Merry Chrsitmas and Happy Holidays to all of you. On the day we celebrate the birth of a great prophet of Biblical times, we also celebrate the beginning of a new season in the NBA, thanks to a rather protracted lockout that nearly killed the season and was saved thanks to a Thanksgiving miracle. But now it's time to play ball.

The season has been shortened to 66 games this year, but it will be compacted, and many teams will be playing at least 3 games a week and often 4 games a week until the end of the season. This could impact some teams, particularly veteran teams with aging players. Having said that, it appears the same teams who dominated the league last season are heavy favorites to contend for the NBA title this season, with a few tweaks here and there courtesy of the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers, thanks to some huge free agent signings. Nevertheless, these are the teams given the best shot of winning the NBA titile this upcoming season.

Miami Heat - They were supposed to be the dream team thanks to the big three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, and while they came close to winning the title, they wilted in the Finals to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. Neverthless, they are the heavy favorites to win the title in 2012.

Los Angeles Lakers - Despite the retirement of coach Phil Jackson and the loss of Lamar Odom due to offseson trades and the failure to land Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, they are still the favorites to win the Western Conference and land in the NBA Finals. However, Kobe Bryant may be at his physicial peak, and it is unknown how his new supporting cast will be during the season.

Chicago Bulls - The Chicago Bulls shocked many in the NBA world by ending last year's regular season with the best record in the NBA, thanks to an MVP season by star point guard Derrick Rose. But their shortcomings were exposed in the Eastern Conference finals by the Miami Heat, particularly their lack of depth at the shooting guard position. The Bulls acquired Richard "Rip" Hamilton during the offseason to address that issue and hope it will be the missing piece they need to upend the Miami Heat and appear in their first NBA Finals since the Michael Jordan era.

Oklahoma City Thunder - The Thunder are considered to be the young upstarts in the Western Conference thanks to the superstar guard tandem of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. But there has been some friction between the two guards, and they will need to mature a bit if they hope to land in the NBA Finals.

Dallas Mavericks - The Mavs are the defending NBA champions, but they have lost several of the players who led them to a title, including Tyson Chandler and DeSean Stevenson. They did land Lamar Odom in a trade from the Lakers, and while he is expected to help them tremendously, some say the Mavs may be too old down the stretch to keep up with the Lakers and the up-and-coming Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies.

Boston Celtics - The Celtics are led by their aging big three in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but many think this season may the last chance for this incarnation of the Celtics to contend for an NBA title.

San Antonio Spurs - Like the Celtics, the Spurs are an aging franchise who may be on its final legs in their current incarnation to contend for an NBA title.

New York Knicks - Is this the season the New York Kinicks brealk through and become legitimate title contenders? Will they ever play defense? We'll see...

At any rate, this looks to be another exciting season of pro basketball. So sit back and enjoy the ride.

[Edited 12/25/11 17:21pm]

Yaaayyy! My Bulls beat the Lakers in a nailbiter.

I have very low expectations for my hometown Pistons, but just because I love my squad, I'll watch as much as I can this season...

Knicks defense needs a lot of work, but I liked the effort I saw yesterday. They started out strong, wilted in the third, but came back in the fourth behind a wonderful performance by Carmelo Anthony. But the backcourt has serious issues, and they lost the rookie Shumpert for 2-4 weeks.

If the Heat stay healthy they'll be scarey come playoff time

The Nets just won their first game of the year!!!! We are 1 - 0 and tied for first place If only the season could end now!!! Who needs Dwight Howard.......

1 down and 65 to go

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728huey said:

Yaaayyy! My Bulls beat the Lakers in a nailbiter.

And it was the point guard penetration that killed them. Along with, you know, Kobe's turnovers and ego-driven last second shot.

Abdul said:

If the Heat stay healthy they'll be scarey come playoff time

I don't think any team outside of the Thunder or the Bulls have the horses to beat them.

Warriors 1-1

Lakers 0-2

I should hold on to it while it lasts, though. The Lakers will still finish in the top half of the West and make the playoffs. No guarantee that will happen with the Warriors.

Shaolin325 said:

The Nets just won their first game of the year!!!! We are 1 - 0 and tied for first place If only the season could end now!!! Who needs Dwight Howard.......

1 down and 65 to go

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What's with all the hate for Kris Humphries? He's getting booed everywhere he plays, yet if anyone had half a brain, they should be directing their ire at Kim Kardashian.

728huey said:

Shaolin325 said:

The Nets just won their first game of the year!!!! We are 1 - 0 and tied for first place If only the season could end now!!! Who needs Dwight Howard.......

1 down and 65 to go

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What's with all the hate for Kris Humphries? He's getting booed everywhere he plays, yet if anyone had half a brain, they should be directing their ire at Kim Kardashian.

I'm not sure why he's getting so much grief! But if he can use all that hate as motivation to have games like he did last night I hope he gets booed where ever he plays - including the games in Newark

To be honest, I don't get the Kardashian hate either. They're not doing anything illegal that I know of.

If you don't agree with how they're conducting their lives tune them out. If people would stop watching their shows and buying whatever it is they sell they would have to go away. No need to boo or spew hate towards them.

Cash rules everything......if they did not generate money for so many people they would not, they could not exist.

But, back to b'ball......The Nets are going to have a LONG abbreviated season if the offense doesn't get any better. The defense is not going to be able to hold most teams to just 84 points.

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Former NY Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams just played the National Anthem on guitar before the Nets game!!! It wasn't Hendrix-like, but he did a great job.

A handsome man, a great baseball player and he can play the damn guitar!!!

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For more than a decade, the San Antonio Spurs have stayed near the top of the NBA on the strength of their professionalism and hard work. One of their inspirations during that time has been the following quote by the Danish-American social reformer and activist Jacob Riis: "When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."

The idea is a simple one: that if a team trusts it's process, eventually they'll get their desired outcome, even if it doesn't seem likely at any one point. It encapsulates Gregg Popovich's approach to the game and also helps explain why the Spurs have been so steady over the years. It even inspired the name of one of the most notable blogs covering the team.

In a league of copycats, many coaches have introduced the quote to their own teams, including Popovich disciple Mike Brown with the Los Angeles Lakers. But none have gone as far as new Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who literally keeps a giant boulder in his office. From the Associated Press:

A 1,300-pound boulder sits just inside the front door to the Toronto Raptors' dressing room, a reminder of the mentality Dwane Casey is trying to instill in his new team. Heading into what the Raptors coach is calling a "building" season, Casey has introduced a new motto: Pound the Rock.

"I knew we were going to be a work in progress, every time we walked on the floor we were going to have to have something to get us to think about … how we have to get better, we've got to work to get better," Casey said this week. "It's from a story about a stonecutter. Every time a stonecutter hits a rock it may not break. You may have to hit it 100 times but on that 101st time you hit it, now you crack the rock." [...]

Raptors employee Graeme McIntosh was sent out to find the stone that stands about 3 feet tall, snapping a photo on his phone and sending it to Casey for approval. The stone, which cost about $500, was then washed and shipped to Air Canada Centre.

It might seem ridiculous that the Raptors would put a real boulder in the locker room, but Jon Gruden put a large piece of granite in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' locker room during their Super Bowl season of 2002. While the Spurs have proven that it's possible to get the point across without a physical demonstration, it's nice that Casey made everything so clear. Metaphors can be tricky sometimes.

It's as yet unclear how much this motto will mean to the Raptors, but it's easy to admire their excitement in the early going. Plus, they made sure to buy local. I guess the NBA really does care about local communities.

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That's a great motto.

I don't think a motto is gonna help the Nets this year - unless it can get on the court and actually ball!!!! The season should've ended yesterday.......actually it probably has. That game will probablly be our highlight

You can't win a NBA game scoring 70 points!!!!!!!

disgusting.......

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You can win scoring 70 if you've got a world class defense. Its been done quite a few times, actually. But the Nets don't have that this year, either.

Cerebus said:

You can win scoring 70 if you've got a world class defense. Its been done quite a few times, actually. But the Nets don't have that this year, either.

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ok....I should've said the Nets can't win scoring 70 points. This season is abbreviated, but it's going to be long for us Nets fans. But, the good news is the so-called experts are saying the draft will be pretty deep this year. So, I guess its not all bad.

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I think the Rockets have been mathematically eliminated already.

Abdul said:

If the Heat stay healthy they'll be scarey come playoff time

Especially with LeBron & Wade posting mfers up. How do you stop that?

Anybody have any idea when TNT gonna start airing the basketball games? I miss the analyst team of Chuck, Kenny and 'em lol

Timmy84 said:

Anybody have any idea when TNT gonna start airing the basketball games? I miss the analyst team of Chuck, Kenny and 'em lol

Doubleheader last night, doubleheader on Thursday, and Shaq is on the team now, too.

Cerebus said:

Timmy84 said:

Anybody have any idea when TNT gonna start airing the basketball games? I miss the analyst team of Chuck, Kenny and 'em lol

Doubleheader last night, doubleheader on Thursday, and Shaq is on the team now, too.

Ah! So Thursday it is, thanks.

Timmy84 said:

Cerebus said:

Doubleheader last night, doubleheader on Thursday, and Shaq is on the team now, too.

Ah! So Thursday it is, thanks.

It might be more than just Thursdays this season because TNT already paid for the right to broadcast a certain number of games each season. Since this season is greatly compacted it seems possible that they'll be showing them more often. I'd check Tuesday regularly, too. Wednesday, I think, is the big NBA TV night.

Cerebus said:

Timmy84 said:

Anybody have any idea when TNT gonna start airing the basketball games? I miss the analyst team of Chuck, Kenny and 'em lol

Doubleheader last night, doubleheader on Thursday, and Shaq is on the team now, too.

There should be subtitles whenever Shaq speaks. I can't understand what he's saying half the time.

Cerebus said:

Timmy84 said:

Ah! So Thursday it is, thanks.

It might be more than just Thursdays this season because TNT already paid for the right to broadcast a certain number of games each season. Since this season is greatly compacted it seems possible that they'll be showing them more often. I'd check Tuesday regularly, too. Wednesday, I think, is the big NBA TV night.

Hey the lockout did some wonders.

Oh. And you're welcome. Don't want to seem impolite or... ya know... rude.... or whatever.

uPtoWnNY said:

Cerebus said:

Doubleheader last night, doubleheader on Thursday, and Shaq is on the team now, too.

There should be subtitles whenever Shaq speaks. I can't understand what he's saying half the time.

That dude mumbles in his sleep...

He was all mememe mememe on "2Bad".

Cerebus said:

Oh. And you're welcome. Don't want to seem impolite or... ya know... rude.... or whatever.

No prob lol nah I know you weren't rude or nothing.

^^

I noticed that with Shaq, too. But it seemed like somebody in production may also have noticed it. Seemed like he was getting better by the end of the night.

Edit: Because I do know how to use the English language... at least half-ass like, anyway.

[Edited 12/28/11 15:50pm]

Where's uptown at?! I know he's tryin' to stay away from this thread right now. Maaan, the Warriors, though the execution of Mark Jackson's GREAT gameplan, straight wooped on the Knicks last night. Keeping McGuire off Melo and not switching Ellis to the point until the fourth quarter was genius. And they actually played defense! The Warriors.... played defense! If we had shot more than 30 percent in the first half that game would never have been close.

Now *uhum* I'm not tryin' to get too far ahead of myself here... we're still the Warriors... and the Knicks big three should have played better.

But man, beating Chicago and NY in the last two games and having it NOT look like an accident has been nice. Our bench is much beeper than I expected, and Coach is doing a great job of using those players.

Cerebus said:

Where's uptown at?! I know he's tryin' to stay away from this thread right now. Maaan, the Warriors, though the execution of Mark Jackson's GREAT gameplan, straight wooped on the Knicks last night. Keeping McGuire off Melo and not switching Ellis to the point until the fourth quarter was genius. And they actually played defense! The Warriors.... played defense! If we had shot more than 30 percent in the first half that game would never have been close.

Now *uhum* I'm not tryin' to get too far ahead of myself here... we're still the Warriors... and the Knicks big three should have played better.

But man, beating Chicago and NY in the last two games and having it NOT look like an accident has been nice. Our bench is much beeper than I expected, and Coach is doing a great job of using those players.

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You're a Warriors fan, huh? I fell asleep on that game last night, but I am happy for Mark Jackson.

As a fan of a team that's not very good all I can say is enjoy the ride while it lasts!!!!

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