2012-13 NBA Season Thread

[cshookemHORNS]

I don't really see that as a dirty or cheap play against Kobe. Jones was just trying to make a play in the heat of the moment and reacted to Kobe pulling up to shoot. He slid over to put a hand in his face, when Kobe faded away causing him to fall on Jones' ankle. It's getting really annoying hearing about the Lakers all the time and hearing Kobe's rants about how the NBA "needs to clean up the game." Hell, he wants a foul after every shot he doesn't make, and then when he does make it when a guy is playing defense in his face.

[Rockstar Matt]

I'm one of the Laker fans who does not think Jones did it on purpose, but it's still a dangerous play that Jones did and it should have been a foul, whether it was intentional or not, doesn't matter.

However, it would have been difficult for the refs to call a foul in that situation. Especially since Kobe had already shot (and missed).

[Lights Out]

It's getting really annoying hearing about the Lakers all the time and hearing Kobe's rants about how the NBA "needs to clean up the game."

Agreed, especially considering Kobe's own history of dirty play:

[cshookemHORNS]

It's getting really annoying hearing about the Lakers all the time and hearing Kobe's rants about how the NBA "needs to clean up the game."

Agreed, especially considering Kobe's own history of dirty play:

Thank you for posting that video, this really shows how Kobe has no room to be telling the NBA what it should or shouldn't do. If Jones is suspended or even fined for that play, I think that would be an over reaction to a star being hurt on a freak accident.

[Rockstar Matt]

Let's be honest here. It's no surprise Kobe can be an a**hole, especially when he was younger. That's part of his nature.

However, he does have a right to complain about the no call on Jones. The NBA has a rule to prevent the kind of play that happened to him. I cannot call a play like that a freak accident. A freak accident is the play where Derek Rose tore his ACL (I can't wait until he returns). What Jones did is a foul. The NBA needs to start being more consistent in what is a foul, enforce those fouls, and especially don't call the game any different in late-game situations than you would in the middle of the 2nd quarter.

In that regard, Kobe has every right to say the NBA needs to clean up the game.

[OnWis97]

It may have been a foul, but it was still a "freak accident." There does not appear to be any intent. Unlike the majority of the things in the YouTube video.

Kobe thinks he's special. He was savvy enough to say that "shooters" should be protected, but he really meant that "I" should be protected. You can argue a foul should have been called, but it wasn't. And that's the game. That's what every Laker fan tells fans of every other team every time their player gets special treatment. So yeah, they could have called it, but if anything happens to Jones, that's just the NBA blatantly licking Kobe's boots.

And why shouldn't he think he's special? The NBA has been sending him that message for 15 years.

[Lights Out]

It was a foul.... an offensive foul on Kobe for kicking his leg out while shooting.

[NJTank]

Let's be honest here. It's no surprise Kobe can be an a**hole, especially when he was younger. That's part of his nature.

However, he does have a right to complain about the no call on Jones. The NBA has a rule to prevent the kind of play that happened to him. I cannot call a play like that a freak accident. A freak accident is the play where Derek Rose tore his ACL (I can't wait until he returns). What Jones did is a foul. The NBA needs to start being more consistent in what is a foul, enforce those fouls, and especially don't call the game any different in late-game situations than you would in the middle of the 2nd quarter.

In that regard, Kobe has every right to say the NBA needs to clean up the game.

I hate Kobe as much as anybody, because I cant stand LA, but he has really turned his image around and has become a better person over all, and I think he is right that was deliberate.

[dbadefense1990]

It was a foul.... an offensive foul on Kobe for kicking his leg out while shooting.

If you look at the video again, he did the kicking motion with the right leg, but got hurt on the left. And it was in the natural act of shooting; he didn't take a jumpshot then magically decided to do a deliberate kicking motion on Jones. It wasn't one of these things:

This was intentional, as Kobe's jumpshot motion was proceeded by a sudden slap motion on Ginobili. Kobe's apparent "deliberate kick" on Jones on Wednesday (as you claim on Kobe) was not deliberate.

[Lights Out]

I didn't say his kick was deliberate. In all honesty, it's probably force of habit at this point. Players have kicked their leg out while shooting for ages trying to get calls, but it was only made an offensive foul this year.

[cshookemHORNS]

Let's be honest here. It's no surprise Kobe can be an a**hole, especially when he was younger. That's part of his nature.

However, he does have a right to complain about the no call on Jones. The NBA has a rule to prevent the kind of play that happened to him. I cannot call a play like that a freak accident. A freak accident is the play where Derek Rose tore his ACL (I can't wait until he returns). What Jones did is a foul. The NBA needs to start being more consistent in what is a foul, enforce those fouls, and especially don't call the game any different in late-game situations than you would in the middle of the 2nd quarter.

In that regard, Kobe has every right to say the NBA needs to clean up the game.

There will never be consistency in any offiacting because it is all human judgement on what to call a foul and what to not call a foul.

After the game, Kobe shouldn't have started pointing fingers at the NBA, (who pretty much covers his ass for everything he wants) but just accepting what happened and shut up.

[Rockstar Matt]

It may have been a foul, but it was still a "freak accident." There does not appear to be any intent. Unlike the majority of the things in the YouTube video.

Kobe thinks he's special. He was savvy enough to say that "shooters" should be protected, but he really meant that "I" should be protected. You can argue a foul should have been called, but it wasn't. And that's the game. That's what every Laker fan tells fans of every other team every time their player gets special treatment. So yeah, they could have called it, but if anything happens to Jones, that's just the NBA blatantly licking Kobe's boots.

And why shouldn't he think he's special? The NBA has been sending him that message for 15 years.

There is no way the NBA should do anything to Jones. I agree completely. It was a non-call. But not anything worthy of being fined or suspended. Like, after Ibaka punched Blake Griffin in the nads, he should have been ejected, fined and suspended. His foul deserved that. I literally have no clue why the NBA didn't do any of those things.

I can't believe the Lakers won today. We beat a very good Pacers team playing team basketball (imagine that). Helluva a confidence booster for these Lakers.

EDIT: All of these grammatical errors are irritating! I must be in phone.

[pmoehrin]

Andrew Bynum stating the obvious. He will be out for the year.

http://www.usatoday....urgery/1998091/

Who would have thought the Sixers would wind up getting the short end of that four team deal and its not even a debate right now in terms of whether or not that trade has been a complete disaster for them. Thus far the way the deal has broken down for they Sxiers they gave up Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a 1st round pick in order to acquire Jason Richardson. Those are the kinds of moves that send would be playoff teams back into rebuilding mode.

[rmackman]

LeBron's dunk with a WWF commentator dubbed over:

[The Six]

That was just done with the DeAndre dunk.

[Cujo]

After defeating the Thunder (again), the superstar-less Denver Nuggets have recorded their 13th straight win and are currently tied with the Clippers for 3rd place in the Western Conference.

[Kramerica Industries]

Legitimately surprised that Denver, on the back-end of a road back-to-back, and coming off a grueling OT game no less against the Bulls, would win in OKC the next night. That's seriously impressive stuff and, jeez, aren't they only one freakish 3OT game in Boston away from this being a much longer winning streak? Because I thought they were already on a nine-gamer not that long ago.

In any case, I've already been hyping the Nuggets myself for a while now, and now that their road play has improved, there is reason to think they can make a deep playoff run. Them and the Spurs are the deepest teams in the Conference.

**Oh, they actually lost four of five in between these two streaks, including losses against underwhelming Toronto and Washington. Nevermind.

[ninersdd]

Kings bomb the Clips, going 14 of 28 from 3. First win against them in over 2 years. Why couldn't this happen more often?

[The Six]

Clippers are cruising towards a first round exit. Making a trade at the deadline could have helped, but the front office couldn't break up the team because everyone is bosom buddies with each other. They have their kids in the locker room! The chemitry is so good! The team won't win anything, but I'm so glad knowing that Caron Butler and Ryan Hollins could continue to hang out with each other. Bet they had a great time at Old Sac yesterday.

[Lights Out]

I agree that a first-round exit is upcoming, but the biggest problem isn't the roster, it's Vinny. The entire league had figured out his gameplan by mid-January, yet it's March and he still hasn't adjusted anything. Plus he still has no clue how to draw up a play (especially coming out of timeouts), make good substitutions, or adjust during games. His rotations suck - Grant Hill has blown chunks all year, yet Vinny continues to force him into way too many minutes simply because he's a veteran. Most gallingly, despite how Vinny claims to stress perimeter defense during practice, the Clippers are still the worst team I've ever seen at guarding the three.

This is the most disappointing team in the history of the franchise, and it's now abundantly clear that the ceiling for any VDN-coached team is a hot first half of the season followed by a total collapse in the second half and an embarrassing playoff exit. The good news is that he's probably not coming back next year. I eagerly await seeing what a competent coach like Stan Van Gundy, Mike Budenholzer, or Brian Shaw can do with this team next year.