NBA

[Jim05]

The Bulls beat the Knicks without Rose. Maybe we should trade him

New Orleans would have beaten us today, terrible performance.
Huge game tomorrow, lose to the Bucks and season almost over

What do you mean season over!? Knicks had the 7th seed yesterday.

Philly won today and dropped us back to 8th, the Bucks will draw level with us if they win tomorrow.
We have the hardest run home by far, whilst we are playing Miami, Boston, LA Clippers and several other sides above us I think the Bucks and Philly hardly play anyone above them, i think Philly still has the Nets, Wizards and Raptors twice.

[Dissident]

Academic.
Neither 7th or 8th can beat Chicago and Miami. Not in a 7 game series.
Nice to get in there.. but still.

I am still looking forward to watching the games though.

I wish the Clippers and Lakers were playing each other in the first round

[Jim05]

Academic.
Neither 7th or 8th can beat Chicago and Miami. Not in a 7 game series.
Nice to get in there.. but still.

I am still looking forward to watching the games though.

I wish the Clippers and Lakers were playing each other in the first round

Yeah your right, 7 or 8 no chance.
Can see the Grizzlies doing some damage in the West, and who knows how far Dallas and Houston could go.
I reckon a few of the top seeds would be hoping the Mavs dont click

[RoosterMarty]

Very happy with the revenge win today after throwing away the last game. Great game from Rip, need him to stay fit.

Knicks vs Bucks is a huge game with the Bucks currently leading the season series 2-1 as well.

Now that the Mavs have kicked Odom out of the locker room they might start to improve. They would not be an easy first round match up as well along with the Grizz like you said Jim. There will be some great Playoff series over in the West.

[Jim05]

Very happy with the revenge win today after throwing away the last game. Great game from Rip, need him to stay fit.

Knicks vs Bucks is a huge game with the Bucks currently leading the season series 2-1 as well.

Now that the Mavs have kicked Odom out of the locker room they might start to improve. They would not be an easy first round match up as well along with the Grizz like you said Jim. There will be some great Playoff series over in the West.

Yep the West is where all the action is. In the East its a 2 maybe 3 horse race if Boston can lift a notch wheras in the West all 8 sides could win it. Too many sides making up numbers in the East. Sides like Indiana and Orlando are just very ordinary sides

[mighty hounds]

Very happy with the revenge win today after throwing away the last game. Great game from Rip, need him to stay fit.

Knicks vs Bucks is a huge game with the Bucks currently leading the season series 2-1 as well.

Now that the Mavs have kicked Odom out of the locker room they might start to improve. They would not be an easy first round match up as well along with the Grizz like you said Jim. There will be some great Playoff series over in the West.

What happened with Odom?

[RoosterMarty]

Very happy with the revenge win today after throwing away the last game. Great game from Rip, need him to stay fit.

Knicks vs Bucks is a huge game with the Bucks currently leading the season series 2-1 as well.

Now that the Mavs have kicked Odom out of the locker room they might start to improve. They would not be an easy first round match up as well along with the Grizz like you said Jim. There will be some great Playoff series over in the West.

What happened with Odom?

He won't be playing for the Mavs again this season. Cuban confronted again at half time during a recent game and questioned his commitment to the team, Odom didn't respond very well so he is out. His head has been in LA all season, a bit poor on his part that he wasn't professional enough to accept the move. It was to the defending champions so it's not like he got sent to the Nets.

It is a bit unfortunate too because he has been a favourite of mine and was awesome last season when he won the 6th man Award.

[Swooper16]

Very happy with the revenge win today after throwing away the last game. Great game from Rip, need him to stay fit.

Knicks vs Bucks is a huge game with the Bucks currently leading the season series 2-1 as well.

Now that the Mavs have kicked Odom out of the locker room they might start to improve. They would not be an easy first round match up as well along with the Grizz like you said Jim. There will be some great Playoff series over in the West.

What happened with Odom?

He won't be playing for the Mavs again this season. Cuban confronted again at half time during a recent game and questioned his commitment to the team, Odom didn't respond very well so he is out. His head has been in LA all season, a bit poor on his part that he wasn't professional enough to accept the move. It was to the defending champions so it's not like he got sent to the Nets.

It is a bit unfortunate too because he has been a favourite of mine and was awesome last season when he won the 6th man Award.

Odom requested the trade from the Lakers.

[RoosterMarty]

Yes that is true but only after he was initially offered for a trade which broke down. He never seemed to get over that.

[bd u15 09]

Big game tomorrow morning for us Bucks.
Need to get the win if we are to play in the playoffs.

Hate the Knicks as well, hopefully Monta and BJ can lead the way from the front court.

[Turbo]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

[Grahaml]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

**cough** No Kobe **cough**

[Turbo]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

**cough** No Kobe **cough**

It's an interesting one. The same is being discussed about the bulls and rose.

[mighty hounds]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

**cough** No Kobe **cough**

It's an interesting one. The same is being discussed about the bulls and rose.

Give me a break

[Jim05]

Crucial win for the Knicks today,beat the Bucks 111-107 and now are 2 games clear

[Turbo]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

**cough** No Kobe **cough**

It's an interesting one. The same is being discussed about the bulls and rose.

Give me a break

Oh no not your precious bulls. It was on Espn. Can't link it through my phone

[RoosterMarty]

Crucial win for the Knicks today,beat the Bucks 111-107 and now are 2 games clear

You tied the season series against them too, so it was a big win.

30 rebounds by Bynum is huge and Metta World Peace played like Ron Artest, pretty surprising win especially the margin. Sometimes teams do play better when their star player is out and move the ball around a bit more. I couldn't see that being effective in the Playoffs though.

Another big game tomorrow when the Bulls take on the Heat. Don't mind this shortened schedule as it does mean games are a bit more important. I'd love for them to reduce the amount of games in a full season but it won't happen.

[Turbo]

Massive win by the lakers over the spurs today. Bynum with a massive 30 boards and world peace with 26 points. The west is heating up

**cough** No Kobe **cough**

It's an interesting one. The same is being discussed about the bulls and rose.

Give me a break

Here is part of the discussion I was talking about. Its even suggested that rose wasn't a worthy MVP.

'Obviously, the Bulls would rather have him. But they haven't been hurting the way a team minus the most valuable player in the league for a good chunk of the season should be hurting. In fact, in some ways, they've been thriving while he's been on the bench. The fact that the team is 15-7 without him, including a current 8-3 stretch, can't be ignored. Some of those Rose-less wins are over Miami and a resurgent Boston squad. Chicago's .768 winning percentage this season is actually better than the .756 it posted last season.

Still not convinced?

Well, the scoring differential is better (from 7.3 last season to 8.0 thus far this year) and the Bulls' defensive rating -- the estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions -- is better (from 100.3 to 99.3).

Then there's this point from Hollinger: As of the end of March last season, which is when his story appeared, the Bulls were losing just 1.49 points of offense per 100 possessions when Rose wasn't playing. But they were still outscoring their opponents by 6.78 points per 100 possessions, and that translates to a 55-win team.

Conversely, look at the impact the previous three MVPs had on their teams through March of last year. The Heat were 10.49 points per 100 possessions worse without LeBron James, the Lakers were 6.20 worse without Kobe Bryant and the Mavs were 16.68 points worse without Dirk Nowitzki. The Phoenix Suns are sub-.400 without two-time MVP Steve Nash since the 2004-05 season.

In other words, when previous MVPs were not playing, their teams suffered. The Bulls have been without Rose for 22 of their 56 games so far and have the best record in the league.'

[Grahaml]

Rose can't win the MVP this year. Missed too many games and Chicago haven't really suffered when he's been missing. Whatever criteria you choose to use you simply can't vote for Rose and expect to be taken seriously. I doubt anyone would even have him in their top 5 and a fair few won't have him in their top 10.

Chicago's challenge isn't the MVP though, it's the championship. Those wins without Rose add credibility to their chances IMHO, just so long as Rose joining the rotation for 35+ minutes adds real quality to their offensive and defensive output. I think if they play the same style that wins 70% without him and just have him running around too with just his extra ball handling and shooting talents they should improve to an 80% side and should be too good for anyone barring something extraordinary by someone like James or Durant in a playoff series.

[Turbo]

Rose can't win the MVP this year. Missed too many games and Chicago haven't really suffered when he's been missing. Whatever criteria you choose to use you simply can't vote for Rose and expect to be taken seriously. I doubt anyone would even have him in their top 5 and a fair few won't have him in their top 10.

Chicago's challenge isn't the MVP though, it's the championship. Those wins without Rose add credibility to their chances IMHO, just so long as Rose joining the rotation for 35+ minutes adds real quality to their offensive and defensive output. I think if they play the same style that wins 70% without him and just have him running around too with just his extra ball handling and shooting talents they should improve to an 80% side and should be too good for anyone barring something extraordinary by someone like James or Durant in a playoff series.

It was actually saying rose in hindsight wasn't a good choice for MVP last year cos obviously he has no chance this year