NBA

[JK]

Boston 77 - Knicks 37, 5 mins left in 3rd

Hope the Celts can keep their form up all year

[Strawb]

Rivers Named Coach of the Month

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2007 -- The Boston Celtics' Doc Rivers was named the NBA Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October and November.

Rivers guided the Celtics to a 13-2 (.867) record last month, including eight straight wins to open the season. Boston outscored opponents by a 13.7 ppg margin while holding teams to a .410 field goal percentage. The Celtics recorded a perfect 8-0 mark at TD Banknorth Garden, besting the opposition at home by 21.6 points over that stretch. Owners of the NBA's top record at month's end, the Celtics enjoyed the franchise's best November since 1985-86 when Boston opened 13-1.
good start for the Men in Green Go the Celtics

[saintal]

How bad are the heat atm?

[Strawb]

BAD but will the men in Green win a 17th title?

[saintal]

A big chance of making the finals at least, given the lack of genuine title chances in the east compared to the west. (although it does look a stronger conference compared to last year)

I still think the winner will come from the West. i.e Spurs, mavs, suns, jazz or even hornets.

[Hardpuncher]

Sorry, but I haven't followed the NBA for a while.
How are the Phoenix Suns going? Is Steve Nash still dominating?

[saintal]

Suns are 16-5 this year. Like Dallas, will be judged purely on their playoff performance though after falling short of the finals the last 3 years.

Nash, still playing brilliant basketball. A quick look at his stats suggest this- 18 ppg, 12apg, 52% shooting, 45% from beyond the arc.

[ORDoubleBlues]

What about the year Marcus Camby is having for the Nuggets!!!
A guy who has always had ability but has also been consistently struck down by injury is having a career year at the age of 33 with a 2nd placing in the league with 14.8 rebounds a game (5.4 a game above his career average and over 3 a game more than his best rebounding season prior) and he's second in blocked shots with 3.3 a game. In the game against the Lakers recently he certainly looked like someone with plenty of enthusiasm. The Nuggets are also nicely positioned at moment with a 13-8 record.
Utah's Andrei Kirilenko almost had his 3rd career 5x5 game, which would have only been the fifth time ever, with his extraordinary box score of 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals and 4 blocked shots in a recent 120-96 win for the Jazz over the Lakers.
Recently turned 22 Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic continues his phenomal ascension into the elite players of the league.

[Hardpuncher]

Thanks for that Saintal.
Will have to start getting back into the NBA again soon

[saintal]

4 wins in a row for the blazers (Portland fans tend to get excited about minor winning streaks early in the season )

Wins in Utah have been few and far between in recent years.

will be keen to see how we go tomorrow against a hot Warriors side coming off a win agianst the spurs

[JK]

4 wins in a row for the blazers (Portland fans tend to get excited about minor winning streaks early in the season )

Wins in Utah have been few and far between in recent years.

will be keen to see how we go tomorrow against a hot Warriors side coming off a win agianst the spurs

No Aldridge in that one either ... I have him in my fantasy team so I hope he's back soon!!

[saintal]

9 in a row now for the Blazers, best current streak in the league

Good to see another team with recent troubles starting to win a few too (Atlanta).

Celtics pipped at the buzzer by the pistions today for just their 3rd loss of the season.

[brod]

NBA opening day tomorrow, with the seasons tip off in 10 hours....bring it on.

Memphis, Milwaukee and Boston (not as much though as everyone says) to be the improvers

Shows how much I know. SFA!!!
- Boston are 29-3 and on track to win 74 games and have the winningest season ever
- Milwaukee are 13-20 and last in their division (yest only three games behind the 8th ranked team in the east where there is still no depth, only three teams are two wins over .500)
- Memphis are 10-23 and last in their division

[saintal]

For first time since '82, NBA grants protest requiring replay

By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP Sports Writer
January 11, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat must replay the final 51.9 seconds of their game last month because the NBA said the official scorer ruled incorrectly that Shaquille O'Neal fouled out. This will be the first time since 1982 the league has sent teams back on the court for a replay.

The Hawks won 117-111 at home in overtime Dec. 19. The NBA said Friday the replay will be held before the teams' next scheduled game -- March 8 in Atlanta. Play will start from the time after O'Neal's disputed sixth foul.

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The Hawks also were fined $50,000, with commissioner David Stern ruling the team was "grossly negligent" in failing to address the mistake.

The protest is the first granted by the NBA since December 1982, when then-NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien upheld a request for a replay by the San Antonio Spurs after their 137-132 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers the previous month.

The Spurs and Lakers finished the game in April 1983, with San Antonio winning 117-114.

The Hawks were leading 112-111 in overtime when O'Neal was called for a foul. The scoring table personnel, who are provided by the home team, ruled it was the Miami center's sixth foul, when actually it was only his fifth.

According to the league, the mistake stemmed from a foul with 3:24 remaining in the fourth quarter that was called on Udonis Haslem but was mistakenly credited to O'Neal at the scoring table.

Stern ruled the Hawks "failed to follow league-mandated scoring procedures and failed to respond effectively when the members of the statisticians' crew noticed the mistake," the NBA said in a statement.

The NBA requires the official scorer to coordinate foul calls with the stat crew during every timeout. That apparently didn't happen in this case, resulting in the mistake going unnoticed until after the game, when the Hawks put out revised boxes showing O'Neal with six fouls.

This isn't the first statistical problem to occur in Atlanta. On Nov. 24, 2006, the official scorer failed to credit Toronto's T.J. Ford with a basket that would have given the Raptors a late tie and an opportunity to change the outcome of a 97-93 loss.

"Because of this conduct by Atlanta's personnel, Miami suffered a clear competitive disadvantage, as O'Neal -- the Heat's second-leading scorer and rebounder that night -- was removed from a one-point game with only 51.9 seconds remaining," the NBA statement said.

Al Horford hit two free throws after O'Neal's foul to give the Hawks a 114-111 lead. Anthony Johnson added a running jumper with 14 seconds left to put the game away.

Now, they'll have to do it over again.

[brod]

What a finish from the Wizards, and does this have the questions coming at the Celtics??

6 minutes remaining in the 4th
Celtics 77- 63 Wizards
2.30 minutes reamining in the 4th
Celtics 79-72 Wizards
1 minutes remaining
Wizards hit a 3pt to tie at 79
25 sec remaining
Pierce hits 2 free thows to take lead back 83-82
Finish
Wizards win 88-83

Final 6 minutes Celtics outscored 25-6
The Wizards did not miss a FG in the last 2.22
The Celtics made 1 FG in the last 6.20 in this time the Big 3 simply did not come through in crucng time
- Pierce 1 FG missed 1 Turnover (made 2 FT)
- Allen 3 FG missed (2 were 3 pointers, other a layup)
- Garnett 5 FG missed 1 Turnover ( Made 1 FG, 2 FT)

[saintal]

Good win for the Wizards. Some remarkable stats there.

Boston have lost a few lately. Looking forward to Portland V Boston on Thursday

[brod]

What im seeing in the NBA (back after a long break)

- Lakers winning 11 of 12 games, but with Bynum out injured they took OT, a buzzer beater from Kobe and him to score 48 to overcome the Sonics
- Boston lost 3 of 4 games including back to back to the Wizards (love to see it)
- Ginobili showing how much he means to the success of the Spurs who went 7-8. Ginobili goes 0/6 FG in the first three quarters and then as the 76ers take the lead in the last he pours in 14 points to lead the Spurs to victory
- Andrew Bogut on fire. Follows up his career best scoring night (29pts 14/16FG vs Amare and Phoenix) with 23 pts, 9/12 FG in loss vs Utah. Pity he could only score 3pts in the last quarter as the Jazz overrun the Bucks 27-15 in the last to win by 11. The was also his 4th double-double in a row.

[Dutchy]

Saw an interesting stat on the Lakers the other night, they have won more games this season when Kobe has scored less than 20 points than they have when he has scored more than 20

[brod]

Saw an interesting stat on the Lakers the other night, they have won more games this season when Kobe has scored less than 20 points than they have when he has scored more than 20

Percentually yes,
Kobe less than 20 points 7-1
Kobe more than 20 points 19-10
You also might look that 4 of those seven wins were against Chicago or Philly

[brod]

What im seeing in the NBA

- Bogut top scores for the Bucks..again, 21 pts (8/14 FG - rest of team 25/73 34%) 10 reb, 4 blocks. Last four games hes averaged 21.8ppg, 10.5rpg
- Seattle a chance for back to back number one picks
- Pacers score an amazing 46pts in the fourth to over run the Warriors by 8pts. (22 TO's in the first 3 quarters, 2 in the last)
- Shaq doesnt help Heat, as they lose by 30pts to the Bulls. Shaq scored 24 pts and had 10 reb, but the Heat lost their 11th in a row.