AboveLegit

Every announcer, trainer or scout says Roy has a deceptive quickness. The thing is, Roy is fast with his dribble and moves, but he only does it in bursts. Could he play fast all the time, I don't know. Roy can beat anyone though, he looks like he is just lazing his way up the court then suddenly his after burners are on and he's weaving his way through four defenders. He hesitates and makes defenders second guess before he exploits whatever they do wrong. I don't know if he could always play fast, probably, but he'd probably have more turn overs and more points, especially ft's. I like his style though, and how he doesn't have a big ego. He is all about the team, kind of like a Duncan SG personality. I think he belongs in the top, if that is top 10 or top 15 in the league, its still the top. He is one of the premier players in the league, I just wonder if he'd make way more money outside of Portland and, with a different coach and philosophy (pushing Roy to always attack), if he would have a dramatic improvement. I wonder if Roy and Aldridge have progressed as far as they can under Nate. He shot 400 less shots then Kobe 2 years ago, and 200 less 3 pointers. If you put those numbers in for Roy, at his same %, he'd be scoring 26+ points a game, not counting the extra FT's he'd get with said attempts. Part of that is Roy wanting to give his team shots, some reluctance, but a lot is coaching. If he was on a different team, where they wanted the game to run through him, with a coach like Jackson, Riley or Saunders, I think his scoring would sore.

The same reason why Brandon has Pau Gasol listed as an all star. He just simply isn't there completely. At this point, I don't consider Dirk even better than Pau, so there's no reason for me to call him a superstar. As for Nash, I guess you could make the case for him, but does he really dominate games?

No defense being played at all. Ellis is getting anything he wants....27 points in the first half?

Brandon Roy has had a tremendous first half, hopefully he keeps it up.

The media as a whole is much too quick to name someone a "Superstar". That is someone, IMO, who transcends the game in someway. They have a serious playoff history and have proven themselves. Kobe LeBron Wade CP3 D-Will Durant Dwight Melo I'm considering placing Brandon Roy in this list, but I think I'll wait till the season is over before calling him one.

Chris Kaman making his best Blake Griffin impersonation. :o

Oh. My. God. Blake. Griffin.

No doubt there are problems with the Celtics still. They don't know how to close out games is one of them. But the Cavs are better than people give credit to, they are a good defensive team even without Bron and their "role players" are very good. People severely underrated the cast last year because the offense was based on LeBron dribbling around for 20 secs and making a kick out or driving into the lane. Now we're going to see the Cavs actually running a true offense and maximizing the potentials of Hickson, Gibson, etc.

Celtics were on a back to back, I actually had a feeling the Cavs would win. Classic Celtics game. Playing to the level of their competition/come out flat after playing super-high intensity in their last game/terrible on back-to-backs.

Great write up, loved how you broke down the game player by player. Bosh always plays bad against Garnett. It's always been like that for him. I remember watching the Raptors playing the Celtics and while his teammates were playing their asses off trying to get a win Bosh was getting the ball at the top of the key and swinging it around the perimeter. It's not experience, or getting the swing of things, it's just his demeanor on the court. Amare for example has a certain amount of confidence and swagger, you know that he belongs. A lot of the time Bosh just seems like he's still trying to prove himself. It's not his body frame either, it's just that he needs a tougher mentality. Yesterday was a higher level of basketball that he is used to. Bosh will be the biggest issue for the Heat to overcome. They can't win a series against Boston if he continues this play. This is one of 12, 13 games they are going to play during the regular season that will resemble a playoff atmosphere type of game. In the next few weeks, the Heat will play teams like the Wolves or Sixers or Clippers or Bobcats or Grizzlies. It doesn't really give you a good understanding of where you stand with the other championship contenders when you are able to play no defense and still blowout teams. These games are so critical because the Heat only get a dozen or so chances to see how they match up with these elite teams. Who knows how the next match up will be for them. Maybe Garnett or Shaq sits. Maybe LeBron has an injury. Realistically, a teams playoff lineup won't get to face another teams playoff lineup in the regular season that often, and if you don't figure it out against them when you get a chance, it can really hurt. 82 games is a long season, but the 12-15 that really separate championship level teams and non-title teams is really all that matters. It sucks for Heat fans that this happens in game 1, but this will be more realistic game for them than all of their games against the Nets and Pacers.

Bosh looking good early on.

My most memorable is Gil hitting the gamewinning three against Utah. I was there, about 8 rows behind the Wizards bench. I've been to many playoff games as well, but the game against Utah just happens to be my favorite.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/NEDsSTT4bNOBHK Disappointing.. -_-

http://twitter.com/#!/WindhorstESPN/status/28914799197

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/10/leonsis_says_hes_punting_on_wi.html Good choice, I don't mind the Wizards, and I love the reasoning behind this decision.

Damn all the posts from yesterday are gone as well.

Yeah that's one of the biggest question marks for the Wizards this year. He has talent, but does he have the right mindset coming into the season? He can shoot the rock, has a good post up game, and is good in transition. I think he will have a good year with a few minor issues along the way. Probably looking at 18ppg, 8rpg, or somewhere in that ballpark.

Aside from the obvious, I'm going to say Tmac, Chase Budinger, OJ Mayo (waiting for him to have a breakout year), and Greivis Vasquez (just want to see him get playing time).

Was waiting for him to say, "Should I beat Delonte's [expletive] for banging my mom?"

Man I was way off.

There goes any chance of the Cowboys making the playoffs (if they had any to begin with). I know I said I was going to root for the Cowboys, but this is too much fun. Romo is probably going to be out for 2-3 weeks... That's my best guess.

Man, the Giants have some huge receivers. It's hard for secondaries to match up with Nicks, Smith, and Manningham. Nicks is such a beast, great drive by the Gmen.

Torain seems to have that ideal body size for Shanahan's run schemes, but Portis is still a great physical back. Portis has done and said some dumb things that have been amplified by his lack of success in an inept offense behind a terrible offense line, but let's not downplay what he has done for this franchise. Portis is still the more complete back, and really, it's not even close. Assuming he's healthy and performs well in practice during the bye week, I don't see any reason not to start him. He's the better pass blocker and a much better receiver out of the backfield. His versatility gives him the nod over Torain IMO, and either way, we should be seeing a heavy dose of both Torain and Portis throughout the game, with Portis being the man on third downs. Bottom line is that we need all the help we can get on third downs, because so far, we are one of the worst teams in that category.

Congrats everyone!

Why? I don't understand the hatred over him. I honestly don't.