Carles of Grantland looking back on predictions: “Backup point guard Eric Maynor went down with an early-season injury, which has been cited as one of the main problems with the Thunder going forward. However, it probably solved some of their usage problems, because they have to use Westbrook at point guard for basically the whole game in order to stay competitive. This postseason will turn into another Westbrook vs. Durant media-fueled conflict, especially because we already know that LeBron will let D-Wade close out the games. All of the attention on Westbrook and Durant will lead the recently concussed and always trending James Harden to seek out more money and attention elsewhere.”
NBA Playbook breaks down Ibaka’s shotblocking: “With Ibaka’s impeccable timing, high defensive acumen and freakish athleticism, there is no question why he won the NBA’s shot-blocking title this season. Also, unlike other young shot blockers, Ibaka takes the Bill Russell approach of trying to keep the ball inbounds whenever he gets his hands on it. This creates more transition scoring opportunities for two of the best fast-break finishers in the league in Westbrook and Durant. His production this year was one of the reasons that the Thunder sat atop the Western Conference standings for much of the regular season.”
Zach Lowe of SI on Perk being dirty: “But dirty could also refer to more subtle rule-breaking, the kind Perkins mastered at the feet of Kevin Garnett in Boston. Folks around the league — mostly outside of Boston — have long complained about Garnett’s occasional moving screens and the extra contact he’s allowed to make when defending the pick-and-roll. Watch Garnett jump out on guards during pick-and-roll plays, and you’ll often see him place both hands on a ball-handler’s hip for just an instant. It’s not a particularly aggressive move — not a shove — but it often has enough of an impact to take that ball-handler just a bit wider than he’d otherwise like to go in trying to turn the corner. Garnett has other little tricks, scouts and coaches say, but that’s the main one I notice regularly.”
A really strange breakdown by Rembert Browne of Grantland on the Kate Upton video: “For one thing, the battle of “thumbs-up” vs. “bunny ears” is one that should be saved for non–Kate Upton related activities. Second, what about Kate Upton screams “Let me wear my favorite screen-printed T-shirt?” I know this was an advertisement spot for Skullcandy, but this controlled environment could have easily been a launching point for one of these two to be the Andy Roddick to her Brooklyn Decker. An Upton-Thunder couple would have taken the Midwest by storm. This could have been huge, but alas, these two nerds decided on this for a lasting impression with Kate. And that expression on Kate’s face says it all. It screams, “Why did I ever let them take off their uniforms?” Poor Kate. Life is hard. But at least Russell Westbrook wasn’t there. He probably would have stood in front of Kate, complained that she was getting too much attention, and then gone 9-for-31 from the field.”
Tyson Chandler won Defensive Player of the Year. Bummer for Serge.
Tim McMahon of ESPN Dallas says the Mavs need a miracle: “What a short, strange trip this season has been for the Dallas Mavericks. It started with the post-lockout stripping of a championship roster, and it now appears on the verge of ending with a first-round elimination. The mediocre Mavericks team from this crazy, lockout-compressed season will be mostly remembered for the divorces with two players (Tyson Chandler and Lamar Odom) who weren’t anywhere near Oklahoma City as Dallas dug an 0-2 hole against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Shots haven’t been falling in crunch time for the Mavericks, but Jason Terry knows they just need a win to get in the series. Unless the Mavs manage to pull off a miracle. That’s what it would take for the old, slow Mavs to rally to beat the young, fast Thunder in this rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals. The record of teams that fall behind 0-2 in best-of-seven series in NBA history is 14-226.”
Would the Mavs try Shawn Marion on Westbrook?
Jenni Carlson on Westbrook: “What are the Mavs going to do, take Shawn Marion off Durant duty and put him on Westbrook? I mean, Marion is their best defender. But if he doesn’t take Durant, who does? Who else on the Mavs’ roster can handle Durant’s size and range and skill. Yes, Durant has gone cold in these playoffs, but there’s no way the Mavs risk letting him break out of that slump by taking Marion off of him. That leaves Westbrook to Jason Kidd and Delonte West and Jason Terry. And we’ve seen how that’s worked out so far for the Mavs.”
Rick Carlisle explained himself Tuesday: “There are things that are happening out there that can’t happen,” Carlisle said. “You can’t hit a guy in the face when you shoot the jump shot. Intentional or not intentional that happened and that’s one of the things that sort of set things in motion there. Look, it’s playoff basketball and there’s going to be chippiness and there’s going to be contact and there’s going to be hits, and we’ve just got to make sure our disposition is where it needs to be on the one hand. On the other hand, our poise and composure has to be very strong.”
@dailythunder: Russell Westbrook actually picked up one third place Defensive Player of the Year vote.
In terribly sad news, Junior Seau is dead.
@duhsweetness Wait, what? I had no clue!
@ou_sas @duhsweetness Possible suicide.
@Tronchaser @ou_sas This guy quite obviously never got the help he so desperately needed. I mean the car accident, the domestic abuse charges, the previous suicide attempt. This guy was quite obviously mentally unstable if not manic-depressive, and it's really, really sad that no one recognized it and tried to get him the help he so obviously needed.
@DarnellMayberry: Serge Ibaka finished a very close second to Tyson Chandler for Defensive Player of the Year. Chandler had 311 total points. Ibaka had 294.
@ATH Man, just a few more triple doubles and Ibaka would have had it!
@ou_sas Serge's D has become underrated by a lot of folks (under-publicized -> overrated -> over-criticized -> underrated). It's not like he's a BAD man defender.
@TaoMaas @ATH Perk's also very court aware and controls Serge's rotations quite well. Obviously Serge has become better at that too, but I think some of his improvement came as a result of having Perk, as much as not having Green in front of him.
@ATH One of the reasons I hope we don't amnesty Perk is so that Serge can continue working with him. I have no real proof of this, but I think Perk has helped Serge's growth as a defender. Since Perk is one of the better man defenders at his position, I'd like to see him pass some of that along to Serge.
Thunder fans are officially MORE spoiled than OU fans.
Here we are up 2-0 on the defending champs with a very good chance of advancing. And at least one-third of this thread is a discussion about replacing Scott Brooks lol
Christ.
@BRY BRY FIRE SCOTT BROOKS!
Oh wait.. wrong thread. Man I've got some bad timing today.
Is there any place we can go to light candles for Utah?
@ThunderChick2010 A catholic church?
@John64 @ThunderChick2010 But Utah's mostly Mormon... Probably ought to go to one of their churches.
@ThunderChick2010 I'll put a candle in the window.
('cause I feel I've got to move)
@Jax Raging Bile Duct Hell yea
Carlisle isn't complaining anymore he's straight up trying to get in Serge's head (which was his goal all along)...they saw how bad serge can be guarding dirk in game 1 last year and they want him to play like that again...only way Mavs can win is if dirk drops 40+
@OBoymuzik i dont think they win if dirk drops 40, because that means the rest of the team isnt getting enough shots, they are only 5-4 when dirk scores 30+ this season.
@OBoymuzik
Too bad for Carlisle, Ibaka's mind is as chizzled as his biceps....and his chest.....and his jaw line...wait, what the question again?
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/04/analytics-basketball/
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Alagappan-Muthu-EOSMarch2012PPT.pdf?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=wiredplaybookclickthru
I dunno if yall have seen this but it's pretty awesome. Still needs some work cause it calls Rondo a "role player" but man. Stat analysis is fun
@FREE_COLE The thing that annoys me a bit about this is pretty basic: those aren't positions, though are roles or skill sets or playing styles. If anything, positions should be more basic (ball handler, wing, big). Positions in all sports are mostly about where you are on the playing surface, and that's kind of the point and explicitly different from a player's role or skill set despite some roles (primary offensive distributor) being historically attached to a position (ball handler/ point guard).
We see it in all sports. There are players that blur the lines (Gronkowski), ones that make people feel as if they need a new position (all the great Brazilian fullbacks, ie Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Dani Alves) ones that don't really make sense (Messi as a center forward) and ones that are talented enough that you just utilize them as you can (Reggie Bush, theoretically Tebow in a perfect world, Russ and Rose etc).
TL;DR - I care too much about the word "position" but I remember reading over some of that when it first came up at the Sloan conference and a cool way to look at the different skill sets in the league.
@Jooseppi @FREE_COLE Calling those descriptions "positions" bugged me too. I'd rather call them roles, or functions, or better still - as Jalen Rose says it "You are your skill set". I'd rather there be 16 skill sets than 5 blurry "positions". And the word 'position' can have so much more significance in the basketball lexicon than referring to a title (establishing position, for example). The position-less revolution started a few years back, and in it's mature stages now, but we still go with the titles. I've always felt that way with the word "guard" as well.
@ou_sas @Keith00 @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi I mean yeah that'll be nice. This was the initial presentation by a senior in college. He has plenty of time to expand
@FREE_COLE @Keith00 @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi I guess I was looking for a little more something along the lines of "NBA champions over the past 15-20 years have always had X, Y, and Z and have been supplemented with some combination of P,Q, R, and S players." Not, "Here's a graph of two teams. See how different the clusters are! Analysis!" Okay, I may be extremely oversymplifying in that last statement, but you see what I mean.
@ou_sas @Keith00 @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi He did look in to how they are built somewhat. Compare the champion mavericks to the awful Twolves. The twolves had players who all played similar "positions/roles" where the mavs were fairly evenly spread.
And I agree with you all on the word usage. Position wasn't quite correct, but I think we could get away from positions all together. Either Kevin Love or KD won't make All NBA 1st team because of position constraints and Lebron locking up one of the positions. That's a damn shame in my opinion
@Keith00 @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi @FREE_COLE The problem with positions is that some supposed media members still abide by them (see: All-NBA voting).
He talks about using the analysis to help build teams, but he hasn't really done any investigation into what great teams are built like. I'm sure the sabermetric-savvy GMs are already using this sort of thing to build their teams, but it's still an interesting analysis for us lay folks. Crow's probably read through all of it and thought "Well, the use of topography is interesting, but it doesn't really add anything new. Needs some development."
@Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi @FREE_COLE I think positions nowadays are just easier for casual fans to understand. If your team is getting killed inside, you naturally assume you need a better center. That isn't necessarily wrong, but misplaces what you want.
I still think fans understand what a player does and what a team needs, but find it easier to relate through archaic positions. If you team needs better passing, it's easier to talk about PGs than Centers with fellow fans. If you team needs more defense, it's easier to talk about a center protecting the rim than Tony Allen blowing up opposing plays.
@FREE_COLE Everyone is a role player, we just call certain roles by different names. KD plays the role of big time scorer. His role wouldn't be as prominent if he tried to play pure PG all the time or rebounding rim protector.
I thought it was very interesting.
I can't wait 'till Durant breaks out of his slump and torches the Mavs for 30 or 40. Its only a matter of time before he gets going. I mean, his cold shooting this series has resulted in 25 and 26 points games.
Also, Grantland is full of crap.
Grantland: Where Hipsters write about sports
@anonymous12345 Yeah, I still enjoy Simmons' writing style but I'm becoming more and more irritated with how ridiculous his 'analysis' is. Seems to me he's been declining steadily since Grantland started up.
@sammasaaron
I like his style too..I've mainly read him for his non-sports stories. His analysis is always anecdotal and not very cohesive. Occasionally he'll have a real good piece (like his Vick article from a year or two ago). I do enjoy the grantland's podcasts...especially Jalen Rose's podcast with Dave Jacoby.
looks like chandler is going to win DPOY http://espn.go.com/newyork/conversations/_/id/7880443/source-new-york-knicks-tyson-chandler-wins-defensive-player-year
srege will still be all defensive team for sure
@f5alcon chandler helped a soft team to win a title last season,and helps Knicks to be top defense team.Only Howard can be better than Chandler but he won too many DPOY
@f5alcon This is probably a blessing for us even though Serge should have deserved strong consideration. This will knock down the price we need to pay to keep him long term in OKC. Serge can win all the DPOY awards after we lock him up.
@f5alcon cause you know the knicks are so good right? didnt howard win with having blocks and stuff? why cant serge win :(
@Legendary_dork @f5alcon Something most people miss is that while Chandler certainly improved NY's defense (100.4 DRTG with him on the floor), they've been very good with him off the floor as well (102.4, which would put them at 9th in the league).
I still think Chandler deserves it, but there's a lot of credit to go around for the team improvement.
@Jooseppi I think Chandler also got DPOY this year due to some late recognition of what he did for the Mavs last year.
@Legendary_dork @f5alcon Chandler was easily the best defensive player. He made that kicks defense. We're still average at defense/serge is not a good man defender who is known to jump on pump fakes far more then he should
@Legendary_dork @f5alcon Oh I believe Serge can definitely win it one day. His shot blocking skills >>> anyone else in the league by far. He just needs a year or two. The olympics will help him a lot
@FREE_COLE @f5alcon meh i guess. still . maybe one day .
@Legendary_dork chandler made the knicks a top 5 defense from 22nd last year.
durant will need a hug from mommy when dirk shoes him how a real! champion wins at home. too bad druants mommy will not be at DAllas! Time te go home loosers! win you loose again!
@mavsROOLusuck mavsROOLusuck = ou_sas? hard to just pull 'ewe' off the cuff like that :)
@Lasers @mavsROOLusuck Not me. I saw somebody using it the other day, and it reminded me of mavsROOLusuck so much that I had to use it that time.
Besides, as @ThunderChick2010 pointed out, I'm not quite there on my mimicry attempts. It's hard enough writing poorly when you know proper grammar, but to try and write poorly in two different styles would be ridiculous.
@ThunderChick2010 Likewise!
@ou_sas Okay, I'm out of here for a while. Enjoyed the chat ou_sas!
@ou_sas I live with a crossword/cryptic crossword junkie, but even he had to reach for this one. :)
@ThunderChick2010 Haha, that's the result of too many phone crosswords during idle moments.
@ou_sas haha -- smart guy! I learned a new word today. (spent a few seconds wondering if we ever had a player named Nadir)
@ThunderChick2010 Wow, we really have. That was just before the nadir though. Things began looking up just a month later.
Just for fun, I looked WAY back. Props to Royce for doing such a classy job when the team and outlook looked, uh, unfortunate and there were barely any commenters.
You'll appreciate this--as I think you were defending Brooks earlier today. Go back to Thursday Bolts on 12-10-08 and watch the video. We've come a long way, baby!
@ThunderChick2010 I might try it on a different board, but I guess on something I take such an interest in, like the Thunder, I want to be genuine with my comments and all.
I remember joining the board really back in the early 2010, right before I graduated law school. I'd followed the Thunder mainly on the radio before that, but a friend introduced me to the board, and I've been on in some form or another since.
I think it's an interesting concept to entertain and I'm sure some people would be enticed by the ability to be two different "personalities". One time, someone suggested that Jax is really Royce (compliment to both as far as I'm concerned). Another time, someone came out and flat accused two posters of being the same. He used, perhaps, the most cutting remark I think you can use against a fellow poster--something like, "neither of you uses punctuation or, if you do, you use it incorrectly." (ouch) Also, I noticed that trolls tend to travel in twos. Sigh . . . I don't think I could ever pull it off; I'd mess it up somehow.
btw . . . I've been here a while--even during the lockout when there might be a half-dozen comments on the Bolts--but I haven't reached "forever" status yet. :)
@ThunderChick2010 @Lasers @mavsROOLusuck You know, I really hadn't thought about it. It would be amusing if Justin and Crow had alternate accounts where they made blanket statements, or flat out denied stats' usefulness. I do think that if there are "duplicate" posters, the duplicates usually don't last long. And it would have to be people who've been on the board forever, like you, or F5alcon, etc.
@ou_sas @Lasers @mavsROOLusuck That would just be almost brilliant . . . you being mavsROOL, but being just enough off in your mimicry to deflect any suspicion . . . hmmmm
(I'm putting my money on ozarkhick. btw . . . How many "duplicate" posters do you think are on here? I like to think everyone is genuine, but I strongly suspect some are playing games.)
@mavsROOLusuck Loose or Lose. Please, please, please learn how to use these words correctly. Here is a little mental trick you might employ next time. Dallas women are loose. The Mavericks are losers. Do you see the difference there in the two similar-looking words? I hope this clarifies things for you.
@mavsROOLusuck Wanda was sitting front row at the AA Center for last year's WCF. Certain she has a special dance move in mind when OKC takes Game 3.
@mavsROOLusuck wait ..so by this logic, if champs win at home..then . *sings* WEEEEEEEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!! my friends~ ♫
@mavsROOLusuck Man, you tried so hard. You came so close! Reminds me of your team. Sadly, you lose for not knowing how to spell lose.
@mavsROOLusuck i jest hope derk's jerman tears comfert ewe when ewe loose the serius.
(Wow, it's hard to write that)
not butchered enough, ou_sas . . . that kind of made sense and even had a period at the end . . . keep working and someday you'll get there :)
@ThunderChick2010 Dang. I'll have to study @mavsroolusuck 's speech patterns as he continues his feeble trolling.
I'm afraid you're still letting your education show with that final period, correct use of quotation marks, and seeming mastery of consonant-vowel-consonant spelling patterns. :)
@ThunderChick2010 Yeah, exclamation points seem to be particularly lost on Mavs fans.
Sorry, let me try that again:
"Yeha exclamication poynts! seems to be loost on Mavreicks! fans."
Am I getting the hang of it yet?
@ou_sas Here's your vocabulary to study: loose, loosers, druant, wesbrick, percint . . . also, if you do use punctuation, be sure to use it randomly and inappropriately.
@ThunderChick2010 Well, I'll keep trying, but hopefully the boys from OKC don't give me too much more time to work on it! ;-)
@ou_sas @mavsROOLusuck you lose brain cells every time you stoop to their level
@todayisbananas @ou_sas @mavsROOLusuck lol
@Legendary_dork @ou_sas @mavsROOLusuck You mean "loose", yes?
@ou_sas @mavsROOLusuck I feel for you.
@ou_sas liked for going with ewe instead of u
@mavsROOLusuck Totally convinced this is a parody account.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct @mavsROOLusuck the two real mavs trolls have not been seen since the first loss.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct @mavsROOLusuck i figured that out from his first post lol
@Legendary_dork @Jax Raging Bile Duct @mavsROOLusuck yeah, i figured it had to be parody because the misspellings always stayed the same. that's just weird.
@Legendary_dork I don't venture to game threads, so when I saw people responding to him as if they had seen him before, I just assumed his shtick was a carryover from something I had missed.