[hockey216]

Who's better right now?

I think that the Celtics now having a healthy Garnett, Rasheed wallace, and Marquis williams are the best team in the league.

They are too good.

Garnett
pierce
perkins
allen
rondo
wallace
williams
davis
house
Hudson can shoot 3's too.


They're stacked.

if they stay healthy, i don't think anyone will stop them this year. Especially looking at what their bench did to cleveland on the road without Glen davis.


Opinions please? I figure a bunch of pissed off laker fans are gonna demand that the lakers are the best because they won last year blah blah blah.


I think the celtics are too damn stacked this year, have too damn good defense, and have too many weapons on offense.


Just gotta hope garnett and everybody doesn't get injured.

[H-BOMB]

Watch out for the Spurs this season (I am a Laker fan)

[Mendozaaaa]

I reckon

Lakers
Celtics
Orlando
Spurs

daylight

Cavs

the rest

[ipickwinners]

orlando has to be mentioned in this conversation....i know boston has better veteran guys, proven guys, and better success....but orlandos newly aquired vince carter is looking like a great move....needless to say he will need to stay healthy and continue to play like he is motivated, but they can put their starting 5 up against most of the bests in the league

[BrandonLaz]

This is my top 5 in order from best to worst.

Lakers
Spurs
Celtics
Magic
Cavs

[Godzilla]

Boston has the best overall team. Not even a debate!

[BrandonLaz]

It is a pretty easy debate as they have a lot of older players who could easily get worn down during a long playoff run. The quick players on other players could end up blowing by them with Boston having no way to slow them down. Boston could be the best team, but you can easily debate who is the best team in the NBA right now.

[hockey216]

It is a pretty easy debate as they have a lot of older players who could easily get worn down during a long playoff run. The quick players on other players could end up blowing by them with Boston having no way to slow them down. Boston could be the best team, but you can easily debate who is the best team in the NBA right now.

i think boston has the best bench in the league as well.

Rasheed Wallace
Glen "big baby" Davis
Marquis Daniels
Eddie house - Lights out 3-point shooter
tony allen



Orlando spurs and lakers are good teams as well.

But i think the celtics are going to beat anyone come playoff time if they stay healthy.

Also have a group of veterans who don't make stupid mistakes which cost them games. i.e. Garnett, allen, pierce.

I also think Doc is a great coach and with two big men on defense (garnett 7ft and perkins 6ft-11) which can stop opponents from driving the basket.

[hockey216]

i dont think their starters will get worn down as much because boston is great at utilizing its bench and giving them sufficient minutes because its bench is so good

[twincities77]

Celtics and Lakers look to be very strong. I still like the Spurs despite tonight's effort. Don't forget the Magic; Jameer Nelson is healthy (people forget how huge he was for them before he got hurt) and they added Vince Carter and Brandon Bass (who adds some nice D at the PF position, along with being a decent shot). Oddly, the biggest enigma is the Cavs as I'm still not sure how Shaq is going to work with the team, nor am I sure they will be able to duplicate the kind of year they had last year. It should be interesting.

[BrandonLaz]

Boston is going to have to stay healthy for me to believe in them throughout the postseason. Amazingly they might end up having a tougher road through the playoffs than the Lakers or Spurs as well. Cleveland, and Orlando look like true players who could go to the finals. Lakers and Spurs are the only two I think who have a chance in the West. If Boston has to play both those teams then that severely hurts their chances of being the team to rise from the East and it hurts their chances even if they get to the Finals with so many tough series in a row.

[twincities77]

Good point Brandon. Even if Boston were the best team, the prospect of facing Orlando, Cleveland, and Los Angeles in consecutive series makes a title run seem tough (although I still think they can do it).

[BrandonLaz]

Well yea they can do it their title run two years ago was impressive. It was 3 7 game series and then a 6 game series in the finals I believe. That is pretty difficult to do, but it was a bunch of hungry veterans. The question remains to be scene on how hungry they will still be. You can't doubt the hunger of the Lakers due to Kobe alone he wants 6 rings like Jordan and he will make sure his team stays hungry that is what puts them number 1 in my book.

[Diesel79]

so far Boston looks like they could beat anybody with their defence.

[X-Rated]

The Lakers are the best in the league as of now, but let's see how other teams like the Celtics, Magic, Spurs, and Cavs do later in the season.

[hockey216]

The Lakers are the best in the league as of now, but let's see how other teams like the Celtics, Magic, Spurs, and Cavs do later in the season.

analysis please?

Lakers starting 5 are good.
celtics starting 5 are good too. Rondo lights up double-double's, Ray allen, paul piers, garnett, and 6-11 Perkins.

but let's not forget about a weakness of lakers relative to celtics - their bench. to argue the lakers have a better bench than the celtics is blasphemy.

Look at celtics vs. cleveland in season opener. Sure, clevelands starting 5 showed up somewhat, but as soon as the bench's are playing each other it's all celtics.

[hockey216]

paul pierce. its 245am and i cant spell haha

[tripp]

I think the Lakers have the best team in the league easily. They are ridiculously loaded this year and i hate the lakers.

[XGambler]

No analysis needed. The Lakers are the current Champs, so that obviously makes them as the best team in the league. So who else is better than the Lakers? That is to be find out later in the season as these contending teams face the Champs.

analysis please?

[hockey216]

No analysis needed. The Lakers are the current Champs, so that obviously makes them as the best team in the league. So who else is better than the Lakers? That is to be find out later in the season as these contending teams face the Champs.

umm... if winning last year automatically makes u best team next year then why doesn't every team win 2 years in a row? Trades, free agent pickups, etc.

All you fools that said the lakers are better than celtics, please explain last nights performance?
Celtics= another blowout win.
lakers = blowout loss

and you say no analysis? why, because you have none?

I am willing to hear and respect logical arguements. But please make them at least haha.

With HEALTHY Garnett, Wallace, Daniels... come on... you're going to throw in artest and say he's worth more than all three of them?

Please.

[pockets89]

hey hockey216 i respect your opinion and you make some good points but you seem like you are dickriding the celtics. i know you said you would be open to logical arguments and what xgambler was saying was that when you are the current champs you get the benefit of the doubt unless someone can knock you off the top of the mountain come playoff time.

[XGambler]

Hey kid no need to show your anger in here and call people fools. We all know you're a Celtics fan. You want to hear logical arguments? Matter fact, I'll just tell you what's unlogical, and that is you making your argument base on the fact that Celtics win tonight while Lakers lost. LOL. Did you see what happen to the Cavs last playoff against Orlando? Many thought they were the best team in the league but guess what happen to them when playing against Orlando? And how can you just claim Boston to be the best team in the league when they haven't even play the Champs (Lakers) yet? You can throw your analysis out the window, it's useless. To be the best, you got to beat the best, and the Celtics will need to prove that. The difference between you me is you only 'think' Celtics is currently the best in the league, but I 'know' Lakers are the best team in the league.

umm... if winning last year automatically makes u best team next year then why doesn't every team win 2 years in a row? Trades, free agent pickups, etc.

All you fools that said the lakers are better than celtics, please explain last nights performance?
Celtics= another blowout win.
lakers = blowout loss

and you say no analysis? why, because you have none?

I am willing to hear and respect logical arguements. But please make them at least haha.

With HEALTHY Garnett, Wallace, Daniels... come on... you're going to throw in artest and say he's worth more than all three of them?

Please.

[WINGZ]

Cavs~Magic~Lakers~Spurs

[pavyracer]

Atlanta Hawks. Solid at all positions will beat any team on any given night.

[pockets89]

Atlanta Hawks. Solid at all positions will beat any team on any given night.

LMFAO Classic......just classic The Hawks are lucky if they are the 4th best team in the East and Im not even sure of that after seeing a healthy Gilbert Arenas for the first time in like three years.

[DwightShrute]

Celtics (if they have no major injuries of course) will win it all. no doubt about it

[hockey216]

you made a couple decent points xgambler. got back from the bar last night and was like whaaat hahaha. didn't mean any disrespect. definitely too early to really judge who's best. but i think 20 games into the season nobody will be doubting celtics are best.

And by the way you sais u expected cleveland to beat orlando... lets not forget the last time cleveland played orlando on road in regular season orlando blew them out.

[jjgold]

Celts and Orlando are in a league by themselves

Second tier Cleve, lakers

[williams22]

Cleveland played absolutely horribly and lost by 6 to Boston. Not to mention Delonte wasn't back and Powe was injured, both will get serious minutes by the playoffs. The Celtics you see at the end of the season will be a very different team from what you see now after they wear down.

[hockey216]

Cleveland played absolutely horribly and lost by 6 to Boston. Not to mention Delonte wasn't back and Powe was injured, both will get serious minutes by the playoffs. The Celtics you see at the end of the season will be a very different team from what you see now after they wear down.

the celtics' bench gets 15-20 minutes a game.

So why are they going to wear down? I think a team like the lakers who needs to play kobe all the time because of 2nd rate bench will be more likely to wear down

[pavyracer]

LMFAO Classic......just classic The Hawks are lucky if they are the 4th best team in the East and Im not even sure of that after seeing a healthy Gilbert Arenas for the first time in like three years.

The Hawks are better than Cavs and Heat and as good as Celtics and Magic on East. They have the best starting 5 in all league as a unit. All other teams have 1 or 2 stars at best.

[williams22]

The Hawks are better than Cavs and Heat and as good as Celtics and Magic on East. They have the best starting 5 in all league as a unit. All other teams have 1 or 2 stars at best.

Whatever you are smoking, I want some. You don't watch much NBA do you?

[hockey216]

Whatever you are smoking, I want some. You don't watch much NBA do you?

[pavyracer]

Whatever you are smoking, I want some. You don't watch much NBA do you?

Hawks are undefeated and have covered both their games ATS. Now the Cavs have two losses already and the Magic are 1-1 ATS.