Is Brett Brown the best coach in the NBA? Pop doesn't agree with much of what Brown stands for apparently...
Paul Pierce praising Ben Simmons after this one. Likes his ability to put pressure on defenses. 15 assists tonight, 10 rebounds, 21 points. Ev3n swished a baseline jumper.
Simmons hit a couple of turn around jumpers, including one about 15 feet out.
Nets are 18-5 since early December? Who would have thunk it.
Believe 'Zards have 3rd best defensive rating in January. They may sneak into the 8th playoff spot.
Believe 'Zards have 3rd best defensive rating in January. They may sneak into the 8th playoff spot.
I watched from afar without volume so not the best setting. Down the stretch I saw DeRozan miss a couple shots, one of which appeared that he should have went to the line, Gay foul Redick for a 4-point play, and Belinelli throw the ball away. What decisions are you referring to in regards to Pop's coaching?
Edit: I read where he took DeRozan out for the final play to space for a 3 which is interesting.
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Averaging 52.2PPG in the 5 games since Capela got injured. [emoji23][emoji23]
According to AP, Harden is now fourth in NBA history with 21 straight games of 30 points or more. Wilt has top three — 25, 31 and 65.
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Nuggets fan, so I'm biased, but is there a dumber rule in sports than NBA's 'leave the bench" one? I mean, Jokic took about 2-3 steps toward the altercation, which was a natural reaction given it was right in front of him, and then stopped before he even came close to getting involved. A few other players did the same. Again, it's a human reaction.
Suspend players for getting involved. Suspend them heavily. Don't suspend players for starting towards altercations.
Kudos for admitting bias but the rule has been in place for years now so another Malace in the Palace is prevented. It wasn't like Jokic took one step and then returned as is the case which most players, which I'd consider a natural reaction, but the 3-4 steps that he continued to take with no regard to the rule is clearly a violation. Same goes for Murray and Harris however they "could" be spared as theirs was less egregious than Jokic's.
I know the reactionary impetus of the rule and when it was created, but it's stupid. I've thought and voiced this before, even when the Nuggets weren't involved.
There was no brawl last night. Nothing egregious happened other than some pushing and shoving and trash talking, which happens frequently. Suspending players because it happened in front of their bench is absurd.
I bet if there's a camera on the Jazz bench, a few of their players took a step or two or three towards the incident, too. It's a normal reaction, but the camera caught the Nuggets bench because of where it occurred. The ESPN announcers didn't help by talking about it incessantly for the rest of the game, either.
The NBA has a way of selectively enforcing this kind of thing depending on the players involved and how it would look to a national audience. If Steph or LeBron was in Jokic's place, the topic of a possible suspension wouldn't even come up. They'd use lawyer speak to call it anything other than an altercation.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2800790-report-stephen-curry-avoids-suspension-for-stepping-on-court-during-dead-ball
Versus
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/blazers-cj-mccollum-suspended-one-game-for-leaving-bench-during-altercation/
The difference between stars and superstars I guess.
Ruptured quad tendon for Oladipo. Out for the season, as expected.
No timeline on recovery, but for context, it’s the same injury Tony Parker had and he was back in a little under 7 months. Considering he was 34 at the time, not unreasonable to think a much younger Oladipo can be back in time for the start of next season.
No timeline on recovery, but for context, it’s the same injury Tony Parker had and he was back in a little under 7 months. Considering he was 34 at the time, not unreasonable to think a much younger Oladipo can be back in time for the start of next season.
James Harden is everything that's wrong, and everything that's right, about today's NBA. At the same time.
Ugh, that's horrible. Pacers had been quietly establishing themselves among the Eastern "Big 5," too. Still think the Pacers have the depth and toughness to remain competitive, but the chances of a "by-the-book" MIL-TOR-BOS-PHI Final Four in the East just rose.
Anyway, get well soon, Victor.
Anyway, get well soon, Victor.
To some I suppose.
To me, he is everything I love about the current NBA. The stretch he is on is truly amazing, and I feel fortunate to have been able to watch many of these games. The guy is god dman out of his mind right now
For now, I'm sticking with the "1998 McGwire / 2001 Bonds of hoops." Comparably awesome, unstoppable, and unsubtle, with (presumably) the huge saving grace of not being steroid-fueled.
I'll tip my cap up to another level if/when he continues it in the playoffs, and/or if — when CP3 and Capela return — his team starts to resemble last year's beast. I'm always going to temper my enthusiasm a bit about a fantastic individual accomplishment for a so-so team in a team sport.
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Can't wait til late in the season where we're trying to figure out what order we want to finish and if we want TOR in the semis or what.
In January Harden has played 11 games and is averaging 45-9-8 and his team is 6-5, and with the exception of Gordon and Tucker, his teammates are all fringe rotation players. This is one of the great individual runs any NBA player has ever had and he deserves every accolade he receives. He's averaging 45 fucking points a game!
You are obviously setting up a scenario where you aren’t going to be tipping your cap as nobody can logically expect Harden’s Usage to remain at 46.9 as it has been in the month of January.
Hmm.
Note the date of the tweet. All injuries contain a measure of fluke, but I wonder if the Pacers medical staff may have some music to face.
Note the date of the tweet. All injuries contain a measure of fluke, but I wonder if the Pacers medical staff may have some music to face.
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And Gordon is just coming back from injury.
You can dislike Harden's style of play (I don't obviously) but nobody can seriously deny that we are witnessing a brilliant, unique individual performance from him over the past two+ months.
Nah. For one thing, I'm already tipping my cap madly! I'm just withholding "next level cap tip" till EITHER (a) he continues at something close to current levels into the playoffs; OR (b) he goes back to something closer to his "normal" (pre-CP3 injury) elite numbers, with his team regaining something resembling last year's elite level. Or is it verboten to even consider that he might have another circle of hoops nirvana to reach?
To continue the Bonds comparison (again, setting aside the juicing): while his 2001 dominance was historically ridiculous — significantly more so than current Harden, imho — I wasn't comfortable thinking of him as truly Ruthian till he took that level into the 2002 playoffs.
Also, on a purely aesthetic level, I'm withholding *249 points on zero assists* from my personal vision of hoops nirvana — perhaps somewhat similarly to how I felt watching Bonds parade to first base 2-3 times a game while depositing into the Bay the one decent pitch he got to see every other game.
Has anyone denied this?
TLDR: I'll co-sign Baseball Jones' thoughts.
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What I mean by he is everything that's right about today's NBA is the incredible individual skill he's displaying night after night after night. Literally unstoppable. He gets to the rim anytime he wants. He hits threes at a tremendous rate. He goes to the line. And he's a great passer. It's just incredible to behold.
What I mean by he is everything that's wrong about today's NBA is that his entire game is one-on-one. A gazillion points and almost none of them are assisted. Their entire offense is him slow-walking people from the top of the key, nobody else cutting or screening or moving or...anything. Just standing there watching Harden do his thing. Either he drives, shoots, or passes to a spot-shooter. Add to that the ridiculous travels he gets away with all the time - watching last night's highlights I saw (just from the highlights) at least three insanely obvious travels - three or MORE steps....plus the illegitimate fouls he draws (he does draw lots of legitimate fouls too, don't get me wrong), and it's just not pretty, seen from one perspective.
So yeah, to me, he's everything that's right, and everything that's wrong, with today's NBA.
The NBA rules need to change, or else the next guy will come along and out-Harden Harden. I'm probably alone, but I find his style of play incredibly boring. It's the same thing every time down the floor.
The league needs to make it more difficult to induce blocking fouls, and to curtail flopping. These are not just Harden issues. The NBA can start by calling technicals when a player flops even though untouched by a defender. And whatever happened to non calls for incidental contact? The reality is that you can hack a scrub with impunity, but stars get calls if breathed upon too heavily.
The league needs to make it more difficult to induce blocking fouls, and to curtail flopping. These are not just Harden issues. The NBA can start by calling technicals when a player flops even though untouched by a defender. And whatever happened to non calls for incidental contact? The reality is that you can hack a scrub with impunity, but stars get calls if breathed upon too heavily.
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I’ve been allowed to share this info. SoSH’s smastroyin suffered this identical injury last year. While he isn’t an elite athlete he wasn’t allowed to hop on his leg for 3 months until re-evaluated.
Another athletic comp for this injury would be Charles Barkley who ruptured his quad tendon during what he had announced to be his final season on Dec 8th and rushed a return in April to participate in the final game of his career. Suffice to say, with the amount of money and investment at stake I don’t expect to see Olafipo until training camp.
He took out DeRozan and used back to back timeouts before they even attempted to inbound the ball and then they couldn't call a TO and threw the ball away on the inbounds.
I started watching the NBA before the rules were changed to permit travelling (and palming) with impunity. Harden has done a brilliant job of adapting his game to new rules that I don't like. Everyone complains that the 90's NBA was way too physical, but I liked that brand of basketball better. There is elegant team basketball being played in the NBA today, but not by Harden-- and why should he pass the ball when he's going to the line 20+ times a game if he just bumps into his man and falls down? In China they call Harden the "porcelain mamba" and it's an apt description of what he does.
Heh, there are some funny ones in here:
https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/amp/Chinese-nicknames-Warriors-Rockets-Curry-Harden-12908020.php
If all you had to do to get to the line was bump into your man and fall down why isn’t e everybody doing it? The fact that he’s getting to the line at the rate that he is at a time when the leagues FTA as a whole are trending toward historical lows while also leading the league in 3-point attempts makes it even more impressive. He’s pretty much doing everything.
No everyone is not getting to the line like Harden. As I alluded to above the league is at historical modern day lows of FTA/g.
Yes, because the number of fouls called has been steadily decreasing, which is not surprising given the number of three pointers attempted. Players don't bang down low very much any more, and there are fewer "old fashioned" 3 point plays.
What I'd like to see is an analysis of how many times per possession stars get to the line vs everyone else.
What I'd like to see is an analysis of how many times per possession stars get to the line vs everyone else.
All I know is that if James Harden warping his game is the cost of moving away from 80s/90s ISO, low post, hand-checking basketball, sign me up. While I loved me some Reggie Miller sharpshooting, I have seen enough Pacers vs Knicks, Davis' boys vs Oakley/Mason literal slugfests to last two lifetimes.
I mean, I play that way but its not aesthetically pleasing basketball at all.
I mean, I play that way but its not aesthetically pleasing basketball at all.
Of course....except that Harden IS taking an astronomical amount of 3-pointers as well which is proving my point.
Stars have always gotten the benefit of the doubt at every level of basketball. The stronger, taster, quicker, more skilled player is able to gain able to gain angles and create advantages better than the inferior player. This is the old LeBron argument.
It's awful and that's why the NBA did everything in its power to get away from the Bad Boy era.
They're breaking down Harden's 3 point shooting on ESPN right now, and it is literally impossible to try to block his 3 point shot. If you even try to really contest it, you're screwed. He jumps vertically, but the minute he realizes his shot is off, or the guy contesting it is within a couple feet of him, he kicks both of his legs in front of him, so they make contact with the defender and then he falls on his ass.
He takes advantage of the rules, he doesn't play within them, and he gets every call. When he drives, unless he knows he's got an easy layup, it's also impossible to guard him without "fouling" him.
One of the most basic principles of the NBA rules as it relates to fouling is the initiation of contact. James Harden has completely twisted that logic into a pretzel. The reality is that, by and large, he is the one initiating the contact when he's driving, and he is the one initiating the contact when he shoots a 3. I hear people say things like "he's an expert at getting his defender out of position..." So what? A defender can be out of position, it doesn't give the offensive player free reign to make contact with them and get a call. In fact, almost nobody else in the NBA gets that call. Just watch how physical defenders are allowed to get with Kyrie Irving versus James Harden. It's night and day. The difference is Kyrie Irving usually plays through the contact. James Harden chucks the ball at the rim, throws his arms up, flails around and screams like a little girl (although not quite as bad as his teammate Eric Gordon).
I just wonder if folks who like Harden's game would like it if every team had a guy that played the way Harden does? I'd rather watch a guy like Kyrie or Curry or Durant or even Lebron night in night out over Harden, regardless of what kind of numbers Harden is putting up.
He takes advantage of the rules, he doesn't play within them, and he gets every call. When he drives, unless he knows he's got an easy layup, it's also impossible to guard him without "fouling" him.
One of the most basic principles of the NBA rules as it relates to fouling is the initiation of contact. James Harden has completely twisted that logic into a pretzel. The reality is that, by and large, he is the one initiating the contact when he's driving, and he is the one initiating the contact when he shoots a 3. I hear people say things like "he's an expert at getting his defender out of position..." So what? A defender can be out of position, it doesn't give the offensive player free reign to make contact with them and get a call. In fact, almost nobody else in the NBA gets that call. Just watch how physical defenders are allowed to get with Kyrie Irving versus James Harden. It's night and day. The difference is Kyrie Irving usually plays through the contact. James Harden chucks the ball at the rim, throws his arms up, flails around and screams like a little girl (although not quite as bad as his teammate Eric Gordon).
I just wonder if folks who like Harden's game would like it if every team had a guy that played the way Harden does? I'd rather watch a guy like Kyrie or Curry or Durant or even Lebron night in night out over Harden, regardless of what kind of numbers Harden is putting up.
I think you mean the mid to late 90's. The 1980's was actually a prolific offensive period compared to the NBA (up until this current season). From 80/81-90/91, the average points scored fell between 106.3 (in 90/91) to 110.8 (in 84/85). Last year, the average in the NBA was 106.3. 2 years ago, it was 102.7, and that was the highest it had been since 92/93, when it was 105.7. Basically, the NBA from 1980-1993 is about on par with the NBA of last season and this season. The first time the average fell below 100.00 was in 95/96, and it didn't get back up to 100 until 2008/2009, when it was exactly 100.00, and then it went down again, and got back to 100.00 in 2014/15. Basically, if offense is what you like, it's the NBA from 1994-2014 that really sucked.
It's pretty much all about the 3 point line.
Sigh, poor Pelicans: Davis, Mirotic, Randle and Moore out for tonight's tilt v. OKC. Not great for the playoff chase.
Fantasy Leaguers: activate Jahlil Okafor!
Fantasy Leaguers: activate Jahlil Okafor!
All-Star starters announced:
West: Curry, Harden, PG13, LeBron, Durant
East: Kyrie, Kemba, Kawhi, Giannis, Embiid
With apologies to Jokic and AD, can't really complain with any of those. Kemba's the only one who feels a bit out of place (average-ish efficiency for a below .500 team, plus doesn't make a "real-looking" backcourt with Kyrie), but I'm not sure who I'd replace him with. Maybe Beal?
West: Curry, Harden, PG13, LeBron, Durant
East: Kyrie, Kemba, Kawhi, Giannis, Embiid
With apologies to Jokic and AD, can't really complain with any of those. Kemba's the only one who feels a bit out of place (average-ish efficiency for a below .500 team, plus doesn't make a "real-looking" backcourt with Kyrie), but I'm not sure who I'd replace him with. Maybe Beal?