2021-2022 NBA Game Thread!
- Thread starter ElUno20
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It’s not just that he hit the side of the backboard, but where he hit it from. It would have become a meme had the Lakers lost. To his credit, Russ kept digging and bailed the Lakers out.
Huge win for Cleveland. Hard to say it but Jokic cost the Nuggets the game down the stretch.
While some of this is fair, some of it ignores the volume he put up in sophomore year.
Freshman year he was 59/175 from 3 over in 32 games, 928 minutes.
Sophomore year he was 60/115 from 3 over 14 games, 500 minutes.
Combine the 2 years, and you get 119/290, .410.
He also has a really pretty stroke and after starting last year 3/16 from 3, he finished 37/92, .402. This year has been ugly but he also only has 95 3PA. His career numbers to date: 63/203, .310 from 3. Not great, but also not hard to turn around.
I'm pretty down on Nesmith, but not so much for his shooting. I'm down on him because in some ways he's like PP. If his shot isn't falling, he shouldn't be on the court. At least the effort and hustle is there.
I mean I don’t know what those warning signs were prior to the draft. Nesmith didn’t fall in the draft even with the foot injury that shut him down. Leading up to the draft that fall (Covid delayed it) there were some whispers about him possibly cracking the Top-10 but I don’t recall any . He was flat out awesome that 2nd year at Vanderbilt. He held that team together and they were winning games and competing…..until he went down. That’s when the team went into a free fall especially offensively. I remember like it was yesterday as I was betting there Team Totals Under for a couple weeks straight after his injury.
Another bad Lakers loss despite LeBron playing well (and Monk).
It's amazing that the Lakers let Caruso walk for Talen Horton Tucker, who is basically unplayable at this point.
I'm not even a big Caruso fan, but THT was garbage, and not surprisingly remains garbage. He's the only salary match they have, and at 2/21 after this year he's probably NEGATIVE value.
It's amazing that the Lakers let Caruso walk for Talen Horton Tucker, who is basically unplayable at this point.
I'm not even a big Caruso fan, but THT was garbage, and not surprisingly remains garbage. He's the only salary match they have, and at 2/21 after this year he's probably NEGATIVE value.
AD being out so much is huge, and obviously the Lakers remain at least theoretically a threat to go on some kind of run if they get healthy. But boy....to have AD and Lebron as a starting point and end up 10 games below .500 with no bench and no coherent rotation is really impressively awful general managing. And sure---Lebron is the GM so he needs to look in the mirror, but it's amazing to end up where they are still.
Trading, in effect, Kuzma, Caruso, KCP, Harrell, Schroder for Westbrook and THT is impressively bad. It's an interesting combination of kowtowing to star (the Westbrook 'fit' where Lebron was pushing), too much faith in backfilling role players, and wildly overestimating someone you 'found' in the case of THT. And they extended THT, turning him from an undervalued asset with some upsdie to an overpaid deadweight contract...which I understand they thought was for salary matching reasons, but was a bad assessment.
Trading, in effect, Kuzma, Caruso, KCP, Harrell, Schroder for Westbrook and THT is impressively bad. It's an interesting combination of kowtowing to star (the Westbrook 'fit' where Lebron was pushing), too much faith in backfilling role players, and wildly overestimating someone you 'found' in the case of THT. And they extended THT, turning him from an undervalued asset with some upsdie to an overpaid deadweight contract...which I understand they thought was for salary matching reasons, but was a bad assessment.
halfway through the 2nd, Nets on pace to put 131 on MEM.
Unfortunately on pace to give up 173
Unfortunately on pace to give up 173
That's the real question with the Nets, can/will they defend come playoff time? I'm skeptical that they can just turn it on.
They did it in the Sixers game, the Mavs game, the Jazz game…..why wouldn’t you feel they would in the playoffs? Tonight is a classic letdown spot with the opponent missing their best player. They can still comeback and out score Memphis and/or clamp down in the 4Q but couldn’t expect them to come out dialed in on defense without Morant in the lineup.
maybe, I think it depends on opponent. Durant certainly can and consistently has, and Kyrie can be decent. Also, they just need to not be horrific since man can they score.
They certainly looked good against PHI when they tried.
Real rough patch for the Curry-less Dubs lately, but JP3 sending Lowry the old folks home took some of the edge off. 
View: https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1506792974667026435
View: https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1506792974667026435
View: https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat/status/1506799052146491393
Butler and Haslem apparently got into it.
Amazing the Jimmy Butler cycle... he gets there, people love him, oh he's a competitior, he's quirky....
2 years later: God I can't wait to not be on the same team as this asshole.
Butler and Haslem apparently got into it.
Amazing the Jimmy Butler cycle... he gets there, people love him, oh he's a competitior, he's quirky....
2 years later: God I can't wait to not be on the same team as this asshole.
That looked like more Spo going at Butler. I think the Jimmy days in South Beach are coming to an end. Who wears out their welcomes quicker than JB?
View: https://twitter.com/nbcswarriors/status/1506804574320955392
Heat need to be on high alert to see if Rachel Nichols shows up for an after practice interview tomorrow
The multiple videos of the Heat bench altercation are great -- Spo and Butler yelling at each other, Haslem yelling that he's going to "beat [Butler's] ass", and then Spo slamming a clipboard on the floor and continuing the argument with Butler.
View: https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1506809943659360263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
View: https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1506809943659360263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Are we sure this kind of stuff doesn't happen a lot in NBA locker rooms?
Butler is fortunate for the bubble, that run to the Finals really helped his reputation because if he didn't have that he'd be viewed as a surly guy that is super competitive but also kind of a loser.
I'm sure you're right that it probably does happen a lot in locker rooms (there have been at least 2 incidents with the Celtics I can recall from the last two years where Marcus, PBOBS, and others were heard screaming and/or throwing things around the locker room). But it doesn't happen out on the floor very often.
If the Jimmy Butler honeymoon period is finally ending in Miami, I am here for it.
I freakin love Twitter sometimes…..
View: https://twitter.com/paulsithole/status/1506822734688382976?s=21
View: https://twitter.com/paulsithole/status/1506822734688382976?s=21
How many teams replace their star player with a starting caliber guy? Tyus Jones is going to get paid and be someone’s starting 1 next year.
Probably something to do with averaging an efficient 28 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast per game for a #2 seed, while putting up Twitter-breaking highlights every other night.
But I agree, the negative on-off (-2.0 points per 100) is a bizarre, and disqualifying for MVP, imo, even if it's largely bad luck.
By advanced stats, you can actually make the case Darius Garland is having a slightly better season.
Ja is incredible, will get 1st team all nba. I just can’t don’t think someone should finish top 5 in MVP when their team is that good without them.
Except the Nets did. And then they went and blew it. Check out their 3rd quarter. They even took the lead.
C's did that shit plenty during the earlier half of the year.
Never did play any D though, just out scored them for a quarter. Winning quarters doesn't count in the NBA. And the current version of the C's haven't done that for months.
Jimmy Butler is the definition of “fake tough guy”. He definitely can talk shit back to Spo but when Haslem steps in he only has something to say when there’s a wall of people between them…..
Butlers been a shithead and a shitty teammate his entire career but he had a human shield at ESPN (Nichols and there are a lot of rumors as to why she stuck up for him so much) and then the bubble. Honestly he’s never been as good as he thought he was
Whoa, just looked that up. I usually have a good mental record of who's getting paid how much, but didn't realize Jimmy is getting $48M/year for his 34-36 seasons. Oof.
Somewhat related: I'd be curious to hear how Terrynever or other Sixers fans/observers feel about offering James Harden a seventy gazillion dollar extension for his age 33-37 seasons. Seems like they kind of have to, given the all they went through to acquire him; and he's a better player than Butler. But given his questionable body/conditioning, I'd think that contract has a good chance of being one of the worst in the league within a year or two.
For years DeMar DeRozan's teams played better when he was on the bench then when he was on the court. That led to a longstanding debate among people in the Port Cellar on whether DeMar was a mediocre NBA player, or if he was actually good. This season he managed to kind of put that argument to rest, but I fear we will be moving on to Ja Morant in the future.
I'm fine giving Ja his due, despite the on-off, as long as people stop trying to put him in the same tier as Tatum. Defense matters.
I think the scale is pretty different.
Also, Ja is good, the question people are really asking is "can you be an MVP candidate if you have great stats, but you don't seem to make any difference in your team's winning or losing".
I have long felt the same way about DeMar.... in TOR he was wildly overrated, and not that good for quite a while, he then started to change his game late in the TOR years and was a pretty good player. He went to SA and people lost track of him in a way. This year he's been very good (on offense)... he's not an MVP caliber player in any way, despite that short hot streak, he's an offense only player, who isn't consistently elite on offense.
Sixers fans I know are happy the end-of-game issues with Simmons are gone. It’s easier for Doc to coach, too, without worrying about Ben. As for Harden, yes, they have to sign or extend him. Morey won’t have it any other way. So the real question is whether Harden can remain motivated for three or four more years. And we know his history. Harden needs to think long and hard about how he wants to close out his career. I read one speculative story that Harden might give a discount but that’s nonsense.
I only care about the way this season resolves itself for the 76ers. They have been a fun team to watch because they kept their eyes on winning and almost always gave a good effort. We are looking at a very deep playoff field in the East. Boston has been great since January but the playoffs are a different story. Are they peaking too early? Or are they just a great team with no real weaknesses? Can they match up with Philly, or a full Nets team?
It’s wonderful that the NBA is giving us such a competitive season with compelling story lines.
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I doubt it, since Ja’s awesome, and I’d expect his on-off numbers to reflect that in the years to come. A one-year sample of on-off data for a 22 year old player may mean next to nothing. Could be that Ja’s bad defense diminishes his overall impact; or that Tyus Jones and Melton are sneaky-awesome; or that the five-man units they play in are affecting their on-off numbers; or some combo of the above mixed in with a lot of statistical noise. In any case, not necessarily predictive of anything.
But MVP awards are meant to be retrospective, not predictive, so to me it’s pretty reasonable to disqualify any player whose team in the season in question was better with him on the bench than on the court.
DeRozan seems like a very different case from Ja, as we’re talking about a guy in his 13th NBA season who had *one out of twelve seasons before this one* with a positive on-off number; and even then it was fairly modest (+3.9 in his third season). Over his career, including this season, his teams have been 2.0 points per 100 *worse* with him on the floor than on the bench. Contrast LeBron at +10.9 career, Curry at +11.6, Tatum at +8.7, Jokic +8.5, et al.
Does DeRozan’s one highly positive season in year 13 negate the twelve that preceded it, or is it fair to question why his on court impact numbers, over a twelve-year sample, were nowhere near those of most other max-contract players?
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So no one is going to talk about Jimmy Butler trying to kill Spo yesterday? And then Udonis trying to kill Jimmy?
View: https://twitter.com/worldwidewob/status/1506811121474306048?s=10
View: https://twitter.com/worldwidewob/status/1506811121474306048?s=10
View: https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1507121053641764879
Grizzlies star Ja Morant will be re-evaluated in two weeks due to tweaked knee, coach Taylor Jenkins says.
Grizzlies star Ja Morant will be re-evaluated in two weeks due to tweaked knee, coach Taylor Jenkins says.
