NBA Season Thread 2014-15 (Los Angeles Lakers, greatest, player, playing)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. Toronto isn't playing up to their potential right now. Playoff team or not, they weren't playing well. Miami caught Toronto on the back-end of a back-to-back where it took them 3 full quarters of subpar play to finally extend a lead against Orlando. In that game, Tobias Harris had his worst game of the season, too.
In addition, you neglected the fact that one of your wins came against the 76ers who also played them evenly until the 4th quarter. I'll admit that Bosh is terrific if you admit that Wade looks like a corpse right now.
That's two pretty unimpressive wins if you ask me. If the game against Toronto was 52 minutes long, Miami would have lost as they just about blew that game in 48 minutes. A win is a win, sure, but I think it's time to tame this talk of being superior to Western teams. Like I said, Vegas probably will have this Houston -1.5 or PK (I vote PK and since Houston is on the road, it's basically Houston that's thought to be the better team).
2. The Rockets are a lot more than just Harden and Howard. I think Terrance Jones is absolutely fantastic and if Bosh is a center, Jones is absolutely the best PF between those two teams. The addition of Ariza, who shoots as well as Parsons, but plays expert level defense is a huge addition for Houston. If I say, "it's anyone's game", I'm being pretty complimentary to Miami.
P.S. This is coming from a Houston hater - they're easily one of my least favorite teams in the NBA with jerseys that make me want to throw up. I think Dwight Howard is the most annoying person in sports and Harden's act is quickly tiring me also.
Wade had an off scoring night against Philly but got his teammates involved with assists. Last night Wade had a double-double, almost a triple-double. I don't know what a corpse is to you, but that's not it. And your entire argument of back-to-back makes no sense. Heat were also on the second game of a back-to-back. Heat aren't playing up to potential yet either with Josh McRoberts just now starting after missing the entire preseason, plus Nappier/Cole/Chalmers still figuring things out at the 1. James Ennis is incredibly raw. And last night as I already said Justin Hamilton got play time for the first time ever. You act like Miami is playing their maximum playoff potential against scrubs. Yes, one win was against Philly... all 3 of Rockets wins have been against lottery-bound teams though. Ariza is fantastic but that's still not enough in my opinion to beat the Heat. Maybe if Beverly plays, but even then its not likely.
Wade had an off scoring night against Philly but got his teammates involved with assists. Last night Wade had a double-double, almost a triple-double. I don't know what a corpse is to you, but that's not it. And your entire argument of back-to-back makes no sense. Heat were also on the second game of a back-to-back. Heat aren't playing up to potential yet either with Josh McRoberts just now starting after missing the entire preseason, plus Nappier/Cole/Chalmers still figuring things out at the 1. James Ennis is incredibly raw. And last night as I already said Justin Hamilton got play time for the first time ever. You act like Miami is playing their maximum playoff potential against scrubs. Yes, one win was against Philly... all 3 of Rockets wins have been against lottery-bound teams though. Ariza is fantastic but that's still not enough in my opinion to beat the Heat. Maybe if Beverly plays, but even then its not likely.
Points taken. I think we only challenged the sentence you wrote that basically made it sound like the Heat were absolutely the favorites in that game, though. They might very well win, but they're hardly the unmistakable favorites. I also take issue with referring to the Sixers, Raptors and Wizards (as they're playing now) as being far superior matchups to Houston's.
I also want to take back my comment about the corpse. He played pretty well yesterday and you're right. The corpse comment is what I thought of when I saw the game against Philly. He shot 18 times and netted 9 points and did look like a corpse. Even after the Toronto game, he's shooting just 42% from the floor, but you're right - he did play well vs them.
In our Schedule? We've played Wizards who were short Nene and Beal, but we were short McRoberts (yes Wizards were missing more integral pieces). We won. We played Toronto at full strength another playoff team, and again we won... and we did it without Chris Anderson and letting Justin Hamilton get solid minutes. The Rockets so far have played the Lakers, Jazz, and Celtics - 3 draft teams. Bosh is at the top of his game, have a deeper roster, and are distributing the ball brilliantly (2nd in league right now). Unless Harden or Dwight goes off for a 40 pt game I don't see them beating us. Last time Heat lost to Rockets in Miami was in 2008.
The Rockets were a good team in the west last year, I'm not basing their level of threat on the whoopings they've given out to bad teams but rather what their known ability is.
You are all amped up because the Heat have beaten up on some just above average teams in 2 home games and 1 road win against one of the worst teams in the NBA.
To turn around and claim that they'll just easily take care of a team of Houston's calibre is IMO unrealistic.
Sure, maybe they beat Houston, maybe they even blow them out, it''s just one game after all.
However, I personally think that the Heat players would look at you like you've been smokin' crack if you told them you thought it'd be an easy win for them. lol.
Raps have 10 of their next 13 games at home starting Tuesday against the Thunder coming off a 30 point loss to the Nets without Durant, Westbrook, & Jeremy Lamb. Basically play the entire month of November at home with the only road games being last weekend in Florida (Sat @ Orlando, Sun @ Miami), Wednesday @ Boston, November 22 @ Cleveland, November 26 @ Atlanta and November 30 @ Lakers when we go out west for the first time. Have some potential playoff teams in this 13 game stretch: Memphis, Dallas, Chicago, Washington, Phoenix and that road game at Cleveland but this could be one of the easiest parts of the schedule this year when you take into account the home vs. road balance.
Raps have 10 of their next 13 games at home starting Tuesday against the Thunder coming off a 30 point loss to the Nets without Durant, Westbrook, & Jeremy Lamb. Basically play the entire month of November at home with the only road games being last weekend in Florida (Sat @ Orlando, Sun @ Miami), Wednesday @ Boston, November 22 @ Cleveland, November 26 @ Atlanta and November 30 @ Lakers when we go out west for the first time. Have some potential playoff teams in this 13 game stretch: Memphis, Dallas, Chicago, Washington, Phoenix and that road game at Cleveland but this could be one of the easiest parts of the schedule this year when you take into account the home vs. road balance.
Excellent point.
I think the Raptors have a reasonable chance of getting to the 2nd round of the playoffs this year. I think they are every bit as good as Washington.
They are better than the Wizards actually. Their bigs dominated the Wizards big in their match ups last year.
True, they were the 3-seed last year.
I just haven't followed them closely enough to know if they added or lost pieces.
If the Bulls suffer a rash of injuries again or the same happens to Cleveland etc. they could very well be in the ECF this year.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
