General NBA watching thread. 2009 - 2010 edition.

[Jon Avalon]

Man, Hump has been doing pretty well with the Nets. 2nd highest scorer and rebounding in today's game @ clippers with 21pts 7rebs & 1 Block.

Had 15pts 8rebs the previous game and 9pts 8rebs in his debut. Good for him, keep it up hump.

[Kidd Karma]

Kris Humphries 17 and 9 thus far at the Clippers

[sefant77]

Wow that was old Mavs Nash...headless chicken running in the corner

[fluid.forty.one]

blazers lol

[bernardos70]

Damn it, why did we trade Humphreys, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????

Free League Pass this week.... on TV, on the Internet, and on your Android (or iPhone) phone:

http://www.nba.com/lpfreetrial/?cid=nba188

And yup, if any of you missed the game tonight...... I *think* it should be there.

[EricaLubarsky]

Hump may be contributing but I'll start caring when the Nets get to 5-6 wins ON THE SEASON.

[mac222b]

Grizz are playing really well

[spreedom]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Stack just signed with Milwaukee for the rest of the season. I have fond memories of his play here and wish him well. Hopefully he still has a little bit of good basketball in him.

[Windmill360]

Is Dick Clark announcing the spurs Utah game on ESPN?

[sefant77]

C.J. Miles 4:26 0-4 0-2 0-0 -20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
P. Millsap 4:26 0-0 0-0 0-0 -20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

-20 in 4mins...

[CadBane]

The Bobcats just merked SA, Phoenix and Miami tonight at home. 18-4 at home now. I've been watching them and thin they'll start winning on the road. They could easily get the 5 seed and take out the Hawks in round 1.

[Windmill360]

damn what a posterization on Blair by Boozer

[GermanDunk]

lol @ BOS

[sefant77]

Hornets coming back from -10 in the 4th, damn lucky bastards this season, so many close wins..

Duncan: 19999 and fouled out

[Windmill360]

lol @ duncan

[mavErika]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Duncan: 19999 and fouled out

and SA lost

Somehow it's really easy for me to root for the Jazz if they are wearing their green throw-backs (especially if they play SA), although Utah is still a bad city.

Originally Posted by CadBane

The Bobcats just merked SA, Phoenix and Miami tonight at home. 18-4 at home now. I've been watching them and thin they'll start winning on the road. They could easily get the 5 seed and take out the Hawks in round 1.

any contributions from Diop in that stretch? Early in the season I looked more often into box-scores, so I guess not, but I didn't keep track on them.

[EricaLubarsky]

11 teams in the West have winning records. In fact the West's two teams tied for 11th in the conference (NO, and MEM) both have better records than the 5th seed in the East (CHA). Both teams are winning at a 54% pace and still 1.5 games out of the playoffs, while TOR and CHI both have losing records and are in the 7 and 8 spots.

NJ in the mean time is on pace to win 6 games the whole season.

Mavs record is now 4th best in the league behind only the Lakers, Cavs, and Celts.

[quietsavant]

Doesn't it seem like Bosh is showcasing himself for this summer? I swear the guy is putting up Career numbers as an average this entire season.

[MavsWiLLHaVeRinGs]

The Jazz not only beat the Spurs they swept the season series against them, 4-0.

[sefant77]

The west is packed. Last year it was 8 out of 9. This year its 8 out of 11...

Lakers

Mavs
Nuggets
Spurs

Blazers
Jazz
Thunder
Rockets
Suns
Grizzlies
Hornets

I say the first 4 are save without injuries. Then it will be 4 out of 7 for the rest...

[sefant77]

Every season James becomes a bigger douchebag

[LetsGoMavs]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Every season James becomes a bigger douchebag

so true..he is on his steady way to become the most arrogant player in the nba


by the way: i have sent you a PM

[sefant77]

another close Hornets win, ridiculous

[fluid.forty.one]

Rose just posterized "that other white guy" from Phoenix SO bad.

[EricaLubarsky]

Man its wierd that DJ M'Benga has a championship ring and just met with president Obama.

[sefant77]

So is it just me or does the Pacers had 44 different S5 in 44 games?

[LonghornDub]

Spurs lose at home to Chicago, Rockets lose at home to the Hawks, and either the Suns or the Jazz will lose. Good night overall.

[dalger]

...and the icing on the cake were the depressed Spurs announcers at the end of the game. Spurs losses are actually quite the downer for them in all their biased glory. I watched the final three minutes of the game only in hopes to hear and see their hopes being shattered. Good times.

[LonghornDub]

Originally Posted by dalger

...and the icing on the cake were the depressed Spurs announcers at the end of the game. Spurs losses are actually quite the downer for them in all their biased glory. I watched the final three minutes of the game only in hopes to hear and see their hopes being shattered. Good times.

Austin has a lot of great things about it, and one of them is that we get Spurs home game feeds and I can watch those guys every game. Hearing Sean Elliott cry after losses is so, so wonderful.

[EricaLubarsky]

Dont forget about the Magic. They arent our competition but its still nice to see them losing.

BTW Gortat and Bass combined for 0pts, 1reb, 0ast, 0blk, 1TO, 5PF in 9minutes

Memphis jumps into the 8th seed in the West too...they have a rep for being bad but they are beastly at Fedex

[dirno2000]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

Spurs lose at home to Chicago, Rockets lose at home to the Hawks, and either the Suns or the Jazz will lose. Good night overall.

The Suns look like they're going to take care of themselves, especially with the Amare trade talk picking up again. I would have preferred to see them hold on to that 15 point lead and kill some of Utah's momentum. The Jazz are starting to concern me a bit.

[GermanDunk]

When you take a look at the last seasons, Hawks and the Bulls might be the most improved team. Am i right ? I don´t know.

[quietsavant]

Originally Posted by GermanDunk

When you take a look at the last seasons, Hawks and the Bulls might be the most improved team. Am i right ? I don´t know.

Memphis.

[EricaLubarsky]

Win difference versus last year
Atlanta: on pace for 55-27 (47-35) +8wins
Chicago: on pace for 40-42 (41-41) -1 win
Memphis: on pace for 46-36 (24-58) +22wins

two season differential
Atlanta 55-27<-37-45 +18wins
Chicago 40-42<-33-49 +7 wins
Memphis 46-36<22-60 +24 wins

[quietsavant]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Win difference versus last year
Atlanta: on pace for 55-27 (47-35) +8wins
Chicago: on pace for 40-42 (41-41) -1 win
Memphis: on pace for 46-36 (24-58) +22wins

two season differential
Atlanta 55-27<-37-45 +18wins
Chicago 40-42<-33-49 +7 wins
Memphis 46-36<22-60 +24 wins

thanks erica.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Could someone post Hollinger's defense of his most recent quirk in his goofy rankings, namely that the Jazz inexplicably emerged as #1? I'm always good for a laugh.

[dirno2000]

I know what you're all thinking: Utah?

Utah?!

OK, Utah.

The Jazz are No. 1 in the Power Rankings, ahead of the mighty Cavs and Lakers, after rallying from 17 down to beat Phoenix on Monday night -- their latest high-profile win in a torrid 10-game stretch. The Jazz are 8-2 in their past 10 games, including six victories against teams with winning records, and several of the wins were impressive: They beat Memphis by 23 without Deron Williams, topped Miami by 29 and dumped Dallas by 18 on the road. They also, of course, had that dramatic nationally televised win over Cleveland, when little-known Sundiata Gaines hit a game-winning 3 at the buzzer.

Still, the Jazz are 26-18 overall, while the Lakers and Cavs are seven and eight games ahead of them in the standings at 33-11 and 35-11, respectively. Are we really saying that the Jazz are better than those two?

Let me offer a brief defense of the Jazz before I give the final answer:

1. The records lie
Utah is 26-18, but has the scoring margin of a team that should be 30-14. The Jazz haven't been fortunate in close games (5-8 in games decided by five points or fewer) but have been in nearly every other contest. Utah's only two blowout losses have come in the infamous 101-77 loss to the Lakers in which they scored only six points in the fourth quarter, and a 96-83 loss to Atlanta in which they pulled the starters when trailing by 27 in the middle of the third quarter.

As a result, the standings don't reflect Utah's true strength. Most notably, the Jazz trail Dallas by three games in the standings despite a much better scoring margin.

2. Their schedule has been difficult
The Jazz have played more home games than road games, something they have in common with several West rivals at this point (among the conference's upper crust, only the Mavs have played more on the road than at home). That may make it seem like the tough part of their schedule is still to come. In truth, the Jazz just finished the tough part and they slapped it around.

Utah opponents have a .521 winning percentage when not playing the Jazz; only Houston, Miami and Toronto have faced tougher slates thus far. Cleveland opponents are at .497 (19th), and the Lakers, at .512 (seventh), aren't too far behind Utah. But L.A. has had even more home cookin' than the Jazz, having played 26 home games and only 18 away from Staples Center.

Looking ahead, the Jazz should be able to make up some of the ground in the standings, as Utah faces only one elite team on the road the rest of the season (the Lakers). The next-best team the Jazz play away from home is Oklahoma City, with the rest coming against losing teams or fringe playoff contenders.

3. They have held up against the big guns
In addition to their well-chronicled 4-0 season sweep of the Spurs and the aforementioned win over Cleveland, the Jazz nearly beat the Cavs on the road without Williams on Nov. 14 (a 107-103 loss in Cleveland) and split the season series with both Orlando and the Lakers (with two more games against L.A. still to come). It's a small sample and I don't put a lot of weight on it, but since a lot of people want to compare how heavyweights did against one another, it's worth noting that the Jazz have held their own in this department.

4. Recent history
OK, this is the crux of the issue. The most recent 25 percent of games played are weighed most heavily by the Power Rankings, and that's only 11 games at this point in the season. It may not seem like it because they aren't on a huge winning streak -- they're 8-3 in their past 11 games -- but the Jazz have been far and away the best team in the league in that span.

Against the fourth-most-difficult schedule, the Jazz's average scoring margin over their past 11 games is plus-11.3 -- nobody else is better than plus-7.0. Even if you take away the scrimmage against the lowly Nets on Jan. 23 they're plus-9.1, and that's against opponents with an average winning percentage near .600; no other team has faced opposition better than .562 in the same stretch. Use any formula you wish, mutilate the calculation as badly as you want, and you'll still reach the same conclusion: The Jazz have been the league's best team over the most recent quarter of the schedule.

5. It's a compressed league
I keep getting back to this because it's true … and because it's a huge point. The Lakers and Cavs may have the two best records, but the margin between those two and the pack has never been as large as the distance last season between the top four teams and everybody else.

We perceive the Lakers and Cavs as miles ahead of the field, but in reality that hasn't been true. L.A. and Cleveland have scoring margins of 61-win teams, which is excellent but hardly dominant. Factor in the schedules, and the Playoff Odds project the Lakers and Cavs to finish with 57 and 60 wins, respectively.

Those are the two best projected records in the league, and nobody else projects to win more than 53 games. If that holds up, it would be the first time since 2002-03 that no team won more than 60 games, the first time since 2001-02 that the league didn't have multiple 60-game winners and the first time since 1987-88 (when it was a 23-team league) that there weren't at least three 55-game winners.

We're seeing that reflected in the Power Rankings. The Jazz, Cavs and Lakers all have ratings in the 106 range -- which is good, but in a normal year, it would not be leading the league. Nine teams behind them clump together with ratings between 102.3 and 104.8, and their positions shift almost daily. A second group of seven hopefuls between 100.0 and 101.5 stands in a similar herd.

Compaction is an important concept to remember when eyeing the Lakers, Cavs and Jazz as well. Remember, the number in the second column of the Rankings (overall record) is more important than the number in the first column (rating). Utah's lead over the other two is small enough in the first column (0.57 over L.A., 0.70 over Cleveland) that a bad outing in Portland on Wednesday night could easily shift the Jazz back to third.

So … on to the big question: Am I saying the Jazz are better than the Cavs and Lakers? Depends on what you mean by "better." The Jazz are playing better than anyone in basketball right now, and that's why they're No. 1 in the Power Rankings -- which, by nature, are designed to put a heavy weight on a team's current form. If the Jazz were to start a series against Cleveland or L.A. that tipped off Tuesday, I'd be seriously inclined to pick them.

But "better" in the global sense? I'm not going anywhere near there yet. The Jazz earned the top spot in the Rankings thanks to a lack of dominance from the league's elite and their own recent torrid play, and props to them for it. That said, I need to see them do it for more than a couple weeks before I anoint them as legitimate challengers to the throne.

[GermanDunk]

Right. The Griz. I forgot. But he, props. the NBA has improved.

[Dirkadirkastan]

They beat Memphis by 23 without Deron Williams

the Jazz nearly beat the Cavs on the road without Williams on Nov. 14

Throughout his elaborate defense, these are the only times Hollinger actually mentions an individual player on the team. Somehow, I'm not convinced.

[fluid.forty.one]

I'd like to thank Chris Paul for hitting the game winner against Portland last night.