Real Deal

Fisher was on the banner for LA because they won it all. I added extra guys for Boston and Orlando, since they were the other two teams repping the East in the Finals over the last two years. Fisher won't be on the LA banner this time around, though. It'll more than likely be Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Artest. No Fisher or Odom. I think I'm going to stick with the Finals reps from last year, plus Boston (because they are stacked) and probably the Spurs (since getting Jefferson) for the four teams that have four on the banner. If I added guys like Haslem, it would only be fair I added sixth men like Crawford, or long-tenured players such as Fisher, and that would probably add up to 120+ banners in the end. The work doesn't really matter, but just making it fair for everyone, that would be complicated, as some teams really only have three guys who deserve the banner placement to begin with.

9-3 at home is pretty nice. I didn't realize they were that good in Charlotte. I wonder if Felton plays better in front of his own crowd. He's been playing in North Carolina since his college days, and we've see how he's been struggling off and on, so maybe that's the answer.

Probably 50, the way Milwaukee was defending him. Bryant went 3-9 in the first half. If he was healed up, I'm pretty sure he would've dominated Charlie Bell the entire 40+ he was on the floor. How many games have you seen Kobe take only nine shots in the first half, against a below-500 team? He scored 20 in the first quarter against the Bulls the other night. You don't have to be shooting the ball to get fouled. Bogut was hanging all over Drew in the post, pulling on his jersey and fouling him on box outs because Bynum is simply much stronger, and it's the same type of stuff that happened to Shaq (frequently, in Los Angeles) and it sometimes happens to Gasol as well.

By my definition (best overall, and most valuable to the league), it's Kobe. By others' definitions (most valuable to their team), it's probably Durant. By the NBA's definition (best overall stats, one of the best teams), it's LeBron. I can't say it's Melo. Denver is on pace to win 60 games, but so are the Mavericks, Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Hawks and Cavaliers. He's a candidate, but I still don't like his defense, and I'm not a big fan of his assumed leadership skills. I don't even think Steve Nash should've won it because of his horrible, horrible defense, arguably the worst starting defensive point in the NBA. So, as an overall player (offense and defense) and on a potential 60-win team, you get Kobe, LeBron, and you have to throw Dwight's name in there as well. Wade is shooting poorly from the field (compared to his usual), and the Heat are looking more like a 44-win team right now than the 55+ win team they were weeks ago. Kobe is a better offensive player than both LeBron and Dwight, and he's a better defensive player than both, and the Lakers have the best record among their teams, so I'm taking Bryant. But we know he won't get it.

I have all of the team banners done (except for two, I think), three guys for each team unless that team has more than three potential stars (ex. Boston, Orlando, LA). I just need to go get them the next time I make a trip to my house, sometime before Christmas. And for the Heat, it'll be Wade, Beasley and O'Neal.

I would draft any of those three, plus Tebow or McCoy, as long as it meant waiving Russell. I just can't stand him...but we all know this by now. Sorry, lol.

Deng pulled out of this one with 24 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, leading Chicago to a pretty valuable win. It may have been against a bad Knicks team, but Chicago's place in the East bracket was slipping due to their recent slump, 11th in the East, so this helps give them that boost they've been looking for lately.

How many "breaks" did the Patriots get in route to going 16-0 in the regular season? The Colts are in the same boat, and they aren't really that good?

Wright's post up game won't take shape until his strength increases, or his build (probably both). The similarities are there between the two (Ariza and Wright). Both are athletic, both hit open shots, and both are defensively talented due to their length, but I can't see either of them being an all-star in this league, nor a first or second option on a contender. Third option, most definitely...but Dorell is still raw in a few spots of his game, surprisingly, but that's because he doesn't get enough burn to improve as much as, say, Dwight Howard did (using someone out of his draft class).

...using his Twitter, of course. If I am completely honest about certain things that pertain to tonights events, someone will steal $$ from me. Honesty is not cool anymore. Sometimes he just takes CHARGE (to Charlie Bell regarding the flop) or NBA LIVE on PLAYSTATION LMAO (in regards to what he was actually talking about, and the blocking foul called) So...really? What a mistake this is. January 10th.

What antivirus do you have, Justin? Any firewalls? You're with Comcast, right?

http://i49.tinypic.com/11rq0zr.jpg As for adding other players to the main banner, I don't know. That may have to wait. Melo is an option, but then I'd have to consider others, like CP3, Garnett, Dirk, or Nash.

Haven't gotten it yet, either. Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari?

Hate to see what those three would do against the Bucks, then. And as far as Charlie Bell playing good defense on Kobe...sure, whatever. Shane Battier plays good defense against him, but that doesn't mean he won't get torched. Battier sticks hands in Bryant's face, touches his eyes, picks his nose, and Bryant still hits the shot. Average defense: http://i48.tinypic.com/20kvfwh.jpg Good defense: http://i49.tinypic.com/2n9j2ox.jpg By the way, both shots went in. And the video, in slow motion, proves you wrong. Bogut was sliding right. You can't slide in front of a player who gathers his shot and expect a charge. Since Bogut is one of the flopping kings, the referees probably expected it, and they got the call right. There was a minute left in the game. The only hope you have of stopping Kobe with a minute left is putting two guys on him, or just hacking the hell out of his arms. No floppers allowed, and definitely no weak, undersized players attempting to defend him by themselves.

LMAO.

Beasley can have good games, but sometimes, his shot selection is just ugly.

Amazing. You MUST be a Lakers fan! That's exactly right, though. Bogut was sliding right when Kobe gathered, contact was made and Bogut's foot tripped up Bryant, causing the extra step, and the foul was made, continuation was allowed, and Bryant put up the ball. Great call by the referees. If it was rigged, they wouldn't have let the Lakers go down by a nearly-impossible six points with a minute to go, lol...but yeah, it just sucks to have to contain Bryant.

The Lakers have 11 games in 19 days, with five sets of back-to-backs, then eight consecutive away games at the end of January. He needs to stop whining.

The travel came due to the contact. You ever see someone get pushed in the back on a layup, and they travel trying to keep their balance? Check Bogut's foot when he trips up Bryant. Either you guys aren't watching the video, or you're watching it and beating the hell out of your keyboard. Sucks, huh? And Garnett has been setting illegal screens since he was in Minnesota. Players get irate about it, and so do coaches and fans. He puts out at least one per game, big difference from a questionable traveling call on an obvious blocking foul. The only thing you can question is the continuation, due to the extra step. If the referees see it as Bogut causing that extra step on the foul, it shows that they were probably looking more at Bogut and if he had position or not...which likely means they made the right call.

http://espn.go.com/espn/elias?date=20091217 How odd is that?

How is Deng overrated when nobody talks about him? He's still the one doing all the scoring, shooting better than Rose, and he plays better defense than Rose...so arguably, he's the better player and more valuable to this team. Fact is, Derrick has taken a step down from where he was last season...and that was his rookie year. I don't care if Kobe is taking him under his wing. Kobe isn't in Chicago every other day, let alone every other week, or even month. Rose is settling for a jumper he doesn't have. Maybe he's watching way too much Kobe, and trying to emulate greatness. If that's the case, he's going to fail miserably.

It happens around the break. I'm out of town and not on my computer, so posting using my brother's computer is much different. He's usually on it looking at cars, then he's got his girl in his bedroom, haha...so I'm SOL sometimes.

Haha, yep...great angle.

Saw another angle. If Bogut hadn't moved before Kobe picked up his dribble, it would've been a charge. I'm going to safely say that the refs would've called it one if Andrew had been in the circle as well, or a combo of the two.

It's strictly defense. Bosh must not realize that the Raptors' offense is fine for the most part: they aren't having trouble scoring the ball (5th in points per 100), and there are nightly contributors, just not as consistent as he is. Problem is, they don't have the defensive intensity to match their offense. By the way, the Raptors are dead last, defensively (points allowed per 100 is better than points allowed, which has a lot to do with pace). Bargnani, Calderon, Hedo, and Bosh are all poor defensive players. DeRozan has a lot of work to do. There are your starters, and that's why Toronto is stuck in between a rock and a hard place.