Basketball Thread!

[Vector Prime]

Not a Miami hater, but still not sold on their trade deal for this year. Doubt they will get past Boston in the East.

So little faith?

Yeah they've already dropped two to the Celts this year, but that was earlier on before LBJ/D-Wade/Bosh started clicking on offense.

I still don't think the three of them are still working perfectly together yet.

The problem I don't think is with them, it's with their coaching.

They should replace Spoelstra with Riley and I reckon they'll be unstoppable then since he'll know how to extract the best out of them.

Lakers will probably make it through for the West, they are not the best team in the West at the moment, but they always lift in the finals.

Agreed.

My money's on a Spurs/Lakers Western Conference Final showdown, with the Lakers taking it in 7 with Kobe hitting a last second shot.

[i_amtrunks]

Dont count out Utah or the Mavs in the west. Thunder are playing great, but lack of finals experience will hurt them.

The East is a two horse race, I really like the Bulls, but I cant see them or Orlando threatening Boston or Cleveland, and Atlanta are too injury depleted.

[Vector Prime]

Dont count out Utah or the Mavs in the west. Thunder are playing great, but lack of finals experience will hurt them.

I think Utah and Dallas are great teams, but depending on who they draw in the first round will determine if they advance further.

OKC have been playing great - Durant's having another great year, but the key to it all this year is Westbrook and whether he can continue his stellar in the playoffs.

The East is a two horse race, I really like the Bulls, but I cant see them or Orlando threatening Boston or Cleveland, and Atlanta are too injury depleted.

The only threat Cleveland's going to have is whether they finish with the worst or 2nd worst record.

I know you mean the Heat mate... as long as they can stay healthy, they'll be there come June - just look at the past few games... LBJ injures his ankle and they drop 3 games in a row

[jazzcomp]

Big trades - Melo to Knicks, D-Will to Nets.

The east is getting stronger!

[Vector Prime]

Big trades - Melo to Knicks, D-Will to Nets.

The east is getting stronger!

I think the Nets will improve, but I don't know about the Knicks though - their 'success' so far this season has not been because of Amare, more rather due to the play of Raymond Felton, who they now traded away

[i_amtrunks]

East only gets stronger by taking West players...

A mate of mine is in NY, and has tickets to the game next week, lucky bugger, he doesn't even like the Knicks, but loves Melo.

[blackie]

pfft
knicks traded off height to get melo, who wont do *that* well in the end.
loss for both denver and knicks
knicks should have worked on getting derron williams, a good PG and PF/C combo is what made the suns a great team for so many years, and of course propper bench players, which is why miami wont make the finals

[i_amtrunks]

pfft
knicks traded off height to get melo, who wont do *that* well in the end.
loss for both denver and knicks
knicks should have worked on getting derron williams, a good PG and PF/C combo is what made the suns a great team for so many years, and of course propper bench players, which is why miami wont make the finals

Bang on.
I think the Celtics and Lakers in the past 5 years have shown that not only do you need to have a healthy roster in the finals to make it, but you have to have 3-5 bench players who can step up and score 20 points and make 10 rebounds if a starter has a slow day.

Knicks are lacking in the post now, much like my team the Rockets who are a very small team, but to try and cover they play a way NY won't be able to, a fast running game (which has been hampered by even more injuries to Brooks and Lowry).

NY should make semis if they remain injury free, but I cant see them beating the Bulls, Heat or Celtics deeper into the finals, and they'll likely have to fight hard to beat the Magic or Hawks as well.

[blackie]

hawks made a good trade getting rid of bibby for henrick, will help them play a faster game, and gives them more transition options, where bibby lacked (even though ive always been a fan of bibby)

im still undecided about the lakers this year (even though theyre the team i support)
im expecting a spurs-thunder conference champ series atm

one more bit of interesting news was the rumours going around that portland were looking for a backup point guard, what happened to mills?? he was playing quite well i thought....

[dirge]

So did anyone expect Utah to trade Deron? The first _he_ heard of it was on TV in the locker room!