Here on The Continent, all but the hardiest envy those in the Western Hemisphere today; as the holiday fades into evening here, the NBA’s awesome quintupleheader is just beginning: To watch this live, the European would have to pull an all-nighter, with wall-to-
wall basketball straight through to 7am or so. BallinEurope plans to watch the first two and get up before the rooster for the 4.30am CET tipoff of Clippers-Nuggets.
In any case, apologies for the delay, but below run BallinEurope Official Fearless Predictions™ for the Christmas slate. The first game’s already begun (full disclosure: as of this writing, it’s Brooklyn Nets 16, Boston Celtics 12), but BiE’s got the Cs winning in Spike Lee’s neighborhood – wish it could be proven, but BiE did post his vote this way in the ESPN Sports Nation poll today.
On the rest of the slate, the other OFPs include the Los Angeles Lakers over the Knicks in a nailbiter in which Steve Nash goes for nine assists (of course); the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Miami Heat by 8; the Chicago Bulls defend home court against the Houston Rockets, winning by 10 despite game high-scorer James Harden’s efforts; and in that battle of the league’s most exciting teams, the red hot Los Angeles Clippers extend the winning streak (which will end against the Celtics in their upcoming match) over the Denver Nuggets by, BiE’ll say, 11.
Enjoy the wall of ’ball; BallinEurope sure will…
Tags: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, fearless predictions, Houston Rockets, James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, NBA, NBA 2012-13, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Steve Nash
Nando de Colo not impressed by the NBA.
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/sports/nando-de-colo-l-interview-integrale-la-nba-c-est-ia213b0n920419
Is the NBA still a magical level?
You know, I’m not really impressed by it. It’s not magical, but now that I’m in it, I realize that it’s exceptional that the media is talking about it in the whole country. The littlest thing, on or off the court, immediately ends up on TV. The team does everything for you, so that you only have to worry about basketball. I’ve already said it, but it’s the first time that I go to practice without having to carry a bag or sneakers. I’m surprised each day about some of the customs.
The funny thing is how the American fans express themselves. If you do a simple no look pass, then they think it’s the assist of the century! They have a different approach to sports than we do in Europe. If your shot rolls around the rim three times before it goes in, then they claim that you have a good, soft “shooter’s touch”. In France, we would just admit that we got lucky. They do these little things in practice to try to help the players.
They’re all about the show. Every day, after the games, there are Top 5 and Top 10 play lists all over everywhere. They also do the same for all the other sports, which they also follow inside and out. What made me laugh recently during a timeout, in a game in Oklahoma, was that the fans were wearing costumes in the crowd. They don’t care about looking ridiculous, they just come to root for their team. That’s nice.
You conveniently left out the part where he says “I realize that this (the NBA) is still outstanding.”