Built Ford Tough

Brutal defense from the Clippers. Jordan just lets him walk by him into an in rythym three. That was some Triano Raptors-esque defense.

Dallas ball as it was clearly off BIllups before it went out. Wow, what a huge turn of events.

Billups with another brutal shot. This is why the whole Mr. Big Shot name is a joke. He misses like 6 straight shots in a row and will make one shot and suddenly he is so clutch. He has been like this for his entire career. Jordan with a huge hustle play to cause the jump with Dirk, though. Dirk was way too casual picking up that rebound.

Hey, uhh, Chauncey, you do know you play for the Clippers, right? They are wearing white jerseys, not blue ones.

I'm pretty sure everybody in Staples, including his teammates, the Mavs, the hot dog vendor and the janitor cleaning up in the washroom on the 4th level thought he was going to jack that up.

Did Jordan just block that with his elbow?

That was Raptors-esque dysfunction on the last offensive possession from the Clippers.

That is why Billups doesn't take anything other than 3's. What an ugly shot.

Between Dirk, Billups and Griffin, there has been a stupid amount of complaining in this game. It seems like somebody is complaining about a call, or non call, after every single possession.

The 25th of January is the extension deadline this year. At least, I think it is. Lets be honest here, though, Westbrook knows what he can get in free agency. What exactly is the point in the Thunder offering him the $80M extension when he knows damn well that he can get them to pay him $94M in the summer by matching an offer sheet? He is never going to sign that. He is getting the money regardless. You might as well hand it over now and avoid any potential unecessary drama. Sure, try to save a few million, but you aren't getting him for $80M. EDIT: Now that I think about it, it really doesn't matter one way or another. OKC isn't going to let him walk and will match any offer sheet anyways. Low ball him now and it doesn't really matter since he is an RFA. Even if you piss him off, its not like he will be able to sign somewhere else in the summer without you letting him anyways. I still say just give him the $94M that he will inevitably get and get it out of the way.

That was a nasty jab step by Foye on Kidd. Kidd did a nice job of recovering to knock the ball away from Foye, but it doesn't diminish how impressive the jab step was.

Exactly. Is $94M too much for Westbrook in terms of his talent leve? Yeah, probably. However, you aren't getting him for any less than that is he hits free agency. I guarantee you that the minute he becomes a free agent he is getting max offers. I know for a fact that Colangelo would offer him a max deal and wouldn't think twice about it. I'm not going to go over the salaries team by team, but I know for a fact that there are other teams who wouldn't hesitate to offer him that either. If the Thunder want to keep him they are going to have to pay him this kind of money because he can get it somewere else and he knows it. Maybe he gives them a bit of a discount, but he is not going to be taking $14M less.

It really is. Just to put how ridiculous having that high of an AST% is, check out the career highs for many of the all-time great point guards: Magic Johnson - 49.3 John Stockton - 57.5 Chris Paul - 54.5 Jason Kidd - 44.8 Isiah Thomas - 47.9 Mark Jackson - 48.2 (not an elite all around point, but a great passer) Gary Payton - 41.3 The only one who even comes close is John Stockton. Some of this is due to Nash having a weak supporting cast and, therefore, having the ball a lot more than some other guys would, but anyway you look at it, what he is doing to start this season, at his age no less, is remarkable.

Pretty impressive tip by Jordan there. I still can't believe how many stupid shots Billups takes a game. Even though I know he does it every game, I can't help but shake my head when he takes these 28 foot bombs in transition.

Glad to see you include Nash in the top 5. He is pretty much rotting away in Phoenix right now but he is still just as good as he was two seasons ago when he came within a Ron Artest putback away from potentially making the NBA Finals with a very average supporting cast. He led the league in assists last season becoming the oldest player in NBA history to do that. He is averaging 14/10 on his usual 50/40/90 (well, will be 90 eventually) percentages in just 30 minutes. His PER is the highest it has been since 2007 and his AST% of 58.1 is absolutely unheard of and the highest of his career. When he is on the floor the Suns basically don't score a basket that he didn't either score or set up. It is remarkable how effective he still is despite his age. I just hope that he is able to get one more shot at a ring before he calls it quits, but I can see him riding off into the Arizona sunset, and honest, I'd be perfectly fine with that as well.

The Clippers are a pathetic defensive rebounding team. The Mavs are absolutely abusing them on the offensive glass right now. There is no excuse for a team with guys like Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Evans to be this terrible on the glass.

As much as I like how Bargnani has played this season, I'd fly to Toronto and drive him to the airport myself if it meant the Raptors were getting Anthony Davis. That guy is going to be a franchise changer and anchor a team for years to come.

I meant in the wedding party in terms of being a groomsman or best man. I know they were there, but they weren't part of the wedding party, at least as far as I know. Just to clarify, I'm not saying that they aren't friends or anything like that. I just have never got the vibe that they were super tight like Wade, James, Paul and Melo are. They are friends who will hang out and all that stuff, but don't have that "brother" vibe that you see from the other players I mentioned.

There have been quite a few shots that have been halfway down only to pop out. I think I've counted about 3 for each time already.

Neither were that at Bosh's bachelor party and neither were in his wedding party (well, the vow renewal since he got married duirng the season, right?), though. That doesn't exactly strike me as them being best friends. I don't really care, though. They could hate each other for all I care or they could be completely inseperable off the court. I don't really care much about basketball players personal lives.

Kleiza fouls Rondo hard (but completely legal) and Rondo lands awkwardly on his wrist. His wrist got stuck behind him as he fall and it looked like it got pinned between the floor and his back. Glad to see a Raptor finally throw a hard foul there. Rondo has been getting to the hoop way too easily all game long and they have just let him do it. Rondo has been doing quite a bit of acting/flopping on his drives in this game as well, so I'm glad Kleiza fouled him hard there. Such a BS call on the flagrant, though. It wasn't even worth a flagrant, let alone a flagrant two. At least they downgraded it to a flagrant 1 after reviewing it, but it was still not nearly bad enough for a flagrant.

Boston kind of sucks. How are you only up 6 points at half time to the Raptors without Bargnani and Bayless, the two best shot creators on the team? Rondo is the only one on the team who looks like he isn't about to die. They also have no bench at all. When the Raptors bench, a bench that consists of superstar players like Gary Forbes, Linas Kleiza, Rasual Butler, Jamaal Magloire and Leandro Barbosa, manages to outscore you by around 22-8, you are in trouble. A lot of people will attribute this to some sort of slump, but in the games I have seen this season, they look absolutely finished. I don't just mean finished in the sense of being a contender, but possibly not even good enough to make the playoffs anymore. They need to find a fountain of youth or something or else blow this shit up entirely. Teams like Atlanta and Chicago were coasting in the games against the Raptors, and you could tell, but the Celtics just look bad.

Toronto's lineup right now: PG: Gary Forbes SG: Leandro Barbosa SF: Rasual Butler PF: Linas Kleiza C: Aaron Gray Worst lineup ever?

Rondo is going by Calderon like he isn't even there. Absolutely no resistance from Calderon and Rondo is already at the rim by the time the help defense even has time to react to Rondo blowing by Calderon. Also, why the hell are the Raptors trying to play a half court game against the Celtics? The Raptors are twice as athletic as a group than the Celtics are, yet they are playing right into the C's strengths. Push the ball at every possible moment, but of course Calderon would rather stand 30 feet from the hoop pounding the ball for 17 seconds before even moving.

I agree with you that he isn't going to be asking for a trade, but are Wade and James really two of his closest friends? Wade, maybe, but not James. They have a good working relationship with each other but I really don't get the vibe that they are super tight off the court like James/Wade/Paul/Melo all are.