NBA Opening Night

[detroitdavid]

wizards @ cav's -5.5 189
wall out (wizards)
irving probable (cav's)

celtics @ heat -6.5 186.5
james probable (heat)

mav's @ lakers -8.5 185.5
nowitzski out (mav's)
howard probable (lal)
bryant ? (lal)

plays:

heat -6.5 (if james plays)

celtics lost a lot of good players this off season, and picked up a lot of crap (milicic, barbosa, & collins). they did pick up jason terry and drafted sullinger & melo. how well will garnett (36) pierce & terry (both 35) play for a full season is a big question mark. their bench is weak, and their starters are down to the big 2 with rondo running the show.

the heat added allen (37) and lewis (33) both 3 point artists. they still will play an excellent brand of defense and should shut down the celtics by wearing them down with defensive pressure. heat should win by 10+ when it's all over.

lakers -8.5 (if bryant plays)
if bryant is in the line up this game could be a blowout.

mav's lost jason terry and jason kidd, 2 big cogs from their championship team. last year they had lost chandler who was their defensive pressence in the middle. this will probably be a down year for the mav's. this season's additions are o.j. mayo, elton brand, darren collison, & chris kamen. not a lot of defense for a coach (carlisle) who preaches defense.

lakers added dwight howard, steve nash, antawn jamison, and chris duhon. they should be real strong at the point, giving kobe some down time on offense. in the middle they have howard and gasol. holding teams to outside shots should mean 1 and done. there won't be many offensive rebounds against them.

Good Luck Guys:

[diesel]

wizards @ cav's -5.5 189
wall out (wizards)
irving probable (cav's)

celtics @ heat -6.5 186.5
james probable (heat)

mav's @ lakers -8.5 185.5
nowitzski out (mav's)
howard probable (lal)
bryant ? (lal)

plays:

heat -6.5 (if james plays)

celtics lost a lot of good players this off season, and picked up a lot of crap (milicic, barbosa, & collins). they did pick up jason terry and drafted sullinger & melo. how well will garnett (36) pierce & terry (both 35) play for a full season is a big question mark. their bench is weak, and their starters are down to the big 2 with rondo running the show.

the heat added allen (37) and lewis (33) both 3 point artists. they still will play an excellent brand of defense and should shut down the celtics by wearing them down with defensive pressure. heat should win by 10+ when it's all over.

lakers -8.5 (if bryant plays)
if bryant is in the line up this game could be a blowout.

mav's lost jason terry and jason kidd, 2 big cogs from their championship team. last year they had lost chandler who was their defensive pressence in the middle. this will probably be a down year for the mav's. this season's additions are o.j. mayo, elton brand, darren collison, & chris kamen. not a lot of defense for a coach (carlisle) who preaches defense.

lakers added dwight howard, steve nash, antawn jamison, and chris duhon. they should be real strong at the point, giving kobe some down time on offense. in the middle they have howard and gasol. holding teams to outside shots should mean 1 and done. there won't be many offensive rebounds against them.

Good Luck Guys:

David hate to clutter your thread but as a fan of the Celtics had to respond a bench of Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Brandon Bass by NBA standards is anything but crap. Compare that to most teams have and it is not comparable and that includes the Lakers and Heat

[detroitdavid]

David hate to clutter your thread but as a fan of the Celtics had to respond a bench of Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Brandon Bass by NBA standards is anything but crap. Compare that to most teams have and it is not comparable and that includes the Lakers and Heat

green was on the team last year, and so was bass, but green was out all year. i was referring to the 3 players they picked up. if you re-read my post i was talking about collins, barbosa & milicic. they're not gonna be real tough inside with collins and milicic, and barbosa isn't the player he was with the suns. also how well do you think this team will play if both pierce & rondo are on the bench?

[weston555]

wizards @ cav's -5.5 189
wall out (wizards)
irving probable (cav's)

celtics @ heat -6.5 186.5
james probable (heat)

mav's @ lakers -8.5 185.5
nowitzski out (mav's)
howard probable (lal)
bryant ? (lal)

plays:

heat -6.5 (if james plays)

celtics lost a lot of good players this off season, and picked up a lot of crap (milicic, barbosa, & collins). they did pick up jason terry and drafted sullinger & melo. how well will garnett (36) pierce & terry (both 35) play for a full season is a big question mark. their bench is weak, and their starters are down to the big 2 with rondo running the show.

the heat added allen (37) and lewis (33) both 3 point artists. they still will play an excellent brand of defense and should shut down the celtics by wearing them down with defensive pressure. heat should win by 10+ when it's all over.

lakers -8.5 (if bryant plays)
if bryant is in the line up this game could be a blowout.

mav's lost jason terry and jason kidd, 2 big cogs from their championship team. last year they had lost chandler who was their defensive pressence in the middle. this will probably be a down year for the mav's. this season's additions are o.j. mayo, elton brand, darren collison, & chris kamen. not a lot of defense for a coach (carlisle) who preaches defense.

lakers added dwight howard, steve nash, antawn jamison, and chris duhon. they should be real strong at the point, giving kobe some down time on offense. in the middle they have howard and gasol. holding teams to outside shots should mean 1 and done. there won't be many offensive rebounds against them.

Good Luck Guys:

I think the Heat should handle the Celtics tonight too Detroit. But you did say the Celtics bench is weak dude. You could at least say that you didn't mean it in that way rather than saying, "reread my post" when it clearly says THEIR BENCH IS WEAK lol...good luck tonight man and cheers to the NBA season..even though I think it is going to be a really boring, top-heavy kind of year.

[diesel]

green was on the team last year, and so was bass, but green was out all year. i was referring to the 3 players they picked up. if you re-read my post i was talking about collins, barbosa & milicic. they're not gonna be real tough inside with collins and milicic, and barbosa isn't the player he was with the suns. also how well do you think this team will play if both pierce & rondo are on the bench?

David I think once they get Avery Bradley back having both Courtney Lee and Jason Terry off the bench with Green and Bass it will give them enough too match and be better than most if not all 2nd teams. They are deep and if they stay healthy (big if due to age) are one of the four best teams in this watered down NBA

[wayne1218]

I agree with others here david. Boston's bench is one of the best in the NBA imo and others i've heard nationally too. They also lost one player in Ray Allen? What others are you talking about? A Bunch?? They added a very solid guy in Terry and another who has looked GREAT in Jeff Green. He didn't play a minute last year so he is an addition to their lineup. Sullinger has put in great minutes when he played in the preseason and guys like C. Lee and Barbosa are great additions that can do exactly what Boston lacked, scoring.

I guess i just see this team waaaay differently than you do. Your pick tonight may be right and i wish you luck with it but i think your assessment of this team is very wrong.

[wayne1218]

Boston also had a much tougher time age wise last season when they had to play games 3 straight days or 4 or 5 a week. With normal rest this season and a rotation that literally goes 10 deep, I don't think the age means nearly as much.

[Sirporkie]

Gl dd

[detroitdavid]

outside of barbosa bostons bench was only 4 deep and didn't do anything. the boston bench was -16 and the heats bench was +21. we'll see how the season goes, but i just can't see the boston bench being that great when it's not that deep. we'll see if it gets better when lee gets back.

[savage1]

I know its easy to say in retrospect and after the game is over but I would love to know what the attraction was yesterday with the Lakers and giving 8 1/2 points.
Yes I know preseason games don't count, but they were awful and went 0-8.
Wasn't it a bit of a gamble to ask them to turn that immediately around in their very first game and not only win but to win by 9 points?
I am not trying to start a fight here but I am curious re: the rationale here.
ps I did not play the game at all.

[wayne1218]

outside of barbosa bostons bench was only 4 deep and didn't do anything. the boston bench was -16 and the heats bench was +21. we'll see how the season goes, but i just can't see the boston bench being that great when it's not that deep. we'll see if it gets better when lee gets back.

It's one game david, vs the BEST team in the league on the road. It always takes new guys a little time to get the system down. They are very deep on the bench and they will be even deeper when Bradley comes back. If you base a season on one game, you will be mistaken!