Thibodeau played Deng, Noah, and Belinelli 47, 44 and 45 minutes tonight, in response to Hinrich and Gibson being out (Gibson played 12). Boozer only went 22.

Last night was the 4th game in 5 nights for the Bulls, Deng played over 40 minutes in each (this game being his high minute mark). Gibson* was ejected in the 2nd quarter on a really weak double tech (it seemed like a baseball ejection) - he seemed to earn a tech complaining depending on what he said, but not sure why he got 2. Hinrich hurt his elbow or something and didn't play in the 2nd half (he played 15 min in the 1st half). Like I've said before, Thibs is going to run Deng and Noah* into the ground (still 1 and 2 in MPG at 41.2 and 39.8 respectively). When Rose comes back this year, he's going to be the only player healthy.

Considering it was the first time I've extensively watched the Knicks this year (and the previous factors mentioned for the Bulls), I can conclusively say in response to NJ's post 116 is No. Or more accurately, they're exactly who I thought they'd be. They're tougher than last year (any team that adds Kurt Thomas is automatically 75% tougher) and are probably not going to go out quietly in the playoffs to anyone. They might be the 2nd best team in the East at the moment, but I think that's just as much (from my perspective anyway) other teams struggling/underperforming than the Knicks being better that projected. I'll be surprised if Kidd and Felton are this good all year (it's a career year for Felton so far and Kidd is playing as good as he was in his Nets prime), and that probably brings the Knicks back to the pack. Remember, this is based solely on one game played without Melo and looking up their stats, so take that for what it's worth...

*Taj is actually playing the fewest MPG of his career so far this year (19.9). He is struggling, his stats are virtually career lows across the board, including his shooting. He seems to be mentally struggling too (or as a result, not sure which is the cause and which is the effect) and his defense is suffering at times. Hopefully he snaps out of it soon, I would have thought he'd be playing closer to 30 mins a night.
**Jo almost had a triple double - 10pts, 11reb, 9TO.

This is just amazing.
Worst freethrow ever

This is just amazing.
Worst freethrow ever

someone must have turned on the air conditioner.

I've praised Javale all year so I feel obligated to come here and point out that there is 8:52 left in the game against the Knicks and he has played mindblowingly terrible basketball today.

I think this gif perfectly encapsulates JaVale McGee.

I now he does some bad things on the court but at what point do you just play the guy 30-35 minutes a game and see what happens? His PER is 24.2. It's not the only number that matters but that's a big a number.

This is just amazing.
Worst freethrow ever

I really hope a points shaving conspiracy is behind this.

Marc A. Spears:

NBA says Spurs Stephen Jackson has been fined $25,000 for "issuing a hostile statement" at Thunder's Serge Ibaka in a Twitter message.

The Spurs may have fined him as well, not sure.

The message, for posterity, was:

Somebody tell serg Abaka. He aint bout dis life. Next time he run up on me im goin in his mouth. That's a promise. He doin 2 much.

Somebody tell serg Abaka. He aint bout dis life

Is Stephen Jackson auditioning for Bad Girls Club?

"Somebody tell serg Abaka. He aint bout dis life"



Is Stephen Jackson auditioning for Bad Girls Club?

I was puzzled; isn't prioritizing the life to come exactly what a good Christian should do?

The message, for posterity, was:


He clearly wrote the apology, too:

I apologize to @sergeibaka, the NBA, and to all my fans for the comments i made. It was unprofessional and childish. Im not a thug just a man who speaks his mind. It was not appropriate. I do apologize. Only a man can admit when he's wrong.

Only a man can admit when he's wrong.

I bet "serg Abaka" has never admitted that he's wrong, and thus, is not a man.

This Big Country retrospective is magical.

lin's having a real good game again tonight.

he hasn't been doing too much passing (a couple were dropped) but he's back to being aggressive within his game. a couple of his two pointers were "foot on the line" twos...

Manu's taken over overtime.

neal can't miss when he's open.
rox couldn't stop parker either.

I've been to 2 Nets games -- I think that makes me a Nets fan.

I have barely watched a second of them on TV otherwise.

Based on that huge sample, I have some observations:

1. I've yet to see a game where Deron Williams was the best guard on the floor. In fact, he was pretty thoroughly outplayed twice, by Kyle Lowry and Brandon Jennings.
2. Kris Humphries looks awful, I hate his game. He looks to be by far the worst big that the Nets put out there.
3. Joe Johnson really look useless. The Nets look a lot better when he's not on the floor, IMO, and their small lineup that includes Williams, Marshon Brooks looks pretty good.
4. Gerald Wallace is a beast, at times.

1. I've yet to see a game where Deron Williams was the best guard on the floor. In fact, he was pretty thoroughly outplayed twice, by Kyle Lowry and Brandon Jennings.


This is year three of him not being what he was. At what point do we stop saying it's a slump or a bad year and just say that this is what he is now?

Its probably about that time. I think his previous total upside is a reason that you can't write him off completely -- I could see him having some sort of late-career resurgence based off of a new use or twist on his previous skills.

The post-Sloan demise of Williams and Boozer.

First Hollinger Playoff Odds Report:

EAST
1. NYK 58-24
2. MIA 53-29
3. BKN 48-34
4. ATL 48-34
5. CHI 45-37
6. BOS 44-38
7. IND 42-40
8. MIL 41-41

WEST
1. SAS 63-19
2. OKC 61-21
3. LAC 55-27
4. MEM 53-29
5. GSW 46-36
6. DEN 45-37
7. UTH 44-38
8. LAL 42-40

EAST
1. NYK 58-24 under
2. MIA 53-29 over
3. BKN 48-34 under
4. ATL 48-34 fine
5. CHI 45-37 over
6. BOS 44-38 over
7. IND 42-40 fine
8. MIL 41-41 fine

WEST
1. SAS 63-19 fine
2. OKC 61-21 fine
3. LAC 55-27 fine
4. MEM 53-29 fine
5. GSW 46-36 fine
6. DEN 45-37 fine
7. UTH 44-38 fine
8. LAL 42-40 over

Hmm, no mention of the ball punching or ball wrestling incidents from last night.

Maybe I just don't remember the playoff odd reports from this early in the season before, but those variances between best and worst are quite amusing to me. Eyeballing it, most teams have a variance of about 30 games or so. I mean, what's the point?

The Woj article about Love and the Wolves was horribly depressing to read. I went into it trying to just focus on what Love actually said, not Woj's hatchet editorializing, but Love's own comments were almost completely transparent about his desire to get as far away from Kahn and Taylor as possible. It kills the fallback of "there's always next year," which is pretty much the lifeblood of sports. Now I am left watching every game as a referendum on his possible future with the team. Way too much pressure.

I am definitely taking the under on the Warriors.

Those odds are useless since they don't use priors at all, and the variances are useless since they assume that the team strength is absolutely known based on what we've seen so far. They really don't tell you anything that the standings don't -- all the playoff odds are gonna be too close to 0/100, and the projections are just going to look like the current records with some mild pyth/sos adjustments. If you actually wanted to make reasonable playoff etc. odds you could put effort into this (not that I am saying that Hollinger should or that this is a good use of his time).

Hmm, no mention of the ball punching or ball wrestling incidents from last night.


the punch: pretty run of the mill from Cousins.
the wrestling: the only entertaining thing from that game. I think the Blazers going 0-20 from three and still winning was more interesting. And, wow, the Raptors have mailed in the season already?

I am definitely taking the under on the Warriors.


I guess I would, but not much under. I think they're better than .500, and I'm not sure they're any worse than Utah or Denver.

What is LA's record since D'Antoni took over?

Don't know, but apparently they're 1-10 this season when Kobe scores 30 or more? Which would seem to mean that when the team is going bad, he tries to do/has to do too much. Amazing that he's doing it efficiently, too, and it still hasn't been enough.

Edit: Watched highlights of tonight's game, saw Varejao just blow by Howard. Was just one play, but did not look like the Dwight Howard I remember. (Have barely watched LAL so far this season.)

I am definitely taking the under on the Warriors.

I guess I would, but not much under. I think they're better than .500, and I'm not sure they're any worse than Utah or Denver.

But the Warriors have one major disadvantage those other teams don't - they're still the Warriors.

What is LA's record since D'Antoni took over?

I'm pretty sure they were 1-4 when Mike Brown got fired. That would make them 8-9 since then. Looks like Bernie Bickerstaff went 4-1 during his brief reign, so that would make D'Antoni 4-8. I haven't really watched them and only took like 3 secs to google around for this, so it's possible that's not all exactly right.

Don't know, but apparently they're 1-10 this season when Kobe scores 30 or more? Which would seem to mean that when the team is going bad, he tries to do/has to do too much. Amazing that he's doing it efficiently, too, and it still hasn't been enough.

See, the last line of this quote is why I don't think it's accurate to phrase this as Kobe trying/having to do too much. He's scoring 29 a game on a 61% true shooting percentage this year. If you can score that much that efficiently, then damn it, you should. To believe that their struggles are related to Kobe doing too much, you have to believe that there's some sort of secondary effect on the offense, from taking everyone else out of their game or something, that overwhelms the primary benefit that you get from someone scoring 30+ on 61% TS. I find it impossible to believe that the secondary effect can possibly be that large. Hell, I'm not even sure that I can believe that the secondary effects of someone scoring that efficiently on the offense of other players can even be negative.

That doing too much description is sort of a holdover for previous seasons where Kobe wasn't nearly this efficient. It might have been plausible those years, but I can't buy it this year.

Shouldnt that have been over the back on griffen on that dunk? Or at least a foul for mugging nate i cant wait to take a bad shot robinson right aftet?

Then again i may be biased.......i cant wait for rose to return

See, the last line of this quote is why I don't think it's accurate to phrase this as Kobe trying/having to do too much. He's scoring 29 a game on a 61% true shooting percentage this year. If you can score that much that efficiently, then damn it, you should.

This. Look at tonight's game, for instance. The non-Kobe contingent shot 15-47 (32%), and 4-16 from the arc (25%). A bunch of those 3s were wide open looks, but shots were often hurried and guys just looked off-balance.

Edit: Watched highlights of tonight's game, saw Varejao just blow by Howard. Was just one play, but did not look like the Dwight Howard I remember. (Have barely watched LAL so far this season.)

That made the highlights, but Howard played a man's game tonight. D12 played some incredible defense, especially in the 2nd quarter, changing shots and grabbing boards and trying to cover the entire painted area by himself. The Cavs had 25 points in the 2nd quarter, but they should have had 35, and by the 4th, you could see Howard was gassed.

Yes, Kobe and Howard are great, but look at what the Lakers have on the floor next to them. Duhon, Hill, MWP, Jamison... You can't win championships with those guys all playing 25-35 minutes a night. Until Nash and Gasol come back healthy, the Lakers just don't have playoff-caliber talent on the floor. That being the case, I have no problem with Efficient Kobe shooting 30 times a game.

The Lakers are in fact 4-8 under MDA.

Hombre is right about the talent, and I said as much an hour ago on the Lakers blog where I now spend most of my NBA on-line mouth-off time.

Kobe jacked up a couple of dumb 3s late, trying to bring the team back, but he was 7/10 from the floor in the first half, hardly overshooting and hitting what he was taking, and the Lakers were down 54-39. The Lakers have no one who can create offense except him, no good ballhandlers, and they're slow as hell, so they get killed in transition and on TOs night after night. The other team always gets several easy baskets, and the Lakers get very few. It is hard to win that way, particularly when you have a coach who likes the pace MDA likes.

Where Kobe deserves sharp criticism, as I have said, and he got some on the Lakers' TH affiliate yesterday, is for his lazyass D. He is not alone on that on the Lakers, but he is a big part of the problem.

As to Howard, he is not the problem, either--Hombre is correct there. But I do think he is at present about 75% of what he used to be, due to the back. He seems to have a bit less mobility and explosiveness. No idea whether he will ever get it back.

There are many "chemistry" things going on--MDA seems inflexible; Howard is miserable and if this keeps up, he will walk. But it starts from talent. This team was based on the premise that Howard, Nash, Gasol, and Bryant would play 65-80 games apiece and would do so at their recent historical levels. Kupchak surrounded them with limited guys who are 10-20 MPG players, who can do 1 or 2 things, and the idea was they would fit around the core four, with MWP playing enough D to make him adequate at the 3 if he didn't have to score. There was room for disagreement about how well that would work, how likely it was those four guys could do the job that they have done historically, and how good such a team would be, but the whole thing was based on Bryant, Gasol, Nash and Howard adding up to 4, not 1.75.

Meanwhile, the Clippers have won seven straight.

Melo.

As to Howard, he is not the problem, either--Hombre is correct there. But I do think he is at present about 75% of what he used to be, due to the back. He seems to have a bit less mobility and explosiveness. No idea whether he will ever get it back.

FWIW, this is what I thought in the handful of times I've watched them this year. It's not accurate to say that he's bad, he's obviously still pretty damn good, but he doesn't look quite the same. To be fair though, one of the games I watched was when they played Memphis, and that looks to have been easily the worst game he's played all year.

Also, to be clear, I don't think D'Antoni is a helpless victim in the Lakers' problems. To this point, my optimism about the hire has been very misguided. I expected him to make a few adjustments to adapt to the personnel; from what I have seen, he isn't really doing that. He is getting more out of Meeks and Jamison; SSOL is a good system for guys who can shoot a little even if they can't do much else. But overall, it isn't working, obviously. The Lakers are playing a 12th man and DLeaguer at the most important position in the MDA system. Add that to the other guys they are using, and you would need 1989 Jordan and 1972 Kareem at the 2 and the 5 to make it work.

I don't want to exhaust you, Robin (or Hombre), with Laker talk, but isn't Magic kinda right about Gasol? I've always liked his game, he seems to be critically important to the Lakers as really (aside from Kobe) their only skilled offensive player, and a really good defender. How or why has he become the "problem" in all this? Why can't his game coexist with Howard's?

Just as a basketball fan I am enjoying Durant, Melo and LeBron's 3 point accuracy thus far. Also enjoying that LeBron has the REB/FG%/FT% numbers of a 4/5, the PPG of a high usage wing, the 3P% of a spot up shooter, and the AST/TO numbers of a PG. He has to have one of the all-time weird stat lines going right now.

I'm a casual NBA fan in Toronto. I'd like to ask the experts - is Toronto really this bad? They seem like they have some talent. I"m not saying they're good, but they're playing like the worst team in the NBA right now. I would accept anything in a trade for Bargnani.

I don't want to exhaust you, Robin (or Hombre), with Laker talk, but isn't Magic kinda right about Gasol? I've always liked his game, he seems to be critically important to the Lakers as really (aside from Kobe) their only skilled offensive player, and a really good defender. How or why has he become the "problem" in all this? Why can't his game coexist with Howard's?

Talking about them is less exhausting than watching them. Pau isn't really *the* problem; but he is a problem. His basic metrics were all way down prior to his sitting down to rest the knees:

PER: 15.0 (20.5)
TS%: .474 (.547)
WS/48: .101 (.165)

Part of that is age/mileage, part of it is how he is being used. Odom was the perfect complement for him, and the Triangle was the perfect system. So, combining the two factors, he looks really bad, and he takes a lot of excessive crap due to his personality/style. Mt. Magic's periodic LakEruptions are usually pretty lame, but like, you, I agreed with some of what he said there.

As to how to move forward with Pau, I would try using Howard up high, facing the hoop, more, and as everyone has said, I would split their time more. They are + 3.8 together, as per Pelton, which is much lower than Howard/Jamison, or Hill/Pau.

As to the Lakers in general, there are two fixes at the margins they can try:

1. As is now being rumored, pick up Delonte West. He is better than Blake, Duhon, or Morris, and assuming that he is in game shape, they should put him on the floor. They are 9-13 and cannot afford to worry about West's baggage.
2. Get rid of Ebanks or Clark and try to find a DLeaguer with a little athletic ability to backup MWP whom MDA will play 15 MPG. There are usually guys like that in the DLeague, and if nothing else, it would get a young guy on the floor who would hustle. Or, since MDA is playing Kobe a shitton of minutes anyway, he could do the same thing Phil did with Shannon Brown--basically make Kobe the backup 3, and play Meeks 25-28 minutes a game.

MDA also needs to do something tactical to try to improve floor balance and TOs, if he can, other than just saying "Wait until Steve comes back." I would integrate more Princeton sets (E.Jordan is still on the staff) than he has been, and tell guys to get back and worry less about the Oglass. Pelton pointed out that Hill/Howard lineups are getting crushed in transition in part since those guys are both very active on the OGlass.

None of that will matter unless is Nash

a) Back pretty soon
b) Nash
and Pau is closer to what he was last year when he comes back, but the Lakers need to play out the hand.

Finally, while I am not into chemistry/team dynamics arguments, there is a need for:

1. MDA to look in the mirror. The Knicks are 34-11 since he left and the Lakers are 4-8 since he came.
2. Kobe to look in the mirror about his D.
3. Howard to look in the mirror about his attitude. ISTM that he doesn't really want to be here.
4. Kupchak and Buss to re-evaluate how they are choosing bench players.

Howard is miserable and if this keeps up, he will walk.

My immediate gut reaction wants to call BS on him walking. We're talking the Lakers here, who's the last all-star to walk away from them? But Howard really does seem like the guy who just might do that, and immediately regret it. Obviously there's the added year/money, but also the prestige. However, if this year doesn't straighten out, not only might he want to leave but the team might not want him back. Of course, I highly doubt things don't get fixed (whatever that means; they probably aren't winning the title though). My question now though is, would the Lakers risk letting him walk? Or if they're still floundering/under .500 come the trade deadline, would they consider trading him?

Meanwhile, the Clippers have won seven straight.

Lots of Vinny snark on Bulls twitter feeds last night, but that team looks better than I would have ever imagined a Vinny team looking. A lot of that is Paul, but Hubie pointed out a lot of good things that the Clips were doing in their offence to react to the Bulls defense. Both Noah and Deng played 40+ mins again, and both are starting to show fatigue. Thibs is killing them. Bulls play at Philly tonight. If Deng or Noah have anything left, I'll be shocked.

I'm a casual NBA fan in Toronto. I'd like to ask the experts - is Toronto really this bad? They seem like they have some talent. I"m not saying they're good, but they're playing like the worst team in the NBA right now. I would accept anything in a trade for Bargnani.

Sorry, I don't see a whole lot of talent. I like Lowery, and that's about it (haven't seen enough of Valanciunas to have an opinion one way or another). Anyone checked in on WOW to see how they feel about their prediction for the Raps?

I'm a casual NBA fan in Toronto. I'd like to ask the experts - is Toronto really this bad? They seem like they have some talent. I"m not saying they're good, but they're playing like the worst team in the NBA right now. I would accept anything in a trade for Bargnani.

Lowry is really good and I think Valanciunas can eventually become good. I think part of the problem is that they are playing at a slight disadvantage at every other position all the time, especially on defense. Derozan, Ross, Pietrus, Kleiza, and Calderon have trouble staying in front of anyone ever (and offensively, none of those guys are good at getting easy points, only long twos). They do not have strong defensive bigs who can help them if they fail. In fact, Bargnani is the exact opposite. Davis and Johnson might be something, but neither plays enough to tell if they are better than limited bench guys.

I'm a casual NBA fan in Toronto. I'd like to ask the experts - is Toronto really this bad? They seem like they have some talent. I"m not saying they're good, but they're playing like the worst team in the NBA right now. I would accept anything in a trade for Bargnani.

Agree with Moses. They've got two potential All-Star caliber players (Lowry, Valunciunus) and a few role players. Unfortunately, some of the guys have completely mailed it in, and some are just meh good. They'll make some trades, but I just don't know what they're going to get.

1. MDA to look in the mirror. The Knicks are 34-11 since he left and the Lakers are 4-8 since he came.

I agree, but only to a certain degree. I wasn't a fan of the hire — RR can attest to that. When you hire D'Antoni, you know what system you've agreed to buy into, so if there are fingers to be pointed, they need to be pointed at Jim Buss for hiring D'Antoni given the talent on the roster and the limited flexibility of the roster given the salary cap challenges. Of the projected best starting 5, only one of those guys is a truly excellent 3-point shooter, and the only young starter is coming off back surgery. Anyone who thought the Lakers would suddenly right themselves by casting off Brown was dreaming.

2. Kobe to look in the mirror about his D.
3. Howard to look in the mirror about his attitude. ISTM that he doesn't really want to be here.

Kobe's like every other Laker perimeter defender right now: He's not playing a lick of defense, and I think the stop he got against Irving in crunch time was the first time he's even tried this season. Howard's defense, when he's playing it, is as spectacular as advertised. He's simply a beast in the lane, but you can see him visibly wear down over the course of games, and especially on the back end of a back-to-back. His attitude, on the other hand... not great. I can see how maddening having him on your team can be, what with his it's-all-good attitude.

I get the feeling the team is in a holding pattern psychologically, waiting for Nash and Gasol to get back before really trying to get down to business. (They're 40% of the starting lineup, after all.) Nobody — not the coaches, not the players — is looking to really change the dynamic of the team's chemistry because it's just going to change soon. It's just all bad right now.

As for Pau... We've talked a lot in the past about how wonderfully skilled and well-rounded his game is, but he does have weaknesses. He's not a great shooter outside of 15 feet and he's not fast up and down the court, and D'Antoni's system exposes and features those weaknesses. Spending less time with D12 would help, but he's most effective in half-court sets, and I'm pessimistic that D'Antoni's going to be able to figure something out for him that fits in the flow of his system. It's probably best the Lakers trade him for someone who's a better fit, and that's a thought that makes me sad. Also, I'm not that's even possible at this point. I have no idea who they could get that'd jive with his salary besides Alfonso Soriano.

As to the Lakers in general, there are two fixes at the margins they can try:

Agree with both 100%.

who's ready for bulls-sixers tonight??? first to score 70 wins!!! WOOOOO!!!!

Lots of Vinny snark on Bulls twitter feeds last night, but that team looks better than I would have ever imagined a Vinny team looking. A lot of that is Paul, but Hubie pointed out a lot of good things that the Clips were doing in their offence to react to the Bulls defense.

A good floor general will do that for you, and the Clippers now have two in Paul and Billups.

The Clips are so deep, it's crazy. Their second 5 consists of:
PG Bledsoe
SG Green (who starts, but doesn't finish)
SF Barnes
PF Turiaf/Odom
C Turiaf/Hollins

They only need Turiaf and Green for 15 minutes, and they're getting tons out of Barnes and Bledsoe. When teams start subbing at the end of the 1st quarter, a gap really opens up between Clipper's talent level and that of their opponent's. When Bledsoe, Barnes and Crawford get subbed in after 8 minutes or so, the Clips lose nothing. How many teams can say that about their bench? The Clips go deep.

who's ready for bulls-sixers tonight??? first to score 70 wins!!! WOOOOO!!!!

What's the o/u? Has anyone ever bet on the uberunder?