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Someone posted pictures of the NY Post headlines. They were "Fire Drilled. May Day May Day." and "Bloody Idiot".
A decent rant for a jerk. I enjoyed it.
Awesome name, BTW.
Edit: Damn you, cyber-nanny! It was a legitimate name, not a curse!
Gregor F*cka. My inner 12 year old is giggling.
The NY Daily News backpage headline was "GLASSHOLE"
I still have a soft spot for NY tabloid headline conventions, compared to, say, The Onion AV Club's conventions.
Nah. It is pretty clear already that Roland Beech and his spreadsheets are no match for Derek Fisher's veteran clutchness late in games. Last year was an abberration.
It is funny watching Fisher coddle Westbrook. Every time Westbrook yelled at someone or got frustrated last night, Fisher was in his ear with a hand on his shoulder. I don't know if it is effective or not, but OKC clearly brought him in to try to keep Westbrook collected. If it does work, the difference between him and Sefolosha/Cook is considerably in his favor.
I am not confident at all, but I think this is the right move. Pierce played this role in the 8 games Rondo missed earlier this season - he averaged 7.5 assists and the Celtics went 6-2 in that stretch (granting they mostly played lousy teams). He also did it late in the season in a win against (Dwightless) Orlando and put up 29 and 14 with Rondo out. It's a better bet than Avery Bradley running the offense.
I think the Suns would be happy to give him back.
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If the Sixers have any chance of winning this series against the Bulls, they have to win tonight. The Bulls have already beaten the Sixers this year without Rose, so the Sixers should have a good idea of what to expect. If the Bulls are to have any sort of mental letdown, it would be tonight. If the Bulls win tonight, the series is as good as over.
The pressure is on Atlanta. Tonight they have home court and no Rondo. If they can't win in those circumstances nobody will give them a chance going into the garden with a rested and ready for revenge Rondo. Atlanta needs Joe Johnson to have a much better game, and to be aggressive early. Make Pierce work on defense and hopefully get him into some foul trouble.
In the fourth quarter of Game 1, the Celtics appeared either to realize or remember that what keeps Jason Collins effective as a post defender (he doesn't move) can be a liability when you make him defend the pick-and-roll.
Also, in the game in Atlanta in the final week where Doc Rivers rested his starters, Avery Bradley was a very dangerous pick-and-roll ball-handler himself. With Pierce and Garnett playing tonight, I doubt Bradley will be (or have the opportunity to be) as assertive as he was in that game but defending the pick-and-roll is Atlanta's remaining Achilles' heel defensively and Bradley could provide a second point of attack.
Beyond the uncertainty of any NBA game where a team only has to score 80 points to win, Larry Drew having to make defensive adjustments with no real options at his disposal is my primary worry.
If it makes you feel better, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know a little Czech, and it is frustrating to listen to people butcher names like that.
I mentioned this when Fisher sighed there; Westbrook grew up in LA, watching and rooting for the threepeat teams in the aughts. I speculated that it was a motivator for OKC's bringing in Fisher. Whether that actually justifies playing Fisher is of course another matter.
Not sure why you'd equate the headline conventions used by the AV Club and the Onion - totally different.
I so wanted, uh, Foosh-ka(?*) to sign with the Pacers ... just to see the jersey.
[* wordpress is blocked where i am, don't be hurt]
[27] There's also the (US) Americans of Latin American descent who don't use an accent where one would typically be found in their name.
Monroe's a guy on the Spurs beat and the Spurs are having a press conference, so it seems Pop is getting some well-deserved recognition.
I don't see how it'll really hurt them too much. If Chandler's over the flu, him at the 5 and Melo at the 4 seems like the best way for the Knicks to run things, given that the Heat don't have the size to punish them. I think, at least for this specific series, losing Shump's ability to guard Wade hurts a lot more than losing Amar'e.
Carmelo...has never led the league in points or points per game. He's never finished better than 5th in total points, and his finishes in PPG have been 2,3,3,4,6,8,8,NR
LeBron has finished 2nd in the league in points for 8 straight seasons, leads all active players in career PPG, and has finished 1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4 in PPG.
Nobody is going to break the media narrative of "Carmelo is a great player" enough to point out that...he's just not great. And given that volume scoring is all that he's really good at, they have to call him "a great scorer" or "the best scorer". Is there any shot that you'd want Carmelo to take that you wouldn't rather have LeBron, Durant, or even Wade, Dirk or maybe even Kobe take?
How are the Chicago radio guys? Do you have that option with either visual? Or, just go sound off - I do that sometimes as well.
Definitely TNT at halftime, though.
That's what BTF is for.
He's just not great. He's actually a negative in that he simply won't play unless everything's structured around his touches and his whims. There are some coaches who probably knew that already, but he proved it beyond dispute to observant fans this season.
No - however, Webber recently did some color commentary in these playoffs, maybe as time passes we'll see that change.
Have any of you guys ever watched the "Open Court" series that NBA TV ran (and can now be found on YouTube)? It's Barkley, Kenny Smith, Steve Smith, Shaq, Webber, Steve Kerr, and Reggie Miller (with Ernie Johnson as moderator) riffing and talking on any number of NBA related topics - best clutch player, what it's like to play under pressure, their biggest nemeses, etc, etc. It's really funny and sometimes fascinating. I highly recommend it to this crowd if you haven't seen it yet.
I remember watching this during the dark days of the lockout and really enjoying it.
Well, it can't be because of his looks, that's for sure...
Seconded. I was riveted.
I think my judgment of basketball announcing is way too lenient. I don't hate Reggie or pretty much any other national guy. The last time I remember hating an announcer was that first round Spurs-Grizzlies series where NBATV picked up SA's feed and they felt like they had to prove how much they love their team. I had League Pass this year and watched pretty much every team's broadcast; very few stood out as awful. I didn't like the Cleveland or Sacto guys, but maybe that was just an effect of the games I was watching. I have heard people complain about Walt Frazier, though I loved listening to him.
It is weird that I feel that way because there are MANY baseball analysts who I despise. I also dislike the ESPN NBA studio show. I feel like they should scrap the whole thing (Magic is the most interesting but kind of all over the place, Wilbon is ok as a facilitator, and Barry is useless) and roll with Wilbon, Shaq, and Webber. Even if they have to get those guys out of the TNT deals, they seem to have some non-aggression pact about covering the NBA, and TNT has an embarrassment of riches. Kenny and Charles can do their thing, and C-Webb needs air time. I'm even willing to let Shaq keep getting better because I enjoyed him more as the season went on.
It does seem interesting that the one guy in the room of Barkley, Steve Smith, Steve Kerr, Kenny Smith, Shaq, Chris Webber, and Reggie Miller, the guy who seemed to be held in actual awe by the others most often was Miller.
Chuck Swirsky and Bill Wennington. Unfortunately, Wennington is trying to become the new Stacey King for some reason. It isn't a great option.
I think my judgment of basketball announcing is way too lenient. I don't hate Reggie or pretty much any other national guy.
I don't hate Reggie - I should clarify, I don't hate Reggie the announcer per se, he just never has anything interesting to say, he thinks he's funny, and when he actually does spout an opinion he's usually wrong. That still probably puts him in the upper third of NBA announcers.
I also dislike the ESPN NBA studio show. I feel like they should scrap the whole thing (Magic is the most interesting but kind of all over the place, Wilbon is ok as a facilitator, and Barry is useless) and roll with Wilbon, Shaq, and Webber. Even if they have to get those guys out of the TNT deals, they seem to have some non-aggression pact about covering the NBA, and TNT has an embarrassment of riches. Kenny and Charles can do their thing, and C-Webb needs air time. I'm even willing to let Shaq keep getting better because I enjoyed him more as the season went on.
Yeah, the ESPN studio is awful. I don't like Wilbon in that format at all. I want to like Shaq, but like Simmons I think the TNT one is better when it's just EJ, Kenny and Charles.
Speaking of ESPN, Reggie Miller sounds like peak Hubie Brown compared to Chris Mullin.
On the Melo and natural scorer thing, I always think of it in baseball terms. Melo may have "more ways" to score than Lebron, or Durant, or whoever, but he scores fewer points and does it less efficiently than those guys, so what does it matter? It's kind of like Rivera; he pretty much throws the cutter 95% of the time, but they can't hit it, so who cares? Does it make him less of a pitcher than Frankie Rodriguez (just keeping it to relievers) because Frankie has more pitches to get a guy out? So unless Melo's extra weapons (assuming he has them, which for the sake of the argument we'll say he does) if it doesn't manifest itself into scoring more points and/or doing so more efficiently, what does it matter? What is the fascination?
(That versatility, if we'd grant it, has other virtues as well - though Carmelo's, ummmm, need to dictate the offense severely mitigates them. To be clear, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a fan.)
I think it matters in the sense of going against a defender/defense that is really good at taking away certain weapons. It's good from a strategy POV. That said, I still think the bar for how good you need to be at scoring methods B-Z needs to be raised or something.
EDIT: I should add that this really came about when Reggie was going on and on about Wade being a superior scorer to LeBron which seemed ridiculous to me considering 1. They have the same amount of scoring titles 2. LeBron has the 3rd highest PPG of all time 3. Since joining forces LeBron's scoring has gone down less than D-Wade's 4. LeBron is a better finisher than Wade as well as a better shooter.
Narrative in a nutshell: "Carmelo is an elite player. He must have an elite skillset. Hm, the only one I can think of is scoring. Since he only has one elite skill and he's an elite player, he must be the best or nearly the best at that skill."
Doesn't LeBron have that same skillset that is attributed to Carmelo? Or is Carmelo a better scorer in some situations that LeBron? (I doubt it)
Considering I picked the Bulls to win the title this year and honestly believed they were the best team, I'm surprised how well I've taken this Rose injury*. I feel oddly at peace; maybe it's because I saw how good the Bulls could still be without him**. Even though I really don't think they're going to beat the Heat (though I still say they get to the ECF), there's a small, small total fanboy irrational part of me that thinks they could still win this year. That part is wrong, but that tiny little hope is what's going to keep me into the playoff run this year.
*I can only assume Matt is in a gutter somewhere working on hour 72 of non-stop drinking.
**They also lost at home to NJ, Houston, Portland and Washington without him, so it's not all sunshine.
Not having Rose increases the chance they get upset before the ECF, and decreases their chance of beating Miami. But it doesn't change the most likely outcome, Heat were probably favored going into the playoffs, and Chicago should still be favored against anyone else.
Seems like every sport has to have a player who gets ballwashed by the media to a degree way out of proportion to his actual talent, and then a subsection of fans will feel the need to knock him down to the point where they are underrating him. I could say Carmelo is the new Derek Jeter in the big Apple, but it's more than that, the seeds were there even before Denver traded him.
Let's compare him to Kevin Durant.
Durant scores more points, 28.0 to 22.6
Durant shoots better, .496 to .430
Durant gets to the line more, and shoots free throws better. 7.6 to 6.7 attempts, .860 to .804 percentage.
Durant shoots more 3's (5.2 to 3.7) and shoots them at a better percentage (.387 to .335)
QED. Carmelo cannot be the best scorer under any criteria, because Durant is better than him at everything. I don't know if he's the 5th best or 20th best, but calling him the best is so provably stupid than anyone who says this on national TV or print should be forced to spend the next basketball game contemplating his stupidity while tied to the Tree of Woe.
This is not directed at you, smileyy--I'm always confused why, with so many smart people and mostly excellent analysis here, there is so much emphasis here on the garbage spewed by the MSM. Why can't we talk about basketball, instead of what someone (EDIT: some) clown from ESPN is saying about basketball?
I think maybe Lebron is just so physically dominant people don't give him as much credit for his scoring as they should? I don't know, but for example you see Kobe make a ton of tough jumpers and stuff and Wade to a lesser extent (much lesser extent, but he'll do stuff on the wing where he'll pump fake a guy in the air, lean in and bank one in or something) and I think sometimes guys get extra credit for the degree of difficulty. Like, Kobe makes more tougher shots than Lebron, so he's "better". Except that Lebron doesn't need to take as many tough shots as Kobe, and that should be a point in his favor.
I don't know, maybe that doesn't make sense, but it's something I've noticed.
Btw, I didn't realize Lebron is #3 all time in scoring per game. Guess I don't think of basketball stats like that in the same way I would for a baseball stat. Like I would probably know if Pujols or someone was third all time in Slug%.
I just wanted to add; I'm a huge Knicks fan and I watch all of their games, and I watch a lot of Miami games also, but watcjing Lebron go agaisnt Melo the last 2 games; it's just mind boggling anyone could think they are in the same league as players. ( I don't think anyone here does, to be fair). Melo is a good player, maybe very good, but Lebron is just incredible and he can do nearly anything. Melo will make one or 2 2 nice passes per game to get a guy an open look, but Lebron does that all the time.
Totally agree.
Congrats to Pop. It was well deserved.
I was hoping Corbin would get at least a few votes, though.
Even more incredible to me is that he's 28th all time in assists per game on top of it.
But he's currently tied for last in titles per game, and that's all that matterz.
Good for Pops, I have no problem with him winning.
Not without sparkplug Hakim Warrick! The Knicks are one piece away!
They need to dump that bum Tyson Chandler and get a real defensive anchor like Craig Forth.
Let's see, the Clippers went from .390 last year to .629 this year. Therefore if a team that adds Chris Paul gets .239 better, a team that loses Chris Paul should get .239 worse. Whereas the Hornets actually got .243 worse, going from .561 last year to .318 this year. Since the main player they traded Paul for was injured this whole season, that actually constitutes an improvement, normalized to the second derivative of relative wins.
On the other hand, media reports suggest that the Clippers experienced that massive improvement with no coach at all, so one might expect a Coach Of The Year candidate to significantly outperform the expected CP3 effect.
(This is surreal for me - arguing for Carmelo. Anyway, AROM's 57 sums it up well.)
Absolutely.
Monty Williams did a heck of a job this year, imo.
Does he even, though? Lebron has a better eFG% over the past two years on jumpers than Carmelo according to 82games.com.
First time using Play Index+
LeBron on jump shots from 10-22 ft is at 41.4% ('12) 44.5% ('11) 38.3% ('10). Melo over those same years is 38.7%, 41.5%, 40.9% respectively.
It generally dissipates dramatically when said players win a title, although not always.
Well, multiple conversations can go on at once. A couple of other points:
1. It is normal fan behavior, smart fan or otherwise, to be frustrated by MSM or other narratives that they believe short-sell the achievements or abilities of players and teams that they respect and/or like. Basically all the regulars in the thread have responded in that way at one time or another to perceived slights of their teams or guys, both inside and outside of the thread.
2. This is a pretty smart crew, but other than Pelton, who is sort of a guest-celebrity poster and maybe DK and a couple of other guys, most of the analysis done here, while pretty good, is qualitative. People here do check out websites and use stats to back up points, but I am not aware of anyone here doing serious NBA research on a regular basis, so jabbing at MSM guys sort of goes along with that.
I just conducted a similar check (using Hoopdata). Melo, outside of '12, gets the edge on threes and free throws (which isn't a jumper, but you know what I mean), but I admit surprise to the 10'+ data. Part of it is that Melo had a rough year, dragging down his numbers - part of it is James getting better with those shots with the move to Miami (whether from improving his shot or getting cleaner looks). For example, James has shot 46% from 10-15 feet over the last two seasons. Over the previous four from that range, he'd shot 32%. Similarly, though less dramatically, he's shot 42% from 16-23 with Miami, where he was at 38% over the preceding four seasons.
In short, I'll stand by my previous comment, granted that you give me access to a time machine. Short of that, I should profess agnosticism.
Of further note - the percentage of Carmelo's 10+ foot jumpers that have been assisted has fallen pretty dramatically. 2007: 61%, 2008: 62%, 2009: 50%, 2010: 42%, 2011: 49% (47% DEN, 53% NYK), 2012: 38%. (For LeBron: 30% with both Cleveland and Miami). Not sure how the chicken and egg works with this and the previous note.
***
I'd call what I do qualitative, but thanks!
Oh good. I guess I should've actually read the article rather than just looking at the numbers posted in #56. My bad.
Clicking on the actual link now, I think it's funny that SVG got some sympathy votes for having to deal with Howard's shiite.
Off the top of my head I'm fairly certain LeBron is the better 3 point shooter of the two or was this a typo?
Edit: I could've just looked it up. Lebron career 33.1%, Melo 32.2%
First four years of their career, Lebron was a better percentage and was essentially serviceable from 3 while Carmelo was just bad. Last 4 years, Melo improved and was actually a pretty decent shooter from 3 while Lebron stayed about the same. This year Lebron shot the best he ever has while Melo dropped off a bit. Lebron always took significantly more until he got to Miami and Carmelo got to NY. This year, Melo actually took more, which is the only time in their careers that has been true.
That said, James never shot that poorly either - post-rookie career low is 31.5% and his average for that four year stretch was 33.1%, not that much worse than Melo, using what would be the optimal criteria to support a pro-Anthony argument.
EDIT: Or what Maxwn said.
Guys like Kobe, Bird, Magic are all-time greats and leaders and have multiple championships and it's ridiculous to say but I don't think they are in the same class of players.
Even if you account for some sort of choking factor he's easily a top-10 all-time and probably top 5.
I don't know. I think most everyone does acknowledge that he's got the ability and numbers of an all time great; they're just waiting for him to win a ring or two before they anoint him as such. Fair or not, "count the ringzz!!!" has always been a huge factor in how people seem to view NBA careers.
Damn man, you almost sound like you're rooting for the Celtics.
Maybe his brother hacked in and is using his handle.
We're onto to you, Los Angeles El Hombre's Brother of Anaheim.
The great NBA players that really excite me about the game are the ones that have these freakish physical attributes. In my NBA-watching fandom, off the top of my head, these guys are Jordan, Pippen, Hakeem, Shaq and LeBron.
I would imagine the same universe in which Kevin Garnett is likable to anyone but Celtics fans.
Meh, what's specifically unlikable about a missed dunk? He went for the highlight reel dunk and missed. Certainly dumb, but unlikeable...eh. He's entertaining, often because he's entertainingly dumb, but still, he's easily the most interesting player on that Hawks team.
In other words, it is the universe where you don't have to dislike a guy just for being kind of a moron.
Like, I'm not sure if Shane Victorino is a moron or not, but I hate that little prick regardless. Ya know?
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