2020-2021 NBA Game Thread

Kliq

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41 and 17 from Harden, who hits a three to tie the game with 30 to go in OT. CJ McCollum has 41 as well, Wood with 31 and 13 for Houston. Great game.
 

jon abbey

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Fat, out of shape James Harden about to go for 30+ with 12 assists against Portland. Skeleton crew for Houston but its a close game in the fourth. IDK what happened to Christian Wood but the dude is a monster now. Harden looks good playing with some real bigs again.
Up to 41 with 17 assists now, tied with 38 seconds left in OT.
 

Kliq

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Dame hits a sick layup, but Harden comes down and hits a step back three to put Houston up 1 with 10 seconds to play.
 

HomeRunBaker

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What a shotmaking performance going on in this game. Harden, Lillard and CJ from everywhere with Nurkic and Wood at the rim. Incredible.

Edit: Now CJ with the catch and shoot 3 off a terrible pass from Lillard but it doesn’t matter he’s knocking down everything tonight. 9 threes and 44pts.
 

Kliq

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Oh shit McCollum with his 9th three of the night to put Portland up two! This games rules!
 

Kliq

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What a shotmaking performance going on in this game. Harden, Lillard and CJ from everywhere with Nurkic and Wood at the rim. Incredible.
Wood has been really impressive. Didnt watch a lot of Pistons last year, but he has great hands and soft touch around the rim, along with a high motor.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Wood has been really impressive. Didnt watch a lot of Pistons last year, but he has great hands and soft touch around the rim, along with a high motor.
Wood was waived by the Bucks and Pelicans in the past 19 months. He plays with energy and his game as a rim roller is the perfect big fit with the Rockets. It’s a match made in Harden.
 

Kliq

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Harden is just a fascinating enigma. Comes into training camp late; clearly is about 15 lbs overweight; hasn't played a game in months, and he comes out and plays 43 minutes, drops 44 and 17, and was scoring clutch buckets at the end against a playoff team. In the modern NBA, with guys doing all sorts of different diets, conditioning drills, cupping, etc. you really shouldn't be able to just roll out of some strip club and do that. This is like Babe Ruth eating 13 hot dogs and then hitting 3 home runs.
 

benhogan

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I think it was right in the stretch when he buried a three, got a nice dunk, made a smart steal and had a monster block (waived off on a foul by another player) in about a 2 minute stretch. His ability is amazing, but that DEN team isn't using him much with their roster/rotation, he's well behind Jokic and Murray for obvious reasons, and they're trying to keep Harris and Barton happy with touches too, so he just isn't getting the opportunities. If he were on the Bulls or Hawks or something he'd be putting up 30/7/4 every night on good percentages
Picking nits here but we probably should stop using the "Hawks" as the butt of our jokes...they handled the Grizz in Memphis with 3-4 key players OUT last night. They have a handful of youngsters on the rise. Tre gets anywhere he wants on the floor. That team will be troublesome for the C's when they play.

Plus I doubt MPJ starts over John Collins/Gallinari or takes shots away from Ice Trey.
 

benhogan

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Wood has been really impressive. Didnt watch a lot of Pistons last year, but he has great hands and soft touch around the rim, along with a high motor.
C Wood was the bargain signing of the offseason, would have been the perfect additional piece to the Jays.
 

Tony C

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Fat, out of shape James Harden about to go for 30+ with 12 assists against Portland. Skeleton crew for Houston but its a close game in the fourth. IDK what happened to Christian Wood but the dude is a monster now. Harden looks good playing with some real bigs again.
For all the sturm and drang (sp?) about Houston, am I the only who thinks that if the dust settles and they just put out to play the guys they have they'll be a real contender? Wood was a great pick-up, Boogie looked pretty good in the pre-season, and a healthy Wall (big "if") is a better fit than Westbrook. If not for the stupid trade of Covington, I think this is the best Rockets' club yet, and they've been damn close to the ring.

A lot of times a messy off-season hides the talent of a team. See the Lakers last year when they were getting mocked like crazy due to all the nuttiness of Magic, Kawhi passing on them, etc., but went on to win it all. I think that's the case for Houston and I'd add the same in re the Clippers. Everyone has been killing the Clippers but they were great last year, and with Ibaka and Kennard (who, granted, has not looked great so far), they're better than last year when they were the consensus pick to win it all.
 

Tony C

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Mavs are up 62-18 against the Clippers...or has ESPN been hacked? I know there's no Kawhi today, but...that's absurd. I may need to tune in for a bit just to see what the heck is going on.
 
Picking nits here but we probably should stop using the "Hawks" as the butt of our jokes...they handled the Grizz in Memphis with 3-4 key players OUT last night. They have a handful of youngsters on the rise. Tre gets anywhere he wants on the floor. That team will be troublesome for the C's when they play.

Plus I doubt MPJ starts over John Collins/Gallinari or takes shots away from Ice Trey.
Misspelling "Trae" twice in two different ways in one post is a pretty stout effort. ;)
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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I'll never forget going to the record home loss the Celtics took against the Pistons, 118-66, in 2003. The worst part is we had nice seats and decided to spring for a garage right next to the Garden that blocked cars in, thinking what could go wrong? Cut to us trapped in the garage listening to the 4th quarter on the radio because we could no longer be a witness to that slaughter in the arena.
 

slamminsammya

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Harden is just a fascinating enigma. Comes into training camp late; clearly is about 15 lbs overweight; hasn't played a game in months, and he comes out and plays 43 minutes, drops 44 and 17, and was scoring clutch buckets at the end against a playoff team. In the modern NBA, with guys doing all sorts of different diets, conditioning drills, cupping, etc. you really shouldn't be able to just roll out of some strip club and do that. This is like Babe Ruth eating 13 hot dogs and then hitting 3 home runs.
Its a testament to what a force the step back is. Harden's entire game it seems is predicated off the threat of that shot. If you watch how guys guard him, his amazing ability to get to the rim is not coming from his quickness but from how he is able to attack angles perfectly that are given to him as a result of the gravity of that step back threat. And then he makes great decisions with the ball.
 

snowmanny

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Just saw the Mavs halftime score....that reminds me of Michigan State-Penn in the Final Four. Only it is worse.
 

the moops

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This is the exact reason you have to take the last shot in regulation. Game tied, Lavine goes to the basket with like 8 seconds to go - makes the shot but leaves GSW with 5 seconds, down 2. Of course GSW make the three to win it
 

TripleOT

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Old friend Hayward with 28 pts 6 reb 7 ast. Hornets take down the Nets, 106-104.
The Nets made a furious comeback, and when the Hornets needed to make plays Scary Terry cam through He got a big defensive rebound, got fouled and made his FTs to lock up the game.

Hayward looked like trash in crunch time
 

HomeRunBaker

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That is actually pretty fucked up, even trying to take what I know about Allen and my general dislike of Dook out of it. Potentially suspension-worthy?
Grayson is Danny Ainge circa 1987 minus the talent. It’s eerie how similar their mindsets were on the floor. See: Elie, Mario or Rollins, Wayne.....or countless others.
 

benhogan

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Grayson is Danny Ainge circa 1987 minus the talent. It’s eerie how similar their mindsets were on the floor. See: Elie, Mario or Rollins, Wayne.....or countless others.
Danny was more of a ball tosser and shover...standard immaturity/playground nonsense

Grayson has this creepy thing with trying to trip opponents, kick out their feet. I can't recall another player doing it numerous times as Grayson has done since Duke.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Danny was more of a ball tosser and shover...standard immaturity/playground nonsense

Grayson has this creepy thing with trying to trip opponents, kick out their feet. I can't recall another player doing it numerous times as Grayson has done since Duke.
Ainge was known for full speed tackles that encited bench clearing brawls which was much worse than anything Allen has even done. Kicking out feet? Ainge sprinted full court to tackle Sidney Moncrief going up for a layup. There was Darrell Walker, Dumars, Isiah, Rollins. I vividly recall coaches and broadcasters in the 80’s calling Ainge one of the dirtiest players they’ve seen.
 

128

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Cavs are 3-0 and look semi decent in the early going. Garland looks to have taken a leap too.
I've been hoping the C's could pick up Larry Nance Jr. on the cheap, but I doubt Cleveland will be looking to part with him while it's playing well.
 

Imbricus

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Cavs are 3-0 and look semi decent in the early going. Garland looks to have taken a leap too.
Sexton -- the guy we essentially "traded" to get Kyrie (he was the player Cleveland drafted with the Nets pick we sent over) has been scoring well too. 22, 32 and 27 points for his first three games.
 

benhogan

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Five remaining undefeated teams in the league at the moment: Cleveland, Orlando, Indiana, Atlanta, and OKC. Heh.
maybe rest in the off-season + warm-up games help?

Indy: 3.5 mth offseason + 3 preseason games
Orlando: 3.5mth offseason + 4 preseason games
Cleveland: ~9mths off + 4 pre-season games
Atlanta: ~9 mths off + 4 pre-season games
 

benhogan

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Ainge was known for full speed tackles that encited bench clearing brawls which was much worse than anything Allen has even done. Kicking out feet? Ainge sprinted full court to tackle Sidney Moncrief going up for a layup. There was Darrell Walker, Dumars, Isiah, Rollins. I vividly recall coaches and broadcasters in the 80’s calling Ainge one of the dirtiest players they’ve seen.
Come on, it was the 1980s, no one gave up an uncontested lay-up as they do nowadays. Tree Rollins? He bit Danny. Go watch a Bad Boy Pistons game, they did much worse. Ainge's reputation made him a target if anything

Grayson Allen's dirty plays, in this era, makes him the creepiest player in the NBA today IMO
 
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maybe rest in the off-season + warm-up games help?
It's a small sample size thing far more than anything else - e.g., OKC has only played one game so far. I just thought it was funny that those five teams are undefeated, and none of them are predicted to be a top 4 seed in either conference (and a few of which are projected to miss the playoffs altogether).
 

HomeRunBaker

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Come on, it was the 1980s, no one gave up an uncontested lay-up as they do nowadays. Tree Rollins? He bit Danny. Go watch a Bad Boy Pistons game, they did much worse. Ainge's reputation made him a target if anything

Grayson Allen's dirty plays, in this era, makes him the creepiest player in the NBA today IMO
Rollins bit Ainge.....after Danny sprinted at him at took him out at the knees inciting a bench clearing crawl. This is my point. He incited riots....Grayson tripped someone.
 

Kliq

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Cleveland is probably a better team than most people expected; Sexton was playing really well up until the season ended and it's reasonable to expect that he has made a leap this year and could even be an All-Star. Garland is a top five pick that could also eventually be an All-Star if things break right for him. Drummond and Love are still good players that are probably underrated now since they have been stuck playing in basketball anonymity. Okoro is an interesting rookie. Osman, Nance, JaVale are serviceable role players.
 

cheech13

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Cleveland is probably a better team than most people expected; Sexton was playing really well up until the season ended and it's reasonable to expect that he has made a leap this year and could even be an All-Star. Garland is a top five pick that could also eventually be an All-Star if things break right for him. Drummond and Love are still good players that are probably underrated now since they have been stuck playing in basketball anonymity. Okoro is an interesting rookie. Osman, Nance, JaVale are serviceable role players.
Cleveland was kind of buzzy as a sleeper team in the offseason amongst some of the smarter analytical types on NBA Twitter.
 

DannyDarwinism

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Sexton’s trajectory is definitely encouraging. He’s got the alpha mentality, and his jump shot has been great. I don’t think he’ll ever be a great floor general, but he’s looking better as a distributor and his scoring prowess is much more important. I have questions about the Sexland backcourt defensively, particularly if and when they make the playoffs, but it’s a fun young team. Larry Nance is a rock solid “floor raiser” guy and it looks like he’s developing into a bit of a shooter, which would really add to his value.
 

benhogan

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Rollins bit Ainge.....after Danny sprinted at him at took him out at the knees inciting a bench clearing crawl. This is my point. He incited riots....Grayson tripped someone.
Clearly, your memory is faulty (as is mine).

BUT Tree Rollins took two shots at him and bit Danny's finger which required stitches.
Danny didn't sprint anywhere. Tree made a basket and ran right in Ainge's direction to throw that elbow. Danny just tackled the MFer after caching an elbow to his face.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZ9k18GFb4
 
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128

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Clearly, your memory is faulty (as is mine).

BUT Tree Rollins took two shots at him and bit Danny's finger which required stitches.
Danny, didn't sprint anywhere. Tree made a basket and ran in right in Ainge's direction to throw that elbow. Danny just tackled the MFer after caching an elbow to his face.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZ9k18GFb4
Excellent form on that tackle by former three-sport star Danny Ainge.
 

nighthob

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Things I never thought I'd see, someone defending Tree Rollins, a notoriously dirty player, on a Celtics board. Danny was a pest, Rollins' elbows were dangerous.
 

Jimbodandy

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Things I never thought I'd see, someone defending Tree Rollins, a notoriously dirty player, on a Celtics board. Danny was a pest, Rollins' elbows were dangerous.
Rollins literally elbow smashes Ainge in the face, instigating the entire thing. Mind-blowing.

Someone clearly thinks that Grayson is getting a raw deal by people calling out his years-long inability to control his temper.