Poll: Who Will Win the Western Conference, and/or the NBA Finals?
Posted by Neil Paine on October 23, 2009
Vote or die! OK, maybe not "die"... Um, "Vote or be ashamed that you didn't participate in the democratic process"?
Posted by Neil Paine on October 23, 2009
Vote or die! OK, maybe not "die"... Um, "Vote or be ashamed that you didn't participate in the democratic process"?
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Going with the Lakers to win the Conference and Cleveland to take the whole shabang. Artest does make me nervous. No, not because he is a nutjob who could go Bruce Banner at any moment. But more because he is a nutjob who can jack a shot at any moment. I'm really interested to see how he takes to the triangle, if he can discipline himself. Haven't caught any Lakers preseason, but I got a feeling I'm going to be screaming, "GIVE IT TO PAU," and "GIVE IT TO KOBE" a whole lot this year.
Like everyone else here, I'm way geeked for Tuesday!!!
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
On the other hand, on average Artest does a fantastic job against LeBron. Brons scores 3 few ppg on 2% worse fg% against Artest than against the rest of the league. He also gets fewer assists, fewer rebounds, and has more turnovers (5.1 TOs to 5.3 Assts!)
http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/tiny.cgi?id=D4WoC
Not that it matters. The Rondo / Wallace pick and pop is going to flummox Mo & Shaq. Flummox I say!
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Poll isn't working for me, so I'll try again later, but I picked the Cavaliers overall. To say that LeBron James hasn't had any help is somewhat true, but many of his 2008-09 teammates had success elsewhere before the Cavs' run (some only from their 2007-08 run), but they'll act like they've been there before. Also, Shaquille O'Neal is past his prime and probably one of the more overrated acquisitions, but Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker are some of the most underrated ones.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
PMiddy: I've watched most of the Lakers pre-season games and Artest has fit seamlessly into the offense and has actually been amazingly disciplined. Phil has got on him for not shooting enough actually. He's been mostly a play maker in the offense, perfectly content to rebound, pass and play defense. Apparently the therapy is working for him. Since his shooting is pretty terrible most of the time, it's a good thing he's not looking for his shot anymore. Averaging 3.8 apg in 25 mpg during the pre-season, so that's not too bad. His free throws, on the other hand, leave much to be desired (57.7% in preseason).
October 24th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Wow! I'm impressed. Well, if Artest is doing his best Rodman impression, then it's going to be really, really hard to top the Lakers.
October 25th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I was amazed that Las Vegas has Orlando at 12/1 while Boston 4/1, Cleveland 3/1 and Lakers 2/1. Their upgrade with Vince Carter, Brandon Bass and Jason Williams gives them so much depth and experience to compliment their rising young stars and excellent coaching that I couldn't resist putting some money down.
San Antonio and Denver were both at 10/1 fer cryin out loud. Orlando is hugely overlooked.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Vegas has Denver ranked ahead of Orlando? Wow. That's just... wow.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Yeah... I agree with the Lakers at 2/1 because they are almost a given to win the West with the Spurs as the only possible competition in my opinion. A line of 2/1 essentially makes them a coin flip against whoever comes out of the east.
Orlando at 12/1 is completely off base. In my opinion, Orlando upgraded more than Cleveland and Boston did and they won the East last season!! Orlando is seriously stacked and as a Lakers fan, they scare me more than Boston or Cleveland does.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Hi, loved the post but quick question...I had a little difficulty loading your page - I use firefox, do you think this was the problem...Bookmarked :-)