2010/2011 NBA Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

Honestly, Cleveland players are gutless. Treat it like it's a playoff game, not like you're just playing a pick-up game with your buddy from high school who now starts for Duke. Byron Scott needed to tell his guys to stop joking around with LeBron. No reason for that to happen in an NBA game. Joke around after the game's over. You won't see Kobe and KG sharing laughs in Game 7 of The Finals.

[Fait Accompli]

Honestly, Cleveland players are gutless. Treat it like it's a playoff game, not like you're just playing a pick-up game with your buddy from high school who now starts for Duke. Byron Scott needed to tell his guys to stop joking around with LeBron. No reason for that to happen in an NBA game. Joke around after the game's over. You won't see Kobe and KG sharing laughs in Game 7 of The Finals.

I'd have to agree. Even though the players more or less don't share the same vitriol as the fans, it was pretty embarrassing to see them yucking it up with a guy who was draining buckets on them to the point where it wasn't even funny any more. To be honest, I'd say judging by that game, the Cavs quit on Cleveland last night when they needed the team to show some heart and balls.

[TheGodfather]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EalorZaTlI8&feature=player_embedded

Edit - This isn't real for anyone who wasn't sure. It's just two Nike commercials mashed together perfectly.

Edited December 3, 2010 by TheGodfather

[GhostMachine]

Watched First Take, and I like what Skip Bayless called Cleveland after the way they played last night: The Cadavers.

[sahyder1]

Watched First Take, and I like what Skip Bayless called Cleveland after the way they played last night: The Cadavers.

Skip Bayless picked Cleveland to win yesterday

[Meacon Keaton]

Skip Bayless tends to say things just to get a stir. He always seems to take the least logical side of arguments.

[Fait Accompli]

Me thinks Skip is a contrarian, which is why I often listen to Colin Cowherd.

...Ironically, Colin picked the Cavs to win to but also picked LeBron to have a big game.

[GhostMachine]

Watched First Take, and I like what Skip Bayless called Cleveland after the way they played last night: The Cadavers.

Skip Bayless picked Cleveland to win yesterday

I know. He said he was disgusted by the way they played and had expected them to be fired up and motivated. He was really reaming the team over last night's game, and Jay Crawford (who is a Cavs fan) couldn't argue. And Skip also pointed out that the fans spent too much time booing Lebron and not enough actually cheering the Cavaliers, which could have been a factor.

Not a huge Skip Bayless fan, but he was right on the money when he ripped into the Cavaliers this morning.

[sahyder1]

The team gave them nothing to cheer about. It was ridiculous that Cavs players were joking around with Lebron. Tip of the hat to this Cavs assistant coach though.

[JStarr]

The NBA's got no balls left. All the good rivalries are gone, and the league's wondering why no one cares.

[EddieG]

You have a bl.. oh, nevermind.

[DMN in the House]

The NBA's got no balls left. All the good rivalries are gone, and the league's wondering why no one cares.

LA/Boston

Which, coincidentally, are the only two teams that don't pull that bullshit. Especially LA, because Boston still has Big Baby. The Lakers are the most professional team in the league, by far, and it all rolls downhill from Kobe/Phil.

[rocksta]

I don't knwow hen i think most professorial team I just think of the Spurs.

[DMN in the House]

I don't know how professorial they are (we'd have to ask Sousa), but they're definitely professional.

What I meant is that the Lakers have sort of a 'throwback' feel to them. They don't play around and try to make friends, like any team LeBron is on does.

[gunnar hendershow]

Agreed about the Lakers playing with that throwback feel. Spurs are definitely a professional organization. As are the Jazz. It has to do with having Phil, Pop, and Sloan at the helm of those three teams respectively. It's the post-Artest Melee NBA though. The NBA is still shellshocked from that and wants to have its guys be as good as friends and "family friendly" as possible. I know, the most watched game this decade was between two teams and cities who hate each other and are both tightly-run ships (especially LA), but at a certain point NBA has to have a concern for image too and they think this is the way to do it.

It's much like WWE in the post-Benoit era. Will the NBA change back, will rivalries re-ignite, will players return to the attitudes of the stars of the 1980s instead of the current frat of under-30 guys who text, tweet, and Facebook each other all day, every day? I don't know the answer.

[Meacon Keaton]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5905757

That's one expeeeeeeeeeeeensive "rule book".

[sahyder1]

It looks like all the Knicks "fans" who jumped on the Nets bandwagon are now back to being Knicks "fans". Shocker!

[Gazz]

I don't know how professorial they are (we'd have to ask Sousa), but they're definitely professional.

What I meant is that the Lakers have sort of a 'throwback' feel to them. They don't play around and try to make friends, like any team LeBron is on does.

I thought I was the resident Spurs fan around these parts?

I think we have a reputation as a professional outfit down to Pop and our core three players that have brought us all our recent success. It's more to do with stability than anything else.

[Panni]

I'm one of those New Yorkers who love seeing relevant basketball in the Garden again. I've fluctuated between the Nets and Knicks over the years just because I never got really passionate about one team. As a kid Michael Jordan dominated the NBA so obviously I loved him. I honestly root for both teams, but moreso the Knicks. That Garden crowd was wild for yesterdays' game.

As far as the Spurs go, I have nothing but respect for those guys. If "The BIg Three" Lebron/Wade/Bosh have half the success of Tim Duncan/Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili they had a good run. Nobody ever talks about how great the Duncan Spurs dynasty is. It's because Tim Duncan isn't too flashy I guess. I have a lot of friends who hate him because they think he's so boring. I just consider him one of the best of the game, and a true role model. He's an absolute winner. The Onion articles about him are hysterical though.

[naiwf]

Nobody ever talks about how great the Duncan Spurs dynasty is. It's because Tim Duncan isn't too flashy I guess. I have a lot of friends who hate him because they think he's so boring. I just consider him one of the best of the game, and a true role model. He's an absolute winner. The Onion articles about him are hysterical though.

It's hard to talk a lot about a team that never won consecutive titles, especially when the Lakers had a 3-peat in between Duncan's first two titles and have made the Finals 3 straight times since his last one. It's amazing to think that Kobe's won 5 titles and lost two other times in the Finals during Duncan's stellar career. The Spurs never were able to string together a couple of years where they were the dominant team like LA did and that's why they get lost in the shuffle.