Poe

Hmmm..

^ This is why I think they will be a streaky team. Their gameplan is almost entirely relied on whether their jumpshots are falling or not as a team. They have many options and many mismatched players. They have a good offensive gameplan overall. Unfortunately, this is the type of thinking most people have for some reason, even last year. Wade did do a heck of a lot, but one man can't win a game, let alone bring a team to the playoffs. I agree that him being healthy was probably the biggest part, but you have to give credit to the coaching staff and the players around him. Chalmers playing a solid 82 games providing good defense and some shooting, Beasley providing some scoring off the bench, Marion bringing defense and team play, and Haslem with his intensity and leadership. The only thing missing was a legit center, and Riley made the trade. Moon and Jermaine fit right in, although Moon wasn't quite the player Marion was, and Jermaine was still playing on one leg. With the youth and the 2nd best player playing like the 4th, this was only good enough for a 5th seed and a first round exit in a 7 game series of lopsided games. This year being the same team as last is actually a good thing. You don't have to change the team in order for it to get better. You can make improvements with the players you have, and the Heat have some good, young, hard-working players. I watched the Knicks game yesterday, and everything I had predicted for the season came true. Everything. Chalmers is maturing, Cook is adding more weapons to his offensive game, O'Neal is back (not just by the stats, but if you were watching the game you could actually see there was an extra spring to his step.. like he was his young self again), and Beasley actually surprised me. I could not believe the improvements, this dude was hustling on both ends of the court. Blocking shots, getting steals, making plays. There was one play where he poked the ball loose from one player, chased after the ball past half court, the ball got knocked towards the sideline, and Beasley dived for it and hit it off another Knick's leg out of bounds. Heat ball. That should have been the play of the game right there. The only thing missing was the emergence of Dorell Wright, yet he was benched instead. It's not the end of the season, yet there is always a chance, though. I still think he has All Star potential if he ever clicks between the ears. Still, yesterday, the Heat would have won by 20 even without Dwayne Wade. That's how good they are. They were winning by nearly double digits at half time with Wade missing 9 of his first 14 shots, if I remember correctly. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little there. I still think the Heat have what it takes to be a top 3 team by the end of the season if key players remain healthy. Although that would be most effective, Shaq has WAY too big of an ego to EVER agree to come off the bench. His motto is "win a ring for the King", yet that is nowhere near the truth. The reason he came to Cleveland is entirely self-interested. He wants to be known as the very reason LeBron got his first championship, and he wants to end his career on that note, instead of his last two teams being total failures. He brings a winning mentality, but he will never accept a bench role, and I doubt Mike Brown has the balls to ask such a thing to one of the greatest centers of all time.

I never said that Toronto will win 60. I just said that their record will be at least somewhat close to that of the top teams in the East this year. The only team I actually expect to win 60 games are the Celtics. The Cavs, Magic, Heat, and Raptors should all be at around the 50 win margin. You are not going to see overinflated win numbers by the top 3 teams because the talent level among all teams are starting to even out. Plus, I don't expect the Cavs and Magic to actually improve with the moves they made in the offseason, although the emergence of Ryan Anderson might be the difference maker and keep the Magic as a top 2 or 3 team. If Ryan keeps up this level of play, and if the Cavs don't figure out how to make things work well with Shaq, by the end of the season I expect the order to be: Celtics, Magic, Heat, Cavs, Raptors. The reason I'm putting the Raptors at the bottom of this group is because of two things: 1) they are still familiarizing themselves with one another. Other than Calderon, Bargs, and Bosh, it's pretty much a brand new team, and it may take some time to really start winning consistently. 2) Because they will be a jump shooting team, they are probably going to be very streaky. I'm expecting long win-streaks and losing streaks throughout the season. I've already talked enough about how underrated the Heat are, and I'm not overrating them because I'm a fan. Jermaine, Beasley, Chalmers, and Cook will all emerge this season. I was hoping Dorell would be amongst the mix, but I guess he's going to be pushed to the side like always, unfortunately. D Wade has more than enough "help" this year.

^ It's not so much Gillinari is it was the whole Knicks team. 10-39 from 3. Blame D'Antoni, not Gillinari.

If it's all decided by one game, anyway, then they should just make the playoffs like the NCAA and make it all a one game series.. This is stupid.

There's a chance.

The Cavs, Celtics, Magic, Raptors, and Heat are going to be battling it out this year, and maybe the Bulls, too. I expect all of their records to be a bit close. The Eastern conference is going to start looking a little like the Western did the last couple of years.

Damn, Ariza is about to surpass his career high in only his second game. Oh wait, I thought he couldn't be a first option...

Taylor, easily... yet they are both way too damn overrated.

Looking Good. Ariza, Scola, and Brooks getting the majority of the shots. This is looking much better than the first game. Keep it up.

Wow, looking at the scoreboard, what a game for Lopez. Yi has some nice stats too. I'll be keeping an eye on this team. They will be looking good in the future.

Hmmm... Me thinks Shaq is gunna get traded. A bit early to really tell, though.

Well, I was right about Beasley, 21 points, although this prediction won't sound too out of the ordinary after a few games. And by the way, Beasley was actually playing defense out there! Man, the dude was hustling, and making plays on both ends of the floor. This is going to be a great year for him. JO didn't have quite a big enough performance to call it a complete domination, although he put up a very good numbers. 22 points and 12 boards in less than 30 minutes. Great way to start the season for him. I was completely wrong about Wade, haha. He had a bad shooting performance in the first half, and he picked himself up in the second. 26 points, which is below his average last year. Cook only made 2 three-pointers out of 5 attempts, yet those 15 points off the bench are looking very nice. Still, my prediction was on his 3 shooting.

Thanks man. I've said it from the start that the Heat are going to look like a very good team. Just because they didn't make moves, doesn't mean they didn't get better Hopefully the Heat stay focused and don't get too comfortable. I just predicted a 5 game streak. They should build from this performance and carry it on throughout their next games.

Man, Miami is looking awesome out there. And I'm just about ready to change my mind on Q-Rich. He's proving to be a decent role player making a couple baskets and drawing a couple charges. He may not be a good 1on1 defender, but he's been a great team defender tonight. BTW, Jermaine O'Neal - 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and its still not the 4th quarter yet. I told you guys he is back, baby! OK, fine, the Knicks defense sucked... but still, man, he looks great out there. There is no question that his knee feels better.

Great team play so far. Other than Wade's poor shooting, lots of things are looking good for Miami. Actually, the fact that Wade isn't shooting well and the Heat are still up by 9 says a lot about the improvement of this team. Also, Haslem coming off the bench seems to be working well. 6 points and 6 boards. He's averaged 10 points and 8 boards for his career, so having him off the bench has not slowed him down a bit. The only sore spot is Q-Rich's production. He's drawn a charge, and that's it. He's been almost a complete nonfactor in his 8 and a half minutes of play. Erik, please start Jones or Dorell instead. Jones is a better shooter, and Dorell is a much better defender and rebounder then both of them.

Alright, Darko subbed in, and the Knicks defense looks a little more normal now.

Wow, wtf kind of defense are the Knicks playing... Jeffries is guarding Chalmers every time he dribbles down the court, and they are switching on absolutely everything. I've never seen anything like that before.

I think it might actually be beneficial to have Haslem come off the bench. He has always been an energy guy, and I think his intensity can pick things up and bring some spark off the bench.

Because of 3 point shooting ability. I think they are trying to surround D Wade with shooters to space the floor to give him room to drive and dish. Jones and Q-Rich are the Heat's best 3 shooters that can play the SF position, and Beasley will be able to stretch the floor beyond Haslem's mid range limit. Q-Rich has started games in preseason, although I don't like to base a whole lot off of that, it sounds like he might take the position against New York today. I consider Dorell to be a good all around player, but he's still not confident enough from behind the ark for defenders to truly respect his shot, although his midrange is deadly at times.

Last year, Charlotte seemed to do well against good teams and somehow lost most of the games they should have been winning against bad teams. I got Boston on this, but it should be somewhat close.

Bargnani-Shaq matchup is a mismatch on both ends. It'll be interesting to see if Calderon has truly improved his D, and I wonder how Turk will handle LeBron without having the best shotblocker in the league backing him up. It's to be expected that the Cavs win this. I wonder how much the Raptors have really improved.

LINK This is interesting. Beasley averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds in the games he started last year. He's definitely going to be there offensively and on the boards, but he has nowhere near the same defensive intensity as Haslem. I guess we'll have to wait and see how this will work out. I have doubts the line up will remain exactly the same throughout the season. Also, Q-Rich looks to be the most likely to start at SF. He'll bring 3 shooting, defense, and some posting up if he ever gets any sort of mismatches.

So I guess this is going to be a slow start to the season for the Rockets. Hopefully they'll start flowing soon and won't wind up digging themselves a hole.

Hmm.. the two teams are tied after the first quarter, and then Houston is suddenly down 13 at the end of the 2nd. On Houston's side, it seems a bit odd to me that Battier has taken the most shots. I'd like to see Ariza and Scola get about 15-20 shots each by the end of the game. The offense needs to be run through those two and Brooks. And Greg Oden looks awful on the offensive end for Portland. No points and four turnovers, yet those 3 blocks and 6 boards are lookin good. Nice play from Outlaw off the bench, though. BTW, I haven't actually been watching the game, just looking at the stats.