All purpose NBA thread 07/08

I don't understand why the Bucks are so bad ... the talent is certainly there.

 

Yeah but like so many of the other LEastern Conference squads, they seem to always find a way to sell it off, piss it away or simply ignore it.

 

I think some of it has to have to do with coaching. When are Gregg Popovich's, or Mike D'Antoni's Jerry Sloan's or Phil Jackson's assistants going to get head coaching jobs of their own?

Those guys have to be ready to run a team, right?

 

I think more of it has to do with solid front office management. Aggressive GMs seem to be few and far between anymore. If you don't have the goods, you can't get the wins.
Sometimes aggression can be a problem though, see Steve Kerr. And sometimes blind aggression and idiotic mistake after mistake haphazardly turns into gold ... see Danny Ainge.

 

But at least they make it interesting. And as was noted by Trey, teams like the Bucks have talent, but they appear not to have someone who can get them to play as a cohesive unit.

 

Oh yeah, I wasn't necessarily disagreeing on that point. Coaching always plays a role, and there are a ton of deadbeats pretending to coach out there.

 

Celts beat the Mavs tonight. Three fairly impressive wins in a row against the Spurs, Rockets, and Mavs. Sort of a Texas sweep.

 

I believe I heard this was the first sweep of the Texas Triangle since Sacramento in '01.

Celtics played very mediocre against the Mavs and that they pulled it out in the fourth quarter is a credit to their tenacity. Rondo was 0-for-100, Perkins struggled on D all night, Pierce/Garnett were not sharp at all, and you can tell Cassell is still learning. Pierce almost cost the C's the game by missing two free throws at the end of the game. He's become extremely bad in those late pressure situations, which should scare every Celtic fan. But Paul's still a good player even when he struggles. He was all over the place in the 4th quarter, drawing fouls, breaking up possessions, and frusterating every Mav, especially Stackhouse.

The two guys who willed the team to a victory were Ray Allen, who missed the last two games due to injury but played quite well and hit the huge 4th quarter 3-pointer, and James Posey, who was money tonight and has been great off the bench all season. And P.J. Brown is a lot better than I expected him to be -- he can still rebound and actively defend. Nice addition and adds some depth.

Dallas didn't impress me as much as I thought they would, even though the game was close. They obviously have enough talent, especially in that dangerous Dirk/Josh Howard tandem. Kidd can still pass with the best PG's in the league (which is making Dampier look like a stud), but he can't shoot. At all. He's tenative and had a number of wide-open looks that he either passed on or missed badly. And he can't really run like he wants to with Dallas, who's slow and not built for his kind of game at all. It's clear that he's not fitting in like the Mavs envisioned and you can see Avery getting frusterated.

 

I agree, Celtics are pretty impressive right now.
But, as a Lakers fan, you know I can't let you have all the glory. Hahaha.
The Lakers continue to surprise me with their tenacity. They lose Bynum and Ariza (who was playing REALLY well off the bench) and I think it's all over and they pull off the Gasol heist. They stay atop the West and then, Gasol sprains his ankle in the opening minutes of the first game of a four-game road trip against some of the West's best (New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Utah). They lose a couple of games, but are competitive and then hold off the Mavericks and then end the Jazz's 19-game home winning streak.

Kobe Bryant is playing beautiful basketball right now, especially when you consider his pinkie is badly injured and he should've undergone surgery. With Gasol limping off the court, I thought it was realistic that the Lakers could go 0-4 on the trip and drop to third or fourth place in the conference. Instead, they head back to Staples Center still atop the West.

They've shown a lot of grit, despite all the injuries. I really believe that we're headed for Lakers-Celtics in the Finals.

 

Odom continues to prove he's a decent number three option on a semi-balanced team.

 

I think it will be either Lakers or Spurs vs. Celtics. Boston will have a far easier time making the Finals - unless LeBron or Dwight Howard goes on a run, the only real challenger is Detroit and the C's rolled over them a few weeks ago. I think the Celtics match up pretty well against the Pistons too. The West is up for grabs and is ridiculously competitive this season...a 50 win team may miss the playoffs. I wouldn't be shocked to see, say, Golden State upset the no. 1 seed for the second straight season. Anything can happen in the West, but I think the East will be very predictable with the top four teams rolling.

 

Don't count your chickens just yet Beantowner. The Pistons have slept through more playoff games than this Celtic team has played in total.
This year actually reminds me a lot of 2005, when Miami rolled through the regular season, was everyone's hands down pick to be in the Finals, while the Pistons quietly put up 55 or so wins and then bam ... Pistons - Spurs ... the old reliables.