Anyone else surprised the Knicks beat the Heat? The Heat don't have an excuse, no one was injured, its not like they've been playing a grueling schedule or anything. I thought it was a highly entertaining game.
They didn't want to be there. That game was over as soon as Carmello made that speech before the game.
One of the better teams in the East? Really? 14 of 19 vs the shutdown defense of Kyle Korver is pretty impressive. Is Korver retarded or autistic? I can never remember. I dont care who its against, its more games than I thought the Rockets would win in a week.
I'm not terribly surprised about the Knicks. It was an emotional game and the Knicks have always been capable of playing like a top team for short periods of time. Every once in a while, Melo will play up to his reputation.
The Golden State Warriors are tied for the top of the Pacific Division. I need to point this out now as no doubt it will be the only time of the season that they are.
Not that I expect them to truly be a top team, but Golden State's lineup intrigues the hell out of me. They have average to above average starters at every position, and a very solid core of backups. Landry has always been an underrated guy, and suddenly hes a scoring machine. Add in that they'll likely be improving (Curry, Barnes, and Thompson because of youth, Lee and Bogut because of a few rough years), and that they now have some players who are defensively talented enough and efficient enough to really execute what Jackson wants to do. They could be very interesting to watch over the next three years.
The Hawks are probably going to wind up with a 4 or a 5 seed. There's no way they're not at least in the top half, and they're almost certainly in the top third of teams in the east. Therefore, yes, one of the better teams in the East.
I guess it's all relative. Top team in the East is sort of like the World's Tallest Midget. They did beat OKC tonight, so Im not sure what that says about either team.
Has anyone else watched the 76ers yet? Yeesh. I know they're still lacking Bynum, but that offense looks disorganized and terrible. Watching them try to put the ball in the hoop is like watching a virgin trying to find the right hole. The addition of Nick Young confuses the hell out of me. He's the opposite of everything that helped the Sixers win last year, and even the things he could hypothetically provide come better from Dorrell Wright. The Knicks, on the other hand, might be a legit 4 or 5 seed this year. Carmelo is playing well and smart, Tyson Chandler is being Tyson Chandler, and the trio of point guards are running the offense pretty well. Obviously Kidd, Chandler, and Smith's shooting production will taper off (57%, 69%, and 44% respectively, with Kidd and Smith shooting 62% and 55% from three) and it remains to be seem what happens with Amare, but they'll be worth watching.
It keeps getting asked and dismissed, but are the Knicks a better team without Amare? Seems like without him, especially this season so far, people know their roles and have embraced them. I was impressed when they beat the Heat on the lack of the Melo dominated offense. They moved the ball well and took open shots.
Amar'e and Melo cannot play together on the same floor. Conflicting styles. If you took either player off the floor, the team gets better. When Melo was injured they did well, when Amar'e was injured they did well. Linsanity happened when Melo was injured, and vanished when he came back. It is how its going to happen.
I used to be pretty neutral on Nick Young, but all the stats I read about him suggest he's one of the biggest chuckers in the league. Basically all he does is take inefficient shots, which is pretty much the worst possible skillset towards being a good team player.
Ha, it's not even close. Josh Smith has gone through stretches where he takes ill advised shots for sure, but he still passes more than Nick Young. Plus, Josh Smith does all sorts of other stuff -- rebounds, steals, blocks, so you understand why a coach would live more with that. Let me put it this way -- you think Josh Smith is a chucker. Fair enough. He's averaged 3.1 assists in his career from a forward spot. Nick Young is a guard, and as averaged less than 1 assist per game. That's really hard to do. You can almost stumble backwards into one assist per game. JR Smith has averaged twice as many assists as Nick Young. It's almost unconscionably hard.
See, I dont see it like that. Smith is a far more talented player all around, but that talent is wasted out at the 3pt line where he has a knack for killing his team with Ill advised shots. Smith SHOULD be averaging more points, more rebounds, and more assists while Young has pretty much maximized/wasted whatever little talent he has. Young hasn't dragged down an entire franchise either. Not yet anyways.
Well, it's hard to drag down a franchise when you were drafted by the Wizards. Also who the hell is going to give Nick Young any responsibility?
I still can't believe Nate Robinson is on the Chicago Bulls. Like I've looked at the roster. I've seen it on ESPN. Then I sit down, turn on the television and think "HOLY FUCK! WHEN DID NATE ROBINSON PLAY FOR THE BULLS!?!?!?!?!" Every single time. I'm going to the Bulls vs. Thunder game tomorrow, and I know the exact same thing will happen. I just can't process it.
Not only on the team, but playing. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/347137-bulls-vets-riding-pine-in-crunch-time" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... runch-time</a> I cant believe that Ray Allen is on the Heat. He is a machine. He is automatic from the corner. I cringe when he shoots and then I remember...Holy Shit...he's on the Heat now. Brooklyn in the house tonight. No Gerald Wallace. Bad news for the Nets, good news for the first 3 rows at the arena. Leave your drop cloths at home!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA <a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/8603627/msg-network-pull-controversial-new-york-knicks-ads" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_ ... knicks-ads</a> I love whoever came up witht hose ads, I hate the fucking assholes that can't take a joke.