Real Deal

Look at Dalembert dominating. No Harris, and the Nets are trying to hang in there. Courtney Lee needs to stop and realize he's not a primary scoring option, and CDR has to start playing like he's meant to be Brook's Robin.

SONNY WEEMS! It's nice seeing him contribute here and there. Good work on the glass, too. And Jack is underrated. Not very many people talk about him, but he's a very smart player. Granger is best as a second option. He's a Pippen waiting for Michael.

Yeah, LeBron went ballistic in the first, then went 0-5 in the second quarter. Not sure where that came from, because I know for a fact the Clippers didn't adjust their defense, LOL.

Anyone watching Vince Carter destroy this team? I'm talking about the Magic, by the way.

Yeah, it was a game-winner. They actually considered Kobe's shot against Dallas a game-winner, also, when we were down one with 28 seconds left, and Kobe hit a jumper to put us up for good. Not sure about that one, though...but the one today? Yes, most definitely. And yes, that poster on Garnett was awesome. Bynum needs to be motivated all the time.

PATHETIC, haha. Gordon and Butler are shooting a combined 0-10 the last time I looked, and the Clippers have NO IDEA how to defend the three. Hope they lose by 50.

I forgot who it was (on ESPN), but he said there was a slim chance of that deal actually happening, because the Celtics believe they can't lose a shooter that spreads the floor, and he's also playing decent help defense in their own defensive scheme. But we'll see. ESPN guys aren't sitting in General Manager chairs.

Lack of defense, and he's a little small. We need a taller point to contest on switches, and it would be fantastic to have him as a combo guard (such as Hinrich). Ford is best when you give him isolation. He's fast and hard to stop. We need someone who can pass the ball, defend very well, and hit the three.

Bryant has hit more shots with two defenders on him, and if it's a three, it's definitely Kobe Bryant. Plus, Bryant has the record for game-winners. I love Michael. He's my boy. But so is Bryant, and I have to take him here.

What's the deal with Hedo and "ball" anyways? Was there a topic about it here?

The pick and roll wasn't working as well with Odom out there. Odom can play big or small, so any potential switch, we try to involve him in. Lamar was out there in the second quarter, but Phil wasn't playing him in those switches. I'd have to go back and look at the game again, but the Lakers definitely changed things around in the second half. Defense won it for us. Everyone, even Bynum, did their part defensively. The ONLY reason Boston kept it close was because of the pick and roll with Rondo. They switched Kobe/Shannon off Rajon with it, forced one of our guards to defend a big down low, and either let Rondo work his magic, or started to swing the ball around to the open man off the switch. Ridiculous...the same stuff that kills us when we play Nash, Amare and the Suns. Transition defense was impressive. Help defense was okay, although Gasol let a few guys slip through and get easy buckets, and Kobe didn't close out on a shooter twice. Rondo stated at the half that Kobe was giving him room, and he took advantage of it...but that's not what I saw. I saw a hesitant point guard not wanting to take the 18-footer, almost every time he had the shot. Offensively, we were a mess. Kobe was forcing up bad shots, nobody was moving to the ball, we failed to set up the post probably 10 times that I could see. But that last shot was killer, and for some reason, you just KNEW it was going in.

Did anyone here really have any doubt about that last shot Kobe took? Really? For some reason, no matter how bad he's shooting the rock, I always get this gut feeling those game-winners will fall. As for the game, Rondo ATE US ALIVE on those pick and rolls. Big time. It wasn't exactly Shannon Brown, although he was getting burned badly...but when the Celtics kept running that pick and roll and forcing Kobe to switch away from Rondo, that was where we lost our lead. Solid game by Drew, also. I'm proud of him.

Well, yeah, I think the ASG that Melo and LeBron planned their "dunk-off" in was pretty stupid. Fun, but just worthless. However, the 2008 game was pretty interesting, probably not on the level of the 2003 game in Atlanta (that was the one with Jordan hitting that jumper over Marion, and Kobe getting fouled on the three). It seems like every other year, for a while, there's a very close game between the two. 2008, 2006, 2004 have been pretty good.

http://www.alldaynba.com/dallasmavericks/found-defense-but-lost-offense (Mike Messiah) http://www.alldaynba.com/torontoraptors/bosh-most-likely-not-to-be-traded (Josh Dhani) http://www.alldaynba.com/nbageneral/what-to-watch-january-29th (Reid Richardson)

Merged the Lakers/Celtics topic in the General NBA forum with this one.

I'm going to move this to the Gameday forum, then merge it with the main topic for the game. You'll find that the most discussion will come from there, especially with our Raptors fans (and we need more Pacers fans, by the way).

I may watch a little of it, maybe part of the beginning and near the end. I've never really had any interest in the Pro Bowl, though. The NBA's All-Star game is on another level.

And do it naked, so he stays up.

I'll say it again: Carter is a major problem in Orlando. If I were a Magic fan, I'd cross my fingers, hoping he's not doing this stuff in the playoffs. Howard was a beast. When the Magic dump the ball inside and spread the floor, Howard goes to work. He's trying to develop some more post moves, also, which is scary if he refines his offensive game.

What's the word on Jamison's injury? Or is it not that serious?

They need Beasley. Haslem is too inconsistent to matter, and was garbage tonight. From what I watched of the game, all I saw Udonis do was shoot bricks and foul. Wade didn't do a bad job defending Jennings when he was on him, although that's not that big of a task, as Casper seems to be contesting his shots most of the time, with all the wide-open misses he has.

Memphis was up by 21 in the third quarter, but Collison just took over, really. He killed them in the pick-and-roll. Plus, that was a good rip and finish for Collison at the end of the game. The Grizzlies just didn't play the defense needed to win this game, not to mention they jacked up too many threes after going cold for so long throughout the game.

Dallas wasn't exactly playing bad defense on him, really...but he had a size advantage with Barea on him quite a bit, and he was hitting everything, didn't matter if it was contested or not.

Bruised left hip. He played about a half a quarter in the second half.

Surprise, surprise.