2011/2012 NBA Regular Season

[GreenFaith1819]

Perkins is a complete fail on both ends of the floor.

But he brings OKC mad "Ubuntu", though.

Some qualities are unquantifiable, intangible.

Much of Perk's worth is attributed to that.

[GreenFaith1819]

Kevin Durant is just cold-blooded.

How can you stop him?

[jdz101]

Kevin Durant is just cold-blooded.

How can you stop him?

Put a really long athletic guy on him like iggy... It's no coincidence that 3 men consistently go off against Orlando when they're starting turkoglu... He is a lazy, truly horrible defender.

[mqtcelticsfan]

Kevin Durant is just cold-blooded.

How can you stop him?

Put a really long athletic guy on him like iggy... It's no coincidence that 3 men consistently go off against Orlando when they're starting turkoglu... He is a lazy, truly horrible defender.

Well, that's how you slow him down a little bit. The correct answer was that you can't stop him, though.

[GreenFaith1819]

Kevin Durant is just cold-blooded.

How can you stop him?

Put a really long athletic guy on him like iggy... It's no coincidence that 3 men consistently go off against Orlando when they're starting turkoglu... He is a lazy, truly horrible defender.

Well, that's how you slow him down a little bit. The correct answer was that you can't stop him, though.

Iggy does keep Durant a bit respectable, though:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=duranke01&p2=iguodan01

The scary thing here is that Durantula is only 23...and Westbrook is just about as potent an offensive force as Durant.

Lebron and Co need to look out..the REAL BIG THREE is Durant-Russell-Harden.

[LooseCannon]

It seems like the one team that Durant has consistently shot poorly against in the past three seasons is Portland.

[bostonman1]

What a finish in Utah. 

Miami came back from double digits to take the lead.  Lebron showed that he can hit big shots late by making a 3 then impossible 2 point jumper to give Miami the lead.

Then Wade bricks a free throw leading to Devin Harris of all people making a runner and free throw to take back the lead.

Lebron passed up the final shot and Haslem missed so Utah pulls it out wow...

Hard to fault Lebron there as he was double teamed and passed to a wide open shooter but love to see the Heat finally lose!

[GreenFaith1819]

This may be an unfair label for Lebron but he, to me, is starting to develop a pattern, here.

He did make a sound "basketball decision" as the analysts on NBATV stated - they nailed that comment. He passed to Haslem and he took (and missed) that last shot.

BUT - with ALL the talent in the world - why can't he take the last shot??

Larry, Michael, Charles, Kobe, Magic, a few others - found a way to take the last shot.

He folds in the Finals...he passes up a shot in the All-Star game...now, granted, it IS the All-Star game, no doubt....but for someone of his caliber this is starting to become a pattern, here.

This man has the build and strength of Karl Malone..the speed and explosiveness of an early 2000's Kobe...he's starting to develop a deadly jumper...he's worked on his post game over the summer with none other than Hakeem.

Add in that he is an elite defender.

So what is missing with this guy? Is it that he lacks Michael? Larry? Kobe? Magic? The will to win?

I'm venturing a guess that he will "probably" win a ring or two, but right now? Not seeing it.

He's going to be 28 by the end of this year. While that is still prime years, the clock is ticking. His running mate, Wade, will be 31 by Jan. I'm guessing that MIA has a window of perhaps 3 years - IF THAT, barring injuries.

He's already alluded to the possibility of going back to CLE. As Kyrie's star shines brighter, I'd find it hard for him to ignore what he said.

Stay tuned - the saga of Lebron continues.

[GreenFaith1819]

Ok - youtube does have some clutch shots for Lebron, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5_aIh97ADQ

I'll admit - that second one vs the Wizards was simply amazing - one of the best clutch shots I've ever seen.

What's happening, Lebron? Is the Finals still on his mind? If it is, he needs one of those "Men in Black" things, lol...he'd better do a mind-wipe, quickly.



I'm sure Kobe's looking for some revenge on Sunday.

[PosImpos]

Ok - youtube does have some clutch shots for Lebron, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5_aIh97ADQ

I'll admit - that second one vs the Wizards was simply amazing - one of the best clutch shots I've ever seen.

What's happening, Lebron? Is the Finals still on his mind? If it is, he needs one of those "Men in Black" things, lol...he'd better do a mind-wipe, quickly.



I'm sure Kobe's looking for some revenge on Sunday.

I guess the lesson is that he lost his clutchness when he left Cleveland.

[hpantazo]

This may be an unfair label for Lebron but he, to me, is starting to develop a pattern, here.

He did make a sound "basketball decision" as the analysts on NBATV stated - they nailed that comment. He passed to Haslem and he took (and missed) that last shot.

BUT - with ALL the talent in the world - why can't he take the last shot??

Larry, Michael, Charles, Kobe, Magic, a few others - found a way to take the last shot.

He folds in the Finals...he passes up a shot in the All-Star game...now, granted, it IS the All-Star game, no doubt....but for someone of his caliber this is starting to become a pattern, here.

This man has the build and strength of Karl Malone..the speed and explosiveness of an early 2000's Kobe...he's starting to develop a deadly jumper...he's worked on his post game over the summer with none other than Hakeem.

Add in that he is an elite defender.

So what is missing with this guy? Is it that he lacks Michael? Larry? Kobe? Magic? The will to win?

I'm venturing a guess that he will "probably" win a ring or two, but right now? Not seeing it.

He's going to be 28 by the end of this year. While that is still prime years, the clock is ticking. His running mate, Wade, will be 31 by Jan. I'm guessing that MIA has a window of perhaps 3 years - IF THAT, barring injuries.

He's already alluded to the possibility of going back to CLE. As Kyrie's star shines brighter, I'd find it hard for him to ignore what he said.

Stay tuned - the saga of Lebron continues.

I think with Lebron, after all the pressure he just fears missing the last shot too much. He doesn't have the guts to fail. Kobe, Bird, MJ, they were totally fearless, they didn't care if they would miss and fully believed that they were by far the best option on the floor and if they were to lose they would want it to be from their hands and not from a teammate. In rare instances when they did lose in big games, which they all did, they handled it very well, admitted their weaknesses and made themselves better next year. 

When Lebron's refusal to take the last shot gets to the point where he realizes it's worse than missing the last shot, he will get over it, start taking them, and make a few and break out of it. Hopefully that takes a long while to happen and Wade continues to age and degrade physically though:)

I think another part of Lebron's issues however is that he still feels a ton of guilt over leaving cleveland. The only way for him to get over this is to go back there and win a title for them, which I think privately he may have already decided to do when the chance comes down the line.

[Adelaide Celt]

C'mon Heatles... Ugh that feels weird!

[LooseCannon]

It will feel less weird if you root for a fight to break out.  Someone fouls Darth Kobe hard. Bynum retaliates.  Bryant misses games.  Several players are suspended.  Both LA and Miami loses games due to personnel issues.

[cman88]

Lebron can be a clutch player in the regular season, but usually when it has counted he flounders under the pressure...

look at what happened in the Cleveland-Boston series in 2010?? or the finals last year..

Lebron is a mental midgit who wants to be "liked" by everyone...he would rather someone else take the last shot than miss and be the scapegoat..

thats the difference...Kobe, bird, MJ, even Paul pierce dont care if they miss that shot

[Who]

Miami are too short-handed up front without Bosh. Lacking in size and able bodies. Overly reliant on Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem.

Watching this game, I get the feeling Miami would trash LA if Bosh was in the lineup. The Lakers are simply beating up on a short-handed team today.