Basketball Super Thread - Evil Empire

Pacers fans taunting Matt Barnes with chants of Derek Fisher is pretty trolly.

Can't wait for the Knicks vs. Grizzlies matchup.

@mattadord: Don't apologize for writing a lot, just add a few more paragraph breaks next time.

Also, the Wiz lost to the Knicks? That's what I get for being sociable and having fun on Halloween instead of watching the game with a few beers.

Go Spurs Go.

@zleunamme: Holy crap, Tim Duncan just sold me on a product. Never thought I'd see the day he could pull a Peyton Manning.

@i_stay_puft: And holy crap at that, too.

@csl316: Dude...HOW IN THE HELL CAN HE STILL BE IMPROVING? He's already playing at superhuman levels. I'm actually convinced that the only team that can probably match up well with them in the West is OKC. OKC just needs to improve on the team part and not have to always rely on Kevin Westbrook. I feel like SAS right now is in a transition year. I don't think they'll make it as far as some people in the media believe (NBA Finals).

@csl316: After watching him torch the Pels in the last couple games I believe it. He is doing it against a really good defensive player in Jrue Holiday too. It is just crazy. Again I can't wait to see all the crazy highlight, unless it is against the Pels. In that case he should keep it to himself haha.

@gaspower:Yeah I think OKC can hang offensively, but not defensively. Granted I haven't had an opportunity to watch any of their games this year, sounds like I've missed some really good games, but I just don't see there defensive being good enough. I think SAS is in a transition year, but I still think they can hang. Despite learning how to use LaMarcus Aldridge I think they're offense will still be on the higher end of the league. Their defense I think is good enough especially with Kawhi Leonard being a defensive monster. The West will be another bloodbath this year.

@dochaus:Alright thanks for the tip! I'm just glad to talk to other people that really follow the sport. I talk to some people at work, but it is mostly just me telling them what is happening. Like I had to tell him who Anthony Davis and Seth Curry were. It's nice to share my knowledge and hopefully create some more NBA fans, but it is much more fulfilling to talk with others that really know what's going on.

On somewhat related NBA news, Grantland is shut down. That is incredibly sad news for me as I love that site. It had incredibly well written, researched, and funny articles. As for the NBA connection we lose a place for a bunch of great, smart, NBA writers to publish their work. I love Zach Lowe he is consistently the most informed national writer I read. It is was always so great to hear him defend a move the Pels made in his article or on a podcast when others were saying "This move makes no sense." (i.e. trading away Robin Lopez to sign Tyreke Evans) There is also the loss of Jonathan Abrams who wrote a lot of great NBA preview (especially this offseason) that would get me pumped for the season, and continue writing great ones as the season went on. Then there is Kirk Goldsberry who you might remember as the guy with all the great shot charts, but that wasn't all his articles were. I would learn so much from his articles just looking at shot distribution and efficiency from his articles. All three writers wrote extremely informative and fascinating pieces. I hope to see them all land on their feet soon.

@mattadord: Wow they're shutting down Grantland? It looked like they'd survive the Bill Simmons firing after the first couple of months, but I guess not. To be honest that site was much a brain child of Simmons and matched with what ever Simmons interests were at the time it kinda seemed sorta inevitable. I honestly find it funny that Grantland is out while something like "The Undefeated" is still a thing.

@csl316: If you haven't seen the H-E-B Spurs commercials they are pretty much all awesome. Best part of this one is the way Tim Duncan reacts, like this isn't the first time they have done something stupid like this.

@i_stay_puft: Yeah I thought they were doing alright after Simmons left, but it still felt like things were off. I just felt at the best the site would be different and lost a little something, and worst... well you see it. I know a lot of people hated Bill Simmons because he was either a complete homer for his own teams (Patriots, Celtics, etc.), didn't actually watch enough of a team to make informed comments (A handful of Pels fans hated him for saying Tyreke was a such on the team), he just trying to be funny, or some combination of all the above, but I really enjoyed his articles and podcasts especially. Now I'm not listening to every single one, and still have to fast-forward through some parts, but I think he is a great sports voice. I'm glad he got something with HBO and I'm excited to see what it is.

I agree about the Undefeated still being around. Hearing everything surrounding that site, it's just insane to see that it is still around. Again I just hope that the writers and all from Grantland land on their feet. They're all great and amazing, and I hope to read more of their work soon.

@mattadord: I think Grantland was able to get away with Simmons being Simmons (and to a lesser extent guys like Andrew Sharp) because they had the cachet with writers like Barnwell and Robert Mays on the NFL, Lowe and Goldsberry covering the NBA and Matt Hinton and Holly Anderson on college football and so on. The site blended fun fan articles like Simmon's columns or the NBA Court Design Rankings with the more serious in-depth looks like Thank You For Not Coaching and Goldsberry's in-depth articles surrounding shot charts. Honestly I think I learned more about basketball in the 3-4 years of reading Lowe and Goldsberry than I did over the course of the rest of my life.

119-69, Warriors over Grizzlies. That's FIFTY POINTS!

Looks like Golden State is taking all that lucky fluke talk to heart.

@meteora3255: I agree. The writers were so knowledged in their respective fields. I loved the super in-depth articles just as much as the fun fan ones. Also I totally agree about learning about basketball by reading Lowe and Goldsberry. It's crazy to see how much more I know now.

@csl316: That team is insane. I'm actually feeling better about the Pels after seeing all the other games the Warriors have played. The Pels have had leads in both games and minus crazy Curry quarters the Pels would be right in there or possibly even win one of those games if my both. I'm excited to see the Pels play the Magic tonight and see if the Pels keep it going. #TakeFlight

@csl316: ha, yeah right, you switched the live feed with a NBA2K game on "Pro" difficulty right? Stop lying, every news outlet and the NBA itself.

I'm going to the Mavs/Pels games tonight. I think the Pels can pull it out with Jrue playing this game. I really hope the Pels finally win, especially against the Mavs. I just want them to get one win and finally get it out of the way.

Also with news that the Pels got the hardship exception to bring back Jimmer (ugh) that means that are players are still at least 2 weeks away. So at the very least we probably won't be fully healthy until December, but that is super optimistic. I just want to see the team healthy, and finally see this new defensive and offensive systems in place. Alright Pels let's go and get the W! Take Flight!

I don't know if any of y'all saw, but both Zach Lowe and Kirk Goldsberry posted articles this week! I'm glad to see that they landed on their feet, and it seems that ESPN just incorporated them into their own sites (Lowe on the main ESPN and Goldsberry on FiveThirtyEight). I'm happy to see them still write, but it is still weird not seeing the articles on Grantland. Here are the two articles: Lowe's and Goldsberry's

I hope your team is doing better than my Pels. There is a good chance that they are haha. I'm just sick of all the injuries. At this point it is just ridiculous. I might have to start looking into voodoo to keep the team healthy if the injuries continue at this pace. I just hope everyone comes back healthy and we play our ass off and hopefully squeak into the playoffs.

@mattadord: I saw the Lowe and Goldsberry pieces. Also for NFL fans Barnwell wrote three pieces this week.

@mattadord: This Pelicans start has been my biggest surprise. With so many people talking about Davis as an MVP candidate, he's not even going to get consideration during a lost season.

Anyway, Golden State is hard to hate. My Bulls stayed with them until the last few minutes, and afterwards I see Warriors fans saying things like "You're Bulls looked scary, we really like Jimmy Butler, you guys have a classy organization, hope to see you in the playoffs!" Damn, gracious winners.

That Curry lob to Iguodala lob was insane, yet not as insane as some of those lob up 3 pointers he's taken and made.

@meteora3255: It's great to see them land on there feet. I just hate the layout of the ESPN site so it is just a slight annoyance that I have to go there to read their articles.

@csl316: Yeah I think that surprised everyone, even Pels fans. We all figured injuries would cost us some games or two, but not this badly. Though after last night's game I'm starting to get more and more optimistic. The last couple games the team has been playing real well, and it looks like things are moving in the right direction. Ryan Anderson has been playing out of his mind, and AD seems to be back to his MVP type ways. I mean just look at this 3-pointer/block combo at the end of the game last night. The place went wild, and AD was pumping up the crowd which is awesome to see him so energetic and passionate.

The whole the Pels dug themselves is deep, but I wouldn't say it was deep enough. With things starting to click and everyone playing good team basketball things are looking up. Take Flight!

Oh man, Basketball and GiantBomb?! I should really pay closer attention to the forums.

Basketball is my jam. I write about it on part-time basis.

This has been a super interesting season. Outside of GSW, things are wide open. The eastern conference has (seemingly) caught up with the western conference, and the playoff picture for both coasts couldn't be less clear. The NBA needed that, IMO, as recent seasons have become entirely too predictable. We've been cycling through the same 6 or 7 playoff teams for a few years, but look at the WC standings right now! It's early, but man is it a mess! Love to see that kind of level playing field so far.

@tubaker: Welcome! So what team and where do you write?

Yeah it has been great with all the parity in the league again. While it sucks that the Pels can't count on a handful of wins whenever they travel east, it is great that everyone seems to be competitive for the most part.

I love that the Warriors are burning down the league. They are so fun to watch and Steph is on another plane of basketball existence. He somehow draws double and triple teams when jogging through the lane without the ball. It is just incredible to watch.

I'm also loving that the Knicks aren't a flaming train wreck this year. They finally have a few players that play a fun brand of basketball and that seem to give a damn. It says a lot that those two things are my bar for a successful Knicks season, but here we are.

Yeah, I was getting tired of hearing about the weak Eastern conference. At this point we have a solid 7 or 8 teams that can contend with anyone on any given night. Although I expected a little more out of Milwaukee and Orlando out the gate.

And the West... I mean, Utah is above L.A., Houston, Portland, and New Orleans. Remember when the Jazz were 1-12 a couple years ago? It's exciting, man.

Sick Burn...

Ben Simmons is fucking awesome. I hope that he can stay out of Philly in the next draft for his own well-being.

16-0 for Golden State.

Well, that's something. When I watched the Bulls play them the other day, they looked pretty good but certainly not invincible. Congrats are in order but I'm curious how long they can stay this healthy, and if Curry is ever gonna get in a slump.

Warriors still torching fools. But man, was watching Lakers and Kobe play painful. That guy deserves to go out better than he is.

I haven't been watching, but 16-0 is pretty impressive. Even the 72-10 Bulls had already lost a couple of games by this point.

@negativecero: I didn't see Kobe out there, I'm pretty sure he retired after his achilles tear. (Mavs fan here but even I can't accept that's Kobe)

Congratulations are in order for the Warriors, but man can I still not stand watching them play. I don't know what about them makes me so salty, but I just am. It's probably because I'm a Pels fan so we've lost our last 6 games against them (4 of them in a playoff sweep). I can handle vines and quick highlights, but anymore than that and I just get angry. Man, sports fandom is weird.

@csl316: The way they avoid injuries is amazing. Bogut has already gotten his injury for the year so that is out of the way, but no one else really gets injured. Plus, Bogut getting injured actually makes them a better team! Their injury luck is ridiculous. Why can't the Pels have even half as good of luck? (Maybe another reason for my saltiness against the Warriors)

@negativecero: I think the crazy comments and game-plans of Byron Scott are only adding fuel to the dumpster fire that is the end of Kobe Bryant's career. I mean Scott is telling him to take all those horrible dumb shot which only makes Bryant think he can make those shots more.

All I can say is that F.3.A.R. got a hard time for its numberplay. But the NBA Facebook page took things to a place I cannot follow.

@mattadord: I'm over at SB Nation's Kings blog, Sactown Royalty. I've done some other freelance stuff for Sheridan Hoops, Fox Sports, and a few other smaller sites. It sounds like we are Kentucky big man brothers. Cousins vs. Davis is my favorite matchup in the NBA right now. I love the Kings, but I cannot pretend like everything has been anything short of a disaster there over the last decade. Just one mistake after another after another after another, on and off the court. I don't know if I'll ever forgive them for firing Michael Malone last season. A part of me see's a way they could sneak into the playoffs this season if the west continues to be super weird, and another part of me says no chance in hell.

DeMarcus Cousins needs to stay on the floor. I know he has a lot of haters, some of which he's earned, but that guy takes an absolute beating every single night, and he's already missed time with an Achilles, a back injury, and a suspension. I don't know if he'll stay healthy long enough for the Kings to make a 8th seed push. The Kings had looked completely lost without him until they finally beat Milwaukee last night. That felt like the first Cousins-less win the Kings have had since they drafted him.

The Kings had a sneaky good 5-game eastern conference road trip. They only have a 2-3 record to show for it, but they played much better than they had been playing this season. It looks like they are starting to figure out Karl's system, and it seems like Karl has finally settled on a somewhat consistent rotation. He had been starting different units and tinkering with different lineups all month. The team didn't appreciate that.

I live in Boston, though, and I'm over here praying GSW says undefeated until they play the Celtics on December 11th. I'll be there for that one, hopefully.

No NBA games today, which feels odd. I remember watching basketball on thanksgiving in years past, but I could be confusing my holidays.

On that note, happy thanksgiving, duders!

@csl316 said:

All I can say is that F.3.A.R. got a hard time for its numberplay. But the NBA Facebook page took things to a place I cannot follow.

Wow! That is unreadable! They should fire the graphic designer and the person who thought having not one, but THREE numbers mixed with letters was a good idea.

@monkeyman04: Plus it's so bright. Hurts my eyes and my brain.

@csl316: @monkeyman04: I like how Draymond is licking Klay's left shoulder.

@tubaker: Oh awesome! Kentucky big man bros fiat bump. I like to read about the Kings from time to time. Obviously for the crazy happening of the franchise and its owner (playing 4 on 5 he really had something there haha), but also I really enjoy Cousins both on and off the court. I still remember this summer while on Team USA where a reporter asked him if he knew where Lithuania was and he said "No. Do you know where Alabama is?" oh man so good.

I didn't understand the Malone firing with just about everyone else too. The Kings were playing great basketball, but Cousins was out so they took a little tumble. I remember when he was on the Pels (Hornets at the time) coaching staff, and being really impressed by him. His last year was the last time we had a respectable defense. The Nuggets were smart to get him.

I have a little question for you. How did you get into writing about basketball? I don't know if my writing is good enough or if I'm looking to do it professionally, but I'd at least like to know. Thanks for any tips or stories you can share!

@mattadord: It's easier now than ever, I would imagine. Well, sort of. It's as easy or hard as writing about anything else, I suppose.

There is so much content out there, so many places looking for free or extremely cheap labor that it takes very little to get started, and then it's a relatively simple 'you get as much as you put into it' sort of thing.

I wrote throughout college, probably posted at least 150 columns or news articles before getting paid a cent. I didn't care, really, I was doing it for fun, and I was spending so much time posting about basketball on message boards anyway that it didn't take that much extra work to frame and reword those thoughts into an article instead.

'Writing' is my weakness, still, without a doubt. I know what I'm talking about, the Kings, for example, because I haven't missed a game in over a decade, and I've been playing or coaching basketball my entire life. I'm confident about my content, not as confident in my writing ability, and that will probably hold me back unless I continue to improve. I'm not sure if it's something I'm actually going to work on, as free time is getting harder and harder to come by, and I'm perfectly happy doing the Kings thing for as long as I'm able. As much as I like basketball, I realized very quickly that when I've tried to step out of the Kings comfort zone I've come accustomed to, I'm a lot less confident about my thoughts.

I started by asking a independent Sacramento Kings blogger if I could contribute to their site. Sort of like a cold call. He asked for a sample, I came up with something, and he liked it enough to give me a shot. I wrote there for a bit, branched out to a few other smaller NBA sites, and just sort of moved up the ladder from there. I would often search twitter for 'NBA writing' to find opportunities, or craigslist under the jobs or gigs tab. That is a really good place to start, and at that point you just want reps to get comfortable anyway, so a small platform isn't necessarily a bad thing!

A lot of writers way way way more talented than I will tell you not to write for free, but I just don't know how I would have gone anywhere if I didn't do that. I suppose it would be avoidable if you were really, really good, and maybe you are! I wasn't, and I knew that going in.

I don't think I'm good right now, to be honest, but I'm so much better than I was when I started.

If you want some specifics on sites I'd suggest starting at, send me a DM!

@tubaker: Thanks for the tips and everything. I really appreciate it. I don't have the basketball background that you do, so I'm not too good with the X's and O's so that will definitely be a major place for improvement for me. I don't really know what type of articles I'd like to write or if the stuff I want to get out there can't just be put out there through forum posts like this. Again thank you for all the tips and I'll definitely DM you and if you don't mind I'd like to talk about some stuff. Thanks again duder!

So as a Pels fan I've been hearing a lot about the AD and CP3 collision last night. Some fans are saying it is dirty and calling for a suspension of CP3 as well as a rule change. While others have said it isn't dirty, but very questionable at the least. I was curious what the Clipper fans were saying about it, and found that there were some fans saw it the way of the Pels fans. Few said it was dirty, but a handful thought that is was a little questionable. There was obviously a few that saw nothing wrong with it too, but it was nice to see that they also saw it as a bad move. I think it got so much play because of the fear of a major injury (AD couldn't put any weight on his knee afterwards) to a superstar really made people thick about the play.

When CP3 was on the Hornets I wasn't too knowledgable about basketball so I just saw a guy get fouls and play the game, not the extremely competitive, questionable plays, and whining to the refs I now see today. I understand the drawing fouls is part of the game, but there needs to be a line. I'll post the vine below and let you decide for yourself, but what I saw was CP3 go into AD to try and get a foul call, which he did. At a certain point I just wish the rules would punish plays like this more. Obviously the offensive player wanted to draw the foul and the defensive player was just going up court.

Here is the video you decide for yourself.

So what do you think?

@mattadord: There are rules that have been put in place over the years which condone flopping and will actually punish players where it hurts most, their wallets. As for the play in itself it unfortunately is one of those plays where it was a decision that had to be made by the refs at the time and I believe under per rule isn't able for video review. It's unfortunate that AD had to be injured during the process. The play isn't dirty it's just a player trying to draw a foul on the other teams best player. If you wanna talk about dirty CP3 plays just watch the video below!!!

@i_stay_puft: I know about the flopping stuff, but the league uses it so infrequently that it's hardly a deterrent. Plus I think Bill Simmons brought up the idea that guys might just bite the bullet in order to help their team. I don't think it's dirty either. It's just one of those plays that makes me roll my eyes when I'm watching a game. It's a cheeky play, but most frustrating it stops the flow of the game. Those two things combined only make foul calls like that worse in my book.

Also here is the return of the lethargic, bad, losing Pelicans again..... UGH.

That play is a pretty typical play these days by PGs (as a Celtics fan have seen Rondo and now Thomas do it a lot). It's just cutting in front of a big to get a cheap foul and I personally don't love it and wouldn't mind seeing it got rid. I don't see this play as dirty at all. Unfortunately there are a lot of ways to get hurt on a basketball court. Just because someone gets hurt on a play I don't think there should be an overreaction.

I wouldn't say that Chris Paul thing was malicious. People jumping or running into someone for a foul is always lame, but I don't get why he should be suspended. Granted, I haven't heard the discussion about it.

Now you guys got me looking at NBA fights. Remember when Doug Collins got mixed up in some stuff?

@artisanbreads: I totally agree. It's not dirty, but I think it's pretty cheap. I'd like to see it either gotten rid of or the flopping penalties taken more serious. I think fouls like this fall under flopping even though something like this isn't the first thing that comes to mind when someone says flopping. It's the exaggerated movement to fool the referee into calling a foul.

@csl316: I agree lame, but not malicious. I really only saw the calls for suspension and all on Pelicans sites right after the game, and it has seemed to cool down even a day later. I think people were just upset that we could have lost our superstar in an already injury plagued season. There is just so much going wrong so far this season for the Pels that people were ready to riot if the worse thing that could happen did.

Man that fight is crazy. There are coaches even throwing punches! There is a part of me that misses stuff like that in games, but it's probably for the best that stuff like this doesn't happen anymore. I think it is wanting rivalries that are intense as that one. The biggest rivalry in today's NBA is the Warriors and Clippers... maybe? They jaw back and forth to one another, are in the same division/general area, and have played each other in the playoffs in recent history. The problem is the Warriors have just been dominating the Clips so it lacks that good back and forth that makes a rivalry really fun.

@mattadord: Yeah, it's kind of funny to see coaches getting in the mix here, but we're better off with the players acting like professionals. Most of the time. Maybe it's because I just turned 30, but you want them to set good examples for kids.

As for rivalries, I know the Bulls have their rivalry against Lebron James but it's been one-sided. But that's a local thing. I'm sure there's a bunch of other smaller rivalries like that in other cities, but nothing really makes an impression where I need to see a game because they're gonna throw down.

@csl316: Yeah true it's good to see some athletes realize that they are role models to kids and act accordingly. It's like Lebron changed the type of shorts he wears to a shorter slimmer fit, and his reason was that he has kids looking up to him and he wanted to set a good example.

I think the rivalries are now on a local stage only. I hate the Mavericks and the crowd is always rowdy for games against them. I doubt anyone is circling the Mavs vs Pels games on their schedule, but me and other Pels fans can't wait to play and hopefully beat up on the Mavs. I actually call Dirk Nowitzki "Boo-baby Dirk Nowitzki" because he complains to the refs so much, but I have no other dumb nicknames like that for any other player or team.

Man, I'm just bummed out that in a span of one month Jahlil Okafor got into more trouble than the more outspoken Joel Embiid who isn't even playing.

I think it's ridiculous they are providing him with a security guard. It's not like he's a blameless victim in all of these incidents.

On a lighter note, the Warriors have been an exceptionally amazing team to watch this year. Steph Curry is on fire and it doesn't look like he will be slowing down anytime soon.

Kobe announced he is going to retire at the end of the year. Finally he realized what everyone else was seeing. Though I totally understand why he was the last to recognize that it was time to go. Professional athletes always seem to hold on and stick around longer than their body allows them.

I've never been a Kobe fan, but never really despised the guy either. Though I'm loving this Kobe season. He is playing some of the worst basketball period. The dude shot 17 three's last night even though he is only shooting like 20% for the year! I don't know if he has no self-awareness or just doesn't care, but I love watching it. It's just amazing to see Kobe just careen this team into the dirt so badly that it pops up on the other side of the Earth. The Lakers weren't going to be a good team to begin with, but when you add Byron Scott with his horrible rotations and coaching along with Kobe just chucking airballs all game the team is down-right horrendous. Here is my favorite Vine so far from the Kobe Bryant Farewell Tour (I'm sorry it's a link I couldn't get the embed tool to work for whatever reason).

The laugh at the end is just the perfect little cherry on top!