Spurs putting a 58-24 run on the Sixers to go up 26 in the 3rd. The "Mid-Range Mambas" of DeRozan, Aldridge, and Gay with 55 of the Spurs 86 on 24--39 shooting.
Nah I doubt it.
Second night of B2B coming off a win. No need to bring the starters back out there in the 2nd quarter already down 30 when your team is in the middle of a 10 game in 17 day stretch.
Two Warriors scoring milestones in the first half tonight: Steph hits 15,000, KD hits 21,793, which puts him ahead of Larry Legend (21,791) for #33 on the all-time NBA list.
#33 is now #34.
#33 is now #34.
I'm confused. Why did they do this trade?
After trade with Wizards, Suns agree to part ways with G Austin Rivers, per ESPN sources. Rivers – earning $12.6M in final year of deal – becomes a free agent upon clearing waivers. As a veteran, sides concluded Rivers fits better on an older team that's pursuing playoffs.
After trade with Wizards, Suns agree to part ways with G Austin Rivers, per ESPN sources. Rivers – earning $12.6M in final year of deal – becomes a free agent upon clearing waivers. As a veteran, sides concluded Rivers fits better on an older team that's pursuing playoffs.
Yep.
And the Spurs got the 76ers on a second night of a road B2B.
The NBA. Where schedule losses happen!
Meanwhile, the Warriors have tried their best to fight boredom by keeping teams around but the Grizzlies simply won't oblige. 61-38 at the half. Goodnight JB and the Bickerstaffs!
HRB led me to believe that Rivers was there to take ball-handler minutes which made some sense. What doesn't make sense is that Rivers seems to have some toxicity around him. The Suns apparently don't want that spreading to their younger guys.
I think there is more to the story. Rivers is a David Falk client and with all the shenanigans surrounding the aborted deal this latest footnote smells to me like people behind the scenes made some concessions to make everyone happy.
This may well be correct. The question is who besides the Suns can use another ball-handler? Who wants to give Austin Rivers minutes?
If I have a young team, he doesn't interest me because he doesn't move the needle at all and seems to have baggage. And if you are veteran team, presumably you have the ball-handling duties covered.
The one team that could use him is where he maybe makes sense given their culture - San Antonio?
And I don't know about the 76ers benhogan. It feels like that team is already combustible enough. If Rivers can regain his stroke from deep that he had for the last few seasons he fits. Just not sure he is a good clubhouse addition for that squad - I would be fascinated to see how he and Butler coexist.
Austin isn't all that exciting. BUT that Sixers bench of TJ, Muscala, Shamet, Amir and Korkmaz is hideous.
I assume they are kicking the tires on all vets that have recently been cut
Is Austin Rivers a Falk client? Real GM has Andrew Vye as his agent. Falk represented Elton Brand... plus Brand/Rivers have that Duke connection
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The travel rule allows for a gather and two steps. He can take 10 steps in between his dribble and the gather without it being a travel if he could. It looks close to where the gather was completed after 8 replays......I can't even imagine having to decide on this call in real time.
Edit: The super slo-mo does show that gathered just before pivoting with his left foot so yes this was a travel. It's still nearly impossible to be confident in making this call in real time.
Edit: The super slo-mo does show that gathered just before pivoting with his left foot so yes this was a travel. It's still nearly impossible to be confident in making this call in real time.
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Man, I'd love to able to make that call in real time: walking.
Has to be so infuriating as a defender: you crowd him too much and he's gonna rip through you for three FTs (16 more fta last night to give him 48 in the last three games) or waltz past you and draw a foul on the help defender; you gap him perfectly and he's still gonna clear as much extra space as he needs with the quadruple stepback.
Yeah, it's "brutally effective," but it makes them the one team in the NBA who gives me almost no pleasure to watch, beyond the occasional satisfaction of seeing them lose.
Has to be so infuriating as a defender: you crowd him too much and he's gonna rip through you for three FTs (16 more fta last night to give him 48 in the last three games) or waltz past you and draw a foul on the help defender; you gap him perfectly and he's still gonna clear as much extra space as he needs with the quadruple stepback.
Yeah, it's "brutally effective," but it makes them the one team in the NBA who gives me almost no pleasure to watch, beyond the occasional satisfaction of seeing them lose.
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If he’s getting the benefit of the doubt on plays like this, defenders can just forget about it. It reminded me of that YouTube parody of his move.Man, I'd love to able to make that call in real time: walking.
Has to so infuriating as a defender: you crowd him too much and he's gonna rip through you for three FTs (16 more fta last night to give him 48 in the last three games) or waltz past you and draw a foul on the help defender; you gap him perfectly and he's still gonna clear as much extra space as he needs with the quadruple stepback.
Yeah, it's "brutally effective," but it makes them the one team in the NBA who gives me almost no pleasure to watch, beyond the occasional satisfaction of seeing them lose.
Rip-throughs no longer get you 3 FT’s the new rule is a side-out. I can’t think of one trip to the line he had last night that wasn’t a legitimate foul on the defender. Which ones are you referring to?Man, I'd love to able to make that call in real time: walking.
Has to be so infuriating as a defender: you crowd him too much and he's gonna rip through you for three FTs (16 more fta last night to give him 48 in the last three games) or waltz past you and draw a foul on the help defender; you gap him perfectly and he's still gonna clear as much extra space as he needs with the quadruple stepback.
Yeah, it's "brutally effective," but it makes them the one team in the NBA who gives me almost no pleasure to watch, beyond the occasional satisfaction of seeing them lose.
I didn't watch the game; talking in general. I'd assume some of the 48 fta in the last three games were on questionable calls, but even if they were all totally legit it doesn't change the fact that that level of ref-baiting is miserable (to me) to watch.
In terms of pure impact on winning games, his schtick remains as brutally effective as ever, with the caveat that come playoff time the refs tend to swallow their whistles a bit more.
Harden has been a 10-11 FTA guy for most of his Houston tenure. Given his skillset and quickness, that seems about right to me. It's the 15+ FTA games that become tedious to watch and he's had 6 already this year. And this isn't really a Harden-specific issue for me. I hate watching any game when it's just a parade to the FT line for a star. Just gets boring. In some cases, it's completely valid and necessary but it does ruin the enjoyment of the game a bit for me. I don't want Bad Boys Pistons style mugging of MJ so it's really just a matter of refs calling a balanced game while letting some contact slide. Easier said than done, obviously.
If you think that's bad ... imagine 39!
There were too many low points in the post-Barry, pre-Curry Warriors to itemize (though Bill Simmons' attempt to do so remains one of his great works, imho) but that Howard 39 fta game actually stood out among them. I was like, "why can't we ever get guys who dominate the game, instead of this fun-but-perpetually-injured combo guard from Davidson and this skinny shooter from Wazzu?"
Slow night in the association but its worth noting that the Cavs won at Indiana, the Hawks beat the Arizards in Atlanta and the Nets defeated the Lakers in BKNY. Of these, the Pacers falling at home is the most surprising but the overall slate just goes to show that with exception of maybe one or two teams, anybody can beat anyone in the NBA on a given night, especially for road/B2B games.
Jarrett Allen is a year younger than RWill and this is his 2nd year. He's going to be a player.
Saw a stat that LeBron has attempted more than 1800 dunks in his career and Allen’s is only the 9th to be blocked.
I read that the only player with a lower block to attempt ratio is Kendrick Perkins...
I can recall guys coming over from the weak-side and getting a piece of the ball but I don't remember anyone just straight up stuffing him like that. Maybe LeBron is a bit older but damn, if he never does anything else in the NBA he'll always have that. Like Bill Willoughby blocking the skyhook.
Of course this was because he was stripped on the up-fake before he had a chance to get blocked.
The atlanta hawks hate the Cs?? Is wilkins still there? Or residual Falcons fans vs Boston
Cs need to step up their hate game!
Just a note that the officiating in the NBA is tough all the way around. With the Pacers down three with 2.5 seconds left and a chance to inbound the ball at half-court, this happened. No call.
De'Aaron Fox playing under control is a real problem. With his speed it was probably more important for him to develop the ability to slow down. Absolutely wild in retrospect that two guards went ahead of him.
The teams combined for 61% from three for the fourth quarter. It was literally a haymaker fight.
Especially since he absolutely fricasseed one of them on national TV in the Sweet 16 that year.
Rockets had an NBA record 26 made threes tonight in their 136-118 defeat of the Arizards and shot 47.3% from deep en route. Port Cellar Lighting Rod James Harden had 35 points on 10-18 shooting including six of eleven from deep and nine assists.
I know the royal "we" aren't fans of Harden's style of play but the guy is making an MVP case all of a sudden.
I know the royal "we" aren't fans of Harden's style of play but the guy is making an MVP case all of a sudden.
OG Anunuoby fouled Bojan Bogdanovic as he was getting ready to shoot what would have been a game tying shot with ~ 2.5 seconds left in the Pacers @ Raptors game. It wasn't a horrible foul but he got him - I think Smart got called for a similar touch foul near the end of the Celtics game.
Harden is rescuing our season. He’s so good and still the world generally underrates him.
Ahh maybe. So they could be slightly less than terrible had he stayed. I was trying to think of a Red Sox FA comp but Damon and JE went to NYY so it was moot.
Paul left the game tonight with a hammy. Might not be available when the Celtics visit Houston on the 27th.