I'm new here and have looked around but couldn't find an NBA topic...

Anybody else follow the NBA?

What is your team?

Who do you think will win the 2005/06 championship?

Detroit look unstoppable in the East.. who will challenge them from the West?


I've been a Lakers fan since the late 80s, remember watching Kareem Abdul-Jabar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, AC Green and Magic Johnson ballin' and couldn't help but fall in love with the Lakers.

I doubt any team from the West can beat Detroit this season. With Amare coming back soon Phoenix should be tough to beat but it's too early to say they'll be the champions from the West. Dallas and San Antonio are looking bloody good too. I hope Denver can make an impact in the 05/06 playoffs, love watching K-Mart, 'Melo and Camby (and lil' Boykins lol).

Did anybody watch the All-Star weekend slam-dunk challenge? How can Nate Robinson jump so high?!!?? he's only 5'9! I'm LUCKY if i can reach the net when i jump.

Am a Suns fan...haven't had much of a chance to keep up with things and I cut cable TV at home for broadband internet...I expect the Suns to challenge again...damn I need to watch a game

Guys, dont really like the NBA, its too much razzle dazzle of the court, and plenty of egos on the court.

But here is the latest FIBA world rankings


FIBA Ranking Men
Team Rank Points
1. USA 832.2
2. YUG* 708.0
3. ARG 700.0
4. LTU 460.0
5. ESP 439.0
6. ITA 433.0
7. RUS 362.0
8. GRE 304.0
9. AUS 279.0
10. FRA 273.0

Amazing Greece is ranked 8 in the world after winning the Eurobasket in 2005

Ah re JJ, yeah Greece is good, but I'm even more surprised that Brazil, Canada and Germany aren't in the top 10.

Brazil have heaps of gun players in the NBA, Germany has Dirk Nowitzki (the NBA's best Power Forward) and Canada has Steve Nash (NBA's 2004/05 MVP)

I can't ever see Greece cracking the top 5, Australia is even worse. I can't stand watching Australia play it gets frustrating watching their outside court game.

I use to follow NBA now i dont have time for it..

Otis, i cant work out the rankings, Yugoslavia,and Italy didnt make it past the 1st round in the Eurobasket, and the other Euro nations all had shockers, except France and Germany.

I would like to know how they base their rankings

ranking is due to the point system as in how many points the team scores against other team and its also based on the winning system eg 4 points for a win and 0 for a loss 2 for a draw...but here it mainly looks like a point average per game points scored and points scored against..

I don't have ESPN anymore. I used to follow the NBA when Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Tony Kukuc & Luc Longley were playing for the Bulls & won the repeat threepeat.
How's Bogut going in his rookie season at the Bucks?
J.J. Greece havn't done well at international basketball for a while. Before winning Euro 2005 I dont remember Greece doing well at international level in years. I know they won Euro 87 in Athens, finalist in Euro 89 in Belgrade, semi finalist at the 94 World Championchips in Canada & they were semifinalist when they hosted the World Championships I think in 98. Being ranked number 8 is better than number 21 in football where they are also Euro Champs.
Is there any Greek player in the NBA at the monment?

Bogut has been solid... from limited minutes he's scoring 9 points per game and is grabbing about 7 boards. Milwaukee have improved since him and Magloire joined this season, but they're still copping big scores against them. They're 33 wins 33 losses this season (so obviously far better than last season).

Yea bulls got a lot of supporters/fans in the 80s/90s thanks to Jordan, after he left they were a laughing stock for several years. Last year was their best season in a long time. They're struggling again this year but might make the playoffs still.

As for greeks in the NBA, Jake Tsakalidis plays with Memphis, he's been starting for them last few weeks and has been doing well. Some double-doubles. Represent! I don't thnk there are other greeks in the NBA though, they come and go as bench warmers usually.

The playoffs are well and truly underway and in round one of the playoffs this is the situation:

Eastern Conference:

(8) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (1) Detroit Pistons
Pistons lead series 2-1

(7) Chicago Bulls vs. (2) Miami Heat
Series tied 2-2

(6) Indiana Pacers vs. (3) New Jersey Nets
Series tied 2-2

(5) Washington Wizards vs. (4) Cleveland Cavaliers
Series tied 2-2


Western Conference:

(8) Sacramento Kings vs. (1) San Antonio Spurs
Series tied 2-2

(7) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (2) Phoenix Suns
Lakers lead series 3-1

(6) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (3) Denver Nuggets
Clippers lead series 3-1

(5) Memphis Grizzlies vs. (4) Dallas Mavericks
Mavericks lead series 3-0

No real upsets with any of the matchups. The Lakers are beating Phoenix 3-1 which may appear to be an upset, but with Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas out, the Phoenix front court is a shambles. Denver were my hot tip at the beginning of the season and they are on the brink of being eliminated in an upset against the Clippers, again due to an injury to key big man Kenyon 'k-mart' Martin.

The Bulls (against Miami), Kings (against Spurs) and the Pacers (against the Nets) are putting up a huge effort to all be tied 2-2 with their respective opponents.

Bogut and his Bucks beat favourites Detroit yesterday (they hammered them by 20 points actually). I'm not going to budge though and am sticking to my guns in saying that the Pistons will win the Championship in '06.... who will their opponent be? At this stage I'd have to say either Spurs or Mavericks, but the Spurs are going to be hard to beat in the West.

Listening to Suns v Lakers Game 6...going to OT after the Suns trailing the series 3-1. Is killing me! Except for the funny American ads on the radio

how do you listen to it? is there a URL? i usually just watch the 'box score' updates on yahoo.com lol

looks like phoenix are gonna take it to game 7 (which will be played in phoenix)... perhaps they'll live to see another day afterall

bloody crap, c'mon lakers! >:|

19 seconds to go and we're down by 6 lol

Suns win by 8..

solid team effort by them, 3 players scoring double doubles, led by nash with 32 points and 13 assists

kobe scored 50 for the lakers.

series is now tied 3-3

other games in the playoff series that are still alive are:

washington 2 - 3 cleveland
san antonio 3 - 2 sacramento

teams already through to the conference semi finals are:

dallas
la clippers
detroit
miami
new jersey

SUNS WIN!!! SUNS WIN!!!!!

i still rate the suns (minus amare and kurt) far better than the lakers. we have no frontcourt anyway so what does it matter if you don't lol. i doubt mihm would've made a difference. Amare is a big loss for you. Game 7 should go the suns' way.

The Clippers should defeat either one of us in the next round anyway.

The Clips?!?!!?! Holy crap they have a team now???

Man they were the league's laffin stock for YEARS!!!! Like since they had Mark Jackson and Danny Manning in 89-90...Amare is a big loss...we have no big guys...

honestly when you guys lost Johnson and the Q after last season i wrote you off, i love JJ and the Q was the best 3-point shooter going around.... then the Q gets injured and gives the Knicks shit-all, and JJ shows the world how he can't perform under pressure in a mediocre team... and the suns scored Kurt Thomas who, in my opinion, is one of the best defensive players going around, very solid on the boards. Unfortunately he took a long time to get into the swing of things and copped an injury late. And with amare out almost all season i reckon the suns were VERY impressive to win as many games as they did!

The clippers were a laughing stock indeed, they have been lucky this season to an extent, although they have proven that they can FINALLY kind of play. They were in a competitive division (although by no means a good group), and they just knocked out the Nuggets who were missing K-Mart. Still a good effort, although they will be VERY LUCKY to have made it to the conference finals should they happen to beat the Suns/Lakers. It's almost a win by default coming up against crippled teams. The Spurs/Mavericks will eat them alive.

Still I can't see anybody beating the Pistons, and in my opinion the Pistons v Miami matchup would be the highlight of the playoffs, even if it is only going to be a conference final.

The Suns play well as a team...they run lots. Without Thomas or Amare we're screwed if we get to the next round...I wonder if they're gonna show it live on ESPN? Will have to hit a pub/casino methinx!

Game 7 to the Suns baby!!!

Let's all say Kobe you're a bitch shall we? Without Shaq you ain't shit!

Sorry Otis...don't like the guy...and without a second legitimate superstar the Lakedrs are gonna do jack...selfish fuck

i know, i'm sick of people trying to argue with me by telling me that Kobe is the bomb... yeah fair enough he's a good player, but we obviously can't afford a decent support crew, lol... It's Kobe and Odom (who is overrated in my opinion). Then we have the worst #1 draft pick of the past 10 years in Kwame Brown, and a bunch of no-namers.

When we had Shaq and Kobe, we had Horry, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher, all solid contributors who worked well as a team. Then add Malone and Payton to the mix and we had an all-star team, even though they couldn't beat Detroit lol.

Like I said, Phoenix minus Amare and Thomas are still a better team than the Lakers at full strength. The Suns may even be able to defeat the Clippers.

Steve Nash got the MVP again, 2 years in a row baby! and Ben Wallace has yet another best defensive player award to put up on his shelf.

Nash deserves the MVP...I remember when Canada played Australia a few years ago and he ripped us a new one...the man has skills...period!

I'm not gonna argue with you mate...it's a shame they couldn't get it to work with the Mailman and The Glove...Kobe's ego is just too fuckin big...both those guys deserved a ring and Kobe shoulda been honoured to have them and the ShaqDiesel on the same roster.

Yeah well Shaq is in an allstar team at the moment (being Miami) and yet they are no hopers against Detroit in the East.

I'm really liking the look of Phoenix to be honest, if you make the conference finals you should get Kurt Thomas back.

I had early money on Denver (so to speak, i don't gamble), but they flouted out, dammit.

Still gonna be a big ask for anybody to beat Detroit!

I haven't followed the season this year due to lack of ESPN...so I will take your word for it...need to see me some ball!

ESPN would've been a waste of money had u paid for it just for the bball... most of the games were Milwaukee games thanks to Bogut. A few Miami, Lakers and Spurs games too. I don't watch ESPN anyway (even though I have it), i keep up on the net or on the ESPN website (u can get free video round-ups on the website).

Not the same as watching the games...and I always liked Sportscenter and PTI (American version!)

PTI is good, and sportscentre is great, but yeah i hardly watch them anymore.

most of the televised games this year, as i said, were shit! who wants to see Milwaukee??? Also a lot of fizzer Houston games too, what crap! I wish they didn't schedule the televised games before the season begins!

It was better years ago when Fox Sports 1 and 2 used to schedule games too...