Built Ford Tough

I'm too lazy to actually look up the stats, but I'd be willing to bet that Pauls efficiency drops by a substantial margin when he shoots off the catch rather than the dribble. He never seems to make jumpers when he doesn't set it up with his dribble.

You mean when Lewis saw him coming and then purposefully turned at the last second? Yeah, that was not dirty at all. That was all on Lewis. What exactly is Doan supposed to do in that situation? However, the Morris knee on Scuderi and the Hanzal board on Brown were both very dirty. The Smith slash on Brown was pretty cheap as well.

Bledsoe doing a nice job since coming into the game. He is going to be a very pesky defender when he gains more experience. He already has the physical tools and willingness to defend. Just needs to calm down a bit and gain more experience. Fratello with all sorts of fail in that last statement. "Bledsoe didn't even start for his college team, backing up John Wall" (he started at 35 of 37 games, averaging 31 minutes a night) "Kenyon Martin started the year in Kentucky" At least he got the comments about Young right.

Could you imagine how badly Duncan would rape Jordan if he was even half the player he was in his prime? I know he is still a very good player, but still, I really would pay money to simply watch Duncan pick Jordan apart in every single possible way.

Amile Jefferson, the only top 25 uncommitted, will be playing for Duke next year. It was down to NC State and Duke, but, obviously, Duke won in the end. Devonta Pollard (28th) is the only player in the top 50 to have yet to commit to a team. He is considering Alabama, Georgetown, Mizzou and Texas and has taken visits to the first two.

He won some awards in the Lithuanian League: Player of the Year Center of the Year Most Improved Player of the Year

Most Laker fans are so bi-polar. It is ridiculous. Lose game: Trade Bynum and Gasol, fire Brown, amnesty Artest, series is over Win game: Bynum is a beast, best center in league, Gasol is awesome, Kobe is a god, Lakers in 4 Did any of you actually expect to win this game? Everybody should've known that the Thunder would come out guns blazing looking to send a message, especially after they've had a week and a half off while the Lakers just finished up with Denver. I'd have been shocked if this game wasn't a lopsided Thunder win. I'm not saying the Lakers are going to win because I haven't thought that from the start, but acting like this series is already over and it will take a miracle for them to even come close to winning a game really is hilarious.

I actually forget that even if he is only making $5M in the first season and around $5.5M in the second that the cap hit will still be around $10M or taking the backloaded portion of the deal into consideration. I don't know why, but I did. I still find it highly unlikely that the Knicks let him walk for nothing. Even if they don't re-sign him, I can't see them just letting him walk outright. Sure, the first year or so would only be for $5M, but you are looking at the backloaded portion being in the range of $13M or so in order to truly get the Knicks to not match. Even with the "Gilbert Arenas Provision", the Raptors can still offer him as Compare that to Dragic who will likely get a more traditional contract with traditional raises. Even if you are right and it is $8M per year, it is still less than what a heavily backloaded deal for Lin would be. $32M for Dragic while Lin would be at least at $36M. One million a year isn't a lot, but it is still cheaper and even though I know there are rumors of Dragic getting $8M per, I think $6.5M is more around what he will get. If he gets more, let somebody else have him. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather pass on both and just keep Bayless around for $4M a year and give him the entire season to prove his worth as a point guard. They should've done it after last years trade deadline and then for this whole season, but Raptors brass [expletive]ed that up (surprise, surprise) so they really don't have an idea what they have with Bayless. Personally, I think he is more talented and the risk-reward factors into his favour when comparing him to guys like Lin and Dragic, but I don't think that the Raptors suits think of him as a point guard. They seem insistent on turning him into a Jason Terry or Leandro Barbosa clone. Also, with Colangelo going balls to the wall to make the playoffs in his final year of his contract next year, I can't see him taking the time to truly give Bayless a chance. It is worth noting that even though I'd rather see them go after Dragic or simply keep Bayless, I highly doubt Raptors management share those sentiments. I guarantee you they would want Lin or Nash first because it would result in absolutely absurd revenue for the team. Everything from merchandise, advertising, ticket prices, etc... would likely sky rocket considering how they could cash in on the two demographics that these two represent, like IllWill said.

I really want to like the Thunder, and they used to be my 2nd favourite team to watch, but I just can't get over how much the refs baby them. It is ridiculous and makes it difficult to like watching them play. I know that it isn't the players' fault or anything like that, but it is just annoying how much they get babied by the refs. You breath on them and it seems like they are shooting free throws. I could understand if they were a team who is relentless attacking the rim, but they really aren't, which makes it worse how they seemingly get every call.

It is different enough from the book that people who have read them can still be surprised at points, but close enough that it doesn't take away from what GRRM wrote. I think it is worth watching, even if you knoew the major plot points. I'm aware of what it is, but I haven't really read anything about it. I tend to stay away from those type of things until I've finished a series. I realize it is only speculation but I don't want to read a theory and then have it turn around and end up being true as it ruins some of the surprise for me. Basically, I ignore it if I don't think of it myself beforehand.

I love Artest. How can you not? Not only is the shit he says crazy, you can tell he truly believes it. Great start from Sessions. Perfect feed to Westbrook for the hoop. Somebody should tell him that Sessions plays on the Thunder, though.

Gotta love how the game was iced on an illegal screen by Garnett. So fitting. I really don't understand how Barkley and Shaq can say that was a bad call. Just because they never call it doesn't mean it wasn't an illegal screen. Shaq is trying to say that Garnett's feet were set and that makes it ok, but his feet weren't set. He was moving into Iguodala and bodying up on him while setting the screen. He took a step or two into Iggy after the initial contact

Well, that is true. If you look at him purely from what he did at UConn, there is no way he should be considered a top 5 pick. He looked lost more often than not, looked very disinterested for large portions of games, showed a serious lack of fundamentals and really wasn't very productive. But there is that dangerous "p" word with him. There is no denying his physical attributes. If he gets put in the right situation he could easily become the best player in this draft. He is basically the definition of high-risk, high-reward prospect. I'd go for Waiters before Rivers. Waiters really does seem like a mini Wade when he is on his game. Like I said earlier, though, I'm not much of a Rivers fan but basically everybody considers Rivers as a better prospect than Waiters and these people will have seen much more of both of them than I have, so I'm sure there is something about Rivers that they see that I don't. Anyways, I figured I'd post this here rather than creating a new thread. Is this a big deal for the Rockets, or is Patrick just a minor scout for them?

Yeah, you can read the first book and it won't spoil anything for the 2nd as far as I can remember. There may be a very minor thing here or there (and even then I don't think there is), but there is nothing of major consequnce that will be spoiled by reading the first book. I really do reccommend the books if you enjoy reading. I really enjoy the show, but it doesn't compare to the books in my opinion. There is just so much more detail and backstory in the books that you can't convey in tv medium. I've always loved reading, though, so I may be bias towards books, haha. And completely agree on your second paragraph. That was my favourite scene as well. Might even have been my favourite scene of the entire season thus far. The Arya chapters are my favourite parts of the books so far and even though her story has changed in the show, they are still my favourite parts of the show as well (although Dinklage does a fantastic job as Tyrion too). I'm really enjoying the interaction between Arya and Tywin. Not only are they doing a great job of just entertaining me, but they also use those two as a way of delivering some backstory that would otherwise be difficult, such as the Aegon Targaryen stuff last night.

There is literally a 0% chance of prying Lin out of New York with a backloaded MLE. I'm still not completely sold on him, either. I give him full credit for that fantastic stretch of games and for basically turning around the Knicks season, but I question how effective he will be next year when he isn't catching teams off guard, playing 4 games in 5 nights or things like that. I hope he continues to be a very good player because he seems like a great dude, but I'm still not sold on him. As for Nash, I put the chances at next to none as well. People think because of the whole becoming the GM of Canada Basketball that he will sign with the Raptors, but I'm not buying it. I just don't see him coming to Toronto to finish out his career, unless they are offering him a contract that he simply can't refuse (which is a possibility). Would he really want to rot away on a team with a likely ceiling of the 2nd round (and even that may be optimistic) for the last few years of his career? It is a possibility given his ties to Colangelo, Triano, the money they have to offer and him being Canadian, but in terms of actually playing basketball it makes little sense for him. The guy I really want to see the Raptors target this summer is Goran Dragic. He has shown flashes of being a really good point guard but has always been stuck behind somebody and never truly gotten a chance to shine. Whether it was in Phoenix or Houston he has impressed every time he had his role increased and I think he is just waiting for an opportunity. He wouldn't cost as much as Lin, he seems like he would fit in nicely with this roster and he is young enough to grow with the Raptors core of DeRozan, Valanciunas, Bargnani and whoever they draft this year.

To be honest, even if you have read the second book it wouldn't make much of a difference. The first season was basically a carbon copy of the first book, but they are using the second book as more of a loose guideline than anything for this season. For instance, the whole Arya/Tywin Lannister storyline (which I love, by the way, very well done and Maisie Williams is probably the most talented child actor I've seen in a long, long time) doesn't happen in the book at all. The whole story with Jon has been fairly different as well. He still meets Ygritte in the book and he doesn't kill her, but other than that it hasn't really followed the book much. Daenerys story in Qarth is much different as well. So yeah, even though I've read the books (well, first four at least, still haven't gotten around to reading the 5th yet) and have a general understanding of where the major storylines are headed, I still don't know fully what to expect with each episode. I have absolutely no idea where they are going with some of the storylines.

I never thought I would see the day when the New Jersey Devils would be the most offensively oriented team left in the playoffs.

Game over. That Mayo miss was a backbreaker.

Worst possible outcome for the Clippers. What should've been a 24 second violation instead turns into a 48 second possession that results in Randolph fouling a jump shooter.

You should hope he can be back to his MVP caliber play any season, let alone next year. For a guy who's game is so dependent on explosiveness and being able to go 120% all the time, this injury is one of the worst he can suffer. I'd be shocked if he is even a top 4 point guard next season. It will likely take him at least a year to fully get his complete athleticism back, and who knows if he is going to be able to get back to the same level athletically as he was prior to the injury. This isn't 10-20 years ago when a torn ACL was a borderline career killer, but it is still a very significant injury for an NBA player, especially one who plays like Rose does.

If Memphis doesn't cut this lead down to around 6 by the time the 4 minute mark rolls around, I haev troubles seeing them coming back and winning this game. They've been completely outworked and outhustled by the Clippers 2nd unit.

Conley looked gassed at the end of the third and has struggled with his shot all game, but they simply can't afford to keep him on the bench any longer. Arenas is just awful.

Played his last game for Rytas today and will now have the next 2.5 weeks off before Lithanian National Team camp starts at the end of the month. That is probably the most rest he has had since the draft last year. He sure has played a lot of ball over the past year.

The defense in the second half has been superb. Great job of jumping and trapping screens, allowing next to now blow-bys and the bigs are doing a great job of rotating over when the perimeter defender has been beaten. I really like how the refs are letting them play as well, even if they are ignoring some blatantly obvious fouls (Paul's hands are all over Conley every time he touches the ball but as long as it is consistent I like it).

Canadians taking over Vegas. First Khem Birch transfering from Pitt to UNLV, now Anthony Bennett signing with them the other day. They've got a very talented frontline with Birch (I think he is elligible to play in January, but I'm not 100% sure), Moser and now Bennett. The best thing about them is that I have no question that all three of them can play together with Bennett and Moser's versatility.