2023-2024 General NBA Season Thread

Buster Olney the Lonely

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Jimmy Butler stepback jumper at the buzzer gives the Heat a 118-116 victory over Chicago. With about a minute remaining the Bulls had a two point lead and the ball. Missed shot by Vuc. Demar crashes the boards and gets the rebound then proceeds to turn it over. Heat were without Bam.
 

Euclis20

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Lol ok then. I guess Philly really is bum-hunting hard.

Crazy how well the Celtics have done against the quality part of the schedule, and how few cupcakes they've had.
Philly beat Charlotte by 50 tonight, and Embiid had 42 points and 15 rebounds on 18-23 shooting from the field (in 30 minutes). Has me thinking about the very real possibility of him winning MVP again.
 

Everetts Dinosaurs

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Philly beat Charlotte by 50 tonight, and Embiid had 42 points and 15 rebounds on 18-23 shooting from the field (in 30 minutes). Has me thinking about the very real possibility of him winning MVP again.
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Embiid is absolutely insane right now. Making Doc and/or Harden look real bad (though mostly Doc).
 

SteveF

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Thunder were incredible down the stretch in this game against Denver. Some questionable offensive decisions by Denver I thought. They were really leaning into Jokic/Murray PnR late even with Chet Holmgren seemingly completely unable to keep Jokic from anywhere he wanted to get on the floor on post ups (though Holmgren had a pretty incredible block on Gordon that was likely a foul but still incredible). They also couldn't stop dribble penetration late, though admittedly Shai and J-Dub are hard to contain.

Jokic, Shai and Embiid probably have the best cases for MVP right now, in my totally worthless opinion.
 
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benhogan

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OKC & SGA are fun. They are my WC team on NBA Pass.

Just the fact that they returned Al Horford to his rightful place makes me a casual fan for life.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Anyone who says there’s no such thing as a shooter with a hot hand isn’t watching Keegan Murray going off right now.
26 points and 7 3s in 12 minutes.
 

benhogan

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Philly beat Charlotte by 50 tonight, and Embiid had 42 points and 15 rebounds on 18-23 shooting from the field (in 30 minutes). Has me thinking about the very real possibility of him winning MVP again.
Besides the Embiid/Maxey show they have this veteran bench that comes in fired up.

Pat Bev, Covington, Reed & now Oubre have been excellent

Batum was a nice acquisition in the Haren deal, which has worked out wonderfully for both teams.
 

lovegtm

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IND is 13-10, has beaten BOS, MIL, PHI, and CLE, but have lost to Washington, Portland, Charlotte, Chicago and Toronto. If thry had won those 5 games, we'd be talking much differently about them.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2023/12/16/pacers-vs-wizards-pacers-take-another-loss-to-one-of-nbas-worst/71940984007/
And then the flipside to that flipside is that Indy has a negative net rating.

Overall, their record is probably about what they are. Obviously a ton of optimism because Tyrese is becoming a star, however.
 

BigSoxFan

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lovegtm

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It’s pretty interesting to me how often MVP award winners repeat. Feels like that pattern will continue this year as well. Embiid has been insanely good.
He would be a deserving winner at this point.

I also checked Philly's CTG point differentials. As a whole, they are leading the league at +11.8. Against top-10 differential opponents, however, they are 2-4 with a -4.2 rating. They might not want to start printing those "2024 NBA 2nd Round Champions" t-shirts just yet.
 

TripleOT

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Now that Philly is loaded up with vets, I’m not surprised that Joel is thriving. These old heads know how the NBA is supposed to work.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Taiwan Beer Leopards is right up there with Nippon Ham Fighters for team names that are at their most awesome if you read them wrong.
I am saddened to find out that the team name is really (TaiwanBeer) Leopards as opposed to the (Taiwan) Beer Leopards. I was looking forward to finding out about the rare leopards that stalk beer gardens across the Southeast Asia and make their dens amidst used kegs.

https://focustaiwan.tw/sports/202307040026
 

slamminsammya

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Here is an interesting video on the rubber band effect observed in the NBA (and other sports).
This video didnt address controlling for garbage time, unless I missed it, which should be a significant factor making the "extrapolate the spread to the end of the game" assumption somewhat off. Having said that its not obvious to me that garbage time would bias in either direction.
 

CaptainLaddie

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where the darn libs live
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Embiid is absolutely insane right now. Making Doc and/or Harden look real bad (though mostly Doc).
I'm not trying to demean what Embiid has done, but his numbers vs +.500 teams and -.500 teams are WILD (keep in mind these are the numbers as of today -- not when they played, so if they were 3-1 when they played Embiid and now they're 10-15, it counts):

+.500: 30.2 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.8 BPG
-.500: 37.5 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 5.41 APG, 2 BPG

He's *crushing* bad competition.
 

slamminsammya

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I'm not trying to demean what Embiid has done, but his numbers vs +.500 teams and -.500 teams are WILD (keep in mind these are the numbers as of today -- not when they played, so if they were 3-1 when they played Embiid and now they're 10-15, it counts):

+.500: 30.2 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.8 BPG
-.500: 37.5 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 5.41 APG, 2 BPG

He's *crushing* bad competition.
is dropping 30 a night not crushing? I'd be curious what those splits look like for everyone.
 

lars10

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Meanwhile, Canada won’t let Miles Bridges into the country and he won’t be able to play tonight. Good.

View: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1736865605519585643?s=46&t=2Ncci6pVLxm2q2YAXCD8zw
"who plead no contest to felony charge of injuring a child’s parent"
I'm confused.. what does a child's parent mean? Not that it matters for the story, but just seems like really weird phrasing. They wouldn't be a parent if they didn't have a child.. and I'm not sure why having a child is relevant.. although I'm guessing, without having read the article, it's one of his children?
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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"who plead no contest to felony charge of injuring a child’s parent"
I'm confused.. what does a child's parent mean? Not that it matters for the story, but just seems like really weird phrasing. They wouldn't be a parent if they didn't have a child.. and I'm not sure why having a child is relevant.. although I'm guessing, without having read the article, it's one of his children?
Yes it is one of his children. https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/2023-2024-general-nba-season-thread.40714/#post-5784692
 

PedroKsBambino

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say a PR person just might have been invovled with that statement....but at least it says the right stuff.
 

Euclis20

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is dropping 30 a night not crushing? I'd be curious what those splits look like for everyone.
There's crushing it (being one of the 6 players averaging 30+ this year, after 6 players averaged 30+ last season) and then there's CRUSHING it (averaging more ppg than anyone ever aside from Wilt). If he averages close to the latter this year, he'll win MVP again (despite no one thinking he's a top 2 player, and a playoff choker).
 

PedroKsBambino

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No reason not to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I'd say the texts he sent provide a reason not to, actually. He's young and life is long---he may prove to be a good person (he's already a spectacular basketball player) but that was a bad look
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say a PR person just might have been invovled with that statement....but at least it says the right stuff.
Of course but the point is he shut down the socials stuff and countered it with a firm statement.

Edwards may or may not be trying to do the right thing but his response seems like a good one.
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
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where the darn libs live
is dropping 30 a night not crushing? I'd be curious what those splits look like for everyone.
I mean, FAIR, but he's been destroying sub-500 talent -- to the point where's not even playing 4th quarters against them. He's played in 22 games this season -- but only 13 4th quarters. For comparison, Maxey has played in 24 games and played 21 4th quarters. His 37.5 PPG against sub-500 teams basically doesn't include him skipping a whole quarter of play.
 

slamminsammya

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I mean, FAIR, but he's been destroying sub-500 talent -- to the point where's not even playing 4th quarters against them. He's played in 22 games this season -- but only 13 4th quarters. For comparison, Maxey has played in 24 games and played 21 4th quarters. His 37.5 PPG against sub-500 teams basically doesn't include him skipping a whole quarter of play.
these numbers are nuts! where are you finding these? is Twitter still the random stat sharing hub?
 

CaptainLaddie

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where the darn libs live
these numbers are nuts! where are you finding these? is Twitter still the random stat sharing hub?
NBA.com allows you to do some wild shit with splits.

https://www.nba.com/stats/player/203954/traditional?Period=4

In wins, Embiid is averaging these PPQ:
1st: 12.3
2nd: 6.7
3rd: 13.2
4th: 6.3

In wins, he's averaging 32.2 in the first three quarters alone. Wild shit.

Edit: for comparison, Tatum's played in 25 games and has played in 22 4ths. And in wins, his PPQ are:
1st: 5.9
2nd: 9.0
3rd: 5.3
4th: 7.5
 
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DavidTai

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The knock on Embiid was that he never had stamina in the playoffs for playing 40+ minutes.

Is coming out so often in games going to help this?
 

Euclis20

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The knock on Embiid was that he never had stamina in the playoffs for playing 40+ minutes.

Is coming out so often in games going to help this?
That's my question, too. Maybe saving minutes now will help down the road, but his stamina issues aren't just going deep into the season, he's also tired over the course of games. In that regard, maybe he could use more 4th quarter reps.

He'll get those tonight, down 11 to Chicago entering the 4th quarter. Through 3 quarters, he's got 36 points on 23 shots (in 31 minutes).