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.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by SNR

The shitty thing is nobody has any clue what it is.

-It's not inexperience. If they're 1-18 in these games in the last calendar year, they've got to have learned something at this point

-Love and Martin are more than valuable go-to guys in late game situations

-It's not shitty playcalling out of timeouts. Rick Adelman is old, but he's not old and confused yet.

-With the exception of the Dallas loss with the no-call on Love, it's not the refs. Hell, the refs have been GIVING them opportunities to win late in games. The OKC game where Love bricked 3 free throws at the end comes to mind.

I've never seen Kevin Martin come up big in the clutch. That and his lack of defense were my problems with him.

I've seen Love just ****ing light it up in clutch time. He just gets no help
Ownership has already disrepected him so there is no way I see him in Minnesota once this contract is up.

Now thay they been mostly injury free I'm pretty suprised they can't get it together. It maybe time to move Love and stockpile some picks with a deep draft coming up. Just seems like Love and Minnesota aren't meant to be.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by SNR

No. **** off.

Actually, we could trade you Boris Diaw and a 1st rounder. That sounds good to me. Then we could have Love for this year and next so he could hone his leadership skills by being around Tim Duncan.

[KC_Connection]

Jonas Valanciunas and DeMar DeRozan for Kevin Love.

[dirk digler]

Lebron fouls out Nets up by 2 in OT

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Holy Shit. Lebron has only fouled out 4 times his entire career...? That's insane!

[dirk digler]

Cole ties it and then Pierce misses his second game winner in this game. He used to be clutch but he isn't anymore. He missed alot of those types of shots the last couple of years.

[GoChargers]

Originally Posted by Mr_Tomahawk

Holy Shit. Lebron has only fouled out 4 times his entire career...? That's insane!

Wilt never fouled out.

[dirk digler]

heh..talked shit on Pierce and hits a 3

[dirk digler]

lol Livingston just embarrassed Cole

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Lakers are terrible.

Clippers hang 43 pts on them in the 1 QUARTER

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by KC native

Refs fault.

Please take some meow meow. It will lead you to do something great for humanity.

[GoChargers]

Lakers.

[RustShack]

Cleveland is 2-0 since trading for Deng. And he's only played in one.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by GoChargers

Lakers.

6th pick in the draft. This is awesome. Keep the tanking up! this could be the anti Chiefs, get a high pick and have a shot at a legit superstar.

I love that the Lakers fans are finally giving in to losing is better for this franchise right now! I've learned in the ways of tanking can be good from being a Chiefs fan. lol


Whats really crazy is that 1-7 in the west is pretty much set in stone for the play offs. Season isnt even halfways over and play off spots are pretty much already locked in.

Terrible season for the NBA.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by RustShack

Cleveland is 2-0 since trading for Deng. And he's only played in one.

It's a great trade, as long as they can re-sign Deng. Tyler Zeller looks like he got bigger, which could make him a nice Hansbrough type depth option. Waiters is turning out to be a great pick. And even if Bennett sucks, it gives you some chances to get him on the floor.

The only thing I'm torn on is what to do with Waiters. He just can't be on the floor at the same time as Kyrie, and that sucks. Frankly... I know Kyrie's getting better about it, but he's been a big part of the problem much of the year.