NBA: 2015-2016 Season

[Paulie]

Mills has been playing slightly better again lately, his season to date was rather unimpressive.

So apparently Manu Ginobili is out at least a month after having....

testicular surgery. You read that right. I don't know what happened and don't want to know, but as much as I hate him I just can't help but feel bad for him.

He got knee'd very hard where you don't want to be. I'm amazed he didn't spew!

 

[JohnBM01]

The Los Angeles Clippers suspended Blake Griffin four games without pay for his incident back last month attacking some equipment person. Justified? There are also some games to be played tonight. All three Texas teams playing tonight, including my Rockets [who will likely lose (and maybe badly)] at the Warriors.


Enjoy these final few set of games before the NBA All-Star Break.

 

[Jahgee]

Rockets are getting pissed of Carolina lost Curry I see , also when Mo Speights is hitting 3's, you know it's gonna be a long game

 

[JohnBM01]

I didn't follow last night's game because I knew we'd fail. Even James Harden dumping... one of the Kardashians (I'm sorry- I'm not cool. Only cool people can tell one Kardashian from another) didn't help in him and his Rockets getting dumped at Golden State 123-110. Something interesting I read was that Kevin McHale was fired because James Harden came into training camp overweight and that Dwight Howard said he couldn't do back-to-backs. Not sure what to make of that, but... okay.

You want NBA games tonight? How does 12 games sound to you? My Rockets will probably fail again when we're at Portland as the back end of this back-to-back after losing at Golden State. But enjoy these final set of games before the All-Star Break festivities.

 

[Paulie]

So hard to pay attention to trade rumours right now, some our fairly out there. I think I'll just wait to hear what actual trades go down.

 

[Jahgee]

I think the rumored Dwight for Whiteside deal benefits both teams, interested in seeing if that happens

 

[Omnis]

Dwight Howard for Whiteside? NO WAY! Whiteside is four times better than Howard. He is the future of the franchise. Pat Riley has slapped his weighty, slicked-back-hairy sack right on the table to send a message to the Whiteside camp. It's leverage, and it shows that the boss is not messing around.

 

[Jahgee]

Dwight Howard for Whiteside? NO WAY! Whiteside is four times better than Howard. He is the future of the franchise.

The thing about Whiteside is that the Heat can't go over the cap to resign him, they don't have his Bird rights, he's gonna get offered way more than Miami can so it's not likely he stays unless Pat Riley does some voodoo magic (Which I don't doubt )

 

[Jahgee]

Dwight Howard for Whiteside? NO WAY! Whiteside is four times better than Howard. He is the future of the franchise.

The thing about Whiteside is that the Heat can't go over the cap to resign him, they don't have his Bird rights, he's gonna get offered way more than Miami can so it's not likely he stays unless Pat Riley does some voodoo magic (Which I don't doubt )

 

[Jahgee]

This Talent Show is great

 

[Aesthetics]

That was one of the best dunk contests since Vince Carter and J-Rich's ones. Zach Lavine may have won, but I think this was the best dunk in the contest:

 

[Paulie]

Agreed, Gordon did the better dunks. Not saying Lavine didn't deserve it, but I thought Gordon deserved it more. Pretty amazing stuff from both though.

 

[JohnBM01]

In case you didn't follow the 2016 NBA All-Star Game, the Western All-Stars beat the Eastern All-Stars 196-173.

When the NBA goes back to work, every game from here on out is for all teams to have a chance to hoist the O'Brien Trophy and become NBA champions. Also when the NBA goes back to work, these are how teams stand heading into the final 30-something games of the 2015-2016 season:

--- EASTERN CONFERENCE ---
ATLANTIC: Toronto (35-17), BOS (32-23), NY (23-32), BKN (14-40), PHI (8-45)
CENTRAL: Cleveland (38-14), IND (28-25), CHI (27-25), DET (27-27), MIL (22-32)
SOUTHEAST: Atlanta (31-24), MIA (29-24), CHA (27-26), WAS (23-28), ORL (23-29)

TOP 8 EAST: CLE, TOR, ATL, BOS, MIA, IND, CHI, CHA
REST: DET, WAS, ORL, NY, MIL, BKN, PHI


--- WESTERN CONFERENCE ---
NORTHWEST: Oklahoma City (40-14), POR (27-27), UTA (26-26), DEN (22-32), MIN (17-37)
PACIFIC: Golden State (48-4), LAC (35-18), SAC (22-31), PHX (14-40), LAL (11-44)
SOUTHWEST: San Antonio (45-8), MEM (31-22), DAL (29-26), HOU (27-28), NO (20-33)

TOP 8 WEST: GS, SA, OKC, LAC, MEM, DAL, POR, UTA
REST: HOU, SAC, DEN, NO, MIN, PHX, LAL


Unless your team(s) is/are completely out of it, there is still hope for teams to bounce back and make the playoffs. Some good teams will try to stay on their winning track. Some bad teams still have a chance to make the postseason. Some good teams may start falling apart down the stretch, and previously bad teams somehow peak at the right moment and become contenders. Anything can still happen before the regular season ends. So keep fighting!

Also, don't forget that the trade deadline is this Thursday. Be sure to follow the trading market closely.


Good luck to all of your teams moving forward.

 

[Aesthetics]

Speaking of trade deadline, here's a masterpost of what's gone down so far (Will be updated as trades happen) :

-Kicking off the trading frenzy, The Orlando Magic traded F Tobias Harris to the Detroit Pistons for G Brandon Jennings and F Ersan Illyasova.

Pistons Get: Tobias Harris
Knicks Get: Brandon Jennings, Ersan Illyasova

-After F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's second season ending injury, the Hornets get insurance in the form of G Courtney Lee.

Grizzlies Get: F PJ Hairston, C Chris Andersen, 2 2nd round picks (from Miami)
Hornets Get: G Courtney Lee
Heat Get: G Brian Roberts

-The Clippers are almost set on a deal, with a potential offer to swap F Lance Stephenson and Magic F Channing Frye in their search for a good-shooting big man. However, they're holding off to see if they can find better offers.

Clippers Get: F Channing Frye
Magic Get: F Lance Stephenson, G CJ Wilcox, 2nd round draft pick

More to come, hopefully..

 

[JohnBM01]

On this day in 1994...

David Robinson recorded a rare quadruple-double. He had 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 blocks. We had a quadruple-double discussion before here on GTPlanet. What I remember from a past discussion is that you think LeBron James against some weak team would be capable of getting a quadruple-double today. It would be interesting to see someone notch a quadruple-double in today's NBA. It's going to be VERY tough, though. Even more rare would be a quintuple-double (double-digit points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks)- which has NEVER been done in NBA history.


Pretty sure the trade market will heat up heading towards the deadline.

 

[Aesthetics]

Get ready: Trade deadline's over and stuff happened.

-Miami started Deadline Day by dumping Jarnell Stokes to save money:

Miami Gets: Protected 2nd-round pick
New Orleans Gets: Jarnell Stokes, cash

-Then, Houston got in by trading someone, not who we really were expecting:

Detroit Gets: Donatas Montiejunas, Marcus Thornton
Houston Gets: Joel Anthony, 2016 1st Round Pick (Top 8 protected)

-The Magic dumped their potential Channing Frye deal, opting to send him to Cleveland instead.

Orlando Gets: Jared Cunningham, future 1st round pick
Cleveland Gets: Channing Frye
Portland Gets: Anderson Varejao, 2018 Cavs 1st round pick (top 10 protected)

-Kirk Hinrich got traded to Atlanta. Again.

Atlanta Gets: Kirk Hinrich
Chicago Gets: Justin Holiday, 2nd round pick (from ATL)
Utah gets: Shelvin Mack

-The Thunder did a thing with the Nuggets:

OKC Gets: Randy Foye
Denver Gets: DJ Augustin, Steve Novak 2 2nd round picks

-Brian Roberts was a member of the Heat for a little more than a day:

Portland Gets: Brian Roberts, future 2nd round pick
Miami Gets: Absolutely nothing. Except being able to go below the Luxury Tax.

-The Suns defeat the forces of evil, finally trade the last Morris twin:

Washington Gets: Markieff Morris
Phoenix Gets: Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair, 2016 1st round pick (1-9 protected)

-There's nothing interesting to say about Joel Anthony.

Philly gets: Joel Anthony, 2nd round pick
Houston Gets: Nothing

-And before the buzzer, Memphis decided to give the Bad Boys and JailBlazers a run for
their money:

Memphis Gets: Lance Stephenson, 1st round pick
Clippers Get: Jeff Green

Pretty meh trade deadline, imo.

 

[Omnis]

Pistons are geeked out now. They are going to beat up the East in a few seasons.

 

[JohnBM01]

It was back to work for my "broken" Rockets. Dwight Howard's still with Red Nation, but we did unload some other rockets like D. Motiejunas. Our first game since the All-Star Break is in Phoenix at the Phoenix Suns. The Rockets won 116-100. The Rockets are currently outside of the Top 8 in the Western Conference standings. Each win is a little step towards climbing back into the Top 8 and playing like the team coming off of being Western Conference Finals runners up rather than bitter disappointments.


Congratulations to all other winners from Friday's games.

 

[JohnBM01]

Apparently, the three-team trade with the Rockets has been voided. Back problems by D. Motiejunas was a factor in this trade getting voided. So everybody who WOULD have been traded are back with their teams.


My Rockets don't play until tomorrow night when the we're are at the Utah Jazz. Enjoy Monday's games, and good luck to all of your teams, as always.

 

[Blitz24]

Apparently, the three-team trade with the Rockets has been voided. Back problems by D. Motiejunas was a factor in this trade getting voided. So everybody who WOULD have been traded are back with their teams.


My Rockets don't play until tomorrow night when the we're are at the Utah Jazz. Enjoy Monday's games, and good luck to all of your teams, as always.

Rockets screwed over, Pistons not really screwed over. Sixers somehow are unaffected other than cutting a player and losing him for nothing, which is the equivalent of the Sixers caring about personnel that will be long gone when/if they start winning.

 

[JohnBM01]

James Harden had 42 points, but the Houston Rockets still failed 117-114 in Overtime at the Utah Jazz last night. This loss hurts for two reasons- (1) this loss puts us below .500 (again), and (2) we lose the tie-breaker should we make the playoffs or contend to be in the playoffs. The same sort of critical mindset faces us Thursday night at Portland. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't make the playoffs. We stubbed our toes early and often and haven't done much of anything after last season's incredible run. These guys got to sort themselves out and realize just who the heck we REALLY are.


Congratulations to all other winners from Tuesday, as well as the eventual winners of this Wednesday's games.

 

[JohnBM01]

119-105 was the score in Portland as my Houston Rockets came from as many as 21 points down to win last night. This is great for the Rockets as we own the tie-breaker against the Portland Trail Blazers should our playoff positioning be at stake come Playoffs time.


Congratulations to all of Thursday's other winners, including Golden State continuing their dominance this season with a win at Orlando.

 

[Paulie]

The Nets waived Joe Johnson and the Raptors are reportedly potential suitors. He'd be a great bench player behind Carroll, sorry James Johnson.

Edit: They're saying he'll sign with the Heat now.

 

[Paulie]

What a huge win for the Raptors! They went down double digits a few times throughout the game, and with Carroll still out injured and DeRozan suffering from the flu, Lowry just went beast mode and scored 43pts including a game winner to pull it out.

 

[JohnBM01]

104-94 was the score here in Houston as my Rockets took on the San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets proved yet again... we're the worst of the Texas teams in the NBA. So we failed tonight against the black and silver. Then again, who HASN'T failed against San Antonio (unless you're Golden State)?


We didn't win, but congratulations to everyone [else] who did win today/tonight.

 

[Paulie]

Curry never ceases to amaze! Unbelievable game winner vs OKC today.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Houston Rockets couldn't notch up successive wins as we failed 128-121 in Milwaukee. The Bucks were money in taking down my "broken" Rockets. Our craptacular (as one famous cartoon character famously said) 2015-2016 season continues to get more craptacular.


Congratulations to the other winners from Monday. Sad my Rockets couldn't be among tonight's winners on this Leap Day.

 

[Paulie]

Lowry and DeRozan are just beasting, it's great to watch but Raptors fans have seen this before. Still hoping for playoff success this year.
Question to all of you. If the Raptors were to catch the Cavaliers and take 1st in the East by season's end, are they favourites in the East? Keeping in mind, the Raptors took the season series 2-1, and the Cavs are looking very shaky lately.

 

[JohnBM01]

I know I've been slow. Somehow, I read my Houston Rockets went 3 for 34 from 3-point range, but we still won at home 100-95 hosting the New Orleans Pelicans last night. This is similar to one college team who didn't land a single three-point shot yet still won. You win how you can.


Congratulations to the other Wednesday winners, including the L.A. Clippers coming from behind to take down Brett's Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC. People are now thinking the Thunder aren't going to be true contenders come postseason time. Enjoy tonight's action.

 

[JohnBM01]

We got blown away in the Windy City. Rockets fail again- 108-100 at the Chicago Bulls. I am borderline done following my Rockets this season. Almost feel like following Astros' Spring Training rather than hope the Rockets turn things around. Lots of changes will need to be made for this team to return to being a winning, relevant team. Making the playoffs would be an accomplishment the way this team has performed. Even then, this team may not even make it past the first round if we did make the postseason.


Congratulations to Saturday's other winners.