Have you had your heart broken by an inferior team? If so call Chandler and Chandler for some Mavericks justice. The Mavs video team is at it again. This time Chandler Parsons and Tyson Chandler are the marquee players just don't forget, they are not lawyers.
Tonight in stunning fashion the Utah Jazz hold off the Knicks comeback thanks largely to the heroics of young Trey Burke. First Carmelo had to do some heroics of his own. Melo finished the game with 46 points 7 rebounds and the game tying 3 pointer leaving only 2 seconds left on the clock. But the hardship for the New York Knicks continues as they ball is inbounded to Utah's guard Trey Burke who sinks the step back jumper at the buzzer. This win gives the Jazz their second game winning buzzer beater of the season, the other by Gordan Hayward vs the Cavaliers last week. The Knicks meanwhile fall to 2-8, second last in the conference only to the winless Philadelphia 76ers.
Clippers starting power forward Blake Griffin has been officially charged with battery in relation to an alleged incident outside a Las Vegas club. His court date is set for Dec. 8.
Specifically the charge is misdemeanor battery as Griffin allegedly grabbed another man's neck and took his cell phone while outside a club in Las Vegas weeks ago after he was repeatedly bothered by the flash on said cell phone.
No news currently for how this effects his playing time and whether the league intends to suspend Blake Griffin pending investigation. More sure to follow.
The all-star pf currently averages 24ppg and 7rpg for Los Angeles.
With 8:54 left in the 4th quarter Dirk Nowitzki made NBA history when he hit the mid range jumper over Landry. With that make he passes Hakeem Olajuwon for 9th place on the all time scoring list. This makes him the highest scoring international player as he was born and raised in Würzburg, Germany. Now with just under 27,000 career points he looks to pass Elvin Hayes who has 27,313. Nearing the end of his career Nowitzki has never led the league in scoring so he quite likely is the highest scorer in history that never led the league in scoring in a season and if he isn't he's now one step closer to becoming it.
The NBA's offical youtube account released this video tonight highlighting some milestones in his career. Although more could certainly be added to the video it's probably best to wait until his entire HoF career is over to make the hour long epic.
The workhorse power forward Ed Davis is making an argument for the most underpaid player in the league with his play this season for the LA Lakers. He's currently signed to a 2 year contract worth just under 2.1 million dollars across those 2 years. Coming off the bench for Boozer he's averaging 10.4 pts 7.2 rebs and 1 ast per game while providing constant hustle for the purple and gold.
North of the border James Johnson shows that he can still get up as he dunks on over and through 76er Brandon Davies. Poor guy was hoping to draw a charge but couldn't get over in time and pays the price as a result. Also I enjoy Drake's enthusiasm on the play but wth is he wearing. I may never understand "fashion" but sometimes I'm quite happy about that.
It doesn't matter how you get the job done as long as your team gets the W. Tied at 119 with a third overtime only 2.7 seconds away Lance Stephenson in-bounds the ball to Marvin Williams only to immediately get it back and bank in the DEEP three pointer at the buzzer. Sir Lancelot's OT heroics brings the Charlotte Hornets back to .500 at 3-3. I'm not sure who's more bummed that Stephenson is on the Hornets now, the Pacers or the Hawks.
Going into tonight's games there are only 3 teams remaining who have yet to lose, the Houston Rockets (6-0), the Memphis Grizzlies (5-0) and the Golden State Warriors (4-0). This arises the question, which team can remain undefeated for longer?
The Memphis Grizzlies play against the injury ridden Oklahoma City Thunder tonight and the rebuilding Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow and are assumed to win both games. The next game for the Warriors and the Rockets are actually against each other tomorrow night so it's guaranteed that by Sunday there will be at least one undefeated team remaining and the winning streak of either the Rockets or the Warriors will come to an end. So assuming the Grizzlies avoid a major blunder come Sunday two teams will be left. If the Warriors win they will then have to beat the Phoenix Suns the next night to keep the streak going and if the Rockets win they will be able to relax until their next game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. Before that game though, on Tuesday, the Grizzlies will have to beat the Lakers and the Warriors will have to beat the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. This leads me to believe that the Warriors will not stay unbeaten for the longest since they face 3 teams quite capable of ending said streak. It's also worth mentioning that the Warriors only won 1 of the 4 possible games last season against the Rockets and their game against them on Saturday is in Houston so I'm comfortable saying that the Rockets and the Grizzlies will be the last two teams to stay undefeated. The Grizzlies may face 3 lower skilled teams for their next games but upsets happen in the NBA almost every night (they'll have to face Kobe one night) and the Grizzlies have issues scoring some nights so simply by having to face more teams the Grizzlies have a harder shot than the Rockets. For these reasons it's my opinion that the Houston Rockets will be the final team in the NBA to remain undefeated.
You get a buzzer beater, and you get a buzzer beater, everyone gets a buzzer beater !
Tied at 100 with only 3.4 seconds to go the Utah Jazz and specifically Gordon Hayward would not allow the game to go into overtime. Hayward finished the game with 21 points and the game winner which I'm sure he feels is the most important part too in defeating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-100.
Tobias Harris also hit a game winner, his against the Philadelphia 76ers. With the game tied at 89 the Magic made sure to make the most out of their final possession by getting the ball to Harris who hit the fade away jumper to give Orlando the 91-89 win.
The Toronto Raptors faced off against the Boston Celtics tonight and managed to escape the Garden with a 110-107 win. The game was tied at 105 with under a minute left and the Celtics had possession, that was until Kyle Lowry picked the pockets of Marcus Smart and laid it off for DeMar DeRozan who slams it over Kelly Olynyk plus the foul. This three point lead secured the win for the Raptors who were down 23-35 at the end of the first quarter.
On Monday night point god Chris Paul recorded the first triple-double of the season in a 107-101 win against the Utah Jazz. Paul finished the game with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds and by doing so he recorded his first ever triple-double since he dawned a Los Angeles Clippers uniform. League wide there were 46 triple-doubles last season and I ain't messing around.
In a game on November 2nd 2014 between the Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors comic book nerd and starting center for the blazers Robin Lopez found himself apart of 2 posters. First one for his monster dunk over Andrew Bogut and then one for Klay Thompson rising up for the throw down late in the 4th.
Tonight in a game between the New York Knicks and the Charlotte Hornets history was made as Carmelo Anthony becomes only the 40th player in NBA history to score over 20,000 points. Carmelo Anthony is the 6th youngest player to pass the 20,000 mark and 3 of those 6 players are still playing in the league today. Surprisingly the two mainly known as prolific scorers, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, actually reached the 20,000 plateau later than LeBron James who has the reputation of being an MVP candidate every year because of his skills on the defensive and offensive end. Few people see James as a prolific scorer and many forget he has the potential to finish among the top 10 scorers in NBA history. Still nobody can deny that Kobe, LeBron, and Carmelo are all straight up ballers.
Kirk Hinrich brought the hustle and heart in a game vs the Cleveland Cavaliers on Halloween of 2014. He finished the game with 20 points on 7/11 shooting with 2 rebounds 1 assist and 2 steals. That plus some hustle plays that you won't find on the stat sheet. It's these intangibles that make Hinrich one of Tom Thibodeau's favourite players, and one of my favourite Bulls. Sadly for the Bulls they lost 114-108 in OT but it wasn't for Kirk's lack of effort as shown in this video.
Its stuff like this that makes me love the Mavericks franchise. It's such a dumb video but that's kinda what makes it so awesome.
@SkinWade @mcuban when @ChandlerParsons said "Left Houston so easily pic.twitter.com/hXvQeKtPEs
— Sam Thomas (@SamuelLThomas) October 31, 2014
This was the largest comeback in Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats franchise history as the team erased a 24 point deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 108-106. Kemba first hit the huge game tying 3 with 1.6 seconds remaining in the 4th and his clutch play continued into OT as he went one on one against Brandon Knight and stepped back for the game winning mid range jumper.
The nba season is back and so is Kobe Bryant as he puts the moves on some of the Rockets rookies and scores inside. Kobe Bryant has something to prove to the world, and that's very exciting.
Tonight the NBA season kicks off with 3 games on the docket including one that has the Dallas Mavericks facing off against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Which is just enough of a reason for me to include this video. I'll be posting more content about the first day of the NBA regular season and beyond as baller stuff occurs so check back daily for more content.
I'm happy too Dirk, I'm happy too.
If you live in Toronto or what seems like anywhere in Canada you've probably seen the marketing of "We The North" which seems to be working as the Raptors enjoyed playing in packed arenas in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal this preseason. The previous season's Atlantic division champions look to improve upon their success and plant themselves as a definitive threat in the Eastern Conference and the league. Last year was a breakout season for the Raptors as they finished 3rd in the conference and took the Brooklyn Nets Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs and only lost by 1 point. Many are skeptical about DeMar DeRozen and Kyle Lowry continuing their high level of play this season but to those haters I just have one thing to say.
Shush. Pardon my French but I just find it easier to believe they will continue to produce at high level rather than regress. Kyle Lowry was signed to a 4 year 48 million dollar contract and some critics say that this financial security will let Lowry become complacent and regress to his old self pre Raptors. Meanwhile I saw him draw multiple charges during preseason games this year. Preseason. We ain't talking bout a regular game, we talking bout preseason. Lowry loves the Raptors rabid fan base and seems really eager to prove to the world that the Raptors are a team you have to worry about facing no matter what time of the year it is. It's this dedication to the team and the city that the people of Toronto like. See for the entire 20 years that the Raptors have existed they've had issues getting star players to come to Toronto and getting stars who have blossomed in Toronto to stay (Carter, Bosh etc); so having one of the key players who brought your team to the playoffs decide to stay really excites the fans because that feeling of validation from an all-star calibre player is something that Raptors fans haven't felt before. It's my opinion that Lowry understands that pain Raptors fans have felt and thrives on being able to give Toronto something to cheer about (yes the Leafs and Blue Jays still aren't great). DeMar DeRozan made his first NBA all-star appearance last season and he seems intent on making sure he will make it back there this year. DeRozan looks to have made "mad gains bro" over the summer in an effort to make his drives to the basket even more deadly. DeMar has shown to be a great finisher at the rim but plenty of big men can still get in his path forcing him to lean and attempt a more difficult shot. This year however thanks to his weight gain DeRozan can now finish against the stronger big men which will hopefully lead to more and-one opportunities. This is great considering he shot .824 from the free throw line last season.
As we all know though a team can't hope to win without good role players placed around stars. Thankfully for the Raptors they still have all their talented role players from last year and only seem to have found more. Ross was criticized after the playoff series against the Nets for being too skinny because it allowed Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce to back him down in the post leading to easy buckets. He seemed to have taken the criticism as best he could and simply responded by coming back with more bulk to deal with larger the sg/sf in the league. Still in case that isn't enough the Raptors went and signed defensive wing James Johnson to help out on that end of the floor. In the case of any issues for the Raptors offensively they signed Lou Williams to help Vasquez and Patterson who will continue to score buckets while not being defensive gaps. The two starting big men for the Raptors Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas will do the same consistent work as last year but will continue to get beaten by more skilled players at the pf and c position. Lucky for them there aren't a lot of dominant big men in the league so most nights this won't be an issue. Although Al Jefferson might drop 40 against the Raptors this season you never know. Again luckily for the Raptors their big men can (and will) get into foul trouble since they have Chuck Hayes, Greg Steimsma, and Tyler Hansbrough, who spent the summer shooting corner 3's apparently, ready to come in and at least hustle hard. I guess Tyler just saw how much people enjoyed seeing Amir Johnson shoot 3's and he thought it would be fun if he could shoot them too. Either way I doubt he will be seeing very many minutes next season but hey it's nice to see that even the players deep into the rotation are working hard to enhance their game. This leaves only the rookies Bruno Caboclo and Lucas Nogueira who will also be playing very few minutes but will look cool along the way.
The Raptors had a 6-12 record before trading Rudy Gay last season and they finished with a 48-35 record (42-23 post Gay). They've only made minor changes to that team during this offseason, ones that on paper will only improve the team overall. For these reasons I believe the Raptors will be breaking that hard fought 50 win mark this year as they finish once again as the the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference.
Oh and the Raptors still have Landry Fields.
With the start of the NBA season quickly approaching I started to wonder what the best and the worst team will be for next season in terms of win-loss. Last year the 30 teams finished as such:
Rk Team Overall 1 San Antonio Spurs 62-20 2 Oklahoma City Thunder 59-23 3 Los Angeles Clippers 57-25 4 Indiana Pacers 56-26 5 Houston Rockets 54-28 6 Miami Heat 54-28 7 Portland Trail Blazers 54-28 8 Golden State Warriors 51-31 9 Memphis Grizzlies 50-32 10 Dallas Mavericks 49-33 11 Chicago Bulls 48-34 12 Toronto Raptors 48-34 13 Phoenix Suns 48-34 14 Brooklyn Nets 44-38 15 Washington Wizards 44-38 16 Charlotte Bobcats 43-39 17 Minnesota Timberwolves 40-42 18 Atlanta Hawks 38-44 19 New York Knicks 37-45 20 Denver Nuggets 36-46 21 New Orleans Pelicans 34-48 22 Cleveland Cavaliers 33-49 23 Detroit Pistons 29-53 24 Sacramento Kings 28-54 25 Los Angeles Lakers 27-55 26 Boston Celtics 25-57 27 Utah Jazz 25-57 28 Orlando Magic 23-59 29 Philadelphia 76ers 19-63 30 Milwaukee Bucks 15-67
It wasn't until looking at this information today that I realized just how awful the Bucks season was last year due to injuries, lack of stars, and arrests among other things. This year however I think they can do better than their 15-67 record, maybe even crack above 20 wins something which the Philadelphia 76ers won't be doing this season. Last year the 76ers had a bunch of guys who could barely play basketball mixed in with a some more veteran players who could such as Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes who now all play for different teams. Sure the 76ers have MCW, Noel, and Embid who are talented players but they simply don't have any older guys who can help them win games as apposed to just put up stats. The 76ers are tanking in order to get high draft picks in hopes of one day competing for a title and whether you like the tanking strategy or not you at least gotta give it to the teams GM Sam Hinkie for going all in on the "we gotta be reallllllyyyy bad so we can get good mentality" because this 76ers team is BAD.
The worst team exists in the east but now lets head to the west for the best team of next season, which also happens to be the best team of last season as well. Yes hot sports take here the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs will have the best record in the league next season. As I wrote in my NBA Playoff Predictions post for the West it was my opinion that the Thunder would be the best team in the Conference and likely the league but with Durant set to miss the first few weeks of the regular season OKC's record will slip at least marginally which will be enough for the Spurs to be able to hold the league's best record once again.
So to summarize these will be the standings for next season :
1. San Antonio Spurs
2-29. Other teams
30. Philadelphia 76ers
Today the Dallas Mavericks announced that Bernard James, Doron Lamb, and Ivan Johnson were cut from the Mavs roster. This puts Dallas at the max for players, 15, which includes:
Jameer Nelson, Raymond Felton, Gal Mekel, Devin Harris, Monta Ellis, Ricky Ledo, Chandler Parsons, Jae Crowder, Richard Jefferson, Dirk Nowitzki, Al Farouq Aminu, Charlie Villanueva, Tyson Chandler, Brandon Wright and Greg Smith.
Only 12 men can suit up to play each game so 3 of these guys will likely see very few minutes. Most likely those 3 will be Greg Smith, Ricky Ledo, and Gal Mekel although Mekel may see more time at the beginning of the season as Raymond Felton is currently recovering from an ankle injury. Even once healthy however he has to sit out for 4 games for his gun charges he acquired back when he played for the Knicks. I'm personally not a fan of Felton's basketball game so I hope this extra time for Mekel can help cement him as the third pg in the rotation.
The Mavericks take on the Spurs on Tuesday for the season opener where barring any changes the starters will be Jameer Nelson PG, Monta Ellis SG, Chandler Parsons SF, Dirk Nowitzki PF, and Tyson Chandler C.
