***Official NBA Thread***

[Johnners]

Congrats to LeBron James - NBA MVP

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/rob_peterson/05/04/james.20090504/index.html

 

[Jono]

Lakers a lock tmr?

Haha obviously not. Good that I stayed away from NBA betting due to knowing jack ****.

Sounds like Yao was awesome?

 

[Anil]

yao, artest, brooks all played well...this makes it interesting...let's see if the lakers are able to step up their intensity and show that they are indeed championship-caliber...

 

[duffer]

Nene has been so good this year. He's been top 2 in the league in FG % all season long and Denver hasn't gotten him enough shots. He's getting them now and beasting all over Dallas.

It's basically become Dirk v Denver and Carlisle tried to play him as many minutes as possible in the first 3 and give him a bit of a rest to start the 4th. Problem is once he got taken out of the game Denver blew it out easily. The Mavs just have no depth whatsoever, Denver's second unit players can come in and contribute at any time but apart from Terry, Dallas is getting nothing so far. Disappointed with Bass and what he's showing, he's a way better player than his output this series, while on Denver's side Andersen, Smith, Carter, Kleiza and Balkman can all come in and offer the team something.

It's becoming very much like Paul v Denver earlier, just I think Dallas are going to be harder to beat on their home floor.

 

[Hoggy31]

Rate Bass highly too, who Detroit should be chasing this off-season.

Will be surprised if Dallas can even take a game, had nothing other than Dirk on offense.

 

[Fusion]

Nene has been so good this year. He's been top 2 in the league in FG % all season long and Denver hasn't gotten him enough shots. He's getting them now and beasting all over Dallas.

It's basically become Dirk v Denver and Carlisle tried to play him as many minutes as possible in the first 3 and give him a bit of a rest to start the 4th. Problem is once he got taken out of the game Denver blew it out easily. The Mavs just have no depth whatsoever, Denver's second unit players can come in and contribute at any time but apart from Terry, Dallas is getting nothing so far. Disappointed with Bass and what he's showing, he's a way better player than his output this series, while on Denver's side Andersen, Smith, Carter, Kleiza and Balkman can all come in and offer the team something.

It's becoming very much like Paul v Denver earlier, just I think Dallas are going to be harder to beat on their home floor.

Yeah Dallas has no depth. With Howard being injured, Dirk and Terry provided the only offense and Dirk had to play long minutes with no rest. Dirk is a special player, but he'll never lead the Mavs to the promise land by himself. He needs help. The Mavs will just have to wait till the summer of 2010 to provide that help to him.

 

[Anil]

a real dogfight between the lakers and the rockets....fisher and artest ejected, a plethora of technicals and bryant lighting it up....

 

[Anil]

..and the series all square! even in this game, other than bryant and gasol, none of the other lakers really matched the rockets' physicality and intensity, fortunately for them kobe was on fire as he predicted...but if bryant has to play like this 3 more times for the lakers to survive this round, it's going to be a long series for them...this is what i meant by the lakers not showing championship intensity thus far in the playoffs, let's see if they pass this stiff test...and they now face the likelihood of being without fisher for the next game....

 

[duffer]

Rate Bass highly too, who Detroit should be chasing this off-season.

Well Sheed and Iverson are both on their way out and their owner is very rich so they have a lot of flex for this summer. Utah have three expiring bigs in Boozer, Millsap and Memo and they won't be able to keep them all so that would be their first stop, with guys like Gordon, Ariza, Gortat, David Lee and Villanueva all expirings.

There's also a helluva lot of teams in cap and general finacial strife. Washington, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Charlotte, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans amongst others are all bleeding hard financially and can be had. There's already been talks of shopping Hamilton and/or Prince to upgrade the front court and I've even read the Wizards and Kings were willing to trade a potential 1 or 2 pick to shed bad contracts.

It's a buyers market this off-season and the Pistons are probably the richset players in it this summer. Really interested to see how Dumars spins this, could be a masterstroke to get under the cap and sweep up the best of this free agent class rather than do what everyone else is doing and entering the 2010 sweepstakes.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

How good is House to watch when he's on fire? Makes the game awesome.

 

[duffer]

How good is House to watch when he's on fire? Makes the game awesome.

Yeah, his stroke is wet. Really surprised he doesn't get more burn time with their second unit. Would love to see him and the other true shooters in next year's 3 point contest.

 

[duffer]

Anyone seen John Wall breaking and entering charge. This kid was pretty much a lock for the 2010 number one pick but looks like he's now put a huge red flag on his career prospects.

Hopefully it was just a stupid kid move where he was trying to sneak out with some mates or a chick and wanted to find somewhere quiet.

 

[Johnners]

Hawks have no answer for the Cavs it seems. From the short highlights reel I've seen of the game, they were pretty awful, especially in terms of turnovers.

Anyone actually watch the game in full?

 

[Hoggy31]

In response to np a little while ago, my New York 2k9 side:

Chandler
Harrington
Curry
Duhon
Joe Johnson
- - -
McCants, Tim Thomas, me (back-up centre, b potential ), Banks, Geiger (7th pick SF, with a+ potential!), Moran (young PF/C, a- potential), Acie Law
- - -
Cox (young defensive SG, b potential), DJ White

Trying to build a Lakers-style force, love this game. Have half the roster on 'prospect', everyone's happy.

 

[nightprowler10]

Decent lineup, a lot of ex-Bulls there. I'm sticking with a relatively small lineup. Traded away Salmons and some other rookies to get a better pick and picked up a decent SG in Hollins with a C potential (Hinrich plays SG in the starting lineup). This allows me to give Tyrus and Gray a bigger role, with the former improving his mid range shot I'm able play him at SF as my backup. Have thought about putting Gooden or Deng on the trading block for a decent Center. Nene is still my true sixth man. Here's my nine man rotation:

Gooden
Deng
Amir (have improved myself in two seasons to hold the claim of being the best SF behind LBJ and Melo)
Hinrich
Rose

---------

Nene
Ty Thomas
Gray
Hollins

 

[Hoggy31]

I like it, how'd you get Nene happy with sixth-man? Drewie Gooden (Y), got him in nearly all of my previous games. tis Wilson Chandler, not Tyson btw one less ex-bull.

 

[Anil]

Hawks have no answer for the Cavs it seems. From the short highlights reel I've seen of the game, they were pretty awful, especially in terms of turnovers.

Anyone actually watch the game in full?

it has been boringly one-sided so far, not very watchable right now unless you are a die-hard cavs fan...

 

[nightprowler10]

I like it, how'd you get Nene happy with sixth-man? Drewie Gooden (Y), got him in nearly all of my previous games. tis Wilson Chandler, not Tyson btw one less ex-bull.

Ah, should've guessed which Chandler that was. Nene gets to play almost half the game, sometimes even more than that, so he's happy enough (over 75). He's not really rated fairly in the game either so I think that has an effect on what he thinks he's worth. Has gotten me through some tough jams. Gooden is my best player in the post, love him.

What difficulty do you play at btw? I'm up to Superstar.

EDIT: Just traded Deng for Bynum!

Bynum, Gooden, Amir, Hinrich, Rose now.

 

[duffer]

Man, hectic freaking start to this Rockets game. Both teams heating up on the scoreboard already.

 

[nightprowler10]

Yao impressive so far.