The 2013-14 NBA season

Wobbie

dcfaithful wrote:

imalive wrote:

big win for the Jazz last night. woo-hoo!

Next two games will be tough. Philly has been slipping lately, but Chicago is on a 7 (correct?) game winning streak. IF, and that's a big if, Utah can win those two games that would be great momentum coming home to play Detroit before going back out on the road to Phoenix.

They're back at .500. The end of the season is a little over a month away... keep the foot on the gas.

chicago should be no problem :shifty:

dcfaithful

imalive wrote:

dcfaithful wrote:

imalive wrote:

big win for the Jazz last night. woo-hoo!

Next two games will be tough. Philly has been slipping lately, but Chicago is on a 7 (correct?) game winning streak. IF, and that's a big if, Utah can win those two games that would be great momentum coming home to play Detroit before going back out on the road to Phoenix.

They're back at .500. The end of the season is a little over a month away... keep the foot on the gas.

chicago should be no problem :shifty:

I wish I could believe that. :(

81

dcfaithful wrote:

imalive wrote:

big win for the Jazz last night. woo-hoo!

Next two games will be tough. Philly has been slipping lately, but Chicago is on a 7 (correct?) game winning streak. IF, and that's a big if, Utah can win those two games that would be great momentum coming home to play Detroit before going back out on the road to Phoenix.

They're back at .500. The end of the season is a little over a month away... keep the foot on the gas.

i do believe it is up to 8 with orlando coming to town tonight.

dcfaithful

81 wrote:

i do believe it is up to 8 with orlando coming to town tonight.

That's what I thought about Toronto coming to SLC. :?

Then again, the Jazz and Bulls are not comparable teams.

81

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/standings;_ ... Z2a828vLYF

no...they are on an 8 game streak. if they can get past orlando tonight, it would be 9 heading into sat's matchup.

RW81233

81 wrote:

the thing with lebron...he's a great talent..no doubt about it...he just lacks mental toughness and will

some people are scared...i think lebron is one of those people.

we always argue about this but you are literally using boston 2 years ago, and nba finals to make this assertion. nevermind the 48 special when he scored for a quarter straight against deeetroit basketballll, 42 against the celts only to be topped by one more paul pierce shot, or that he got a trip-dub in a game he "didn't even care about", or that he was the reason the heat beat the celts and bulls last year. has he sucked in big moments - for sure - but he's been pretty awesome in big moments as well.

d. rose doesn't get the choker label yet already has many big time fuck ups (NCAA tourny, last year against bron), because it would be stupid to call someone so integral to his team's success the "reason" they lost. last night was a perfect example of how we overstate things (I'm just as guilty as the next) when Wade had the ball at the end he got double teamed twice and threw to Haslem who hit the same 18 footer he missed on the pass from Bron and then threw down the game clinching dunk. If he misses is Wade a choker for passing or did he do the right thing and things didn't go the way they could have.

RW81233

not sure if this is for nba or nfl thread...

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2012-03-07-704/index.html

Big Pimpin': Peyton Manning and the loyalty double standard
By Dave Zirin
Print this article

Professional athletes, we are constantly told, are disloyal souls. They're ungrateful. They’re selfish. They don’t care about the team, the fans, or the community. They are only out for themselves. The perpetual prime example of this egomaniacal archetype is the person author Scott Raab called "The Whore of Akron”: basketball player Lebron James. The Ohio-born James left his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat and overnight became the Sports World’s number one villain. Well, if Lebron James is the Whore of Akron, what does that make Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay?

On Wednesday, Irsay released his future Hall of Fame quarterback, 35 year old Peyton Manning. In Manning, we have a player who exemplifies everything we say we want in athletes. He revered the tradition of the franchise. He involved himself in the community. He even built a hospital, for goodness sake. At the press conference announcing his release, he started to cry when talking about how much he'll miss the equipment manager at the team’s practice facility.

This is someone who led his team to an NFL record 115 wins and nine straight playoff appearances over the last decade, while winning four most valuable player awards. This is someone who started 208 straight games. This is that rare player, like the Yankees’ Derek Jeter or the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, who is almost impossible to imagine in another uniform.

Despite this remarkable record of accomplishment, Manning, in Irsay’s eyes, was seen as expendable. No loyalty. No humanity. Just business. But you aren’t seeing sports writers, commentators, or bloggers ripping Irsay apart for his lack of fidelity. No one is burning their Colts jerseys in protest. Those kinds of brutal character assaults are reserved for the Lebron James’s of this world. Instead we hear that while Manning’s release might have been tough decision, it had to be done. As Andrew Brandt wrote at SportsIllustrated.com, “In the end, Irsay's decision to part with Manning is an understandable business decision, ruling from his head rather than his heart. Organizations must evolve. Leaders must respect the past, but not be controlled by it.”Brandt’s words have been echoed as the conventional wisdom across the sports landscape.

Yes, Peyton missed the entirety of last season with a neck injury, but that’s not stopping suitors across the league from drooling at his door. Yes, Peyton was due a massive signing bonus from the team if they didn't release him, but this pales in comparison to the cash he has put in the owner's pocket. This includes the hundreds of millions of dollars Irsay received in the construction of the publicly funded Lucas Oil Stadium which can be fairly called “The House that Peyton Built.” But Jim Irsay, in an action that should brand him as the Newt Gingrich of NFL owners, cast Peyton aside for a younger, prettier option. Peyton’s injury sank the Colts this season landing them the coveted number one draft pick and the opportunity to select shiny rookie Andrew Luck from Stanford. Not personal, just business.

Whenever owners release star players, the media applauds with somber respect. But the Lebrons of the world, despite their commercial value and cultural capital, are treated less like business people than ungrateful wards of the state. It’s a deeply condescending and highly racialized dichotomy that reaches back to Major League Baseball player Curt Flood’s perilous efforts to win free agency. If you play a children’s game, then the media and fans expect you to act as grateful and loyal as a child. If owners like Irsay are praised for “ruling from his head rather than his heart”, we never grant players that same respect. But even when a player comes along like a Peyton Manning, who meets every expectation and satisfies our every unreasonable demand, it’s still not enough.

Never talk to me again about what players “owe” their teams. Never ask why athletes aren’t more grateful to the people who sign their checks. Never refer to Lebron as “The Whore of Akron” unless we are willing to call owners like Jim Irsay out as the pimps that they are.

81

RW81233 wrote:

81 wrote:

the thing with lebron...he's a great talent..no doubt about it...he just lacks mental toughness and will

some people are scared...i think lebron is one of those people.

we always argue about this but you are literally using boston 2 years ago, and nba finals to make this assertion. nevermind the 48 special when he scored for a quarter straight against deeetroit basketballll, 42 against the celts only to be topped by one more paul pierce shot, or that he got a trip-dub in a game he "didn't even care about", or that he was the reason the heat beat the celts and bulls last year. has he sucked in big moments - for sure - but he's been pretty awesome in big moments as well.

d. rose doesn't get the choker label yet already has many big time fuck ups (NCAA tourny, last year against bron), because it would be stupid to call someone so integral to his team's success the "reason" they lost. last night was a perfect example of how we overstate things (I'm just as guilty as the next) when Wade had the ball at the end he got double teamed twice and threw to Haslem who hit the same 18 footer he missed on the pass from Bron and then threw down the game clinching dunk. If he misses is Wade a choker for passing or did he do the right thing and things didn't go the way they could have.

The same lebron that quit on the cavs vs bs in 09?

Wobbie

81 wrote:

so was teh step back game winner by rose the espn play of the night?

I know you tell me not to watch ESPN, but I just saw it. think it was #2 or #3 :roll:

RW81233

81 wrote:

RW81233 wrote:

81 wrote:

the thing with lebron...he's a great talent..no doubt about it...he just lacks mental toughness and will

some people are scared...i think lebron is one of those people.

we always argue about this but you are literally using boston 2 years ago, and nba finals to make this assertion. nevermind the 48 special when he scored for a quarter straight against deeetroit basketballll, 42 against the celts only to be topped by one more paul pierce shot, or that he got a trip-dub in a game he "didn't even care about", or that he was the reason the heat beat the celts and bulls last year. has he sucked in big moments - for sure - but he's been pretty awesome in big moments as well.

d. rose doesn't get the choker label yet already has many big time fuck ups (NCAA tourny, last year against bron), because it would be stupid to call someone so integral to his team's success the "reason" they lost. last night was a perfect example of how we overstate things (I'm just as guilty as the next) when Wade had the ball at the end he got double teamed twice and threw to Haslem who hit the same 18 footer he missed on the pass from Bron and then threw down the game clinching dunk. If he misses is Wade a choker for passing or did he do the right thing and things didn't go the way they could have.

The same lebron that quit on the cavs vs bs in 09?

i said he sucked before and mentioned that game specifically. even for "quitting on his team" he was awesome in both their wins in that series, and had a triple double in the decisive 6th game (not bad for bailing on your team who else does that?). kobe went 4 for a million in game 7 that year and his teammates bailed his ass out and we call him a champion with killer instinct.

Newch91

imalive wrote:

81 wrote:

so was teh step back game winner by rose the espn play of the night?

I know you tell me not to watch ESPN, but I just saw it. think it was #2 or #3 :roll:

#2. That shot reminded me of Kemba's shot against Pittsburgh last year in the Big East Tournament.

Newch91

Grant Hill is still playing?

Ernie Vedder

dcfaithful wrote:

How about those Wizards?

Fuckin' Lakers.

Yeah, Lakers blew that one. We have Boston on Sunday, Minnesota tomorrow

Wobbie

Ernie Vedder wrote:

dcfaithful wrote:

How about those Wizards?

Fuckin' Lakers.

Yeah, Lakers blew that one. We have Boston on Sunday, Minnesota tomorrow

Mad Masked Mamba

dcfaithful

Newch91 wrote:

Grant Hill is still playing?

Class act that guy is. If he can remain in the league for 4 more years he'll have a 20 year career. :shock:

The Juggler

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... el-jordan/

The time Robert Parish refused to put up with Michael Jordan

There is a fantastic story up at ESPNBoston.com looking at the end of the first “Big Three” in Boston — Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.

McHale and Bird finished their careers as Celtics, but people often forget that Parrish spent two years in Charlotte then went on to the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls — the middle season of Michael Jordan’s post-baseball, second threepeat with the Bulls.

By this point Jordan was an established leader whose style was intimidation and pressure. Jordan was the ultimate alpha male who let you get away with nothing.

Parish had been through too much for that, as he tells the story.

In one of his first practices with the Bulls, Parish botched one of the plays and was amused to find Jordan jawing at him just inches from his face.

“I told him, ‘I’m not as enamored with you as these other guys. I’ve got some rings too,’ ” Parish recalled. “At that point he told me, ‘I’m going to kick your ass.’ I took one step closer and said, ‘No, you really aren’t.’ After that he didn’t bother me.”
I imagine Jordan tells that story differently.

Parish played sparingly for that Bulls team — he got in only 43 regular season games and two playoff games — then retired, but with his fourth ring. We will always think of him as a Celtic, but he has at least one good Bulls story, it turns out.

Holtzmn

Ricky Rubio is out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

RW81233

yeah it fucking sucks...he was fun to watch

81

where are my Utah friends :wave:

Wobbie

81 wrote:

where are my Utah friends :wave:

korver's fake tan looked good; asik is an ugly fuck