this, too. you'd think that PGs would bear a higher burden of scoring, and (funny, bc Keith and I had a discussion recently about PG avg. USG%) it's not the case. Even against poorer defenders on average, PGs still don't carry an equal amount of weight offensively (or defensively) speaking.

I mean, I hate making blanket statements like this, but of the 5 positions, PG is the least important. I mean, it's ridiculous to even pencil in 5 positions (whether it's G G F F C or P W W B B) but this does also mesh with conventional wisdom.

dude, your argument was terrible. can we please not resurrect it?

whatever gets the demons out of your head

I usually watch Xanadu to unwind, it's a seriously underrated musical imo. 80's new wave, roller skates, olivia, what's not to love?

btw if you can make it through the whole video, odds are pretty good that you likes the ****.

I wouldn't put much stock into listed weights. Perkins is 300lb+ for sure.

So this brings up something fun. What's everybody favorite guilty pleasure song, movie, etc.?

my guilty pleasure song: Maniac (flashdance soundtrack)
movie: Footloose

lol yeah theres something wrong with me

lol i regret making this post already

how do you know that isura?

Madonna - Lucky Star

and I don't watch ghey movies

Avril Lavigne.

What if a player like Magic Johnson is the point guard? Does that change the argument a little?

Yes, I do realize Magic was a freak. 6'8" guy running the point is unreal...

i love jewell

i dont get it? the fact magic was 6'8 was obviously very crucial and one of the reasons hes on the short list of greatest players ever

Teams are not "funneling the ball" to Tim Duncan or Yao Ming in the post. They are doing everything they can to prevent them getting the ball (sometimes doubling off the ball) in the first place, and then doubling when they do. They are not "funneling the ball" the ball to Kobe and Lebron.

Yes, some PGs are very skilled with the ball and have ways to beat double teams. So do very skilled wings and bigs. The difference is that if you don't double the PG, they can't make you pay as much. A large chunk of a PG's offensive value is "at a distance", in that it requires a pass to a weapon somewhere else on the court. Cover the weapons, and the PG's value is blunted. (see: the dead horse of the 2008 WCSF)

haha yeah this.

guilty movie is "she's the man" with amanda byrnes.

I respectfully disagree.

So is this a function of

a) LA's supporting cast being overmatched
b) Denver's D and O getting the best of them
c) LA's supporting cast not playing well as of late

I think it's a combo of all three, with C being the most accurate. The Lakers -Kobe have not played at the level we've seen in the regular season, everyone keeps waiting for them to turn it on, but that just hasn't happened. How many more games will it take before they suddenly become the great supporting cast that were so lauded in the regular season?

I'm not buying this at all, especially the bolded. As a team yes they've played well, but individually their non-stars have had their fair share of bad games throughout the playoffs. Do I expect Linas to go off again? Not hardly, but as we've seen from the Nugs in the past few months, there's always someone there to step it up when the others fall off. This team is DEEP (we haven't seen Balkman yet... 17 PER/.585 TS/ great defender), and from what I've seen does not buy into the "stand around and watch" mentality that we get from the Lakers guys.

So yes the Nugs' supporting cast has played better than the Lakers', but they've consistently been doing that throughout the playoffs. And what's more, they have more guys available to step up than Kobe's crew.

The Lakers were obviously the better team in the regular season, but somewhere down the line they lost their edge. Kobe is still bringing it, but the rest of their crew have been erratic at best. We keep waiting for them to bust out, but that hasn't happened yet and IT'S THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS.

The Nugs on the other hand, have been getting better as the season progressed. I think it's equal parts health and chemistry, and for whatever other reason right now they are peaking. If you look back to the ASB, these two teams have played eachother almost exactly even, but right now they are headed in opposite directions.

You said it was a toss up with HCA being the deciding factor, and now the Nugs have that advantage. What's more, they didn't steal home court, they played the Lakers exactly even in both those games. That's big considering the Denver HC edge, and even bigger now that the Nugs have the confidence to know that they can still beat LA at home should a disaster occur.

The Nugs have the momentum, less pressure, and a better overall team right now. Advantage Nugs imo.

btw at the end of game two chauncey seemed EXHAUASTED... likw misssing easy shots cus hes tired exhauseted

man this denver team has really shown something

favorite guilty pleasure music is tegan and sara. I don't know why but I think they're kinda awesome, and I generally really hate music like that.

Obviously, I agree with this since I made the same post this morning...

Kbfc, what are you basing your assesment that kmart and melo are the most valuable nug defenders? I mean is it just the case that aside from about 5 teams (spurs, jazz, hornets, nets, bulls), the primary offensive creators and/or scorers are wings/posts? Basically I'm asking whether it's an empirical claim that wing/post defense is more important right now, or whether it's something systemic?

This is all possible, but as I've said before, other players have skills/attributes (that the PGs do not) which allow them to beat double teams as well, and I am almost sure that no defense "likes" to double (again, not talking about the Lakers superaggro trap defense, which will double team the PA announcer if they think they can steal his mic). Despite having all these skills that will make a double-team pay dearly, and therefore leave the PG in straight-up coverage, the elite PGs are still not scoring like elite wings (who DO get doubled), and with the exception of Steve Nash (!), their team's offenses aren't as good either.


There's actually a subtle point in here about why there's value in not having to rely on a parlay coming through.

Ok, how about $50 on stars? Seadood has first priority. Going by the book moneylines, they put the true odds of this bet at around 2:1 in favor of Denver. I'll sacrifice the EV as a gesture befitting a noble gent such as myself. I'm about to go into media-blackout mode, but I'll come back to the thread later tonight. Just post "confirmed" and that's good enough for me.

My favorite guilty pleasure songs are like 1/2 of George Michael's anthonogy.

KFBC - Confirmed. That might make up for the bad bet I made with Flyingrat. I only have monies on FT, but we'll figure something out.

So $50 on this series being 3-1 (Nugs I win/LA you win).

2-2 it's a push... i think.

good luck, hope you lose.

it's bizarre that you don't feel compelled todefend the methodology in a non-circular manner. I'm open to evidence, I'm just not seeing much that I buy.

seadood, got the pm about escrowing your bet with the rat, i cant take ftp money. so, i cant do it, unless you want me to hold it all on stars. sorry

i gave you the reason: tall people are by and large better defenders.