NBA Season

[SoCalJoe]

Turn to the 4 letter (ESPN) and watch the number 1 play last night and try not to make an audible gasp when you see Blake Griffin dunk on Kendrick Perkins. Perkins is 7 feet tall and blocked the path of Griffin to the hoop. Blake just kept rising over the big fella and it didn't matter that he couldn't touch the rim, he simply THREW IT DOWN like a fastball..AMAZING!! The Clippers have been the poor step-sister scrubbing the basement floor for decades in this town, but all the transplants that despise the Lakers have found a local team to root for.

[VegasJustin]

None of what the Clippers do matter because it's still the Lakers city. The Lakers are having a bad season and are still up there with the Clippers, despite the fact that if you listen to Lawler and Smith you would think the Clippers are 18-0.

[tim]

I'm not much of a basketball fan, but I have to admit, the Clippers have captured my interest this year. Dynamic, exciting, and fun to watch. And if they keep going at this rate, the Lakers-Clippers rivalry will actually be, well, a rivalry. It's going to be fun to watch.

[SoCalJoe]

None of what the Clippers do matter because it's still the Lakers city. The Lakers are having a bad season and are still up there with the Clippers, despite the fact that if you listen to Lawler and Smith you would think the Clippers are 18-0.

I agree it will always be a Lakers town, but the Clippers are growing their fanbase exponentially. It will now be up to Donald Sterling to not screw it up (odds are that he will).

[MisterF]

I'm not much of a basketball fan, but I have to admit, the Clippers have captured my interest this year. Dynamic, exciting, and fun to watch. And if they keep going at this rate, the Lakers-Clippers rivalry will actually be, well, a rivalry. It's going to be fun to watch.

Yep agreed, I'll definitely be rooting for Griffin and the Clippers this season. As a fan of perennial underachievers like my Browns and Blue Jackets, I enjoy seeing teams finally turn it around.

Also, Griffin's dunk last night was siiiick.

[MisterF]

Wow so 89 points for Jeremy Lin in his first 3 starts. Best start for a player since 1977.

Not sure yet if he is for real but boy is it fun to watch!

[HatterDon]

Not watched much b-ball this season. The compressed season doomed the Spurs. We're too old for all these back-to-backs not to mention the back-to-back-to-backs. And then ginobali got hurt

But I caught sight of the combined standings in the west the other day, and I smiled for about 45 minutes. This may be the first decent Clippers team since Walton came from San Diego with them. ANY year they finish better than the Lakers is a great year. Now if only the Celtics can finish below the Knicks and the Nets.

[jumpkutz]

Wow so 89 points for Jeremy Lin in his first 3 starts. Best start for a player since 1977.

Not sure yet if he is for real but boy is it fun to watch!

It is fun, isn't it? Hope he keeps it going, it's the only thing about the NBA piquing my interest.

[VegasJustin]

The Lakers need a trade soon. Brandon Jennings said he might not want to play for Milwaukee so we should try and get him as he's the cheapest option out there. I don't really care for the Howard for Bynum deal so I would rather us send Gasol to the Rockets for half their team like they wanted to do with the Paul trade. We need a PG and a bench more than a Center like Howard.

[VegasJustin]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/1736 ... ont-office


All I can say is wow. There needs to be movement on Kupchak's part here. He needs to gather all of the people on his side and go to Jerry Buss and demand that Jeanie be given a bigger role and tell that idiot Jim Buss to piss off. Kobe needs to be a part of this. This is completely unacceptable to be in a position where one of our scouts is a fucking bartender. That hire was the work of Jim Buss. That's all people need to know about his capability as a director.

If we don't get competent management soon then it is quite possible we suffer for years because of this period. There are guys like Kobe and Pau who probably won't be here in a few years and there is no way Jim Buss successfully transitions the team. If he is making the decisions when Kobe retires, we will be a mediocre team for years.

[VegasJustin]

There is a big trade rumor out by a Magic beat writer that says the Lakers would send Pau and Bynum to the Magic to get Howard, Turkoglu and Nelson. Apparently we would keep our trade exception and no picks were mentioned.

This seems like alot, but if we held onto our picks and trade exception then we have to pull the trigger. We could turn that into a PF and have the best starting five in the game. The NBA office would be pissed.

[SoCalJoe]

50 years ago today Wilt Chamberlain aka The Big Dipper, Wilt the Stilt, etc... scored 100 points in a regulation NBA game. Wilt hit over 50% of his shots (36 of 63) and the most surprising stat of the night was he shot 28 of 32 free throws (he shot 51% for his career). One of the few superstars from the past that would be dominant today.

[HatterDon]

Watched the Spurs first home match after their 6-1 road trip. My goodness, Chicago is a tough, tough team. I'm looking for them to win the East -- at least, I hope that it's not the Miami SuperEgos again.

[VegasJustin]

http://sports.mobile.msn.com/en-us/arti ... id=0&pg1=1


This is an article that deserves to be ridiculed and the writer should be fired for idiocy. I have watched the Lakers for the last 16 years and I still remember watching Jordan in the 90's, I actually had a Jordan poster in my room and a Bulls hat, and Kobe is on Jordans level. People don't want this to be the truth, but it is and even Jordan says this in private.

But screw trying to convince people of this, lets destroy the arguments made. He says that Kobe has benefited from playing with big men. Let's ignore the obvious idiocy of this argument because Magic played with Kareem and Jordan had three solid centers. Remember when the Lakers had nobody to go with Kobe? Yeah well that's when he was at his best. That's when he put up 81 points against the Raptors and kept going off in places like MSG. He didn't have good big men there and he still destroyed teams.


This writer says that Kobe is only a scorer and not a player that elevates teammates. Only somebody who has never watched a Lakers game would say this. All this idiot has to do is look at the amazing contract Sasha Vujacic got when Kobe was carrying the team to the playoffs. I seem to recall Kobe also having lots of games where he wouldn't score, but he would dish out 10+ assists. Those games aren't few and far between either. They happen pretty consistently. There is a reason he averages around 5 assists a game. It's because he can do more than score. There are games where he takes the game over by passing and rebounding. He had a bad offensive game 7 against Boston, but guess what? He had 15 rebounds. That's what great players do, they figure out ways to influence games even when one part of their game is off.


The fact of the matter is that LeBron isn't an elite player like the all time greats. All of his stats mean nothing when you can't close games and don't win titles. An all time great is somebody who has a desire to not only win a title, but carry his team to the title. When LeBron starts closing games and winning titles, then talk about him being an all time great. Until that happens, don't drag down Kobe because your player isn't getting it done. They both have had enough talent around them to win titles and only Kobe has won the titles, LeBron can't get past teams with less talent like the Mavericks.

[Clevelandmo]

Agree FFC24 and I think the author is wrong about his Lebron hate concept. There are probably some people here in Cleveland that truly hate him, but other than that I think most are just disappointed in Lebron and believe in making the distinction you described. Lebron is not among the greats of all time in basketball because he doesnt have the will and discipline to carry a team and close out a championship. He is probably the greatest athlete to play in the NBA but not among the greatest players because he is missing the key ingredient that Kobe, Jordan, Magic, Bird, etc have. I think things came too easily for him so he didnt need the relentless competitiveness that Jordan had until the NBA. I will always wonder if a few years in college for a top coach would have changed that, but I doubt it because he already had superstar status in high school. And that is where the problem lies - making a young kid a superstar before he has really earned anything or shown he can live up to such lofty expectations. I think that is what people have a disdain for, not Lebron himself. All things considered, Lebron could've turned out worse. And he was at his best with Cleveland early on when he had a much weaker team than the one he played with against Boston.