Reply With QuoteYeah, I heard that. Pretty shameful. I limit myself to loathing.Originally Posted by Ross The Boss Palmer
He received 2 death threats on twitter, apparently from a Thunder ball boy.
" You said you don't give a f*ck about hockey. I've never heard anyone say that before."
Yeah, I heard that. Pretty shameful. I limit myself to loathing.
Dwight kicked out for getting his 2nd technical foul. Looks like he'll be practicing those free throws this summer
" You said you don't give a f*ck about hockey. I've never heard anyone say that before."
In hindsight, I think Nash made a huge mistake going to the Lakers. The chemistry just isn't there with that team. Howard also just doesn't seem like a player that plays well with others. Also seems to just crumble under pressure.
Anyone watching this Warriors/Nuggets game? Looks like the Warriors are gonna have a stranglehold on the series after tonight, they're just playing so well and the Nuggets are really shooting themselves in the foot with all of these turnovers.
In hindsight the Lakers made a huge mistake signing Nash. He is over the hill.
I haven't watched a ton of bball this year but in the games I've seen, it kills me to see him just used as a spot up shooter. He's past his prime no doubt but he still has some game left in him. Or at least he did at the start of this year. Now I don't know what to think.
Looks like the Nuggets came out to play to start the third. Erasing the deficit pretty quickly.
Im actually watching a game.....I can't believe this
The problem is that he's old so when he gets hurt it takes forever for him to heal so he's hardly been in the lineup and he was already limited physically to begin with. The thing is, if you look at guys who have been able to stick around long beyond their prime it's been as spot up shooter types. Think about what Jason Kidd is now. At least Kidd has size so he can do some stuff defensively. Nash really doesn't have much left to offer and if you consider what he's making that's more of a burden for the Lakers since they really need someone making that kind of money to be more than just a shooter.
Just saw the highlights of the Clippers game. People are crying foul about Gasol embellishing on the Paul incident that saw CP3 ejected but I dunno, I saw that Gasol did suffer an abdominal tear five or six months ago so it could have been real pain. It looked super fake though lol.
Wonder if that's CP3's last game as a Clipper. Throwing lobs to Griffin and Jordan must be pretty sweet, no?
Yeah, there wasn't much in that at all. It wasn't like he went down trying to sell it though. I think it was just one of those spontaneous type reactions to possibly getting hit in that area. And really, Paul shouldn't complain about any kind of flopping (which he wasn't mind you) because he's among the best. Really, his issue was getting booted for what probably should have been a generic foul but Joey Crawford does have a history of having vendettas against players (Tim Duncan) so who knows if there wasn't something prior to this that inspired the call in his head. Frankly, I think it's a total joke that Crawford is still allowed to be an official since he's shown a serious inability to remain impartial.
As for that being Paul's last game as a Clipper, I'm not so sure that will be the case. LA is LA, it's hard to leave and the Clippers have a pretty darn good core in place. I can't think of anywhere more attractive to Paul that could also offer him a max deal off the top of my head so I'm gonna say Paul re-signs.
In other news, thank goodness the Thunder finally put away the Rockets! The Thunder's offense has looked disgusting without Westbrook. And to be fair, it was disgusting before he went down but at least then there were two dynamic 1-on-1 players that would prevent the opponent from completely clogging the paint and just focusing on one guy. For two straight games the Thunder basically posted up Durant at half court because the Rockets were fronting him at all times. Finally, last night the Thunder switched things up. All they did was run a simple dribble hand-off from Jackson to Durant but that allowed Durant to get the ball on the move with his head up and facing the basket so he could survey the floor, rather than catching it facing sideways or with his back to the basket and his defender draped all over him. That little extra space was huge in not only allowing Durant to operate but also in helping the Thunder throw in some deception to their generic pick-and-roll sets. The Rockets never knew if Jackson was going to get the pick-and-roll with Ibaka or if he was going to hand-off to Durant and then Ibaka would set the screen going the other way for Durant. Great way to adapt.
I cannot wait to see how the Thunder handle Memphis' stifling defence. I don't think they will handle it well. The Grizzlies have always given the Thunder fits, even with Westbrook in the lineup. Without Westbrook they will load up on Durant hard and unlike Houston, they won't encourage the Thunder to take Perkins out of the lineup. Where Perk had basically been relegated to full time bench duties those last few games against the Rockets he will be needed to matchup against one of Gasol or Randolph.
The good news is that means the Thunder will be able to get back to playing their own brand of tough defense. My guess is that whichever team can gain extra possessions and cheap baskets off turnovers and offensive rebounds will win the series because points will otherwise not come easy. The only reason I have hope is because Durant is hands down the best player in this series.
Huge Game One victory for the Thunder. Was a pretty sloppy game all around as both teams started off cold as ice. The score at the end of the first quarter was 16-14 but then things picked up from there. Memphis held the lead for much of the game but they didn't really do much to pull away and ultimately they ceded the lead when Durant decided to take over.
I feel like Durant has done a great job of trying to remain more Lebron James than Carmelo Anthony. Clearly with Westbrook out Durant has to score more and he could totally go hero mode like Melo but he refuses. He continues to trust his teammates and make smart passes when the defense collapses. Only when he's feeling it does he put up a shot. So he was very efficient. He had 35 points on 50% shooting and had six assists but easily could have had six more. He does it all for them now.
You can't blame the Grizzlies too much for not being better prepared for the Thunder as they had such a quick turnaround from winning the Clippers series on Friday night and then having to travel and play a Sunday afternoon game but they need to be better. The whole Thunder offence is Kevin Durant now. They need to review some tape from the Houston series and start utilizing some of the strategies the Rockets did to frustrate Durant and deny him the ball. The Grizzlies did pack the paint and what not but they do that against everyone. They just let Durant catch the ball anywhere though so he could always attack them head on and head up. It made it easy to find guys for open looks.
The Grizzlies are a WAY better defensive team than Houston so maybe they feel they don't need gimmicks like fronting and doubling on Durant but I'd suggest they start if they want to win this series because they made things way too easy for Durant as a playmaker. Their current strategy will only work if Durant goes into hero mode and forces bad shots AND isn't on. That's counting on a lot.
The really bad thing for Memphis is that Ibaka and Perkins were generally awful on offense. Perkins looked supremely rusty making some terrible mistakes. He's definitely feeling the effects of essentially having been taken out of that Houston series. Should be better in the next game. Ibaka just couldn't make a shot going 1/10. He probably doesn't play that poorly again so Memphis blew the no-show by Perkins and Ibaka.
It was great to see Kevin Martin alive and well. He showed up for game six against Houston and was even better against Memphis, giving the Thunder some options when Durant hits the bench.
Memphis really should have won this game though. Somehow they allowed Derek Fisher to play 23 minutes without completely exploiting his slow ass feet. Credit Fisher for being a smart defender though. He's always known how to muscle guys and move his feet incredibly well. Also he's just a clutch shot maker. I hated him for years but I'm loving the rejuvenated Fisher for the Thunder.
Where Memphis really blew it though was poor execution down the stretch. Gasol blamed it on not getting stops but they could have just traded baskets with the Thunder had they been able to score and there were good opportunities. All game Gasol was getting good looks off pick and pops and high/low action with Randolph posting deep and he was drilling all those shots. Once the clock got down to like three minutes he stopped shooting those open looks. I suppose you don't want to count on mid-range jumpers down the stretch but at the same time when you've been hitting them all game and the opponent is basically daring you to take the shot sometimes you just gotta say this is a really good shot. I can make this. **** you. And then you win. But Gasol tightened up looked to drive or pass and ultimately they never really got better looks so the Thunder were able to take the lead and eventually win.
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