2013-2014 Official NBA Thread

[Al Bundy]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...4-nba-schedule

With the Schedule released today, I figured it would be a good time to start the thread.

The NBA released its 2013-2014 schedule on Tuesday in a televised special on NBATV alongside a release on NBA.com and its team websites.

The season kicks off Tuesday, October 29th as Miami hosts the Chicago Bulls in Derrick Rose's expected return to the court. Then it's the Battle of LA as the Lakers host the Clippers. It could be the return of Kobe Bryant from his Achilles injury he suffered last spring, and will be the regular season debut of Doc Rivers as the Clippers' newest head coach.

It's a massive gamble by the NBA, considering Rose's struggles returning from his ACL injury suffered in the 2012 playoffs and Bryant's more recent Achilles surgery. If those players were to miss the opening night, it's going to make for a very underwhelming opening night of basketball, regardless of the markets involved for ratings.

Opening week continues on Thursday with the Bulls hosting the Knicks in what is likely to be Rose's return to the United Center in the regular season. The Knicks will be on a back to back, opening the season on Wednesday vs. the Bucks. Thursday night the revamped Warriors visit the Clippers, who are clearly the hot team, with two national appearances in the first three days.

Opening week concludes Friday with the Nets' home opener vs. the Heat, followed by another Lakers home game, this time vs. the defending Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs.

On the NBA's biggest regular season day, Christmas Day, starts with the Nets hosting Chicago, followed by the scoring-champ rematch of Carmelo Anthony vs. Kevin Durant as the Thunder visit Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks. Then in the main event, the Heat play the Lakers at Staples Center. Dwight Howard joins the Christmas fun as the Rockets travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs. And in the night cap, the Clippers visit Oracle Arena to take on Steph Curry and the Warriors.

Monday, January 20th continues the NBA's tradition of making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a huge basketball event, with four games on the schedule. Brooklyn travels across the bridge to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, followed by the Grizzlies hosting the Pelicans, the Lakers taking on the Bulls at the United Center, and the Pacers facing the Warriors in the bay to cap off the night.

The Lakers first meet Dwight Howard on November 13th in Houston, and again on January 14th. They first host Howard at Staples Center on February 19th, and again on April 8th.

The NBA Finals rematches occur on January 26th in Miami and March 6th in San Antonio. Will Gregg Popovich rest his starters? It's not a back to back, as the Spurs face Atlanta on the 24th, but it is in the middle of a three-game road trip.

Despite the departure of Dwight Howard, the Lakers keep the max number of nationally televised (non-NBA TV) games in the league at 25, tied with the Knicks and Heat. The Clippers have 21 nationally televised games, while the defending Western Champs, the Spurs, only have 15. The Bulls jump to 24 national games, with the league banking on Rose's return to carry audiences. The Thunder also feature on national TV 24 times.

Houston, with newly-signed Dwight Howard and James Harden, feature 20 games on national television, a pretty low number given the star power. The Mavericks won the NBA title in 2011, and now have just eight national TV appearances. The Warriors meanwhile jump to 17 games, while Eastern Conference finalist Indiana only appears 10 time next season. To put that in perspective, the Denver Nuggets appear 13 times.

The rest of the schedule is at the link.

[RealSNR]

Cavs are ****ing putrid tonight. I don't get a chance to watch them very often at all, and this particular game against the Wolves isn't doing much to impress me.

I need to watch them when they're just not disjointed and terrible, I know. But like... are people serious when they say they're a top 10 NBA roster in terms of talent? Is it Mike Brown? I'm just not seeing it.

Irving's great, yes. Waiters is great, yes. Are they Durant and Westbrook? Not even ****ing close. Not on the same planet. And the rest of the roster is just kind of even and balanced. I don't see them getting past the 1st round in the playoffs, if they even make it.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by SNR

Cavs are ****ing putrid tonight. I don't get a chance to watch them very often at all, and this particular game against the Wolves isn't doing much to impress me.

I need to watch them when they're just not disjointed and terrible, I know. But like... are people serious when they say they're a top 10 NBA roster in terms of talent? Is it Mike Brown? I'm just not seeing it.

Irving's great, yes. Waiters is great, yes. Are they Durant and Westbrook? Not even ****ing close. Not on the same planet. And the rest of the roster is just kind of even and balanced. I don't see them getting past the 1st round in the playoffs, if they even make it.

Irving is the only one that has impressed me. The rest is potential. Top 10 in talent is crazy talk. Mike Brown sucks as well. Don't understand that hire at all

Your Wolves have been vey impressive.

[KevB]

Grizzlies front office is getting a very painful lesson about continuity and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by okcchief

Irving is the only one that has impressed me. The rest is potential. Top 10 in talent is crazy talk. Mike Brown sucks as well. Don't understand that hire at all

Your Wolves have been vey impressive.

Brewer way surpassed my expectations. Wow, was I wrong about him. He's been very good for us. I barely miss that rat****face ugly Kirilenko and his gimpy back.

This was the kind of game that King needs to watch if he still thinks Rubio is a bottom 10 PG in the NBA. The assists that he dishes out aren't just sitting at the top of the key and firing shit at the bigs or running around until defenders get sick of passing him off. They're stunning displays of timing and vision. They're no-look passes. They go through the legs of defenders. He practically throws ****ing curveballs into tight creases. They're stunning.

Tonight he had 16 of them. If he's going to start putting up double-digit assists like this on a consistent basis, the Wolves are going to be a pretty good basketball team.

[KC_Connection]

Memphis got beat down by the Raptors at home. What's up with that?

[KevB]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Memphis got beat down by the Raptors at home. What's up with that?

See my post 2 down from here

[-King-]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Memphis got beat down by the Raptors at home. What's up with that?

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by SNR

Brewer way surpassed my expectations. Wow, was I wrong about him. He's been very good for us. I barely miss that rat****face ugly Kirilenko and his gimpy back.

This was the kind of game that King needs to watch if he still thinks Rubio is a bottom 10 PG in the NBA. The assists that he dishes out aren't just sitting at the top of the key and firing shit at the bigs or running around until defenders get sick of passing him off. They're stunning displays of timing and vision. They're no-look passes. They go through the legs of defenders. He practically throws ****ing curveballs into tight creases. They're stunning.

Tonight he had 16 of them. If he's going to start putting up double-digit assists like this on a consistent basis, the Wolves are going to be a pretty good basketball team.

My daughter just saw the highlights , she's been playing some bball, and said "man that Rubio guy sure is exciting to watch, I hope I can pass like that one day"

She, is the tallest kid in her grade and the grade above hers. By over half a head. If she can pass and post she will get some play
Posted via Mobile Device

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by SNR

Cavs are ****ing putrid tonight. I don't get a chance to watch them very often at all, and this particular game against the Wolves isn't doing much to impress me.

I need to watch them when they're just not disjointed and terrible, I know. But like... are people serious when they say they're a top 10 NBA roster in terms of talent? Is it Mike Brown? I'm just not seeing it.

Irving's great, yes. Waiters is great, yes. Are they Durant and Westbrook? Not even ****ing close. Not on the same planet. And the rest of the roster is just kind of even and balanced. I don't see them getting past the 1st round in the playoffs, if they even make it.

Mike Brown is awful. He's a defensive coach and they gave up 100+ points in 3 quarters.

Kyrie hasn't been good. He's been absolutely terrible. He's played shitty basketball for 3 quarters, played outstanding in the 4th quarter, then has been forcing unnecessary shit in close games late. He blew the Bucks game with a dribble off his foot, blew three game winning or tying shots against Philly (before he finally hit). Kyrie is an unbelievable player, but he has GOT to stop this shit where he tries to do everything himself. Then again, knowing MIke Brown's offense, it's possible that's encouraged.

Waiters has played decent this year. Bennett has been a complete nightmare and I only hope (like Waiters) he's a late bloomer. CJ Miles has been surprisingly good.

They have enough talent to be competitive. It's definitely coaching. If Mike Brown can't coach defense, considering how bad he coaches offense, that's really bad news.

[mcaj22]

James Anderson (who?) dropped 36 on the Rockets? the Rockets cant even beat Philly really?

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Mike Brown is awful. He's a defensive coach and they gave up 100+ points in 3 quarters.

Kyrie hasn't been good. He's been absolutely terrible. He's played shitty basketball for 3 quarters, played outstanding in the 4th quarter, then has been forcing unnecessary shit in close games late. He blew the Bucks game with a dribble off his foot, blew three game winning or tying shots against Philly (before he finally hit). Kyrie is an unbelievable player, but he has GOT to stop this shit where he tries to do everything himself. Then again, knowing MIke Brown's offense, it's possible that's encouraged.

Waiters has played decent this year. Bennett has been a complete nightmare and I only hope (like Waiters) he's a late bloomer. CJ Miles has been surprisingly good.

They have enough talent to be competitive. It's definitely coaching. If Mike Brown can't coach defense, considering how bad he coaches offense, that's really bad news.

Yeah. I didn't get to watch the game just over a week ago in which they beat the Wolves and had a 20 point lead throughout the 3rd quarter, so I know there's good shit on that team. I definitely see what you're saying as far as coaching goes. Teams that play great defense might be off offensively for a couple nights. They might even be off defensively a bit. They shouldn't be off to the tune of 100 points given up before the 4th quarter starts. Especially playing a team that started Robbie Hummel at the 3.

I went through the Kurt Rambis years with Minnesota. I can smell poorly-coached basketball as well as anybody. Mike Brown is definitely a loser.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by mcaj22

James Anderson (who?) dropped 36 on the Rockets? the Rockets cant even beat Philly really?

Well, they didn't have Harden, and Philly is a really underrated team. I like Philly a lot -- a gritty team that will keep punching you in the mouth. Evan Turner is playing like a man this year, and even though they have less talent, they hustle. I think they're going to be a tough out -- not good enough to go far, but good enough to piss a few teams off.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by mcaj22

James Anderson (who?) dropped 36 on the Rockets? the Rockets cant even beat Philly really?

Tony Wroten had a triple double in place of MCW in the same game. That coach is doing an amazing job. Rockets were missing Harden, but they still shouldn't lose that game. The Heat and Bulls thought the same thing against the 6ers earlier in the season.

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by tecumseh

Only one undefeated team in the NBA. GO PACERS!!!!!!!

Holy Shit! Do we have another Pacer fan!?!?!?

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by MIAdragon

Holy Shit! Do we have another Pacer fan!?!?!?

I like the Pacers a lot. Of course, I like several teams.