"We're going to Disney World!" NBA to resume season July 31 at WDW

Royal Reader

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Houston down by 13 early, lead by three at the end of 1Q.

Giannis feels underwhelming here, though his stat line looks fine.
 

JCizzle

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Interesting idea by Morey, but I don't think this team has a shot in 7 against MIL/LAL/LAC. Probably not OKC.

Edit: Rockets have played perfectly since this
 
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ElUno20

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My only big takeaway so far is Milwaukee is going to need some insanely clutch shooting to get by Toronto.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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My only big takeaway so far is Milwaukee is going to need some insanely clutch shooting to get by Toronto.
Bledsoe on a hot streak might be enough this year. He is a pretty mediocre shooter from deep but he's cut down on his takes. He isn't really more efficient - maybe just less inefficient. But he can create offense in those deep in series sequences where everyone knows each others sets. He is a pretty good wrinkle in the Bucks offense.

And your post is next level. We knew this back in March but today may have proved that two huge defensive minded wings who can get their own buckets in the flow of an offense designed around them is pretty lethal. I mean, we know your team isn't built that way or anything but have an open mind.
 
In their latest podcast last night, Simmons and Russillo noted that one of the NBA's return has been going so well is that they've gotten rid of the eight worst teams in the league and only have the best 22 involved - and when you get rid of teams that would be sucking and/or tanking at this stage of the season, of course the quality of the product is likely to be better. That makes me wonder: is there a scheduling model that would allow something like this to happen in a normal season? You could plan at the start of the season to jettison the worst eight teams after everyone has played 68 games, then come up with a balanced schedule for the top 22 to finish the season while exiling the bottom eight into a home-and-home set of 14 games - the latter would be your top eight lottery teams, but maybe the teams among them with the best records in the final 14 games would get the most ping-pong balls in the lottery, to give them something to play for and completely removing tanking from the equation. And having that first cutoff in February or March would spice up the regular season and add another inflection point to make it feel more meaningful.

There are leagues in some sports around the world where something like this happens, by the way - I know of other soccer and hockey leagues that do have their regular seasons played across multiple stages. For example, there are 12 teams in the Scottish Premier League (soccer), and they play a 38-game season which involves having each team play each other three times (33 games) before cutting the league in half, so that the top 6 teams play each other once more and the bottom 6 teams play each other once more. Only the teams in the top 6 can win the title and qualify for European competition the next year, and only teams in the bottom 6 can be relegated.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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e and come back? Heck, I’ve done it. As CR67 said,
In their latest podcast last night, Simmons and Russillo noted that one of the NBA's return has been going so well is that they've gotten rid of the eight worst teams in the league and only have the best 22 involved - and when you get rid of teams that would be sucking and/or tanking at this stage of the season, of course the quality of the product is likely to be better. That makes me wonder: is there a scheduling model that would allow something like this to happen in a normal season? You could plan at the start of the season to jettison the worst eight teams after everyone has played 68 games, then come up with a balanced schedule for the top 22 to finish the season while exiling the bottom eight into a home-and-home set of 14 games - the latter would be your top eight lottery teams, but maybe the teams among them with the best records in the final 14 games would get the most ping-pong balls in the lottery, to give them something to play for and completely removing tanking from the equation. And having that first cutoff in February or March would spice up the regular season and add another inflection point to make it feel more meaningful.

There are leagues in some sports around the world where something like this happens, by the way - I know of other soccer and hockey leagues that do have their regular seasons played across multiple stages. For example, there are 12 teams in the Scottish Premier League (soccer), and they play a 38-game season which involves having each team play each other three times (33 games) before cutting the league in half, so that the top 6 teams play each other once more and the bottom 6 teams play each other once more. Only the teams in the top 6 can win the title and qualify for European competition the next year, and only teams in the bottom 6 can be relegated.
I like the spirit of making the games count amongst the crappy teams, however I can't help to think you'd have the audience of the absolute diehards amongst each team's fans but overall it would be the NBA's version of the NCAA CBI Tournament.

And I don't necessarily believe that the process of tanking always produces a bad basketball product. Often the tanking teams will jettison or sit the veterans in favor of young players trying to make it, and while the games themselves may be non-competitive I have to say it is not the worst viewing experience to see hungry 23-24 year olds trying to make their impact in the league and fighting for a roster spot going into next season. It produces some interesting questions, like the last Celtics tanking season (2006-07): "What if we just turn the whole offense to Tony Allen, what the hell will that look like?!" (Then he got injured, but damn that was quite an interesting month or so.)

Edit: Also you have the issue of the crappy teams losing a late season game against a marquee opponent. You are penalizing them for sucking which makes sense, but it kind of discourages season ticket sales and a general "sharing of the wealth". So I could see the smaller market teams opposing a seismic shift like dividing the league up during a normal season.
 
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JCizzle

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It looks like they added player names to the bottom of the jersey on the back, I haven't noticed those there until the games today.
 

Kliq

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It looks like they added player names to the bottom of the jersey on the back, I haven't noticed those there until the games today.
Will that really help, since people are naturally going to look at the top of the jersey for the name? I don't have a problem with it because I can survive not knowing right away that Monte Morris just scored that basket, but IDK if just adding the name to the bottom solves anything.

Yesterday Jusuf Nurkic had "Ravnoprovnost" on the back of his jersey and I kept quickly thinking "Whoa, that guy has a crazy last name" before realizing it was Nurkic. Ravnoprovnost means "equality" in Bosnian, I am told.
 

tmracht

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Will that really help, since people are naturally going to look at the top of the jersey for the name? I don't have a problem with it because I can survive not knowing right away that Monte Morris just scored that basket, but IDK if just adding the name to the bottom solves anything.

Yesterday Jusuf Nurkic had "Ravnoprovnost" on the back of his jersey and I kept quickly thinking "Whoa, that guy has a crazy last name" before realizing it was Nurkic. Ravnoprovnost means "equality" in Bosnian, I am told.
They use names on the bottom occasionally in European Soccer too for example Bayern Munich. You get used to it after a while.
 

Nator

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Some good daytime basketball starting up. Raptors and Heat just tipped
If the Celtics have any hope of getting to the #2 seed, it will be decided in the next couple of days. If Miami wins today, then the Celtic's will get them tomorrow on their back-to-back.

The Celtics then get Brooklyn for their lone back-to-back Wednesday, which should be a win. That would lead up to a huge Celtics Raptors game on Friday.

But it has to start today. Go Jimmy Buckets.
 

Kliq

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I think I would enjoy it if I looked like Meyers Leonard for a day.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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And the refs (after upholding the offensive foul that KO embellished) screw him with a flagrant "hostile act". He swiped at the ball and grazed Lowry's face. completely natural act in basketball.
 

azsoxpatsfan

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And the refs (after upholding the offensive foul that KO embellished) screw him with a flagrant "hostile act". He swiped at the ball and grazed Lowry's face. completely natural act in basketball.
Dumb flagrant call which completely reversed momentum
 

johnmd20

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Funny that the Heat are wearing black and the Raps red and the scoreboard has it opposite. Not the best graphics work there.
 

JakeRae

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Raptors now up 4 on the C's with 6 to go. Heat drop to 2.5 back of C's for the 3rd seed. If C's win tomorrow vs. Miami it's all but certain it will be C's/Sixers in the first round. I hate that matchup.
Why is that all but certain when there is a one game difference between Indy and Philly?

Edit: Also, Indy’s schedule looks significantly more difficult.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Without a home crowd, seeding may simply not be that big a deal. And while I know we collectively aren't the most objective crowd, I think its the 76ers who don't want to face the Celtics. Each team has one win this season but the difference between Philly's opening day win and the game in February is that that Tatum's leap happened into the new calendar year. Its also worth noting that the 76ers didn't have to contend with Walker during the last game either.

I will say it - if there is one team in the East you don't want to play besides the Bucks and the Raptors, its exactly whom you think it would be - the third place Celtics. I think the former two teams aren't to psyched about facing Boston either. Tatum and Brown are complete match-up nightmares and then you add in a rebounded Hayward, Walker and Smarf and its daunting. It won't be easy but Boston coming out of the East isn't just a fashionable take. They present problems for just about any of the remaining potential match-ups, especially given their defensive focus.
 

Kliq

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I know the 76ers have top end talent, but that team hasn't been very good this year. I know people are worried about the Celtics not being to guard Embiid, and Embiid will probably have his way with Boston, but Philly is a really poorly assembled basketball team and the Celtics have been significantly better then them for this entire season. If the Celtics can't get by Philly in the first round, they were not going to do anything in the postseason anyway.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I know the 76ers have top end talent, but that team hasn't been very good this year. I know people are worried about the Celtics not being to guard Embiid, and Embiid will probably have his way with Boston, but Philly is a really poorly assembled basketball team and the Celtics have been significantly better then them for this entire season. If the Celtics can't get by Philly in the first round, they were not going to do anything in the postseason anyway.
Very much this.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Two great games already today. Bubble basketball has been AWESOME
Totally agreed. Except for the fact that the team I've been rooting for has lost literally every game I've watched (all three Rockets opponents e.g.), and usually in annoying fashion, I've been shocked how entertained I've been. I thought the state of the Warriors, Red Sox, and our country might have turned me into a hollowed out shell incapable of sports feeling. I was wrong. NBA action is actually fantastic...
 

Kliq

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Porter Jr. has all the skills to be a consistent All-NBA guy. He needs to stay healthy and he needs to play more to understand the nuances of NBA defense, but his ceiling is extraordinarily high.
 

Imbricus

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Damn -- Lonzo just had a highlight-reel pass to Zion. One of the best passes I've seen this year. It was like he knew exactly where to put the ball to the centimeter; it turned into a easy dunk even with a defender right there.
 

Kliq

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Zion looks fat but he just threw down a sweet alley-oop so it’s hard to be that negative.
 

Imbricus

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Man, Lonzo is such a mixed bag. I saw two or three of the best passes of the year from him in the first half. And he shoots 55% from the free throw line. What do you do with a guy like that?
 

Royal Reader

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Did Zion and Ja Morant play AAU ball together in South Carolina or something? You'd think the announcers would mention it.
 

Ale Xander

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Man I hate rooting for non-Tatum/Pagliuca dookies, especially JJ

But we need a good pick.