NBA Season 2013-2014 (Sep.) FIBA World Cup

LeapingGnome wrote:
Fripper wrote:

Anyone is better than Doris

Fixed it.

LOLS!

Ok maybe Van Gundy is better than Doris. But that's it. I hate him.

Anyway. Pacers looking sluggish tonight in the 1st and now again in the 3rd quarters.

I get what you're saying, and I don't like Jeff either. A big problem with most EPSN commentators is they tend to talk outside the game. Oftentimes they'll ignore the on court action and go off on a tangent about allstarx and what they are thinking.
I'd really like to have an alternative audio option to switch from the network drivel to
1. the radio feed which is really pretty good OR
2. the on court audio

Dammit.

Stele wrote:

Dammit. :mad:

Outkast reunited. It's in the stars.

IMAGE(http://ek-lec-tik.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/outkast_atliens_a.jpg)

Or the Pacers are a mess.

DSGamer wrote:

Or the Pacers are a mess.

This. Seems like CJ Watson is better than George Hill in almost every way right now.

And Hibbert is still in a funk. More Mahimi, or going small with West at Center would matchup better with Atlanta.

Not sure if Vogel has the guts to make the necessary changes for this series.

I saw a writer talking about how they should start West at center or Mahimni. Was Granger the glue that held the locker room together? Did Bynum tear it apart? So confusing that you'd be at a place where serious journalists would suggest a 1 seed start backups.

That Granger trade must have a had a big impact I the locker room.

DSGamer wrote:

Was Granger the glue that held the locker room together? Did Bynum tear it apart? So confusing that you'd be at a place where serious journalists would suggest a 1 seed start backups.

I think yes. Trading Granger I think had a much bigger impact than they expected. Kind of like when Boston traded Perkins a few years ago.

sjam613 wrote:

That Granger trade must have a had a big impact I the locker room.

http://www.indycornrows.com/2014/2/2...

No posts so far tonight?

It's the playoffs, so Houstonians can now watch the team. Some of y'all have heard that most Houstonians haven't been able to watch the Rockets during the past two regular season. Comcast bought the rights to their games, as well as the Astros and the Dynamo.

I have U-Verse.

I've just been checking in on 4th quarters today. Nice closeout by the Spurs when things looked a little dicey. And the Bulls blew it at home, like almost everyone did yesterday too.

Looks like we could have a 4-4 split in all the game 1s of home/away teams winning. Maybe 3-5 if Portland pulls an upset.

Anyone else notice Robin Lopez makes completely insane faces?

The announcers just said "so they give it to Derel White from behind."

Hell of a game. 3-5 for home teams it is. Sheesh.

That Houston-Portland game was crazy. My thoughts.

#1 - The officiating was terrible. Not in the "my team got jobbed" way, but in that way where officiating really goes in the toilet. Side note: James Harden's flops on 3s aren't even worth mentioning. He's been doing them his entire career. Although his flop on the screen Aldridge set was kind of amazing.

#2 - Patrick Beverely...

My favorite quote of the night came from a former Portland beat writer regarding Patrick Beverley.

In earlier NBA days, Beverley wouldn’t have lasted 10 minutes in this game. Somebody would have flat taken him out.

He's not wrong. Beverley's the kind of player you love if he's on your team. And if he's on the other team you send in Ed Nealy or Rick Mahorn and make sure those picks count. I am not a Houston fan and I got giddy when he skipped away from the foul by Williams on the breakaway. Gotta love guys that don't flail around like LeBron, but rather bounce up and show some emotion. Basketball is fun. Especially if you have the energy of Rodman and the crazy of Artest.

IMAGE(http://s3.amazonaws.com/br-cdn/temp_images/2014/04/21/4555c8a959d4049b4e1c3388d0aacea5.gif?1398053220)

#3 - Jeremy Lin might be good at basketball. That crazy airball is going to make for an infamous animated gif, but he was nails down the stretch. I love that "Linsanity" passed and he got a chance to just go play basketball somewhere. It's clear he's good at basketball and kind of clutch. Maybe not 30 points a night like the Linsanity run, but he might actually be good at basketball.

#4 - Aldridge was a beast. He committed a really dumb foul on that moving screen at the end. So he almost cost them the game by not being on the floor, but otherwise he kept them in the game. When Aldridge started his career I hated him. Now I love him. I hated him because of his propensity to shoot outside and not take the ball to the hole. Now that he takes the ball to the hole some and hits that jumper of his I've grown to appreciate them. Also he's had quite a few 30/15+ nights this year.

#5 - Lillard is fearless. That 3 at the end was nails.

Also, in a game that was so terribly officiated that both teams had equal grievances my top most egregious calls or non-calls.

- Dwight Howard takes like 10 steps to the hoop and throws the ball up cockeye and draws a foul
- Beverley (who was tenacious tonight) swipes at air (doesn't touch Lillard) and fouls out
- Dwight Howard fouls Aldridge on what should have been his 6th foul and they don't call it. If that's not a foul it's traveling because Aldridge comes back down with the ball without it touching the floor. Instead he steps back and hits a 3. Ridiculous no call
- Later, though, the officials make up for that by calling Howard for a foul because he was held by Joel Freeland...
- That paled in comparison to the zaniness that took place around the time Lopez fouled out. Fouls for retaliating to Howard cheap shots. Robin Lopez going crazy and not getting technicals for things far far worse than what Beverley got T-ed up for
- Also the refs hated picks in this game. So many players got called simply for setting screens. Not moving screens. Just screens. Going both ways. It was awful

All in all it was one of the best playoff games I've seen in a while and the best this year wrapped up in the worst officiating I've seen going both directions. Heck, Houston might have got screwed more. I don't know, honestly. It was that strange of a game. I just wish the officials had gotten it right so it wouldn't have marred an otherwise great game. It should be a good series if the officials can control the flopping and prevent Lopez from going crazy and murdering Howard.

Definitely agree that the officiating was poor both ways. It was terrible that they called Howard for the foul that Freeland was committing against him with only seconds left to go, but you are very right about many of the bad calls that went Houston's way, as well.

Al Jefferson got hurt (plantar fasciitis in his left foot), which makes it 95 percent likely that the Heat will sweep the 'Cats.

That's up from 50 percent or so, but still.

He said he heard something pop. I've had plantar fasciitis before and it's ridiculously painful. I can't imagine playing on that. But did he actual tear something?

So I'd like to talk more about the Houston / Portland game last night as it was scintillating, had two of the finest playoff performances I've seen by a Blazer ever in one night along with a little Linsanity and Patrick Beverley skipping. And really terrible officiating going both ways. I'm desperately trying to find Vines or animated gifs of plays like the one where Patrick Beverely didn't remotely touch Lillard and fouled out. Or the one where Howard should have fouled out and instead Aldridge got away with a travel and then hit a 3.

But I want to ask about the Pacers again. The craziest thing I keep reading is talk about benching Hibbert. Were Hibbert and Granger best friends? Did something else happen as a result of chemistry (bringing in Bynum)? I don't follow Indiana as closely so I don't understand why Hibbert went from a pretty great first half of the season to the guy most people are pointing fingers at, closely followed by Paul George.

DSGamer wrote:

He said he heard something pop. I've had plantar fasciitis before and it's ridiculously painful. I can't imagine playing on that. But did he actual tear something?

Bobcats are calling it "strained" and say Big Al isn't risking long-term damage if he plays out the series.

Jefferson, meanwhile, is popping pain meds, sitting out practice and using the ol' walking boot.

As for the Pacers, Grantland dissected 'em a couple of weeks ago. TL, DR: The Pacers were never a great offensive team, but this year they're just not getting very many easy look.s

Enix wrote:

As for the Pacers, Grantland dissected 'em a couple of weeks ago. TL, DR: The Pacers were never a great offensive team, but this year they're just not getting very many easy look.s

Yep. Key line from that article:

Other teams know what is coming, and when they stop it, Indiana too often stagnates into one-on-one ball.

So much "hero ball" as I've seen it called from Lance and PG. Even Hibbert, frustrated when he doesn't get touches, will force up awful shots whenever he does.. leading to less touches... and round and round we go.

Barkley talked about it yesterday, not specifically in relation to the Pacers. In the playoffs you have to be able to score. Yes the old adage of defense wins championships matters. You do have to have a good defense. But you have to have some offense too. If you have a great defense and no offense you won't go far, or vice versa. But if you have good/great of both, you have a shot.

And at least against Atlanta, with their stretch big guys, they are spreading out Indiana's defense too, so it's more like average to bad defense with bad offense, a losing proposition. Have to change the lineup to matchup with them, or run a better offense to take advantage. If Hibbert was scoring 25 points in the paint, they could force Atlanta to adjust. But since he can't even get in double digits, they're going to have to change and play some small ball.

Could be due to Paul George's leaked nudes or how he allegedly tried to pay a stripper to abort their baby.

Or maybe sports are just very hard to predict like always. Could be that the Pacers weren't as good as they looked during the last postseason and an easy stretch to begin the season.

As expected Ty Corbin is not renewed for the Jazz. One of the top candidates is supposedly Jim Boylen (current assistant coach on the Spurs), who our GM has ties with. Boylen is a former Utah Utes head coach. He did not have the greatest run here. But he did leave behind some nice memories.

It's good that the NBA got to the bottom of the one thing thing officials got wrong in the HOU/POR game.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/04/21/nba-statement-on-blazers-rockets-foul-call/index.html?rss=true

DSGamer wrote:

It's good that the NBA got to the bottom of the one thing thing officials got wrong in the HOU/POR game.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/04/21/nba-statement-on-blazers-rockets-foul-call/index.html?rss=true

I think I may actually be more insane now that they've admitted this. I can't decide.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's good that the NBA got to the bottom of the one thing thing officials got wrong in the HOU/POR game.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/04/21/nba-statement-on-blazers-rockets-foul-call/index.html?rss=true

I think I may actually be more insane now that they've admitted this. I can't decide.

Don't go down that road with them. This is dumb of them because really this? Not the time(s) Harden flopped? Or when Beverely fouled out in spite of not remotely touching Lillard? Or the fact that Howard should have already been out of the game / or Aldridge should have been called for traveling and instead nailed a fallaway 3. Picking out one single call in a game that was this poorly officiated, both ways, is silly. Howard and Asik were in foul trouble in part because they letting guards on both ends (Harden, Matthews, etc.) get away with flopping on every single pick.

What the NBA should have done is said, "the officiating was bad and we're issuing a couple million dollars in flopping fines, please come correct next game."