And he dropped one more on KAT's head for good measure.
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2021-2022 NBA Game Thread!
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View: https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1458668451396993025
And of course, the nightly GPII highlight...
View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1458642338331303942
Soft, home-friendly schedule caveat, but it's crazy fun in Warriorland right now. On tap: the return of Klay and Steph passing Ray (now 86 to go).
Edit: on Ant Man, what's most impressive to me is he combines the insane physicality and athleticism with a gorgeous shooting stroke for a 20 y.o. Will be interesting to see how the Ant v. LaMelo debate plays out over the next five years.
View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1458642338331303942
Soft, home-friendly schedule caveat, but it's crazy fun in Warriorland right now. On tap: the return of Klay and Steph passing Ray (now 86 to go).
Edit: on Ant Man, what's most impressive to me is he combines the insane physicality and athleticism with a gorgeous shooting stroke for a 20 y.o. Will be interesting to see how the Ant v. LaMelo debate plays out over the next five years.
VanVleet just hit a dagger 3 to put the Raptors up 4 with :20 to go…….and did the Sam Cassell “Big Balls Dance” on the way to the bench. Thank you again Sam for helping save our season in the first round vs Cleveland.
View: https://twitter.com/worldwidewob/status/1458983240627150849?s=21
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What would it look like if two 7-footers had a Greco-Roman wrestling match?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmAMCFAugKc
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmAMCFAugKc
Two dudes who are clearly angry but even more clearly do not want to actually fight.
You are spot on - that was a text book "hold me back" fight. And let's be honest - these are mostly millionaire work colleagues having beef over a largely meaningless early season game so that is the absolute right outcome.
"We are just gonna hug eachother for a few seconds but we will put on stink faces while we do it so everyone takes us Very Seriously"
I think Gobert even admitted almost no one is a real life tough guy in the NBA after the game.
I have always wondered if professional athletes in a quick-reaction sport actually have a split-second to plan their next move. Taking a foul, that’s simple. But to make the take a bit harder than pros expect and then turn his back, did Morris think this out or was that just instinctive? Either way speaks to his lack of character.
Four game winning streak for OKC!!! Whew. Yep, I know OKC is tanking, but it's still nice to win every now and then.
LaMelo had quite the box score tonight with 12 points, 17 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals and a block.
Mobley was 6/10 and 2/2 from 3 with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks in 35 minutes. In the same game, Cade went 4/8, 1/3 from 3, with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 7 TO in 31 minutes. Cavs win at home, 98-78. Pistons had 52 points after 3.
After tonight's game, Morant may request a trade. I kid, but he's the only one who bothered showing up.
Harden got to the line 15 times tonight. Kings blew a huge lead to lose on the road to the Thunder. I can't help but think a TL type player would change the Kings around completely. That's not a suggestion for a trade, just an acknowledgement of how desperately the Kings need a rim protector.
Doncic went for 29 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists in 33 minutes tonight.
Mobley was 6/10 and 2/2 from 3 with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks in 35 minutes. In the same game, Cade went 4/8, 1/3 from 3, with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 7 TO in 31 minutes. Cavs win at home, 98-78. Pistons had 52 points after 3.
After tonight's game, Morant may request a trade. I kid, but he's the only one who bothered showing up.
Harden got to the line 15 times tonight. Kings blew a huge lead to lose on the road to the Thunder. I can't help but think a TL type player would change the Kings around completely. That's not a suggestion for a trade, just an acknowledgement of how desperately the Kings need a rim protector.
Doncic went for 29 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists in 33 minutes tonight.
Looking at that, what stands out the most is Ingles doing a running shove of the official (who was trying to break it up) so that he could lunge at Turner. Mildly surprised he didn't get more than fine, that was some incidental contact there.
Being a Warriors fan and watching Jordan Poole must be maddening. Probably less so because they are about to be 11-1. What a streaky shooter though.
I have zero interest to be drawn into the simmering Jordan Poole back and forth here. I do wonder if Poole would be more consistent or more likely, have gaudier stats on a team where he had more of a traditional role. I also wonder how it looks for him when Thompson returns.
The Warriors are feasting on this easy schedule so they are likely to revert a bit. Its hard not to be bullish on them given that Klay and Wiseman are close to returning.
He's 22 and shooting 95% from the FT line. Odds are he'll straighten out his erratic footwork on the three ball over the next few seasons. Klay's return to the starting lineup will also take some pressure off him and allow him to ease into his more natural Jordan Clarkson role. In the meantime, though: he's still scoring 21.7 pts per 36 on .551 true shooting.
And as you allude to, nothing about the Warriors right now is particularly "maddening." Top five NBA teams by point differential:
5. LAC +4.7
4. PHI +4.8
3. MIA +6.7
2. UTA +7.7
1. GSW +14.7
I've been very impressed by the Warriors this year because the team seems to be in a completely different space then last year. Last year it was basically "Hope Steph scores 35+ and we win". This year all of the role players just feel way more active on offense; tons of guys cutting and moving without the ball, they are scraping together enough non-Curry offense to handle any (rare) Curry slumps, and basically everyone on the team is a good defender with a few exceptions. It's not like they made huge moves in the off-season, just added a few veterans in Iguodala and Bjelica and then all of the other role players made like, a 25% improvement over the off season.
They're over .500 if you subtract the two games they had to play against the Warriors.
I won't argue too much about the 95% from the line bit (19/20 this year) because he's a career .849 shooter. Clarkson seems like a good comparison though. For some reason, I thought Clarkson was better than a career .338 3 point shooter.He's 22 and shooting 95% from the FT line. Odds are he'll straighten out his erratic footwork on the three ball over the next few seasons. Klay's return to the starting lineup will also take some pressure off him and allow him to ease into his more natural Jordan Clarkson role. In the meantime, though: he's still scoring 21.7 pts per 36 on .551 true shooting.
And as you allude to, nothing about the Warriors right now is particularly "maddening." Top five NBA teams by point differential:
5. LAC +4.7
4. PHI +4.8
3. MIA +6.7
2. UTA +7.7
1. GSW +14.7
Poole just puts up 5+ game stretches where he looks like Steph Curry and then he puts up 5+ game stretches where he looks like Marcus Smart pre 18/19. I wonder if maybe there's more value in streaky role players, although come playoff time you'd be flipping a coin. And yeah, he's young. If he gets any type of consistency, he'll be a bit more than Clarkson.
Yeah, I'm not sure it is the best thing for them, but they play hard every night, and have beaten the Lakers twice. They do have the inexplicable 33 point loss to Houston
Warriors are looking awesome this season. Thunder will probably get slaughtered on Sunday (Nets), but they do play their hearts out.
That game against Houston was painful to watch. But, it really has been the team's worst performance this season. Dort has been coming through on offense lately, which is nice to see.
Has anyone been watching a lot of Toronto games? I always liked Gary Trent Jr, even if I thought he was mostly an offense only player. This year he's leading the league in deflections and steals per game. He's also 2nd in loose balls recovered and is ranking well in hustle stats across the board. That's not something I would have associated with Gary Trent. He doesn't turn 23 until January so him making a leap wouldn't be that shocking but I didn't see it coming on defense.
6'8.75 wingspan, 8'2 standing reach. Not particularly a wingspan warrior, especially factoring his height, but not awful either.
Coming into the season, his career steal % was 1.6. Atm, it's 3.6. It's also the only % stat he's shown any growth in this year or his career outside of TO%, which is at a career high this year so that growth was wiped out. His TO% is also 7.5%, and the fact that is his career high is insane because that's a very low number to begin with. He lead the league last year at 4.9% and the year before it was 4.4%. His rookie year was 7.0%.
Curious if he's actually playing solid defense because the numbers suggest he's hustling. He could just be gambling as well. Quite a few people on the board didn't care for him and it was mostly due to D. A Gary Trent that plays average to good D is a really valuable player.
6'8.75 wingspan, 8'2 standing reach. Not particularly a wingspan warrior, especially factoring his height, but not awful either.
Coming into the season, his career steal % was 1.6. Atm, it's 3.6. It's also the only % stat he's shown any growth in this year or his career outside of TO%, which is at a career high this year so that growth was wiped out. His TO% is also 7.5%, and the fact that is his career high is insane because that's a very low number to begin with. He lead the league last year at 4.9% and the year before it was 4.4%. His rookie year was 7.0%.
Curious if he's actually playing solid defense because the numbers suggest he's hustling. He could just be gambling as well. Quite a few people on the board didn't care for him and it was mostly due to D. A Gary Trent that plays average to good D is a really valuable player.
I think it's just because he's surrounded by OG, Barnes, Siakam, FVV and other long, athletic players like Banton, Achiuwa, etc. instead of Lillard, McCollum. In Portland, the two guards are so bad/overmatched on D that he probably was forced to punch above his weight as a defender. In Toronto, he's one of the worst defenders instead of one of the best and it seems like a rising tide lifts all ships situation. He can be more aggressive because the whole defense doesn't get roasted on a mistake - other people can cover for him.
Toronto playing a lot of wings that can switch probably leads to a lot of chances for deflections/steals; and as MC notes, he plays with a lot of really good defensive players.
I thought the Powell/Trent trade was a mistake for Portland; Powell is a good player but it was tripling down on undersized, score-first players and that isn't what a team with Dame/CJ needs. Trent had a higher upside as a defender and can guard wings effectively.
I thought the Powell/Trent trade was a mistake for Portland; Powell is a good player but it was tripling down on undersized, score-first players and that isn't what a team with Dame/CJ needs. Trent had a higher upside as a defender and can guard wings effectively.
On The Mismatch podcast they talked about how Toronto is getting a ton of deflections and really going for steals. They mentioned they are pretty easy to score on if you don't turn it over.
Since we're looking at small sample size stats, his DRating (per NBA.com) is the worst of any of the regulars (excepting Siakam who's only played 3 games). So maybe he's still not a good defender.
DeRozan is taking it to his hometown Lakers tonight with 22 in the 1H……he’s even a +9 for those who pay attention to that. You’ll find his image with a Google search of “professional scorer.”
In actuality when I image searched it the first photo of an NBA player was Lou Williams, than Kevin Durant, then Tobias Harris, then more photos of Lou Williams.
I preface this by saying that I loved watching the player at his peak and still think he is cool as hell. But Russ' decline is tough to watch. The brilliance is still there in spots but unlike the past, it doesn't outweigh the negatives. Unfortunately Westbrook is a negative far too often these days.
I agree, but it is so very very very tempered by the fact that he is doing this for the Lakers.
Excellent point. You just shifted my perspective - I want to always enjoy the whole Westbrook experience.
Good to see ARod's first NBA faceplant didn't take long
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32638989/minnesota-timberwolves-fined-250000-player-activities-miami-september
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32638989/minnesota-timberwolves-fined-250000-player-activities-miami-september
Bulls are about to complete the LA sweep. That'll probably get the bloggers all lathered up. It should too.
Lakers getting blown out embarrassingly is always the late night cherry on top of a Celtics win.
The Lakers are about to be 8-7, despite a soft schedule (7 of 15 against Rockets, OKC, Spurs, Wolves) and 12 of 15 at home.
Of course, with our luck LeBron will be back Friday night.
Russ was incredible in the 1H in keeping the Lakers in the game. Russ has not been incredible in the 2H.
NBA is a game of runs. Lakers ain't dead just yet especially since the rotation is fighting for more minutes with LeBron in street clothes and AD in the locker room.
They are so dead. They already quit last quarter which shows in their body language and lack of off the ball defense. Not to mention they have zero answers for DeRozen who is ripping their heart out of the Lakers on their home floor.