the lakers have just pooped their big-boy pants: 2012-2013 NBA regular season thread (part 2)

lebron's such an asshole about triple doubles. he should get one every game

come on triple ot

One of the quieter TDs ever.

Finding it easy to root for vetted-out Celtics teams.

birdman mohawk spotting

These emo Rondo shots -- too soon.

pierce's meanface XD

if ray drills a 3 to win the game here there's gonna be mass suicide in the garden

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3nYNnA8A8cA/SeJEY78iqJI/AAAAAAAAAS4/BytMDtnXauw/s400/We_Win!.jpg

fun game

rondo def looks like he was attending his own funeral tonight

Huh, looked like Piece didn't know about Rondo there in the post-game interview.

doris said earlier that doc told the team

is that the thunder or the spurs

the mavs i think

or not

Brian Windhorst ‏@WindhorstESPN
Becoming obvious that most players & coaches had no idea of severity of Rondo injury.

Was gonna say, Piece looked genuinely surprised when she mentioned it.

i somehow got an international stream with no commentary. It's absolutely glorious.

Doc told the team about the severity in the locker room, after the game and interviews, so that's why Pierce wasn't that solemn when the reporter asked about Rondo's absence.

Ha, watching the same stream EZ. I'd rather have commentary, but game-watching is totally different experience / pretty wonderful.

JVG is otm here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/lakers/2013/01/27/dwight-howard-staying-with-lakers-or-not-jeff-van-gundy/1868433/

Thing that bugs me the most about Dwight never trying the underhanded free throws is that it'd be totally marketable and he could tie it in w/ some Adidas/McD commercial about risk/sacrifice/etc. Not to mention no more 2/10 travesties like today's.

hahah I think you mention underhand freethrows every other day itt

I wonder if it caused familial tension when Jon and Brent Barry chose to shoot free throws overhand.

Hahaha will shut up about it but seriously SOMEBODY NEEDS TO PICK IT BACK UP idg why no one does. Have been surprisingly few well-written articles about the shot; most in-depth pieces about Barry / Why No One Does It is that Barry wanted to evangelize for the shot but everyone thought he was kinda dick so no NBAers are receptive. Just doubly frustrating because it'd be such a marketable switch.

Serious Nashing going on btw.

xp iirc Rick was kinda pissed that Jon/Brent didn't use it (although I think the youngest brother did and SURPRISE shot really well). Also think Jon/Brent were decent FT shooters-- Barry claimed that if you can't hit at least 80% of your free throws you're a bad human.

the thing about the underhand shot is there's no reason to believe dwight or anyone would be any better that way than he is now. shooting free throws....is not that hard. i was 3-3 today. dwight would probably suck underhand too

also it's a reputation thing, no one wants to be the guy who shoots free throws granny style

my personal theory is that FT shooting correlates w/ hand size

the hand size thing is the most baseless random idea, I don't know why anyone latches onto it other than to make excuses for players

the reason people advocate for underhand FTs is that they think from a fundamental perspective that it is an easier shot

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/gallery_images/photos/000/525/146/GYI0061895824_crop_450x500.jpg?1286032658

the thing about the underhand shot is there's no reason to believe dwight or anyone would be any better that way than he is now. shooting free throws....is not that hard. i was 3-3 today. dwight would probably suck underhand too

also it's a reputation thing, no one wants to be the guy who shoots free throws granny style

― manti 乒乓 (k3vin k.), Sunday, January 27, 2013 6:34 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No reason to think that except 1) overhand obviously isn't getting it done; and, 2) the angle from an underhanded FT is way more conducive to going in. Shooting free throws isn't hard once you've instituted a routine that works; there are quite a few high-profile players who for whatever reason have never found a shooting routine that worked.

Feel like the rep thing is a bit of a red herring and that it lies much more w/ no middle-school coaches ever having the balls to teach underhanded free throw shooting, and it's hard to imagine many coaches who atm would be totally cool with some grade-schooler just str8 grannying it during games. By the time players are at college / NBA, I'm sure it's tough to make such a drastic shooting change. That said, I'd bet that it would only take a year at most to become a dedicated and accurate underhander.

you're a random and baseless idea, matt armstrong

idk man you ever try shooting a tennis ball? it's haaaaard

and fyi I haven't even read any thinkpieces about freethrow shooting that talk hand size

in conclusion youre a poopyhead

But yeah basically Newtonian physics says that Dwightmare would hit his FTs at a higher %.

and fyi I haven't even read any thinkpieces about freethrow shooting that talk hand size

― 乒乓, Sunday, January 27, 2013 11:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

neither have I, I've only heard it from announcers and homers trying to defend Rondo or Shaq

these guys are just lazy, you really think they're getting on board with revamping their entire style?

I think underhand FT shooting is an interesting idea for guy who basically never shoot jumpers (Biedrins, Shaqtus). Since they never shoot jumpers in games and basically have no capacity for it, why not teach them to do something that is a more natural muscle movement?

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGUI1lWzFlVc&start1=10&video2=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhb4MPVHd-XQ&start2=6&authorName=

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BBp97kNCYAAhe3m.jpg

not fooling anyone you guys

didn't realize Portland and the clippers were playing a home/away back to back. How often does that happen?

I feel like each team does that with another team at least once per season

these guys are just lazy, you really think they're getting on board with revamping their entire style?

― manti 乒乓 (k3vin k.), Sunday, January 27, 2013 7:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If they understood that those extra FT points should probably translate to more wins / more ppg / a few extra million in contract dollars, then it seems like it'd be worth a bad FT shooter to revamp his style.

plenty of bad FT shooters work hard on it. Even Dwight Howard supposedly puts up a ton of attempts, he just doesn't take advice or radically alter his form because he's stubborn.

yeah those dudes work hard at their FTs, and they also work hard at their baby hooks, footwork, etc. which they all get much better at? dunno what the difference is

I kinda base the big hands theory off my own experience growing up playing with like, volleyballs and mini basketballs or tennis balls when you couldn't get a real full size basketball - they definitely become much harder to control w/ a shooting motion the smaller the ball gets - try it sometime

I've played with a women's-sized basketball several times (sometimes it's the only ball in the gym) and didn't notice any difference in control.

A pitcher can throw a baseball into a space the size of a shoebox at 90mph with spin; being able to wrap your hand around the ball is a positive.

it doesn't compute that hand size is such a positive for NFL QBs but somehow makes controlling a basketball harder.

women's bballs are not that much smaller

a football is a different shape