2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread

[Imbricus]

Josh Jackson managed to go 2 for 10 last night ... in only 12 minutes. He's quietly putting up some pretty miserable shooting numbers this year: .378 FG and .239 3P. That's a little better than Lonzo on FG and worse on 3P. I saw a redraft where he went #11, and I think that may be generous.

 

[ifmanis5]

Dave McMenamin‏Verified account @mcten 6m6 minutes ago
Isaiah Thomas will make his season debut Tuesday vs POR, per Ty Lue. He'll come off the bench and be under a minute restriction. He will not play vs BOS.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Good on both fronts. It will be great to see him back on the court and, at the same time, he doesn't need to get caught up in the noise around the nationally televised Cavs/Celtics game. I suspect I am not alone here in wanting this guy to get healthy and get paid in the offseason. I also hope he finds a team/city he loves playing for as much as he apparently did with the Celtics.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Great deep-dive podcast on the state of the Celtics by Danny LeRoux (possibly the most knowledgable hoops junkie out there) and Jared Weiss of Celtics Wire:

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/248471/RealGM-Radio-Jared-Weiss-On-The-Celtics

 

[sezwho]

Great deep-dive podcast on the state of the Celtics by Danny LeRoux (possibly the most knowledgable hoops junkie out there) and Jared Weiss

Thanks, good stuff. I enjoy Danny on Dunc’d On and Jared as well but would have missed this.

 

[HowBoutDemSox]

Marc Stein

@TheSteinLine

The Rockets just announced that James Harden’s hamstring strain will sideline him at least two weeks.

 

[Sprowl]

Kuzma is turning back into a pumpkin.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Marc Stein

@TheSteinLine

The Rockets just announced that James Harden’s hamstring strain will sideline him at least two weeks.

Ugh, rough break for them. Not surprising, though, having watched the injury. Minutes before the news broke, I posted this on a Warriors blog:

"Signs of a limp? Dude could barely walk. After the game said he heard a "whoosh" and that it was like nothing he'd felt before.

I'm far from an expert — and have yet to hear any official word — but I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't keep him out at least a week or two. Even if it's a mild strain, to throw him out there again and risk more serious strain or tear would be pretty crazy, imho. If they're even a little bit smart, they'll do what the Warriors did with Curry's ankle turn: err on the side of caution, give it two weeks minimum, and think of it as opportunity to (a) get him some much needed rest; and (b) get the other guys some chemistry and confidence that they can play and win without him.

As far as whether it was reckless overuse that caused the strain in the first place ... I hate to draw simple cause/effect in cases like that — most likely there's a large component of dumb bad luck. But anecdotally, it does seem like a lot of injuries occur late in games in high-stress situations like that, where a player has already played big minutes and is trying to find an extra gear: viz. Kyrie in 2015 Finals Game 1 (44 minutes played, banged up to begin with, trying to shed Klay) or Kobe's prime-ending Achilles injury v. the Ws in 2013 (trying to shed Barnes after 45 minutes played, following 48 minutes the game before, and seven straight games between 42-48 minutes played, at age nearly 35), to name two notable Warriors-related ones.

Heck, even Curry's rather serious ankle turn (his only major injury in the last six years not cause by Motiejunas' sweat) happened late in a hard-fought game v. the Pels.

Harden's historically been a durable workhorse like Klay or LeBron, but you are playing with fire when you ride a guy who's already been complaining about knee soreness 41 minutes on his third game in four nights — especially a guy like Harden who plays a very physical, high-usage, high-stress brand of bball (even allowing for the fact that he mostly takes defensive possessions off)."​

 

[HowBoutDemSox]

Kuzma is turning back into a pumpkin.

Anyone else find it weird that the Lakers are wearing their Minneapolis throwback uniforms while playing at the T-Wolves?

 

[Montana Fan]

Did Walton pull all the starters after 3 minutes?

 

[DJnVa]

EDIT: Misread

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Anyone else find it weird that the Lakers are wearing their Minneapolis throwback uniforms while playing at the T-Wolves?

I dunno, I kinda love the trollishness of it.

The Warriors should follow suit and wear their PHILA jerseys the next time they play the SIxers.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

You haven't heard any official word but are responding to a post with a tweet saying "the Rockets announced he'd be out 2 weeks" by saying you think he'll be out a few weeks...

The Rockets announcing makes it official and it says 2 weeks...and then you predict...wait for it...a few weeks.

lol

Haha, no, that was a copy-paste of a post I wrote before the news broke. (Sorry for the confusion; added quotes, indents, and italics for clarity).

 

[DJnVa]

Haha, no, that was a copy-paste of a post I wrote before the news broke. (Added quotes and italics for clarity).

Yeah, figured it out. My bad.

I shouldn't post when I'm distracted by Rose Bowl.

 

[lovegtm]

Anyone else find it weird that the Lakers are wearing their Minneapolis throwback uniforms while playing at the T-Wolves?

Is it just me, or do they bust those uniforms out a *lot*? Feels like I see that uniform more often than their normal one when I tune in.

Playing the T-Wolves aside, it's sort of weird to play up your connection to another city that hard. I do like the color scheme/aesthetic though.

 

[lovegtm]

Wolves offense looks really bad, even with Butler and Crawford both out on the floor. No flow or much of a plan.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Is it just me, or do they bust those uniforms out a *lot*? Feels like I see that uniform more often than their normal one when I tune in.

Playing the T-Wolves aside, it's sort of weird to play up your connection to another city that hard.

True, though in a sense they play up their northern/midwest roots just by calling themselves the Lakers. No lakes in SoCal, unless you count Silver Lake and Veronica Lake...

 

[lovegtm]

True, though in a sense they play up their northern/midwest roots just by calling themselves the Lakers. No lakes in SoCal, unless you count Silver Lake and Veronica Lake...

Haha yes, this is true. I guess that's why it's so bizarre to me that they further double-down on the Minneapolis part.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

I shouldn't post when I'm distracted by Rose Bowl.

Whoa, looks like an amazing game. But — wrong forum, I know — am I only the one who thinks it's all kinds of wrong that Oklahoma-Georgia is the Rose Bowl while Ohio State-USC is the Cotton Bowl?

 

[benhogan]

True, though in a sense they play up their northern/midwest roots just by calling themselves the Lakers. No lakes in SoCal, unless you count Silver Lake and Veronica Lake...

Real surfers call Santa Monica Bay a lake

Both teams playing sloppy and tired, expect the Wolves to want it a little more and gut this out

 

[benhogan]

Hoiberg not playing Mirotic or Portis in a late/tight game. Playing the kids to give them experience, I guess. Once again Dunn has looked excellent.

*post game edit: Ugh. Bulls gave this game away. We have to be wary of Hoiberg/Bulls now, they are not playing to win. Mirotic puts up 18 pts/10 rebs/ +10 in 19 mins. He didn't leave the bench at the end of regulation or OT. Same with Portis.

Starters played anywhere from 35-41 minutes. They aren't in full tank mode but clearly have interest in developing their youngsters (and probably dealing Mirotic). Stinks, but don't blame them, it's the right long-term move.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Hoiberg not playing Mirotic or Portis in a late/tight game. Playing the kids to give them experience, i guess.

Once again Dunn has looked excellent

And the Bulls blow it at the end for the second day in a row, losing in OT tonight.

Lakers were really never in their game tonight, losing by 18 to the Wolves. Caruso played 18 minutes, Blue played 17, and Zubac played 12. Clearly, Luke wasn't pleased with his normal rotations.

 

[DJnVa]

Nets win, Lakers lose. Nice night.

 

[InstaFace]

Wouldn't we rather the Nets lose if it's Orlando they're playing?

I mean, in a vacuum, sure, spite the Cavs... but in this specific case?

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

DeMar DeRozan with Raptors record 52 points on 17-29 from the field and 5-9 from deep tonight as Toronto beat the Bucks in OT. He is taking a career high number of threes per game and making them at a decent clip. If his improvement is real, the Raptors are a lot scarier than in years past.

 

[chilidawg]

Hoiberg not playing Mirotic or Portis in a late/tight game. Playing the kids to give them experience, I guess. Once again Dunn has looked excellent.

*post game edit: Ugh. Bulls gave this game away. We have to be wary of Hoiberg/Bulls now, they are not playing to win. Mirotic puts up 18 pts/10 rebs/ +10 in 19 mins. He didn't leave the bench at the end of regulation or OT. Same with Portis.

Starters played anywhere from 35-41 minutes. They aren't in full tank mode but clearly have interest in developing their youngsters (and probably dealing Mirotic). Stinks, but don't blame them, it's the right long-term move.

Portis is 22 and mirotic 26, and Lopez was getting minutes down the stretch. I don't think "playing the kids" is the rationale here.

 

[NoXInNixon]

DeMar DeRozan with Raptors record 52 points on 17-29 from the field and 5-9 from deep tonight as Toronto beat the Bucks in OT. He is taking a career high number of threes per game and making them at a decent clip. If his improvement is real, the Raptors are a lot scarier than in years past.

The #1 seed is going to be massively important this year.

 

[Kliq]

Guys don't you remember; DeMar DeRozan isn't good.

 

[sezwho]

Real surfers call Santa Monica Bay a lake

Funny, Mission Bay is a lake too but in my San Diego years we hit Lake Murray for the day. A real lake meant Lake Travis which meant road trip. Minnesota definitely wins the lake battle.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

Portis is 22 and mirotic 26, and Lopez was getting minutes down the stretch. I don't think "playing the kids" is the rationale here.

Rationale was that Hoiberg wanted Lopez to match up against Nurkic (defensively, I presume) and I'm sure they are prioritizing Markkanen's minutes.

I think Hoiberg wants to win games so I don't think he was sitting Mirotic to tank but I'm concerned how CHI will do when they trade Mirotic (seems a forgone conclusion) and LeVine comes back.

The Mavs winning 4 straight have been great for the Cs chances in the 2018 draft.

 

[Montana Fan]

Did Walton pull all the starters after 3 minutes?

Ayup. Haha!!

 

[DJnVa]

Wouldn't we rather the Nets lose if it's Orlando they're playing?

I mean, in a vacuum, sure, spite the Cavs... but in this specific case?

Eh, all spite for me.

 

[lovegtm]

DeMar DeRozan with Raptors record 52 points on 17-29 from the field and 5-9 from deep tonight as Toronto beat the Bucks in OT. He is taking a career high number of threes per game and making them at a decent clip. If his improvement is real, the Raptors are a lot scarier than in years past.

He always had a decent stroke from midrange, and shot free throws well. I think it's very likely real: he clearly had a weird mental thing about not shooting 3s, and now that's gone, good for him.

 

[Ale Xander]

Good on both fronts. It will be great to see him back on the court and, at the same time, he doesn't need to get caught up in the noise around the nationally televised Cavs/Celtics game. I suspect I am not alone here in wanting this guy to get healthy and get paid in the offseason. I also hope he finds a team/city he loves playing for as much as he apparently did with the Celtics.

As long as it's for a crap team like Phoenix or Sacto

don't want to root against him/his team in the EC playoffs or FInals .

 

[the moops]

He always had a decent stroke from midrange, and shot free throws well. I think it's very likely real: he clearly had a weird mental thing about not shooting 3s, and now that's gone, good for him.

He shot 34% from three two years ago. He is shooting 35% this year and is still taking only 3 a game. He seems to have given up a lot of his long 2's which is the biggest change in his game.

 

[lovegtm]

He shot 34% from three two years ago. He is shooting 35% this year and is still taking only 3 a game. He seems to have given up a lot of his long 2's which is the biggest change in his game.

Sure, but that 34% was on 1.8 attempts vs 3 attempts now, which is a pretty big difference. Even taking just 3 a game at that rate is enough to force hard closeouts, which adds a lot of options for someone with his skill set. His offensive RPM is a up pretty significantly from a year ago.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Back on the Harden injury: I'm surprised there isn't a bit more alarm about the grade 2 diagnosis. From what I recall, and a brief google, most grade 2 strains involve a fair amount of fraying/tearing and are typically significantly more than two-week deals. Freshest in my mind is Durant's grade 2 MCL strain late last season, for which they (correctly) estimated 5-6 weeks. Also from what I recall — any doctors here correct me if I'm wrong — hammies can be trickier to heal fully than knees. I understand that the grades are spectra, and we have no idea where Harden's injury falls in the grade 2 spectrum, but I'd be pretty surprised if he isn't out at least a month, assuming the Rockets are going to be smart and err on the side of caution. I get the sense the "at least two weeks" is standard initial prognosis for everything, whether it's legitimately two weeks or a more series 6-8+ week thing.

In the long run, I think this may make the Rockets a stronger team — just as KD's injury did last season for the Ws, Curry's injury seems to have done this year, and Hayward's injury may now be doing for the Celtics. In the short term, it could be tough. I think the CP3/Gordon combo is beastly enough to keep their starting unit humming strong, but their already-shaky depth (after losing Williams, Beverley, Harrell and Dekker in the CP3 deal) has taken a big blow. I have no doubt that CP3 and Gordon have the skills and leadership qualities necessary to carry the team for a month, but I'm a bit less confident in their ability to hold up physically if Mike D tries to ride them 36-40 minutes a game. If I'm them I expand my rotations, keep CP3 and Gordon at ~30 mpg and let bench guys like Gerald Green, Briante Weber, and Bobby Brown get plenty of run, even if it means slipping to the #3 seed. (Now watch them wreck the Warriors on Thursday).

Meanwhile: I guess Iron Man LeBron is now the frontrunner for MVP? And Klay Thompson, Eric Gordon, PG13, Lowry and Kyrie (and maybe that Curry guy) are the frontrunners for the three-point crown?

 

[DJnVa]

Kinda weird that there's no Celtics game tonight. Multiple days off????

Get to watch IT4 tonight though. Gonna be torn. Hope he plays well, but they lose.

 

[benhogan]

Rationale was that Hoiberg wanted Lopez to match up against Nurkic (defensively, I presume) and I'm sure they are prioritizing Markkanen's minutes.

I think Hoiberg wants to win games so I don't think he was sitting Mirotic to tank but I'm concerned how CHI will do when they trade Mirotic (seems a forgone conclusion) and LeVine comes back.

The Mavs winning 4 straight have been great for the Cs chances in the 2018 draft.

Probably an overreaction on my part watching the Bulls blow a couple of games recently. Mirotic has played out of his mind since coming back and Portis has always been a personal favourite of mine. I want them on the floor when it counts. Agreed, Robin Lopez was playing to match up with Nurkic.

Hope the Bulls can get a sizeable lead on the Lakers before they deal Mirotic.

 

[InstaFace]

Get to watch IT4 tonight though. Gonna be torn. Hope he plays well, but they lose.

I hope they lose every game in overtime after IT4 makes a game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of regulation.

 

[DJnVa]

I feel you are speaking to my soul.

 

[Light-Tower-Power]

Not easy watching IT warm up with LeBron.

 

[Light-Tower-Power]

IT at the scorers table and I don't think anyone in the stands realizes it.

 

[RoDaddy]

So weird to see him in a Cavs uniform and playing. I loved that little guy when he was here!

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

IT3 defending LeBron's bastard son!

 

[Light-Tower-Power]

I won't miss that matador defense though. Absolutely no resistance on a 2 v 1 fast break.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

IT3 for twoooooooo

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

I won't miss that matador defense though. Absolutely no resistance on a 2 v 1 fast break.

At least he tries. There is no way for him to stop McCollum.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

I just realized that playing on Lebron's team instead of the Celtics will cause IT to take about 25 free throws a game.

 

[lovegtm]

I was wrong about his athleticism post-injury: he looks good out there.