Official NBA 2011-12 Season Thread

[CaptKirby]

I am not trying to be righteous, it is a simple thing that you guys are blowing up into something it is not. Predictions about sports are a dime a dozen. Changing them makes you a moron, and getting them right means very little which is why you should try to at least have some fun with it.

DerrickRose that is not what saving face is. Saving face involves taking some mildly extreme to extreme measure to do it, and I am taking no measures other than bothering to reply to your guys' childishness, and I am not sure why I am even bothering with that much. Again, changing the prediction early on to a "okay guys that was just a joke, here is the real one" would have been saving face, this is literally the opposite of that.

 

[DerrickRose]

It is my understanding that saving face is a term used to denote a person trying to save their dignity.

You put dignity into having one prediction despite how bad it is half-way through the season.

I simply connected the two.

Edit: Btw, no one's telling you to admit it was joke; I mean, that isn't the only thing you could do. You could say... you were just wrong. <_<

 

[Byrne]

I personally find Danillo the best player on Denver when he's healthy, but okay...Lawson's good too.

Evan Turner is incredibly promising. I didn't say hes doing good at the moment. He's got the makings of a young Rudy Gay.

 

[CaptKirby]

It is not a joke, and it is not saving face. You are completely wrong and literally do not understand how to use a phrase, but are using it to accuse me of something on top of another accusation both over something you have no god damn right to accuse me over. This is a prediction, I do not have to be right or even close. If you predict Thunder Heat and it happens, congratulations, you picked two #1 seeds and they happened to win out!11 I am not sorry that I made it, I god damn love myself for making an awesome prediction. If I cared about saving face I would be an entirely different person, just stop it already.

 

[Dubulous]

Thaddeus Young is also immensely talented. He's still figuring out how to play, what shots he can shoot consistently, that kind of thing. He is a matchup nightmare, though. 3s can't guard him because he's too long, 4s can't guard him because he's too quick. Dude cleans up misses better than anyone I can remember recently as well.

Turner has shown how talented he is this season, but he's not been able to do it consistently. I think that Collins has been grating on Turner all season. I expect Turner to begin to rise whenever Collins is inevitably let go, either after this season or the next. Jrue is a little like Turner, though he's been doing it for a year longer. He's still only 21, though, so I don't think he's done developing. Lou Williams could start for a bunch of teams in the league, but he is a terrible defender and a bit heady which detracts from his value.

 

[YTP]

http://gyazo.com/bd6c57b2865742d55b69a28e7a987f79

 

[CaptKirby]

Byrne my serious NCAA bracket (linked in the ncaa topic, not particularly important) ended up with 2/final 4 and 5/elite 8 despite picking 3/4 1 seeds to lose in the round of 16. Like you said, my predictions are about what I want, not what I believe is most likely, even when I get more serious. Like I pointed out just last page, as of the date of that post Sixers were still one of only 9 teams (Thunder/Spurs/Lakers and the >.500 east teams besides the Pacers and now Knicks) with a realistic shot to MAKE the finals based on recent non-lockout history, or basically to be better than 59.6% in conference play. The Sixers-Spurs prediction is and was completely serious, but at the same time all about what I think is fun. Even down to details like two teams that start and end with s (and if you do not think I am serious about that you just do not know about sibilance)...this is sports predictions, it is totally meaningless. If you guess Thunder/Heat yippee fucking doo. If you bet money on series winners and win overall that is different, but even then THAT could be a one year fluke...tl;dr Sixers/Spurs is an awesome ass prediction

 

[Byrne]

Grizzlies-Pacers is way more awesome.

 

[DerrickRose]

Sigh. ESPN Analysts. I'm starting to see what CaptKirby is talking about now. Every single thing they say every Sunday/Friday is wishy-washy. Show some random team love and dump them as soon as they lose 3 in a row.

Good thing nobody in this topic is ever like that. Just gotta see through the W-L's to predict long-term and actually not end up looking like an ESPN Analyst.

This is mostly why I like TNT better. I have this strange feeling that ESPN is scripted and TNT is free-flowing.

 

[YTP]

CARMELO ANTHONY

also lol derrick rose. this is like the second time i can recall him missing both free throws with a chance to ice a game....

inb4DERRICKROSE

lolhemad

is lebron supposed to be taking lessons from this guy for the art of CLUTCHCLUTCHLTLCUTCHTCLUTCH

so now

lebron take lessons from carmelo anthony

he just made deng his bitch with that shot o_o

what a series. i was on my feet LOL and i'm not fond of either team.

and rose looks demoralized. inb4rosegamewinner. MISSED

HOLY CRAP OMG GREATEST GAME EVER. CARMELO ANTHONY YOU ARE THE MAN. bulls fans are mad.

this has been live commentary by ytp~

 

[SGV]

Amazing game for Chandler and Shumpert too. They must've created at least 15 extra possessions for the Knicks.

 

[Phadunk]

Fucking christ.. Bulls.. no excuse for that loss. We had it in our pocket.

 

[CaptKirby]

It was Rose's first game back, I was not watching because my internet connection has been dying off and on all day, but I doubt the result should be taken seriously.

Result that should be taken seriously: Celtics beating the shit out of the Seventysixers again :(

Byrne if you find that an awesome prediction that is fine, neither of those teams has a realistic shot though, particularly the Grizzlies who are 20-20 in conference. Their 12-3 out of conference record is never going to have a chance to matter :@ If it helps for my being unnecessarily serious...Mavs 21-20...help.... :( both blow complete ass on the road too. No team will probably ever make it being that bad in conference play, but for sure no team will ever make it being bad in conference play and bad on the road for sure. The Pacers have made a solid march to the 3 seed, but I still do not believe in them at all because experience matters so much in the NBA. They are a team that is gelling, but they seem like a team who is gelling along the lines of how Nuggets & Jazz have in recent years at best.

 

[DerrickRose]

Lol Mavs. I thought I'd never say this again but I've never seen a championship team collapse that horribly besides the 07 Heat.

 

[SGV]

It was Rose's first game back, I was not watching because my internet connection has been dying off and on all day, but I doubt the result should be taken seriously.

Byrne if you find that an awesome prediction that is fine, neither of those teams has a realistic shot though, particularly the Grizzlies who are 20-20 in conference. Their 12-3 out of conference record is never going to have a chance to matter :@ If it helps for my being unnecessarily serious...Mavs 21-20...help.... :( both blow complete ass on the road too. No team will probably ever make it being that bad in conference play, but for sure no team will ever make it being bad in conference play and bad on the road for sure.

You're totally right, if the Knicks had Amare and Lin it wouldn't even be close.

Records don't really mean much in this compressed season. The Grizzlies are a completely different team with a rejuvenated Gilbert Arenas. When he and Zach Randolph get more adjusted, they're going to be scary in the playoffs.

 

[Byrne]

If Arenas could just play like he fucking did in Washington....

 

[jrrrrrrr]

Philadelphia as the 8-seed in the East and dropping? What happened CaptKirby?

Celtics have a 3 game lead with 10 games left. I couldn't imagine this happening at the beginning of the season, what a rewarding one to watch as a fan. They're playing some of the best basketball in the league right now during one of the hardest stretches. They will be a tough out for any team in the playoffs and are starting to look like a team that can compete for the East/win 2+ playoff series

 

[CaptKirby]

Records mean a shit ton, look at the last page where I proved it matter of factly. It is not overall record that matters, it is conference record. Every team to have won the finals for the last 12 years has been a 65%+ in conference winner..I did not bother looking at the prior Bulls era because I figured those Bulls teams must all have been easily 60%+, and that even the flukier Rockets probably were. Every team to make a finals has been a 59%+ in conference winner in that time frame except the Knicks in a lockout season. This being a fellow wacky lockout season is the only reason why wacky single team qualification predictions have a shot in hell, but only 5 teams have anything close to a shot to win it all (Thunder/Spurs/Lakers/Heat/Bulls).

 

[YTP]

Overall record will mean a shit ton to your master plan if the Bucks surge pass them and eliminate them from playoff contention.

 

[CaptKirby]

The Sixers were qualified all season until some time this week, formerly having a very high in conference record but taking a beating out of conference. Now they are taking a beating on conference too, they fell to under 60% in conference like 2 losses ago or something.

 

[Byrne]

I'm not positive, but aren't the 76ers in the 7 seed spot right now? Which means they'd play the Heat? Which means easy first round sweep for Miami? Yes :)

Edit nvm they're the 8 seed damn it. Knicks wont exactly be easy.

 

[SGV]

The Sixers might even fall out with the Knicks and Bucks both surging. They have the easiest schedule of the three but 7 out of 10 are on the road.

 

[DerrickRose]

Wait.. since when did Diaw sign with the Spurs?

.....


CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER

As for what happened to the Sixers? No friggin' clue. I'm thinking that the teams around them are simply getting their legs back; or maybe they're finally being figured out. With all of their defense, they don't exactly have an offensive go-to option.

But I'm inclined to believe that they're just slowly going back to normal with the season getting longer and other teams getting in rhythm.

 

[CaptKirby]

Odom went from 53% last season to 35% this season playing for the Mavs...I maintain conspiracy theory here - the Lakers totally paid him $5 million under the table to assassinate our season and title defense. They were that mad about what we did to them last season.

 

[Byrne]

Some little dude that played like 11 minutes a game this season did not "assassinate" your season. You did it yourselves by letting Chandler go.