2011-2012 NBA Season Thread

[Kyyle23]

the anchor on 30 day leave is an ex WWE employee, not surprising

 

You know, its pretty funny that ESPN gets all righteous about that headline, when pretty much all of their coverage about him revolves on asian stereotypes. It was pretty s***ty of that web designer to put it up, but how is it much different than watching a Knicks game and seeing them zoom in on signs in the stands that say stuff like "See, asians CAN drive"

[Brian]

Lin's Happening again

[Balta1701]

So, I'm trying not to be the hater here, but I'm watching this Knicks/Mavs game, and this Knicks team just isn't scaring me. They've made some runs here, but just from picturing that Miami/Chicago playoff series last year, I feel like you put this Knicks offense up against a legit defense and they're going to be dismantled.

 

Both the big runs that I saw the Knicks make were keyed by Dallas obviously backing off on the defensive pressure. They started giving space to both Lin and their shooters, and suddenly both Novak and JR SMith were making big, open shots that just should never have been that open. I know that generating space for open shots is what D'Antoni's offense is supposed to do, but it wasn't off of either penetration or off of a lot of movement in a lot of cases, it seemed like it kept being just blatant miscues by the Mavs on rotation. Novak and JR Smith shouldn't be shooting 7/14 from 3 unless they're getting really open shots.

 

And then on top of that, there's Lin hitting 3's that really aren't smart shots, he's making the kind of shots we get annoyed when Rose takes them. When the Mavs pressure him and force the ball out front, he takes a shot I wouldn't want Rose taking, and hits it. Over a bigger guy than him, 2-3 feet behidn the 3 line with the time running down is not a good shot.

 

This is driving me nuts. Dallas is one of the top defensive FG %age teams out there, but they're not putting together anything that I'd say is a quality defensive game here. They've put together quality defensive bursts, but way too many breakdowns and stretches where the effort drops off. And when they're putting together those defensive bursts, Lin winds up making a ridiculous shot that can't be a high-percentage look by any stretch of the imagination.

 

You put this team against the defense the Heat put against the Bulls last year and I feel like they'd struggle to score 70 just like the Bulls did. Yet they just pulled out a win over the Mavs, the Mavs beat that same Heat team, and I just don't know how to react to this.

 

Is D'Antoni's system just this good at creating open shots that they're able to break down the Mavs and make the Mavs look like amateurs?

[SoxAce]

Lin.

 

28 points (11-20 FG), 4 rebounds, 14 assists, 5 steals, 1 block (7 TO) in 45 minutes.

 

Wow.

[chw42]

Lin.

 

28 points (11-20 FG), 4 rebounds, 14 assists, 5 steals, 1 block (7 TO) in 45 minutes.

 

Wow.

 

45 freakin' minutes.

 

I'm never the kind of person who just cheers for individual players, but I find myself watching Lin's games just to watch him play.

 

 

[MexSoxFan#1]

So, I'm trying not to be the hater here, but I'm watching this Knicks/Mavs game, and this Knicks team just isn't scaring me. They've made some runs here, but just from picturing that Miami/Chicago playoff series last year, I feel like you put this Knicks offense up against a legit defense and they're going to be dismantled.

 

Both the big runs that I saw the Knicks make were keyed by Dallas obviously backing off on the defensive pressure. They started giving space to both Lin and their shooters, and suddenly both Novak and JR SMith were making big, open shots that just should never have been that open. I know that generating space for open shots is what D'Antoni's offense is supposed to do, but it wasn't off of either penetration or off of a lot of movement in a lot of cases, it seemed like it kept being just blatant miscues by the Mavs on rotation. Novak and JR Smith shouldn't be shooting 7/14 from 3 unless they're getting really open shots.

 

And then on top of that, there's Lin hitting 3's that really aren't smart shots, he's making the kind of shots we get annoyed when Rose takes them. When the Mavs pressure him and force the ball out front, he takes a shot I wouldn't want Rose taking, and hits it. Over a bigger guy than him, 2-3 feet behidn the 3 line with the time running down is not a good shot.

 

This is driving me nuts. Dallas is one of the top defensive FG %age teams out there, but they're not putting together anything that I'd say is a quality defensive game here. They've put together quality defensive bursts, but way too many breakdowns and stretches where the effort drops off. And when they're putting together those defensive bursts, Lin winds up making a ridiculous shot that can't be a high-percentage look by any stretch of the imagination.

 

You put this team against the defense the Heat put against the Bulls last year and I feel like they'd struggle to score 70 just like the Bulls did. Yet they just pulled out a win over the Mavs, the Mavs beat that same Heat team, and I just don't know how to react to this.

 

Is D'Antoni's system just this good at creating open shots that they're able to break down the Mavs and make the Mavs look like amateurs?

You take what the defense gives you?

 

Next week we'll see how the Knicks fare against Miami, but it seems we are trying to downplay what the Lin led Knicks offense has done by saying "they haven't faced a real D yet", but the Knicks just beat the champs and Lin had a nice game except for the 7 TOs...28 pts, +50% fg, 14 asts, 4 rebs...

 

I'm not saying it will happen but if Lin plays well against Miami, you might have people saying, "I bet he wouldn't do that vs the 1989 Detroit Pistons team"...

 

I think we are seeing a backlash on all the Lin hype but the kid keeps proving the naysayers wrong...I think he's legit, will he regress?I think he will because he's putting up All Star stats and that can't continue, can it?

[Balta1701]

You take what the defense gives you?

 

Next week we'll see how the Knicks fare against Miami, but it seems we are trying to downplay what the Lin led Knicks offense has done by saying "they haven't faced a real D yet", but the Knicks just beat the champs and Lin had a nice game except for the 7 TOs...28 pts, +50% fg, 14 asts, 4 rebs...

 

I'm not saying it will happen but if Lin plays well against Miami, you might have people saying, "I bet he wouldn't do that vs the 1989 Detroit Pistons team"...

 

I think we are seeing a backlash on all the Lin hype but the kid keeps proving the naysayers wrong...I think he's legit, will he regress?I think he will because he's putting up All Star stats and that can't continue, can it?

I mean, I didn't say any of the "he hasn't played a real defense" statements because I hadn't seen him. Then I watched some of that game today, and I was blown away by how bad the Mavericks looked. It was really lackadaisical. Then they'd give a stretch of really good defense, and they'd go on a 10-2 run or something like that, but then they'd build a small lead or tie the game and then you could just see their press back off.

 

Like, to start the 4th quarter, Novak just kept getting open 3 after open 3. It was ridiculous. You're not supposed to be able to get those kind of shots against a team that plays decent defense, and they weren't off of drive and kick moves, they just seemed to be off of really poor rotations.

 

The only thing I can guess is that the movement off the ball in D'Antoni's system is just so good that you can't even keep track of everyone while watching the game, and that even a good defense is getting confused. It's not just the numbers...Dallas didn't look like an effective defense today, except for some stretches where they put the effor tin.

[chw42]

You take what the defense gives you?

 

Next week we'll see how the Knicks fare against Miami, but it seems we are trying to downplay what the Lin led Knicks offense has done by saying "they haven't faced a real D yet", but the Knicks just beat the champs and Lin had a nice game except for the 7 TOs...28 pts, +50% fg, 14 asts, 4 rebs...

 

I'm not saying it will happen but if Lin plays well against Miami, you might have people saying, "I bet he wouldn't do that vs the 1989 Detroit Pistons team"...

 

I think we are seeing a backlash on all the Lin hype but the kid keeps proving the naysayers wrong...I think he's legit, will he regress?I think he will because he's putting up All Star stats and that can't continue, can it?

 

He'll regress. He's shooting 50% from the floor right now and some of those shots are 3s and long 2s. Even some of the best perimeter shooters can't sustain those kind of numbers.

 

But he's gotta offset that regression with less turnovers.

 

I felt like Dallas did a great job containing Lin and the Knicks at times. The Knicks offense looked extremely stagnant for the better part of the second half and Lin was caught just dribbling the clock down since they were trapping him and closing off driving lanes. But Lin did what you said, he took what the defense gave him.

 

Of course, it didn't hurt that Novak was on fire. We'll see how all of this works when Carmelo's back tomorrow or sometime next week, but from what I saw, JR Smith is really bad for this team. He took a bunch of crappy shots and held on to the ball a bit too long. Ball movement really slowed down when he was in the game, I thought.

[lostfan]

Without looking at numbers, I'd say D'Antoni's teams historically have trouble against strong halfcourt teams, i.e., the ones you find in the playoffs. They put up great regular season numbers, but the playoffs have a different focus to them.

[Balta1701]

Without looking at numbers, I'd say D'Antoni's teams historically have trouble against strong halfcourt teams, i.e., the ones you find in the playoffs. They put up great regular season numbers, but the playoffs have a different focus to them.

I'd think that too...but wouldn't the Mavericks qualify as a strong halfcourt team? Thats why I feel baffled by what I was just watching.

 

To really dismantle the Mavs defense, I feel like you should see a very crisp, efficient, solid offensive effort. I don't feel like I saw that, I feel like I saw a very weak defensive effort.

[chw42]

Without looking at numbers, I'd say D'Antoni's teams historically have trouble against strong halfcourt teams, i.e., the ones you find in the playoffs. They put up great regular season numbers, but the playoffs have a different focus to them.

 

Yeah, which is why D'Antoni's teams never got past the conference finals, even when he had Nash, Amare, Joe Johnson, and Marion (when he was still pretty good).

 

[Balta1701]

Yeah, which is why D'Antoni's teams never got past the conference finals, even when he had Nash, Amare, Joe Johnson, and Marion (when he was still pretty good).

One of those teams would have gotten past the conference finals if it actually had Amare (instead of a suspension).

[Jordan4life_2007]

Just saw a pretty disgusting statistic over at realgm. Since Wade's 4/16 s***-fest against the Bulls last month, he's shooting 58.2% (102/175) from the field. And this does not include the 8/11 so far today.

[Kyyle23]

http://bit.ly/zIERge

[MexSoxFan#1]

Just saw a pretty disgusting statistic over at realgm. Since Wade's 4/16 s***-fest against the Bulls last month, he's shooting 58.2% (102/175) from the field. And this does not include the 8/11 so far today.

meh, a bunch of his hoops are layups and dunks...as long as he plays like garbage like he has recently against the Bulls, I couldn't care less what he does against everyone else.

Edited February 19, 2012 by MexSoxFan#1

[MexSoxFan#1]

8 pts for Howard vs Miami in the 3rd, and this guy is the premier center in the league.

[Jordan4life_2007]

meh, a bunch of his hoops are layups and dunks...as long as he plays like garbage like he has recently against the Bulls, I couldn't care less what he does against everyone else.

 

That post didn't really have to do anything with the Bulls. That's just a stunning stat for a 2-guard over a 12-game stretch. Merge that with LeBron and his X-box-like efficiency and the opposing team has big problems.

[MexSoxFan#1]

That post didn't really have to do anything with the Bulls. That's just a stunning stat for a 2-guard over a 12-game stretch. Merge that with LeBron and his X-box-like efficiency and the opposing team has big problems.

 

Not to take away from LBJ's great season but both he and Wade feast on a lot of layups and dunks...

 

They won't get those in the playoffs, especially in the 4th qtr.

[SoxAce]

Not to take away from LBJ's great season but both he and Wade feast on a lot of layups and dunks...

 

They won't get those in the playoffs, especially in the 4th qtr.

 

Minus dunks, Derrick Rose is close to James as far as baskets in lay up attempts and makes. And D-Wade averages less lay up attempts and makes than both of them (Rose has less dunks) but has nearly identical numbers to Rose in baskets at the rim (126 to 124) and baskets from 9 to 16 ft. Rose, of course, shoots more 3's (although James has attempted 54 of them to Rose's 100). My point is, that is a big part of those guys games, and barring injury slowing them down (ala Rose last year), they will get to the rim. (certainly not at will as much with tighter defensive schemes, but they will a good amount)

[Jordan4life_2007]

Oh my goodness. Will somebody please come up with a realistic scenario in which the Bulls can beat Miami 4 times in May? It's scary how much better Miami is this year compared to last.

[SoxFan1]

Oh my goodness. Will somebody please come up with a realistic scenario in which the Bulls can beat Miami 4 times in May? It's scary how much better Miami is this year compared to last.

Please clean up your drool after you post. They played the Magic.

[Balta1701]

Please clean up your drool after you post. They played the Magic.

If the Bulls can't get healthy, it won't even be a question.

[kev211]

K.C Johnson @KCJHoop

All signs point to DRose returning Monday vs. Hawks. Be surprised if he doesn't play. #Bulls

 

This is most excellent news, as I have tickets to the game

[Kalapse]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/02/19/so...with-pau-gasol/

[Felix]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/02/19/so...with-pau-gasol/

If the Bulls were willing to surrender backup point guard C.J. Watson in a Boozer-Gasol deal, it would address the Lakers’ need for a young, steady point guard to buttress their current rotation of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake.

That reads like something out of the Onion. That's a horribly awful deal for the Lakers.