AboveLegit

Wall with a very quiet 9 assists so far. He is still trusting his teammates and trying to get Blatche going.

You seem like a nice active poster.

Cartier Martin with a nice block on Dwight. He's earning himself some playing time till Gil comes back. Good hustle play.

Oh yeah I definitely agree with you, but let's remember, Blatche isn't exactly the smartest player in the league. When watching the Wizards, you gotta realize two things: - A lot of ill-advised shots. - Inexperience There's no flow to this offense, this is why we need Gil, and this is why we need to keep him. People don't realize what he brings to the table. His offense will be key to the growth of Wall. Otherwise he will have a frustrating year with a very low statistical output.

Ugh, no interior defense for us. McGee is just so raw...still. People really need to hold off on these predictions of him breaking out soon, it's just not happening. He hasn't shown enough promise.

He was either double teamed every time he touched the ball or guarded by the two time defensive player of the year. You really expect him to play well against one of the best defensive teams in the league? Should he have attempted some of the shots he took? Probably not, but he's a young guy trying to establish some sort of rhythm in the first game of the season. Eventually things should work out for him, it's not every day he's going to be facing a player like Dwight or a defense like Orlando. Just give him time, remember, he's still recovering from his injury in the offseason. Yeah he grew on me last year. I was really pushing for him to make the team simply because he's a smart player who knows his role and can knock down open jumpers. Honestly, I'm not even remotely shocked by the outcome of the first half. We're just not on their level, plain and simple. Wall looked a bit nervous coming into the game, had some open shots but missed (expected), and had some easy opportunities to score like that floater over Howard. He can't really rack up any assist either, he has no one to pass to. Orlando is making it so hard on us to score, no one is getting good looks. I won't criticize the team too much nor will I take much out of the game.

The crowd plays the biggest factor imo. They cheer you on and motivate you when you're down (or up). They give you energy while also trying to distract the other team. It may sound simple, but its fairly effective, especially for a young team in a playoff game. Then also you've got the familiarity with the court, surroundings, location... the comfort factor. But overall, I think the crowd is the biggest factor. Just watch the games in Oklahoma City or game 7 of the 2002 WCF in Sacramento to figure that out ... that has to boost the home team and have an impact on the road team slightly.

Because he wanted to consider it....

I remember you from RST, welcome to OTR.

Can't wait. The time has finally come. Gil isn't playing tonight or on Saturday, but right now I could careless. I'm so pumped to see John Wall in action.

Loving the discussion, while we may not have 60-70 members online at a time, we always have great quality guys online. Let's keep it up, I'll try to do some more recruiting this weekend if possible.

If the Rockets keep playing at this pace, I'm going to have to watch more of them this season.

@ the free throw disparity.

But as a first option currently, he got bounced in the first round. When you take away his shot or when he's having an off game, he's pretty ineffective if you ask me. Maybe that's more of a testament to his playing style, but nonetheless, he doesn't do much. And I'm not going to sit here and underplay his performance in the playoffs, he played well and his teammates didn't show up, but regardless we're acting as if he's consistently getting far in the playoffs. Just look at the Mavs the past few years in the playoffs: 2010: First round (4-2) 2009: Second round (4-1) 2008: First round (4-1) 2007: First round (4-2) 2006: Finals (4-2)- Which I have openly said before that the Mavs got robbed big time and should have won the series, but that's a whole different debate. To put it simply, he has been to the WCF twice, and while he has had the consistency in the regular season, it hasn't exactly translated well in May/June.

Every announcer, trainer or scout says Roy has a deceptive quickness. The thing is, Roy is fast with his dribble and moves, but he only does it in bursts. Could he play fast all the time, I don't know. Roy can beat anyone though, he looks like he is just lazing his way up the court then suddenly his after burners are on and he's weaving his way through four defenders. He hesitates and makes defenders second guess before he exploits whatever they do wrong. I don't know if he could always play fast, probably, but he'd probably have more turn overs and more points, especially ft's. I like his style though, and how he doesn't have a big ego. He is all about the team, kind of like a Duncan SG personality. I think he belongs in the top, if that is top 10 or top 15 in the league, its still the top. He is one of the premier players in the league, I just wonder if he'd make way more money outside of Portland and, with a different coach and philosophy (pushing Roy to always attack), if he would have a dramatic improvement. I wonder if Roy and Aldridge have progressed as far as they can under Nate. He shot 400 less shots then Kobe 2 years ago, and 200 less 3 pointers. If you put those numbers in for Roy, at his same %, he'd be scoring 26+ points a game, not counting the extra FT's he'd get with said attempts. Part of that is Roy wanting to give his team shots, some reluctance, but a lot is coaching. If he was on a different team, where they wanted the game to run through him, with a coach like Jackson, Riley or Saunders, I think his scoring would sore.

The same reason why Brandon has Pau Gasol listed as an all star. He just simply isn't there completely. At this point, I don't consider Dirk even better than Pau, so there's no reason for me to call him a superstar. As for Nash, I guess you could make the case for him, but does he really dominate games?

No defense being played at all. Ellis is getting anything he wants....27 points in the first half?

Brandon Roy has had a tremendous first half, hopefully he keeps it up.

The media as a whole is much too quick to name someone a "Superstar". That is someone, IMO, who transcends the game in someway. They have a serious playoff history and have proven themselves. Kobe LeBron Wade CP3 D-Will Durant Dwight Melo I'm considering placing Brandon Roy in this list, but I think I'll wait till the season is over before calling him one.

Chris Kaman making his best Blake Griffin impersonation. :o

Oh. My. God. Blake. Griffin.

No doubt there are problems with the Celtics still. They don't know how to close out games is one of them. But the Cavs are better than people give credit to, they are a good defensive team even without Bron and their "role players" are very good. People severely underrated the cast last year because the offense was based on LeBron dribbling around for 20 secs and making a kick out or driving into the lane. Now we're going to see the Cavs actually running a true offense and maximizing the potentials of Hickson, Gibson, etc.

Celtics were on a back to back, I actually had a feeling the Cavs would win. Classic Celtics game. Playing to the level of their competition/come out flat after playing super-high intensity in their last game/terrible on back-to-backs.

Great write up, loved how you broke down the game player by player. Bosh always plays bad against Garnett. It's always been like that for him. I remember watching the Raptors playing the Celtics and while his teammates were playing their asses off trying to get a win Bosh was getting the ball at the top of the key and swinging it around the perimeter. It's not experience, or getting the swing of things, it's just his demeanor on the court. Amare for example has a certain amount of confidence and swagger, you know that he belongs. A lot of the time Bosh just seems like he's still trying to prove himself. It's not his body frame either, it's just that he needs a tougher mentality. Yesterday was a higher level of basketball that he is used to. Bosh will be the biggest issue for the Heat to overcome. They can't win a series against Boston if he continues this play. This is one of 12, 13 games they are going to play during the regular season that will resemble a playoff atmosphere type of game. In the next few weeks, the Heat will play teams like the Wolves or Sixers or Clippers or Bobcats or Grizzlies. It doesn't really give you a good understanding of where you stand with the other championship contenders when you are able to play no defense and still blowout teams. These games are so critical because the Heat only get a dozen or so chances to see how they match up with these elite teams. Who knows how the next match up will be for them. Maybe Garnett or Shaq sits. Maybe LeBron has an injury. Realistically, a teams playoff lineup won't get to face another teams playoff lineup in the regular season that often, and if you don't figure it out against them when you get a chance, it can really hurt. 82 games is a long season, but the 12-15 that really separate championship level teams and non-title teams is really all that matters. It sucks for Heat fans that this happens in game 1, but this will be more realistic game for them than all of their games against the Nets and Pacers.

Bosh looking good early on.