I'm tellin' ya man, this Utah Jazz team ain't one to mess with. Best team in the league right now, by far.

I can't believe how this is their best start in franchise history, besting even all those years of Stockton and Malone.

It really is amazing. But, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. Some of these other teams that started well out of the gate like Atlanta, Philly and Portland are starting to falter. Not saying Utah will end up like that, but just because they've started off well doesn't make them a lock to make waves in May and June.

They're definitely turning heads right now, though. Jerry Sloan is doing a heck of a coaching job.

Very true ... just look at Dallas. After a 0-4 start, they've won eight straight, including a win against the Spurs just a few hours ago. The Mavericks are the hottest team right out outside of Utah.

Even though they won yet again tonight, I don't see Utah staying in first place for long. Teams are taking notice, and they'll get up to play the Jazz. Carlos Boozer won't be putting up those numbers when he starts seeing double-teams on every possession, or every time he catches the ball.

....

Lots of stuff happened tonight on a busy 13-games schedule...

Allen Iverson returned -- from a tooth situation, of all things -- to the lineup and poured in 46 points to beat the Bulls. Ben Wallace had ZERO rebounds in that game.

Gilbert Arenas was held to THREE points -- on 1-12 shooting -- by Memphis.

Kevin Martin of the Kings scored 35 points tonight, on 12-19 shooting.

Carmelo Anthony is leading the league in scoring, at 31.0 points going into the game against the Warriors, where he put up another 30. (I know it's early, but who do y'all think will win the scoring title this year? I still think when all is said and done, it will be Allen Iverson.)

Melo's Nuggets, surprisingly, are the highest scoring team in the NBA so far, averaging 108.3. They scored 140 tonight against the Warriors.

Miami is really struggling. They really miss Shaq's presence.

The entire Atlantic Division is so weak, as every team in there is under .500.

Yeah, I'm not suprised with this quick turnaround by Dallas at all. They brought in some new faces that needed to gell. Now that that is starting to happen, they are firing on all cylinders.

wtf? ZERO rebounds. That part jumped out at me even more than Iverson's 46. Did you see that game, btw? Does he look out of sorts, or what? No rebounds... that's like... never happened to him before.


k... several posts ago, I was ready to call this guy a star player, now I'm beginning to take that back. If you want to be a superstar in this league, you've gotta play well on the road. So far this season, he is playing HORRIBLE away from home. nazpyro touched on this earlier as well, I think.

With the injury to Kenyon Martin, I think it's a real possibility that 'Melo could win the scoring title this year. Iversion is going to be right there, but by the end of the season, I think Anthony will edge him out.

Yeah, the scoring barrage the Nuggets are on is amazing. That game versus the Warriors last night was VERY fun to watch. It was like a throwback mid-80's game. I really miss those days.

So...

How about the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference? Three tied for first, all with the record of 5-8.

I'm looking forward to the Garnett-Nowitzki matchup tonight. I'll be watching the game :). The Timberwolves are finally playing good basketball. Rookie Randy Foye had a blazing 14-point fourth quarter against the Clippers the other day.

I didn't see the game, I just saw the boxscore and was stunned. The Bulls are tied for last in their division right now at 4-9, and apparently there's a storm brewing behind the scenes in Chicago:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...nba/index.html
and
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...tes/index.html



I don't understand why a coach would disallow playes to wear headbands. Scott Skiles seems to have his priorities mixed up. Jerry Sloan also disallows headbands in Utah, and I just don't get it.

And did you see the Clippers-Nuggest game last night? JR Smith played so well. He had this one putback dunk, coming out of nowhere, just plucking it out of the air and cramming it with one hand.

Melo looked very comfortable and patient. He waited for double-teams, surveyed the defense, and looked every bit like a superstar. I am certain he will make his first All-Star Game this season.

Hahaha, that division is so bad.

Eagerly waiting for the moment JR Smith gets into George Karl's doghouse. It's due. :p And nay to all-star "Melo." Let's wait for him to drop his almost 5 TOs per game first.

Yeah, I don't really get the deal with the headbands either. :/

And yeah, the Atlantic is horrid. I'm hoping on Toronto to be able to turn it on at some point, but they're actually last somehow in that division.

Utah's been dealt their second loss in a row. Not sure what happened, but perhaps their early season hot streak is over. Will they settle back into Western medicority? I think they still got a good shot at the playoffs.

Oh, and the Warriors are now on freaking fire. Who knew? :p

See, I had a feeling something like this would happen. Maybe, not to this extent, but something similar. Wallace should have stayed in Detroit. He was a perfect fit for that team and probably won't get that type of chemistry ever again. I don't know what issues he and Flip Saunders had, but they both should have tried harder to work things out. Both parties, the Pistons and Wallace, are suffering because of it right now.

And man, I don't even know what to say about this Atlantic division. I mean, SOMEBODY has to come out of it.... right? I figure the Nets will get it together enough and make it out on top. On paper, they are the best team in the division, and I use the word "best" very loosely. The Sixers started off nicely and have since crept back into mediocrity. This is probably the worst division in sports.

The Warriors have been playing great ball lately. A lot of that is due to Baron Davis. He's a hell of player and a great point guard. Still, there's no team hotter than Dallas right now. After losing their first 4 games, they have bounced back to win 10 friggen straight. Coach 'em up Avery, coach 'em up!

I agree ... Ben Wallace and the Pistons had a good thing going. Packing up and leaving wasn't in the best interest of either party. Big Ben's game was a perfect fit with the Pistons, anchoring the defense with other great defenders like Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. He had found his niche, and his own deficiencies on offense were shielded. Now on the Bulls, he's just so out of his element.

I've only seen three or four Bulls games so far this year, so I can't pinpoint what the problem is. Maybe it's just a different atmosphere for Ben ... after all, being told to not wear headbands is pretty unfair.

You know, I have a pretty good feeling about the Raptors. I'm watching their game right now against the Hornets, and they're playing well. They may just come out of the Atlantic Division, provided that the other teams continue to suck.

Yes, Dallas is scary now. Ten straight. They are the hottest team, now that Utah has cooled off in a hurry.



Oh, I have a video for you guys, it's a highlight package of Allen Iverson's 45-point performance against the Heat last night (including a sick cross-hesitate-cross move against Dorell Wright): http://www.sendspace.com/file/9svzzo



And then there's this:

Wallace actually had a pretty solid game last night in a victory over the Knicks. 8 points, 12 boards, 2 dimes, 2 steals and 2 blocks. This was against the Knicks though, so we might not be able to read TOO much into it.

Nice vid of AI's game. That crossover was pretty hot. Even into his 30's, Iverson still can break ankles like nobody's business.

We were talking about how terrible the Atlantic division was. Well, here's an article discussing how atrocious the Eastern Conference is as a whole: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/061129

What's up homes
How do you think the bulls will benefit from having "Big Ben" on their squad? I think it'll boost their defense, but I don't know if he'll contribute a lot to their offense. I think he only averaged like 10 points a game (give or take), but he stuffs people left and right, and the hair....well, ya gotta love the hair.
What about that headband issue? Do you think any disagreements between Wallace and the coach will form more bad than good out of the deal?

Double Post:
Oops, my bad, i think i repeated a topic twice. I don't really read every article.

No worries :)

I think the TNT studio crew pretty much summed up the issue last night. It was hilarious seeing Charles Barkley wear that headband. I agree with him ... I think it's a stupid team rule.

And of course, last night's headline grabber was Kobe's 30-point performance in the third quarter, and 52 overall.

I especially lol'd when the fans started chanting "M-V-P! M-V-P! ..." you know, 15 games into the season. :p

But yeah, crazy...

And on the Jazz, sure they lost, but I still think they're a team to contend with. Kobe was just ridiculously unstoppable. Maybe the Jazz figured that double-teaming wouldn't affect him at all, and were proven correct when they finally did late into the quarter as he continued to dominate them.

Kobe...

Oh my ...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

I just knew these decisions and changes would come back to bite the league in their ass. Not one player in the Association has had one nice thing to say about the new ball. And, as far as the stricter officiating goes, I think it's BS. They might as well name the rule after the Rasheed Wallace. I don't know what's gonna come from all this, but I am in favor of the lawsuit and I think it was a just move.

Well, Arenas claims to like the ball better for free thow shooting... when it's not wet. :/ The fact he has missed a few free throws counters this though.

Anyway, have you seen those Adidas NBA shoes: http://adidasbasketball.com/nba
They've created a shoe for every team, and I love them. The Wizards one is hot. I also like the designs for Golden State, Sacremento, Boston, Utah, ... oh so many! <3 It comes out December 8. I just thought of 30 things to add to my Christmas wish list. :tpg:

LOL. So we might be getting back the old balls now. Actually, I think the only nice thing said about the ball came from Gilbert Arenas, who said he liked it better for free throw shooting... when it's not wet. However, The fact that he has missed free throws contradicts this. :p But osnap, I didn't know the new ball caused papercuts! I might have to remove it off my wishlist now. O_o

Also, Damon Jones wants in at the three-point competition during the All-Star break...

Damon Jones: the best shooter in the NBA, according to Damon Jones. :tpg:

Double Post:
OMFG, Suns-Nets game: double overtime.

Final Score: 161-157.

Kidd ties Wilt Chamberlain for third all-time triple doubles.
Nash gets career-high 42 points. I have a friend who saw this game. Freaking craaaaazy.

Damn, man, I wish I could have seen that game in it's entirety. That's one thing I really hate abuot the current state of the league. They just don't have games like that anymore. On Sportscenter this morning, they showed a graphic of the top scoring games in NBA history, and pretty much all of them were in the 80's... the golden age.

Hopefully, this'll be on ESPN Classic sometime soon.

Double Post:
OH SNAP!!!!!!!

Iverson has wanted a trade for quite sometime now but I never thought it would actually happen. Things are starting to look that way though. Watching how this all pans out is going to be interesting as hell.

You won't have to wait that long.

I'm going to upload it for you guys :). It might take me a day or two, though.


I heard about this today as well. Rumours and discussions will heat up this weekend. There's a chance that we've seen AI play his last game as a Sixer (that blowout loss to Chicago ... he got back spasms and didn't play in the fourth quarter).

Double Post:
The game is broken into five parts (first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, overtime periods):

Suns at Nets - December 7th, 2006 - 1st Quarter: http://www.mediafire.com/?0nddtmnnjnt
Suns at Nets - December 7th, 2006 - 2nd Quarter: http://www.mediafire.com/?amcylqk2g1z
Suns at Nets - December 7th, 2006 - 3rd Quarter: http://www.mediafire.com/?8zgr5wddyxu
Suns at Nets - December 7th, 2006 - 4th Quarter: http://www.mediafire.com/?an0mynmzugy
Suns at Nets - December 7th, 2006 - Overtime(s): http://www.mediafire.com/?bo3m2mmkzod

Enjoy :)

Dude, you're the man. This is awesome! I'm downloading it now.

So, we're going back to the old balls mid-season; January 1st to be exact.

Article



I'm in love with the Rocket's one. The simplicity of it, and just how awesome it is just makes me want to buy it (I need money...).

Ohhh awesome. New year, old ball. :tpg:

Maybe I'll have to remove the new ball off my wishlist... haha.

Oh yeah! Those shoes are out now. $100 for a pair. So much for getting a bunch of them; I'll have buyer's remorse just getting of them. I'm not one to spend a hundred dollars on shoes. ;_;

And Timberwolf, you are awesome. I'll start downloading those at some point, or at least the overtimes. :p

I'm glad to see they are going back to the new ball. While league scoring and FG% stats are pretty much the same as last year, the difference can be seen with the increase in turnovers from last year. I think Stern has made the right, smart decision here.

Also, congrats to Jerry Sloan. With last night's victory over the Mavs, he became only the 5th coach to reach 1,000 victories. Even though the Jazz hit a rough spot for a bit, they have rebounded and still have the best record in the league.

Jazz with the best record, but the Spurs are only half a game behind, with the same number of Ws and just 1 more loss... recently to the Lakers who currently have the number 1 spot in this week's power rankings. I didn't think the Lakers were that deep, but dang...

Meanwhile, the Suns are on an 11-game winning streak. "ON FIRE!"