NBA 2010-2011 Thread

[Paulie]

Nice work Cavs and Ray Allen, I didn't even realise Ray Allen had been in the game for so long to be able to set such a record.
Also congrats to a6m5, your boys beat the Raptors by 6pts, with Aldridge having another beastly game, although that was to be expected against Raptors defence. But we all know it was Millsy that won it for you, with 3 assists, 7pts off 50% shooting and no turn-overs in his 12mins of play, he seems to have put in a solid effort off the bench tonight. Some of the Raptors posted some nice stats, Bargnani 10pts, Davis 13 rebounds and Calderon 10 assists, but they need to get better at defence and taking care of the ball IMO.

Edit: After watching the highlights it would seem Rudy won it for you tonight, if he wasn't unusually on fire in the first half Raptors might have done it, Fernandez hit 8-8 field goals in the first half, SIX of those were 3 pointers, impressive.

 

[a6m5]

Nice work Cavs and Ray Allen, I didn't even realise Ray Allen had been in the game for so long to be able to set such a record.
Also congrats to a6m5, your boys beat the Raptors by 6pts, with Aldridge having another beastly game, although that was to be expected against Raptors defence. But we all know it was Millsy that won it for you, with 3 assists, 7pts off 50% shooting and no turn-overs in his 12mins of play, he seems to have put in a solid effort off the bench tonight. Some of the Raptors posted some nice stats, Bargnani 10pts, Davis 13 rebounds and Calderon 10 assists, but they need to get better at defence and taking care of the ball IMO.

Edit: After watching the highlights it would seem Rudy won it for you tonight, if he wasn't unusually on fire in the first half Raptors might have done it, Fernandez hit 8-8 field goals in the first half, SIX of those were 3 pointers, impressive.

I heard that Rudy was perfect in the first half, but didn't score in the second? I think they said he attempted three shots in the second half, and missed them all, or something like that. Rudy.

LaMarcus is amazing. First couple of years, Blazer fans imagined him to become the player he is today. But for couple of years, he just stayed the same, soft power forward who were very quiet on the floor. Many blamed Brandon Roy's style of play, which Roy requires a lot of touches playing isolation. Relying on iso is especially bad when your team can't pass. Now that Roy's out, we are passing, L-Train(LaMarcus), along with role players, they are excelling.

Roy is expected to be back in next week or two. Very sad to say that many Blazer fans don't want him back. If Roy can adjust to the new style of play, he can actually help us get much better(health pending ). Camby is expected back before Roy. Greg Oden should be back in the line up in another year or two hundred.

Mills seems to be making the most of his minutes. It would be interesting to see where our roster will be in two weeks. Trade deadline.

 

[JohnBM01]

Yes! We did it! Once again... we're the worst team in the NBA's Texas Triangle! Another fail job by the Rockets against a game Dallas squad. We just have a habit of rallying from way behind... to still lose. We're now 25-30 and have about as good of playoff hopes as the 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers to go above 0.500. Dead last in the Southwest Division and 11th in the Western Conference ranks mean the Rockets are probably already planning their vacations. Only miracles can save us now. Then again, we probably don't deserve to go to the postseason if we can't beat the elite teams (or at least really good teams). Well, may just be time to root on the Astros. But considering their struggles, who's to say I won't have to look forward to Texans football by the time July rolls around?

Houston lost 106-102 at home to Dallas. We host Denver on Valentine's Day night followed by a talented 76ers squad on Wednesday night. Yay, Houston sports... I'll go cry in the corner now.

 

[Paulie]

Stop complaining John, your team aint the 4th worst in the league right now.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Celtics have now won eight straight over the Heat. The Lakers can't play at Staples Center because of the Grammys, so the Magic put on a Grammy-worthy performance providing chin music to the Lakers. It's interesting that such teams have these long road trips. Eleven game road trip for the Clippers is just insane. Same goes for the seven-something road trip for the Lakers. There's also the time away from San Antonio for the Spurs.

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and I'd LOVE to see the Rockets take their losing frustration out on the Nuggets.

 

[Paulie]

Woohoo Raptors won a game! Glad it was against the Clippers too, take that Griffin! The Heat suffered a very frustrating loss at the hands of poor refereeing.

 

[FishforRent]

Spurs get well against the Wizards Saturday night....and how! By the half the Spurs had scored 72pts! That's more than they scored the entire game in Philly. The game was over by the middle of the first quarter really, as SA was up almost by 18pts, and at one point the Spurs had a 41pt lead. As opposed to Friday night were nothing went in, Saturday night EVERYthing went in. I've never seen as many balls bounch SA's way in awhile. It was a good win, especially since LA lost. Would have been better is John's Rockets could have taken down the Mav's. I was pulling for 'em.

I'm thinking that the schlacking that the Wiz took Sat night gave them a push to break their road losing streak (now 1-20 something) in Clevaland Sunday night.

Tonight we get New Jersey in NJ. I think it's on NBA TV as well. After that a couple of days off then, off to Chicago and the Bulls on Thursday. Road trip continues...........

 

[FishforRent]

If anyone happened to see the Spurs / Nets game on NBA TV tonight, and enjoy defensive basketball, you were treated to a clinic in the second half. Spurs were not only hitting their shots, but they were blanketing the Nets in team 'D'. It wasn't for the whole game but damn near. It was impressive. They got to wear their home 'whites' on the road, due to the Nets promoting the Heart Foundation (I think) so they were in the 'Reds'; something clicked and they were killing them on the glass, moving the ball, blocking shots, running the floor, making the Nets use most and sometimes all the shot clock........final 102-85. I like it!

Thursday night we go to meet the Bulls in Chicago........46-9 thus far. 👍 Amazingly, no one is giving these guys props. Everyone is still expecting the gas to run out and their age to show. They need to read the box score more closely. All the old guys are only playing 25-30mins a game. The bench is strong and young. Now I'm not saying anything about the future, but right now SA is playing pretty good.

 

[JohnBM01]

Man... somebody pissed off the Rockets. Either they were angry at themselves in the first quarter, or somebody reminded the Rockets just who the hell they were. Reason why? I know I said that I would love to see the Rockets take their losing frustration out on Denver, but I wasn't expecting a 121-102 blowout against Denver!

Hell hath no fury than a Rocket scorned! The Sixers are our last speed bump before the All-Star Break.

[UPDATE] I'm sorry. I said "112-102" in my initial post when I meant to post "121-102." I apologize. Still... go Rockets! ^_^

 

[a6m5]

10 points doesn't really equal a blowout in my book, but I am thankful for Rockets knocking down Denver. Just like that, Blazers are back in the Playoff mix again. We capitalized on weakass team that we should've beaten, while Denver and Utah have stumbled a bit.

For the night, we settle at sixth spot, ahead of Utah & Denver. Why big deal? Our next three games: Hornets, Lakers, Nuggets.

 

[Paulie]

I agree, 10pts is a comfortable win but not a blowout, Bobcats beating Lakers 109-89 is a blowout.

 

[a6m5]

Damn Lakers..... What the heck is going on there, I don't know.

 

[JohnBM01]

Hey, read my previous post. I'm sorry. I posted the wrong score (I am human, after all). The Rockets won 121-102. Denver Nuggets fans were ticked off on Facebook with this loss. I guess the Carmelo Anthony drama continues...

 

[Paulie]

That's more like a blowout!

Damn Lakers..... What the heck is going on there, I don't know.

They've won too many championships together and the hunger to win is not there for them any more.

 

[JohnBM01]

Looks like tonight's NBA TV Tuesday Fan Night game will be the Miami Heat at the Indiana Pacers. It will be interesting to see how the Heat take on a possibly tricky team like the Indiana Pacers. There was some other Tuesday night game that I thought would have been a great game for Tuesday Fan Night. If I were to pick the Fan Night game tonight, I would have selected the Jazz at Suns game.

Six games tonight. Enjoy NBA hoops tonight!

 

[a6m5]

Yeah, 19 would be a blowout.

They've won too many championships together and the hunger to win is not there for them any more.

I guess it very well could be. I've never been like "#1" good, so I'm not sure if that will work for them. When I play..... anything, it's all about striving to be better. Lakers are good. They are the defending champs. But are they good enough to go on a cruise control, then turn it on come Playoff time? I think they are playing a very dangerous game, if that was the case.

 

[Paulie]

Even though this isn't NBA related, perhaps one of you can help me. In our game tonight I did what I viewed to be a perfectly good spin move and got called for the travel. What I did was step forwards with my right foot, pivoted on it to spin to my right and jumped off my left foot for a lay-up. When I confronted the ref after the game he told me your back foot has to be your pivot foot. Is he full of 🤬? I mean, even if that's true, have I not only taken two steps after grabbing the ball?
Also, how the hell does one spin forwards off his back foot to slide past his opponent? It really frustrates me that either I've received a dodgy call or I don't understand the rule at all.

 

[JohnBM01]

MY usual rule of thumb is 15+ points is a blowout.

Apparently, it's still football season. That's especially if you saw that touchdown pass Dwyane Wade threw to LeBron for an easy alley-oop layup. That was BRILLIANT! You can probably look this up on YouTube. Somebody will probably have it uploaded (until the NBA or YouTube shoots it down like all the GT5 videos).



Tonight... Chris Bosh returns to Toronto in different colors, and my Rockets have one more game before the All-Star Break as the tricky 76ers come to H-Town.

 

[FishforRent]

Congrats Cleveland fans!! Unreal. Cavs take down the Lakers 104-99. Man, did not see that one coming. Lakers struggling on the road. They've not had a good road trip. Good for them they get a break for the weekend All Star festivities, but WOW, LA fans must be upset.

SA gets their test tomorrow night in Chicago. Hope we can run our game and defend one of the hottest teams in the league right now.

Sympathies to LA fans. woah.......

 

[JohnBM01]

After the All-Star Break, we go on a back-to-back the Rockets are in Detroit on Tuesday night next week followed by at Cavaliers the following night. Another back-to-back follows as we host the Nets on February 26 followed by a trip the next night at the Hornets. We'll be heading into the All-Star Break after having lost 114-105 to the Sixers. We sank in a meaningless three-pointer as the game was already well over. Another bulls:censored: effort by the Rockets.

Rick Adelman noted he's not trading for anybody or doesn't need anybody at this point. Even if you have to shake up the Rockets coaching staff or roster (even if you have to fire Rick Adelman), do so because the 2010 Rockets have been a tremendous disappointment. Western Conference Finals my ass... the way this team's playing, if there was an NIT for the NBA, this Rockets are an "NIT" team at best. Talented team that can't win when it matters most- just like my Texans. So what does that say? Rockets need some kind of help so that any hope of at least getting above .500 and MAYBE into the 8th playoff seed is even remotely possible. I'm starting to generate that pro sports mentality that every loss is a disappointment.

This s:censored:ty play needs to f:censored:ing change as quickly as possible because I'm tired of the Rockets not doing a damned thing in crunch situations. The Sixers are a good team, but I'm f:censored:ing sick of all the losing. If I wanted to see a Houston team struggle, I'd rather watch my Astros fail to close out teams in the Bottom of the 9th or the Texans shank a field goal. This s:censored: is m:censored:f:censored: UNACCEPTABLE!!! Enjoy the All-Star Break, Rockets. How many more failures until you finally get it right? There are probably 30 or 25 more games on the season, so they need to start winning NOW and hope other teams screw up in the process.



By the way... congratulations to the Cavaliers for beating the Lakers tonight.

 

[a6m5]

I just got back from the HUGE game tonight. Blazers & Hornets. ..... To Blazer fans, it was huge.

Just about couple of weeks ago, Memphis took our eighth & last Playoff spot. Since then, we climbed from ninth to sixth. Tonight, Hornets started out as the fifth seed, Blazers sixth. But since we were so close record wise, the winner of tonight's game would edge out the other team to either advance to, or stay in the fifth spot.

Blazers did it. I damn near lost my voice.

I used to like the Hornets, but I no longer do. They are sad, sad bunch. It was clear that they were coached to draw the fouls. Only problem is, they put so much emphasis on it, they looked like they spent more time running into defenders than trying to get a shot. I've never seen anything like it. Their 5, West was the worst. Kept jumping into his defender trying to draw fouls. Chris Paul was horrible in the fourth, too. Zero respect from me after tonight. If you don't want to play ball, stay home, bunch of you know what.

I'm just happy Blazers won, and even the refs were getting tired of the Hornets. It was amusing to see veterans like West & Paul wonder, all frustrated, why they weren't getting the calls anymore. Pathetic team.

Even though this isn't NBA related, perhaps one of you can help me. In our game tonight I did what I viewed to be a perfectly good spin move and got called for the travel. What I did was step forwards with my right foot, pivoted on it to spin to my right and jumped off my left foot for a lay-up. When I confronted the ref after the game he told me your back foot has to be your pivot foot. Is he full of 🤬? I mean, even if that's true, have I not only taken two steps after grabbing the ball?
Also, how the hell does one spin forwards off his back foot to slide past his opponent? It really frustrates me that either I've received a dodgy call or I don't understand the rule at all.

Only explanation I can think is that he meant to add, because of where you picked up the ball, you'd have had to spin with your left foot......

Traveling can be tricky, because different referees can have different interpretation of when/where you pick up the ball before they decide when you committed to the move.

Not like I can see your instant replay, but you should be able to pivot on right, left, front, or back. I mean the guy is referee, but solely based on his explanation, I'd say he is wrong.

Edit:

P.S. I have different take on the Cavaliers. You lost something like 26 in a row. I don't care if you won, you should be playing someone below Division I College ball. You still suck.

P.P.S. Lakers. You don't always suck, but you do tonight. What is going on with you guys? Get it together!

 

[Paulie]

Even though Toronto lost, they put up a bloody good fight the whole game, and the whole thing was entertaining to watch. If Toronto played with that intensity every game they'd have made the final 8. I think it's a bit late for that now though.

 

[JohnBM01]

I've done a fair share of complaining and whining, but I'm getting tired of Lakers fans whining. You're the Lakers! You're going to bounce back like you usually do (unless it's really over). They lost last night to the Cavaliers. Just because you lose to a sorry ass team doesn't mean your season is over. It's not like being a highly-ranked team in college that loses to a sorry low-major or mid-major school. It isn't like losing to the Cavaliers is equal to something like a #1 seed losing to a #16 seed in the March Madness tournament. The Lakers are in a much better place right now than my 11th-ranked in the West Rockets, so get a f:censored:ing grip. I may sound harsh about all of this, but as much as I [respectfully] hate the Lakers, I respect them enough to say they're going to be just fine. Again- the Lakers shouldn't be concerned at all. They have much fewer things to worry about as opposed to my swooning Rockets (among other lowly-ranked Western teams).

 

[a6m5]

Ehhhhh, different standards, John. Lakers are used to little different expectations than Blazers, and Rockets fans.

 

[FishforRent]

Crap! I am so sick of losing on TNT! Every time we get a primetime game, we get housed. Spurs lose by 10 to the Bulls tonight 109-99 in Chicago. Pissed. Why can't the team I've been seeing all year long show up when the nations watching? I mean the Bulls are good and all, but they only have one guy. Rose goes for 42 tonight and plays almost the whole game and the Spurs can't stop him. The game was obviously more important for them then for us, but Dammit, I'm tired of hearing the big 'O' word about the Spurs. Whatev, maybe they are. I dunno we've lost 10 whole games this season and all.......

 

[a6m5]

I mean the Bulls are good and all, but they only have one guy.

I consider that team loaded. Rose is awesome though. One of my favorite young players. My favorite player of all-time, Rod Strickland, mentored him in Memphis.

 

[JohnBM01]

Now you know how I feel about Houston teams playing on ESPN. Like that game when we were at the Magic and got beaten down (then too, I saw that game on FOX Sports Houston). It's still tough to believe this is only the tenth loss for the Spurs this season. Spurs playing one hell of a season. And yes- it pains me saying this as a Rockets fan. Spurs ballin' this season.

Now it's ME giving advice! No shame losing to the Bulls in Chicago. That has been a much-improved team the past few years. The funny thing is that this win came on Michael Jordan's birthday. Even my Rockets failed at the Bulls earlier this season (in a game we could have won even without allowing that Bulls basket to force Overtime). The Bulls are going to be a tough ticket in the playoffs. PTI had their Big Finish asking if Spurs vs. Bulls was an NBA Finals preview. Spurs vs. Heat or Spurs vs. Celtics would be an NBA Finals preview to me.



Less than 25 games left for most teams. Time to make that stretch run to either secure playoff spots or make that push for the playoffs (or season over if your team has no mathematical chance at the playoffs this season). I still think my Rockets have a chance for at least an 8th seed. However, we're going to have to work very hard and do more winning than failing. Most Houston sports teams are usually considered second half teams anyhow, so a great second half is definitely needed to make any kind of playoff push.

But once again, tough luck for the Spurs at the Bulls...

 

[Paulie]

I know you guys don't care much for these games, but I'm looking forward to the Rookie vs Sophomore game tomorrow, I hope Sophomore wins.

 

[FishforRent]

I know you guys don't care much for these games, but I'm looking forward to the Rookie vs Sophomore game tomorrow, I hope Sophomore wins.

That game is really the only one that appeals to me, frankly. I have always loved the Soph/Rook contest. I too hope the Sophs win, although we got Spurs on both sides.

Didn't know it was MJ's birthday. I do know that Rose scored a CAREER high last night. He talked all yesterday prior to the game about how important that game was for the team and him. I wish the Spurs adjusted their defensive focus last night more. If this was a playoff game, I think they would have taken him away and made someone else on the team beat em. But they didn't, they kept to the team defense and relied on whoever ended up rotated on him to do their job and defend. He needed a double-team last night.

He good, sure, but knowing how he came into the league and the rumors surrounding his high school and college 'career' has always put me off about him. He almost singlehandedly destroyed the Memphis program, although Calipari is to blame also. Fake SAT scores, payments etc......

Whatever, it happens everywhere I guess, I'm just not as much of a fan of his as others. (Esp since he just hung 42 on us! )

The Bulls may be 'loaded' but he's the reason they win. If he's not in the lineup, they're just a bunch of guys who can play defense sometimes. They'll be a tough out if they keep playing at the level they are right now. When Playoff time comes around, we'll see if they have the goods against Boston and Miami or Orlando.

 

[a6m5]

That game is really the only one that appeals to me, frankly. I have always loved the Soph/Rook contest. I too hope the Sophs win, although we got Spurs on both sides.

Didn't know it was MJ's birthday. I do know that Rose scored a CAREER high last night. He talked all yesterday prior to the game about how important that game was for the team and him. I wish the Spurs adjusted their defensive focus last night more. If this was a playoff game, I think they would have taken him away and made someone else on the team beat em. But they didn't, they kept to the team defense and relied on whoever ended up rotated on him to do their job and defend. He needed a double-team last night.

He good, sure, but knowing how he came into the league and the rumors surrounding his high school and college 'career' has always put me off about him. He almost singlehandedly destroyed the Memphis program, although Calipari is to blame also. Fake SAT scores, payments etc......

Whatever, it happens everywhere I guess, I'm just not as much of a fan of his as others. (Esp since he just hung 42 on us! )

The Bulls may be 'loaded' but he's the reason they win. If he's not in the lineup, they're just a bunch of guys who can play defense sometimes. They'll be a tough out if they keep playing at the level they are right now. When Playoff time comes around, we'll see if they have the goods against Boston and Miami or Orlando.

I don't think so. Basketball is a team sport. If this "one player" argument was true, almost every single teams in the NBA is about that "one player", not just Chicago. Another way to look at it would be, if you take the best player out of almost any NBA team, their record will reflect it. Chicago also has 2, 3 players who could be a #1 on a bad team.

I do agree on Rookie/Sophmore game. If any single event would be mildly interesting, that would be it for me as well.