2020-2021 NBA Game Thread

terrynever

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Tyrese Maxey has been much better than I expected him to be, and he looks like the ideal guard to slot beside Harden. Simmons and Embiid still don’t work as a pairing, that’s a deal they really should just make.
Prior to last night’s debacle, when Simmons and Embiid are paired together, the Sixers were at plus-19.5 points per 100 possessions, according to basketball-reference.com. Compare that to last year when the duo was just at plus-0.8 points per 100 possessions.

https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/philadelphia-76ers-joel-embiid-ben-simmons-nba-charlotte-hornets-20210105.html
 

Sam Ray Not

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Mighty Clippers led 85-63 with 3:15 left in third. Warriors 52-20 thereafter.

Comeback spearheaded by, of all people, Steph Curry. 38 pts (9-14 3fg), 11 ast, 3 stl.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Not great that the guy the owner is paying $68m in taxes for had to be kept on the bench for the 4th so the Dubs could come back. Oubre is still STRUGGLING.
Yeah ... you know you're struggling when you make Wiggins look like a wily, high-IQ vet. I can live with Oubre's bricking — that'll come around — but his decision-making has also been atrocious. No one on the team has worse tunnel vision and looks for Steph less. On the flipside, his effort on D and on the glass has been fantastic, and his defensive versatility 1-4 is useful. As long as they mostly stagger his and Wiggins' minutes (as Kerr's been doing more and more) he's fine. I do look at a guy Batum, who the Clips got for a song, and wonder what Lacob thinks, but hey, it's not my money.

One note about his Trash Brother Wiggins: for all his inconsistency, he just played back-to-back games v. Kawhi where he went right at him on both ends of the floor, and didn't look at all overmatched. That's ... not something you could say for DLo. And that Wolves pick looks better by the day...
 
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Sam Ray Not

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The sound of that swish is incredibly satisfying
That would be Splash Brother-in-Law Damion Lee, who’s currently leading all Warrior rotation players in 3FG% (.485), TS% (.689), and net rating (+23.1).

It’s remarkable how that family from Dell on down can shoot the ball. Low volume/usage alert, but Seth Curry at .449 career (.595 this season) is currently #2 all-time in 3FG% after Steve Kerr.

Meanwhile, Steph at 2,536 career threes made is now 24 away from #2 Reggie Miller. (He’s already #1 by a mile in playoff threes made at 470).
 

slamminsammya

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Is this Maxey kid legitimately good? He dropped 33. Unrelated, I know he isn't a star anymore and on the steep decline towards retirement but is Steph Curry the most skilled player ever? Is it even close?
 

HomeRunBaker

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Is this Maxey kid legitimately good? He dropped 33.
Possibly. He was a 5-star, Top-20 recruit in his class and kinda got lost in Cal’s system. He always had all the physical skills.

Edit: Just saw the box score and remembered that the Sixers started two ball boys and the trainer with him so he had free reign. Still making 18-33 in an NBA game is nothing to sneeze about even if it was against the Nuggets Saturday afternoon defense.

Btw, anyone who can catch the 1H replay of the Hawks/Hornets game I strongly recommend it. LaMelo is just doing some Maravivhian things with the ball on like every other possession. This team is now a must-watch.

Edit: Ball is going to have another triple-double by the end of the 3Q while logging only 22 min so far and hasn’t missed a shot yet.
 
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TripleOT

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Btw, anyone who can catch the 1H replay of the Hawks/Hornets game I strongly recommend it. LaMelo is just doing some Maravivhian things with the ball on like every other possession. This team is now a must-watch.

Edit: Ball is going to have another triple-double by the end of the 3Q while logging only 22 min so far and hasn’t missed a shot yet.
Is it too early for me to go into I Called It mode?
 

BigSoxFan

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Ball needs more minutes. He should be starting. Kid is much better than I thought.
 

Sam Ray Not

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LaMelo final tally: 30 minutes, 22 pts (9-13 fg, 3-5 3fg), 12 reb, 11 ast, +20 in an 8-point win against a solid Hawks team.

I wanted to hate him for his smug face, fugly shot, and general Ballitude, but wow. 19 year olds who aren’t gonna be really good don’t put up lines like that.

Meanwhile, Trae and Luka are both bricklayers from three all of a sudden. Still early in the season, though...
 

HomeRunBaker

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Ball needs more minutes. He should be starting. Kid is much better than I thought.
What’s the rush. He’s going to hit the rookie wall at some point it really isn’t necessary to push him so much. I’m fine with him playing 28-30 a night now.
 

radsoxfan

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He is already clearly the best Ball.

Poor Gordo, may never be able to find a team he is the best player on.

Will he demand a trade to the Pistons in the offseason?
 

Kliq

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I want to point out that I consistently covered my own ass by saying "maybe I'm wrong" before I ripped Ball in all my draft related posts.
 

BigSoxFan

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What’s the rush. He’s going to hit the rookie wall at some point it really isn’t necessary to push him so much. I’m fine with him playing 28-30 a night now.
He’s averaging 24 MPG so far. More recently he’s closer to 30, which is what he needs. That was my point.
 

Cesar Crespo

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LaMelo final tally: 30 minutes, 22 pts (9-13 fg, 3-5 3fg), 12 reb, 11 ast, +20 in an 8-point win against a solid Hawks team.

I wanted to hate him for his smug face, fugly shot, and general Ballitude, but wow. 19 year olds who aren’t gonna be really good don’t put up lines like that.

Meanwhile, Trae and Luka are both bricklayers from three all of a sudden. Still early in the season, though...
It's not all of a sudden at all with Luka. I'm surprised his shooting isn't brought up more.
 

HomeRunBaker

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He’s averaging 24 MPG so far. More recently he’s closer to 30, which is what he needs. That was my point.
Yeah he’s not going to return to the 15mpg he was getting the first week of the season. Meanwhile, what the hell happened to Davonte Graham? Spent the offseason reading his press clippings or something?
 

BigSoxFan

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Yeah he’s not going to return to the 15mpg he was getting the first week of the season. Meanwhile, what the hell happened to Davonte Graham? Spent the offseason reading his press clippings or something?
Yeah, he has been in one of the worst shooting slumps I can remember.
 

lovegtm

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It's not all of a sudden at all with Luka. I'm surprised his shooting isn't brought up more.
I’m surprised teams haven’t been able to play off him more effectively, but he’s just that good at all the other stuff.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The impressive thing about LaMelo's game is that he seems to have preternatural court vision for a kid his age. Tonight he was cooking dudes and using some veteran guile type moves in the process. It was eye opening.
 

benhogan

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It's not all of a sudden at all with Luka. I'm surprised his shooting isn't brought up more.
Because he's young, scores, & triple-doubles a lot. Fans/media get excited about that

Russell Westbrook has an MVP to prove it

He'll eventually improve his 3pt shooting (as he has with his FTs).

The one that surprises me is how pedestrian his career +/- is
 

Sam Ray Not

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It's not all of a sudden at all with Luka. I'm surprised his shooting isn't brought up more.
Yeah, but the default assumption is that shooting gradually improves in a player that young. He was .327 and .316 from beyond the arc in his first two seasons; I’d expect at least a moderate bump up in his age 21 season, not a regression to .228. Of course, it’s still early times.

I do wonder if there isn’t a bit of “necessity is the mother of invention” issue with him, in that he’s so dominant offensively even without the three ball that he’s never really *forced* to improve substantially. Sort of like Shaq or Giannis with the FTs. Or he could just be not that naturally gifted as a shooter. In any case, he should try to get to at least the level of LeBron in that area.

Meanwhile, Trae Young: .280 from 3 (after .324 and .361 his first two seasons). Woof. Could be partly the lack of practice time from the pandemic, though in the case of Luka and Trae I suspect it’s also having an overly permissive license to launch at any moment.
 
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Sam Ray Not

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Nets fall to 5-6; Mr. Chemistry misses third straight games due to "personal reasons." Nash has no (public) idea what those reasons are, or when he might return. Any theories?
 

Five Cent Head

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Nets fall to 5-6; Mr. Chemistry misses third straight games due to "personal reasons." Nash has no (public) idea what those reasons are, or when he might return. Any theories?
The obvious theory is that he's upset because of the events in DC this past week. I have no evidence for this, but you asked for theories...
 

Tony C

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The obvious theory is that he's upset because of the events in DC this past week. I have no evidence for this, but you asked for theories...
You have to wonder at what point KD begins to question his decision to hitch himself to the Kyrie wagon.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Steph looked like the guy HRB thought he was tonight: 11 pts on 2-16 fg (worst shooting night of his career), 9 reb, 6 ast against the Raps’ box-and-one. Got owned by Lowry in the 4th the way he has owned Lowry over the years. Still somehow put up a game-high +7 as Warriors eked out the win, helped by more tough D from Draymond and the Trash Brothers, more Paschall thriving as a smallball C, and more clutch Damion Lee.

Now 6-4 after the nightmarish 0-2 start v BKN and MIL.
 
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Cesar Crespo

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It's still early, but the league is shooting .366 from 3 this year. Crazy if that holds up.

Over the course of Non Star Steph Curry's career the NBA average is .356 with a low of .349 and a high of .362. Only one other season was at .360, the rest were below.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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That's funny, because on the surface you have a lot more "non-specialists" shooting those 3's now than were attempting them when Curry entered the league. But I wonder if the pure volume of the high-end shooters like Harden, Curry, etc. now more than outweighs the wannabe stretch 4s putting up more shots.

Also, draft-wise 3-point shooting is now a prerequisite instead of a luxury, unless you bring some other elite skill. I wonder if someone active like Rajon Rondo would even be a draftable player coming out of college in 2020?
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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That's funny, because on the surface you have a lot more "non-specialists" shooting those 3's now than were attempting them when Curry entered the league. But I wonder if the pure volume of the high-end shooters like Harden, Curry, etc. now more than outweighs the wannabe stretch 4s putting up more shots.

Also, draft-wise 3-point shooting is now a prerequisite instead of a luxury, unless you bring some other elite skill. I wonder if someone active like Rajon Rondo would even be a draftable player coming out of college in 2020?
Being able to credibly take and make three pointers is, quite possibly, the most marketable skill in the NBA. I know the Kawhi axiom but I suspect the vast majority of players with any sort of NBA aspirations are working on their deep shooting. Shotman gets paid.
 

Cesar Crespo

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There's probably less of a link between FT shooting and 3 point shooting now too, at least when determining if someone is going to be a bad 3 point shooter when they hit like 40% of their 3s and hit 55% of their FTs.

Plus sample sizes are so huge now, the 3 point sample size is bigger than the FT sample size by quite a bit. Completely different game.