They had an analyst on ESPN radio last night. I don't remember his name, but he said the Spurs would be the #1 seed because they are the same team that dominated the regular season last year. And he picked the Nuggets as the #2 seed because Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari are going to have breakout years. I though it was interesting because most people here have those two teams dropping in the standings.
SAS, I may agree with. I will never count them out just because they have gionobli, Parker and Duncan. Plus they have arguably one of the best coaches in the NBA. I don't think Denver will be as good as people think. I do see them dropping. With what I've seen so far, I have Spurs being #1, OKC #2, Port #3, Dallas #4, Lakers #5, Denver #6, Clippers #7, and Memphis #8
The Spurs will wind up at 5 or 6 in my opinion. Denver is good. It's going to be a battle with them, OKC, and us in the NW.
Hollinger also picked Denver second, he picked OKC first so I'm sure that wasn't him on the radio, but Hollinger had some interesting reasoning for the Denver pick. Basically he said they are a really deep team and historically have a more pronounced home court advantage from the thin air. Combine that with a lockout year and a fast pace team and they will be one of the toughest arenas in the league for opponents to come in and get a road victory at.
Hogwash. I think OKC will be #1 in the west. They're playing really tough defense at this early stage.
I thought Denver was in trouble because they lost 3 of their players. But the more analysis I read, the more I am becoming convinced that Denver will be there competeing for home court advantage. I thought Felton staements about playing Denver was telling. He said Ty Lawson is fast, will constantly push the pace and can score. Basically pumped up Lawson. If any Blazer should know about Denver and Lawson, it would be Felton.
I watched the Denver game tonight. (Well most of it) Hard to know for sure since the Jazz have looked so bad, but Denver really looks good. They had 20 fucking steals! Again the Jazz have looked pathetic on the road, but I am worried about running with Denver. They are better at it. We need to ugly this game up. It's a big game. You know Miller and Rudy will be pumped up. Both played well tonight.
Yeah Chicago of old was so good at forcing teams to play to whatever style gives them the advantage. Hopefully Portland has this skill. If they can slow the tempo down and force Denver to play more half court, we have a much better chance. This is a big test for our ball club.
It seems every year our first game of the year against Denver is such a telling game, if you will. Unfortunately in the past the hasnt always been a good thing. I dont care if this "only" game 3 of the season. This game could say a lot both teams. I can seriously see it being a blow out either way or a tight game. I have no idea.