I don’t think you have to pressure any NBA’s medical team to clear you to play. They are the ones who feel the pressure to clear guys.
Embiid only cares about being healthy for the playoffs and nothing else.. just ask him... unless it's getting 70+ in a game..or it's the MVP... or
Somehow that uniform and wordmark (together with the bemused expression) perfectly expresses his seriousness as basketball player.Speaking of The Process:
View: https://twitter.com/legionhoops/status/1752742954198790612?s=46&t=11SXTvIYT-tl8b6e7iEUVQ
Having Lillard inbound the ball was bizarre.
I also thought Lopez made a bad decision going for his own three after being run off the initial shot. Brogdon, after a great close on Dame, started to pinch towards the middle for some reason once Lopez put the ball on the deck, leaving Dame pretty open with about 8-9 seconds left on the game clock and no shot clock. Strange ending, indeed.
Yes, on that particular play, it’s not really right for me to say that Dame was deferring. He should have gotten the ball back from Lopez.
But I agree that Dame seemed strangely deferential, especially in that game for him personally.
I didn't mind Lillard inbounding the ball to Giannis (for Lillard's game-winner against Sac a couple weeks ago, he inbounded the ball to Lopez with 5.2 seconds), the problem was that instead of Giannis handing it off or getting to Lillard (giving him a running start), Giannis for some reason turned up court. Very strange decision.
That too. It looked like Grant wasn't rushing up to give the foul immediately and waited until Giannis started up the floor. Definitely felt like he could (and should) have gotten the ball back to Lillard.
Can see scenarios where Giannis and Lillard want to be the man.. or where Lillard defers to Giannis because it's his team... but Giannis not giving the ball back down three where he can get fouled seems like a really selfish decision.
Celts execution down the stretch is definitely more team centric than whatever that was the Bucks were doing down the stretch. Portland got the ball out of Lillard's and Giannis' hands during the most important possession and Lopez was forced to shoot the three. Really interesting to see what Doc does with this team and if he can change things.
It's happened quite a bit this season in Milwaukee. I watch a bunch of Bucks games just out of curiosity and for enemy scouting (heh), and yes, he defers at times when he shouldn't. That being said, he is having a really terrible time personally this season (divorce, not seeing his kids) and in my opinion is understandably missing some of the joy he played with.
Preach. League Pass is the greatest anti-anxiety medication there is for Celtics fans.
Yes. Also, NBA basketball is hard, the other team is trying to make it hard for you, and they have good players too!
I do not have a membership in the Malcolm Brogdon fan club, but he was playing with one arm by the end.
It's hard to really find fault with the Bucks offense. They're 3rd in offensive rating and 1st in 4th quarter points. There are a few minor points to quibble with (especially w/regard to Giannis/Lillard deciding who has the ball), but any improvement on offense is gonna be minimal at this point. I'm not sure we've had a title contender in recent history in which one of the top 3-4 guys was as lousy defensively as Dame (and the defensive downgrade from Jrue to Dame remains just about the largest possible slide, unless we were to trade Derrick White for Trae Young). I don't think we've had a champion with a defensive weak link this bad in over 30 years. He's spent most of his career as a really solid poor man's Steph Curry, but I didn't really realize until this year that the gap between Curry and Lillard is significantly greater on defense than it is on offense (I'd assumed that Lillard's lousy defense was due at least in part to the fact that he carried a massive load offensively for Portland).
The Celtics are definitely the weakest title contender around, except for all the others. I know there aren't any real victories to be had in the regular season, but I'll enjoy this one for as long as I can.
I think it's because he shot 36% on good volume in his first year with the Bucks, spaced pretty deep/above the break. It also coincided with the Bucks emergence as a top regular season team, so his shooting/spacing became a big part of that narrative.
It’s probably the height and mechanics. It’s the same with Porzingis who is right at his career pct this year at 35.8%.
Plus shooting 35% for a great blocking/defending/rebounding center is a good thing to have.
That's probably it, although KP has a quicker release, slightly more range and is definitely more comfortable with a hand in his face.
Neither guy has a lot of arc on his shot. KP's is a joy to watch mechanically up to the moment it leaves his hands, but ~35% is probably the ceiling over time when you shoot it as flat as he does. (And, yes, I'm aware that he shot 38.5% last season).
Yeah, KP's arc is an issue. Interestingly, his FTs had noticeably more arc on them when he came back against the Pacers. I doubt he can change his 3-ball at this point (maybe in the offseason), but it indicates he's aware of the problem.
Pretty soon the focus will shift to "home court for the Finals", and watching the standings in the West.
Nope. Toumani Camara helped make sure that didn't happen:
Brook Lopez knocking down 3s & getting DPOY votes has been one of the most impressive BIG man transformations ever (I guess those defensive accolades were more system/teammate-driven)
Interesting, thanks (not sarcastic). I was just cutting and pasting from Twitter but minutes seem more relevant than games played here (although the whole thing is pretty meaningless in general). I don't know an automatic way to do it, so quickly adding them up in my head I got this:
DD shot 40%, Steph shot 40.8%
Pretty impressive that Starks held the record for so long. I always enjoyed watching him play even though it was on the hated Knicks. Though I did take immense joy in his game 7 disaster.
I think of all the greats, Hakeem is one of the most underrated. Hes in my personal top 10.
