NBA December game thread

[AMS25]

I'm not writing off Bennett's career but I am absolutely writing off any chance he has of being a better player than Oladipo over the next 10 years. More evidence tonight: 26 pts, 5 reb. 4 ast, 4 stl, 3 blk. Oladipo is a dynamic player and Bennett can barely tie his shoe without pissing himself.

 
Why isn't Bennett in Canton (D-League), working on improving his game? I know he was first pick and all, but the Thunder send most of their draft picks to play for their D-League affiliate in Tulsa during their first year. Lamb, PJIII, Reggie Jackson -- all these guys did time in Tulsa before getting significant minutes with the Thunder. These young guys needed to play a lot and to work on different parts of their game. Now, they're still pretty young, but they're in a better position to make contributions to big league team. 

 

[Tony C]

I love the Lakers winning tonight, they're reminding me of the Jets. An awful team, but squeaking their way into .500-ish territory, not enough to make the playoffs, but enough to miss out on a top pick.

 

[Devizier]

Bennett was simply a terrible pick by Cleveland.

 
Well, yeah.
 
My point was different; Oladipo turns the ball over a lot.
 
This list is illustrative.

 

[ElUno20]

I love the Lakers winning tonight, they're reminding me of the Jets. An awful team, but squeaking their way into .500-ish territory, not enough to make the playoffs, but enough to miss out on a top pick.


They are in no-man's land. And it will get worse as kobe's health improves.

 

[ishmael]

 
Well, yeah.
 
My point was different; Oladipo turns the ball over a lot.
 
This list is illustrative.

 
Illustrative of what?

 

[The X Man Cometh]

Oladipo handles the ball as much as he does for Orlando because they don't care about winning games.
 
As he develops his defensive ability alone will justify starter's minutes on a contender. Being a good but not great offensive player would be icing on the cake.

Bennett hasn't demonstrated any part of his game that could be considered "cake".

 

[knucklecup]

 
You do realize that they played without Rose, Butler, Deng and Noah right?

Let's revisit the Bulls.

Losses to Milwaukee, Toronto, and Orlando at home. Should have lost to Milwaukee on the road, a Dunleavy bank three prevented that.

They're arguably the worst team in the sport. Would you agree?

 

[Blacken]

Bucks are still worse. They're bad, but Milwaukee is the epicenter of suck. I think the Sixers are in the discussion too before you can get to Chicago.

 

[Devizier]

Anybody else surprised by Phoenix's 14-9 start this year (with Bledsoe missing 6-7 games) already? A roster consisting of Bledsoe, Dragic, the Morris twins, Gerald Green, a Plumlee, and Channing Frye shouldn't be winning this much. Dragic and Bledsoe look to be meshing quite well so far.

 
Looks like old friend Gerald Green is making some nice contributions for them.

 

[Blacken]

That roster looks like a tire fire and...isn't. I haven't gotten to watch them yet this year, though (just upgraded my League Pass though so I think they're next on my list).

Which means they'll lose five straight while I watch them.

 

[knucklecup]

Bucks are still worse. They're bad, but Milwaukee is the epicenter of suck. I think the Sixers are in the discussion too before you can get to Chicago.

Very true.

The Bucks are just plain bad but I still do appreciate some of their talent by themselves... I like Henson, I like Sanders, I like Giannis Antksjdjjssjjssjsi... I still believe Ilyasova has talent, though it appears he threw in the towel when he got his money... Knight has shown flashes.

They're bad but I think they at least have a foundation to build upon.

I can't say the same for the Bulls.

The 76ers have pieces that will help them moving forward and are basically intentionally trying to lose games.

 

[The X Man Cometh]

Classic Brandon Jennings. Heat-check pull up 3 on a fast break from 25 feet out. :lol:

 

[ifmanis5]

Watching Miami play their playground cheapshot brand is infuriating.

 

[Blacken]

netw3rk
I read in yesterday's newspaper that Ray Allen's three would go in just now.
12/18/13, 9:33 PM



netw3rk
I mean, you see Ray there spotted up on the wing, with a minute left in the game and just know it's going in.
12/18/13, 9:34 PM

 

[Nick Kaufman]

Bargani with a great three to secure another ET from the jaws of victory.

 

[bball831]

Incredible sequence in Bucks/Knicks game.
 
Melo misses a jumper up 2 with 14 seconds, Chandler rebounds kicks out to Bargnani and without a second of hesitation fires a 3.  Bucks score on the other end and now heading into double OT.

 

[Devizier]

Who watches friday night games? Right before the holidays?
 
Well this new dad does.
 
Too bad Houston didn't make it worth my while. Despite a decent performance from Howard, they got completely dominated by the Pacers on both ends of the floor. Harden looked particularly bad, dogging it on multiple occasions tonight. They need something, but I don't know if they're going to get it.
 
Asik racked up a DNP with the hellenic flu. I don't think his trade value is moving in a positive direction.
 
Speaking of trade value, Danny Granger looked horrible in his garbage time stint.

 

[The Social Chair]

Good Clips/Wolves game in OT right now. The soccer style jerseys are growing on me.

 

[knucklecup]

Kevin Love is a beast.

 

[The Social Chair]

Kevin Love is a beast.

 
He is but at some point he needs to at least drag his team to an 8th seed.

 

[Blacken]

He needs a team to drag. You can't defensive-rebound your way to the playoffs.

 

[Devizier]

The Wolves need depth in a bad way. And it's not like they didn't try to sign a bunch of midlevel players to provide it. It's just that those players are all crappy.

 

[Blacken]

Exactly. Their starters are not terrible but they get killed every time they come out.

 

[repole]

Last night the Suns blew out the Lakers, being led by 22 points from Gerald Green.
 
Also, Green is the 3rd leading scorer on a team that's 17-10 and has the 5th best offense in the NBA. 
 
The NBA, where amazing happens.

 

[thehitcat]

Last night the Suns blew out the Lakers, being led by 22 points from Gerald Green.
 
Also, Green is the 3rd leading scorer on a team that's 17-10 and has the 5th best offense in the NBA. 
 
The NBA, where amazing happens.

Gotta be a different Gerald Green, right?  Same name but different guy?  I literally cannot believe that you are talking about the Gerald Green who was drafted by and played for the Celtics.

 

[Cellar-Door]

Gotta be a different Gerald Green, right?  Same name but different guy?  I literally cannot believe that you are talking about the Gerald Green who was drafted by and played for the Celtics.

He could always score. he just doesn't do anything else well.

 

[repole]

Going into last night his percentages were pretty much in line with his career averages, but his efficiency was way up because he's replaced all those bad mid range jumpers with threes instead. He's finally on a team that asks him to do nothing but spot up for open jumpers and get out in transition. Those have always been his strengths, and he's improved upon them to a point where he's a pretty good off the ball player offensively.

 

[NatetheGreat]

That Lebron dunk on Millsap last night was just brutal.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PWLYtweXG0

 

[ifmanis5]

Bulls/Nets game is as ugly as the uniforms.

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

How much did Chicago sign DJ Augustin for? He has to be better than Pressey.

 

[Stu Nahan]

What a disaster the Nets are. This is an embarrassment.

 

[knucklecup]

How much did Chicago sign DJ Augustin for? He has to be better than Pressey.

Why it's surprising to anybody that a solid PG would put up solid PG numbers with playing time is a head scratcher to me.

I would really like to know what ridiculous statistics Toronto used to conclude that he wasn't worthy of playing time.

 

[lars10]

So these nba jersey t-shirts are now a thing?

 

[ifmanis5]

Thanks to the NBA for these great Xmas presents. Nets and Knicks both getting embarrassed at home. Good times.

 

[mascho]

So what's worse, the unis or these first two games?

 

[Grin&MartyBarret]

Why it's surprising to anybody that a solid PG would put up solid PG numbers with playing time is a head scratcher to me.

I would really like to know what ridiculous statistics Toronto used to conclude that he wasn't worthy of playing time.


Maybe they value defense?

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

The Nets must be the only team in NBA history to get rid of Gerald Wallace and yet still worsen their cap situation.

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

So what's worse, the unis or these first two games?

game 3 is gonna be just as bad.
 
DtTtB's suggestion for todays quintet would be:
 
 
Game 1. Knicks v. Nets
2. Pacers v. Heat
3. OKC v. SA
4. Portland v. Golden State
5. Lakers v. Clippers

 

[ifmanis5]

Jalen mad that the two crappy NY teams play on Xmas but not the Pacers. I guess he's not up to speed on Sternball.
 
 
 
EDIT: Bargs has to be the laziest player I've ever seen. Has he ever even broken a sweat?

 

[Ed Hillel]

Chalmers is such a little bitch.

 

[Greg29fan]

So these nba jersey t-shirts are now a thing?

 
My hunch is this is what the NBA will go with when they become the first league to have sponsorship on jerseys, and this is their way of quietly testing it.

 

[lars10]

 
My hunch is this is what the NBA will go with when they become the first league to have sponsorship on jerseys, and this is their way of quietly testing it.

I love soccer jerseys... But these are hideous. Hopefully someone takes another look. I would probably buy a regular ol c's t-jersey... I've def never bought an nba jersey just cause I don't find them comfy.

 

[Kliq]

I wouldn't mind the uniforms if they were not so ugly. OKC's was just a blue shirt with a silver Thunder logo. I think they can be salvaged if they actually put some effort into designing the uniforms, for istance, I like GS.
 
I hate the Lakers as much as the next guy, but right now they have a team that no one thinks is going anywhere, but they go out there and play hard anyways. Young and Meeks, as mediocre as they are, were not afraid of Miami tonight, which I think is admirable.

 

[radsoxfan]

Why it's surprising to anybody that a solid PG would put up solid PG numbers with playing time is a head scratcher to me.

I would really like to know what ridiculous statistics Toronto used to conclude that he wasn't worthy of playing time.

 
I can't tell if you're trolling or being serious.
 
Augustin shot 29% from the field for Toronto this season. He shot 35% last season.  He shot 37% the year before.  This is FG%, not 3PT%.  
 
The guy is horrific.... and thats before accounting for the fact that he can't defend anyone in the NBA.

 

[Blacken]

The eye test says differently, son.

 

[radsoxfan]

The eye test says differently, son.

 
Ha, good point.....
 
In fairness to knucklecup , if you spend most of your time watching Rudy Gay, it's hard to recalibrate your expectations and remember what useful basketball players are supposed to be able to do.
 
We shouldn't completely discount the eye test of course, since it does have some value. But its value is completely dependent on which person's eyes are doing the testing.

 

[shawnrbu]

Stern has such a sense of humor to assign Bill Kennedy to ref Doc's game on Christmas.

 

[soxhop411]

How did BG deserve an ejection? that was all Bogut

 

[Greg29fan]

How did BG deserve an ejection? that was all Bogut

 
See Shawnrbu's post.  Billy Kennedy hates Doc.

 

[brohirrum]

Simmons had a great tweet about it "Later tonight, expect Blake Griffin to get arrested for sitting in a parked car while another driver repeatedly rams into it.". I think its less kennedy hating doc *this time* and more the warriors crowd is freaking awesome and swayed the refs a little.