***Official NBA Thread***

[duffer]

Denver game was brilliant again. They had almost everything against them, having to play the night after a brutal game against Utah, the snow in Colorado meaning they had to wait till 3 am to leave for Portland, Nene playing with an injured calf and JR still suspended, Portland being well rested and being one of the toughest home teams.

Yet they still won. Melo was magnificent, all his haters should watch that game and tell me he isn't a franchise player. Denver was horrific in the first half yet he completely carried that team. 19 points in the final term where he was completely clutch. K-Mart was brilliant again too. Two nights in a row where he shut down Boozer and now LMA.

Denvers defence was brilliant but they stil strugle on the boards. Portland at one stage were 42-28 up on rebounding and were 14-1 on the offensive glass. Over a series that will hurt you, Blazers had an extra 20 shots over the course of the game. Use the trade exception and bring in a Foster or Murphy not that there's a logjam at Indiana. Otherwise probably another agonisingly close playoffs beckons. But damn, this team is talented and so awesome to watch.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Yeah we've got no players who can clean the glass, Nene is really a PF and despite his girth is still undersized against most centre's. Need a big man.

[nightprowler10]

****!! Visited this thread out of habit while watching Denver-Portland from last night. Will still watch it as I didn't read the rest of duffer's post. Melo's unstoppable.

In case no one noticed Bulls wiped the floor with the Spurs. As good as our D was we were pretty lax on the three point line and SA were horrible shooting there, which really kept them out of the game. Duncan was unstoppable, making buckets with three guys on him, but the rest of the Spurs were totally out of rhythm thanks to some good D. Parker and Ginobli had 0 FGs between them in 2nd half. On offense, I thought we took some horrible shots in transition but totally made up for it with our scrappers out rebounding the **** out of SA. We were 19-0 on 2nd chance points at half.

Tyrus was key in third with his newly developed mid range ability. It really opens things up for us allowing Rose to play an inside out game, which in turn made for a great 3rd for us. I think getting Taj was the best thing that could've happened for TT as now he's finally got some competition for his position and he's finally worked out his outside shot. And if this is how Rose is playing on a sore ankle, I can't wait to see him fully fit! Salmons was very disappointing.

Good start for us all things considered, very nice to see Deng back in the mix and hitting his shots, snatching some key rebounds. Was never a big fan but he's flowing nicely with the team.

[nightprowler10]

Hahaha! Feel the love at the garden tonight.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Vince's injury scares me, couldn't handle another long stretch without some Vinsanity. He had 16 midway through the second as well, could've been huge. Hope it's okay.

Also, anyone catch that around the back assist from Lebron to Big Z? Amazing pass.

[nightprowler10]

Oh this is getting ugly...

[duffer]

How good is this Mavs game? Nothing fluky about it, they're outworking, out executing and flat outplaying the Lakers. Up 19 and this is awesome. Hope they don't choke it away or see the refs take over in the 4th. Marion has made so many hustle plays and these tips, deflections and his board work is really building momentum for them.

Once Jho gets back this team is looking pretty nice. I love the West this year.

[Johnners]

YouTube - LeBron James - 16 points in 2 minutes (UNCUT)

Haven't seen this in a while, so good.

what can you do...

[duffer]

Anyone read the excerpts from Tim Donahy's book regarding NBA officiating? Here are some bits:

Originally Posted by About star treatment

Relationships between NBA players and referees were generally all over the board — love, hate, and everything in-between. Some players, even very good ones, were targeted by referees and the league because they were too talented for their own good. Raja Bell, formerly of the Phoenix Suns and now a member of the Charlotte Bobcats, was one of those players. A defensive specialist throughout his career, Bell had a reputation for being a "star stopper." His defensive skills were so razor sharp that he could shut down a superstar, or at least make him work for his points. Kobe Bryant was often frustrated by Bell's tenacity on defense. Let's face it, no one completely shuts down a player of Kobe's caliber, but Bell could frustrate Kobe, take him out of his game, and interrupt his rhythm.

You would think that the NBA would love a guy who plays such great defense. Think again! Star stoppers hurt the promotion of marquee players. Fans don't pay high prices to see players like Raja Bell — they pay to see superstars like Kobe Bryant score 40 points. Basketball purists like to see good defense, but the NBA wants the big names to score big points.

If a player of Kobe's stature collides with the likes of Raja Bell, the call will almost always go for Kobe and against Bell. As part of our ongoing training and game preparation, NBA referees regularly receive game-action video tape from the league office. Over the years, I have reviewed many recorded hours of video involving Raja Bell. The footage I analyzed usually illustrated fouls being called against Bell, rarely for him. The message was subtle but clear — call fouls against the star stopper because he's hurting the game

Originally Posted by About foul management

If Kobe Bryant had two fouls in the first or second quarter and went to the bench, one referee would tell the other two, "Kobe's got two fouls. Let's make sure that if we call a foul on him, it's an obvious foul, because otherwise he's gonna go back to the bench. If he is involved in a play where a foul is called, give the foul to another player."

Similarly, when games got physically rough, we would huddle up and agree to tighten the game up. So we started calling fouls on guys who didn't really matter — "ticky-tack" or "touch" fouls where one player just touched another but didn't really impede his progress. Under regular circumstances these wouldn't be fouls, but after a skirmish we wanted to regain control. We would never call these types of fouls on superstars, just on the average players who didn't have star status. It was important to keep the stars on the floor.

And the one that killed me:

And then there was the ongoing feud between Javie and 76ers superstar Allen Iverson. The rift was so bad that Philadelphia general manager Billy King often called the league office to complain about Javie's treatment of Iverson during a game.

Iverson was eventually traded to Denver, and in his first game against his former team, he was tossed after two technicals. Afterward, Iverson implied Javie had a grudge against him, saying, "I thought I got fouled on that play, and I said I thought that he was calling the game personal, and he threw me out. His fuse is real short anyway, and I should have known that I couldn't say anything anyway. It's been something personal with me and him since I got in the league. This was just the perfect game for him to try and make me look bad." The league fined Iverson $25,000 for his comments, but most of the league referees thought the punishment was too lenient and were upset he wasn't suspended. As a result, we collectively decided to dispense a little justice of our own, sticking it to Iverson whenever we could.

Shortly after the Javie-Iverson incident, I worked a Jazz-Nuggets contest in Denver on January 6, 2007. During the pregame meeting, my fellow referees Bernie Fryer and Gary Zielinski agreed that we were going to strictly enforce the palming rule against Iverson. Palming the ball was something Iverson loved to do, but if he so much as came close to a palm, we were going to blow the whistle. Obviously, our actions were in direct retaliation for Iverson's rant against Javie. True to form, I immediately excused myself and made an important phone call.

Sticking to our pregame pledge, each of us whistled Iverson for palming in the first quarter — we all wanted in on the fun. The violations seemed to affect Iverson's rhythm and he played terribly that night, shooting 5-for-19 with five turnovers. After getting repeatedly whistled all night long, Iverson approached me in an act of submission.

"How long am I going to be punished for Javie?" he quietly inquired.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Allen," I responded.

The worst part of this is reading quotes and comments all over the place from NBA team execs, players and staff none of whom are surprised by any of this at all. It's been insinuated plenty of times and it is such a science that it's not funny in the NBA. More or less the WWE these days.

Can read a lot more here.

[duffer]

Oh and btw I don't think anyone else is joining the fantasy league so I'm about to make the league draft ready and have scoring starting on Sunday's games. Get ready lads.

[duffer]

League just drafted lads. Set your teams up as scoring starts on the next round of games.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Hmm, mind coming on MSN duff? Need a chat.

[duffer]

Logging on now homie.

[Agent TBY]

My team.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Melo drops 40 again, what a man.