Ah, coach reaction shots. The thing I missed most about the NBA

The "Christmas hangover" day -- lots of games, but nobody really cares that much. Well, here goes nothing anyway.

Nationally Televised Games:
Rockets at Magic, NBA TV, 7:00pm: Who's ready for some Magic basketball??? (crickets) Meanwhile, the Rockets have a middling roster and Kevin McHale is their new head coach. The hell? What's Daryl Morey planning? You know he's up to something and is just playing the rope-a-dope strategy right now. Right?

Lakers at Kings, NBA TV, 10:00pm: Anyone else expecting the Kings to maybe, just maybe, not be horrible this year? Tyreke Evans, a slimmer and more experienced DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Thornton, Jimmer Fredette, and the always underrated Chuck Hayes has already been declared captain despite just recently joining the team after a health scare.

All The Other Games:
Craptors at Cavaliers, 7:00pm: I'm just going to quote the STATS LLC game preview here, because they say all that needs to be said:
Eight years after Cleveland picked LeBron James first overall in the draft and 17 months removed from James' infamous "Decision," there is hope Kyrie Irving may be the piece the Cavaliers can rebuild around.
...
The wild card could be Andrea Bargnani, who is being shifted from center to forward in hopes of improving his rebounding. The Italian 7-footer averaged a career-best 21.4 points last season, but only 5.2 rebounds.
Pistons at Pacers, 7:00pm: Remember the way the Pacers finished out last season being semi-competitive and even making the playoffs slightly interesting? They've added David West and George Hill to the mix. I'm betting they're going to be one of those teams that gets described as "frisky" on a regular basis. You know, just good enough to piss you off if you're a fan of whatever team is playing the Pacers each night.

On the other side of this game, it's still so cold in the D. Here's Detroit's starting lineup for tonight's game: Stuckey, Gordon, Prince, Monroe, Jerebko.

Nyets at Wizards Generals, 7:00pm: Is this still a thing? Is Washington still terrible enough to be considered a professional loser? Will the Nyets feel motivated by their owner's foray into Russian politics? Stay tuned!

Bucks at Bobcraps, 7:00pm: I would just like to take a moment to remind everyone that the Bobcraps are placing their hopes and dreams in the hands of Corey Maggette. Lemme know how that works out for you, Charlotte. Also, I'm just gonna leave this here... "Stephen Jackson admits he checked out after the Bobcats traded Gerald Wallace."

Thunder at Timberwolves, 8:00pm: Minnesota's added some pieces to help Kevin Love since last year: Ricky Rubio (finally), Derrick Williams, and J.J. Barea, plus new coach Rick Adelman. I'm not expecting miracles, but there's a chance they might not be dogshit for a change this year. Of course they'll still lose this game because the Thunder are really, really, really good. But still.

Nuggets at Mavericks, 8:30pm: And so continues the Nuggets' experiment with having a roster entirely composed of role players. When Nene is the closest thing to a superstar on your roster, you really, really need for some things to just go your way every night to compete. That being said, George Karl! There's always a chance.

Grizzlies at Spurs, 8:30pm: Hear that? That's the sound of the door continuing to shut on San Antonio's chance at one last title before they have to blow it up and rebuild. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker aren't getting any younger. Richard Jefferson continues to decline. Antonio McDyess retired. Damn, this is depressing. I feel old, you guys. I need a hug. :(

Hornets at Suns, 9:00pm: Pardon me, but I'm just going to say this one more time to get it out of my system: "basketball reasons." Okay, there, I feel better. So anyway, the Hornets are still owned by the league -- and damn does that just feel wrong -- and they've lost Chris Paul and David West. But they acquired Chris Kaman!!

...Yeah, I'm sorry, Hornets fans.

Meanwhile, the Suns will continue to waste the last years of Steve Nash's career. Happy happy joy joy.

76ers at Trailblazers, 10:00pm: Again, I'm just going to quote the STATS LLC guys because, really, what can I possibly say that's more fitting than this?
"In what has become a recurring theme in Portland, the Trail Blazers will open the season with a myriad of injuries."
Bulls at Warriors, 10:30pm: The Mark Jackson coaching experiment continues! He was brought in to change the defensive mentality to lower that 105.7 points per game number they allowed last season. Well, they only gave up 105 points last season! Success!! That;s almost a full point lower!!

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17 Comments:
Blogger 49er16 said...
Watching the Nets game and the pregame show talks about the "Additions and subtractions" on the Nets. One of the Nets "subtractions" was Mario West. I immediately thought of Basketbawful. Welcome back basketball.

Anonymous Korb said...
Actually, the Blazers open the season with one injury to their 15-man roster. Last I checked, one is not a "myriad." Way to do your research there.

Blogger Dan B. said...
Korb -- Two things. One, you assume I actually have time to do copious amounts of research for a blog that I get paid absolutely nothing to contribute to, and merely do it because I enjoy it. That's cute. Two, that's copied word for word from the official game preview on ESPN.com.

Anonymous Silvio said...
Blazers
Oden and Roy injured,
Aldridge (heart condition) and Camby (knee) playing not fully fit

Blogger Dan B. said...
Wow. That sequences of turnovers with about 2 minutes left in the Thunder/Timberwolves game a moment ago was fantastically bawful.

Blogger Dan B. said...
The Brandon Roy thing is a tricky one -- since he's no longer technically even on the team thanks to retirement, how long can we count that towards "frail blazers" jokes?

Blogger Jason D said...
So...the Lakers played like crap. It's become glaringly obvious that Gasol has been affected by the nixed trade and this team needs Bynum back in a real bad way. I wouldn't be surpised to see LA go 0-4 (and that's coming from a Lakers fan!)

Anonymous Cristi said...
Just start Rubio and play him 40 minutes per game already.

Anonymous Czernobog said...
@Dan B - How about "forever"?

Anyway, just watched a rerun of the Lakers/Bulls game, did anyone else catch Pau's head shake after Kobe's final play?

Also, welcome back, everyone, let's NBA!

Anonymous Silvio said...
Toronto Craptors 0 (zero) fast break points.

GS Warriors 2 (two) 2nd chance points, 7 off rebs (Biedrins 3, and 4 players 1)

Points in the paint:
28 NJ Nyets (with Brook injured Johan Petro is starting center, OMG)
30 Sacramento Queens (Cousins 12 pts, only 1 technical foul)
32 Charlotte Crapcats (Diaw starting at center, DJ White starting at PF for injured Tyrus Thomas)
32 Bulls (Boozer 6 pts, 3/7 FG)

Wolves 60 points in the paint, but only 3 three-pointers scored, kind of unbalanced.
Oklahoma Tickytackers camping on FT line, 29/31 FTs, same ol'

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Coming back to Basketbawful after all that's happened is like the most awkward Christmas dinner post huge family fight.

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Also, I gotta throw in my random observation of the night:

Older More Talented of the Twin Brothers Brook and Marcus Combined Statline: 4 min (DNP for Lopez), 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST (+4 suck differential)

Younger Less Talented of the Twin Brothers Robin and Markieff Combined Statline: 52 minutes, 28 PTS, 16 REB, 3(!!) AST,...

...and a Suns loss. We may be tanking this season.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
00:12 0 0 0 0 0 0 +1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.

A long lost transmission from the Voyager space probe?!?

Oh no.., it's just DeShawn Stevenson's stat line.

Blogger Wormboy said...
@ Dan B: Dude, don't ask for a hug around here. You'll end up with some little yapper dog humping your leg. ;)

But yeah, I hear you on the Spurs. My main sadness is that McDyess never got a ring. :(

Anonymous Wave said...
Jeff Van Gundy was right. Don't count the Spurs out yet.

Anonymous Korb said...
@Dan
Need we more proof then that national media is too busy licking LBJ and Kobe's collective dongs to bother doing any factual reporting and/or journalism?
@Silvio
1. Oden, yes, injured.
2. Roy. Retired, not an NBA player anymore, not on Portland's roster does not count.
3. Camby. Started the game, played 29 minutes, 13 reb, 2 blocks. YEAH HE SOUNDS INJURED TO ME.
4. Aldridge. Heart condition? Ok, I've seen this get blown up into some crazy overreaction among NBA followers outside Portland. First of all, they've known about this since it first came up at the end of his rookie season, and they test for it every year. It just so happens it came up this year again. They go in intravenously and take care of it and he's fine. I've seen people on Reddit who thought he had fricking open heart surgery because reporters couldn't be bothered to write anything beyond BLAZERS ARE INJURED AGAIN DERP. Also he started, 42 minutes, 25 points, 3 blocks. That's not injured or suffering from a debilitating heart condition.

Blazers have 1 injured player on their 15-man roster. Thank you for playing, but you are wrong and therefore lose.

Anonymous Silvio said...
Roy doesn't count? In Portland? You're way off, Korb.

Otherwise, thanks for being Captain. Obvious AFTER the game.