This week in the NBA

[Ripper 0]

I like how Kevin Garnett and Ricky Davis magically became injured.

[iggymcfly 0]

I doubt it's intentional given their schedule, but the Clippers certainly picked the right time to lose three in a row. They've now slipped into a juicy 3/6 matchup against Denver, whereas if they were a 5 seed, they'd likely get swept by Dallas or San Antonio.

 

 

Some of us Clipper fans are having fun with this "tanking" situation.

 

We are losing games, Maggette has "back spasms" that don't even allow him to drive to the arena, Cassell now has "flu like symptoms", and Radmanovic has "an injured groin".

 

However I'm sure those are all true especially considering that we still haven't locked up the 6th seed and might fall to 7th or 8th if some crazy stuff happens and they want to have homecourt against the Nuggets who are 1/2 game back.

 

God, I totally forgot about that part. Not only does the team that slips to #6 get an easier matchup, they have the opportunity for home advantage as well. Who the hell came up with that idea anyway?

[Just John 0]

I like how Kevin Garnett and Ricky Davis magically became injured.

 

Even so, the T-Wolves couldn't out-suck the Rockets tonight. Houston needs a good draft pick more than any team in the league. The average age of that team has to be about 84.

[naiwf 0]

I hope LeBron misses the playoffs because his coach is a fucking moron playing him late in the 3rd in a meaningless game when they were already down 20+. Of course he'll be fine, it's just the principle of the thing.

[alfdogg 0]

Hey, a WINNING STREAK for the Pacers!

 

Sure, it's the Knicks and Celtics, but I need any reason I can get to be excited about this team.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Denver loses and Clippers win

 

Best case scenario for the Clippers would be beating Seattle on Friday and the Kings beating the Nuggets on Saturday.

 

That will guarantee the Clippers the 6th seed and homecourt. Thus allowing them to "tank" the last three games if they feel like it.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

boy that was just an epic blowout of the Cavs, right after the ESPN crew were slobbing their knob about how this was a big game for them.

 

The funniest part of the night was seeing Varajeou (sp?) try to act all tough. was that supposed to be some sort half-assed "don't crack Z in the head again" retaliation psych out move? the whole pistons team was laughing at him.

[Brett Favre 0]

What did Anderson V.. do?

[naiwf 0]

What did Anderson V.. do?

 

Basically, he tackled 'Sheed trying to commit a hard foul/send a message. The only problem was 'Sheed laughed it off. So he got ejected and punked afterwards in the post game comments.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Bill Simmons discusses the MVP race and makes his choice

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/060414

[bobobrazil1984 0]

the home-court advantage race is over. *applauds the boys in blue*

 

As far as MVP goes, I feel Dirk really fits most of the various criteria. He's on a top team, he's the lone all star on his team, top superstar, most valuable on a top team, with great stats.

He's really a good middle ground between the Billups/Nash/Parker type of candidates and the Lebron/Kobe type of MVP candidates

[Ripper 0]

I said it before and i say it again. This race starts and ends with Nash/Billups with Tony Parker taking up the rear.

[alfdogg 0]

Pacers and Bucks win, Wizards lose, putting them in a three-way tie for fifth. Bucks have the three-way tiebreaker, with Indy 6th and the Wizards 7th.

 

Bulls win, Sixers lose, putting the Bulls in 8th by a full game. Ben Gordon was 9-9 from 3-point range, tying an NBA record.

[naiwf 0]

I said it before and i say it again. This race starts and ends with Nash/Billups with Tony Parker taking up the rear.

 

Would you care to explain the logic of Billups being the MVP of the league when Ben Wallace is clearly the MVP of the Pistons. Nash doesn't deserve it this year either and Parker will never win an MVP as long as Duncan's in the league.

[alfdogg 0]

Would you guys be up for doing TSM awards for the NBA? I was thinking we could do two awards a week, and you PM your top 5 candidates to me (in order) and I'd add them up, scoring NBA-style (I think it goes 10-7-5-3-1). We tried this a couple years ago, and it didn't really work out, I think mainly because I tried to get all the awards in at once, but I think if we just did one every few days, it would work out a lot better. Here's the awards

 

Coach of the Year

Most Improved

Defensive Player of the Year

Sixth Man of the Year

Rookie of the Year

MVP

 

All-NBA Teams

All-Rookie Teams

All-Defensive Teams

 

Tell me what you think.

 

I think we'll just finish up the rest of the regular season in this thread, instead of starting a new one for three or four days.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Clippers win their 46th game, a new record for them since coming to California

 

Tomorrow we'll find out if the Clippers and Grizzlies are going to lock themselves in a "tank" war. They have the same record but the Grizzlies have the tie-breaker so it will be fun to see what the Grizz do against the T-Mac and Yao-less Houston Rockets tomorrow.

 

Also it would be nice if the Kings can beat the Nuggets tomorrow since it would guarantee the Clips homecourt if they end up number 6

[Brett Favre 0]

Nash has a totally different team around him, without Amare, and they have over 50 wins. Sounds like an MVP to me.

[Ripper 0]

I said it before and i say it again. This race starts and ends with Nash/Billups with Tony Parker taking up the rear.

 

Would you care to explain the logic of Billups being the MVP of the league when Ben Wallace is clearly the MVP of the Pistons. Nash doesn't deserve it this year either and Parker will never win an MVP as long as Duncan's in the league.

 

 

Because I am saying that Ben Wallace isn't the MVP of the Pistons. It isn't clearly. In the clutch, Billups is the one who bails them out. Defensively he does a monster of a job on the opposing teams guards, and is really underrated in that aspect by the fans. He All Defensive team selections show that some people notice. Ben while he is a great rebounder, and help defender, is a liability at the end of games. I don't see how anyone can be an MVP and you need to take them out of games in clutch situations.

 

Would you care to explain how Nash or Billups aren't the MVP? Who is then?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Kobe.

[Ripper 0]

I am sorry but No MVP should be on the bottom hanging on to a playoff spot. So he scored alot of points. Whoopity Doo. His team is number 7 in the West.

[naiwf 0]

I said it before and i say it again. This race starts and ends with Nash/Billups with Tony Parker taking up the rear.

 

Would you care to explain the logic of Billups being the MVP of the league when Ben Wallace is clearly the MVP of the Pistons. Nash doesn't deserve it this year either and Parker will never win an MVP as long as Duncan's in the league.

 

 

Because I am saying that Ben Wallace isn't the MVP of the Pistons. It isn't clearly. In the clutch, Billups is the one who bails them out. Defensively he does a monster of a job on the opposing teams guards, and is really underrated in that aspect by the fans. He All Defensive team selections show that some people notice. Ben while he is a great rebounder, and help defender, is a liability at the end of games. I don't see how anyone can be an MVP and you need to take them out of games in clutch situations.

 

Would you care to explain how Nash or Billups aren't the MVP? Who is then?

 

You want Nash to win MVP when he couldn't defend me one on one? Wallace is more important to the success of the Pistons than Billups is, so Chauncey's out. Marion is a legit MVP candidate in his own right, so that cancels out Nash's importance if two guys in the same starting 5 are getting legit consideration to be the league's most valuable player. As for who I'd give it to, I'd go with Nowitzki. He's getting 26.6, 9 & 3 on a team with ~60 wins and no other All-Star level players. I'd put LeBron second because Wade faded down the stretch and he didn't, Kobe 3rd even though he's the league's BEST player, Wade 4th and Nash 5th.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

And they'd be dead last without him. You're stupid if you don't think the voters will pick him. He's not my personal MVP but he will be who wins.

 

(Directed to Ripper)

[Just John 0]

I'm pretty sure Nash will get the MVP, and he deserves it.

 

ROTY will be Chris Paul.

 

Most Improved... I'm banking on Boris Diaw for that one.

 

Coach seems like a tough one. They might go with Dunleavy just to give the Clippers something.

[Ripper 0]

I said it before and i say it again. This race starts and ends with Nash/Billups with Tony Parker taking up the rear.

 

Would you care to explain the logic of Billups being the MVP of the league when Ben Wallace is clearly the MVP of the Pistons. Nash doesn't deserve it this year either and Parker will never win an MVP as long as Duncan's in the league.

 

 

Because I am saying that Ben Wallace isn't the MVP of the Pistons. It isn't clearly. In the clutch, Billups is the one who bails them out. Defensively he does a monster of a job on the opposing teams guards, and is really underrated in that aspect by the fans. He All Defensive team selections show that some people notice. Ben while he is a great rebounder, and help defender, is a liability at the end of games. I don't see how anyone can be an MVP and you need to take them out of games in clutch situations.

 

Would you care to explain how Nash or Billups aren't the MVP? Who is then?

 

You want Nash to win MVP when he couldn't defend me one on one? Wallace is more important to the success of the Pistons than Billups is, so Chauncey's out. Marion is a legit MVP candidate in his own right, so that cancels out Nash's importance if two guys in the same starting 5 are getting legit consideration to be the league's most valuable player. As for who I'd give it to, I'd go with Nowitzki. He's getting 26.6, 9 & 3 on a team with ~60 wins and no other All-Star level players. I'd put LeBron second because Wade faded down the stretch and he didn't, Kobe 3rd even though he's the league's BEST player, Wade 4th and Nash 5th.

 

 

Jason Terry, Josh Howard, and to some extent Jerry Stackhouse have been allstar caliber players for the Mavs. Then add Devin Harris and Marquis Daniels and the second teir guys on that team. Dallas is 2 deep at the CENTER position(Diop, Dampier), 2 deep at PF(Van Horn/Dirk), 3 deep at the two guard/SF position(Daniels, Stackhouse, Howard) and 3 deep at the point guard postion(Armstrong, Terry, Harris). They are a INCREDIBLY deep team. 10 players contribute consistantly for them. Not taking away from Dirks incredibly season, but I will argue that they are the deepest team in the NBA simply because they don't just have talent, they use all of it. I still think Dirk is up there in the running, but to pretend he did it by himself because the West was so crowded with Allstars is a little silly.

 

Okay, and I am going to put it out here. Here goes. For all the love that Ben Wallace gets, and no doubt he is a pretty damn good player, he is no Dennis Rodman. Dennis never got one mention of MVP, but he was a better defender, rebounder, and offensive player than Ben Wallace. Like Dennis, Ben is the difference between a good team and a championship team, but like Dennis, remove him and his complete non threat on the offensive end and the team is still going to be elite. Its alway great to say how much he is doing, but honestly, there are no low post threats in the East outside of Shaq, the other guys are perimeter guys who put up big games against the Pistons because of how Ben drifts. He is a damn good defender, but so is Bruce Bowen. Niether one of them is an MVP. While you said you could score on Nash, Ben Wallace couldn't score on me.

 

Chauncy Billups is a 6'4 point guard that demands a double team. He is what Jason Kidd was/is only with a monster offensive game. You are arguring that the guy that won Finals MVP one year and probably would have won it again had the pistons won last year isn't as big to the team as Ben Wallace? I will just have to disagree.

 

Kobe Bryant being the games best OFFENSIVE player shouldn't get him the MVP this year. I am of the "winning is more important than stats" thinking and giving him the MVP is just a slap in the face to the award.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

I personally laugh at the idea of Billups even being a TOP MVP candidate. should he get votes? yes but he shouldn't be higher than 6-7

 

IMO Steve Nash is the MVP with everyone else a distant second, although Lebron did make me reconsider a week ago.

 

Nash makes his teammates better and makes his coach's system work. Remember Mike's record before Nash was fuckin horrible.

 

I give Phil Jackson more credit for the Lakers turnaround than Kobe. Kobe wouldn't be playing for a playoff team if Phil wasn't there.

[naiwf 0]

Jason Terry, Josh Howard, and to some extent Jerry Stackhouse have been allstar caliber players for the Mavs. Then add Devin Harris and Marquis Daniels and the second teir guys on that team. Dallas is 2 deep at the CENTER position(Diop, Dampier), 2 deep at PF(Van Horn/Dirk), 3 deep at the two guard/SF position(Daniels, Stackhouse, Howard) and 3 deep at the point guard postion(Armstrong, Terry, Harris). They are a INCREDIBLY deep team. 10 players contribute consistantly for them. Not taking away from Dirks incredibly season, but I will argue that they are the deepest team in the NBA simply because they don't just have talent, they use all of it. I still think Dirk is up there in the running, but to pretend he did it by himself because the West was so crowded with Allstars is a little silly.

 

Okay, and I am going to put it out here. Here goes. For all the love that Ben Wallace gets, and no doubt he is a pretty damn good player, he is no Dennis Rodman. Dennis never got one mention of MVP, but he was a better defender, rebounder, and offensive player than Ben Wallace. Like Dennis, Ben is the difference between a good team and a championship team, but like Dennis, remove him and his complete non threat on the offensive end and the team is still going to be elite. Its alway great to say how much he is doing, but honestly, there are no low post threats in the East outside of Shaq, the other guys are perimeter guys who put up big games against the Pistons because of how Ben drifts. He is a damn good defender, but so is Bruce Bowen. Niether one of them is an MVP. While you said you could score on Nash, Ben Wallace couldn't score on me.

 

Chauncy Billups is a 6'4 point guard that demands a double team. He is what Jason Kidd was/is only with a monster offensive game. You are arguring that the guy that won Finals MVP one year and probably would have won it again had the pistons won last year isn't as big to the team as Ben Wallace? I will just have to disagree.

 

Kobe Bryant being the games best OFFENSIVE player shouldn't get him the MVP this year. I am of the "winning is more important than stats" thinking and giving him the MVP is just a slap in the face to the award.

 

I'm not saying Ben Wallace deserves the MVP, I'm saying he's more valuable to the Pistons than Billups is. If you traded them another comparable guy at that position, they would have more of a drop off than if you gave them an upper tier point guard. Chris Paul for instance would have done just as well running the point in Detroit as Billups did, but if you put Yao Ming or someone of that ilk, the Pistons would be a 53 win team right now instead of 63. Not having to worry about the defender blowing by you because Big Ben is back there is just as good as having a guy who scores 15 or so PPG.

 

If "winning is more important than stats", then Nash can't win it this year because his main reason for winning it last year was that he made the Suns "so much better" than in 2004. We all know now that both Marion and Amare are top 15-20 guys in the league. Any team that has 2 or 3 of the best players in the league SHOULD win 50+, and we can't attribute all of that to Nash. When Boris Diaw basically ran the point and got a triple double last night without Nash in the lineup I'm more inclined to believe that the system makes Nash look brilliant because he doesn't have to even attempt to play 'D'. I can't give a guy the MVP when he's a liability on one end of the floor, which plays into the whole reason no one would ever look twice at Ben getting it either.

 

Nowitzki has a good supporting cast, but if you had him, Amare and Marion on a team those guys wouldn't lose any games. I'm exaggerating, but you should see the point just the same. Mainly, I went with Dirk because I couldn't find someone on the Pistons or Spurs who stood out as THE definitive reason that their team won 60+. With Dallas, it's easy to see who was the main reason. Everyone else didn't win enough games, and/or wasn't as good as last year or seasons in the past to warrant the award.

 

Having said all that Canadian Jesus will win it again, or the media will give it to LeBron just to start the King James era. Neither of those choices would be egregious, but neither would be right either.

[Guest]

All MVP discussion starts with Nash, then Kobe, LeBron and Wade.

 

Valuable means that they mean the most to their team. Therefore, I think my list is accurate.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

A historic day for myself

 

I just bought my first ticket for a NBA game, a ticket for the Clippers first playoff home game.

[Guest]

Congrats.

 

Playoff games are fun as hell, especially the 1st one and the clincher.

[Brett Favre 0]

Dwight Howard nearly had a 30-30 with 28 points and 26 boards. Crazy.