what a comeback

12/11/2012 10:01:00 PM

Lakers now 1-10 on the season in games where Kobe scores 30 or more.

12/12/2012 1:05:16 AM

Not that "wins below replacement" is a perfect formula. But Austin rivers is on pace to be the worst player in nba history based on that formula. I think I win on that one.


-8.1 wins below REPLACEMENT level. The record is Jason Collins in '06-'07 with -6.5

12/12/2012 1:13:31 PM

On the Christmas games commercial where they're all dribbling, watch how little Wade does. What a bitch.

[Edited on December 13, 2012 at 8:18 PM. Reason : H]

12/13/2012 8:18:07 PM

Melo

[Edited on December 13, 2012 at 8:24 PM. Reason : this might be fun. melo v kobe.]

12/13/2012 8:20:25 PM

Quote :

"Not that "wins below replacement" is a perfect formula. But Austin rivers is on pace to be the worst player in nba history based on that formula. I think I win on that one. -8.1 wins below REPLACEMENT level. The record is Jason Collins in '06-'07 with -6.5"

I completely agree.

12/13/2012 8:28:18 PM

face wasn't the only one predicting Rivers would be shit, but he was the most adamant.

12/13/2012 8:34:22 PM

ok, hey now, you can get back to Chit Chat now

12/13/2012 8:41:01 PM

Melo has to be the greatest role player to ever grace the court

12/13/2012 8:42:53 PM

it wouldn't surprise me if melo gets MVP

..until Amare comes back.

12/13/2012 8:47:25 PM

12/13/2012 10:08:53 PM

Quote :

"post of the year in ST"

12/13/2012 10:10:40 PM

12/13/2012 10:29:23 PM

^^^ahahahahah

12/13/2012 11:07:37 PM

Hollinger to Memphis. Good for him, but I'll miss his columns.

12/14/2012 2:55:09 PM

Nic Batum puts up a 5x5x5x5x5, JJ Hickson goes for 24/16, and Damian Lillard hits a last second 3 to win the game

the Blazers may have the worst home announcers in the league, but they got a bright future

[Edited on December 17, 2012 at 2:46 AM. Reason : ...]

12/17/2012 2:44:51 AM

No 'Melo again

12/17/2012 7:41:10 PM

is JJ Redick an All Star this year? he's clearly the best player on the Magic roster this year

12/17/2012 9:47:23 PM

he's definitely no all-star

only Major League Baseball forces a representative from every team

12/18/2012 2:25:48 AM

Durant is obviously the best SCORER in the league

when can we start debating whether or not he's a better PLAYER than lebron

12/20/2012 1:08:57 AM

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8763408/nba-opposing-gm-coach-says-los-angeles-lakers-problems-stem-kobe-bryant-shooting-too-much

Quote :

"What Kobe Bryant is doing this season is both phenomenal and unprecedented. No player in NBA history -- not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, not Moses Malone, not Karl Malone, not any of the league's famed ironmen -- have come close to scoring as Bryant has in his 17th professional season. Heck, most greats -- guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and Jerry West -- didn't even play 17 seasons. So for Bryant to be leading the league in scoring at a 29.5 ppg clip while shooting a career-high 47.7 percent from the floor is nothing short of incredible. Before Bryant, Abdul-Jabbar had been the gold standard for well-worn scorers, averaging 23.4 points in his 17th season. But Abdul-Jabbar, who was 38 during that season, was clearly not near his prime, averaging just 6.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, well below his career averages of 11.2 and 2.6. Bryant, while not the athlete he once was, is still producing at the same level he always has, posting 5.2 rebounds (5.3 is his career average), 5.0 assists (4.7 career) and 1.6 steals (1.5 career). So it's very difficult to argue that Bryant is doing anything wrong in what statistically is one of his best seasons. And numbers never lie. But there are other numbers that say Bryant's offensive blitzkrieg is actually hurting the struggling Los Angeles Lakers more than helping them. This season, the Lakers (12-14) are just 4-11 when Bryant takes 20 or more shots in a game. Yet, they are 8-3 when he shoots less than 20 times. And it's not necessarily because of the opposition. With Bryant attempting fewer than 20 shots, the Lakers have beaten the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets, all of whom have better records than the Lakers. The four teams Los Angeles has beaten with Bryant shooting 20 or more times? The bottom-dwelling Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Bobcats, who have a combined record of 32-64 (.333). The eight teams the Lakers have beaten with Bryant taking fewer than 20 shots have a slightly better combined record of 87-112 (.437). This trend intrigued me so I decided to go back even further, checking the numbers for the previous two seasons. The evidence was overwhelming: When Bryant has fewer than 20 attempts in a game, the Lakers are outstanding. When he shoots 20 or more times, they're only slightly above mediocre. Last season, the Lakers were 26-19 when Bryant took 20 or more shots. That's a .578 winning percentage. Not bad. But they were 10-3 in the other games, a winning percentage of .769. In 2010-11, Phil Jackson's last season as coach, the Lakers were 24-17 (.585) when Bryant shot 20 or more times and 33-8 (.805) when he took fewer shots. So in the past three seasons, including 2012-13, the Lakers are 54-47 when Bryant shoots 20 times or more. To put it in perspective, that .535 winning percentage equates to a 44-38 record in 82 games. In that same span, when Bryant takes fewer than 20 shots, the Lakers are 51-14 (.785), which would be a 64-18 mark in an 82-game season. It seems pretty clear cut: The Lakers are better, and would be better this season, if Bryant shot less. At least that's what the statistics say. But I didn't want to jump to conclusions simply based on the numbers, so I decided to call some of the league's basketball minds to get their take on the topic. I wanted to know whether Bryant needed to be reined in, or whether he's simply shooting so much because the Lakers' roster is so limited and it's the only chance they have to stay in games. I asked one general manager, an assistant coach and two scouts, all of whom work for teams that have played Bryant and the Lakers this season. Their opinions were strong: The assistant coach says: "Absolutely, Kobe's shooting too much. When we played them, we told our guys, 'Look, we don't necessarily want Kobe going for 50. I mean, we're going to guard him. But we're not going to double him, and we're not going to try to get the ball out of his hands.' Our main concerns were not to let [Antawn] Jamison hit a bunch of 3s and not to let Dwight [Howard] go crazy down low. There's no question they would be a better team if Kobe shot less. Why do you think [Pau] Gasol struggles? He's going to struggle in any offense where he doesn't touch it. "At the end of the day, it has nothing to do with [Mike] D'Antoni and his system. It's all about what Kobe will allow to happen. When you play the Lakers, it's like they don't have a system. It's whatever Kobe chooses it to be. If he wants to take all the shots, he'll do that. He'll pacify his teammates early in the game, but then he'll throw up a heat check and if he's got it going, nobody else touches the ball. And then the other team benefits because the other Lakers won't defend as hard and they won't be engaged because they're not a part of the game on the offensive end. Kobe has to trust you, and it looks like he thinks most of his guys aren't trustworthy yet. "The problem between Kobe and Dwight is that you can't have Dwight on the floor in the fourth quarter, so how can you play through him. In Kobe's mind, that's why he doesn't pass the ball to Dwight. But the Lakers really need to sit down with Kobe and say, 'At this stage, this is what's best for the Lakers. We've got to play through our bigs.' "Memphis is the best high-low team in the league with Marc Gasol and [Zach] Randolph. The Lakers could play that way with Dwight and Pau, but with Kobe shooting 28 times, that's not going to happen. That could definitely work, but the key is getting Kobe to sign off on it. The thing about this league is that every team is known for something. When you play the Lakers, you don't worry about stopping Kobe. You just make sure those other four guys don't have career nights because you can beat the Lakers with Kobe scoring 34, 35 points. Your biggest worry is if Kobe scores 25 points and has eight assists and then Dwight has 20 points and 16 rebounds and Pau has 18 and 11 and Nash scores 16 with 10 assists." The scout says: "One thing our coach always says is, 'Kobe's probably going to get his 28 points, but let's make sure it's on 28 shots and not 16 shots.' I would like to look at some box scores in detail to see if the Lakers are down in the fourth quarter and Kobe starts shooting a lot to lift them to a comeback, or to see whether he was getting to the foul line a lot in those other games where he didn't have as many field goal attempts. "Watching the Lakers play the Knicks this year was hard to watch because the other Lakers were just so bad. It was like Kobe was trying to do all he could just to keep that game close. And hey, if Dwight's not going to try his butt off and if other guys aren't going to try their butts off, then I'm going to give the ball to the guy that's going to go for it, and that's Kobe. I don't think it's that Kobe doesn't trust his teammates; it's just that he trusts himself more. A questionable shot by him still might be better than a good look for one of those other guys. To me, they look disinterested. "There's no chemistry. They're not pulling for one another. They're just a collection of individual talent that happens to be in the same place wearing the same uniforms. They look listless. Not Kobe, though." The general manager says: "Everyone thinks the problem is everybody else but to me, the problem is Kobe. Take a look at Andrew Bynum's quotes the other day, where he said Kobe stunted his growth. He didn't like playing with Kobe. "And Pau? Pau's a really nice guy and Kobe just walks all over him. On the one hand, it's good for Pau because it helps make him tougher but overall, I think it hurts his game. Kobe can smack Pau upside the head and Pau will still go back to him and say, 'Yes, sir.' He's just too nice of a guy. But Pau can play. They won a few championships with him, so this notion that Kobe doesn't have anyone to play with and that he has to take all these shots is just wrong. Go back to the Oklahoma City series. Everybody blamed it on Pau and Bynum, but to me, it was more Kobe's fault. "And we know what kind of a player Dwight is. He's not at his best because he's coming off the back injury and because of the system D'Antoni's running, but it's obvious to me that Kobe doesn't trust him. And I'm not so sure he likes the way Dwight jokes around so much." Another scout says: "That's been debated a lot -- whether Kobe is shooting too much. It's hard to argue against that if they're 8-3 when he doesn't shoot it 20 times. But I'd have to look at each game and study the game situations to really come to a conclusion. I don't think he's purposely hogging the ball or doing things selfishly to keep the team from winning. He's not trying to do anything to hurt the team. If he is shooting too much, it's only because he thinks that's what he has to do for the Lakers to win. "My gut reaction is to say that Kobe does not need to shoot less. He's a top 5 player in the league, he's leading the league in scoring and he's shooting a good percentage. That's a big key -- he's shooting a high percentage. It'd be one thing if he was forcing up shots and shooting poorly. But I will say this, when you have as much talent as they do, you shouldn't have to shoot it as much as Kobe has been.""

12/20/2012 1:17:06 AM

When the Lakers play shitty defense and are losing, kobe shoots more to try and bring them back. When the Lakers play amazing defense and are winning, kobe does not need to shoot as much. Its the other freaking way around.

12/20/2012 5:19:32 AM

The world has gone upside down. Fringe players like Carmelo and Kobe playing like stars and bonafide superstars like Steimsma really struggling.

12/20/2012 8:51:34 AM

12/20/2012 9:22:08 AM

Quote :

"when can we start debating whether or not he's a better PLAYER than lebron"

as soon as he also becomes the best passer and defensive player

12/20/2012 1:43:40 PM

Carmelo has lost some weight

12/20/2012 2:08:07 PM

melos always been a better scorer but nowhere near the overall player of lebrondo.

12/21/2012 12:46:37 PM

^nobody has been comparing melo to lebron

12/21/2012 12:53:21 PM

Quote :

"Metta World Peace ?@MettaWorldPeace HE ELBOWS WHEN HE SLEEPING HE KICKS WHEN HE'S AWAKE HE SCREAMS HIS DOG FOR DOO DOO ON CARPET SO BE GOOD FOR GOODNESS SAKE Expand Reply Retweet Favorite"

12/25/2012 2:14:02 AM

Lakers about to show the knicks how the slugs get dealt today. Lakers title run begins today.


Lebron vs Durant. Durant has been the superior player this season obviously, but I think we all know lebron has been coasting a little bit so far.

Would love to see carmelo falter today while durant kills it so the talking heads get behind what should obviously Durants first MVP season.

Could be an epic westbrook meltdown in store too. He hates big games.

12/25/2012 12:24:05 PM

Unreal shooting effort by melo today. Chandler and Kidd are just having ridiculous seasons. If the knicks had kept Lin they'd be title contenders, but felton is just murdering their chances this season.

Too early to count the lakers out if they can get healthy

12/25/2012 5:37:08 PM

Well, that was an... interesting call on the out of bounds there.

12/25/2012 5:41:24 PM

Vintage westbrook, I called it.

5-18 FG, 6 to

12/25/2012 9:23:00 PM

The solid unis sucked. I though my tv was fucked up

12/26/2012 12:32:30 AM

Clips have a 14 game win streak, now the best team in the NBA.

12/26/2012 1:07:37 AM

Clips have a 14 game win streak, now the best winning percentage in the NBA.

Bobcats are giving up 105 a game. Hah
I'm in Sacramento right now and everyone hates cousins. I can't believe he just got reinstated. Are there any rumors of him getting traded right now?

12/26/2012 3:57:41 AM

Who would want that guy , he's terrible and a head case. On top of that he will be asking for a big contract.

12/26/2012 6:55:19 AM

Quote :

"Lebron vs Durant. Durant has been the superior player this season obviously"

please support this claim.

Quote :

"Who would want that guy[Cousins] , he's terrible and a head case."

a lot of teams would. it's not like he's an Eddie Griffin sized basket case. like with most knuckleheads, Cousins ability to flourish is largely dependent on his team's environment and the Kings are the worst managed franchise in the league this side of Washington DC. if he ever lands in the right situation, he could have a Zach Randolph-esque impact on a team.

12/26/2012 9:27:11 AM

Quote :

"Could be an epic westbrook meltdown in store too. He hates big games."

Face was all over this one. Westbrook was awful yesterday and he missed a 3 that could have tied the game at the end. Between Westbrook and Martin, they were 9-29 from the field. I wonder what Durant's thinking when he's watching Westbrook blow games like that.



[Edited on December 26, 2012 at 9:34 AM. Reason : /]

12/26/2012 9:33:37 AM

Westbrook is avergaing 21, 9, and 5 this year (slightly less TOs)...and 2 stls to boot. Interestingly, his FG% is down, but his 3pt% is up to a career high of 35%...which is pretty good. Is he taking (and missing) too many mid-range jumpers?? Or is he not finishing as well at the rim (I haven't watched enough of them this year...I've just been box-score hawking).

Durant is the only guy who has consistently produced in big games for them (while Harden takes massive dumps)...but you can't forget Westbrook's 43, 7, and 5 he had in Game 4 last year.

12/26/2012 10:12:35 AM

God damn, JR Smith hits some crazy shots.

12/26/2012 11:33:47 PM

Quote :

"he missed a 3 that could have tied the game at the end"

in fairness, so did Durant, who has been the superior player this season to Lebron, obviously

12/26/2012 11:50:41 PM

^ yeah but there is no way Westbrook should be shooting 3s in crunch time period. Him taking that shot is just a fucking waste of a possession.

12/27/2012 9:54:26 AM

He got the ball off of a rebound you dingbat. There was no time to pass...he had to take the shot. Jesus Christ.

12/27/2012 11:28:00 AM

Avery Johnson fired by the NETS.

12/27/2012 1:11:59 PM

Well, if you cant do the New Orleans Jazz for obvious reasons, what about the New Orleans Po' Boys, or the New Orleans Quarters?'

12/27/2012 1:29:00 PM

Damn, the Quarters does sound fucking slick, man... I think I should TM that.

12/27/2012 2:18:18 PM

Quote :

"He got the ball off of a rebound you dingbat. There was no time to pass...he had to take the shot. Jesus Christ. "

My bad. I did not catch the end of the game, just most of the first half and some of the 3rd quarter and saw Westbrook struggling. I read a write-up that did not make it clear that it was that type of shot.

12/27/2012 2:32:48 PM

I think Quinn Snyder gets the Brooklyn Nets job lol.

12/27/2012 7:37:18 PM

^ what do you think about my NOLA team names?

12/27/2012 8:38:50 PM