This is probably going to be the highlight of the Sixers year but Carter-Williams was great. Heat looked old and tired. No legs in the 4th.

Betting wise that's a pretty good angle throughout the season...back to backs on the road, especially when the team is on a long 4-5 game road trip and they're coming off a couple wins in a row the first few games of the trip...they coast somewhat looking forward to getting back home.

This will happen a lot this year. Miami could care less if they are a #1 or #5 seed. They have won multiple elimination games the last few playoffs, I believe at least 1 game 6 on the road at Boston.

Now it's the Suns turn early on

Clevland is odd. They have a really high ceiling, but could also be really bad. If everyone stays healthy they can win 55 games.

I cant seem to find it now, but I read a yahoo article saying Orlando is already tanking. Someone had 18 at half then Vaughn sat him the entire 3rd quarter. LOL

Nicholson.

Cleveland cant win 55 games. No chance. None. Zero.

Thats not true at all. They are loaded with talent, they have more talent then a lot of teams. If everything breaks well.... Irving and Bynum healthy, #1 pick pans out... Waiters and Thompson continue to improve, they can contend. Whats your issue with them? I mean I see you still have teams like Atlanta and Memphis being competitve, I dont think either of those teams make the playoffs. We shall see.

They just aren't that good. Irving has yet to prove he can play a full season. Didn't his 1st year in college, didn't his first 2 years in the NBA. Quick name his backup?
Bynum is incredibly fat right now and cant play more than 10 mins a game. Varejao is also coming off an injury and is always hurt. Waiters is not ready for primetime. Bennett doesn't look like he is in shape either. Thompson, Gee, etc are decent role players but hardly bigtime players. Jack was a nice signing and will help. They were one of the worst defensive teams in the game last year and have hardly addressed that besides hiring Brown to coach and getting Varejao back. Listen they are certainly better than they have been but only elite teams can win 55 games and they aren't that. Maybe 44 if everything breaks right and that would be a huge 20 game improvement.

Memphis won 56 games last year and is the easily one of the top 3 teams in the NBA on the defensive end. They added Mike Miller, Koufas and Jamal Franklin who are all upgrades and didn't lose anyone of note. Cleveland is not even close to Memphis.

Atlanta isn't close to Memphis either but are a solid team.

OK. I think Clevland is safe for 50 wins, but everything depends on health. I think you know this. If Irving misses extended time, then no. I think Varejao eventually gets moved.... I think Bynum will play himself into shape, I like Waiters more then you. Who knows. Memphis is like Atlanta in the east, hell they are like Atlanta in the NFL.... Decent regular seassons and not even a little threat to make any noise when it actually matters.

Ill also add, they have built this up very quick to make it very attractive for Lebron. I thought for sure he was a lock to stay in Miami, but he knows Bosh is soft and Wade has a lot of knee issues. W/ all the young pieces they have and an actual real inside presence, I think they are now the favorite to land him next year.

Besides the consensus top-three of Heat, Pacers and Bulls ...for me the team with the high ceiling going forward is Detroit. I have the Cavs out of the top 8 in the East.

Cleveland is safe for 35 wins. A great year would be 42-44. They just aren't good enough defensively. When people talk or breakdown basketball they tend to only focus on offense despite the fact that 1/2 the time a team plays defense. Clevelands backcourt defense with Irving and Waiters on the floor is among the worst in the NBA. They ranked 27th in D last year and outside of Jack (who is not bad but isn't Tony Allen) and the return of Varejao why are they going to be much better?

Memphis has the best perimeter defender (Allen) and one of the best interior defenders (Gasol) in the league. Randolph, Conley, Prince, Ed Davis, Pondexter, Miller, Bayless, Koufas, Franklin. Not a lot of Steven A Smith stars but very good team that could use a perimeter shooter to really be a title threat

Yeah I'm sure LeBron is jonesing to play with Bynum and Waiters and Gee and get coached by Mike Brown again.

Bosh and Wade are hall of fame players.

Of course they are HOF Chuck, but Bosh is a HOF because of Wade and Lebron. Period. Wade, I have as a top 4 2 guard ever on his own, but age catches up and Lebron is going for 10.

You guys are on crack thinking Bosh is an HOF.

Philly 2-0 (lol)

Hes pretty much a lock because of Lebron.
He is a career 20 and 9 guy, he is a 50% shooter.
Playoffs 16 and 8.
Been to 3 finals, likely 4 with 3 wins after this year. His stats compare favorably. And I will argue his number will go up after this year when hes not with Lebron anymore. He also has 3 23-11 years

Bosh was an all star in Toronto almost every year.He went for 24-10 in his last season in Toronto. He sacrificed numbers to play in Miami.

Im not arguing this point, it does not change the fact that hes soft. Cupcake soft and moist.... Actually the only way Miami losses is if Indiana bodies them inside.
I was actually arguing for the point

Familiarize yourself with the numbers of recently elected hall of fame members like Jamaal Wilkes and James Worthy and report back.

Chuckles your upsetting me tonight.

He looks like a dinosaur as well

55 win teams dont lose to Charlotte

I did a quick version of this already

WHo is he?? Are we talking about Bosh now or Clevland?

Both
Bynum looks like a whale right now

Bulloga???

If Bosh makes in in the NBA HOF, I will never watch another Non NBA game in my life.

I understand that the HOF is different for sports, but he sucks, and would just be another 20-10 guy on another team, with a time where all sorts of guys can score, just none of them can play D.

Great late rally by Miami, but Brooklyn basically went wire-to-wire. Big win.

Dude 20-10 guys over a decade are hall of famers. He doesn't suck. The idea the NBA defenses arent better than they were in the 80's for instance is completely misguided. I would think that a guy whose team's success is almost completely predicated on defense would see this.

IMO, there are few teams that actually play solid defense.

76'ers

Clippers are going to go as far as DeAndre Jordan allows them to go. Just has to do a better job on the defensive end.
Vucevic was like Elvin Hayes today, 30 pts 20 rebounds.

This Deandre Jordan talk is silly Chuck. Hes lazy and big for nothing, and believe me I was super high on this guy. He is only 5th on his own team in PER, he is like a 10-10 guy.

Why was Lionel Hollins fired again? Not referencing last night's game, since Randolph only played like 8 minutes because of the birth of his son, but I don't think the metrics based strategy is going to work. Hollins was the perfect coach for that Memphis team. Game strategy shouldn't be coming from the suits upstairs.

You just have comprehension issues I suppose. The Clippers are who they are to a man EXCEPT Jordan. He is the only one with potential growth. He is the only hope they have to have any semblance of a defense good enough to beat the good teams in the West. HE is the key because you'd hope he could become a Tyson Chandler type player which is exactly what the team needs. He just doesnt seem to have enough of a basketball IQ to do it. Always caught out of position on the basic NBA play, the pick and roll. Footwork just isnt there. Can't shoot FT's. You see they are stuck with what they have for the most part and Paul and Griffin and Dudley and Reddick and Crawford arent getting any better, they have all more or less maxed out at what they can do though some would believe that Griffin can expand his game (I disagree, he is what he is)

Leonard and Danny Green were SA's keys last year. Their improvement put SA over the top in the West. Despite the rhetoric the "stars" arent the guys who ultimately lift a team over the top. The stars are remarkably consistent players who may add a small piece to their game each year but are too good to really improve much. It is the role players doing their jobs well that make all the difference.

The offense just isnt functioning. They made a comeback against Detroit the other night but the Pistons gave that one up more than Memphis won it. By the time I turned that game on last night they were down 25 and had like 58 points heading into the 4th quarter. Disappointing to say the least but there is too much talent there to falter too long.

How bout them Cavs! Bad loss last night to a weak team missing TWO starters.

I totally agree the talent is there, just seems like they should've kept Hollins...that team played hard for him and were coming off the best year in team history making it all the way to the conference finals. What was more impressive was Z-Bo coming back off the injury last year and coming off the bench without making a stink about it. Hollins was able to manage some pretty big egos in Memphis.

Because he wouldn't conform to the new metrics the front office was pushing as far as game strategy, they let him go and went with someone who would.

It doesn't seem to be a sound decision on the face of it.

The games I've watched this year they have played hard but look disjointed on offense.