All purpose NBA thread 07/08

The Lakers just completed a nine-game road trip (in 15 days) by going 7-2. It is the most wins by an NBA team in a road trip of at least nine games since the NBA quit doing neutral site games.

I think a lot of Lakers fans had to be panicking when Bynum went down, but Gasol has stepped right into the triangle and been effective in the low and high post. In fact, he's hit 18 of his last 22 shots. Also, Lamar Odom appears to have gone from the worst No. 2 option in the league to the best No. 3 or 4 option. He's been a monster on the boards since Gasol arrived and he's been shooting better since the onus hasn't been on him to score. He's basically been the Lakers version of Shawn Marion (i.e. a stat-sheet filler willing to do the dirty work).

 

Pistons up 59-41 over the Shaq blimp and the Suns. Twenty-year-old Amir Johnson has made Shaq look like Oliver Miller over the last 3 minutes of the half.

 

Final 116-86. Shaq looked like Shamu on the way to the tuna factory.

 

That's 2 out of 3 games with Shaq that the Suns have scored less than 90 and allowed more than 115. Their one win came against the skidding Celtics at home and, even then, the Suns at one point went 12 minutes without a field goal.
Yes, they scored 124 at home vs. the Lakers, but they gave up 130. And that was with a well-rested Shaq. Now we're three games in, Shaq is starting to plod a bit more.

 

New-look Cavs looking newly good. It is against Memphis, but hell, this is nice.

 

Nash's assists have gone done in all four games also. And that miraculous burst of energy Shaq seemed to have last week appears to have gone out the window. There were about four or five times in the first half alone that the Pistons got out on a 4 or 5 on 2 or 3 fast break because the Big Excuse was trying to pump oxygen into his lungs on the opposite volleyball line.
They sorely miss Marion's energy at both ends of the floor, it's obvious. I said when this trade went down that he had better put up equal or BETTER Marion like numbers. And he clearly won't nor never will. This team is about to implode ... bottom line. I've always been a big Steve Kerr fan, and while I liked the mentality behind the move, this one might hurt him.
Also, congrats to the Cavs for beating up on Memphis. My old high school JV team could give them a run for their money.

 

Makes me want to dig up that whole "Kobe vs. LeBron" thread . . . . .

I wonder which one people think will win the title sooner now?

 

Maybe we'll find out when they match up in the Finals this year.

 

No chance in hell. Did you watch the Pistons dismantle Phoenix yesterday? Or were you pretending not to see that? No way the Cavs luck out twice in a row.

 

Pistons were lucky they didn't lose to the Cavs in the playoffs two years in a row. Cavs required no luck to beat them in six games last year. The year before, fortune smiled on Detroit.

 

Tell your Cavs to go win something and then I'll respect them. Keep in mind that advancing to the Finals last year and falling asleep through the most lopsided and awful championship series maybe ever doesn't count either.
And I will NOT sit here and listen to any garbage about how this Cavs team is similar to Michael's Bulls of the early 90s who finally got over the hump of Detroit and blah blah. I think LeBron James is absolutely amazing, let me keep saying that. BUT, the Cleveland Cavaliers are about as pathetic an organization as my Detroit Lions. Plain and simple. They'll find a way to blow it, and LeBron will find a way to the door.
Won't matter this year though, because they could lose to Detroit, Boston or Orlando in the playoffs this year. I think a healthy Toronto team could actually give them a run as well.

 

Your respect is not desired.

The Cavs are obviously not a pathetic organization, as Dan Gilbert has proven. Comparing them to a franchise that has won one playoff game in 50 years proves the depths of your idiocy.