Friday, October 28, 2016

NBA Diary October 27, 2016

These are just my free flowing thoughts of things that occurred, related to the league, on the date of which the article is titled. Some may be my reactions of different news articles, tweets, but mainly non-statistical, organic, lukewarm takes of game play. All games won’t be discussed. If you have anything you want my take on. Email me bigmellz@spitsgame.com or drop a comment below.


Not much game action on my birthday. What do you think about the rumors of Lebron wanting to ban the Kardashians from being near the team?

Here's my quick take on the mini slate: 

There have been grumblings about my dude Johnny Wall and Bradley Beal not liking each other even though both try to dispel the narrative. However, their play on the court last night said different as they fell to the Hawks. You can’t scream you’re the best back court in the league if Dennis Schroder, some guy named Malcom Delaney and Kyle Korver outplays you. I may have ranked Atlanta too low, Dwight Howard is going to have his way in the East. Tim Easy Way dropped 21 off the bench.

In Chicago, all the talk was about having a team of ball dominant guards who couldn’t shoot. Although that may be true. Wade, Butler, Rondo, and MCW were a combined 10 of 15 from downtown as they beat Boston.

Sacramento hosted the first regular season game in its new home and gave The Machine a run for their money until Kawhi shut everything down with four steals in the third quarter. Kawhi is the MVP after two games. Boogie dropped 36 points and 17 boards in a losing effort.

The Clippers second unit looked impressive against Portland, that’s how they got the win, it’s probably the best in the league with the addition of Felton and Mo Buckets to J-Crossover. Dame did all he could for the Blazers. Coach Stotts need to start running out better lineup combinations.


Thursday, October 27, 2016

NBA Diary October 26, 2016


These are just my free flowing thoughts of things that occurred, related to the league, on the date of which the article is titled. Some may be my reactions of different news articles, tweets, but mainly non-statistical, organic, lukewarm takes of game play. All games won’t be discussed. If you have anything you want my take on. Email me bigmellz@spitsgame.com or drop a comment below.




It was my son’s second birthday. Therefore I didn’t know how much hoops I would be taking in but I bore witness to some pretty fascinating stuff. Like the photo above, for example. That's an example of Trump's America folks. What bothers me most are the two clowns laughing at that idiot. Don't condone disrespectful behavior.

Westbrook looked like we all expected him to. I did not watch the entire game but from the little I did see, I noticed something I had not before. On a few occasions, Westy operated from the post against smaller guards, featuring this part of his game more will make him a more efficient scorer. Before I started writing this piece, I ran across the photo below and it all made sense. 


The Lakers vs Rockets games was interesting for many reasons:

First, I love that Mike D'Antoni continues to throw conventional wisdom to the wayside. MDA has Harden playing full-time point guard. You remember when people were saying Oklahoma City should move Westy to the two and let Harden run point? The Beard had 14 dimes at halftime. I love it. Next, NASA eventually caught the L and it was because Luke Walton pressed the right buttons. He transformed my favorite Laker, Julius Randle, into Draymond Green. I'll make it clear and state he's not on Green's level but he is a better low post scorer. Julius brought the ball up many times and initiated the offense with great success, he finished with an 18 points, seven boards, and six dimes stat line. Finally, Luke showed us why he kept Metta World Peace on the roster, to be a goon. Metta was inserted into the game and immediately paid dividends. He played two minutes and got called for three fouls but those fouls changed the game, he showed the kids they can't just let the Beard punk them. LAKERS WIN! LAKERS WIN!

Anthony Davis acted a fool with his 50 points, 16 boards, seven rips, five dimes, and four swats. A completely unheard-of stat sheet. I think he might have been disrespected by the GM survey. But that boy needs some help. Fa real fa real.

I hope you enjoyed the read.




Wednesday, October 26, 2016

NBA Diary October 25, 2016


These are just my free flowing thoughts of things that occurred, related to the league, on the date of which the article is titled. Some may be my reactions of different news articles, tweets, but mainly non-statistical, organic, lukewarm takes of game play. All games won’t be discussed. If you have anything you want my take on. Email me bigmellz@spitsgame.com or drop a comment below.


Opening night! Everybody is excited and happy that hoops is back and I don’t have to watch trash baseball games that don’t include the Dodgers. I’m still salty AF.

I just dropped my Western Conference Outlook article. But I didn’t have time to write one for the Leastern Conference, so here’s my order of finish predictions:
  1. Cavs 
  2. Raptors 
  3. Pacers 
  4. CelTricks 
  5. Pistons
  6. Wizards 
  7. Bulls
  8. Bucks

Others - Hornets, Hawks, Knicks, Magic, Heat, Sixers, Nets

I will eventually have takes on each of those teams, like I did for the West.

On to opening night.

As expected, the Knicks got smashed by the Cavs, who will definitely be in the NBA Finals again, barring an injury to either Lebron or Kyrie that would cause them to miss the post season. D. Rose looks good but you can’t help but to feel like an injury is inevitable. Melo is Melo. And Kristaps P-Funk looks like he’s going to be around for a while, maybe he can get some All-Star votes if Knicks are in early playoff contention.

Speaking of all-star, if Dame Dolla is not in the February exhibition, I will lose all faith in the selection process.

Last but not least, about that matter of the Warriors getting blown da phaq out by the Spurs. “It's only one game. It’s only one game.” Like please, STFU. Go have a seat and allow us Warriors haters to enjoy ourselves. I railed against Steph Curry being the unanimous MVP last season because I thought Kawhi deserved a few first-place votes. It is going to be fun watching an improved-on-offense Kawhi play as aggressively on that side of the ball as he does on defense.

My favorite take away from that game is the emergence of Jonathon Simmons, he was 5-5 for 18 points in the first half, so I literally asked myself, “Who da phaq is this guy?” I googled him and learned about his amazing plight. Then to close the game out, he embarrahked Javale McGee.


I hope you enjoyed this read.



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

2016/17 NBA Western Conference Outlook

Basketball season is here and we have some excitement to take our minds off of Trump, Clinton, and the presidential election. Thus it is necessary for me to get some of these thoughts off before the association gets into full swing. So, here is my snapshot version of the Western Conference outlook.


1. The Dubs  Fitting nickname for a team that racked up Ws at a record clip last season. As a matter of fact, they added 15 more in the playoffs, including the 3-1 series lead in the Finals before they added Pookie to the roster and smoked off the championship to Cleveland.

Over the summer, they were able to replace the uber athletic Harrison Barnes with some guy named Kevin, who most people think will make them unstoppable. This team will undoubtedly win a lot of games in blowout fashion.

Don't forget they were supposed to win it all last season but didn't. One thing swept under the rug was the fact Andrew Bogut was injured in game five of the finals; they were not the same without his physical presence. Guess who the Dubs shipped off to make room for Kevin... yup, Bogut.

2. The Machine  It is all about execution with this team. Working the system is why they have contended for championships year in and year out in the Popovich era. Tim Duncan retired and officially handed the on-court keys to OG Bobby Johnson, better known as Kawhi who still drives his '97 Chevy Tahoe from high school. There is nothing exciting to see here except a nightly clinic on getting open buckets and making your opponent work for everything.

Pau Gasol will try to fill in for Timmy, which he won't have a problem with on the offensive end but the team will truly miss Duncan on defense; he always made sure his guys were in the right place.

3. Clippers  Do not expect me to waste too many keystrokes on these perennial under achievers. They have a championship coach, passionate owner, the best pure point guard of the modern era, an athletic freak of nature at power forward, the best defensive center in the L, annual favorite to win sixth man of the year, and three-point assassin in JJ Reddick.

They might even be good enough to finish second in the conference when it is all said and done but will ultimately be judged by if they can exorcise their second round demons.

4. Kush Blazers  I am a hip-hop head first and foremost, so I love that Dame Dolla has an album coming out. I remember dudes like AI and Kobe were going to drop records but never did, but then again, they did not have bars like Dame. I would love nothing more than for him to drop a diss record about every point guard he lights up this year.

Dame has come out and said he wants to be the MVP, which nobody ever does. Dame knows that MVPs are only given to players on the best teams in the league, and knowing he has this on his brain means he has confidence in his teammates. And that is good enough for me to place them here.

5. The Westbrooks  I’m going out on a limb here because I don’t think the drop off due to Kevin leaving is that great, neither is the Serge exodus. I’ve always thought this was Westbrook’s team and since the former MVP wanted to bounce, it gives the rest of the gang more chances to play a larger role.

Most of the returning players aren’t saying they feel betrayed by Kevin, but they have to be feeling some type of way and it’s going to fun to see them leave their souls on the floor to try and show him they didn’t need him any fucking way. Acquiring Oladipo to be Westy’s running mate is bad news for opposing teams who want to hide their guards on defense.

6. NASA  Mike D’Antoni reintroduced pace back into the league when he took over the Suns job in 2003 and ran his 7 seconds or less offense. Daryl Morey is the statistics guru who’s had an imprint on the nerd revolution that has taken over the sports world, especially the NBA. Morey basically took the finer parts of what D’Antoni did with Phoenix and ran it through super data machines and churned out the blue print for winning basketball.

We now have a match made in offensive basketball heaven with the aforementioned gentleman. We also have the scoreboard operator’s nightmare. If they can figure out a way to stop people, they might win a championship, but since all they have is Ariza and Capela on defense, I’ll settle for The Beard, Eric Gordon, and Ryan Anderson getting buckets.

7. Stockton’s Old Team  They added some old heads in Iso Joe and Boris Diaw, aside from them, this is a young team. What’s old are the glory days of Stockton and Malone and when Deron Williams used to be elite. What’s also getting old is the rhetoric that this team is up and coming. I don’t get why everyone wants them to be NEXT.

I mean, I like Favors, Hood, Gobert, and Exum as individual players but think Hayward is a tad bit overrated, can’t figure out why Alec Burks got paid and brass traded for Dru Hill, I mean George Hill.
Anyway, they’re here strictly because I MUST be missing something. So to save myself from looking like an ass…

8. The Pups  In my neighborhood, I can’t look outside without seeing people walk their little creatures and look so happy to pick up poop, but that’s only for annoying cute ones that are kept in the house. For the most part there is a disdain for all others, particularly the ones that sleep outside; people mistreat them, euthanize them, and basically, aren’t welcomed in society.

Wolves are the largest member of the dog family, and just like all dogs, are usually cautious around humans but they aren’t domesticated. In the NBA, all the other teams have abused them for the past 12 years without repercussion. But this pack is going to start biting now that they have a trainer, err coach, who specializes in making his subjects defend and reach the playoffs.

Wolves mate in the winter time, look for these kids to start screwing everyone over after Christmas then wear down in April. I think they can finish higher than the 8 seed but I purposely placed them here because I want them to matchup against the Dubs. The Dubs weakness is the big man, the leader of pack is the best young big man in the L and ironically, a KAT.

9. Mavericks  Teams out of the playoffs and number three up top do not get nicknames from me, but if I were to name them, they will be the Geezers. Full Disclosure, I think they will make the playoffs but because of number 7, you know.

I liken this team to the old man in the park that’s looking for a good run but everybody takes him lightly until he starts roughing you up, faking you out your sneaks, and raining threes on you until you’re like, “WTF!” This is definitely a team full of that old man in the park spread out across all positions on the floor except for Harrison Barnes, who just got the boot from Silicon Valley and got major cake to not be the go-to-guy.

10. Grizzlies  The transition from ground and pound to pace and space is going to be a hard one. A bunch of square pegs trying to squeeze into a round hole. I see a lot of rectangular bricks failing to fall into a circular rim.

11. Nuggets  There is a lot to like about this squad, including Coach Malone and... Well I guess there is not much to like. Most of these guys play the same position. We can't even call Faried by his once-cool nickname any more.

12. Suns  Now there is a lot to like about this team, at least for the University of Kentucky fan in me. With the trio of former UK guards flying up and down the floor, this team will be fun to watch.

13. Lakers  The marquee team in the league is actually building from scratch, something that has not happened since before color TV.

14. Kings  They have a nice new arena, at least. #FreeBoogie

15. Pelicans  I wonder if Antonio Davis regrets taking the money so soon.



Saturday, October 8, 2016

USC Trojans 21, Colorado Buffaloes 17




LOS ANGELES -- The USC Trojans defeated the 21st ranked Colorado Buffaloes 21-17 Saturday afternoon with some key plays by redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold and All American Adoree Jackson. The Trojans offense had their way with the Buffaloes, who entered the game ranked for the first time since 2005, but you wouldn’t know by looking at the final score.

Darnold led USC down the field on its opening drive and it appeared the home team would scratch the scoreboard early but they turned the ball over when Darnold scrambled from 18 and fumbled on the goal line. The turnover seemed to be the popular play of the game for the Trojans.

“It’s hard to win with four turnovers,” said USC head coach Clay Helton.

Read the rest of the story here