2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread

Grin&MartyBarret

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Other than Embiid (who made most of his 2P jumpers) and the one Fultz pull-up - did anyone on the 76ers shoot a shot that was not a layup or a 3P? A statistical dream game.

76ers are a really fun team to watch. Everyone knows that Fultz and Simmons are going to the basket but they can't stop from getting there - although I think people are going to have play Simmons more tightly because once he gets going, his strides are so long that even good defenders like Porter couldn't get back in front of him.
Simmons was a lot of fun to watch last night and really impressive. His ability to get into the lane at will created a ton of open looks for Covington. They're fun to watch, even if they're not all that good yet.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Simmons was a lot of fun to watch last night and really impressive. His ability to get into the lane at will created a ton of open looks for Covington. They're fun to watch, even if they're not all that good yet.
Agreed. The game was super fun to watch.

But they don't have to be good because Embiid and Simmons look pretty much unguardable and Fultz can get anywhere he wants to as well (at least until teams catch up to his spin move).
 

Cellar-Door

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Insane start of the year for injuries, two teams lost arguably their best player for the season in game 1. Have to think that's the first time ever.
 

Kliq

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Yeah OKC looked really good against the Knicks. The non-Porzingis Knicks were a disaster.
 

OnWisc

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Lonzo with no assists and no points. I think we're less than 5 minutes away from LaVar yanking him off the court and announcing that he won't play again for Luke Walton.
 

luckiestman

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This team looks like so much fun. Length, bodies off the bench, and Bev is everywhere on D.

I'm gonna love the 40-45 games they're actually healthy together
They might have to be my west coast late night fling
 

ElUno20

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Lonzo with no assists and no points. I think we're less than 5 minutes away from LaVar yanking him off the court and announcing that he won't play again for Luke Walton.
This game shouldn't count against him. Bev is world class defender and seasoned vet. He's already intentionally fouled him and then called him a bitch right to his face for no apparent reason.
 

luckiestman

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This game shouldn't count against him. Bev is world class defender and seasoned vet. He's already intentionally fouled him and then called him a bitch right to his face for no apparent reason.


He's on the other team, that's reason enough.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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It's obviously way too early to make any kind of judgement on the rookies, especially the first few minutes of Lonzo's first game, but the biggest distinction between him and Fultz so far is how easy Fultz seems to be able drive in the half court and how tight his handle looks, while Lonzo's dribble just seems loose and he doesn't seem to have a good way to break down defenses in the half court. It reminded me about these pre-draft articles comparing Fultz's and Lonzo's dribbling, which noted how much better Fultz's was.

But again, way, way too early to make any kind of pronouncements. Just something to look at going forward.
 

Kliq

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I need to buy some Blake for MVP stock.
That was my impression during the first half; he really looked like a do-it-all guy. If he keeps knocking down threes and stays healthy (I know right) the Clippers could win 50 games and he will be in the conversation.
 

Sportsbstn

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This isn UCLA anymore where no one plays defense and the court is just a fast break contest back and forth. Ball will struggle for large parts this season adjusting to the NBA. Hopefully the annoying hype can go away and just let him play. He has a lot to prove
 

jmm57

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In a game that featured 262 points and 92 rebounds, Josh Jackson played 23 minutes and neither grabbed a rebound or assisted on a basket.
 

Cesar Crespo

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De'Andre Fox has been impressive to date if you ignore his shooting. He's averaging 7.5 assists and 5 rebounds thru the first 2 in 25 minutes of play.

Also just saw the box score for the GS-NO game last night. Cousins 35 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals on 11/23 shooting. Davis 35 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block on on 15/21 shooting in a loss.
 

Eddie Jurak

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De'Andre Fox has been impressive to date if you ignore his shooting. He's averaging 7.5 assists and 5 rebounds thru the first 2 in 25 minutes of play.

Also just saw the box score for the GS-NO game last night. Cousins 35 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals on 11/23 shooting. Davis 35 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block on on 15/21 shooting in a loss.
I hear that his twin, De'Aaron Fox, has been pretty good too.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Why would he play defense when he teammates are doing things like this? The last one is particularly laughable.

Looks like flawed game planning of not having the big show high on the screen allowing Ball clean unchallenged looks. Watson is in way over his head as a lead NBA coach at this point in time.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Cleveland is currently losing to Orlando by 32 points at home. Warriors are down 17 to the Grizz on the road.
 

Kliq

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Warriors look like they are going to get caught in Memphis. Curry got ejected late for chucking his mouthpiece at the official after not getting a foul call and Durant got tossed as well for complaining after Curry got ejected. Ugly ending for GS, who threatened to come back but MEM was able to hold them off thanks to solid defense and great play down the stretch by Gasol and Conley.

Got to give credit to Memphis for how they always get the most out of their talent. Dillion Brooks played in crunch time and looked good.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Giannis is on his way to 3 straight 30+ point games. Also can't help but feel bad for Kristaps but he should have a big season.
 

Kliq

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Not a good look for Steph; who was called for four first half fouls and GS was very vocal with the refs down the stretch. Durant also may have flipped off a fan while walking off the court; it might have been his ring finger though.

 

luckiestman

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I really like the Clippers, man. I hope they stay reasonably healthy. This Teodosic guy is like Pirlo
 

Cesar Crespo

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This Portland/Milwaukee game is highly entertaining. Bucks are down 1 with less than a minute. Freak has 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block on 16/22 shooting.


Jokic is also putting up an interesting line. Almost through 3 quarters, he's played 23 minutes. He has 0 points on 0/2 shooting, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and leads the game with a +19.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Giannis is on his way to 3 straight 30+ point games. Also can't help but feel bad for Kristaps but he should have a big season.
77 points in back-to-back nights ... on 45 field goal attempts. Plus 16 boards, 12 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks.
 

Cesar Crespo

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The Kings are going to be really bad this year but they have a lot of young promising talent on that team between WCS, Hield, Fox, and Skal. Not to mention Papagiannis, Giles, Jackson and Richardson.

They're like a lesser talented version of the 76ers.
 

DJnVa

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I want PHX to suck this year. So badly the NBA just awards them the #1 pick.
 

Montana Fan

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Not a good look for Steph; who was called for four first half fouls and GS was very vocal with the refs down the stretch. Durant also may have flipped off a fan while walking off the court; it might have been his ring finger though.
Curry sure has gone from darling to asshole quickly in my eyes. I didn't see the game so there may have been a bunch of bad calls prior to that play but the sense of entitlement followed by the lashing out is indeed, not a good look, for one of the faces of the NBA.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Not a good look for Steph; who was called for four first half fouls and GS was very vocal with the refs down the stretch. Durant also may have flipped off a fan while walking off the court; it might have been his ring finger though.

I love Draymond approaching the official while applauding the call. Very underrated aspect of this clip. Perfect.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Darling or asshole or somewhere in between, I think it's kind of been lost amid the Warriors' early stumble that Curry right now (both in preseason and in the first three games) is playing at or above his 2015-16 peak level. Somehow this Summer, amid shooting 74-74 in pro golf tournaments, goofing off in China, etc., he was able to improve both his body and his game, to the point where Kerr said a few days ago that he's straight up better now than he was in his two MVP years.

I think the degree to which his sprained MCL in the 2016 playoffs hampered his game remains massively underrated. Not only did it help lose the '16 Finals but it also also curtailed last summer's workouts, which resulted in a slow start to last season, by his standards, and I think a general lowering of his esteem among NBA observers. Since roughly the midpoint of last season, he's been back to historically good Steph (viz. 28.6 pts, 6.3 reb, 6.8 ast per 36 on .659 true shooting in last year's playoffs). I think it's comical how often he gets totally omitted from "best player in the world" conversations these days, as if putting up a +1,015 net plus minus (~200 points better than any other player, and ~500 points better than any non-Warrior, including LeBron) just happens.

This season through three games (per 36 mins.):

33.0 points on .697 true shooting
5.7 assists
5.3 rebounds
1.9 turnovers

Now if the Ws can stop turning it over start turning it over 17 times a game and start playing a little D...
 

Kliq

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Earl Watson has to be on the hottest seat ever for a coach three games into the season. Nobody excepted Phoenix to be good; but for them to be THIS bad is kind of shocking. I would say they have more talent than Chicago, Brooklyn and maybe a few other teams.