NYK @ IND (5pm PST, TNT) -- Knick haters get your popcorn ready, if this team is where y'all say they're at Indiana should have a good chance to make them look foolish while Chuck + Shaq clown during the breaks in-between. Get your "record" button ready on that remote, you brave anti-Brooklynites of the globe.

DAL @ SAC (7pm PST) -- do we get to call them "The Team Formerly Known as the Sacto Kings" yet or do we have to wait for the fingerprint ink to dry on the Maloofs thieving hands first?

MIA @ POR (7:30pm PST, TNT) -- Rose De Gaulle reprises his floor campaign against the ex-midwesterner LBJ, the man who notably embraced the "HATE ME NOW!" pose as he torched Portland on the Rose Garden floor in 2011. Y'all might remember him draining a clutch 3 in OT, then turning to head back to the bench for what he knew was going to be a panic timeout by Coach Nate, only this time he gave a sound, solid smack of his ass to the crowd which had been booing him on every touch as he did it. Yes, for those keeping score -- it made absolutely no rational sense for the Rose Garden crowd to boo Lebron except they were mad at how he did Cleveland. I stand by our behavior even right today (that might have been the last actual NBA game I attended, now that I think about it...)

get home, but f this...i'll be boxscoring all night.

hopefully they left chandler, amare and kidd in ny and will just eat the fine.

but I am. Logically I know the Rockets will lose many more games this season, but emotionally each loss is pissing me off--and we werent even supposed to be this good.

it's what I do. I am miffed that there is no Melo and that Stat has to be scaled back, but it's a marathon not a sprint. Just don't need EC playoff teams catching wins off us... mental advantage could work in the playoffs.

Novak doesnt have any consistency or balance.

He's either having a game where he's draining threes or he's doing absolutely nothing.

his teammates seem to have no idea how to function when the offensive sets aren't beginning and ending with him.

defense first, spacing on offense via jumpshots, which adds up to some regular season wins, but in the end I'd predict it will equal the same it did for Nate's Blazers: disappointing playoff exits as it's difficult to win 4 out of 7 against teams who can learn your playsets and shut your bread + butter down.

I was gonna say that he's essentially tmAc on the downside of his career in houston except his defense is worlds better. He still defends like a young tmac and can be an elite defender.

But his true value is in what he brings as a defender and rebounding. You pay that kid right today to be you're #1 max guy and you're gonna be a mediocre playoff team for years to come.

Dude shoots low 40% and takes way too many jumpshots. He also hardly gets to the line.

>Dude shoots low 40% and takes way too many jumpshots. He also
>hardly gets to the line.

i vividly remember Chuck getting on his case when OKC played LA in the 1st round of the 2010 playoffs. Dude was barely getting to the line and chucking away when he didn't have it.

...about just what the fuck they thought about JR Smith

You one of the dudes whose thurs night was ruined when pop ain't bring his big boys to Miami huh?

I set my schedule to watch the St. Nic show tonight so I'm just talking shit in here ... lol

not great when there's only one straw in the kitchen which can stir the drink. there's a finite ceiling on EVERY recipe cooked up that way.

We have looked horrible since our floor leader went down.
We are slow and have no continuity.

Ray Felton is one of the most important players on this team. His absence has showed me that.

Felton, for all his faults, can usually get to the spot he wants on the floor. hard to run an effective offense without at least one guy who fits that description.

A squad
pg- ray
sg- shump
sf- melo
pf- healthy amare
c- TC

B squad
pg- Kidd
sg- JR
sf- Novak
pf- Sheed
c- camby

Tonight's 5
pg- kidd
sg- brewer
sf- cope
pf- camby
c- tc

He's right.

it's pretty telling, but on the other hand, it's also telling that he ONLY calls that play when he just NEEDS to manufacture a bucket. he doesn't use it as his starting offensive point, just a fallback when the team isn't clicking.

He looks TERRIBLE in the nba

Nic is the MASTER of the fast break over the shoulder swat, but he obviously knew odds were he'd eat a foul instead of getting Lebron so he swiped down low.

but even funnier? LBJ *obviously* saw the scouting report which said look over your shoulder when Nic is behind you on the break, so he came with a real smooth left-hander that he adjusted midair to entice the contact.

two smart players making two smart plays and all the box score will say is "FGA leads to FGM -- 2 pts for Lebron James"

or engaging the defense in any way to cause a switch. he's always due for 2-3 per game, regardless of whether he makes the bad shot he takes or not.

when he learns to eliminate those possessions, he'll be on the next level.

while in the backcourt in the middle of a regular-season NBA game, like Chalmers midway thru the third quarter of a contest they're up ten in.

Obviously it's nitpicking but I don't get it.

i dunno.
when lebron did it that shit was hilarious.

following a ball that's bouncing lower & lower before snatch-scoopin' it when you get to halfcourt or a defender makes a fake play towards grabbing it.

in case the play is not working.

he sees where the ball is going, not where it's been

n/m

he still ain't forcing it and lookin for the open man


____________

Dallas Heatvricks BACK 2 BACK CHAMPS!!

Bron gotta be tight right now

...they have no right winning. Scrapping and scratching their ways to victory.

A good sign of great coaching.

Claver didn't play in the whole game, btw. What's up with that?

I thought Pavlovic made a few nice plays, but he made a few terrible passes also. I've been impressed with Claver's defense and decision making. Stotts's rotations are never quite predictable, but that's probably a good thing after McMillian's frustrating patterns.

The Blazers bench is terrible, though. Almost certainly the worst in the league.

of moving to America, when you don't know the language, customs are unfamiliar, it's a whole new, strange culture and he's struggling to find his confidence in that space. it's extremely typical of moving countries, not a knock on him at all.

but the result of that is that consistency is hard to find in the early stages. I'm not convinced he's a scrub, but I also don't know if he's going to stick. he needs to keep working through it.

Stotts, to his credit, is managing Claver fantastically by trying to only insert him in situations where he has a good chance to excel. giving him key minutes against the reigning NBA champs, who Claver was seeing in person for the first time in his NBA career (on TNT no less), wasn't going to be a situation for Claver to excel.

so good on Stotts, Claver will get his minutes in other situations where there's less pressure on him to do everything perfect.

(c) Wessy

It's already close to it.

as a rookie, Nic had the physical tools and a positive, bright mindset, but it's taken lots of personal development, you can tell, for Nic to learn how to assert himself as a leader, and his basketball techniques have grown leaps and bounds year by year.

and THAT's the biggest reason why I think the future is even brighter for Nic. those off balance but perfectly in-form 3FGAs that he's draining this year? that's NEW. and now he's starting to assert himself as a passer, showing a full arsenal without the fear of a single TO getting him benched for a half by Coach Nate.

his left-hand is still his achilles heel, but when the 'zers run sets to get him the ball while he's in motion going right, he's doing great things (see: the set for Wesley Matthews to tie the game last night, last possession right before Wesley's go-ahead 3FGM).