Parker

16. Dirk

17. Horford

18. Irving

19. Gasol

20. Asik

21. Lin

22. Parsons

Then there is guys like Hibbert, Vucevic, Griffin, West, Drummond, Lawson, Deron, Lopez etc. who will be better than Melo over the life of his next contract.
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I'd take Melo over Dwight and Irving right now.

 
Heat down 15 midway thru the 2nd to a Roseless Bulls, Chrissy Bosh with 4 points and no rebounds. This guy has not shown up this season yet. Allowing him to be a 3 point outside shooter, it was a fun little gimmick for a while but enough is enough.

 
Ministry of Pain said:
Heat down 15 midway thru the 2nd to a Roseless Bulls, Chrissy Bosh with 4 points and no rebounds. This guy has not shown up this season yet. Allowing him to be a 3 point outside shooter, it was a fun little gimmick for a while but enough is enough.
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Here's a nice piece from Grantland about why he's used that way:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10080338/lebron-james-nba-most-highly-evolved-offense

Chris Bosh is one of the most frequent recipients of those assists, and according to James he is also the catalyst for many of the team's key offensive actions. "Our offense is predicated through CB playing a lot of the high-post and 18-foot areas, knowing that he's going to be played by a lot of 5s," said James. "The centers in our league are always trying to protect the rim, and CB is always like our outlet on offense."
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"It becomes a matchup problem," James said. "Anytime you can bring one of the best defenders out of the paint — you know, like Roy Hibbert, Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, or any of these guys like Marc Gasol that protect the paint so well — that allows driving lanes for myself and D-Wade to come much easier."
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Melo is not cut out to win an NBA championship, star players do not want to play with him. Meanwhile the Heat take another night off. Can't wait to see how they do against Indiana.

 
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Ministry of Pain said:
Melo is not cut out to win an NBA championship, star players do not want to play with him. Meanwhile the Heat take another night off. Can't wait to see how they do against Indiana.
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This is ridiculous. First off replace Lebron with Melo on Knicks and they still probably don't win a title. Secondly Melo gets a the double standard from NBA fans. No win situation on one hand you say you can't win a chip with him as your #1 and then you put guys like Horford and Irving over him LOL. I have never heard the Irving or Horford can win you a championship as the premier player for thier respective team.

 
I used to be a Melo basher, but he's been bashed so much, he's underrated.

I wouldn't argue with anyone that puts him 10-20.

 
At what point do the talking heads start spinning the Heat's struggles into "the Heat don't need home court advantage to take the East"?

 
pizzatyme said:
At what point do the talking heads start spinning the Heat's struggles into "the Heat don't need home court advantage to take the East"?
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They're 14-5. They were 14-5 after 19 games last year, 15-4 two years ago, and 11-8 three years ago, won the East all three times. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that they're not particularly worried about their "struggles" yet. They've played a ridiculous amount of basketball over the last three seasons, and they don't have to worry about playing their best basketball for another five months. They're doing exactly what they should be doing. Honestly, if I was a Heat fan I'd be more worried if they were 17-2 and Wade and Bosh had played 19 games at 35 minutes per.

Not to disparage your Pacers- I was the one posting two weeks ago about how I might take them in a seven game series over Miami. But there's no reason to think the Heat are anything less than what they've been the last two seasons. The Pacers are rising up to that level, the Heat aren't falling back.

 
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If you had to pick the 8 teams to represent the East in the playoffs right now, who would you pick.

Lock: Pacers, Heat

Who knows after that.

My remaining 6 would be: Hawks, Wizards, Knicks, Bulls, Pistons, and Cavaliers

 
Timmay said:
If you had to pick the 8 teams to represent the East in the playoffs right now, who would you pick.

Lock: Pacers, Heat

Who knows after that.

My remaining 6 would be: Hawks, Wizards, Knicks, Bulls, Pistons, and Cavaliers
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Pacers

Heat

Hawks

Celtics

Pistons

Bulls

Wizards

76ers

 
Probably a little too influenced by last night, but I think CHI still lands the 3-seed in the East and I'm not sure it'll be close.

IND

MIA

CHI

ATL

CHA

DET

WAS

NY

 
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No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.

 
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
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I can see them in the playoffs and decent chance they will be if they get healthy (which isn't certain as you mention)

I didn't have high expectations going into the year for them (certainly saw in playoffs but mid level playoff at best). Celts were a .500 team last year with Pierce/Garnett & Nets got beat in Round 1 (I believe) by a Rose-less Bulls team. Too much age on the team with little chemistry together. And Kidd has no business coaching above the high school level right now. Even at 29 years old, I really believe we've long seen the best from Deron Williams.

Not to mention Garnett looks on his last legs & should be coming off the bench [though Kidd doesn't have the nuts to do that and ruffle 'his boys' feathers]. I think it's a huge problem for Kidd given he's only 1 year removed from the league & friends with most of the guys (more so than a coach to them]

 
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Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
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I could see it happening, but I like NY to win the Atlantic over NJ. That whole division is a mess.

However Nets were losing when Deron and Pierce were healthy, Garnett is a shell of himself. They are finally figuring out to play around Brook Lopez, but what's to say that is going to continue when everyone gets healthy.

 
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
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These aren't freak injuries though. They have OLD guys that are supposed to contribute. Williams hasn't been a beacon of health lately. The coach is overmatched.

 
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
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Very curious about those NY teams. Any momentum at all, and they get in the playoffs in this atrocious Conference. As bad as they look, it's probably foolish to write either off.

But as bad as the East is, the still really don't have enough of a talent advantage to make huge strides when they do get it going (given BKN's age/injury/coach issues).

BKN is a talented group that needs to get it together, but they don't really have that much more talent than DET or WAS (MIA/IND/CHI/ATL are mortal locks, imo).

It think it comes down to two of NY/BKN/BOS/TOR/CHA/PHI. Even a team like TOR, is BKN really that much more talented than them? I'm not so sure. TOR has a lot of that fantasy basketball sort of talent that had us thinking BKN and NY might be pretty good too.

 
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Craig_MiamiFL said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
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I can see them in the playoffs and decent chance they will be if they get healthy (which isn't certain as you mention)

I didn't have high expectations going into the year for them (certainly saw in playoffs but mid level playoff at best). Celts were a .500 team last year with Pierce/Garnett & Nets got beat in Round 1 (I believe) by a Rose-less Bulls team. Too much age on the team with little chemistry together. And Kidd has no business coaching above the high school level right now. Even at 29 years old, I really believe we've long seen the best from Deron Williams.
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By no means did I think they were going to be contenders going into the year but with such a terrible conference I thought they be a 5-6 seed. A slow start should have been expected from a team of "stars" all thrown together... but not this slow.

 
Timmay said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
Click to expand...
I could see it happening, but I like NY to win the Atlantic over NJ. That whole division is a mess.

However Nets were losing when Deron and Pierce were healthy, Garnett is a shell of himself. They are finally figuring out to play around Brook Lopez, but what's to say that is going to continue when everyone gets healthy.
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I like NY in the Atlantic too, and I don't think it's close. Losing Chandler was a huge blow. I think they go on a decent run when he gets back and end the season around 500.

Speaking Chandler, did anyone catch that shot of him on the sideline last night wearing what looked like a name plate on his jacket? He looked like a hotel concierge. I was waiting for someone to walk up to him and ask him to recommend a good Thai place in Park Slope.

 
pollardsvision said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
Click to expand...
Very curious about those NY teams. Any momentum at all, and they get in the playoffs in this atrocious Conference. As bad as they look, it's probably foolish to write either off.

But as bad as the East is, the still really don't have enough of a talent advantage to make huge strides when they do get it going (given BKN's age/injury/coach issues).

BKN is a talented group that needs to get it together, but they don't really have that much more talent than DET or WAS (MIA/IND/CHI/ATL are mortal locks, imo).

For NY/BKN, it's probably BOS/CHA they are probably going to battle with (might be biased on the latter there). Decent chance they could pass them, but a toss-up I think.
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Boston? I can't see them hanging around for much longer. I'd bet that CHA ends up with a better record than them. I'd say Boston is 4th in the Atlantic by the end of the season.

 
TobiasFunke said:
Timmay said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
Click to expand...
I could see it happening, but I like NY to win the Atlantic over NJ. That whole division is a mess.

However Nets were losing when Deron and Pierce were healthy, Garnett is a shell of himself. They are finally figuring out to play around Brook Lopez, but what's to say that is going to continue when everyone gets healthy.
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I like NY in the Atlantic too, and I don't think it's close. Losing Chandler was a huge blow. I think they go on a decent run when he gets back and end the season around 500.

Speaking Chandler, did anyone catch that shot of him on the sideline last night wearing what looked like a name plate on his jacket? He looked like a hotel concierge. I was waiting for someone to walk up to him and ask him to recommend a good Thai place in Park Slope.
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Only happens if they bench Bargnani or he gets injured.

 
Cliff Clavin said:
pollardsvision said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
Click to expand...
Very curious about those NY teams. Any momentum at all, and they get in the playoffs in this atrocious Conference. As bad as they look, it's probably foolish to write either off.

But as bad as the East is, the still really don't have enough of a talent advantage to make huge strides when they do get it going (given BKN's age/injury/coach issues).

BKN is a talented group that needs to get it together, but they don't really have that much more talent than DET or WAS (MIA/IND/CHI/ATL are mortal locks, imo).

For NY/BKN, it's probably BOS/CHA they are probably going to battle with (might be biased on the latter there). Decent chance they could pass them, but a toss-up I think.
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Boston? I can't see them hanging around for much longer. I'd bet that CHA ends up with a better record than them. I'd say Boston is 4th in the Atlantic by the end of the season.
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I'm talking about the likely battle for the last 2 seeds, so I'm not really confident in them either. Still, they are frisky bunch about to get their best player back.

It pains me to say that CHA very well might be about 2 weeks away from being in the MIL/CLE tier.

It may not seem like a huge deal because he hasn't been scoring at all of late, but losing MKG could really be a disaster. CHA is a terrible offensive team that's been getting by playing pretty solid defense.

Losing their best perimeter defender could really be a total disaster for them.

 
Cliff Clavin said:
TobiasFunke said:
Timmay said:
Cliff Clavin said:
No one thinks Brooklyn turns it around? I still think they sneak into the 8th spot with 37 wins or so... provided Williams returns to his former self and their rash of injuries slows down. Of course with the age of the team, the injuries may very well continue.
Click to expand...
I could see it happening, but I like NY to win the Atlantic over NJ. That whole division is a mess.

However Nets were losing when Deron and Pierce were healthy, Garnett is a shell of himself. They are finally figuring out to play around Brook Lopez, but what's to say that is going to continue when everyone gets healthy.
Click to expand...
I like NY in the Atlantic too, and I don't think it's close. Losing Chandler was a huge blow. I think they go on a decent run when he gets back and end the season around 500.

Speaking Chandler, did anyone catch that shot of him on the sideline last night wearing what looked like a name plate on his jacket? He looked like a hotel concierge. I was waiting for someone to walk up to him and ask him to recommend a good Thai place in Park Slope.
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Only happens if they bench Bargnani or he gets injured.
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At a minimum Chandler's return will seriously reduce his minutes.

Their point differential is "only" -4.1 (Nets are -8.7). Their schedule between now and their XMas beatdown from the Thunder is really soft- all Eastern Conference except the Grizz, no Heat/Pacers, Hawks/Wiz at home. They'll be favored in at least seven of those ten, maybe more. I bet they're on top of the Atlantic by new year's.

 
Craig_MiamiFL said:
"Good said:
tommyGunZ said:
Gr00vus said:
Anthony really selling his affinity for the Knicks right now. I'm afeared that Skribbles's dreams might come true.
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Would love to see Melo in purple and gold next year.
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Melo on the Lakers would make them the odds-on favorites to win the title IMO.
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Not a chance in hell.
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Yea, this is a ridiculous notion. Even if we pretend that Kobe and Melo are as good together as Lebron and Wade, the rest of the supporting cast would be incredibly lopsided towards Miami. Nash and some random league minimum guys

 
Indiana has to have the toughest 3 game stretch coming up that any team will play all year:

Away at Spurs Saturday

Away at Thunder Sunday

Home against Heat Tuesday

Talk about a gift to the Heat scheduling the first Indy/Miami game of the year right after an absolutely brutal road trip for Indy.

 
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