Kawhi only played 16 minutes, but most of them were early. Did he re-aggravate the injury, or did they just pull him to rest him?
And even with that run of results, we're still 2.5 games out of the money.Nets win, Mavs hanging in there and either Suns or Kings have to win. A decent night for The Pick (2-5).
1.5 games. Kings are 6th at 9-18 whilst the Lakers are tied 7th at 10-16.And even with that run of results, we're still 2.5 games out of the money.
There is no truth to the rumor that the open gym contested more shots than the Rockets did that night.History alert! Against HOU on Monday, Jrue Holiday shot 16-for-21 and E'Twaun Moore shot 15-of-20 (130-123 loss), which according to Elias is the first time in NBA history that a pair of teammates each made 75 percent of their looks while taking 20 shots from the field. http://www.espn.com/blog/elias-says/post/_/id/1759/elias-says-dec-12-2017
Moore is shooting .473 from 3P land. I'm sure some of us didn't think he could do that in an open gym when he was drafted by Danny.
Donovan Mitchell goes for 32 on 15-26 shooting (he was only one of seven from behind the arc). Kid is easily going to lead all rookies in scoring if this keeps up.Bulls beat the Jazz for their 4th win in a row. After starting the season 3-20.
Lyles/Lydon for Mitchell trade is looking...unwiseDonovan Mitchell goes for 32 on 15-26 shooting (he was only one of seven from behind the arc). Kid is easily going to lead all rookies in scoring if this keeps up.
At least Lyles looks like a player. To Denvers credit, quite a few other teams passed on Mitchell too.Lyles/Lydon for Mitchell trade is looking...unwise
They are capable of simply blowing out any team they play on a given night given their penchant for the triple. They took 22 in this half alone. Bombs over Toyota Center.Rockets dropped a 25-0 run on the Hornets between the 1st and 2nd quarters.
63-49 Rockets at the half.
11-0 since Chris Paul's return.Rockets dropped a 25-0 run on the Hornets between the 1st and 2nd quarters.
63-49 Rockets at the half.
I don't really the backslide from Chriss in the numbers fwiw, though I'm not gonna claim I've watched much Phoenix.The Thunder continue to prove a cautionary tale for the next GM thinking of trying to build a superteam to challenge the Warriors. Anthony, George and Westbrook a combined 10 of 45 from the field last night ... Josh Jackson 0-7 for Phoenix; good thing the Celts didn't trade down to the #4 slot. His shooting percentages are atrocious: .375 FG and .227 3P ... and if you were thinking of putting together a "sophomore jinx" list of NBA players who had flashes of promise last year but who are backsliding this year, who would you pick? I think Marquese Chriss and Thon Maker (and maybe Skal, based on his strong finish last year) would be in the running.
While the Rockets continue to prove an encouraging one...The Thunder continue to prove a cautionary tale for the next GM thinking of trying to build a superteam to challenge the Warriors.
But we were told that he and Harden couldn’t co-exist!11-0 since Chris Paul's return.
With Chriss, it's partly the sense I had late last season that he was about to turn a corner -- much as Jaylen has -- and he doesn't appear to have. For instance, in March he had three 20-point games, and one in April. For those months, he shot .487 and .491 from the field. This year he's had zero 20-point games, is shooting .402 from the field and .303 from three (which is lower than last year's .321 for the season). Also he's averaging about 20 minutes per game, while he was at 26, 27 minutes for the last two months of last season -- which seems to indicate the coach has less confidence in him maybe? He just seems to be coming up small this year.I don't really the backslide from Chriss in the numbers fwiw, though I'm not gonna claim I've watched much Phoenix.
There were strong cases made that OKC gave up the better player for a worse player at this stage of his career and a worse fit in Carmelo which Oladipo is confirming this season. I'm not sure how that trade is relevant to talent not winning out in the NBA......that much has been proven for decades.The Thunder continue to prove a cautionary tale for the next GM thinking of trying to build a superteam to challenge the Warriors. Anthony, George and Westbrook a combined 10 of 45 from the field last night ... Josh Jackson 0-7 for Phoenix; good thing the Celts didn't trade down to the #4 slot. His shooting percentages are atrocious: .375 FG and .227 3P ... and if you were thinking of putting together a "sophomore jinx" list of NBA players who had flashes of promise last year but who are backsliding this year, who would you pick? I think Marquese Chriss and Thon Maker (and maybe Skal, based on his strong finish last year) would be in the running.
It is so impressive how they have not only brought out the best in each other but the best in all of their role players as well. Eric Gordon is the poster child for not labeling a player as a "loser" or "numbers guy on bad team" when he never had the opportunity to be anything else due to the awful teams he's played on early in his career.But we were told that he and Harden couldn’t co-exist!
I don't think either of those 3 players have taken a backslide, I just think they are walking sideways. They haven't shown much improvement year over year from last season.The Thunder continue to prove a cautionary tale for the next GM thinking of trying to build a superteam to challenge the Warriors. Anthony, George and Westbrook a combined 10 of 45 from the field last night ... Josh Jackson 0-7 for Phoenix; good thing the Celts didn't trade down to the #4 slot. His shooting percentages are atrocious: .375 FG and .227 3P ... and if you were thinking of putting together a "sophomore jinx" list of NBA players who had flashes of promise last year but who are backsliding this year, who would you pick? I think Marquese Chriss and Thon Maker (and maybe Skal, based on his strong finish last year) would be in the running.
OKC gave up Kanter and McDermott for Melo. And while Melo is currently sucking, I don't think either of those two are bettter playersThere were strong cases made that OKC gave up the better player for a worse player at this stage of his career and a worse fit in Carmelo which Oladipo is confirming this season.
If we're searching for reasons OKC has been mediocre (and maybe we're not), some the blame also has to fall with Westbrook, whose FG% is sub 40. His usage, even with these guys here, is still absurd. The team is as good defensively as they've been since 2013-2014 by DRTG and are second in the league, in fact. Efficiency on offense shouldn't be a problem, but there they are.Certainly not better players, but you could make the argument that Kanter and McDermott would be a better mix with Westbrook and George.
Well yea, if we knew that Kanter was going to continue to be that good, and Melo was going to continue to suck. But there was hardly a big outcry that OKC was getting the worst player in that deal. There wa stalk about how they would lose depth, and Melo probably is a bad fit, but it certainly wasn't "oh my god they gave up Kanter!!"I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Kanter at 25 is a better basketball player than Melo at 33. As long as they're both negatives on D, give me the guy pulling twice as many rebounds and putting up .641 v. .499 true shooting, at similar scoring volume.
He just threw a perfect dime to Kuzma too. But prior to that he completely bricked a three with his trash form. He is a conundrum.Lonzo just had a sensational play against Cleveland. Grabbed a rebound off a miss by Lebron. Gorgeous near-full-court pass to Ingram who was cutting to basket. Right on the money, two points. Can emphasize how effortless it looked.
What's the conundrum? He has elite vision and instincts, but he's a below average NBA athlete with a broken shot.He just threw a perfect dime to Kuzma too. But prior to that he completely bricked a three with his trash form. He is a conundrum.
Brainfart.......I was thinking of the return for George.OKC gave up Kanter and McDermott for Melo. And while Melo is currently sucking, I don't think either of those two are bettter players
Well, given that he was the number two pick in the draft and is expected to be one of the key building blocks of the Lakers resurgence, I would argue that the attributes you just attributed to him do, in fact, make him a conundrum.What's the conundrum? He has elite vision and instincts, but he's a below average NBA athlete with a broken shot.
Love him. Love Ball. Love....dang...love so many of these guys. I will say that the guys dumping on both Nkit...whatever and on Ball are going to look stupid. I watched the Lakers tonight and vs the Knicks and the idea that Ball is not a great athlete is absurd. The only conundrum regards his shot and ridiculous form, the rest is outstanding for a 20 year old rookie point guard. He's exceptional. Have seen less of Frank N, but like Ball he looks to have instincts that just can't be taught/developed. It'll take a while, but my money is on both being excellent.For some unknown reason, I've watched a bunch of NYK this week and Ntilikina has beem impressive. He's very poised for his age; has a good stroke; plus doesn't seem to o a lot of dumb things even though he's playing PG on the Association as 19 yr old.
Lot of talent in last year's draft.
Love him. Love Ball. Love....dang...love so many of these guys. I will say that the guys dumping on both Nkit...whatever and on Ball are going to look stupid. I watched the Lakers tonight and vs the Knicks and the idea that Ball is not a great athlete is absurd. The only conundrum regards his shot and ridiculous form, the rest is outstanding for a 20 year old rookie point guard. He's exceptional. Have seen less of Frank N, but like Ball he looks to have instincts that just can't be taught/developed. It'll take a while, but my money is on both being excellent.
I love Lonzo.finishes well around the rim
I haven't watched a ton of Warriors games but those I have my impression on Bell would that he's much more effective in a system where he is when nobody is paying attention to him due to the attention placed elsewhere as opposed to any out of this world skill level that translates anywhere. He reminds me of how Powe and Big Baby played off KG/Pierce/Allen and took advantage of opportunities with effort and hustle. I'm not sure how effective he'd be in Chicago......would he even play at all with Markkanen, Mirotic, Robin Lopez, and Portis ahead of him at the 4/5?If only they had Jordan Bell, who started last night for the champs, chipped in 8 points (4-5 fg), 6 rebounds and a Draymondian 8 assists in 24 minutes, and is currently leading the NBA in true shooting percentage (mostly on dunks and putbacks, but still...)
http://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/sort/trueShootingPct
Dunn, Markkanen, LaVine, Bell starts to look like a pretty intriguing young core. Hopefully they do something useful with the "cash considerations" they got for the Bell pick.
I could only preach so much how Thibs screwed with this kids head last year. Watching him play the 2 and sometimes even the 3 so they could get Tyus Jones into the rotation made my head hurt. It's actually probably a good thing that Kris only got quick 5-6 minute bursts under those conditions even when he played the point and his job was to initiate the offense 35 feet from the basket while hiding in the corner similar to Rondo's first season with KG/Pierce/Allen in 2008.As HRB promised, Dunn is much improved on offense, and still a terror on defense.
By any traditional use of the word, Ball is not a good athlete. He can't jump off one foot; he doesn't look to be comparatively strong and his feet aren't as gifted as, say, Semi Ojeleye.the idea that Ball is not a great athlete is absurd.