Arena The NBA Thread

A incredibly disappointing evening... yeah, they're 0-3 (first time in 34 years), and there's all the offensive/defensive issues, but it's still not time for panic mode yet. It was annoying to see Chris Paul (15 assists, 1 turnover, 14 points) doing his thing as the Lakers were trotting out Steve Blake & Darius Morris, the Clippers bench running circles around their Laker counterparts, and Gasol just disappearing offensively (5-9 from the field, made only 1 basket in the 2nd half). Another annoyance: through these first 3 games, Dwight Howard has had 5 fouls or more in each game.


http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...h-los-angeles-lakers-suffers-fractured-fibula

He'll be out for a week. Meh.

 

could be his body is finally starting to wear down. howard really doesn't look healthy either.

 

Howard is definitely not 100%, and this was going to be a concern with Nash all year (health), but it's a bit more troublesome now since the team has gotten 100% acclimated to the new offense.

 

Just like I wasn't making too much of their 0-3 start, I'm not about to over praise this win (obviously it was niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice that it happened). Pau showing up, Howard only receiving 1 personal foul, and the ease of the Lakers offense in the first quarter were among the highlights of that evening, the other highlights? The fact that I was able to actually watch chunks of the game, via online streaming... I used the radio for the moments in which my wi fi was acting up/the time it took to find a stream with decent audio quality. No deal yet with Time Warner & DirecTV, so for tomorrow night I'll have to go through that whole process again.

 

Ohio just chose the president! Not Florida. Suck it LeBron James.

 

Pacers are going to be without Danny Granger for three months.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...-los-angeles-lakers-supports-coach-mike-brown

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...eles-lakers-jim-buss-says-mike-brown-safe-now


The Lakers bad start to this season continued last night in Utah, in which the offense was disjointed, Pau a ghost, and the bench would have been better off by not playing. Meh.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8610888/los-angeles-lakers-fired-coach-mike-brown


Damn, that was fast. I don't mind this, though it is a bit a panic move given the paucity of games played so far. It's obvious that this Princeton offense business wasn't going to work out well, and Brown had to have lost the respect of the team, or else why fire him now? I can't imagine that Bernie Bickerstaff would be the interim coach for too long, so I wonder how long it will take to find & hire Brown's replacement? Phil Jackson back again (YES!)? Jerry Sloan (a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice hire)? Mike D'Antoni (eh, no)? Brian Shaw (should have been the hire to begin with in 2011)?

 

Rambis is available.

 

Or maybe they can reunite Stan Van Gundy and Dwight. I'm sure Dwight would love that.

 

Hehehe. Well, Rambis would be like Shaw in that I imagine he return to the triangle offense, or incorporate a lot of it. But he wouldn't be hired with Shaw out there available (and Shaw being Kobe's choice after Phil retired in 2011).

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...-angeles-lakers-gets-arrested-dui-report-says

There's no excuse for that, none whatsoever.

 

I mean, harping on the Princeton office is kind of silly- Lakeshow is tied for 5th in offensive efficiency. The offense is fine.

Also the Knicks being undefeated proves that I know nothing about basketball so ignore everything I say.

 

As seen on Twitter:

Princeton offense proved too complex for Lakers, so expect a switch to the Devry offense.

 

BTW, Cavaliers might be off to the best start they've had in a game EVER. 4 minutes in and the Suns have taken as many timeouts (2) as they have points scored. Wow.

 

ugh, all the phil talk. it's going to happen, isn't it?

 

I don't know, on the one hand, nothing surprises me in sports anymore. On the other, Jackson was pretty adamant this was it when he retired at the end of the 2010-2011 season.

 

16-2 lead to start the game. Eventual 26 point lead. and a loss.

 

To me, the Lakers just look silly, and will look even sillier if they re-hire Jackson again. Eventually they're going to have to find a coach that isn't Phil Jackson and stick with him. The basics of mortality dictate that, Phil Jackson isn't going to live forever.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...il-jackson-frontrunner-los-angeles-lakers-job

Sure it looks silly, but so what? They might as well go back to the well, especially since it seems Jackson is physically up to it, and this window to contend with a nucleus of Nash/Kobe/Gasol/Howard isn't open for very long.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277800

I'd normally would DVR'ed the game (since I went out last night to see Skyfall, which was sooooooooooo good), but couldn't due to on going spat between DirecTV & Time Warner. *sighs* And who saw this coming:

 

The Grizzlies just kicked the piss out of the Heat tonight!

 

Or, in Arena-speak: Gam Over Grizzlys

 

*is hoping to find an online stream that will carry the local broadcast for tonight's Kings/Lakers game, or else its back to the radio*

#IwantTWCSportsNetgoddmanit


http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...-kings-banned-two-games-sean-elliott-exchange

The one Kings player I was really looking forward to seeing (or hearing) in action, and then this happens.