Poe

Lol @ Haslem: "It's Wade's house, but it's my town."

Yes, Wade, this IS your house... Chance on those last two shots gave the Heat the win today. I don't mean to be a party-pooper, but they really didn't deserve it. There was very little intensity this entire game until the last 5 minutes, when it could have easily been too late and the Nets pull off with a win. Props to Haslem for stepping up when everyone else was struggling. Beasley hustled, yet wasn't efficient on offense, but at least he didn't let the missed shots bother him too much. Although Wade wasn't scoring much, he was all over the stats sheet with those 6 steals, 2 blocks, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds, plus the game winning shot, of course. Everyone else sucked today, especially Daequan. Give Dorell his minutes back, please.

Daequan still isn't looking good out there. Put Dorell back in, Spoe. The two captains are the only people on the team playing well and motivated. Everyone else doesn't seem very into it, except for Arroyo. Hopefully Beasley will pick up his game in the 2nd half, and hopefully Chalmers turns out OK.

Dang, looks like JO is out due to a hip injury of some sort. Beasley and Haslem better step up.

If circumstances were switched and Joe Johnson had an injury slowing him down and Josh Smith was out completely, and if Al Horford, Marvin Williams, and Mo Evens were in their rookie year, the outcomes would have changed, and you wouldn't be saying the same things at this point.

I'm just trying to say that saying "Mayan culture is bogus, MY religion is what you should be listening to" is just flat out arrogant, especially when the evidence factor is at about zero on both sides.

So I guess your saying your God > Mayan God(s).

So, how many players are having a problem with Don... Ellis, Jackson, Randolph, and now Curry. And with a losing record, it's a wonder that he still has a job.

The Heat relied on youth and were held back on key injuries. If Wade (back spasms) and O'Neal (concussion) were both completely healthy, and if Cook, Beasley, and Chalmers each had at least 1 more year of experience, then no question the Heat would have easily won that series, and I think most people can agree that the Heat could have stood a much better chance against the Cavs than the Hawks' 0-4 effort.

Wow, I'm checking the stats to this game, and man, I guess Ariza is the real deal. 18 points and 5 steals at half time. Udrih and Thompson are looking like superstars, too. Udrih with 16 points and Thompson with 14 and 9. Looking at the stats, it seems like Houston is losing due to poor bench play, and perhaps bad defense as well. Landry and Lowry need to step it up.

Thing is, I like to play in leagues, and most leagues have a silly on ball defense at all times rule, because their afraid of people hiding behind the defense with a center or forward and letting the computer play you instead. Thing is, I find it to be even more of a computer defense because you are now completely relying on the help defenders to be in proper positioning, which they hardly ever are and they wind up throwing 50 alleys per game. I quit those leagues now cause I don't have time, but I still have the habit of playing on the ball D. I guess I need to quit the habit so I can play better team D. What frustrates me about online play, besides crappy servers, is that there is no way to play HoF mode. I wish there was a way to choose the level of play for better realism. And the on ball stealing mainly goes for online my player mode, but it affects online team play too. The way most people defend in online pick up games on my player is to use high rated players and constantly try to rip you, and that's it. Same style goes for team play at times too. Although they are easy to beat if you know how to handle it, it still takes the fun away from online gameplay. Also, in pick up my player games, I haven't found a way around it yet. When your teammates are either selfish or unreliable most of the time, you want to be able to protect the ball bringing it up, but it's near impossible.

It's sad but true. I wish EA sports made 2k10. The game had so much potential, but they blew it with all the glitches plus so many minute things that made the game much worse than it should have been. They gave us a broken game, and 2K STILL hasn't fixed it. Out of all this, though, my biggest problem in the game is the [expletive]ing defense. Steal animations, on ball defense, and computer help defense. I absolutely hate the steal animations. First of all, there is no way to protect the ball. All your opponent has to do is run at you, press X, and hope for a steal. 1/5 times its a steal. 7/10 times it's an animation going after the ball, and 1/10 times it's called for a reach-in foul. Man defense is about staying in front of your man, not constantly pressing x hoping for a steal plus having an extremely low chance of a foul call. The absolute WORST part of this game. Going after steals should be about timing, steal rating should not be THAT big of a part of that. Again, there NEEDS to be a way to protect the ball when dribbling. Speaking of staying in front of your man... i mean, it's nearly impossible. I made my My Player a 99 on ball defender and offensive players still get around him with ease, no matter what I do. Whether you are holding the left trigger or not, no matter if you are using Bruce Bowen or Tracy McGrady, you have to rely on mere chance that the defender was able to stop the drive, only to find that he's been beatin on the second attempt from a random behind-the-back move of some sort. And with man defenders getting beat so easily, the help defense hardly reacts, even with the best defensive team in the league like the Celtics. Help defenders hardly react to anything really. Also, even after the update, inside scoring is way too damn easy. When playing online or against the computer, the most successful way to win is to abuse the paint, just like it's been for a long time in video game basketball. People should have to establish an all around game, and should also be about how the defense is playing you. I wish there was more strategy to video game basketball. 2k is getting closer to that, though. Really, 2K, it wouldn't have taken much to simply fix the defense, and to actually test this game for glitches. There are so many things about this game that COULD have been great, but no, you had to screw it up. Sorry, I'm a little ticked off right now..

Alright, Alston shoots 35%, Lopez goes 1-12 with only 5 boards and nearly fouls out of the game, and Lee doesn't even play. Man, I'm good.

You mean Miami and Atlanta? No for Atlanta, maybe for Miami. I think the Heat are going to look good for the rest of the season, but I have doubts about them being legit contenders.

Looks like Ariza and Scola should combine for 60 shot attempts.

Retire the 50 Greatest, and then the 50 after that. That way we won't have any numbers left

Who cares how he did it. It still looks pretty nice, IMO. More complex doesn't necessarily mean better.

Damn, Nash is a beast on the boards. He needs to work on his passing, though.

In the 07-08 season, Dorell shot exactly 49.7% from midrange (80-161 in 44 games) before losing minutes due to injury in the 08-09 season. This year, he has improved that range to the 3 point arc, shooting 50% from both midrange and longrange, although he's only taken 4 shots from mid and 6 three-pointers in limited minutes, but it's more than clear that he has a shot. Thing is, Dorell shoots a high percentage from just about everywhere. His length, quickness, and overall athleticism makes him a good finisher at the basket, he's a high percentage FT shooter (78% for career), and he's able to rise for a midrange shot, and nail the long ball. Plus, this guy handles very well for a guy his size, plays well off the pick and role, and sees the floor well to find the open man. You can make a case for him being able to run the point guard position, even. The only problem Dorell has ever had was his decision making, but that's also starting to change, which is why he's getting minutes, and a reason he could possibly end up starting at some point into the season. Anyway, not every Heat fan will talk about Wright the way I do. I think most fans would say he sucks because of their disappointment that he immediately rise to the expectations of "the next T-Mac" the way he was hyped up to be from draft day. Others will recognize the progress he has made over the years, and that the potential is still there despite spending most his time on the bench for the past 5 years.

I want Alston to go off for a career high in points, and I want Lee to shut down Vince to a near scoreless game, and I want Lopez to join in on the fun and have monster numbers on Howard, just for the hell of it.

I'm not denying Kobe's abilities, which is why I'm using him as an example. Holding Kobe to 16 points with the Heat winning in the effort is pretty remarkable. Knowing Kobe, I understand there no way any defender in the league can keep Bryant from averaging below 20 in a 7 game series. Dorell does have more trouble guarding the drive than he does guarding the jumpshot and the post. Dorell did guard LeBron some today, and the only time he scored was driving off the screen, where the Heat probably should have doubled. LeBron was ineffective scoring off the post or taking jumpers because Dorell's length bothered his shot. Q-Rich did do a pretty good job with physical defense on LeBron, although it led him to foul trouble, and when Q backed off preparing for the drive, LB would use the height advantage to rise for a pull up jumper. I prefer Dorell guarding LeBron because it took away more aspects of his game. If the Heat would have doubled him off of the screens, then they would have forced his teammates to have big nights, like you said.

Shoutboxes can be fun, but I think it can distract people from posting in topics, lowering daily post count.

In a draft, you pick the best player you can get, no matter what. If you have 5 PGs, and the clear-cut best pick is a PG, that's who you pick. You can adjust your line up with trades later.

Why not? The Heat have enough money this summer for both Wade AND LeBron, and still have extra left.

A few things factor in to the Heat's loss. Mo Williams, 3 point shooting, and free throw shooting. The main reason the Cavs won is because the Heat failed to play good defense on the perimeter and they killed the Heat from 3 shooting 47%. They also penetrated and drew more fouls, and hit a higher percentage. Even though they made only 3 more free throws, those may have been a key to the outcome of the game. I think the Heat played decently on LeBron. It wasn't great, it wasn't poor. They did what they could do against the MVP.