The NBA thread

[Phoenix Dark]

Hey, I see it as a sign of racial progress that Dumars can get in on that 'executive failure carousel' that white men have enjoyed for years.

Billy King takes offense to this, but would like to offer you a six year $75 million contract anyway.

"But I hired Billy King" seemed like such a more potent defense than anything Sterling ultimately tried.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Cavs versus Heat tonight should be pretty much a playoff game in terms of intensity.

[ToxicAdam]

I don't really see the motivation for the Cavs to go all out.  Aside from the usual Thursday night pressure of wanting to perform on a national stage.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I don't really see the motivation for the Cavs to go all out.

They'll want to send a message as they haven't been good against the heat all year. This will probably be the last full participation game of the season.

I have a feeling the plan is to come screaming out of the gate and hope to have it in the bag by the end of the 3rd.

[TakingBackSunday]

Home game for Cleveland against the Heat...I think Lebron goes hard

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs have heat tonight and chicago sunday but after that they probably will shut it down.

Might live blog this one.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Cavs have heat tonight and chicago sunday but after that they probably will shut it down.

Might live blog this one.

Link pls

[TakingBackSunday]

He live blogs in this thread AiA

Should be a fun one.  Really wanna see how the Cavs play without Love tonight. 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

So far so meh.

We're gonna kill them in the playoffs.

Lebron just hit another milestone

[TakingBackSunday]

Whiteside is fun to watch.  Too bad he's a cunt

[TakingBackSunday]

Fun game.  Definitely a "Live by the JR..." Kinda game.  Lebron doing work down low.  Great shooting by both teams. 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Fun game.  Definitely a "Live by the JR..." Kinda game.  Lebron doing work down low.  Great shooting by both teams.

Ya know it's pretty awesome that in a small forum on the corner of the internet I have a couple of fellow cavs' fans.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Heat might get smoked here.

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs just look very locked in. Lebron has had his serious game face going for the last few weeks now.

[TakingBackSunday]

Yikes.  Old man Wade' knees

[Your Stalker]

great fuckin game at the oracle arena 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I don't really see the motivation for the Cavs to go all out.  Aside from the usual Thursday night pressure of wanting to perform on a national stage.

Told you they would blow them the fuck out

We are ready for the post season, god help whoever we get in round 1.

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs look very solid. Especially for the Eastern Conference. They would be my pick to come out of the East, no disrespect to the Hawks.

I see lots of problems with them matching up with the Spurs or Warriors, but that's too far down the road to talk about now.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Cavs look very solid. Especially for the Eastern Conference. They would be my pick to come out of the East, no disrespect to the Hawks.

I see lots of problems with them matching up with the Spurs or Warriors, but that's too far down the road to talk about now.

Spurs, Warriors, and a healthy Clippers squad could be issues, yuppers.

[TakingBackSunday]

I'm personally hoping for a Cavs/Grizz Finals, just to see the NBA cry about the markets

[HiResDes]

People sleeping on the Blazers again I see. Also I like the Rockets versus the Cavs if they end up in the Finals.

[Beezy]

Not sleeping, but losing Matthews hurt them a lot.

[HiResDes]

Not sleeping, but losing Matthews hurt them a lot.

True. What is up with the injury plague on younger star guards on playoff teams over the past years?

[Stoney Mason]

Eight months after breaking his leg in a USA Basketball scrimmage, Paul George will return to the Indiana Pacers lineup on Sunday, he says.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Durant out... Ouch.

Not only has LeBron been incredibly lucky wrt Eastern Conference rival teams getting fucked by injury, but his legacy has really dodged a bullet with the Thunder being so incredibly mismanaged and the player who could most easily surpass him being injured a lot. In a world where LeBron doesn't have a maxed out luck stat, the Thunder are probably going for their third or fourth chip right now with a pretty good window still open.

You're insane. They were what they were against the Heat. Not good enough

And I fucking HATED that heat team and it hurts to say that.

Now if you put Lebron on that squad in place of Durant or you replace Westbrook with a Chris Paul yeah they would be great. Their talent is godlike but their chemistry (and coaching, yes) is an anchor

[Am_I_Anonymous]

And I think it's unquestionable that Durant had to go now. This is Russ' s team. They need an all around unselfish 3 and they are ready to compete next year...no doubt.

[Your Stalker]

https://vine.co/v/Olj6m6ghaHM

Oh God!

[TakingBackSunday]

https://vine.co/v/Olj6m6ghaHM

Oh God!

Holy shit

[benjipwns]

Steve Kerr tonight clinched the best record in NBA history for a first year coach.

Unless you count Avery Johnson's 16-2 stint after Don Nelson stepped down.

[benjipwns]

Best and Worst first year coaches:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Avery Johnson: 16-2 (73 win pace)
Steve Kerr: 63-13 (68 win pace)
Tom Thibodeau: 62-20
Paul Westphal: 62-20 (went to the Finals)
Avery Johnson's first full season: 60-22 (went to the Finals)
Bill Russell: 60-21
Larry Bird: 58-24
Mike Dunleavy: 58-24 (went to the Finals)
Pat Riley: 50-21 (58 win pace, won NBA title)
Billy Cunningham: 53-23 (57 win pace)
Chris Ford: 56-26
Jack Ramsay: 55-27
Phil Jackson: 55-27
Scott Skiles: 40-22 (53 win pace)
Butch Van Breda Kolff: 52-30
John Lucas: 39-22 (52 win pace)
Lawrence Frank: 25-15 (52 win pace, first full season 42-40)
Rick Carlisle: 50-32
Larry Brown*: 50-32
Brian Hill: 50-32
Mike Brown: 50-32

Derek Fisher: 14-62 (15 win pace)
Kevin Loughrey**: 5-26 (13 win pace)
Quinn Buckner: 13-69
Bill Hanzlik: 11-71
Roy Rubin**: 4-47 (6 win pace)

[close]

[El Babua]

  Heat

Just end this season already.

[Stoney Mason]

[Am_I_Anonymous]

He's back. Noticeably favoring that leg though, might have been too early.

[ToxicAdam]

That missed foul call, tho.

[benjipwns]

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12095116/watch-nba-stars-age-your-eyes

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Definitely looks like a pedo.

[Human Snorenado]

Looks like a dude PD would meet in a rest stop bathroom

Also, wtf at the Hawks. Be lucky to get out of the 2nd round at this point.

[Phoenix Dark]

Looks like a dude PD would meet in a rest stop bathroom

Since when do I fuck with white men?

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Looks like a dude PD would meet in a rest stop bathroom

Since when do I fuck with white men?

You know you're an accountant, right?

[Phoenix Dark]

[benjipwns]

That Rondo article: http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12587848/old-questions-surface-dallas-mavericks-point-guard-rajon-rondo

Still, as much as Rondo wanted to win, he loathed defeat even more, a competitiveness that found an outlet in all things -- great and small -- but most famously in the game Connect Four. Rondo would play on their porch, decimating friends and family deep into the night while his mother worked the graveyard shift at the Philip Morris factory to support her four kids. "If you did win once, he would beat you five or six more times to let you know he was the best," says Dymon, his younger sister. (Rondo's Connect Four prowess has since become legendary and has made for heartwarming-yet-awkward community outreach moments. The day he was traded to Dallas in December, he spent his final hours as a Celtic at Boston Children's Hospital, crushing all comers in the game, repeatedly telling kids, "No mercy.")

Rondo is adept at poker -- computing probabilities, counting cards -- emptying teammates' pockets. He's a whiz at bourré, the famously contentious card game that's fractured many an NBA locker room. Bryan Doo, the Celtics' strength and conditioning coach, calls Rondo the best spades player he's ever played. "And I've played a lot," Doo says.

Rondo maintains a close circle, but during his eight-plus seasons in Boston, he was as close with Doo as anyone. Doo always sought activities to keep Rondo engaged -- golf, tennis, a home run derby with softballs, pool, pingpong, throwing footballs off the wall into a trash can, unorthodox workouts, printing out math equations and racing to solve them first, trying to top each other in Lumosity brain games, designed to improve cognitive abilities. "If you can't keep up with him up here," Doo says, pointing to his head, "he won't listen to you."

Provide him with bad information? "Your credibility is shot," Rondo says. And if he doesn't buy the narrative, even off the floor, he'll bail, he'll disengage, as he does on movies whose storylines stray from logic, even for a moment. His last theater walkout: The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington. "I didn't understand how he got the cop's number," Rondo says, referencing a certain scene. "It was just too much." He recently watched the movie again to see if he could stomach it. He couldn't.

"He's my friend," says ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins, "but he knows he's too smart. And that's his problem. He knows when he's wrong. It's just getting him to admit it. The problem is, nine times out of 10 he'll be right about what he's saying."

Says a Celtics insider, less charitably, "He always thinks he's the smartest person in the room, even if he isn't."

At shootarounds and practices in Boston, Rivers says, Rondo would become "very irritated" when they had to go over plays again and again, even for veterans. For Rondo, learning plays came as naturally as math. Teammates and coaches would universally claim that Rondo has some sort of photographic memory -- he doesn't deny it -- and former Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau, now head coach of the Bulls, says that by the time they'd watch game film the morning after, Rondo had already reviewed the footage two or three times. ("He doesn't sleep," Doo says.) The Celtics considered him a pseudo-advance scout, listening and looking for cues from the opponent, then calling out exactly what they were about to do.

Before Rondo's first playoff series against Atlanta in 2008, the Celtics distributed a 100-page book full of the Hawks' plays and statistics. Rondo took it home, then challenged assistant Darren Erman the next morning: "Quiz me on anything." Rondo nailed every question, until Erman tossed a curveball -- a question about something that wasn't in the book. "Fuck you," Rondo said. "That's not in there." Once, when Erman was with the Warriors, his team ran a side out-of-bounds play, called C, that he says they'd run maybe 15 times all season. They called the play. Rondo immediately shouted, "C! Rip screen, rip screen!" Erman and then-Warriors assistant Brian Scalabrine looked at each other, stunned: How in the hell did he know that?

[benjipwns]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12646249/national-basketball-players-association-launches-annual-award-program-voted-players

The National Basketball Players Association has launched its own annual awards that will be voted on by players.

The program, which will feature anonymous voting by the players, was announced in a memo from union executive director Michele Roberts this week.

"Guys are going to be able to recognize the guys they play against every night and what they do for their franchises," LeBron James, who recently was elected as vice president of the union, said Wednesday.

The players-only awards, which will include a Most Valuable Player honor, will be announced to union members at the annual meeting in Las Vegas in July. USA Today first reported the awards after obtaining Roberts' memo.

...

Roberts implemented the new awards following several star players publicly calling for NBA players to have a say in high-profile awards.

"The players know each other inside and out," reigning MVP Kevin Durant said over All-Star Weekend. "The media isn't in the film room and goes for sexy names."

Stephen Curry, who is the favorite to win this year's MVP, later campaigned for players to have a portion of the vote in a national radio interview.

"This program was created at your request to recognize outstanding performance of your peers, on and off the court," Roberts wrote in the memo. "No one knows better than you what it takes to shine."

James, who has won four MVP Awards voted on by the media, said how the official voting is handled in the future should be discussed.

"It's a conversation we can have at a later date," James said. "The media has done a great job every single year picking the awards. But us players get to see the guys every single day, so it's a longer conversation."

James said that players can't vote for themselves for awards. But who would his vote be for MVP this year?

"Myself," James said.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

https://twitter.com/CavsMoondog/status/559759925694693377




This guy cracks me up man.

[Stoney Mason]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12646249/national-basketball-players-association-launches-annual-award-program-voted-players

The National Basketball Players Association has launched its own annual awards that will be voted on by players.

The program, which will feature anonymous voting by the players, was announced in a memo from union executive director Michele Roberts this week.

"Guys are going to be able to recognize the guys they play against every night and what they do for their franchises," LeBron James, who recently was elected as vice president of the union, said Wednesday.

The players-only awards, which will include a Most Valuable Player honor, will be announced to union members at the annual meeting in Las Vegas in July. USA Today first reported the awards after obtaining Roberts' memo.

...

Roberts implemented the new awards following several star players publicly calling for NBA players to have a say in high-profile awards.

"The players know each other inside and out," reigning MVP Kevin Durant said over All-Star Weekend. "The media isn't in the film room and goes for sexy names."

Stephen Curry, who is the favorite to win this year's MVP, later campaigned for players to have a portion of the vote in a national radio interview.

"This program was created at your request to recognize outstanding performance of your peers, on and off the court," Roberts wrote in the memo. "No one knows better than you what it takes to shine."

James, who has won four MVP Awards voted on by the media, said how the official voting is handled in the future should be discussed.

"It's a conversation we can have at a later date," James said. "The media has done a great job every single year picking the awards. But us players get to see the guys every single day, so it's a longer conversation."

James said that players can't vote for themselves for awards. But who would his vote be for MVP this year?

"Myself," James said.

I actually think this is a good idea. A set of awards by the media. Another set of awards by the players.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12646249/national-basketball-players-association-launches-annual-award-program-voted-players

The National Basketball Players Association has launched its own annual awards that will be voted on by players.

The program, which will feature anonymous voting by the players, was announced in a memo from union executive director Michele Roberts this week.

"Guys are going to be able to recognize the guys they play against every night and what they do for their franchises," LeBron James, who recently was elected as vice president of the union, said Wednesday.

The players-only awards, which will include a Most Valuable Player honor, will be announced to union members at the annual meeting in Las Vegas in July. USA Today first reported the awards after obtaining Roberts' memo.

...

Roberts implemented the new awards following several star players publicly calling for NBA players to have a say in high-profile awards.

"The players know each other inside and out," reigning MVP Kevin Durant said over All-Star Weekend. "The media isn't in the film room and goes for sexy names."

Stephen Curry, who is the favorite to win this year's MVP, later campaigned for players to have a portion of the vote in a national radio interview.

"This program was created at your request to recognize outstanding performance of your peers, on and off the court," Roberts wrote in the memo. "No one knows better than you what it takes to shine."

James, who has won four MVP Awards voted on by the media, said how the official voting is handled in the future should be discussed.

"It's a conversation we can have at a later date," James said. "The media has done a great job every single year picking the awards. But us players get to see the guys every single day, so it's a longer conversation."

James said that players can't vote for themselves for awards. But who would his vote be for MVP this year?

"Myself," James said.

I actually think this is a good idea. A set of awards by the media. Another set of awards by the players.

Harden's gonna finish like 4th then, not very well liked in the league.

[benjipwns]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12662009/nbpa-probing-police-tactics-thabo-sefolosha-arrest-broken-fibula

ATLANTA -- The events surrounding the arrest and ensuing season-ending injury of Atlanta Hawks forward Thabo Sefolosha in New York on Wednesday have come under increasing scrutiny by the National Basketball Players Association and the Hawks during the past 24 hours, league sources say.

Sefolosha was injured in the early-morning hours Wednesday outside a Manhattan night club, where a police report states he was resisting arrest. Sefolosha and Hawks teammate Pero Antic were arrested on suspicion of interfering with the efforts of local police to set up a crime scene after the stabbing of Indiana Pacers forward Chris Copeland.

...

The police are facing new questions about their tactics during the incident, as Sefolosha suffered a season-ending broken fibula, which went untreated overnight and into Wednesday as Sefolosha languished in custody.

On Thursday evening, TMZ published a video that it says shows five officers surrounding Sefolosha at the scene and trying to take hold of him. TMZ says the video shows one officer grabbing Sefolosha by the back of the neck before bringing him down to the ground.

Sefolosha has hired noted criminal defense attorney Alex Spiro, who told TMZ the video "speaks for itself."

Antic also expressed support for Sefolosha.

"There's a video out that speaks for itself," Antic said Friday. "The only thing I can say is that we feel bad for the bad publicity that we brought to the Hawks organization and the Hawks family."

Privately, sources say, Hawks officials also have begun to raise questions about the specific circumstances that led to Sefolosha being held by police for several hours with a broken fibula.

[Beezy]

The NYPD is shit. Kinda wish this happened to a more popular player than Sefolosha so that it would be getting much more attention than it is right now.

[ToxicAdam]

[benjipwns]

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/04/10/matt-barnes-los-angeles-clippers-kobe-bryant-lakers-chris-paul

One early lesson came from Iverson, his teammate for half a season in Philadelphia. “Allen was the first guy that showed me how NBA players spend money in strip clubs,” Barnes says. “That guy went. HARD. He’d throw so much money, and this was when I was first in the league, that I used to take my foot and scoop the s--- under my chair and either re-throw it or put some in my pocket. He’d throw $30,000, $40,000 every time we went. I’m like, ‘You realize what I can do with this money?’”

Philly is also where Barnes learned that it’s a star’s league. At the time, he was the 12th man, clinging to a job. As Barnes tells it, he was working with shooting coach Buzz Braman after practice, hoping to smooth out a hitch in his shot, when Sixers head coach Mo Cheeks walked by. “I don’t see why you’re working on your shot,” Cheeks said. “You’re not going to get to shoot here.” Barnes fumed, but said nothing.

A week later, in practice, things came to a head. “I came down on a 3-on-1 and hit pull-up 15-footer off the glass and [Cheeks] stopped practice,” says Barnes. “He yells, ‘What are you doing? What are you shooting the ball for? You know that’s not your job, you gotta pass the ball!’”

Barnes was shocked “What? But I made the shot.”

Said Cheeks: “That’s why you don’t play.’”

And then, Barnes says, he lost it. “I was going to chase him down and whoop his ass, so I took off after him and AI grabbed me and I got through him and Chris [Webber] grabbed me and bearhugged me and I said to Mo, ‘You’re lucky.’”

Says Barnes now: “I hated Mo Cheeks. He was a dick.”

[Your Stalker]

Duncan wins the game with a clutch block/foul 

[Phoenix Dark]

came in here to post this

[Beezy]

http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/10/thabo-sefolosha-arrest-video-nypd-officer-swing-baton/

Atlanta Hawks star Thabo Sefolosha appeared to suffer a severe blow from an NYPD officer's nightstick during his arrest Wednesday night ... based on this new video of the violent take down.
TMZ Sports just obtained this new angle of Sefolosha's arrest, shot by a witness outside 1Oak Nightclub in NYC ... moments after Pacers Chris Copeland was stabbed.
In this video you can clearly see Sefolosha being tugged in different directions by 6 officers. Additionally ... you can see one of the officers take a big swing with his baton, and it sounds like he makes contact with something.
A witness says Thabo told police, "Calm down."
As we've reported ... Sefolosha broke his fibula during the scuffle with cops, and based on this video it's possible it could've been caused by the officer's baton.
In their report, police said Thabo was aggressively charging at one of the officers before they got physical with him. That's not evident from either video we've obtained ... since they start after the scuffle began.
Thabo is out for the remainder of the season ... due to the injury. He was arrested for obstruction, but plans to fight the charges.

[Stoney Mason]

Massive San Antonio win. They jump all the way to the 2nd seed.

[Your Stalker]

3rd actually since the Grizz won

[HiResDes]

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/04/10/matt-barnes-los-angeles-clippers-kobe-bryant-lakers-chris-paul

One early lesson came from Iverson, his teammate for half a season in Philadelphia. “Allen was the first guy that showed me how NBA players spend money in strip clubs,” Barnes says. “That guy went. HARD. He’d throw so much money, and this was when I was first in the league, that I used to take my foot and scoop the s--- under my chair and either re-throw it or put some in my pocket. He’d throw $30,000, $40,000 every time we went. I’m like, ‘You realize what I can do with this money?’”

Philly is also where Barnes learned that it’s a star’s league. At the time, he was the 12th man, clinging to a job. As Barnes tells it, he was working with shooting coach Buzz Braman after practice, hoping to smooth out a hitch in his shot, when Sixers head coach Mo Cheeks walked by. “I don’t see why you’re working on your shot,” Cheeks said. “You’re not going to get to shoot here.” Barnes fumed, but said nothing.

A week later, in practice, things came to a head. “I came down on a 3-on-1 and hit pull-up 15-footer off the glass and [Cheeks] stopped practice,” says Barnes. “He yells, ‘What are you doing? What are you shooting the ball for? You know that’s not your job, you gotta pass the ball!’”

Barnes was shocked “What? But I made the shot.”

Said Cheeks: “That’s why you don’t play.’”

And then, Barnes says, he lost it. “I was going to chase him down and whoop his ass, so I took off after him and AI grabbed me and I got through him and Chris [Webber] grabbed me and bearhugged me and I said to Mo, ‘You’re lucky.’”

Says Barnes now: “I hated Mo Cheeks. He was a dick.”

But is Mo wrong though? You got a on 3 on 1 and you decide to pull up from 15 feet and the back of your jersey reads Barnes...GTFO

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs are resting anybody important from here on out but even in that context its funny to see that Brendan Haywood still can't get off the bench and Perkins is still useless even when playing.

[T-Short]

Cavs are resting anybody important from here on out but even in that context its funny to see that Brendan Haywood still can't get off the bench and Perkins is still useless even when playing.

Perkins is a laugh riot!

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah he is even more worthless than I imagined.

[Phoenix Dark]

Spurs are looking great, wow. I kind of just assumed they couldn't make it back to the finals but man, can anyone beat them in a 7 game series out west?

[Beezy]

Spurs are looking great, wow. I kind of just assumed they couldn't make it back to the finals but man, can anyone beat them in a 7 game series out west?

As long as they're all healthy and Pop is coaching, they'll always have a shot.