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Post by Splendid Spy on Nov 9, 2014 13:41:20 GMT
Thread that discusses Basketball. Could be the Euro League, NBA or your local league...
Let's start with NBA.
Cleveland with Le Bron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as their big 3 is struggling while Kyle Lowry's Toronto is leading the standings in the east early in the season. Can they last? De Rozan and Lowry has been exceptional for the Raptors so far. Wizards are also doing really well in the east so far with 5 wins with John Wall leading them. Besides the Cavs, Pacers and Knicks who were the early favorites together with the Heats are also struggling.
To the West, Grizzlies , Warriors and the Rockets are the front runners at the moment. Warriors back court of Curry and Klay Thompson are running the show for them. Shooting 3s, lay-ups ,jumpers ,etc. 5-0 so far after they defeated an equally impressive Rockets who were missing Dwight Howard. Rockets are starting to look like championship contender as well if they can get all their main players fit. Jason Terry and Trevor Ariza are good additions to the team as they shoot the 3s well. Memphis with Z-bo and Marc Gasol are also having a great run that was ended today by Brandon Knight's Bucks. ...
Lakers... what can I say about them? Pathetic. Kobe is still their main man but if he keeps shooting even though he's having a rough night in terms of scoring, you know they are in trouble.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Nov 9, 2014 16:11:04 GMT
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Post by StrikerMo on Nov 20, 2014 9:32:30 GMT
lost to the Lakers tonight... ouch.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Nov 20, 2014 14:00:21 GMT
still having one of the best records at the moment. Not a concern. I will give my views after 25 games have been played but Rockets are serious contenders this season. As mentioned in my first post, if they can get all their players fit, they are definitely one of the favorites to win the championship. They had Howard out yesterday and Black just wasn't a good replacement. I wished we had kept Asik.
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Post by StrikerMo on Nov 20, 2014 15:19:44 GMT
Rockets have a better differential efficiency rating on the road than they do at home... that'll have to improve. They've also played 8 games against sub .500 teams and rank 20th in the league in PPG against those teams. Their front court efficiency is way too low and is somewhat covered over by their back court rating. Take Harden out for an extended period of time and the Rockets are a .500 team. They have a sub 100 efficiency rating on average for the past 5 games. That ranks them next to last in the league above winless Philadelphia. Plenty of time yet, but I have no confidence that McHale knows how to win after the all-star break and in the playoffs. He's on the hot-seat for sure.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Nov 20, 2014 15:52:07 GMT
Nothing new on the stats you just mentioned. Everyone knows rockets have a poor front court and if Howard is out, it's even worse. However, I do feel it's an upgrade compared to last year. Kostas and Ariza have been good additions to their front court. Terry is a good back-up for Harden as well and he's hitting quite a lot of 3s. McHale is still a crappy coach... and out of the 3 games we lost this year, Howard wasn't playing in 2 of them.
Let's see where they are after 25-30 games. By then they would have played with most of the top teams home and away.
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Post by StrikerMo on Dec 24, 2014 19:41:07 GMT
Decent news: You got Josh Smith.
Bad news: McHale signed a 3 year extension.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Dec 25, 2014 3:38:57 GMT
Not too excited about Smith. We were eying him for quite a while already. It's an upgrade in our PF position though. His offensive game is still questionable but he's good at the defensive end. This will allow Harden to do his thing without worrying too much defensively.I still prefer Bosh. Not sure about the McFail extension though. I was hoping they would sign a better coach... Doc Rivers or George Karl type.  If you are allowing your players to do the coaching job for you in crunch time, you know you are not good enough. |
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Post by Splendid Spy on Jan 6, 2015 12:23:10 GMT
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Post by StrikerMo on Feb 11, 2015 12:37:34 GMT
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Post by Splendid Spy on Feb 11, 2015 13:39:48 GMT
"You know I never mention the Rockets as legitimate contenders 'cause they're not. - CB
That sums Barkley up. An idiot! Rockets might not be the favorite for the title but they are definitely a contender...especially with all the additions to the squad this season. Brewer, Smith , Ariza and a fast improving D-Mo compliments our 2 superstars Howard and Harden really well. Not forgetting Terry and Beverley. Canaan comes in and plays quite well sometimes. T-Jones is also back. We have enough ammo in our arsenal to be a legitimate contender.
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Post by StrikerMo on Feb 11, 2015 14:00:55 GMT
He said legitimate contenders... you're contenders- but you can hardly say you're one of the top 5 favorites (at this point) to win the title. Everything he said was pretty much spot on regarding talent.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Feb 11, 2015 14:12:34 GMT
Hopefully we get a healthy Dwight back for the 2nd part of the season. Get a good seeding and play well in the play-offs. Rockets always stumble during the play-offs. Been like this since the Yao-Ming/T-Mac era.
win the championship and shut CB up once and for all.
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Post by StrikerMo on Feb 11, 2015 14:13:49 GMT
If not, then it's going to be tough going in the playoffs. Although he hasn't been having that great of a year statistically anyway. But, there's no arguing that he makes Houston better.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Feb 11, 2015 14:23:43 GMT
Definitely. Joey Dorsey has improved but he's nowhere near Howard's level. How I wish we still have Asik.
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