Well it is the start of a new NBA season which means new players, new teams, and new coaches. The 05-06 season should shape up to be a great one. The East is regaining some of their star teams with the Pacers and the Heat doing well. The West is the same except for a couple of things. The Lakers got Phil back and it looks so far like Kobe and Phil are getting along. Suns already lost Amari Stoudamire and their season may be lost unless Steve Nash can come through and bring the best out of the worse players.

All in all the 05-06 NBA season may be the same as last year or it might surprise us and be one to remember. We will have to wait and see.

Post everything and anything about the NBA but please stay on topic

okay, we already have one NBA thread but as long as we post in this one from now i think it might be okay.

alright, my thoughts on the season so far:

Western Conference
positives:
- the L.A. Clippers lead the conference which is a big surprise
- Minnesota and the Lakers improving compared to last season
- New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets are not bottom of the conference
- Phoenix still with high scoring games

negatives:
- Phoenix still without defense and 0-3 at home
- 5 playoff teams from last season at the bottom of the conference(Denver, Sacramento, Seattle, Phoenix, Houston)
- only 2 playoff teams from last season have more wins than defeats (San Antonio, Memphis)


Eastern Conference
positives:
- Detroit starting 5-0
- Milwaukee, Indiana, washington with good starts
- the defence and offense of the Pistons

negatives:
- New York, Atlanta, Toronto still winless
- Torontos and Philly's poor defence

here is a great Ben Wallace dunk from last night
http://www2.uploadsend.com/d.php?file=true&filepath=1305

so, this should do it for now

yeah Im sorry but I thought that makin a new one might help ppl talk more about the NBA alright back to talkin about the NBA

Sixers suck and they are my favorite team. I think the pacers will rule the east. the west will stay the same

Is Vince Carter still at New Jersey?

He was my favourite baller when I liked basketball.

Who won last season?

Ye VC is still at the nets!! He got hops!!
And Spurs won it last year mate!!!

Who did Amare leave Phoenix for?

he didn't leave mate. but he is injured for like 3 months which is a big blow for the Suns.

on friday night Detroit and Dallas won on the road with the young back ups Harris and Diop performing well .
the Sixers beat the Lakers with strong defence on Kobe and the Wizards destroy the Sonics 137-96, they must have been damn hot from the field.

You can disagree with me but I think Allen Iverson is such a good player. He has played through so many injuries, overcame so many odds. The best yet is that he has stuck with the Sixers even though they arent good. He could just as easily have gone to a good team but he didnt. Now that he has become older he is much more mature and so much more of a leader

Sixers have started off pretty good though, they beat the Lakers. Allen Iverson was definetly the difference in that match, he showed why he is one of the best. Iguodala(meh, not sure if thats spelt right) did well blocking kobe.

right, Iverson is a fantastic player. but he needs better support and so does Kobe.
those 2 guys need to do too much alone because they are the clear go to guys in their teams, so they don't shoot good. Iguodala slowed down Kobe with his great defence on friday, 7 of 27 is pretty bad for Kobe.

meanwhile Dallas won back to back on the road with a win in Oklahoma City against the Hornets .
now they have some games at home and will hopefully continue their good run.
Washington won again, this time vs San Antonio, nice one

I agree, I think we (MN Timberwolves) are better than last season.

I also agree that Kobe needs more help, but he was just as selfish when he had Shaq

Oh OK, thanks for that.

you are welcome

Tuesday night Detroit beat Boston by 15 points to remain unbeaten while Miami had problems vs NO/Oklahoma City but won after overtime thanks to Dwayne Wade who saved them late in the game .
Dallas rallied from a 19 point deficit to beat Denver 83-80 with Nowitzki scoring 35 for Dallas.
Diop had a fantastic game of the bench with 16 rebounds and 6 blocks . hopefully he can put pressure on Dampier who was a non factor in the game .

overall, i am glad with those results

Dallas won 87-78 vs Atlanta on thursday with both teams shooting bad.
Josh Howard was the best Mav while Dampier was poor again(0 points, 6 fouls, 6 turnover in 20 minutes )

Detroit finally lost a game.
luckily it was at Dallas, 119-82 Mavs with a great team effort.
even Dampier did well, good to see that the Mavs do that well even they are without van Horn, Christie and Stackhouse at the moment.

Miami Heat lost to Toronto Raptors

i dont have espn or any NBA coverage here.... but how is they Bogey man going?? Andrew Bogut?? i heard hes put up a couple double- doubles. How is he guys??

i think Bogut is doing well but i haven't seen him yet.

yeah, i saw the second half.
Toronto is really an entertaining team, they can bounce back from high deficits and beat good teams if the work well. Mike james is just hot shooting since he plays there, Chris Bosh is a very talented player and Charlie Villanueva is a rookie who has a nice game from what i have seen (vs Sonics and Heat) and read.
i hope that they won't lose too often this season.
the fans are excited even they just won the first time this season, good luck Toronto

who do u guys/girls think is the best 3 point shooter in the nba now? stojakovic? your thoughts....

i think the best 3 point shooters are Peja Stojakovic, Bruce Bowen, Kyle Korver, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Redd.
Bowen and Korver get their open shots because they aren't the go to guys in their teams at all.
Stojakovic, Nowitzki and Redd are the go to guys in their team so they have a more difficult job to hit three pointers because they usually don't have that great positions like role players but they make their shots though.


after starting 2-2 the Dallas Mavericks top the Western Conference now with 10-3 while Detroit leads the east with 10-2. very nice standings

Ya I agree with you on Peja, Nowitzki and Redd, they're all about 45% from behind the arc Id bet. Id say Redd is probably the best of the three of them right now, hes on fire, we'll see at the end of the season though.

I dunno about Bowen though, hes ok but he doesnt shoot as much as the others. Karver is alright too. Other good 3pt shooters that cant be ignored: Ray Allen, Chauncy Billups and Ben Gordon.

agreed on Bowen + he gets way more open shots thanks to Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
Allen can't be ignored indeed, he didn't came in my mind when i posted. but this season he is not even in the top 50 of the 3point shooters.
Billups and Gordon shoot good too like Derek Fisher or Kareem Rush.
there are really many good 3point shooters in the league, but with Allen and Kobe not even in the top 50 its obviously that often role players or at least no go to guys shoot very well 3pointers.

I went to the Heat - Mavericks game last friday and I have to say that it looks like the mega blockbuster trade that brought JWill and Antoine Walker to the Heat is looking like a bad move at the moment. I know that they are without Shaq but last year the Heat played very well as a team even without the big guy. Antoine was absolutely dreadful. Stupid shot after stupid shot. Dwyane Wade was spectacular as always but you dont get the same feeling of harmony that you got last year. Hopefully Stan Van Gundy can sort it out before its too late.

i saw a re-run of this game and i can fully agree with you.
last season everybody knew his role well with Wade and Shaq the go to guy, the 2 Jones + Butler for the open 3pointers etc.
this season the Heat have no clear structure yet. the performance at the Raptors some games ago was poor for a title candidate.

btw on a Mavs forum a guy posted about this game: "finally Walker won us a game."


this shows somehow that he should not get the ball too often, because it means too often disadvantages for his own team.

The best player for me in NBA is VINCE CARTER #15...

Walker was absolutely dreadful. I think he missed all his shots and had about 2 points!

The problem is that Shaq and DWade are a fearce one-two punch but they need shooters to complement their inside game. DJones and Eddie Jones both shoot for a higher percentage than JWill and Antoine from behind the arc.


BTW Vince Carter is most definitely NOT the best player in the NBA. Off the top of my head Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Shaq, Garnett, Duncan, Amare, T-Mac, A.I. to name a few are better than him.

damn Josh Smith is awsome, he is turning into the complete player, those blocks are siick, too bad he plays for a shit team like atlanta

according to the boxscore Walker was 1-13 from the field for 2 points in 21 minutes, just poor.

i can agree on the 3point shooting. Wade and Shaq are somehow like Kobe and Shaq were at the Lakers but they had players around them to hit the open shots but who were maybe not that much talented like some guys of the Heat are. Horry, Fox, Fisher, George and others did their job well, did what they can and that was enough. if Walker stays a mad gunner then the Heat won't have the success they want.

he still needs time. atlanta is the right place to be for him as he has his family around him and gets more time on the court than he would at a playoff candidate.
in ATL the number of wins is not important, the development is and if this works well then they can turn into a good team. i think this will take at least 3 years anyway.

Wow! It looks like Pat Riley will take over as the Miami Heat's coach. Stan Van Gundy apparently resigned for 'personal reasons'. I think that is a bunch of crap, Riley has been eyeing that job ever since Shaq came. This summer it looked as if Stan was going to get fired but it looks like it was now. I wonder if Riley will be able to get Jwill Antoine and Posey to gel with the DWade and Shaq combo.

I found out that the mavericks are doing very well..

And it looks like dirk is on fire.

I am happy. They are never going to go to the final though with the freaking spurs always in their path.

i am happy about them too .
they do really well and they miss Howard and Stackhouse imo due to injuries and missed Terry and van Horn in earlier stages this season.
but the team is doing well anyway, the young lads seem to do well
with 4 home games comig up things looks very nice, but i agree, the finals won't be possible.
i guess the Mavs will get thrown out in the western semi finals but next year they could be able to challenge the Spurs when the young lads develop well, everybody accepts his role and the defense is improved again like did this season. good job by Avery Johnson so far.


to Miami:
i think now with Shaq back things will get better for them, now Zo is backup again which means another good benchplayer.
if JWill, Posey and Walker don't shoot for their own glory but for a good working team then the chemistry should be good and Wade/Shaq lead the team with the rest supporting them that well that those 2 don't need to play 35 - 40 minutes every game when the team is struggling.
anyway, i would go for another Heat vs Pistons conference final, seems very likely to me but Indiana can always play a nice role too.

I dont know about Indiana. They dont seem to have a good atmosphere at the moment and Artest has just asked for a trade. I think that the Pistons are the class of the east right now but the Heat are the only team with the potential of mounting a serious challenge. They need to get some chemistry fast.

I didn't knew about the Artest thing, but for me they are anyway the number 3 in the east.
I agree that Detroit is the team to beat for Miami, at the moment i would definately say they can't do it but why ahould they be able to do it in May.
last season they were unlucky when Wade and Shaq had injury problems but they still just lost close in 7 games so it looks possible to me even i think the Pistons can give San Antonio a better challenge in the finals.

Dallas lost vs the Lakers and beat the Suns at home, things look still very nice.

Luckily i can watch the game between Philadelphia and Miami tonight, really looking forward to it

Well now Artest wants to stay at Indiana... strange.

The Defensive Player Of The Year had Artest's name over it, and it was (is) his to lose.

Christmas is approaching, and I'm going to give the top MVP candidates 'till now.

Elton Brand - Leading the Clippers superbly this year and isn't the 20-10 man we expect. He's doing better than that this season. It's the Clips record that gives Brand this mention.
LeBron James - Scoring at will. Rebounds and assisting and stealing as well. Good %'s. If Cavs are higher in the standings, he'd be up there more.
Tim Duncan - Leading the Spurs to a great record, again. 'Nuff said.
Nowitski - Dallas is going great. Beaten the Spurs and the Pistons, and could surprise many. Dirk is the man in Dallas. More complete player defensively.
Garnett - Always in the running. His team are doing better this year and look good to make the playoffs.
Dwayne Wade - Numbers are similar to James' last year, and with Shaq out, has lead Miami from the front.
McGrady - Just look at Houston's record with McGrady, and look at their record without.
Bryant - A legit candidate? Lakers are doing better, and all on the back of Kobe.
Iversen - Probably would make the 1st-Team, but Philly's record ain't good enough for Allen to win the MVP again. Scorer's title though.
Paul Pierce - Great season 'till now, though in the same boat as Iversen.

good post there and i can agree with you, but its written Nowitzki .

the last games i saw were Miami's relaxed win at Philadelphia which had at least some nice dunks included.
the Hawks win vs Denver was a good game to watch, it was close and had also some highlights .
Joe Johnson and Carmelo Anthony were strong that day.

last night Dallas lost 90-112 at the Lakers. after three quarters it was Dallas 61, Kobe 62.
unbelieveable, he scored 30 points in the 3rd quarter, often whole teams don't manage this.
i don't need to say that he played not one single assist, do I?

Kobe can score 100 points but Lakers will lose...

Kobe scoring 62 was fucking unbelievable, probably one of the greatest displays in the NBA in a few years. Who cares if he didn't have an assist, the game was on fire. Every time he touched the ball last night, something special was going to happen. It was really a pleasure to watch. For a sport, that is losing fans because San Antonio and Detriot are the dominant teams, what Kobe did last night was truly special. Now, the Christmas day matchup actually seems worthwhile. Could Kobe possibly put 100 on Miami, we all know he wants to.
62 points in 3 quarters in 33 minutes. Unreal

I really give him credit for that but this was a performance for his own glory in a team sport.
He was the only Laker with more than 10 points, i guess because he dominates every single play + because he was damn hot.
Against Miami I am sure that he can't repeat it nearly as Shaq and Zo go to work in the zone and every single shot might be contested.
I think he will score around 30 points and the Lakers will lose.

He puts up 40+ against Miami and the lakers will win. We play alot better basketball now. Especially on the road for whatever reason.

Vince Carter scored 51 vs Miami and Nets won...
He's THE BEST...

lol Bogut blocked Shaq, saw it on the news. Ppl kep on saying how Shap is crap at free throws but i jsut saw him get one in.

Heard he's practising those like crazy, like a few hundred after every practise. I think he has improved in the last few years, too.

anyone around here like the mavs..they are my fav team..and i think suns pacers warriors clippers atlanta and toronto suck...i like the hornets and the bobcats..anyone wanna talk some good basketball now?

Mavs fan?
Well, here I am .
I am pretty glad with our season so far, championship 2007 seems possible .

yea it does..dirk is having a great year and josh howard is doing alot to help that defense..coach johnson has come a long way..and if it goes down to mavs-spurs i would pick the mavs to beat spurs because i think we got a better bench...and dont u think dampier has been the biggest disappointment ever?

Yes Dampier is a dissappointment, luckily we have Diop to kick him in the arse a bit.
San Antonio is a hell of a team but everything is possible so I am optimistic that we can make it to the finals.

Our current streak is nice, just won at Boston last night thanks to a Jerry Stackhouse last second shot .

+ The Mavs are the only this season which trashed Detroit and San Antonio, this were games where we showed what is possible.

I saw the boston game and even though dirk wasnt up to his usual best ( even that means 26 points nowadays though), terry, stackhouse and van horn did play really well and took the responsibility to help the team win. If Dallas get two of these three to score consistently and dampier and howard to work hard on defense, they do have a good shot at the title.

no the game yesterday against new york was a poor game...we didnt shoot very well and we had to rally back to try to win..we came close but they beat us in overtime...and i think nowitzki doesnt get enough rebounds man...without dampier in the game 3/4 of the time he needs to get at least 12 a game...but yesterday he got like 7 i think..thats not gonna do it

Agreed but at least they came back from 18 points down which is good.
But the fatigue was too big then.

Luckily last night it was a relaxed win vs the Nets with everybody Mav playing more than 10 minutes .