Official NBA 2012-2013 Season Thread

[GaBeGRaMz]

Waiting for " Melo had to shoot 30 shots to get 30" posts....

 

[kingfoamnyc]

Nick Young is playing like Kobe at 7 years old.

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Nick Young would have a better +/- if he just sat in the stands.


Good to see the Knicks win. Good for the city. I still can't believe my eyes I am seeing Kidd, Thomas, Camby and Wallace still playing in the NBA.....and on the same damn team!

 

[Master Zik]

Two things

1. So let me ask you this since you had a lot to say when he did it last year, LeBron passing the ball to Ray Allen to take the last shot, sucka move still?

I don't know who called it a sucka move and you're framing the question the wrong way. It was that he was scared to take the clutch shot and passed up on it. To me we already know LeBron isn't the guy to take the last shot, I expect him to pass it now at all times. What was frustrating is when he is hot in the 4th quarter, leading his team to comeback and take the lead by taking jumpers from anywhere on the floor and when they have the last possession he wants to pass the ball to Haslem or Battier like that Utah game from last season.

Last night's game was different given how he was playing and given that it's Ray Allen open in the corner but like I said get more good shooters or just good players that can make decisions around LeBron and you'll have to expect him to always pass it in the clutch. Son will always be quick to do it. He aint about that life.

 

[noblekane]

LeBron 4th quarter jokes don't even make sense now, and I used to throw them out all the time... before he was a champion & Finals MVP.

you know what joke do make sense still? mike brown ones....

 

[jesusshuttlesworth34]

Ray Allen wide open in the corner is almost as automatic as a lay-up. This is what the man was paid to come down to South Beach for.

 

[al3xis]

If Brewer didn't help off of Allen, LeBron was taking that shot last night or getting fouled. But as always, he made the right read and play. Also good call by Spo. Pick your poison. He has improved greatly as a coach on the offensive end in a short amount of time.

 

[pmatic]

James Harden seizing opportunity to lead Rockets

As the charter flight carried James Harden and three players out of Oklahoma City, out of championship contention, there resonated no nostalgia within him. No hesitation. No regret. For all the insistence that Harden had been devastated over the deal to the Houston Rockets, Cole Aldrich witnessed something else on the private jet whisking them into a Texas sky: a stony, steely resolve.

Before that jet ever touched down in Houston, Harden made a vow to Aldrich: "We're going to change this city."
Harden's time with the Thunder conditioned him to say "we" in the presence of his teammates, but Aldrich and everyone else knows the truth: Harden, most of all, is going to transform the Rockets. His team, his time.

Out of the smoky introductions on Saturday night, out of general manager Daryl Morey's wildest star-chasing dreams, Harden marched into the Toyota Center with a compilation of credibility to proclaim ownership of the campaign season's most worn-out term: change.

From doubts over his worthiness of a five-year, $80 million maximum contract to his legitimacy as a franchise star, Harden delivered a sledgehammer of 37 and 45 points in consecutive Rockets' victories over Detroit and Atlanta.

"He's come in with a chip on his shoulder, and it's been incredible for us," one Rockets official said.

The franchise and Harden knew this was no fairytale, that his and the Rockets' sloppy, disjointed performance in a 95-85 overtime loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was inevitable, and part of the painful process of rebooting a team into playoff contention. For all his shooting struggles, he still had the ball in his hands, the clock ticking down on regulation and a chance to deliver on the drama. When Harden tried to make his move, Wesley Matthews slapped the ball away and soon overtime belonged to the Blazers.

When his first loss as the face of the franchise was over, the routine had changed for Harden. No more Kevin Durant. No more Russell Westbrook. Everyone had come to his locker, wondering where the magic had gone in his game on this night, the explosion to the rim, the legs to make a jumper. After a torrid start to Saturday night, Harden jammed an ankle, hobbled on his way to missing 16 of 24 shots, turned the ball over five times, and yet: No one cares and no one wants to hear it.

The franchise star just stands there, and says what Harden did: "I don't make excuses. I had opportunities to make plays and makes shots, and I just didn't."

To Harden, the Rockets looked "clueless" on offense, and the solution was simple: They need practice time together, need to learn each other. Left behind in Oklahoma City had been remarkable talent and chemistry. The process of bringing that culture to Houston started where Morey and coach Kevin McHale believed it would: behind the scenes, where no one else was watching Harden.

When Harden walked into practice for the first time a week earlier, he introduced himself to teammates with a strong dose of that daily Oklahoma City culture: Tuck in your shirts fellas and let's get to work. When Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson went over the Portland scouting report on Saturday morning in the locker room, there suddenly rose a most patient arm into the air.

"Uh, yes, James?" Sampson asked, part-startled and part-moved.

Harden had an idea about a wrinkle on one of the plays and wanted to share it with the coach, but was hesitated to speak out. So he raised his hand and waited for the coach to call on him. Sampson had to laugh, and make no mistake: Sampson incorporated the idea into the game plan.

"That's what we learned to do in Oklahoma City, and that's what we'll know to do here with such a young team," Aldrich said. "James led us in Oklahoma City, too. You'd be out of position, and he'd be vocal to get you in the right spot. He was there early working and he stayed late working. That's what guys will see here too."

When Houston's management took Harden to dinner on his first night as a Rocket, that was the biggest message they wanted to impart: Be a leader, but be yourself. So far, so good. Yet the test doesn't come with the whirlwind opening week of historic scoring debuts and long, loud standing ovations.

So far, so good, yes. And so far, no adversity. No long losing streaks. No trip back to Oklahoma City to get buried under the avalanche of Durant and Westbrook baskets. Nevertheless, Harden delivered a message to the Rockets on the floor and off it: In good times and bad, follow me. That's the foundation for a franchise player. That's the start.

After icing that tender ankle, James Harden was the final Rocket to leave the locker room. Out the door he walked with a slow limp, a deliberate, stilted gait. He wore his Rockets sweatsuit and had a backpack snuggly wrapped around him. The starry opening act had ended, and now the grind had begun. He limped along, one step a time, and this is how a basketball star begins to change a city.

James Harden has his franchise now, a young, impressionable roster looking for him to lead the way. So yes, tuck in your shirts in fellas and get to work.

Link

 

[airjordan jb23]

Jennings

Ray Allen from 3 is automatic... That game winner was too smooth. LeBron (or anyone else for that matter) dishing off to him for 3 shouldn't draw any criticism, imo. That's what he was brought to Miami to do & that's what he's done his while career.

 

[datznasty]

Speaking of James Harden... By the way NTDetectives help me out

 

[japanair21]

Brooklyn Knight? Are you kidding me?

That was pretty terrible.

 

[coolnclutch]

That Brooklyn Knight intro looked like a bad pro wrestling gimmick Crowd didn't know how to react, probably thought it was a joke

 

[CHAOSE57]

 

[Peep Game]

That Brooklyn Knight intro looked like a bad pro wrestling gimmick Crowd didn't know how to react, probably thought it was a joke

May as well have been this

 

[jjs07]

Shoulda have had biggie drop down from the rafters instead.

 

[pmatic]

J.J. Barea just posted up Jose Calderon and hit a fadeaway plus the foul.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

I wonder how Buc Em is enjoying the Nick Young experience so far?

 

[proshares]

I wonder how Buc Em is enjoying the Nick Young experience so far?

 

[pmatic]

It's difficult watching Brandon Roy play. :\ His defender is beating him to his spot and forcing him to pass it away.

 

[JD617]

People tried to tell him. 

 

[jordan23dotcom]

you know what joke do make sense still? mike brown ones....

Or the none passing Kobe's, or the Steve Blake team sabotage lol

 

[big j 33]

At least we didn't have to deal with a few games of dumb boasting if Young played well. That's whathappened with Tyson Chandler last year, a couple ok games and he was babbling about Deandre being better. One DPOY later and he shut up

 

[datznasty]

Does everyone else's team have a player who coach just plays too much regardless of their ****** performance? This dude Brooks has the biggest man crush on Perkins, it'd ridiculous. It has been since he got here, but nobody in OKC gets why he continues to start or get so many damn minutes. Even injured (as he was in the playoffs with the groin and the wrist which required surgery, and he turned his ankle last game). Despite all the analytics that says he's worthless, no matter how many 3 ft jump hooks he front rims, no matter how many 22 minutes 0 rebound performances he continues to turn in, he will ALWAYS start and play 25 minutes or so. He also has to be the only person in the world who loses weight and doesn't see an increase in speed or mobility as a result. I don't know what he's doing, but he's doing it wrong.

He has usefulness against 2 or 3 teams in the NBA. Otherwise, he is a liability. I wish we would just amnesty him.

at Russ sitting next Orton looking like evolution right now

 

[you big dummy]

BANDS A MAKE HER DANCE

 

[Bert.]

Harden a simp