On February 25 2011 11:24 MassHysteria wrote:
i agree with you a little Cyric on the OKC front but Sefalosha has guarded Kobe the majority of the time they play and he is a pretty underrated defender.

Ibaka has been playing PF for OKC lately and they have been okay, although I haven't really seen him play tbh. Plus they could put Collison in there as well now. Green seemed to never learn when to take a good shot though, and that was part of the reason they probably traded him, as citi.zen kind of pointed out. He is undersized for PF and doesn't have the game to be a SF. Plus he isn't very good at man to man defense and rebounding.

I really think Mohammed is a good backup as well, plus his contract expires this year. As a Laker fan, I think it makes them scarier but let's see how they play now.

I don't think anyone disagrees that Sefalosha is a great defender and guards Kobe about as well as anyone does. The issue is that if you put him out there with both Ibaka and Perkins, there's just not enough offense to score against good defenses. Thabo has no offense to speak of. Further, keep in mind that neither Westbrook nor Durant are great 3pt shooters. Unless Ibaka suddenly develops into a good offensive player, I just don't think OKC can play Sefalosha, Perkins and Ibaka together.

After thinking about it a bit, a lineup of Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins may actually work against the Lakers starters if they put Durant on Kobe. It just depends whether they want to have Durant tire himself out guarding Kobe. I think we're going to see that how Harden plays is going to have a significant effect on the Thunder's success going forward. Green, for all his inefficiencies, put up a decent amount of points for OKC. That's going to have to be replaced by someone, and Harden seems to be the only one capable of it right now.

MassHysteria

United States3678 Posts

February 25 2011 05:17 GMT

#1968

Good point(s) Cyric, can't debate those because you are right.

Anyone seeing the Bos-Den game? Nuggets new lineup really isn't that bad, I am kind of liking it considering everything.

Garnett asking for a flagrant from Kevin Martin on that play? c'mon no one feels bad for you kevin!

x2fst

1272 Posts

February 25 2011 07:40 GMT

#1969

shmay

United States1091 Posts

February 25 2011 07:54 GMT

#1970

Bosh does some good things, but the man is like a black hole on offense. Why he thinks he gets to huck up shots on a team with Lebron and Wade is beyond me. Someone needs to let him know that he is now a role player.

On the plus side, Lebron and Wade seem to be developing some real chemistry on offense, which can be beautiful to watch.

MassHysteria

United States3678 Posts

February 25 2011 08:29 GMT

#1971

Ya as long as they are on a fast break its beautiful...put them on a half court versus some decent defense and its awful sometimes. They have still only won one game vs a top contender :r

Ace

United States16096 Posts

February 25 2011 09:05 GMT

#1972

@shmay: It's not like Bosh takes shots outside of the offense. He was taking mostly jumpers when the ball swung back around to him with him being open. Bosh is definitely not a black hole on offense and is in fact a very willing passer.

Carmelo Anthony is what you call a black hole.

On February 25 2011 17:29 MassHysteria wrote:
Ya as long as they are on a fast break its beautiful...put them on a half court versus some decent defense and its awful sometimes. They have still only won one game vs a top contender :r

True but they were never dominated vs anyone except the Celtics. Still looks good for their championship hopes.

Southlight

United States11767 Posts

February 25 2011 16:37 GMT

#1973

Only concern I have about the Nuggets is that they don't have a consistent scorer anymore, but otherwise I think they'll do remarkably decent via effort and defense. They have a lot of "character guys" to use a sports journalist cliche, whom work hard and hustle and such :d

a176

Canada6688 Posts

February 25 2011 22:08 GMT

#1974

BlueRoyaL

United States2493 Posts

February 25 2011 22:30 GMT

#1975

ahahaha i just saw the .gif of it from the funny pictures thread

[image loading]

so gold.... ahahahaha

tonight

United States11130 Posts

February 26 2011 00:40 GMT

#1976

On February 26 2011 07:30 BlueRoyaL wrote:
ahahaha i just saw the .gif of it from the funny pictures thread

[image loading]

so gold.... ahahahaha

This isn't soccer, Bosh. Man up and play some real D.

FQD1911

83 Posts

February 26 2011 01:52 GMT

#1977

Bulls baby. time to square up things against Boston and get the #1. Danny Ainge is a real prick though. Dismantled a championship contender for no good reason. Miami has no bench...they're going NOWHERE (hey Mr. Bosh, whenever you want to stop acting and hit a 18 footer, the floor is all yours bro). Bulls coming out of the East. mark my words.

shmay

United States1091 Posts

February 26 2011 02:28 GMT

#1978

On February 25 2011 18:05 Ace wrote:
@shmay: It's not like Bosh takes shots outside of the offense. He was taking mostly jumpers when the ball swung back around to him with him being open. Bosh is definitely not a black hole on offense and is in fact a very willing passer.

Carmelo Anthony is what you call a black hole.

From what I've seen from the Heat (even saw them in person in LA!), I just can't agree. Once the ball goes into him in the post, the offense stops, and there's a 90% chance he's gonna shoot, unless he gets double teamed.

DWade and Blake Griffin were the coolest players to watch. Bosh was the most disappointing, mainly because he just kept shooting.

I thought he played well vs the Lakers tho.

thehorsebecomesking

189 Posts

February 26 2011 02:47 GMT

#1979

Perkins was a guy with a perfect rep, every fan up here is sad to see him go. I've read some of you guys above and it isn't true that his pnr ability was lacking, in fact he was great at it. On the contrary, his offensive skills were never a factor, sometimes it was a pain watching him go up to continuously get blocked, somehow he is very slow with the ball on offense. As someone pointed out, his most important role was guarding Howard and Bynum, other than that Cs manage to win without him. Shaq is playing great this season, it is possible he will be enough. Another O'Neal had a surgery, he will be coming back in time for the playoffs.

Now to the acquired players. The core of this deal was Jeff Green obviously. This is the guy Cs always wanted. He would be a great #6, switching roles with Allen and Pierce. He has a lot of weapons and is fast too, Rondo is going to love the guy, he definitely adds quickness to this team and is huge for spreading the floor. Potentially Cs will build around Rondo and Green, this is the biggest upside for us in the future.

Kristic has a decent 15-footer, will help to spread the floor too. If both Shaqs are available we don't really need Perk with all the options. Shaq played best in the games that he started, it takes him longer to warm up so he is not as good off the bench. So really, atm we only will look bad vs Howard and LA (on paper). And wait until all the deals are done. I don't believe Danny does something like that for no reason (not sure if Perkins potentially leaving next year was big enough). What will you guys say once you see Powe and Hamilton wearing green?

Engore

United States1916 Posts

February 26 2011 03:34 GMT

#1980

Bosh's flop is like the matrix imo. HE WAS DODGEING BULLETS? No really though anyone watch the magic and thunder tonight? D howard was going crazy. Real good game to watch :D