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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Let's talk about the 13/14 season

With the season having started we can early see the contenders and the teams playing for Wiggins and franklt there has not been a lot of teams that has surprised so far. Pacers stands alone now as for being undefeated being led by Paul George who has played nothing short of amazing. 26/8/4 is what we have seen from him throughout the first five games. I knew he was going to have a great year but I did not expect to see such great numbers but I doubt he will keep it up seeing as he will sooner or later have to share the ball with Granger but that is only positive if you ask me, he will add another scoring threat on the perimeter for Indiana solidifying them as Miami Heats biggest threat for the year.

Denver Nuggets  who is one of many teams this year with a rookie coach and although Brian Shaw have been around the league for years dating back to his playing career starting 88' and later on assisting the Zen Master during his second spell with the Lakers. I have not had the chance to watch the Nuggets so far this season but the team with the second longest playoff streak seems to be coming to an end as I was expecting. The fans should be happy they have year after year put up a great team but always been one star short of being a true contender. So a bit leeway and a lot of patience should be given to Brian Shaw during his first two-three years with the Nuggets.

The Spurs as usual mangling true the regular season and, you keep asking yourself when will this end? The team has won at least 50 games ever since Tim Duncan got drafted except for the 98/99 season where they won 37 games but that was out of 52 and they were on pace for a 60 win season and ended up winning the finals against the Knicks. This team has been counted out ever since their last ring and year after year they have been in contention. Last year they were a rebound and a three pointer away from a fifth ring but sadly it never happened. A team like Spurs really have to be respected whoever your allegiance lays with.

/NBAHope

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

NBA Draft Lottery 2013!!


Even though the playoffs is fully underway teams that was not as fortunate this year has something to look forward to tonight, the draft lottery will be aired 8:30pm ET just before the Grizzlies - Spurs second game.

Down below you can see the chances of winning the lottery, of course Orlando Magic with the biggest chance of taking the lottery home after ending up with the worst record in the NBA. This draft does not have any player with that superstar talent just looking at them but we have been surprised before, Noel despite recovering from an ACL injury he is still at top of many teams lists but he has though competition from McLemore.

For tonight we will focus more on the lottery and not the players!
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Press the image to zoom


Oh Right we got trolled by Kobe announcing his "big surprise" turns out it was for a good cause but not what we expected really.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Kobe surprise announcement

Kobe Bryant posted on his Facebook telling that he have a surprise announcement aired live at Sport Spectaular 2013



The event airs 9:45pm EDT tonight so in about an hour, speculations about what will be announced are already floating around most people seem to think he will announce his retirement but I personally doubt he would announce his retirement as a surprise so we will have to see what Mamba will surprise us with. Kobe who most already know has been out with a torn Achilles which is a very though injury to come back from but it is Kobe after all.

The event can be viewed at Livestream and a link will be posted below, I will put Kobe's announcement up on Youtube after it has been aired for everyone that will not be able to watch it.

http://new.livestream.com/Sportsspectacular/sportsspectacular2013


Dwyane Wade Injury Update

Wade has been bothered by injuries for years now and this season is no exception, as of now he is doing all in his power to keep his knee fit for games but it is showing in games that Wade is not 100%, there was a lot of scared Miami fans after Wade left the game in game 5 against Bulls but according to Coach Spoelstra he was "changing shoes", I think we all who know about Wades injure riddled knee knew what he was really doing in the locker room during game time, but to many Heat fans and basketball fans relief he came back and showed some vintage Wade in him by throwing down a vicious putback dunk


Yeah I know nasty nasty nasty, in fact it gets three Wades out of five for coming at such a crucial time in the game and also blowing out some air from the Bulls team.

But this dunk as previously stated came after going in to the locker room and probably treating his knee which probably needs surgery like yesterday, he also followed this dunk with a few other clutch buckets to secure the win for the Heat.

Dwyane Wade was asked yesterday about his injury at practice, he keeps saying he is hurt but that he will play regardless.



We will see how he comes out in the series against Pacers, if he follows the trend he has set in this years playoffs he will keep up his in game inconsistency  by playing good to great in one of the half followed or started by a terrible other half. 

/NBAHope

My thoughts on the 2012/13 season this far

This year has been a season riddled with injures on key player after the other, the former MVP Derrick Rose was first to go out and he kept fans hoping he would come back but he did not that is a decision I support although I do not like the way he kept his fans hopes up for nothing. Bulls ended the 2013 season brilliantly, never in my years of watching basketball have I ever seen a team come up with game after game shorthanded and not only compete with the current champions but also challenge them in each and every game, what we saw out there was a testament that team basketball mixed with 100% effort on every possession still can get you far. Now think about the same Bulls with a healthy Rose, Deng and Hinrich also out there competing.

Other than the Bulls injuries we also saw a Lakers them out of rhythm all year with three different coaches and injuries to all key players, this team should have been competing for the championship instead Kobe gets a torn Achilles and there goes 12/13 season for the Lakers. Lakers still had a fairly talented team on paper but the way this team is built they are very dependent on Kobe to create for himself and for his teammates, not saying this would have gone any other way even with Kobe there but me oh my did it look bad on the offensive end without Kobe. Dwight did not have the monster season that he was expected to have with Nash running the point (in his defense here Nash was not suited up for majority of the games.) But Dwight came in to the season with a nagging back injury that hunted him through the whole season.

Other than these two teams that should have been able to do more harm with a full roster the Denver Nuggets got hit hard by the Gallinari injury, Celtics had Rondo injured, Andrew Bynum did not even suit up for the Sixers and Danny Granger is has been out all season for the Pacers that next week will face the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals,  an interesting matchup for the Heat that may struggle with containing the 7'2  Hibbert.

Injures are never fun but they are part of the game and that is how it goes at times, this year has been one of the most injury riddled seasons but still a great NBA season for those with no horse in the race anymore.

I expect the Pacers to give Heat a run for their money because of the advantages they have in the front court, David West and Hibbert is a very solid front court and with George and Hill in the back court trying to contain two thirds of the big three we may have a 6-7 games series that I in the end think will end in favor of the Heat.

Looking at the West Spurs has once again had a fantastic year, age does not seem to bother a very concentrated Tim Duncan and he has put up prime like number per 36 minutes, in his two MVP seasons (2001-2003) he averaged a combined 22ppg/11.5rpg/3.4apg/2.4bpg compared to this season where he averaged 21.3ppg/11.9rpg/3.2apg/3.2bpg. Of course these are per 36 minutes, offensively Timmy is still the same man he was years ago, granted he is not the dominant defender anymore but still at elite level only thing standing in the way of young Timmy is stamina.



Tim Duncan 2012-2013 per 36 minutes

Be happy Timmy players with a successful career as you can be counted on the human fingers, players that has been this good for the number of year you have is much shorter list.




I hope to get more active here now with more time on my hands thanks for reading and if you like what you read I'd love if you could share it to whoever like basketball! Comment, if you have any questions.

/Alex

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Howard, Gasol and Hill out

I guess it's Kobe time as he is going to play without two of the Lakers four stars, Howard will miss at least a week and Gasol with a concussion will have to wait for clearance from the league office before getting to step back on the court.

Harden VS Bryant is what's on the schedule for this game and it will be KoMe ball this night, I have to say I am a bit excited to see this.

40 shots?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sunday basket!

Not much that beats NBA on Sundays, games after breakfast and all day long, you get the chance to catch most of the game.

Today five games will be played with the Thunder @ Raptors already under way, let us do some prediction for the day!

Thunder @ Raptors - This prediction is being made while the game is in the third quarter with Thunder leading with seven points, Raptors have been doing a great job as of late with Bargnani out but today Thunder will take this home.

Winner: Thunder

Wizards @ Heat - Last game these two faced each other Wizards surprised the Heat and won and even though Heat have faced a bit of a speed bump as of late it would surprise me one more time if Wizards even gets close.

Winner: Heat

Bobcats @ Pistons - Both coming of games on Friday with Bobcats losing another one while the Pistons took home the game against the Hawks, Pistons have been flowing on all cylinders lately and at home this should be their 14 win of the season.

Winner: Pistons

Grizzlies @ Suns -  Grizzlies fourth in the though west while the Suns struggling at times to score inside and also having problem inside on the defensive end, this one will be fun for Marc and Z-Bo!

Winner: Grizzlies

Nuggets @ Lakers - Lakers defense still atrocious, while their offense still keeps them in the game. Kobe who has been playing some amazing basketball and had a great game could not hold off the Clippers as Chris Paul took over.

But now they are playing the Nuggets, and if this game was in Denver I would think about this one twice but Denver is not making it happen on the road 8-14 away from home but 11-2 at home, this can't continue if the want any success in the playoffs.

Winner: Lakers

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Clippers wins for the second time against the Lakers!

It didn't go quite as I expected yesterday, but not a surprise a lot of 50/50 games and it was actually a pretty exciting day, Heat faced the Bulls, Wizards took the Nets to double OT and then the Los Angeles face-off. But lets look at my predictions.

Kings @ Raptors = 105-96
Nets @ Wizards - 115-113
Cavaliers @ Bobcats - 106-104
Hawks @ Pistons - 84-85
Bulls @ Heat - 96-89
Pacers @ Celtics - 75-94
Trailblazers @  Grizzlies - 86-84
76ers @ Thunder - 85-109
Rockets @ Bucks - 115=101
Jazz @ Suns - 87-80
Lakers @ Clippers - 102-107

As you can see not a successful day but I did get 5/11.

But the story of the day though have to be another Laker loss despite another superhuman performance by Kobe Bryant who finished of with his 20th 30 point of the season game after hitting 15/25 from the field giving him 38 points. It is obvious for the objective eye that Kobe Bryant is not the problem for the Lakers, the problem is Pau Gasol not getting enough touched in the post and when getting there it is just not the same for him, secondly Dwight needs to get his defense together or this team is doomed because offense is not a problem for this team they are actually sixth best offense in the league and lastly the bench needs a upgrade Meeks is just not doing it for them right now.

Kobe who yesterday opened a new Twitter account already have 400 000+ followers. this has been done before but quickly been closed this time we hope Mamba stays on Twitter and we get to see more of the new outspoken and uncensored Kobe Bryant.

Brook Lopez the man that can't seem to ever do anything right according to critics (Shaq excluded here) but this man have been putting it together this season, fatigue still seems to be a problem but in little less then 30 minutes he is getting 19/7,5 so his rebounding isn't Bargnani bad anymore, he's definitely one of the best offensive centers in the league maybe the best we have to see how Bynum does when he gets back first.

Bulls with the win takes over the fourth spot from the Pacers so we now this team is not going to tank which kind of surprised me, but all for the better now we can hopefully get to see Derrick Rose back in late February and or March.

For today we will see ten games played with the main event being Warriors @ Clippers but this will be though for Clippers playing their 4 game in 5 night.

I will write my predictions for today later on!

And I leave you with this vicious dunk by Kobe on Chris Paul


















/NBAHope 

Friday, January 4, 2013

NBA 4 January pt II

Had to post that earlier because games was getting started so lets continue here.

Hawks @ Pistons - Last game between these two teams ended with a Hawks win after double OT, but since that loss Pistons have won three straight games beating Bucks, Heat and Kings. But this is where Pistons streak will end Josh Smith and Horford is too much to handle if Drummond only is getting 20 minutes.

Winner: Hawks

Bulls @ Heat - Miami have struggled lately losing to teams they should  blow out but they're the champs so they know when to cool it down and rest their legs, this isn't one of these games Bulls not the same team without Rose but LeBron and Noah always seems to play harder when facing and I do not think LeBron wants to lose this game.

Winner: Heat

Pacers @ Celtics - Boston not looking like a playoff team as of late struggling to get wins and their record only being 14-17, last year Boston had one of the worst offense in the league, now they have had terrible defense which always been their thing - playing great defense. Celtics coming of four straight losses while Pacers have won eight out of the last ten games with Paul George beasting.

The safe bet would be that the Pacers will win but I'm going on my instincts here and calling it for the Celtics.

Winner: Celtics

Grizzlies @ Trailblazers - This should be an easy one for the Grizzlies but recent rumors that Gay has been put up on the trading block makes this thing more interesting. But the Grizzlies do have the leagues best defense and Marc and Z-Bo should be able to contain Aldridge while Tony Allen and Mike Conley do their work on Damian Lillard.

Winner: Trailblazers

Sixers @ Thunder - Thunder lost to the Nets last game which ended with Durant getting rejected after going of on the referee, but this shouldn't be faulted on Russell or Durant they both had good games even to their standards. Philly had a good start to the season but have struggled recently and inside presence is really starting to get important so Bynum needs to get it together or they might miss the playoffs.

With both teams being perimeter oriented this should be a easy one for the  Thunder,

Winner: Thunder

Bucks @ Rockets: All talk before the season was Lin Lin Lin and a little about Harden, well Harden haven't disappointed the fans, Lin have started to put up some decent games but he still need to get better and work on his outside shot but people forgot about Parsons who has been brilliant this season together with Asik.

I still don't understand how the Bucks have won 16 out of 30 game, this is still a mystery to me small guards and not that good of inside presence, well one of the best slasher in the league James Harden will certainly make them pay for that, I predict that Larry Sanders will get fouled out.

Winner: Rockets

Jazz @ Suns - I like the Suns team with Gortat, Dragic and sometimes Beasley, with that said this Jazz will most likely blow this team out.

Winner: Jazz

Lakers @ Clippers - Who at the start of the season thought a team consisting of Gasol, Howard, Kobe and well we should not mention Nash since he has missed so many games would be 15-16 raise your hand, I don't see any hands. Howard has been playing well below his standards he may be filling up the statsheet but it isn't translating into wins, his defense has been below average in some cases it doesn't seem like his legs is there at time.

Clippers coming of a month with no losses but losses the two first in the first month of the new year but to be fair Nuggets away and Warriors isn't an easy task.

This is basically home court for both teams and therefore I will give this one to the Lakers.

Winner: Lakers

That's it for this days games, I will follow up on this tomorrow!




NBA 4 January 11 games

This Friday we will get the chance to see 11 games going out first is Toronto hosting Sacramento, coachless Brooklyn traveling to Washington and Charlotte vs Cleveland.

Kings @ Raptors - Both teams have had a good stretch as of late Kings have won four out of their six latest games while the Raptors with Bargnani still out keeps winning, matter o fact since Andrea went down Raptors have won eight out of the last ten games losing only to the Nets and Spurs.

Raptors will also miss Jonas Valanciunas and Linaz Kleiza but the game being in Air Canada I would put my money on the Raptors.

Winner: Raptors

Nets @ Wizards - Albeit Nets haven't been playing good as of late there's no chance in the world I would put a dollar one the Wizards, Nets playing without a coach but Deron Williams have been showing signs of life and should be doing good with some creative freedom with Avery gone.

Winner: Nets

Cavaliers @ Bobcats - After starting of 7-5 Bobcats had 18 straight losses breaking it last in the last game against the Bulls but they still have a better record then the Cavs who only got 7 wins. Anderson Varejao will be missed in this game and with no capable replacement this one will most likely go to Michael's cats.

Winner: Bobcats

Games played later will all get predictions in the next post!