January 2020 General NBA Game Thread

ElUno20

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Kawhi stay home. This is bullshit making a star play on new year's eve
 

Sam Ray Not

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Remember that game where the Nets hit eight (8) two point shots in the entire game? The Lakers just hit 17 twos in the first quarter — on 19 attempts.

43-17 Lakers through after one quarter. GJGE, Suns.
 

Euclis20

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Lakers hold on for the win, but James/Davis both had to play 38 minutes, unbelievable considering they were up by 36 at one point.
 

the moops

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At least the West coast team is spot on. Not sure there has been a more clear 5 than Luka, Harden, Kawhi, Lebron, AD.

East "should" be Giannis, Embiid, Siakam for sure. Guard spots are tough. I would probably go Kemba and Butler.
 

benhogan

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While all the West talk is about the LA's, Denver is just lurking in the shadows.

Adding Jerami Grant and a healthy Micheal Porter Jr to their core will lessen their Plumlee involvement.
 

ElUno20

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While all the West talk is about the LA's, Denver is just lurking in the shadows.

Adding Jerami Grant and a healthy Micheal Porter Jr to their core will lessen their Plumlee involvement.
You trust denver in the playoffs?
 

Kliq

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Michael Porter Jr. with 25 points on 11-12 shooting as Denver beats Indiana. Coming out of high school, I thought he was the best player of that class. He is so smooth at 6'10; maybe not Durant but probably like Danilo Gallinari.
 

Kliq

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This has kind of made the rounds on social media today, as a phenomenal piece of random basketball history. Celebrity dunk contest from 1992, featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Barry Bonds and most importantly, Olympic gold medalist and basketball father Mike Conley Sr., who throws down some absolutely nasty dunks.

View: https://twitter.com/ConPow1124/status/1213145964522946561?s=20

They should really bring this idea back for All-Star Weekend; get some other athletes from around the world of sports to show off their athleticism; could be really interesting.
 

lovegtm

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This has kind of made the rounds on social media today, as a phenomenal piece of random basketball history. Celebrity dunk contest from 1992, featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Barry Bonds and most importantly, Olympic gold medalist and basketball father Mike Conley Sr., who throws down some absolutely nasty dunks.

View: https://twitter.com/ConPow1124/status/1213145964522946561?s=20

They should really bring this idea back for All-Star Weekend; get some other athletes from around the world of sports to show off their athleticism; could be really interesting.
Mike Conley Sr. is eye-poppingly athletic there (which is only surprising because his son isn't).
 

Spelunker

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That free throw dunk is insane. Like, I had to double-check that the rim was regulation insane.
 

Kliq

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That free throw dunk is insane. Like, I had to double-check that the rim was regulation insane.
Yeah plus he is only 6’1” so he doesn’t necessarily have that long reach to finish the dunk.
 

Euclis20

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All true, but if there's any other athlete in the world (outside of basketball) that you would expect to complete a free throw line dunk, it would be an olympian who medaled in the long jump.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I’m sure there have been NBA players who have had a worse 2:30 performance in the history of the game.......I’ve just never seen it. He singlehandedly turned a 16-pt lead into a 6-pt lead in miraculous Westbrook-like fashion.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I’m sure there have been NBA players who have had a worse 2:30 performance in the history of the game.......I’ve just never seen it. He singlehandedly turned a 16-pt lead into a 6-pt lead in miraculous Westbrook-like fashion.
A stunning display. Then Harden singlehandedly gets it back to a comfy lead. Amazing.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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This has kind of made the rounds on social media today, as a phenomenal piece of random basketball history. Celebrity dunk contest from 1992, featuring Ken Griffey Jr., Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Barry Bonds and most importantly, Olympic gold medalist and basketball father Mike Conley Sr., who throws down some absolutely nasty dunks.

View: https://twitter.com/ConPow1124/status/1213145964522946561?s=20

They should really bring this idea back for All-Star Weekend; get some other athletes from around the world of sports to show off their athleticism; could be really interesting.
Holy shit, thanks for sharing. I remember one w/ Kenny Lofton, but don’t remember ever seeing this one.
 

benhogan

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I’m sure there have been NBA players who have had a worse 2:30 performance in the history of the game.......I’ve just never seen it. He singlehandedly turned a 16-pt lead into a 6-pt lead in miraculous Westbrook-like fashion.
Chris Paul's age 34, 35 and 36yr old seasons aren't looking so bad about now.
 

HomeRunBaker

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A stunning display. Then Harden singlehandedly gets it back to a comfy lead. Amazing.
Westbrook trying to set NBA record for missed dunks in a game when he air balled a followup dunk! This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’m laying 4.5 and the Rockets would easily be up 25 with Westbrook on the bench.

edit: And he’s a +1 for the night. Yeah you guys can talk about this “stat” all you want. So ridiculously meaningless without context.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Westbrook airballs another dunk then throws it away. This is incredible someone check his BAC.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Omg Westbrook with the NBA equivalent of a golden sombrero in ONE QUARTER. Rockets should be up by 30 right now...
 

Sam Ray Not

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Westbrook trying to set NBA record for missed dunks in a game when he air balled a followup dunk! This is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’m laying 4.5 and the Rockets would easily be up 25 with Westbrook on the bench.

edit: And he’s a +1 for the night. Yeah you guys can talk about this “stat” all you want. So ridiculously meaningless without context.
Pretty sure no one on this site takes anything beyond “that was a fun thing that happened” from one-game samples of plus-minus.

Edit: that said, Westy is currently a net -19 (-6 on, +13 off), which would seem to match your eye test.
 
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HowBoutDemSox

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Chris Paul's age 34, 35 and 36yr old seasons aren't looking so bad about now.
I’m convinced the only reason Morey made that deal is because he was convinced one of Harden or Paul would have literally murdered the other this year. Literally, murdered.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Pretty sure no one on this site takes anything beyond “that was a fun thing that happened” from one-game samples of plus-minus.

Edit: that said, Westy is currently a net -19 (-6 on, +13 off), which would seem to match your eye test.
Seriously? Single game +/- numbers are posted all the time here.

Meanwhile, Westbrook just missed 2 FT’s and turned the ball over leading to a fast break dunk. This is fascinating to watch even if I lose my bet.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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InstaFace

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It sucks and it seems like most of the contact was a continuation of Thomas fighting for possession. However he did make contact with Marat Kogut and it didn't look completely inadvertent.
He was getting nudged from behind, as one of the lightest players in the league, while swinging wildly to try and retain possession and either pass out of it or call a timeout. He was in the field of play, playing basketball. If Kogut can't get out of the way (nevermind make the big over-dramatic tossing-you-out motions - you're not the show, buddy!), he can at least understand that big strong guys are wrassling right in front of him and not have a hair-trigger there.

That's one of the more ridiculous ejections I've ever seen in any sport. I mean it's right up there with ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing while on the bench, or Shaq for dunking too hard:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A60KLjIFksA
 

Sam Ray Not

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Mark Jackson talking about “my Patriots.” I guess I missed that one.

Also, goddamit, the Lakers are so freaking good. I don’t even want to fathom a world where they added Kawhi...
 

Kliq

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He was getting nudged from behind, as one of the lightest players in the league, while swinging wildly to try and retain possession and either pass out of it or call a timeout. He was in the field of play, playing basketball. If Kogut can't get out of the way (nevermind make the big over-dramatic tossing-you-out motions - you're not the show, buddy!), he can at least understand that big strong guys are wrassling right in front of him and not have a hair-trigger there.

That's one of the more ridiculous ejections I've ever seen in any sport. I mean it's right up there with ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing while on the bench, or Shaq for dunking too hard:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A60KLjIFksA
I'd even argue that it was bad positioning by the ref, he shouldn't be in position to interfere in a play like that.
 

Montana Fan

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IT4 was ejected for the extra push. It's clear that the official was not going to do anything, and did not do anything until he received the extended arm push. And the other day Lebron was fouled on that drive to the bucket. Officiating isn't easy but those two calls couldn't have been easier.
 

lovegtm

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IT4 was ejected for the extra push. It's clear that the official was not going to do anything, and did not do anything until he received the extended arm push. And the other day Lebron was fouled on that drive to the bucket. Officiating isn't easy but those two calls couldn't have been easier.
Agree. I think in both cases, MBPC (myself included) were so pissed off at officiating from the prior Celtics game that the feeling spilled over.
 

lovegtm

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...
Also, goddamit, the Lakers are so freaking good. I don’t even want to fathom a world where they added Kawhi...
With Kawhi they'd obviously be unstoppable, but I don't know that they're such a huge juggernaut now. A 10-point win over the Pelicans in which they shot almost 50% from 3 is...nice, I guess? They're a really good team, but the West is going to be a gauntlet for them with LAC, Houston, and Dallas.
 

HomeRunBaker

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With Kawhi they'd obviously be unstoppable, but I don't know that they're such a huge juggernaut now. A 10-point win over the Pelicans in which they shot almost 50% from 3 is...nice, I guess? They're a really good team, but the West is going to be a gauntlet for them with LAC, Houston, and Dallas.
The reg season and post season are two different animals. Putting some shooters around a motivated LeBron and Davis over the course of 82-games always seemed scary to me. In the post-season the defenses tighten up and game plan more to where mental toughness from your role players plays a huge part of your success. Davis won’t have it as easy as he does now and trusting KCP, Kuzma, and others in this spotlight for the first time brings some uncertainties.......this is why we’ve rarely seen a team over the years simply roll to a title in their first year as a core group. The 2008 Celtics were an anomaly. Having said that I do expect the Lakers to add a veteran backcourt piece(s) by the deadline to shore up some of this deficiency.
 

lovegtm

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The reg season and post season are two different animals. Putting some shooters around a motivated LeBron and Davis over the course of 82-games always seemed scary to me. In the post-season the defenses tighten up and game plan more to where mental toughness from your role players plays a huge part of your success. Davis won’t have it as easy as he does now and trusting KCP, Kuzma, and others in this spotlight for the first time brings some uncertainties.......this is why we’ve rarely seen a team over the years simply roll to a title in their first year as a core group. The 2008 Celtics were an anomaly. Having said that I do expect the Lakers to add a veteran backcourt piece(s) by the deadline to shore up some of this deficiency.
Yeah they’ll get a little help, but they don’t have the pieces for any drastic upgrades.

I’m ok going out on a limb saying that I’d be surprised if they’re the West’s Finals representative. I don’t believe in their crunch-time offense against a locked in playoff defense.
 

Apisith

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James Harden is putting up 38.5ppg at 65% true shooting. This is the best non-Wilt offensive season in the history of the NBA. Michael Jordan this that, Steph Curry this that, I don’t give a f. No one has done what Harden is doing.
 

Sam Ray Not

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He’s incredible; and yeah, from a statistical perspective, you can easily make the “best offensive season ever” claim. You could even say better than Wilt, depending on how you view efficiency v. volume.

At the same time, not to relitigate the hearty perennial Harden discussion, but: he has gamed the efficiency system to a degree with all the free throws and threes; and the combo of terror and exasperation his elite foul drawing / flopping bag of tricks inspires in defenders gives him space for his threes and layups that a lot of players don’t have. In the playoffs, the whistles tend to be less friendly, and his numbers (and teams) have suffered accordingly.

I don’t think anyone really believes that an alt universe mano-a-mano battle between peak Jordan and peak Harden — with no refs — would end well for the Beard.

On a related note: Harden to the Warriors has been making the rumor rounds lately, lol. Possibly the fakest NBA news I’ve heard this season, and the bar is high.
 
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Euclis20

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James Harden is putting up 38.5ppg at 65% true shooting. This is the best non-Wilt offensive season in the history of the NBA. Michael Jordan this that, Steph Curry this that, I don’t give a f. No one has done what Harden is doing.
The ppg wasn't nearly as high, but I'd argue that curry leading the league in ppg AND true shooting % in 15/16 was just as impressive.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Yeah, I’m not an efg% fan (since FTs matter), and not objective in this debate, but Curry’s effective FG% that season was .630 where Harden this year is at .570 (by far his best mark since he became a leading man). The difference in TS is also not trivial: .669 Curry that season (.675 at his peak a couple seasons later) to .645 Harden. They’re both about the same distance from the normal efficiency/volume curve, in stratospheres of their own.

Curry was also a net +22.6 that season (+18.0 on court) for a 73-win team, where Harden is a slightly less awesome net +12.6 (+8.7 on court).

Verdict: slight edge Curry 2015-16, as historically awesome as Harden 2019-20 has been.

I’ll recuse myself now, before I get into subjective aesthetics. Harden in his favor doesn’t chew on a gross, spit-covered binky all game long... :)