Can anyone dethrone the Pistons? How will Shaq fare in Miami. Will LeBron suffer a sophomore slump? Who will win the West with the Lakers on the decline? How will realignment impact the postseason? Will the expansion Bobcats win more than 10 games? How many Trailblazers will get arrested this year? wink Some intriguing questions for the upcoming season, which begins Tuesday.

Predictions anyone?

Atlantic
76ers
Knicks
Celtics
Nets
Raptors

Central
Pacers
Pistons
Cavaliers
Bucks
Bulls

Southeast
Heat
Magic
Hawks
Wizards
Bobcats

Northwest
Timberwolves
Nuggets
Jazz
Trailblazers
Sonics

Pacific
Kings
Suns
Lakers
Warriors
Clippers

Southwest
Spurs
Rockets
Mavericks
Grizzlies
Hornets

Eastern Finals-Pacers ove Pistons
Western Finals-Spurs over Timberwolves

Finals-Spurs over Pacers

[ October 29, 2004, 12:57 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I don't have predictions, but I have a couple of questions: Who will throw the first punch in the first Lakers-Heat game, Kobe or Shaq? When will Allen Iverson miss his first practice?

Good ones JIP! Seems there is no buzz whatsoever entering this season. Everyone is focused on the Lakers-Heat game, and that isn't until Christmas Day. The first two months seem to be like the tree falling in the woods.

Some other questions. Will Phil Jackson be lured out of retirement midseason to replace Lenny Wilkens here in New York? How effective will Alonzo Mourning be as he tries to comeback after a kidney transplant? How long will it take Jack Nicholson to bail on the Lakers?

I think there is some uncertainty on different levels. The new division alignments. In Canada, there's the question of whether basketball and the Raptors will catch on in the absense of hockey (CFL season will also end soon; and the Expos are gone).

Opening tip: Tuesday night

Houston @ Detroit
Sacramento @ Dallas
Denver @ LA Lakers

Atlantic
Celtics
Philadelphia
Nets
Raptors
Knicks

Central
Pistons
Pacers
Bucks
Cleveland
Bulls

Southeast
Heat
Wizards
Hawks
Magic
Bobcats

Northwest
Timberwolves
Trailblazers
Denver
Sonics
Jazz

Pacific
Kings
Suns
Lakers
Clippers
Warriors

Southwest
Spurs
Grizzlies
Houston
Dallas
Hornets

Eastern Finals-Pistons over Celtics
Western Finals-Kings over Spurs

Finals-Kings over Pistons

Rookie(s) of the Year - D. Wilkins-Sonics/L. Deng-Bulls ... tie

Eastern Conference
(by playoff seeding)

1-Indiana
2-Miami
3-New York
4-Detroit
5-Orlando
6-Milwaukee
7-New Jersey
8-Cleveland

Western Conference

1-Sacramento
2-San Antonio
3-Minnesota
4-Dallas
5-Memphis
6-Houston
7-Utah
8-Denver
that's right.....no Kobe-darn!

Conference finals
East
Indiana over Miami

West
Minnesota over Sacramento

Finals
Minnesota over Indiana

and one more thing

Outsports Fantasy League champs-
Buffalo Braves "Two for McAdoo"
I can dream....can't I!

Allan Houston starts the season on the damn disabled list, and my Knicks start the season tonight in Minneapolis against a guy with the initials L.S., whom I used to like when he wore blue and orange. It was a good sign today, though, as my tickets came in for the Knicks' only performance against the Wizards here in DC this season on Dec. 10.

LET'S GO KNICKS!

oh..I miss the good days of Sam, Shawn, Gary, and Detlef..I hope the Sonics can just be competitive and make the playoffs.

Kobe scores 38, the rest of the Lakers score 40 in their 104-78 loss to the Utah Jazz last night. The Lakers shot 29.4% from the field (!) and had a grand total of seven assists-- I've had more assists in crummy pickup games & I'm a ball hog!!! The 29.4% and seven assists are both team-record lows. It's going to be a long season for Laker fans.

~Adam

But Kobe will win the scoring title and be happy.

The Clippers won and looked like team... hear that Kobe... T-E-A-M... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... $5 and a taco says the Clips got a better record than the Lakers at the end of the season.

And the misguided pairing of TMac and Yao is off to a 0-2 start! So long as Duncan and Garnett stay healthy, the Spurs and TWolves should have no trouble getting to the Western finals.

Had a debate over dinner last night centered on the question of whether Kobe Bryant, who won three rings with Shaq, would give them up for a chance to be on a championship-caliber team this season. Quite an interesting discussion of Bryant's ego and his desire to be the man ensued. So what do you think: would he trade the rings already won for one this year?

~Adam

I don't think he'd do it. He's got rings. He doesn't really need any more. What he needed is to be the man, and now he is.

Watched the Lakers-Spurs game last night, and the Spurs look mighty impressive. The Lakers do not.

[ November 06, 2004, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

I was at the Lakers/Spurs game last night; it was never close & the Lakers are disorganized more times than not. The crowd doesn't seem to know how to react--being a championship-caliber team for so long has spoiled & confused us. Considering their messy game against the Jazz and now this one, expect the "boos" to start pretty soon.

~Adam

Even uber-fan Jack Nicholson? eek! Maybe he'll start going to Clippers games!

[ November 07, 2004, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

The Knicks were literally booed out of Madison Square Garden last night after getting blown out in their home opener to the Celtics. This is improvement :mad: ?

indeed cattledog....I'm a Knicks fan myself and I'm already thinking....."just 80 more games and I can look forward to the lottery."

Did I really post a prediction on this thread with the Knicks winning the division??

I'll give Isiah a little leeway.....but if his dealings with Toronto, Indiana, and the CBA mean anything then rest assured that the 04-05 season will only serve to be the 32nd season of rebuilding at MSG.

Well at least the Knicks finally put out a team effort against the Sixers last night. Despite off nights by Stephon Marbury and Kurt Thomas, the Knicks were able to benefit from the fine performances of Jamal Crawford and Nazr Mohammed (not to mention 14 off-the-bench points from forward Trevor Ariza). They get the Clippers next, so we will see...

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again!

I was listening to ESPN sports radio yesterday here in NYC. One of the guys said something so incredibily stupid. He was going on about what a disappointment the Knicks were since so many people thought they were an ELITE team coming into the season. Who the hell thought that? Stephon Marbury's mother didn't even think that. Knick apologist/hack director Spike Lee didn't even think that.

This, of course, was before last night's win. Today, they were probably clearing their schedules for the NBA Finals, Mama Marbury and Spikey boy included!

I, for one, didn't expect the Knicks to be contending for awhile. But, it would be just nice to see some improvement on this team. I saw a little last season, but that was also in a weak Atlantic Division. Incidentally, the ongoing rotation of players in-and-out of the organization continues... The Knicks just announced that Shandon Anderson was already put on waivers.

NBA.com has posted some amusing surveys/stats.

Heaviest team: Orlando Magic (avg. weight 231.6lbs)
Lightest team: Minnesota Timberwolves (avg. weight 215.8lbs)

Heaviest player: Shaq (325lbs)
Lightest player: Earl Boykins (133lbs.)

Tallest team: Dallas Mavericks (6'8" avg.)
Shortest team: Philadelphia 76ers (6'6"avg.)

Oldest team: Houston Rockets (avg. age 29.1 yrs)
Youngest team: Phoenix Suns (avg. age 24.3 yrs)

College with most players in NBA: Kentucky (13)
Non-US country with most players in NBA: Serbia-Montenegro (8)

Big trade rumor! ESPN is reporting that the Raptors and Trailblazers are talking about a blockbuster 7 player deal. Toronto would send Vince Carter, Jalen Rose and 2 unnamed players to Portland for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vladimir Stepania and Derek Anderson. Seems like Toronto gets the better end of that deal, no?

While driving home last night, I heard Philly had scored just six (count 'em) points in the first quarter against the Spurs and figured that would be a blowout game--every team experiences at least one a season--but the Sixers were able to make the game competitive. For you easterners, did Philadelphis play that well for the game's final three periods or did San Antonio implode?

~Adam

I hope that statistic takes nothing away from the Knicks clutch win at Houston last night. As a few people have warned me during the pre-season, Jamal Crawford is definitely someone that could a major player for the Knicks. It looks like he already is!

Have some of you guys (that know me) gotten the idea that I am just trying so hard to restrain myself from starting a New York Knicks thread ? With the Yankees and DC United done, the Rangers locked out/on strike, the Dolphins at 1-8, and my Aggies (football team) with only a game against texas + one bowl game left, I am just so f**king bored. But, I am going hold back. I am just going to control myself from doing it.

er... er... LET'S GO KNICKS!

I couldn't tell you as I didn't watch any of the game, but I read in the paper that the Sixers actually had a six-point lead early in the 4th quarter. Pretty bizarre after missing their first sixteen shots of the game.

There's been a mix of rumors about that trade. Apparently Portland wanted a Shareef-for-Vince trade, but Toronto wanted to unload Jalen Rose's $14 mil. contract. So Portland added Nick Van Exel's $12 mil. (off-setting Vince's $12 mil; Jalen & Shareef both have $14 mil. deals) or Derek Anderson ($8 mil.) and Stepania.

The big difference is that Abdur-Rahim and Van Exel's contracts both exprire at the end of the year, and the Raptors may end up with nothing to show (other than cap space) at year end. Jalen Rose has 2 more years, and Vince has 4 more, I think.

Numbers-wise, all of the name players are well below their career averages and are certainly not earning their massive paycheques. 15 points per game is not worthy of $12-14 million pay.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim: 15.1ppg, 7.1rpg (20.1, 8.2 career avg.)
Nick Van Exel: 7.9ppg, 1.6apg (15.3, 7.1)
Derek Anderson: 11.3ppg, 3.1apg (13.5, 3.7)

Vince Carter: 15ppg, 3.9rpg (23.6, 5.3)
Jalen Rose: 15.4ppg, 3.4rpg (14.5, 3.6)

-------------

Update: the Raptors are supposedly asking that Richie Frahm be thrown in, and the Blazers want Milt Palacio and Jerome Moiso.

Now that the Raptors look like they seriously might be willing to trade Vince Carter (who was booed last night by the Toronto crowd), other teams may be willing to make offers.

[ November 20, 2004, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Jamal Crawford almost pulled out a last second winning shot again against the Mavericks and those ugly retro uniforms. Even though, the Knicks went 1-2 on the Texas road trip (which now is thankfully out of the way for the season), I thought they played well against the Mavs and Rockets. No comment about the Spurs game...

It was Jamal Crawford once again, who scored 13 out of his 24 points in the 4th quarter, to completely steal the show from LeBron James at the Garden last night en route to a 98-88 Knicks victory over the Cavaliers. :cool: This was a fairly surprising victory, but definitely well-earned by the Knicks and a stifling defense.

[ November 22, 2004, 04:59 AM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]

The decimation of the Pacers lineup and the potential psychological impact on the Pistons, other Eastern conference contenders like Shaq, LeBron and even the Knicks must be licking their chops as the conference race has been blown wide open.

The Pacers are lucky to be in the east as all these suspensions will not definitely keep them out of the playoffs as they most assuredlky would if they were in the west. But their title hopes are certainly shot.

Miami and Cleveland have to be the happiest teams in the Eastern Conference today.

With or without the Pacers in contention, the Knicks are fortunately sitting atop the Atlantic Division with a 5-5 record. It's early, but just remember whomever takes this division (much of the media thought that the Southeast Division would be the weakest) would still get at least a #03 Eastern Conference seed. The Knicks clobbered the Hawks last night behind 18 points and 14 rebounds from Nazr Mohammed. Things are definitely starting to look positive for the Knicks right now !

Cattledog, you beat me to it! I was going to post the Knicks good news for you. 1st is 1st no matter what the winning percentage is.

Any team in the Atlantic that can pull off a big win streak like 10 in row, or a 15 out of 20 run will win that division in a walk. I looked at the schedule, and the Knicks could pull off a big streak over the next 3 weeks. They play Atlanta, Toronto and Memphis twice, and also play New Orleans (with 1 win), expansion Charlotte, Orlando, and Washington. If the Knicks continue to play well like the have recently, they have a legitimate shot at winning at least 10 of the 13 games.

Too bad I picked up Alonzo Mourning for the week in ESPN Fast Break eek! Should have picked up Mohammed. frown

Don't sleep on Orlando. If Grant Hill can stay healthy (which would be a real feel good NBA story to contrast all the lousy stuff in recent weeks), he and Steve Francis can do some damage in the East.

So much for the Knicks. They were blown out tonight by the Raptors, 114-91.

The Raptors are now 1 game under .500... and first place in the Atlantic division. eek!

A number of teams are debuting new 'alternate' jerseys this season.

The New Orleans Hornets' and Atlanta Hawks go for yellow.



Golden State Warriors and (expansion) Charlotte Bobcats go for orange.



The Dallas Mavericks' go for a green retro looks.



Seattle will also unveil a new look on Friday.

[ November 24, 2004, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

The Mavs uniforms were designed by Sean "Puffy" Combs so they're expected to be the top-seller.

In an odd bit of news, this past Tuesday's game between the Lakers and Bucks was the first time since last December Staples Center wasn't sold uou for a Laker game. According to the LA Times, there were 922 seats unsold. For what it's worth, watching the Lakers this season is a whole lot more enjoyable than it was the in the last couple of seasons. They may not be as dominant and victories may be harder to come by, but there is a lot more team play and ball-handling.

~Adam

71 year old Hubie Brown has retired as the coach of the Memphis Grizzlies siting "unexpected health-related issues."

More bad press for the NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves center Michael Olwokandi was arrested early Thursday in Indianapolis. The Wolves were in town to play the Pacers on Thanksgiving Day, so of course he was out at the club at 3am. I guess the team's curfew is 4am!


Police had to use a stun gun on him because Olowokandi refused to leave Tiki Bob's. Maybe coach Flip Saunders should try using a stun gun on the stiff to get him to come close to approaching his being the #2 overall pick in the draft a couple of years ago.

Well, at this point the 76ers are now in first place with a 6-6 record. It's pretty clear this is the worst division in the league.

The Lakers looked pathetic, anemic, lousy, uninspired in their 89-76 win over the even worse New Orleans Hornets last night. No one played well--hell, no one played even adequately. Coach Rudy T. spent the entire game yelling at the players (I thought he might have an aneurysm right there!) and Kobe went on a shouting spree aimed at the referee, which resulted in a technical. Amusing highlight (lowlight?) occurred in the third period when a wide-open Kobe went up for a dunk....and blew it!!! He later explained the miss was the result of his heel--he has plantar fasciitis--"feeling great tonight. I got up too high, my forearm hit the front of the rim and the ball hit the back of the rim and bounced up." In other words, being healthy caused the miss....

One of the local sportstalk guys reports that in his tirade against the referee, Kobe Bryant called her a "***" more than once and that the Lakers are looking into it.

~Adam

Well, now with the 76ers (now 6-7) losing their last game, my Knicks float back to the top of the Atlantic Division at 6-6. Jamal Crawford scored 30 points on my birthday to get Canmark's Raptors back (this time at the Garden). Even this early in the season, it is hard to imagine that either the Knicks, Sixers, or Raptors will most likely get that #03 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks pulled off a squeaker in overtime against the Hawks in Atlanta last night. They maintain their lead in that killer Atlantic Division!

Jerry West--who is still the figure on the NBA logo all these years after his retirement and whose efforts in the '70 Finals against the Knicks remain my definition of heroic sports effort--has made official the hiring of Mike Fratello to be coach of the Memphis Grizzly. Additionally, Eric Musselman has been hired to be Fratello's assistant.

~Adam

Read that Iverson walked off the court with about 8 seconds left in last night's game, frustrated by the Sixers' play. What's been the reaction in Philadelphia & is there any talk that the NBA may fine him?

~Adam

According to today's Phila. Inquirer:

According to the Phila. Daily News he rolled the ball inbounds and left. It said the clock had originally said there were 7.9 seconds left but the officials reset it to 8.9 seconds, hence the stoppage after 8 seconds. I guess that's the time limit for getting the ball over the halfcourt line? Maybe he should have rolled it harder. wink

Yes, you have to get the ball over halfcourt before the 24 second shot clock reaches 16 (ie. 8 seconds).

eek! With the Knicks loss last night at Memphis, the Atlantic Division does not have a single team at .500! Pretty scary...

ATLANTIC DIVISION STANDINGS (DEC. 08, 2004)
Numbers in parentheses = Eastern Conference seed

New York (3)------W8 L9 PCT.471 GB 0.0
Boston (8)--------W7 L10 PCT.412 GB 1.0
Philadelphia-------W6 L11 PCT.353 GB 2.0
Toronto----------W7 L13 PCT.350 GB 2.5
New Jersey-------W5 L13 PCT.278 GB 3.5

Hopefully, my Knicks will end their losing streak when I go see them play here at the MCI Center on Friday night!

[ December 08, 2004, 04:57 AM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]