To be fair, he beat Napier to the basket. If there is anyone he is capable of abusing easily, its Shabazz (who, to be fair, has been better defensively thus far this season).
2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread
- Thread starter DeJesus Built My Hotrod
- Start date
Looks like a Celtcs reunion out there with IT, Crowder, Evan Turner and Jeff Green. Aight, my wife wants me to switch to Jeopardy - later
LeBron drama queens getting hit on the head, is miraculously his fine after he gets the ball, travels, and then his head suddenly really hurts again. Can't stand that guy.
Tristan Thompson's shooting form makes Fultz look like Curry.
It's amazing to me that a 6'-7.5" NBA player who's not a great defender would never learn to shoot, dribble or pass. I guess as long as you can get a max contract doing none of the above...
It's amazing to me that a 6'-7.5" NBA player who's not a great defender would never learn to shoot, dribble or pass. I guess as long as you can get a max contract doing none of the above...
Somehow I had forgotten what horrible announcer Austin Carr is. He's uttered some variant of "the Cavs need to score more / prevent the Blazers from scoring so much" like 30 times this half.
It might have been a flop by Nurkic but he didn't need the pop/claw in the face by Crowder as he went by. There was no rebound to be had, so I'm not sure why Crowder was reaching out at Nurkic there.
I also watched live, then the replay of the Lebron play 3 times, and saw NO place where he had contact in the head. I'm not sure what the hell that was about. And yes, it hurts, then doesn't hurt while he drives, then hurts again. I appreciate him less and less each time I watch him play, which is a damn shame given his place in the game.
I also watched live, then the replay of the Lebron play 3 times, and saw NO place where he had contact in the head. I'm not sure what the hell that was about. And yes, it hurts, then doesn't hurt while he drives, then hurts again. I appreciate him less and less each time I watch him play, which is a damn shame given his place in the game.
Every Cavs fan's favorite player: LeBron James
Every Cavs fan's favorite memory: 2016 Finals
Who knew?
Every Cavs fan's favorite memory: 2016 Finals
Who knew?
Lillard, when right, is so fun to watch. He isn't a great defender but he can score in so many ways.
IT looked fine - though when he went down with the and 1 I thought he actually looked kind of nervous about his hip. I think he will look fine until he gets knocked around a bit.
He is pretty pissed off tonight getting a T and jawing at the refs.
He is pretty pissed off tonight getting a T and jawing at the refs.
it is incessant
also common phases: that's 3D range and he pulled a Smitty
I wish he wasn't teammates with Turn Back The Clock Wade. Wade is the most loathsome player in the Association.
Great first game for IT3.
I heard "he's in attack mode" four times and I only caught about ten minutes of game time.
From what I saw, IT4 was generally getting where he wants; wasn't sure how much POR's defense (which was supposed to have been better this season) was responsible for that but POR didn't pit up a ton of resistance.
Suns were down double digits to the Hawks with about 4 minutes left, came back an won it, 104-103. I need my head examined for watching that game. It would be nice if Memphis could win at the Clippers now.
I sometimes I wonder if I spend too much time watching NBA games and highlights. And then I come here and I feel better that I am not alone. That said, watching a Suns/Hawks game this season is a whole other level of commitment...
Even though the Lakers pick is more important, I think we want the Clippers to rally and make the playoffs (extra 2018 1st instead of two 2nd rounders).
If Conley can come back in the next week, Memphis (with a soft schedule in January) should be able to put some separation between themselves and the true bottom feeders.
Clippers pick isn’t in play until 2019 and 2020. This year, I think we want Clippers to miss so that they can add a better piece for next year.
I get the sense that Lebron's counting stats obsession means he won't come out early if he plays at all.
Pretty insane that he's leading the league in minutes played (currently tied with Wiggins) at age 33. I'd chastise Ty Lue for being reckless, but ... he's LeBron.
Gotta think with the Harden injury he's a huge frontrunner for MVP right now.
Gotta think with the Harden injury he's a huge frontrunner for MVP right now.
Ringer did an update on JJ a few weeks ago here: https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/12/21/16805300/josh-jackson-phoenix-suns-struggles.
One of the fears people had pre-draft is how JJ's athleticism would hold up in the NBA.
He does have to re-tool his shot. It's hard for people who jump really high to have great mechanics on their shot (they often shoot on the way down and JJ is no different in that). And on that note, I say a prayer of thanks of how diligent Jaylen has been in the offseasons.
Haha.
I think I have a weird fascination with the Suns because they illustrate how being in the lottery every year can go terribly wrong. They have had a lottery pick every year since 2011:
2017 Josh Jackson (4)
2016 Dragan Bender (4), Marquese Chriss (8)*
2015 Devin Booker (13)
2014 T.J. Warren (14)
2013 Alex Len (5)
2012 Kendall Marshall (13)
Still a lot of youth and time for development but I wouldn't bet on any of those guys with the possible exception of Booker being on the next good Suns team.
* Chriss was technically a draft day trade with the Kings.
Speaking of Chriss: He had a good game last night (17 points, 11 rebounds, a huge block on Taurean Prince at the end). If I had to watch that guy hoist up threes (7 attempts last night) I'd lose my mind.
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Hmm, does that explain some of Rozier's inconsistency? Maybe I'm off base, but he seems to jump out of the building 75% of the time.
I believe he views his career game averages as a significant component to his place in history. He makes choices not to come out early primarily to avoid having a game where he puts up underwhelming game stats on short minutes. Do you have a theory why he has extremely high minute counts at this stage of his career, unquestionably at his choice, and yet continually downplays it (imho to provide air cover for Lue)?
The best thing about the pick is that literally no game in the NBA is meaningless. Suns v Hawks in early January? Could be a big night for the pick!
So what you're saying is that LeBron haters should immediately start emphasizing per 36 stats over game stats?
Perhaps he prefers playing basketball to sitting on the bench and watching basketball? Looking at other superstars who typically dictated their minutes to their coaches, rather than vice versa, his minutes per game are in line Jordan's and Bird's, and Kobe's if you exclude his first and last seasons, while not quite at the Russell/Iverson/Oscar Robertson level. No one's touching Wilt. In this day and age, it's just not safe to try to compete with him in a couple of different counting stats.
Because they were playing like shit earlier, losing games, and he got tired of it. The whole team is playing better now, and I think we'll start to see his minutes go down. But like you I have no real idea, and am just speculating.
It really is an incomparable luxury that we don't have to watch our own team tankathoning, we can root for other teams to suck or screw up while we're out there bidding for the #1 seed.
I can't find the article now, but someone once made the spot-on point that the Brooklyn trade set up a situation like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George realize that neither of them alone can be an adequate boyfriend, so they divide the duties up: Jerry handles anything required in person, George does the tasks behind the scene (like buying invitations). The Celtics get to be Jerry, dating the hot girlfriend (acquiring Jaylen, Tatum, Kyrie, building a winning culture), while the Nets (now Lakers/Kings) get to be George, running around doing chores (losing a ton of games and developing a losing culture).
First off, yes to the bolded. I am no mind reader and have seen no public comments supporting or refuting my theory. That said, he plays a ton of minutes pretty much independently of where the Cavs stand in the game or season.
Sure @DannyDarwinism, maybe he just loves ballin'. I'm not saying the plan is to further inflate his counting stats (to compete with any of the previous luminaries or otherwise), but do believe he will be extremely protective of those numbers during the 'twilight of his career' and I think its a big chunk of what motivates him to play the entire game.
I also enjoy listening to Danny on Dunc'd on. I was listening to the latest 15 in 60 (1/2 western conference) and I heard Nate Duncan extolling the virtues of Tom Thibodeau as an executive and suggesting that he was going to earn the executive of the year award. He asked Danny if there was anyone else in the running and Danny replied "I don't know, I figured Danny Ainge was going to get it." Whereupon Nate went into a mini rant about how the Celtics record was going to be no improvement over last and he didn't see how Ainge had improved the team this year.
My question is... Is Nate Duncan (He of the F+ grade for the Celtics offseason) clueless? or actively trolling Celtics fans? He has complained several times on the air about irate Celtics fans responding to him on twitter. Is he inviting it? Is it past time to hit the ignore button?
The fact that he can't acknowledge the drastic improvement in net rating (with a brutal schedule) doesn't say a lot for his analytical abilities. I suspect that he's lacking either intelligence or inquisitiveness, and is just churning out shows.
Geez. The comment on executive of the year was sort of just in passing as they were discussing the Wolves and their signing of Taj Gibson. They were both very critical of that signing when it happened, but have acknowledged that maybe it wasn't so bad - putting a component defensive 4 next to KAT, even with the floor spacing issues.
The Wolves will see the greatest improvement in wins from last year to this. The Celtics will not see much of any improvement in wins. Doesn't seem that far out to think that Thibodeau would get more support for the award than Ainge.
Duncan also talked about the excellent things Ainge has done in terms of rookies and Kyrie and the LaKings pick. And even said that Ainge will get some consideration for the award.
I don't know, but the criticism for the 2 minute discussion they had for exec of the year, and the subsequent writing off anything he has to say, seems a bit much.
The Wolves will see the greatest improvement in wins from last year to this. The Celtics will not see much of any improvement in wins. Doesn't seem that far out to think that Thibodeau would get more support for the award than Ainge.
Duncan also talked about the excellent things Ainge has done in terms of rookies and Kyrie and the LaKings pick. And even said that Ainge will get some consideration for the award.
I don't know, but the criticism for the 2 minute discussion they had for exec of the year, and the subsequent writing off anything he has to say, seems a bit much.
I can't speak for anyone else, but personally I can say that after they excoriated the Celtics this off-season - including a C- after getting Hayward/Tatum/LA-Sac pick and an F- on the Kyrie deal - it becomes hard to take their analysis of the Celtics without accounting for what appears to be either a huge blind spot or some kind of bias. I'm not a regular listener to the pod and haven't heard this particular discussion, but I'm certainly less inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
Without getting too much into whether or not Nate Duncan has a Celtics blind spot, is Danny Ainge the front runner for Executive of the Year? I'd give it to Morey and while personally I'm not a big Thibodeau fanI guess purely on the improvement of the team you could make the argument that he's the guy (or I guess the puppet GM is the guy). Who else is there? Pritchard maybe?
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If Melo ever gels in OKC, I'd say Sam Presti.
(I refuse to consider Scott Layden in Minnesota. No way.)
(I refuse to consider Scott Layden in Minnesota. No way.)