Real Deal

It's 6-22, by the way.

I was just showing the record when the Lakers play in Portland.

GREAT JOB REBOUNDING THE BALL, DEMARCUS COUSINS. I'm just letting off some steam. I like Westphal.

I watched a little bit of this game last night, and it's kind of sad just how much Ben Gordon has fallen off the map. I remember him having those huge games for the Bulls, torching teams...and now, he's really a nobody.

I'm starting to get the feeling that Granger is going to be super jealous of George soon. I wonder how long Granger will last with the Pacers.

https://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA/status/155009833102360576 Ridiculous!

Well, seems like Cousins definitely got what he wanted.

https://twitter.com/#!/KBergCBS/status/155008063374503937

Portland fans are already chanting, "Beat LA!" They are still at work or school, lol.

Pretty interesting. I looked at all 29 games, noticed that Kobe hasn't performed that bad against Portland until Roy and Batum came along, which makes a lot of sense. The four losses during the first dynasty (third championship and the season after) is more than likely due to us not having anything outside of Kobe and Shaq, and there was no way those two were going to score 90+ points together, as long as the Blazers decided to double Kobe OR Shaq (they would do both, one to stop the facilitating and one to stop Shaq inside). The article almost makes it sound like a bad thing for Bryant, as if he has been choking against them his entire career, but that's not the case. He has had some bad games against them, though...but not incredibly bad (I don't think I recall him shooting under 37% in any of them aside from one of his first games as a rookie or sophomore, and that percentage didn't come up that often). 1997 (rookie): 0-2 @ Portland (Kobe played four minutes in one game) 1998: 0-2 1999: 0-1 2000: 1-1 (Kobe did not play in the loss) 2001: 1-1 2002: 0-2 2003: 0-2 (Kobe/Shaq combined for 72, both over 50%, still lost...other game, Shaq did not play) 2004: 1-1 (Kobe/Shaq's best game against them, or second best...resulted in a loss) 2005: 1-1 -------- Have to post about these games. I have no idea how they won the first game, considering who was on the roster...but that second game, in April, the Lakers lost by three, despite starting Kobe, Chris Mihm, Jumaine Jones, Chucky Atkins, and Sasha Vujacic (no Odom on the roster). 2006: 0-2 (dropped 41 and still lost, 35 in another but bad shooting - 37%) 2007: 0-1 (32 PTS, 63% FG, no Gasol, Drew with one shot attempt) 2008: 0-2 (no Drew, 33 PTS on 50% in one game, Gasol played great in the other) 2009: 0-2 (bad shooting games) 2010: 1-1 (no Gasol in the Lakers loss, no Kobe OR Roy in the win) 2011: 1-1 (Kobe went off in this win, Gasol and Ron did good as well, bad shooting for everyone in the loss)

Kaman has been in trade rumors for a couple of years now. I hope he's not surprised, and just lashing out.

Ricky Rubio is just having fun out there...you can see it. Not that he isn't trying as hard as he can, but he's very comfortable, and that's not really a surprise if you consider all of the pro games he has played outside of the NBA. Mentioned him in the last game topic, so I'll do it again: TONY ALLEN. Defensively, he kind of reminds me of a young Ron Artest.

Does anyone else just hate Brian Cook's face, and the way he shoots his threes?

Well, okay...Tyson Chandler isn't Dwight Howard. We all knew that. But damn, you'd think the rest of the team would TRY to defend. Sometimes, you get the notion that Amare lets his man score for laughs.

Welcome to the best.

Welcome to the best.

Suggested by No Show Joe? Who knows.

I'm starting to wonder just how much time Jordan has spent with Gerald Henderson. He's playing much better than I expected him to play, taking smarter shots and doing all the right things on offense. I can't believe the dude stepped up and hit that clutch three on Miami in that first meeting (was almost 100% sure it was going to Augustin or Diaw), and he's still impressing me. It's just too bad that the Bobcats have no defense, little offense, and no true big man frontcourt to fall back on when times get tough.

Durant just bombed this game. Portland decided to try and shut him down, closed up the paint and put their best defenders on him (Wallace, Batum and Matthews are all capable of giving him trouble), and it worked like a charm. Portland could be a tough out for OKC in the playoffs. They are built well enough to stop them in a series.

I hate his guts, because he's one of the few players I've ever seen that can give Kobe trouble by himself.

Stephen Jackson is HORRIBLE! I have no idea how many times I'll be saying this throughout the year, but I think I could have said it every game so far. Jennings played bad (although not as bad as S-Jax), and without Bogut, it's surprising the Bucks stayed within reach. Can't say many bad things about Utah this game, but they did turn the ball over far too many times. I saw the fourth (usually what I do when I don't pick that particular game to watch on the DVR, and don't have much time to watch it all), and it just seemed as if everything was on the backs of their bigs, and the rest of the team was just lazy, taking bad shots (that still went in from time to time, but it's the Bucks) and turning the ball over. I would've had a hard time watching this game, though. Neither team is exciting.

Okay, as hot as Marcus Thornton has been...well, did anyone watch the game last night? Tony Allen is a bad ass, simple as that. He was as important as the other 4-5 guys that went OFF against the Kings last night (Gasol, Mayo, Young, Gay). Even Conley stepped in and played pretty damn good defense on Evans. Memphis let the three-point line go, though...and Fredette was the one to take advantage of that, haha. You knew it was bound to happen.

That's not a "rip-through" move. http://www.otrbasketball.com/forums/topic/25602-nba-alters-emphasis-on-shooting-fouls You guys attempted 31 threes, a third of your shot attempts. K-Mart was missing open shots, and that included seven missed threes. Did you see Houston's shot chart? It hasn't been updated yet, but it's near the end of the game: http://i43.tinypic.com/ru8ex3.gif You guys are making it sound like Kobe racked up 20 free throw attempts. It's going to suck playing Miami and the Thunder, I see.

A true low post threat. It's that simple, honestly. Zone defenses are created to stop superstars (obviously not a perfect definition, but that's basically it) and there are only two ways to beat a zone: raining threes, or attacking it with a low post threat (one that can facilitate out of the post, that helps) and an excellent post-entry passer.

Play defense correctly, instead of being the 9th worst team in the NBA on that side of the court, and you guys won't pick up so many fouls.