Arena The NBA Thread

Jordan Hill is out as well (for at least the 2 games coming up in Houston & San Antonio).

A post about all of this from the Lakers message board that I lurk at:


Okay I honestly believe this is 110% karma.

Dwight is being punished for his shenanigans in Orlando

Lakers being punished for disrespecting the Zen Master


*Goes into corner with teddy bear and rocks back and forth*



If there's such a thing as sports karma...

 

last season i would have been all over a Noah and Deng trade for Howard.

now, no way. he's not a winner, or a leader. poor Lakers. my heart bleeds.

 

It's not his fault the Lakers have made some serious errors in coaches hired (it's getting harder & harder to defend the Lakers hiring of D'Antoni), and they didn't trade for him to be a leader, or at least right away... the worst case scenario (that would make Howard not sign an extension to stay with the Lakers) would be the way this season is going, especially since there's a legit chance the Lakers may miss the playoffs. Even if that happens, I would hope he would have enough sense to realize the potential of what this franchise can still do down the road.





http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/sto...nthony-just-wanted-conversation-kevin-garnett


Garnett, I think, is the league's biggest *****.

 

Va. Beach arena deal dead; Kings will either stay in Sacramento or look elsewhere.

 

GAM OVER PACER!!!!!

 

Big surprise there.

Virginia Beach just wasn't a real option.

 

This game started well enough for the Lakers, running out to 14 point lead in the first quarter, 8 assists on their first 10 baskets, and a sense of urgency among the players. But then Houston began to catch up, particularly Delfino (19 points off the bench), Parsons, Harden & Lin all impressed with their shooting, and a 15+ (I forget the exact number)-2 run for the Rockets in the 4th put the game out of reach for the listless Lakers. Even with the likes of Sacre, Earl Clark & Darius Morris playing, the Lakers certainly had their chance to win this game, but fell apart at (obviously) the wrong time. They'll play in San Antonio tomorrow... oye vey.






This also happened tonight for Nash (assist #10,000 coming right toward the end of the 1st half on a Jamison basket in the paint), which obviously is a tremendous achievement. Too bad this tremendous achievement couldn't have occurred in a winning ball game.

 

125 points? What the hell.

 

The lack of a consistent defensive focus, well any coherent defensive focus, isn't breaking news about this team, sadly. Mike Brown had that focus, but the offense suffered. Now the offense is on the upswing (most of the time), whereas the defense has severely suffered. It's completely ridiculous.

 

the lakers are in serious trouble. it's hard to fathom how they've been quite this bad, even with the injuries. the top four seeds in the west almost certainly will have 50 wins. for the lakers to win 50 games this year they would have to go 35-13 from here on out.

 

It's great to see them crashing and burning, to be perfectly honest.

 

Realistically, tom, I see this team around 39-45 wins if they continue as this current pace. It will likely either not be enough to make to the postseason, or they'll be in a dogfight during the last 2 weeks of the season to stay in the race. Whether or not D'Antoni makes adjustments to his offense (of which I've got my doubts), I can see Kupchak making a deal or two before the deadline has a last ditched effort to save the season, though that comes with its own problems (mainly Gasol's diminished value on the market). And timmoishere, I would expect nothing less from you or everyone else here (and elsewhere) who despises the Lakers.

 

reports that the kings are very close to being sold to a seattle group. as much as i really don't want to root for demarcus cousins this is still exciting news.

 

I feel bad for Sacramento fans if that is the case. Would be much better if some team from a crappy fanbase was moving.

 

The thing about the Lakers though ... they could click. They could put it all together, sneak into the playoffs in the 7 or 8 spot and do some real damage. I wouldn't bet on that happening and I don't think it will happen. But it could happen. Or, they could miss the playoffs, Howard could bolt, and they could screw the Cavs out of a 1st round pick.

 

Varajeo is out 6-8 weeks. This season sucks.

 

Carmelo suspended a game by the NBA for his altercation with Kevin Garnett after the Celtics/Knicks game.

 

GAM OVER BLAZER!

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...angeles-lakers-says-major-changes-coming-team





I don't know what team Jim Buss has been watching so far this season, but these current Lakers aren't solid bunch... a solid team doesn't get itself 5 games under .500 in January.





What a tease the Lakers were on Wednesday night! Down between 10-13 points for much of the 4th quarter, a furious comeback was just a tad too late. Earl Clark (who before this game played as much for the Lakers this season as I have) impressed with 22 points, as did Metta with 23. But, as I always tell my father, there are no real moral victories in a loss. A mini 4 game home stand for the Lakers begins tonight with Oklahoma City in town, and ends with (after Cleveland & Milwaukee stop by) a Thursday TNT game against Miami. Yup.

 

so, Rose is dunking, apparently.

HASH TAG THE RETURN

 

i think the bulls are going to be poised for a deep run when they get rose back.

 

i'm surprised the bulls record is what it is, with the might that is Hinrich and RIP starting in the backcourt.

really hoping Rose can (eventually) return to his pre-injury form.

 

I will continue to watch this listless team throughout the season (because I'm too much of a die hard & a masochist) but put a fork in their playoff chances. It's one thing to lose a close game (even with a porous defense), but to lay such an egg as this is flat out embarrassing. Yes, duh, Durant & Westbrook are great players & scorers (how will OKC not come out of the West this season?), but some of their/OKC's points came just too damn easy tonight. Even with the game still semi in reach during the early parts of the 4th quarter, instead of running schemes & creating good ball movement, the Lakers were just shooting terrible, terrible shots. Disgusting. And to round off the negative energy this team creates so well: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...les-lakers-likely-miss-rest-season-hip-injury ... damn it.

 

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...o-kings-fans-from-the-producers-of-sonicsgate


Interesting, interesting stuff to watch & read.





The Lakers playing one of the worst team's in the league (even if they have Irving) + Howard coming back (and having a 20+ point/10+ board double-double)= Lakers first win of 2013!

 

haha, look at nash and kobe.