Real Deal

That shot was incredible...but don't forget, Westbrook went OFF in that last 2-3 minutes. It's like someone just talked trash in his ear, and once he did something good, got to the line and heard the fans chanting his name (and it was loud), he played like a superstar to end the game, and on both offense and defense. Durant is looking to score 30+ every game this year, it seems.

Ah, riiiiiiight. Nice recovery.

Who said he was the best player in the league? More than one good game, by the way...and the worst part would be those that called him out of the top five, after his injury-ridden season last year. It would be nice if everyone knew how to evaluate talent a little better, instead of clouding their evaluations with hate. Nights like these make me chuckle a bit.

Can't believe there are still people saying Kobe is not a top five player in this league anymore.

Not sure what's up with the New Content issue (Dash just messaged me about it as well). I'll have to take a look. As far as second favorite teams go, I would rather put up college teams. It would take me a while to create all of those images (and I would), but that would make more sense to me.

Haha, sorry...Built Ford Tough.

I'm not so sure Fisher is the best PG on the Lakers, really. And I'll change my mind about Ron Artest...for now. I'm thinking Mike Brown (er...one of our offensive coaches) has taught him where he needs to play, and that he needs to pound the ball inside more.

It's that Built Ford Tough guy. Congratulations!

Both Bibby and Douglas are just small two-guards. Neither of them belong at the point. Bibby used to be able to create for others, but he's pretty worthless now. The Warriors shouldn't have won this game the way they did, regardless. Melo and Amare had under 30 combined points, and both shot the ball very poorly. Monta was even trying to hand them the game, with the shots he was bricking...but damn, Golden State just came out and pulled down boards galore (Kwame had 10 boards in 12 [expletive]ing minutes, doing his best Danny Fortson impersonation) and actually passed the ball around. Oh, and...B-RUSH to the rescue.

http://newsok.com/thunder-notebook-russell-westbrook-struggles-after-altercation-with-kevin-durant/article/3635701

Durant doing it big, again, with his third 30+ point game. Pretty (and clutch) jumper late in the game, too...just knew it was money. Sick of Russell. I wish the Thunder would find a way to trade him to Boston for Rondo.

Garnett is getting older, quicker, because he doesn't have much help up front. KG's days of being an elite defensive anchor are over, as long as Perkins isn't back there blocking guards from getting to the rim. Twice the work now. Keep winning, Orleans. Get a bad pick.

Watched a bit of the game with the DVR (girlfriends are cool). It seemed as if Toronto was finishing their fourth overtime...aside from DeRozan, I didn't see much going on out there. Bargnani looked dead tired. Slow transitions. Most of what I was watching, Toronto looked like an older team...as in, Boston Celtics old.

Augustin's final shot was just ridiculous. I really would've put Kemba in the game, no joke. For that one final bucket, I would stick Kemba out there and tell him it's UConn time, and see what he does under serious NBA pressure. I thought Bosh died on that dunk, by the way. If he didn't lay there with a deathly Komodo dragon look on his face when he finished it, I would have bet money he tore something.

I seriously want to watch this game, but League Pass mobile is so terrible, at least on my phone...keeps freezing, and I have to restart it. This sucks. BFT will have 400 posts before the end of the game, lol.

Wow, this game came out of nowhere. Had no idea it was on that early. Yeah, I agree with putting Bargs on Hibbert. Amir would get destroyed. Hibbert may tear up Bargnani also, but you're better off going with the guy that can actually contest his shots and use his weight to keep him away from the rim a little.

Kobe: 26/8/5 on around 50% shooting (don't remember the final shooting numbers, something like 8-16)...and that's what Utah gets, for trying to rely on just one defender. Miles and Bell can't hold Kobe by themselves, even the old man Kobe. Take into consideration the fact that Gasol actually STUCK HIS ASS IN THE PAINT a few more times than usual, Artest is playing closer to the rim, and Ebanks is getting to the line...makes it a little easier on Bryant, and the Lakers roll. Utah sure the hell misses Williams...but just as much, they miss Jerry Sloan.

That Portland defense kicked in after halftime. Kings shot 9-38 (24%) in that second half. :o Gotta admit...it was chuck-city tonight. Crawford, Jimmer, Matthews, Thornton...dudes were just firing threes, and bricking them badly. I was in and out of the game quite a bit, but damn...every single time I turned the channel, it was someone jacking a bad shot.

I actually didn't mind Love taking that three-point attempt. I know people probably didn't like it, but why not? Jennings did well...caused a lot of confusion on the Wolves' end. Opposite of what can be said about Rubio, who I thought would have a pretty damn good game tonight...but I'm guessing Terry Porter just came in and told the entire team to let Love foul out the Bucks' roster. AND...WHAT ABOUT JON LEUER??? The fans love him as much as Laker fans used to love Luke Walton (obviously, that didn't last long). Put up some good numbers tonight, and he was clutch.

It's not a surprise to see Boston struggling to keep up with such an athletic team, but also not shocking to see the Celtics play catch up late in the game. Boston can make you work on the defensive end, and it really does tire legs...and when Miami starts to feel that burn, they tend to go away from what works. They will run less, rely more on shooters, and it's depressing to see (for Miami fans) because they have three guys who should be able to go to work all game long. I'm not sure if Boston wins this with Pierce, though. Ray Allen really pulled them back into this game, and I doubt Pierce gets that 28-30 against LeBron, probably shoots a low percentage this game and keeps the ball out of Ray's hands a little too much. Who knows, though. Miami has ran the Celtics and Mavs to death in these first two games. I'm interested to see what they will do in a few weeks, when they go to LA to play the Clippers. Before that, they have it pretty easy these next couple of weeks.

I'm not even sure if Lopez matters. The Nets wouldn't make the playoffs, either way. They are a team put together to bring in a big-name free agent, not to win. The team itself isn't much to watch. Damien James, Anthony Morrow...these guys are back-ups, at best. They still don't have a legitimate starting PF, although Humphries does a decent job racking up big numbers on a bad team. Bench is horrific.

Getting interesting, to say the least. They are letting him do more work than one would think in this offense, especially considering the talent around him (very, very few rookies should be dropping big scoring numbers with Wade, LeBron and Bosh on their team). I'll go back to what I said to start the topic... And I'll go ahead and say the guy is probably going to be starting before the break. However, the bench really needs someone to score the ball. I wonder if he's better suited coming off the bench in a sixth-man role.

Because I don't like watching my girlfriend's Vampire Diaries box sets in the evenings, when League Pass gives me every game I want.

Well, if the player isn't willing to learn, you can't teach anything to him. Otherwise, yes...you can teach him how to defend. You can stress how important angles are, when to switch on screens, how to position the body defending the post, how to box out and defensive rebound, even defensive tricks that are deemed illegal unless you get away with them (ex. thumb in the back). Now, obviously, you'll have guys like Nash...who are too small, not strong enough, and don't have the lateral quickness to defend many of the starting PG's in the NBA, so you can't teach Steve Nash how to grow a few inches and heal his back and knees. However, Nash can be taught how to play off of a defensive anchor (like Battier does, and Bowen used to), and he can be given clips and video to watch, learning angles and hot spots of his opponents (vintage Battier...the dude has been doing it for years).

Andray Blatche is an idiot. He thinks he's Dwight Howard. And... What needs to happen is Saunders looking at his depth chart and moving Shard out of the lineup, and sticking Young at the three. Crawford had a pretty good game, I thought, and Young is fully capable of playing the SF position.