2020-2021 NBA Game Thread

johnmd20

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And Atlanta. Don't forget Atlanta. So yeah, of course they're useless.
It is so unbelievably pathetic to give a team demerits for playing the games that are scheduled and winning a championship.

Are Nadal's wins at the French Open dogshit because he's just so good on clay? I guess it's unfair, we should eradicate those wins. What about the Sox beating a crappy Cards team in 2004? Or a crappy Colorado team in 2007?

Wah wah, the Lakers played dogshit and Lebron (literally a top 3 player all time) gets so much love. (because he's a top 3 player of all time) Wah wah.

In summary, haters gonna hate.
 

terrynever

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So do the Bucks throw tonights game with the Heat to avoid playing them in the first round?
Jimmy Buckets sitting for Heat tonight. Bucks up 12 in first quarter but they may limit starters’ minutes tonight. Heat at Knicks Sunday afternoon so maybe Miami is avoiding a back-to-back for Butler. 4-5-6 is really still up for grabs in East. Would love to see Heat fall to 6th.
 

chilidawg

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Jimmy Buckets sitting for Heat tonight. Bucks up 12 in first quarter but they may limit starters’ minutes tonight. Heat at Knicks Sunday afternoon so maybe Miami is avoiding a back-to-back for Butler. 4-5-6 is really still up for grabs in East. Would love to see Heat fall to 6th.
A Milwaukee/Miami first round matchup would be fun. Do the Bucks fold again?
 

128

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Heat at Knicks Sunday afternoon so maybe Miami is avoiding a back-to-back for Butler. 4-5-6 is really still up for grabs in East. Would love to see Heat fall to 6th.
Celtics at Knicks on Sunday afternoon. Heat play the Pistons.
 

ElUno20

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It is so unbelievably pathetic to give a team demerits for playing the games that are scheduled and winning a championship.

Are Nadal's wins at the French Open dogshit because he's just so good on clay? I guess it's unfair, we should eradicate those wins. What about the Sox beating a crappy Cards team in 2004? Or a crappy Colorado team in 2007?

Wah wah, the Lakers played dogshit and Lebron (literally a top 3 player all time) gets so much love. (because he's a top 3 player of all time) Wah wah.

In summary, haters gonna hate.
High level, you're arguing against any sports analysis, commentary, or nuance. So I'll just accept the box score and never watch another game in my life. That's an incredible take.

It's sports, I'm sorry if i want to dig just a little deeper. On the surface, Robert Horry having more rings than MJ doesn't make him the better player to me. Sorry. I know I'm a hater but to me who you play, circumstances, situations, etc matter.
 

johnmd20

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High level, you're arguing against any sports analysis, commentary, or nuance. So I'll just accept the box score and never watch another game in my life. That's an incredible take.

It's sports, I'm sorry if i want to dig just a little deeper. On the surface, Robert Horry having more rings than MJ doesn't make him the better player to me. Sorry. I know I'm a hater but to me who you play, circumstances, situations, etc matter.
Who said Robery Horry is better than MJ?
 

Sam Ray Not

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Two quasi playoff games today, for anyone who wants to spend the rest of this beautiful late Spring day cooped up indoors: #8 Hornets v #8 Wizards at 1 pm and #8 Warriors v #8 Grizzlies at 3:30 pm.

Added bonus: Beal, who missed the last couple games with a tweaked hammy, is playing, so the scoring title will also be at stake. Currently: Curry 31.8, Beal 31.4.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Who said Robery Horry is better than MJ?
I guess his point is the titles mean less on the teams who won titles with Robert Horry and they mean more on the teams who won them with Michael Jordan.


He said it himself. He's a hater. His argument is stupid.

Rings are rings. They all have the same value. Arguing otherwise is nonsense and trying to diminish titles is nonsense.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Two quasi playoff games today, for anyone who wants to spend the rest of this beautiful late Spring day cooped up indoors: #8 Hornets v #8 Wizards at 1 pm and #8 Warriors v #8 Grizzlies at 3:30 pm.

Added bonus: Beal, who missed the last couple games with a tweaked hammy, is playing, so the scoring title will also be at stake. Currently: Curry 31.8, Beal 31.4.
250BFFCE-BAE1-4DA1-92A6-802EB1FF6440.jpeg[/
 
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bankshot1

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where I was last at

Cesar Crespo

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Since returning from injury, Cole Anthony put up a 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, on .417/.348/.829 shooting line in 27.5 minutes played over the last 22 games.

Over his last 9 games, RJ Hampton averaged 15.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, in 29.4 minutes on .451/.407/.703 shooting.

Orlando will have an interesting team next year.
 

Kliq

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Dame outlasts Steph in the free throw shooting contest, nailing an insane 449 out of 484 (92.8%) of his free throws to Curry's 362 of 395 (91.6%). CP3 is actually the league leader, but he only had 181 FTA so its hard to really say he outperformed Dame or Curry.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Dame also passed another great Warrior at the stripe, by two-hundredths of a percent — he’s now at .8933 career FT% to Rick Barry’s .8931. #7 all time:

.9069 Steph Curry
.9043 Steve Nash
.9039 Mark Price
.8948 Peja Stojakovic
.8940 Chauncey Billups
.8939 Ray Allen
.8933 Damian Lillard
.8931 Rick Barry
.8918 JJ Redick
.8916 Calvin Murphy

Seems like Dame has hit a new baseline in recent years (.918, .912, .888, .926 the last four seasons) so I’d expect him to join the rarefied “90% club” shortly.

FT% obviously doesn’t tell us a ton about a player’s overall impact, but what’s cool about it is that it’s (as far as I know) the *only* totally context-independent metric in hoops, allowing apples-to-apples comparison of anyone, regardless of position, role, or era.
 

Kliq

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Dame also passed another great Warrior at the stripe, by two-hundredths of a percent — he’s now at .8933 career FT% to Rick Barry’s .8931. #7 all time:

.9069 Steph Curry
.9043 Steve Nash
.9039 Mark Price
.8948 Peja Stojakovic
.8940 Chauncey Billups
.8939 Ray Allen
.8933 Damian Lillard
.8931 Rick Barry
.8918 JJ Redick
.8916 Calvin Murphy

Seems like Dame has hit a new baseline in recent years (.918, .912, .888, .926 the last four seasons) so I’d expect him to join the rarefied “90% club” shortly.

FT% obviously doesn’t tell us a ton about a player’s overall impact, but what’s cool about it is that it’s (as far as I know) the *only* totally context-independent metric in hoops, allowing apples-to-apples comparison of anyone, regardless of position, role, or era.
I wonder if people like Dame and Curry have an advantage getting fouled on threes more than other players, since it allows them to take a more in-rhythm series of free throws? I think it is actually harder for someone like CP3 to take 2-4 FTA per game than someone taking 8+ a game to make all of them. Then again, these guys are all meticulous pros who don't need to get in rhythm from the line.

Always thought it was kind of strange that LeBron never got up to 80% as a free throw shooter given his improvements as a three point shooter and just his work ethic in general. It's not like he is Shaq and could never shoot at a good rate, but he he's pretty steadily under 70% at this point in his career.

Westbrook's decline as a FT shooter is really staggering. Up through his MVP season he was a career 83% shooter, but since then has just tanked all the way down to 65% this season. I don't know how you can explain that.

One thing I loved about the 2000s Celtics was that with Pierce and Allen, a lead was always safe because both guys were money from the line, and while its possible to deny one guy the ball, it's impossible to deny two guys the ball.
 

HomeRunBaker

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.9069 Steph Curry
.9043 Steve Nash
.9039 Mark Price
.8948 Peja Stojakovic
.8940 Chauncey Billups
.8939 Ray Allen
.8933 Damian Lillard
.8931 Rick Barry
.8918 JJ Redick
.8916 Calvin Murphy
We all long for the day when Jordan Poole makes this list.
 

radsoxfan

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Dame also passed another great Warrior at the stripe, by two-hundredths of a percent — he’s now at .8933 career FT% to Rick Barry’s .8931. #7 all time:

.9069 Steph Curry
.9043 Steve Nash
.9039 Mark Price
.8948 Peja Stojakovic
.8940 Chauncey Billups
.8939 Ray Allen
.8933 Damian Lillard
.8931 Rick Barry
.8918 JJ Redick
.8916 Calvin Murphy

Seems like Dame has hit a new baseline in recent years (.918, .912, .888, .926 the last four seasons) so I’d expect him to join the rarefied “90% club” shortly.

FT% obviously doesn’t tell us a ton about a player’s overall impact, but what’s cool about it is that it’s (as far as I know) the *only* totally context-independent metric in hoops, allowing apples-to-apples comparison of anyone, regardless of position, role, or era.
FT shooting is strange, even the best of the best seem to top out around 90-91% in NBA games. For some reason it’s the best humans can do in game situations over the long haul.

I bet these guys make 95+% if you just left them in an empty gym too.

Even terrible shooters make way higher percentages in practice. Just fatigue? Nerves?
 

bigq

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FT shooting is strange, even the best of the best seem to top out around 90-91% in NBA games. For some reason it’s the best humans can do in game situations over the long haul.

I bet these guys make 95+% if you just left them in an empty gym too.

Even terrible shooters make way higher percentages in practice. Just fatigue? Nerves?
So many variables go into free throw shooting but the same can be said about most repetitive motion actions. What does a 10% failure rate look like for a surgeon?
 

HomeRunBaker

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FT shooting is strange, even the best of the best seem to top out around 90-91% in NBA games. For some reason it’s the best humans can do in game situations over the long haul.

I bet these guys make 95+% if you just left them in an empty gym too.

Even terrible shooters make way higher percentages in practice. Just fatigue? Nerves?
Speaking from experience as a former collegiate player back when they had peach baskets. Zero to do with nerves over the regular season. The difference is that unlike standing by yourself at the line in an empty gym where it is simply reputation and muscle memory every game situation is different. Your fatigue level, type of fatigue, and wind/heart rate vary on each trip to the line. For this reason there is often no rhythm on that first attempt. Many times you’ll see a good/great FT shooter make the first after hitting front and back of rim relying on their soft touch. When this happens they adjust and easily make the second.

There has to be numbers out there showing the difference in FT% from the first attempt to the second. My guess would be a full 5% greater.
 

radsoxfan

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So many variables go into free throw shooting but the same can be said about most repetitive motion actions. What does a 10% failure rate look like for a surgeon?
Was definitely thinking about that for a radiologist, though I do a lot more interpretation (repetitive thought I suppose) than procedures. I probably read 100 cases a day and do 5 procedures a day.

If I missed something important on 10 cases a day I dictate.... that’s not good!
 

snowmanny

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Humphrey

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Love the defensive intensity in this series
Were there any camera angles to show that Crowder took a dive on that kick to the groin? A legitimate, solid, kick of that type deserved an ejection, but it's not in Davis' DNA to do that sort of thing, is it?
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Speaking from experience as a former collegiate player back when they had peach baskets. Zero to do with nerves over the regular season. The difference is that unlike standing by yourself at the line in an empty gym where it is simply reputation and muscle memory every game situation is different. Your fatigue level, type of fatigue, and wind/heart rate vary on each trip to the line. For this reason there is often no rhythm on that first attempt. Many times you’ll see a good/great FT shooter make the first after hitting front and back of rim relying on their soft touch. When this happens they adjust and easily make the second.

There has to be numbers out there showing the difference in FT% from the first attempt to the second. My guess would be a full 5% greater.
Just FYI, you apparently nailed this. From this 2014 article (that was discussing whether to speed up the game by giving a player 1 FT to make for all the available points): "In support of the skewed stats argument, the D-League brandished stats that showed that players convert the second of a pair of free throws at a better rate than the first (for D-Leaguers, 71.1 percent vs. 76.3 percent; for NBA players, 73.2 percent vs. 77.7 percent). The trend holds for three-shot trips, as well, as players get progressively more proficient from the first to third attempts. On single attempts -- which would be every trip to the line under the proposed reform -- the D-League shot 71.8 percent, while the NBA shot 72.8 percent."
 

HomeRunBaker

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Just FYI, you apparently nailed this. From this 2014 article (that was discussing whether to speed up the game by giving a player 1 FT to make for all the available points): "In support of the skewed stats argument, the D-League brandished stats that showed that players convert the second of a pair of free throws at a better rate than the first (for D-Leaguers, 71.1 percent vs. 76.3 percent; for NBA players, 73.2 percent vs. 77.7 percent). The trend holds for three-shot trips, as well, as players get progressively more proficient from the first to third attempts. On single attempts -- which would be every trip to the line under the proposed reform -- the D-League shot 71.8 percent, while the NBA shot 72.8 percent."
Good find. It should read *repetition and not reputation in my post (damn auto-c). I’ll go out on a limb and guess that a single technical FT is even less as you have the lack of rhythm coupled with feeling like you have been stranded on an island with no players in the lane. It’s so awkward.