James Harden, Anthony Davis, Bosh. Those are your Top 3 MVP candidates, IMO. I do expect to Bron to round in to form and pick up slack towards All - Star break and on. As for the Kevin Love story, I don't know how much there is to it, but that's not the point. The point is that you will have to deal with **** like this almost on weekly basis The price you pay to have a "Big 3"
Id put Steph Curry in that conversation long before Harden and probably over Bosh as well. Curry has been lights out on offense and shown a significant improvement on defense.
Love this Heat team. Pacers tonight...good game so far. 6-2 let's do it! Couple highlights so far. Ennis with a nasty two handed block on a fast break, and Shabazz with a nice assist to McRoberts for the right handed jam over the defender. (He's left handed)
That's a bad loss. Pacers B-squad...ouch. Too many jump-shots, not enough easy buckets, too much aimless passing, pathetic showing on the glass. The Heat rotation doesn't feel settled. I dunno. After such a nice 3rd Q, how does Cole not see the floor til desperation foul time? I think I know who's going to emerge from this McBob/Williams question in the end, but right now McBob isn't getting it done. Hopefully they find a consistent rotation soon. I think it'll be helpful. In general though this team could struggle with these defensive teams with anchor bigs like Hibbert and Jefferson last week. Tough to be big enough to rebound but small/skilled enough to invert/stretch the floor. You saw Spo go to Bird for the boards, but then the offense couldn't do quite do its thing. I feel like McRoberts getting up to speed could solve some of this, maybe...in theory he fits this offense like a glove. We shall see. Looooong season.
Chris Andersen biting on every shot fake... Chalmers seeing a single second on the court... those two things did us in tonight. Oh well, bad losses will come in a long regular season. On to the next one.
That was literally the worst game I have seen in maybe 10 years. Blowouts are better than losing a close one because you keep ****ing up when you are about to take the lead/tie the game. Bosh got in foul trouble and was a mess after that. All we had was Wade and a little Shabazz. We really need Granger to get healthy, so we can have a 3rd wing option, because when Deng struggles, Ennis is just a support player and plays the 2 spot more... They are lacking a wing player that can give them 10 minutes.
Loving our chemistry this year. There is something different about this team (defense). Would have been 8-0 if we didn't sit 3 starters last game.
Harden may not be in the MVP race but this is the best I've ever seen him. He is playing with a totally different attitude. It has infected this entire team. Harden is playing defense now....coincidentally, the entire team is #2 in the league in defensive efficiency.
Is it just me or does Wade seem to really enjoy playing with Napier? He's not making it a mystery. I think Spo went to Chalmers in the 4th after Shabazz passed up that transition 3 on the right wing...maybe thought he had lost his confidence there? I think Spo wants him to take that shot. But I don't envy the decisions Spo has to make with these guards...who to start, how to rotate them, etc.
What kind of assets do the Heat have to add pieces? Any valuable expirings / picks they can package? (Not freaking out saying they need to make a big trade - just not familiar with what they have on hand)
The entire roster expires for 2016 except Bosh and McBob, so they have pieces galore. They can also swap expirings for a better fit at a position of need. Riley really set the roster up pretty well for the 2016 bonanza.
Kobe vs. Duncan Nice piece with some interesting quotes. Kobe: "I would love to get another crack at them in a playoff series," Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring at 26.7 points per game, told USA TODAY Sports this week. "I would love that. Some of my finest memories are against them." "It's a different market, man," Bryant said. "San Antonio's not doing $2 billion TV deals – or $5 billion – so it's a different market. Even with my deal, you have a significant amount of cap space available. But I think the advantage that they've had, and that (Duncan) has had and been very fortunate with, is they've had the same guys since he's been there. That really helps. "You've got Manu there. You've got Tony there. Those guys have been through the ups and downs and they have that familiarity, and then they build with pieces around that. The same coach. The same system. Here, I've had to go through so many different coaches, so many different systems, it's crazy. But I love watching (Duncan). What they've been able to do is something else." "I would say we're – friendly sounds really weak – but whenever we get a chance to be around each other, we always looking forward to talking," Bryant said. "All-Star games were always a good time. We'd always find time to talk when we're near each other, and Tony and Manu as well. Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) too. I always make a point to spend about 15, 20 minutes with Pop just talking to him. I've learned quite a bit from him." "Part of me (is jealous), maybe a little bit, but the situation's different," Bryant said. "They've had consistency, had a core group, and we haven't. We've had our ups and downs, but we've turned it around pretty damned quickly and we've managed to compete and win championships, so you can't complain. There are different ways to skin a cat. They've done it that way with consistency, and we do it this way. It is what it is." "I think he's unbelievable," Bryant said of Duncan. "There's not too many of us left from that era. I just think what he has done and what the organization has done has been absolutely remarkable. Remarkable." Duncan: "His competitive nature, more than anything (is impressive)," Duncan said. "He wants to be out there. He wants to win. He wants to do well. To see him come back from such a devastating injury to where he is now, good for him. You want to see him out there. You don't want to see anybody down." Popovich: "Since I've never had the pleasure to coach him, those All-Star deals were really fun to sit down and talk with him for 15, 20 minutes, and talk about life, basketball – a little bit of everything," Popovich said. "I really cherished those moments." "It's all in their heart, in their passion," he said. "(They're) highly professional, highly motivated, don't need any external motivation whatsoever. They're very special in that regard. They self motivate. They do what they need to do to stay on the court. They take care of themselves, and they love the game." And of course, in the last few games Duncan has managed to reach 800 career double-doubles & 14000 rebounds. The big 3 (Duncan/Parker/Ginobili) also just cracked 500 wins.
I'm a loyal 76ers fan, but that was too painful to watch. I was watching that on my computer along with the Dolphins game on tv, and I only lasted a little over a quarter. I wonder how long they're going to go winless to start the year. God damn, this is rough.
Rose injured again. Hamstring this time. Dude is either the most unlucky guy I've seen, or simply made of glass.
This is what happens when an all time great sits out. No reason to doubt or worry, still the infancy of this team gelling.
Do we even practice free throws? Seriously, it's annoying that Harden is the only one who can make more than 50%. Would be up by 20 if we could shoot from the stripe. Jeez.
Rockets came out here today looking like crap. We deserve to lose. It took us until the 4th quarter to reach 50 points. Smh.
