mattadord

So the Warriors' amazing streak finally ended last night. You could kinda guess it was coming after that double OT game in Boston just the night before. It was one of the most impressive stretches period, then for sure the best to start off the season. They came out to show they weren't "lucky" or any other b.s. reason someone could think up last year. It'll be exciting to see what they do the rest of the year. Will they try and go for the single season wins record or will they cool off and focus on rest? The Spurs are the only team I could see fighting the Warriors for the top seed in the West, but still the Warriors already have a pretty sizable lead and the Spurs are going to rest too.

@dochaus: After the Wizards' playoff run a couple years ago, they became my team out East to watch mostly (though I don't follow too closely). After watching that Pels/Wiz game I think they played better than you're giving them credit for. They kept Jared Dudley in on AD because AD doesn't have a post game to punish smaller players yet, and the team seemed to be knocking down a good amount of their threes. All in all the Wiz deserved to win that game. Though if you're still feeling down and think they should make a change might I suggest a trade? How about John Wall for literally anyone not named Anthony Davis? Haha yeah pipe dream there. A Pels writer asked on Twitter if people would trade all three of our guards (Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans) for John Wall, and it was a resounding yes. Unfortunately for the Pels and their fans I imagine that that yes wouldn't be echoed from the Wiz side of the equation. Hopefully the Wiz can turn it around though, because it looks like the Pels sure aren't figuring it out. I mean 15 4th quarter points to Aaron Brooks, he had two before that! IT'S AARON BROOKS!!

What a win by the Warriors. That was a great game. The Celts are legit. They might be the 2nd best team out East.

Also the Pels won. They played absolutely infuriating, but that's the norm now unfortunately. There a moments of smart defense and offense, and you think of man they grasped the new schemes!! Then.... Tyreke pounds the ball for 20 seconds or Cole on a 1v1 fast break settles for a contested midrange shot instead of attack! Or getting the ball with 35 seconds on your side of the court but somehow don't get a 2 for 1. This team is just so frustrating. They have moments of brilliance then just absolutely confusing dumb stretches that make you question if they know how to play basketball. Either be good or bad Pelicans I can't handle this flip flopping.

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!

@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.

@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.

@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.

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?

@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!

@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!

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.