Hoosierhoopster

Oh now come on. Vic has started out great -- and again he's my favorite Hoosier of all time -- but no, he's not Paul George, there is literally no one in the NBA who would go anywhere near that statement. You don't just take a few games at the start of one season and compare stats, that's about as skewed and misleading as possible. If you want to compare stats, pull them up for Vic's career and then run the comparison. No where remotely in the same ball park. Vic is doing extremely well, if he keeps it up over the course of the season then fantastic, but don't go pulling early 2017-18 stats and try to make a comparison between him and a recognized superstar.

What a great story. OG, another under the radar recruiting prospect, blows up, then has an ACL tear in what was considered his key year, still gets drafted in the first round, and now as a rookie is starting and playing well on a top 3-4 team in conference. And he kind of shut down Harden....

He's a hell of a coach.

Wizards are in that group as well. They are under-performing but Beal is a beast and Wall will figure it out. Milwaukee is still young but they're going to be a load soon. Pacers look to have good (and better than I though) young pieces, if Turner steps up his game (this last one was good) over time they'll be good in a couple years or so. Phily has a ways to go, still, but a lot of talent. I tend to think Boston''s going to fall back to Earth a bit at some point this season, but they certainly look like a contender and Kyrie's living up to his "decision." Once Cleveland gets IT and is healthy, I think the dynamic will shift this season. But next season? Hmm.

Rockets aren't looking so bad either.... 90 points in a half?

That's great stuff. If OG stays healthy, he's going to be a heck of an NBA baller.

Awesome. OG is a heck of a player, it's great to see him succeeding and growing into a real player in the NBA

Yes agree that LeBron, Harden & Curry, as top 5 or so players, are on a higher level -- but not by much, whether PG is top 10 or top 15, he's considered a star player by everyone in the League, and he was the Pacers' franchise player. I agree there are facets here, I'm just saying he didn't get the calls and it's not as simple as saying star players get the calls. Westbrook right now is getting seriously dissed by the refs, repeatedly, and he's the reigning MVP. He's made some disparaging remarks about the officiating (all of which were absolutely deserved, the officiating in Portland in particular was laughably dishonest and won Portland the game), and I think he's getting some ref abuse as a result, but still. In any event, I'm just saying that guys who play for the Pacers, and similar teams, have a harder time getting the calls no matter how good they are, that's really simple fact at this point, and has been going on for a long time.

PG is a star Gleas. He didn't get the calls. It can be big market vs. small market or power team vs. non-power team. Can name a number of star players who don't get the calls that guys like Harden, LeBron, Curry, et al. get. Hell even Westbrook has been dissed by the refs recently.

This is the same thing PG dealt with as a Pacer. Some felt he complained too much, but in fairness, Pacers generally do not get the calls that franchise players on big market teams, or say Cleveland, get. This has been going on a long time.

Vic is now a veteran, Turner's still young and he's not there yet. Turner probably has a higher ceiling than Vic, but then Vic is playing at a really high level right now and this situation with the Pacers seems to be the best fit he's had so far in the League. Turner's coming back from an injury and he's dealing with trying to be the new face of the franchise, as expected, while Vic has come in and looks, right now, like the face of the franchise. This will get ironed out over time, but Turner needs to be given time to grow. Tons of talent, but not a franchise player, at least at this point. Meanwhile Sabonis was playing like a legit starter, now he's coming off the bench. Still a lot to iron out for the Pacers.

Whoa Michael Moorcock and Roger Zelazny! Elric of M, Corwin, and the Zelazny books, and the Princes of Amber, I read those in middle school! Fun reads

One can dream

Dresden Files? I haven't read any of those, good books? I read a fair amount of crime fiction. I didn't list them but my favorite crime fiction series / author is Martin Cruz Smith's inspector Renko books - Gorky Park and the rest. He's one of the best authors out there, in any genre, and the Renko books, all set in Russia, are the best. Also read Nelson DeMille - lots of humor to go with the crime drama. If you haven't read any James SA Corey's Expanse books though, check them out, they're really good - sci fi mix with some fantasy, some crime drama, really entertaining

Pacers and Vic ended their 4-game losing streak with an emphatic performance from Vic last night against the Bulls, 11-20 for 25 to go with 6 assists, 6 boards and 2 steals. Bogdanovic 8-12 for 22, Turner 5-11 for 11 with 9 boards, Collison 7 assists, Young 6-13. Nicely reflected, from the trade perspective, in the Thunder's W over the Clippers also ending a 4-game skid, with PG scoring 42 on 13-22 and, good to see, 12-15 from the stripe, 9 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals. Thunder with PG and Melo have been playing a lot of iso ball and taking long 2's (both PG and Melo), not a good formula. The way they played last night is their recipe for becoming the team most expected. Westbrook 8-16 with 8 assists, Melo 5-12 and 6 boards. Forced 18 TO's.

Adding another really good and fairly recent book / series -- Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Sci-Fi / fantasy.

Yes I've read a couple of the Decker books, also good. Amazing how Baldacci can just pump these books out

It's just impossible for me to pick one favorite book. Started reading seriously around the 4th grade. When I read Don Quixote in the 6th grade my "reading" teacher told me I read too much. ha ha. Favorites include - Watership Down - The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings - Dune - The Game of Thrones books by the lazy bum who still hasn't finished The Winds of Winter (damn it) - The Dark Tower (Stephen King), this first book in the series is really good. The next 2 are also good, but then King goes into some kind of wacky self-love fest and ruins the series, actually inserts himself, personally, as the author into the end of the series. But The Dark Tower itself is outstanding. - Killer Angels, Michael Shaara - Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books - there are several, starting with Death at La Fenice, crime fiction set in Venice, her writing is fantastic - I could keep going but you get the point -- Wait I somehow left out the series I've been reading for the past year plus -- this (science fiction) series is really, really good: James S. A. Corey's Expanse books, starts with Leviathan Wakes. James S.A. Corey is actually a pen name for two authors. The series has been nominated for best series Hugo award. For any of you who like sci fi, these books (started in 2012 or so) are awesome. And Amazon has an original Expanse series show which just finished season 2, really well done.

The Baldacci books I like are the Will Robie series (The Innocent, book 1) and the John Puller series.

I grew up on the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still hold up well.

Have you read Michael Shaara's Killer Angels? Battle of Gettysburg, but as a compelling action story, fantastic book.

Yeah sorry if that came across as argumentative, was just surprised but now I see what you're saying -- and you're very much right that the Thunder need to get it together. I think, but am not yet sure, that they'll turn the proverbial corner by figuring out how to play together the full game and not just the first half, and otherwise iron out how to work together down the stretch. I've actually liked Melo's effort to back off being so ball dominant and contribute more on a team effort basis. All three of them seem to still be working on figuring that out -- I don't like seeing Westbrook continue to jack up 3's and long 2's when he has PG and Melo with him.

Yeah this is going to be a problem. The Vogel firing and going with McMillan is going to continue to hurt the P's. I hope they replace him after this season, definitely good young talent on this team -- and wouldn't sweat the L's when the P's are playing well and then give up leads, sign of a young team, and a newly constructed team. That should take care of itself with time, at least if they get past the problems with McMillan's coaching.

Really, couldn't be further off. Anthony was 4-17, to go along with Westbrook's 7-21. They all shot poorly and last I checked 4-17 is worse than 4-16. PG was -2 on the night. Carmelo was -21. Did you actually watch the game? The Thunder were up 25-10 and PG was 2-4 for 6 points in the first quarter, they were dominating, then they went to sleep and all played poorly and down to the lowly Kings. In the prior game, PG finished 10-21 for the game high of 27 points, to go with 5 boards and 3 steals. Melo was kicked out of the game on a BS call, finished with 15 (and -9). Same deal in the L to the Celtics. The Thunder were up 18, then they went to sleep. It's a recurring theme and one they have to address. Won the first quarter 31-18, and the 2nd 24-19. Lost the second half badly.But PG was 9-20 for 25 (again, game high), 10 rebounds in his double-double. Melo the clear #2, what? Melo was 3-17 for 10 points in that game and the reason why they lost.

Agree on Bimmers, and they're notoriously problematic after about 80,000 miles. I've had a 3 and 5-series, both were fine for about 50k miles and then everything went downhill fast (not in a good way). CPO is a great way to go especially with the Four Rings, with the extended CPO warranty. They tend to have electronics issues down the road, so the warranty coverage is a real plus. I think they compare very well, from a driving perspective, with the newer Mercs -- which are all now turbo. I got my C63 largely because it was the last naturally aspirated 6.2 liter 8, I love the sound and immediate torque of the naturally aspirated big liter engine -- but while I tuned by EC chip, you can get a much bigger tune out of a turbo . So if you want that performance to go along with your comfortable ride, you can always tune a turbo Four Rings or AMG turbo, which will get you the performance fast -- though it can void warranty, so you'll want a hand-held so you can revert back to normal setting when you take the car in..... (for my car, I tuned the chip and added an LSD (limited slip differential) along with some carbon fiber upgrades, now have about 550 hp and 470 lb foot torque, does 0-60 in 3.4 clocked with tire pressure and gas load low -- but a new c63-S turbo tuned right would leave me behind)