Real Deal

Go ahead and move him into that #1 favorite player slot. You can do it.

Who all is injured for the Clippers? Everyone? Starting five... C - Jordan PF - Griffin SF - Gomes SG - Butler PG - Bledsoe

Didn't travel...he's rehabbing that achilles.

Yeah, I actually thought Calderon was going to jack that shot up for a second, and he was wide open for a while, but it's Jose, and you really don't know what he's going to do (sounds like a good thing, but it's not). 2-8, because they will beat Miami. :o

I will restate what I've said in the past: no-show Joe is not a legit primary scoring option, and the Hawks will always struggle to win games here and there because of it. For a team that was rolling, I'm still not surprised to see them lose 2-3 consecutive games.

That's actually a good foul. He was way too deep in the post there.

Should've just shot the damn ball. I don't know why he was even trying to make a move. He knows what he can and can't do against someone like Jackson.

DUDE...Bargnani. WTF.

Three-point time!

When you don't score for 4 1/2 minutes in a close game, you're probably going to lose. Wall is a monster. Everyday is Halloween (I made that up).

Wall has to be fast because of those Zigs he's wearing. I'm pretty sure of it.

Kirilenko is a beast.

Are you using Photoshop to cut the pictures?

Sucks for Yao. I'd be more concerned about that right now if I were a Rockets fan. This game suddenly became irrelevant once he injured that foot.

Legit franchise players need to be the best players on your team, but sometimes, the best players on your team aren't always considered legit franchise players.

Kobe was criticized for shooting against Boston's miniature, "modified" zone defense. The way to beat the zone is to feed the post and attack the rim. A zone welcomes the shot, and if you aren't knocking them down, you don't beat it (well, for most). Only Tony Allen would be able to keep up with Bryant. Posey was a shooter's defender, and so was Ray Allen (a player who has relied heavily on help defense his entire career, actually). Problem is, Tony Allen played a total of 19 minutes in the NBA Finals...three games, didn't reach double-digit minutes in two of them. He was a non-factor, and it was because Posey was getting all of his minutes. Tony was playing significant minutes until the playoffs rolled around, and no, it wasn't an injury that forced him out...Allen was getting less than 10 minutes against the Hawks in the first round, played under five minutes in 11 of those 15 games he did play. Bryant would have had more success against that Boston defense back then, versus in 2008. The Lakers lost that Finals series for three main reasons: injuries, Bryant and Gasol's lack of physicality (Kobe settling and Gasol not being a man), and shots were not falling. The 2000 Lakers would be injury-free (this is assuming all teams are), Kobe would be driving to the rim more and a more versatile defender, Shaq would be 10 times more physical than Gasol and would be a major reason why Rondo would never drive to the rim (remember, the Lakers were 1st defensively, due to having Kobe on the perimeter and Shaq waiting in the paint), and the Lakers were getting open due to that post presence and Bryant's ability to work on the perimeter. I actually think those five more wins (to make the Lakers a 72-win team) would change almost everyone's opinion on the subject. That LA team would be considered one of the greatest of all-time (right there with Jordan's 72-win Bulls), and suddenly, this wouldn't be such a big debate. By the way, I think that Boston team was the second or third best team in the decade, and it's arguable that they are first. I'm not going to say that the Lakers are, hands down, the ones to select here...but it's too difficult for me not to say Kobe and Shaq.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but just keep in mind that there have been a LOT of international players that have traveled this same road, and failed. While it's not really time to shut the door on him yet, Hamed Haddadi was supposed to be that "Yao Ming" figure for Iran. People were raving about Pavel Podkolzin in Russia when he was younger. These big guys get everyone excited because, honestly, you don't see many of them overseas that can actually play like a big man...and at an NBA level...so when you run into Yao Ming, Marc Gasol and even Dirk Nowitzki representing their countries in the NBA, you start looking for that next international big.

GO JAZZ! EDIT: Not really. I don't like Utah.

He did, 4-5 times in a row near the end of the game. It was pretty bad...and I'm pretty sure Kobe doesn't miss 4-5 consecutive layups no matter who is in the paint, let alone Darko or Love. And...4-5 times is no exaggeration, lol.

How would Rajon Rondo get into the paint at will? Just because Harper was older? If I'm not mistaken, that's what a lot of people figured would happen when Kobe shifted over to defend Rajon, except Bryant was smarter this time around. Harper's defensive IQ was pretty high. Plus, this was a Rondo that was shooting under 41% in those playoffs, averaging four boards a game, under seven assists, 10 points per contest. Definitely not the same Rondo as the one we see today, or even last year (16/6/9 on 46% FG in the 2010 playoffs). Bryant could've kept up with Ray. With everyone always calling him overrated on defense and saying he was better in his youth...well, here's his youth. Above all that, nobody on the Celtics stops Shaq. He would have 50 points if it was just Perkins defending him, and if Garnett has to help every single time, it almost obliterates any help defense the Celtics utilize on Bryant, who was netting 23 PPG on 47% FG that season, and the same Kobe that put up three-consecutive 30s on the Kings in the first round that year. I don't think Boston beats the 2000 Lakers OR the 2001 Lakers. Yeah, those Lakers nearly lost to the Blazers. Boston nearly lost to Atlanta in the first round that season, and barely got past the Cavs as well...two seven-gamers.

If you guys start seeing small changes in the current skin, don't worry...I'm editing images. For instance, those drop-down arrows in the user navigation bar are now black...which means you probably can't see them anymore, haha. Sorry. Also, the hover on the post buttons should be red.

When I say the 2000 Lakers, I'm talking the 1999-2000 team. The season starts in 1999, but that's two months of the 7-8 that they play. When someone calls on a particular team, they use the year of that team's championship. The 2000 Lakers started the dynasty, and the 2002 Lakers ended it with the third ring. The decade, from 2000-2010, should include that 2000 Lakers squad. In fact... http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2000.html There's your 2000 Lakers (note the URL), and that's your 1999-2000 67-win team. And because a decade lasts from 2000-2009 (ten full years) and that team played the majority of their games in the year 2000 (and won their title in 2000), they should be considered.

Niiiiitro, I know you're posting...but I'll reply later. I need to finish up the banners and team forums. Everyone else can swing their bats for a while.

You're cheating. You have to pick a specific Spurs team.

Didn't he play it off as nothing that last game? I'm 99.9% sure he was interviewed about it, said it was no big deal, and he was talking about how he just wanted less minutes to get back into playing shape, or something.