2005-06 NBA Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Z]

The Spurs are limping out of the gate with their two best three-point shooters (Barry and Finley) out with injuries.

Who would have thunk they would have sunk to a 4-1 funk this early in the season?

 

[Haggai]

Hey, they've already played five games, not three!

Yes, it is early, but they did win 54 games in each of the past two seasons, in spite of (a) not getting Rasheed until mid-season in '04, and (b) starting off pretty poorly last year, with a championship "hangover" (Rip admitted that openly on TNT last night). Everything's in place from day one right now, so if they stay healthy, 60+ wins are a definite possibility, which would put them right there for having the best record in the league.

 

[Brandon_T]

That would be 5 games actually. And whats to say they can't, considering they have been to the last two finals and have had 50+ wins each year.

Looks like you beat me to it Haggai.

 

[Haggai]

In terms of best record in the East, Miami will certainly have trouble doing that again with Shaq being hurt. But from what I've seen of Indiana, they should be fairly encouraged. They're not playing as well as they can, but they're still 3-1, and with two wins over the Heat.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

While it's way too early to be making predictions, I do like what I see so far in the Pistons. The offense is better than the plodding attack the past several years under Brown and Carlisle, while their defense is still solid. I give Flip Saunders credit for opening up the offense, and credit to the players for keeping up the defensive pressure.

The biggest improvement over last season will be the bench, though. They have much more quality depth than last season (where McDyess and Hunter were the only two that played significant minutes). Evans, Arroyo, and Delfino are all contributing -- Maurice Evans looks to be another excellent find for Dumars. Darko doesn't look like a big, overmatched clod out there this season, either.

 

[Haggai]

Player/management dramas brewing, with one mediocre team and one genuinely crappy team:

KG destroys McHale in TNT pre-game interview.

Marbury wants to play shooting guard, Brown tells him to STFU.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The Knicks situation should provide drama and entertainment all season. Between the players not being happy with Brown's system, Brown criticizing the team Isiah's assembled, and the unforgiving New York fans and press, this has all the makings of a disaster. I cannot see Brown and Isiah co-existing for the entire season.

Still think the Knicks are a dream job, Larry?

 

[Haggai]

Bill Simmons' latest column is an entertaining take on the dysfunctional Larry/Isiah situation in NY.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I liked that Simmons column when I read it the other day.


He probably does think its a dream job, but now he thinks its one of those dreams that results after eating something that disagrees with you so close to bedtime. In other words, a nightmare.

 

[Shane Martin]

I bet he still does think it's his dream job. He needs to make some moves to bring in some players but he is handicapped by Isiah's moves. Brown will put his foot down and get the moves he wants done and the players he wants brought in.

In other news, the Clippers are the best team in LA. Decent looking team actually from what few games I've seen of them on INHD.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

You know what bothers me about this? The part that bothers me, is that this is not a surprise to me in any way shape or form.

 

[Robert_Z]

It sure is nice to have Bruce Bowen locking up the other team's best player down the stretch. Twice in the final seconds, he pressured Nowitzki into bad shots with the game on the line.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Larry Brown returns to The Palace tonight. It will be interesting to see what type of reception the fans give him. Will they cheer or boo?

 

[Haggai]

My nomination for best name in the NBA would be a rookie center from Senegal who's now on the Clippers roster, although he hasn't played at all. His name is Boniface N'Dong!

 

[Andy Sheets]

Speaking of best names, whatever happened to God Shamgod? Is he still playing internationally?

 

[Shane Martin]

Browns team gave it a game effort but the Pistons won out. While the Knicks are not winning as much as some might think, they will get alot better and this game showed me some of that improvement.

Expect alot of movement on their roster come this off season or during the trade deadline.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

This name has now supplanted God Shamgod as best name ever.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

This was the first time I'd seen the Knicks play this year. They appear to have made an excellent draft pick in Channing Frye. The youngster has real skills. He has size, knows how to use it, and has a fine outside shot.

The crowd reaction to Brown was mixed -- it sounded like the boos outweighted the cheers, though. However, the Piston players warmly welcomed Brown back. Rasheed walked over and gave Larry a big hug just before the opening tip, and the other starters followed suit. It was a nice gesture.

Best sign last night was "What can Brown do for you? 5-9."

 

[Haggai]

Pistons-Knicks was a pretty weird game. New York looked good in the first half, and the Pistons came out flat, although they made a little run late in the 2nd quarter to tie it up at halftime. The Knicks disappeared in the third quarter and got completely destroyed, outscored 24-8, but then they made a strong comeback in the middle of the 4th as the Pistons fell asleep. I wasn't really worried down the stretch, but I was kind of annoyed. Rip had a brilliant game, with 40 points, but the best highlight of the night was for the Knicks, in the last couple of minutes, when Trevor Ariza threw down an absolutely sick one-handed spike directly in Ben Wallace's face.

Scottie Pippen was in the studio for ESPN, and although I always thought he was a jerk when he was a player, I must say that he seems like a pretty sharp and charismatic analyst.

When they were talking about all the bad shots that Kobe's been jacking up for the Lakers, Legs had a good line about how Kobe has really been running "the I-angle offense." Kind of similar to a line Dan Patrick had some years back on SportsCenter, reporting on one of Isaiah Rider's numerous stupid foibles, that "there's no 'I' in team, but there are two in 'Isaiah.'"

 

[Brandon_T]

Tonights Piston-Golden State matchup made me think of a brief encouter this summer that I had. The wife and I were taking a few days and heading up to Traverse City for some R&R. On the way up we stopped to get gas at the Bueana Vista exit off of I-75. While I was fueling a very nice BMW 760 pulled up to the gas station and the guy that got out was pretty tall, of course to me everyone over 6' is tall. When I am done pumping I go inside to pay and grab a drink. Standing next to me getting an orange juice was Jason Richardson. Then it dawned on my I was in his home town. He was dressed very nicely, looked at me and said "Hi". He proceeded to pay for his OJ all the while talking politely to everyone and seemed genuinely polite and thankful that he was getting attention and not annoyed.

That is my only encounter with a pro athlete and it wasn't anything special, but at least he seemed a decent fellow.