NBA Hoop Thread (Non-Fro Dog Edition)

[Internet Apex]

Happy Black Thanksgiving, everyone.

http://www.theroot.com/buzz/nba-all-star-weekend-black-thanksgiving

Here's some stupid shit to ponder as we all prepare ourselves for the festivities. Cleveland is now just 1.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the East. With Boston and Atlanta banged up and sinking, it's actually quite possible that the Cavs could sneak into that 8th seed and play Miami in the first round of the playoffs. Is America ready for that kind of buttsoreness? Fuck Cleveland on general principle. I think the internets will explode. 

[Internet Apex]

Does it bother you that Dan Le Batard just called you a meathead?

The Heat’s other All-Star is an unusual creature in this world of muscle and machismo. Honest. Introspective. Vulnerable. Chris Bosh really seems to enjoy questions, and thinking. His way of being, everything from his frame to his game, gets him called soft by the meatheads, but he shrugs his sinewy shoulders, confident in who he is, and asks you what the hell that even means.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/25/2661209/miami-heats-chris-bosh-is-a-man.html#storylink=cpy

[Eli]

Does it bother you that Dan Le Batard just called you a meathead?

The Heat’s other All-Star is an unusual creature in this world of muscle and machismo. Honest. Introspective. Vulnerable. Chris Bosh really seems to enjoy questions, and thinking. His way of being, everything from his frame to his game, gets him called soft by the meatheads, but he shrugs his sinewy shoulders, confident in who he is, and asks you what the hell that even means.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/25/2661209/miami-heats-chris-bosh-is-a-man.html#storylink=cpy

[SKO]

Does it bother you that Dan Le Batard just called you a meathead?

The Heat’s other All-Star is an unusual creature in this world of muscle and machismo. Honest. Introspective. Vulnerable. Chris Bosh really seems to enjoy questions, and thinking. His way of being, everything from his frame to his game, gets him called soft by the meatheads, but he shrugs his sinewy shoulders, confident in who he is, and asks you what the hell that even means.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/25/2661209/miami-heats-chris-bosh-is-a-man.html#storylink=cpy

I love everything about you, Eli. Don't ever change.

[Internet Apex]

Bulls vs. Spurs tonight at 8 p.m. in a Consolation Finals preview on ESPN. Be there or be one of those guys who doesn't really like or watch basketball but enjoys making fun of everything other people say about the sport with little or no support for his argument. Or be both. I don't care. This game is going to be awesome.  

[Internet Apex]

This guy is so wrong.

an Antonio will beat Oklahoma City in the playoffs. From the “If Something Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is” file, we have Oklahoma City as the favorites to come out of the West. The Thunder have been impossibly healthy this year with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, and Kendrick Perkins all playing in at least 33 of the 34 games for the Thunder this season. Meanwhile, San Antonio has, as usual, quietly been taking care of business down in Texas. They currently sit three games behind OKC in the Western standings, and this is after having Manu Ginobli only play in nine games so far this year. Gregg Popovich, more than anyone, knows how to prepare his team to compete with a shortened schedule. If that means resting his star players in exchange for a 40 point drubbing, he’ll do it. This isn’t Pop’s first rodeo, and just like 1999, the Spurs will have done just enough to sneak past OKC in a memorable seven game Western Conference Finals.

[Slaky]

This guy is so wrong.

an Antonio will beat Oklahoma City in the playoffs. From the “If Something Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is” file, we have Oklahoma City as the favorites to come out of the West. The Thunder have been impossibly healthy this year with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, and Kendrick Perkins all playing in at least 33 of the 34 games for the Thunder this season. Meanwhile, San Antonio has, as usual, quietly been taking care of business down in Texas. They currently sit three games behind OKC in the Western standings, and this is after having Manu Ginobli only play in nine games so far this year. Gregg Popovich, more than anyone, knows how to prepare his team to compete with a shortened schedule. If that means resting his star players in exchange for a 40 point drubbing, he’ll do it. This isn’t Pop’s first rodeo, and just like 1999, the Spurs will have done just enough to sneak past OKC in a memorable seven game Western Conference Finals.

About Eric Maroun: Eric is a born and bred Cleveland sports fan

[Internet Apex]

This guy is so wrong.

an Antonio will beat Oklahoma City in the playoffs. From the “If Something Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is” file, we have Oklahoma City as the favorites to come out of the West. The Thunder have been impossibly healthy this year with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, and Kendrick Perkins all playing in at least 33 of the 34 games for the Thunder this season. Meanwhile, San Antonio has, as usual, quietly been taking care of business down in Texas. They currently sit three games behind OKC in the Western standings, and this is after having Manu Ginobli only play in nine games so far this year. Gregg Popovich, more than anyone, knows how to prepare his team to compete with a shortened schedule. If that means resting his star players in exchange for a 40 point drubbing, he’ll do it. This isn’t Pop’s first rodeo, and just like 1999, the Spurs will have done just enough to sneak past OKC in a memorable seven game Western Conference Finals.

About Eric Maroun: Eric is a born and bred Cleveland sports fan

This makes him nearly as qualified as I am to make predictions on the internets. #buttpuddle

[Internet Apex]

I can't begin to tell you how much I used to hate the Pacers.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7612311/view/full/an-oral-history-malice-palace

[Slaky]

I can't begin to tell you how much I used to hate the Pacers.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7612311/view/full/an-oral-history-malice-palace

I was skeptical but this was a good read.

[Internet Apex]

I can't begin to tell you how much I used to hate the Pacers.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7612311/view/full/an-oral-history-malice-palace

I was skeptical but this was a good read.

I got hipped to it on Yahoo! by my good friend KELLY DWYER.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/malice-palace-oral-history-reminds-us-way-better-155316211.html

[Eli]

The LeBron-afraid-of-clutch-time thing is probably overblown, but still interesting to see these screenshots from LeBron passing to Haslem and Rose driving to seal the game last night.

[Eli]

And just because it was absurd and deserves to be seen 1,000 more times, the resulting Rose floater:

[BH]

And just because it was absurd and deserves to be seen 1,000 more times, the resulting Rose floater:

Rose would have passed the rock if he had an awesome shooter like Haslem on his team.

[Internet Apex]

And just because it was absurd and deserves to be seen 1,000 more times, the resulting Rose floater:

Rose would have passed the rock if he had an awesome shooter like Haslem on his team.

Zing.