2020-2021 NBA Game Thread

By the by, I started the League Pass 7-day trial the other day - because I was working late nights and was up to watch a couple of Hawks games I might not have otherwise been up to watch live. I've listened to a fair amount of Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins commentating on the Hawks on TV, and they were a good listen...and this year they've added Vince Carter, so it's now a three-man booth, and holy hell, I can't stand them now. Not because Vince sucks - he sounds very articulate and insightful and would probably be a great color guy on his own - but because Nique and Vinsanty spend the whole game talking to each other and over the action, rarely letting Rathbun actually do his job as the play-by-play man. It was so bad that I briefly switched over to the Mavs broadcast last night - and they have a three-man commentary team as well! It's not like Breen/Van Gundy/Jackson, either; I'm not a big fan of that trio's chemistry either, but at least the latter two get out of Breen's way most of the time. This trend really has to be stopped.

(...said the guy who in a couple of weeks is calling 10 international basketball games in a four-day span without one partner, let alone two. Buddy, can ya' spare me a color guy?)
 

terrynever

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76ers just died in third quarter, outscored 30-9 so far. No penetration on offense, defense is passive. They miss Simmons. Embiid gets what he wants but he’s a one-man show. Everyone else standing around.
 

GreenMonster49

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Blazers dregs somehow hanging with the Sixers: 57-57 at the half, despite 31 from JoJo.
Enes Kantar has 13 points and 16 rebounds (and a team-high +19) with 2:00 left in the 3rd quarter--they may be depleted but the Blazers do have a post defender.
 

benhogan

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By the by, I started the League Pass 7-day trial the other day - because I was working late nights and was up to watch a couple of Hawks games I might not have otherwise been up to watch live. I've listened to a fair amount of Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins commentating on the Hawks on TV, and they were a good listen...and this year they've added Vince Carter, so it's now a three-man booth, and holy hell, I can't stand them now. Not because Vince sucks - he sounds very articulate and insightful and would probably be a great color guy on his own - but because Nique and Vinsanty spend the whole game talking to each other and over the action, rarely letting Rathbun actually do his job as the play-by-play man. It was so bad that I briefly switched over to the Mavs broadcast last night - and they have a three-man commentary team as well! It's not like Breen/Van Gundy/Jackson, either; I'm not a big fan of that trio's chemistry either, but at least the latter two get out of Breen's way most of the time. This trend really has to be stopped.

(...said the guy who in a couple of weeks is calling 10 international basketball games in a four-day span without one partner, let alone two. Buddy, can ya' spare me a color guy?)
Sounds brutal. Nique and Carter's greatest regular-season dunk show.

I've been a League Pass subscriber for years. I switch to the other broadcast (not because I hate Scal/Tommy/Mike) to get some unbiased commentary on the Celtics. I'll have to check out your trio the next time the C's play Atlanta.
 

JCizzle

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We're in year three of Luka and somehow it never gets mentioned that he's a shitty three-point shooter.
Yep. He's about to get the Giannis treatment. NBA media fawns for the first couple of years, but unless you win a title or are named LeBron, you're going to start to hear it after a couple of years. Dude also looks like he's on the Embiid pre-2021 conditioning plan.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Blazers and Warriors went into Philly and Dallas tonight with broken skeleton crews.

Collect your prize if you had a parlay of GSW/PDX +47.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Watching the Nuggets post up Jokic on Gasol followed by the Lakers dumping it down to Gasol on Jokic while everyone stands around brings back memories of The Big 3 league.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Nuggets put it on the Lakers that half, though you wouldn't know it based on the 83 Harlan-gasms and 65 Reggie-gasms about the Lakers and their fucking championship DNA.18 Harlan-gasms alone for a completely garden variety tip-steal by Schröder.
 

ElUno20

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Nuggets put it on the Lakers that half, though you wouldn't know it based on the 83 Harlan-gasms and 65 Reggie-gasms about the Lakers and their fucking championship DNA.18 Harlan-gasms alone for a completely garden variety tip-steal by Schröder.

And the garbage nuggets get destroyed in the 3rd
 

benhogan

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Love seeing Turner in Tier 3. So either they guy CAN play or another garbage advanced stat is thrust upon us. Either way I win.
Good call. Sometimes it pays to be the last man standing on Turner Island.

At the very least, everyone around here has to agree the C's would look MUCH BETTER with MT than TT.

The downside is the Pacers would be scary with Gordo
 

the moops

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Good call. Sometimes it pays to be the last man standing on Turner Island.

At the very least, everyone around here has to agree the C's would look MUCH BETTER with MT than TT.

The downside is the Pacers would be scary with Gordo
Meh. They probably woukd still make the LeVert deal, so their lineup would be Brogdon, Warren, Hayward, McDermott, Sabonis. No Turner on that team really hurts their defense
 

pjheff

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Love seeing Turner in Tier 3. So either they guy CAN play or another garbage advanced stat is thrust upon us. Either way I win.
I've been assured that he is physically unable to set screens. But if the rumors were accurate, Ainge could have had Turner and McDermott only to opt instead for Thompson and Teague with the mystery box of a TPE.
 

benhogan

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Jimbo is no doubt the Mayor of Turner Island, but I've at least got a second home there.
There were a few of you Turner-ites.

I like Sabonis much more than Turner, so the stat probably overrates blocks? if someone still doesn't care for Myles they could make the argument. Won't be me since having $10MM on Thompson for 2 seasons doesn't do much for me & can see the extra $7.5MM on Myles.

The TPE may come in handy this offseason when the team will need to unload Kemba.
 

the moops

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Hayward is a much better player and fit than Myles Turner
He is better. But I should have actually changed the above lineup because most likely McDermott would have been gone too.

So, they would be starting something like Brogdon, Lamb, Warren, Hayward, Sabonis. With a bench of Holiday, Holiday, McConnell, Bitadze.

That seems worse than what they currently are running with
 

HomeRunBaker

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Anyone watching this Pacers/Pelicans game is watching the most incredible 3-point shooting performance you’ve ever witnessed in the 4Q. Both teams combined hitting 13-15 three’s to start the quarter with Holiday and Ball going back and forth like it was in their backyard. I think they had 4 each just themselves. Incredible show.

Edit: Lonzo saves the game for the Pelicans with tremendous help defense at the rim going straight up without fouling as Myles barreled to the basket. This kid is Jeckyl and Hyde from game to game.
 
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JCizzle

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Didn't Durant already have COVID? Isn't it pretty rare to catch it again? Apparently he got pulled mid game for protocol reasons.

If the NBA is going to be overly cautious with a guy like him in this scenario, they should probably first crack down on coaches disregarding masks as they yell in a ref's face.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Nets tried to sneak KD by, NBA said no midgame. Bad look for the league that Durant was able to play at all.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Didn't Durant already have COVID? Isn't it pretty rare to catch it again? Apparently he got pulled mid game for protocol reasons.

If the NBA is going to be overly cautious with a guy like him in this scenario, they should probably first crack down on coaches disregarding masks as they yell in a ref's face.
It's even dumber than that. Apparently he warmed up, got held from starting due to health and safety protocols, then was allowed to come in. Then finally in the 3rd quarter he randomly got the hook during a timeout to leave AGAIN. That is sloppy as hell.
 

McBride11

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I'm so confused. KD had COVID prior no? Then gets pulled mid game for protocols? I mean shouldn't the whole team be pulled if they were playing together?
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Nets tried to sneak KD by, NBA said no midgame. Bad look for the league that Durant was able to play at all.
Well, take it for what it's worth, but per the sideline reporter Durant was close to a person (didn't say player) with an inconclusive test, Durant tested negative 3 times in the last 24 hours so allowed to play, then that potential contact tested positive during the game.

Edit: Not a great look for a national ESPN game. I suppose you need to be super conservative and keep Durant out of the game (the preferred option IMO) or just keep him in the game, because if you're in for that much time what is sitting out less than half the game going to do?
 

128

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Utah is absolutely destroying opponents. I'm not looking forward to the C's game there Tuesday nite.
 

soxhop411

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Well, take it for what it's worth, but per the sideline reporter Durant was close to a person (didn't say player) with an inconclusive test, Durant tested negative 3 times in the last 24 hours so allowed to play, then that potential contact tested positive during the game.

Edit: Not a great look for a national ESPN game. I suppose you need to be super conservative and keep Durant out of the game (the preferred option IMO) or just keep him in the game, because if you're in for that much time what is sitting out less than half the game going to do?
Here is a statement from the NBA

and here is Durants response(s)
View: https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1357885018169868288
View: https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1357894281277677576
Yo @nba, your fans aren’t dumb!!!! You can’t fool em with your Wack ass PR tactics.. #FREE7

Brian Floyd

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Can everyone stop saying things like “out of an abundance of caution”?We’re just saying words that don’t match actions for PR over and over at this point View: https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1357887705233948672

 

HomeRunBaker

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I'm so confused. KD had COVID prior no? Then gets pulled mid game for protocols? I mean shouldn't the whole team be pulled if they were playing together?
The way the Nets play defense there was little risk of any Raptor contracting anything from their opponent.
 

JCizzle

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Well, take it for what it's worth, but per the sideline reporter Durant was close to a person (didn't say player) with an inconclusive test, Durant tested negative 3 times in the last 24 hours so allowed to play, then that potential contact tested positive during the game.

Edit: Not a great look for a national ESPN game. I suppose you need to be super conservative and keep Durant out of the game (the preferred option IMO) or just keep him in the game, because if you're in for that much time what is sitting out less than half the game going to do?
This is just silly precaution theater considering all the other stuff they let slide...like playing basketball for 48 minutes and not considering those close contacts.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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This is just silly precaution theater considering all the other stuff they let slide...like playing basketball for 48 minutes and not considering those close contacts.
Honestly I think with the switching defensive schemes no players likely spend 15 minutes within 6 feet of any particular player, and really paying attention to spacing during a few minutes of this Celtics game seems to confirm that.

But yes, I agree with your overall point about the whole show of it by the league. My point is with a whole 72-game regular season, there is not much risk with having potential positive-adjacent players sit out. Especially with so many taking "load management" days anyway. If you then want to be more relaxed during the postseason that is fine.
 

JCizzle

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Honestly I think with the switching defensive schemes no players likely spend 15 minutes within 6 feet of any particular player, and really paying attention to spacing during a few minutes of this Celtics game seems to confirm that.

But yes, I agree with your overall point about the whole show of it by the league. My point is with a whole 72-game regular season, there is not much risk with having potential positive-adjacent players sit out. Especially with so many taking "load management" days anyway. If you then want to be more relaxed during the postseason that is fine.
No disagreement there at all. No point to letting him play in the first place...it's early February!
 

Jimbodandy

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Honestly I think with the switching defensive schemes no players likely spend 15 minutes within 6 feet of any particular player, and really paying attention to spacing during a few minutes of this Celtics game seems to confirm that.
Six feet and fifteen minutes don't mean anything when people are heavily breathing on each other and yelling out defensive switches and the like, all without masks on. If one guy on that floor had a high viral load, multiple people would be at risk.

That said, the likelihood that Durant has a high viral load is pretty small.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I've been assured that he is physically unable to set screens. But if the rumors were accurate, Ainge could have had Turner and McDermott only to opt instead for Thompson and Teague with the mystery box of a TPE.
If DA had made this trade, Cs would have paid luxury tax bill, correct? It's not my $ but overall it feels like re-setting luxury tax is going to help a lot more than Turner and McDermott.
 

pjheff

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If DA had made this trade, Cs would have paid luxury tax bill, correct? It's not my $ but overall it feels like re-setting luxury tax is going to help a lot more than Turner and McDermott.
It looks pretty close. From what I’m reading, the threshold is $132,267,000 and the C’s are at $119,143,403:

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/boston-celtics/cap/
The addition of Turner and McDermott and removal of Thompson and Teague would account for a swing of $13,510,580 and put the payroll at $132,653,983, or $386,983 over the limit. I would have to imagine that those savings could have been realized by not guaranteeing Green’s contract or a Poirieresque swap.