OT: Around the NBA

[LoveThemCavs]

It's finally come again. Basketball season starts tonight! Not a big slate of games tonight, but an excellent way to start the year. Young guys making their debuts(Oden, Rose, Bayless, Alexander). Big names in the spotlight (LeBron, Kobe, Pierce, Garnett, Roy). Obviously we have a Cavs game tonight, but I'll just leave that out for the game thread.

October 28, 2008
Cleveland @ Boston - TNT
Milwaukee @ Chicago
Portland @ LA Lakers - TNT

I like the home teams to win in the other games, though I would like to see the Blazers pull it off. Anyone care to guess the statlines of Oden and Rose? I'll go with
Rose- 21 points 7 assists
Oden- 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocked shots

Tommorow has a much bigger slate of games to watch.
October 29, 2008
Atlanta @ Orlando
Toronto @ Philadlephia
New Jersey @ Washington
Miami @ New York
Indiana @ Detroit
Sacramento @ Minnesota
Milwaukee @ Oklahoma City
Phoenix @ San Antonio - ESPN
Memphis @ Houston
Denver @ Utah
New Orleans @ Golden State
LA Lakers @ LA Clippers - ESPN

[Benedict_Boozer]

I'm pretty damn excited about this season. Moreso than prior years for some reason.

Alot of good young teams out there to watch like the Blazers, and the Cavs finally have a legit PG to run the show. On the road against Boston is a pretty brutal way to start the season but it should be a great test of where the Cavs are.

Also considering we played Boston like 200 times in the preseason there shouldn't be any surprises.

[LoveThemCavs]

Not as great of a debut as I was expecting for Rose, but still a solid first game for him (11 pts, 9 ast, 3 stls). Oden on the other hand, had another unlucky day. Somehow he's hurt again, I hope he can avoid this bug at some point. His offensive game is nowhere near what it needs to be, but his defense could IMO be near the best at his position already. 0 pts, 5 reb, 1 blk in only 12 minutes of action last night. All I've seen so far is it's a foot injury, the Blazers were losing badly when it happened. So maybe it was more precaution to keep him out the rest of the game. Looking forward to sitting back tonight and watching the games without much care for who wins. Those PHX-SAS games are usually pretty damn good, it'll be interesting to see this new Suns style of play. Not sure if I'll even bother watching most of the Lakers-Clippers game though.

[LoveThemCavs]

Anyone watch the Pistons-Celtics game last night? This game was over at halftime, thanks to Boston owning the second quarter 30-10. Detroit played better than Boston only in the fourth, when the Celtics didn't really care anymore. The Pistons haven't looked right since making the Billups-Iverson deal. It looks like Iverson is afraid to put too many shots up to prove he can fit in with the team concept. They played a great first quarter against the Nets and that's about it since that deal. The Pistons next 6 games are @Sacramento, @Golden State, @LALakers, @Phoenix, vs Cleveland and @Boston. GS/LAL are back to backs and CLE/BOS is as well. It will be interesting to see how quick they can figure things out with the roster changes.

Since the Cavs don't play again until Tuesday, I'll be watching some of the Toronto-Boston and Portland-Orlando games tonight. Here's the full slate of games.

Monday, November 10
Oklahoma City @ Indiana
Portland @ Orlando - NBATV
Toronto @ Boston
New Jersey @ Miami
Memphis @ Phoenix

[LoveThemCavs]

I know it's too damn early to be scoreboard watching. But I'm watchin the Pistons-Warriors and this would be big if the Warriors can win this game. The Pistons got the Lakers on deck . We've been chasing the Pistons the past three years or so, it would be nice to make them chase us for a change.

[LoveThemCavs]

Okay so I'm throwing a bump here. This got alot of action I thought last year as we went along the year. I'll give it one more shot. We are a third of the way through the year. Here's an updated standings list, I like to do this to compare later in the season as to who rises and falls at points in the year.

East
Team- Record [GB]
1. Boston- 27-2 [---]
2. Cleveland 24-4 [2.5]
3. Orlando 22-6 [4.5]
4. Atlanta 18-10 [8.5]
5. Detroit 15-11 [10.5]
6. Miami 15-12 [11.0]
7. New Jersey 14-14 [12.5]
8. Milwaukee 14-16 [13.5]
--------------------------------------
Chicago 13-15 [13.5]
Philadelphia 12-16 [14.5]
New York 11-16 [15.0]
Toronto 11-17 [15.5]
Indiana 10-18 [16.5]
Charlotte 10-19 [17.0]
Washington 4-22 [21.5]

West
Team- Record [GB]
1. LA Lakers 23-5 [---]
2. Houston 19-10 [4.5]
3. New Orleans 16-8 [5.0]
4. Denver 18-10 [5.0]
5. San Antonio 18-10 [5.0]
6. Portland 17-11 [6.0]
7. Dallas 16-11 [6.5]
8. Phoenix 16-11 [6.5]
-------------------------------------
Utah 17-13 [7.0]
Memphis 9-19 [14.0]
LA Clippers 8-20 [15.0]
Golden State 8-22 [16.0]
Sacramento 7-22 [16.5]
Minnesota 4-23 [18.5]
Oklahoma City 3-26 [20.5]

Some real suprises this year with our Cavs, Heat, Hawks and Blazers. Some real disappointments in the Pistons, Jazz, Sixers and Raptors. Any early thoughts on how the season is shaping up? I figured this was the perfect time to bump this with all the national games on Christmas day. Here's the line up-

Thursday, December 25, 2008
New Orleans @ Orlando --- ESPN --- 12:00pm ET
San Antonio @ Phoenix --- ABC ---- 2:30pm ET
Boston @ LA Lakers ----- ABC ---- 5:00pm ET
Washington @ Cleveland --- TNT --- 8:00pm ET
Dallas @ Portland ---- TNT --- 10:30pm ET

[LoveThemCavs]

Wow the Celtics lost to the Warriors for their second straight loss following that 19 game win streak. That January 9th game at the Q is shaping up to be a huge regular season matchup. The Celtics have two tough games before that matchup @POR and at home against HOU. The Cavs have a pair of games with MIA as the only above .500 matchups before that game.

Updated Eastern Conference Standings
Through December 26th
1. Boston 27-4 [---]
2. Cleveland 25-4 [1.0]
3. Orlando 23-6 [3.0]
4. Atlanta 18-10 [7.5]
5. Detroit 16-11 [9.0]
6. Miami 16-12 [9.5]
7. New Jersey 14-15 [12.0]
8. Milwaukee 14-16 [12.5]
-----------------------------
Chicago 13-16 [13.0]
Philadelphia 12-17 [14.0]
Toronto 12-17 [14.0]
New York 11-17 [14.5]
Charlotte 11-19 [15.5]
Indiana 10-19 [16.0]
Washington 4-23 [21.0]

Saturday, Dec 27th
Chicago @ Atlanta
Oklahoma City @ Washington
New Jersey @ Charlotte
Orlando @ Minnesota
Utah @ Houston
Detroit @ Milwaukee
Memphis @ San Antonio
Toronto @ Portland

[Gordon Bombay]

gotta win sunday to keep the lead over the magic because they could play the coaching staff and still beat the timberpups

[B Mac]

Looking at the loss column, Boston and the Cavs have the same amount of losses. Just keep winning games and that 1st seed will be ours.

[Gordon Bombay]

magic lost to the pistons tonight...i dont know about anyone else but im scared to death of an iverson/stuckey backcourt combination come playoff time - just really would prefer to have detroit on the other side of the playoff bracket

[Manny Phresh]

magic lost to the pistons tonight...i dont know about anyone else but im scared to death of an iverson/stuckey backcourt combination come playoff time - just really would prefer to have detroit on the other side of the playoff bracket

1+

[LoveThemCavs]

Boston lost for third time in four games, losing at Portland tonight. Atleast we didn't lose any ground. Looking at the schedule before the Boston @ Cleveland game. The Q is going to be rockin that night.
Boston has vs Washington, at New York, at Charlotte, vs Houston
Cleveland has vs Chicago, at Washington, vs Charlotte

Through December 30th
1. Boston 28-5 [---]
2. Cleveland 26-5 [1.0]
3. Orlando 24-7 [3.0]
4. Atlanta 21-10 [6.0]
5. Detroit 18-11 [8.0]
6. Miami 17-13 [9.5]
7. New Jersey 15-16 [12.0]
8. Milwaukee 15-17 [12.5]
-----------------------------
Chicago 14-17 [13.0]
Philadelphia 12-18 [14.5]
New York 12-18 [14.5]
Toronto 12-19 [15.0]
Charlotte 11-21 [16.5]
Indiana 10-21 [17.0]
Washington 6-24 [20.5]

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Orlando @ Chicago - 2pm
New Jersey @ Detroit - 3pm
Milwaukee @ Houston - 7pm
Denver @ Toronto - 7pm
Golden State @ Oklahoma City - 8pm
Philadelphia @ LA Clippers - 9:30pm

[Rise Against]

We would have been first if we won yesterday.

[LoveThemCavs]

January is going to be an interesting month of basketball.. I was looking at our schedule thinking we'll know where the Cavs are at after January. Heck we're going to know alot about everyone it seems. Here's each contenders month schedule

BOS- (W)WAS, @NY, @CHA, HOU, @CLE, @TOR, TOR, NJ, @NJ, PHO, @MIA, @ORL, DAL, SAC, @DET
CLE- (W)CHI, @WAS, CHA, BOS, @MEM, @CHI, NO, @LAL, @POR, @GS, @UTA, SAC, @ORL, LAC
ORL- (W)MIA, @TOR, WAS, @ATL, ATL, @SA, @SAC, @LAL, @DEN, BOS, @MIA, IND, CLE
ATL- (L)@NJ, (W)HOU, ORL, @ORL, PHI, @PHO, @LAC, @GS, TOR, @CHI, MIL, PHO, @MIA, @NY, NJ, @MIL
DET- (W)SAC, @LAC, @POR, @DEN, @UTA, CHA, @IND, @OKC, NO, @MEM, TOR, DAL, HOU, @MIN, BOS
MIA- (L)@ORL, (W)NJ, SA, @DEN, @SAC, @LAL, @MIN, @MIL, @HOU, @OKC, BOS, ORL, ATL, WAS, @IND, DAL

Standings through January 3rd, 2009

1. Boston 29-5 [---]
2. Cleveland 27-5 [1.0]
3. Orlando 26-7 [2.5]
4. Atlanta 22-11 [6.5]
5. Detroit 20-11 [7.5]
6. Miami 18-14 [10.0]
7. New Jersey 16-18 [13.0]
8. Milwaukee 16-19 [13.5]
----------------------
Chicago 14-20 [15.0]
Philadelphia 13-20 [15.5]
Toronto 13-20 [15.5]
New York 12-19 [15.5]
Indiana 12-21 [16.5]
Charlotte 12-22 [17.0]
Washington 6-25 [21.5]

Games for January 4, 2009
Orlando @ Toronto - 12:30pm
Cleveland @ Washington - 1:00pm
Detroit @ LA Clippers - 3:30pm
Dallas @ Memphis - 4:00pm
Boston @ New York - 6:00pm
Portland @ LA Lakers - 9:30pm

[LoveThemCavs]

Wow caught another break. New York beats Boston and Toronto beats Orlando. Upset Sunday.

[LoveThemCavs]

Anyone watching this Spurs-Magic game? It's a great game. The officiating has sucked as usual around the league, but very entertaining. Magic are up by 2 going into the fourth quarter. I really enjoy listening to Sean Elliot, he's funny.

[Mr2400]

yeah i'm watching that one as well. i always like to see howard and duncan go against each other because they're two of the best at the position for totally opposite reasons. duncan is not very athletic, but very fundamentally sound. howard is freakishly athletic, and still building on the fundamentals in the post. the calls have been horrendous, especially that reach on bowen.

[LoveThemCavs]

Dang Orlando won, great game by them. Boston won earlier as well. As good as Howard and Nelson have been for the Magic. Turkoglu is a the key matchup when we play them. He just does more than you expect every time I watch them play. But wow do they shoot the 3 like crazy, about every other time down the court. 14-22 from 3 range tonight. Switching to the Lakers-Heat game now.