All purpose NBA thread 07/08

This game got ugly in a hurry thanks to Ray Allen.
Celtics leading 93-68 and Bynum just fouled out.

 

Yeah, the Lakers look flatter than Bryant's jumpshot, tonight.
Not a good representation of the way they've been playing. Credit to the Celtics, though Pierce's facial expressions to the L.A. crowd (plus Ray Allen's verbal feud with Bryant the last few years) is only going to re-ignite this old rivalry as these teams continue to improve.
Lovin the NBA right now.

 

How about when Garnett got that blantant elbow from Bynum under the basket that caused him to gush blood that wasn't called? Why did Ray Allen get a techinical foul after being tackled by Lamar Odom right in front of the ref? The bad calls went both ways, chippy game that was hard to officiate with a playoff atmopshere.

This was a good game for a while, but the Celtics clearly proved tonight and earlier in the season that they are better than the Lakers in every facet of the game. Tony Allen surprisingly played tremendous in place of Rondo, who is an extremely important part of this team and its fourth best player.

Next week's game in Detroit will be a better matchup and I think it's a pretty huge game for the Celtics to send a message to the Pistons after the tough home loss a few weeks back.

 

There's a difference between catching an elbow while two guys battle for a rebound and a blatant elbow.
You're right, though, the Celtics are better than the Lakers right now, though I don't think tonight's score is indicative of the gap. I think the Celtics are better, but not by a significant amount.
And, as far as your point about the upcoming Pistons game being big for the Celtics, I argue there's no such thing as a big regular-season game in the NBA. The playoffs are big games and, I'll be interested to see how well the Celitcs' "big three" performs in the playoffs because none of them have experiences the Finals, before. And, in the NBA, playoff experience matters in May and June.

 

The Celtics toyed with the Lakers with their starting point guard in street clothes. The Lakers can certainly score, but the Celtics play the best defense in the NBA by a long shot. The only chance the Lakers would have against the C's is if Kobe became so hot that he's making every shot on the court and completely dominating the game. But Ray Allen has done a nice job on Kobe in the two games played this years. And Bynum was a non-factor, just like the game earlier this season.

And I'll disagree with your last thought. It's as big as a January regular season game can get. These two teams are clearly the best in the Eastern Conference and barring a run by Dwight Howard and the Magic, will meet in the EC Finals. They are also the two best defensive teams in the entire NBA and the Pistons beat Boston on their home court a few weeks ago, where they are now 14-1.

Boston has endured a relatively weak schedule thus far, and a victory in Detroit would be enormous for the Celtics and definitely build up even more confidence, momentum, and swagger. Not to mention the Pistons have only seven losses, are on an eight game winning streak, and could easily catch the Celtics for home court before the season ends.

 

Great comeback by the Cavs in Toronto. They were down 20 late and the third and just tied it.

 

LeBron with 21 of Cavs 29 points in the fourth quarter, reminiscent of taking over Game 6 of Eastern Conference Finals last season.

 

Caron Butler needs to be considered one of the best SFs in the Eastern Conference if he's not already. Butler turned in another impressive performance against the Sonics, with 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Not to mention his four rebounds, four steals and five assists.

 

Awesome! Thanks for relating that. Didn't see or hear that stuff mentioned anywhere else.

Kinda weird how that game unfolded. Lazy Sunday afternoon, most people probably watching the NFL playoffs. I was certainly paying more attention to Bucs-Giants than to LeBron-Raptors, especially once halftime rolled around with the Cavs down 15. Then you-don't-want-to-make-me-angry-you-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-angry showed up. Games like this are why you don't want to take your eyes off LeBron for too long.

And didn't Kobe score his 80+ against these same Raptors? Do they like turning into spectators at times?

 

Joakim Noah, even his teammates hate him.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AnivKhty8_ckELSAydZAgo05nYcB?slug=ap-bulls-noah&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

LeBron vs. Chris Bosh's girl. This is good stuff.