2020-2021 NBA Game Thread

shawnrbu

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No idea why the Wizards had Westbrook shoot those two crunch time free throws instead of getting it to Beal. Might cost them the game if the Lakers score on the last possession.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Not sure Rozier would be the best fit with the Jays. He’s not a passer and needs the ball in his hand to be effective. I’d kill to have a guy like prime Rondo running the point on this team who looks to facilitate more than score. Too bad those guys are hard to come by.

I’ll always be a Rozier fan after the whole Drew Bledsoe thing and what he did a couple years ago in the playoffs. Love seeing him play great in Charlotte.
Rozier has blossomed this year now that he has virtually zero playmaking responsibilities and only asked to score playing next to LaMelo. He was always a combo guard here masquerading as a point when in reality he’s a pure 2021 2-guard whose job is buckets.
 

Kliq

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Lawrence's own Georges Niang with 21 points for Utah in 15 minutes off the bench. 7/7 from downtown.
 

ElUno20

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Anthony Davis should live between hyperbaric chambers and bacta tanks for the next 2 months. They are terrible without him
 

HomeRunBaker

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Anthony Davis should live between hyperbaric chambers and bacta tanks for the next 2 months. They are terrible without him
The Lakers were 5-1 without Davis prior to these last 3 games, all losses, when Schroeder has also been out. They can withstand one of them out and survive but when LeBron is out there without any firepower at all the Lakers are vulnerable against anyone not named the Wolves.
 

128

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Here come the Heat. They're still three games under .500, but they've won three in a row, and it's only a matter of time until they crack the top eight in the East.

Lots of teams playing well in the East. Brooklyn has won six in a row, Washington five in a row, Toronto four in a row, Miami and Orlando three in a row.

And then there's Boston, which hasn't won consecutive games in four weeks.
 

DannyDarwinism

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Rozier has blossomed this year now that he has virtually zero playmaking responsibilities and only asked to score playing next to LaMelo. He was always a combo guard here masquerading as a point when in reality he’s a pure 2021 2-guard whose job is buckets.
Yep, he’s playing almost exclusively at the 2 this year and he’s at 50% on catch-and-shoot 3s , with nearly 5 attempts per game. That’s Joe Harris type volume and accuracy. Overall he’s got a 74% eFG on catch-and-shoots, and his FGs assisted are up across the board. He’d be a weapon in this offense.
 

Cellar-Door

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Yep, he’s playing almost exclusively at the 2 this year and he’s at 50% on catch-and-shoot 3s , with nearly 5 attempts per game. That’s Joe Harris type volume and accuracy. Overall he’s got a 74% eFG on catch-and-shoots, and his FGs assisted are up across the board. He’d be a weapon in this offense.
But he wouldn't be a replacement for Kemba.

The choice of Kemba may have been risky, but the type of player he was is a much better fit than Rozier. The much assist rate is the key. The Celtics needed their 3rd "star" to be someone who could get the ball to Tatum and Brown in scoring situations. Now both of those guys have developed some as passers and that is good, but they both still need a real PG to get them the ball, Kemba was the chance to combine a facilitator and a scorer into one position.

Also... Kemba was a much much better overall player than Rozier last year. Now if he never returns to health... sure that's a concern, but if he gets 90% of the way back he's still a better player and better fit.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The Jokic v. Kanter low block pounding the ball Anthony Mason-style while the 8 others stood by idly gave me Jeff Van Gundy vibes......and not in a good way.
Denver is shorthanded so in some ways, they needed this from him. Kanter is actually ok as a post defender because he is so huge. But Jokic is just bigger and better.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jared Dudley looks uhhh......a bit slow.

Ok I’m lying. Jared Dudley looks like he won a raffle at the YMCA Over-40 league to play second unit minutes tonight for the Lakers.
 

azsoxpatsfan

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Jared Dudley looks uhhh......a bit slow.

Ok I’m lying. Jared Dudley looks like he won a raffle at the YMCA Over-40 league to play second unit minutes tonight for the Lakers.
Holy shit how is he still in the league. In 6th grade a friends parents won some auction for us to sleepover at the suns locker room and we got to play a few games on their practice court with him. And he seemed old then
 

Sam Ray Not

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Holy shit how is he still in the league. In 6th grade a friends parents won some auction for us to sleepover at the suns locker room and we got to play a few games on their practice court with him. And he seemed old then
In fairness, he's younger, faster, and possibly slimmer than Marc Gasol.
 

BigSoxFan

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Holy shit how is he still in the league. In 6th grade a friends parents won some auction for us to sleepover at the suns locker room and we got to play a few games on their practice court with him. And he seemed old then
He was old as a frosh at BC.
 

Kliq

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Utah is just wrecking the Lakers. LA better pray Davis is healthy for the playoffs, this team right now would get KO'd in the first round, even though LeBron is still playing at an elite level. Not having Schroeder hurts too; just no creativity at all outside of LeBron.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Utah is just wrecking the Lakers. LA better pray Davis is healthy for the playoffs, this team right now would get KO'd in the first round, even though LeBron is still playing at an elite level. Not having Schroeder hurts too; just no creativity at all outside of LeBron.
This team without AD and Schroeder is a lottery team. With just one of them back it makes a world of difference. Both of them back and they are title contenders.
 

jon abbey

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This team without AD and Schroeder is a lottery team. With just one of them back it makes a world of difference. Both of them back and they are title contenders.
Agreed on all of this and to me this is the big question for this Lakers team (besides obv health as it is for every team in every sport) is whether Schroeder can step up in the postseason like Rondo did last year, I would be somewhat nervous about that if I was a Lakers fan until I actually saw it happening.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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This team without AD and Schroeder is a lottery team. With just one of them back it makes a world of difference. Both of them back and they are title contenders.
Its weird how the loss of key rotation pieces can make a great or good team look mediocre. Fortunately, this is only an issue for the Lakers and maybe a few other teams.
 

jon abbey

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The East has seven teams between 15-15 and 15-17, 4th-10th in the standings.
 

jon abbey

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Its weird how the loss of key rotation pieces can make a great or good team look mediocre. Fortunately, this is only an issue for the Lakers and maybe a few other teams.
Heh, but it is interesting how thin some of the top teams are currently, for instance the Lakers and Nets and Celtics all drop off really quickly after their superstars and a few others. The Lakers specifically even at full strength I think really need to find a rotation guy or two among the buyouts, I thought the Nets did too but then they stopped losing even without Durant so dunno.
 

BigSoxFan

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Jarrett Allen has been killing it with the Cavs. Too bad we could insert ourselves into that deal.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Heh, but it is interesting how thin some of the top teams are currently, for instance the Lakers and Nets and Celtics all drop off really quickly after their superstars and a few others. The Lakers specifically even at full strength I think really need to find a rotation guy or two among the buyouts, I thought the Nets did too but then they stopped losing even without Durant so dunno.
The NBA, and the game of basketball in general, has always been a top-heavy game as the best players control the game and place their teammates in positions to succeed/mask their deficiencies. That is simply the nature of the game which aside from an NFL QB (in today’s game) makes it unique among professional team sports.
 

jon abbey

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The NBA, and the game of basketball in general, has always been a top-heavy game as the best players control the game and place their teammates in positions to succeed/mask their deficiencies. That is simply the nature of the game which aside from an NFL QB (in today’s game) makes it unique among professional team sports.
Of course, but I am saying the dropoff after 3 or 4 guys for some of the best teams is historically extreme right now although there is still time to add. Who is the 5th best Net, Jeff Green?
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Of course, but I am saying the dropoff after 3 or 4 guys for some of the best teams is historically extreme right now although there is still time to add. Who is the 5th best Net, Jeff Green?
I agree with your take on the Lakers - they had a wealth of veterans last year chasing jewelry. HRB has a good point though - most NBA contenders are top heavy. Again, one of the benefits of having a core of a certain age is that you are more likely to attract your friends and those you have played with/against to go after it so the LA teams and Nets feel like they have an advantage over young teams. Fortunately for the rest of the league, its a short lived model.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Of course, but I am saying the dropoff after 3 or 4 guys for some of the best teams is historically extreme right now although there is still time to add. Who is the 5th best Net, Jeff Green?
I see what you mean. I took a random year, ended up being 94-95, and picked a 60-win team the Utah Jazz. Their 4th and 5th best players were probably Felton Spencer and David Benoit. :)

Then I did more digging and you are probably correct as that Jazz team most closely resembles a contender today. It does appear that the salary cap structure and the advent of “super teams” rather than positional fit are the root of this shift. 20 years ago if you were a “tweener” it was a career death sentence........today guys like Bam Adebayo and Donovan Mitchell easily fit into a scheme as top players.
 
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jon abbey

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Ha! Looking at that team now, Bryon Russell was still two years away from being helpful.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Surfing channels.....come across fast break in Wizards/Nuggets that results in an uncontested Westbrook 3 that he knocks down. I don’t know who the color person was but her take of, “That’s not the guy you want to leave open!” isn’t what I was expecting. Changed channel.
 

terrynever

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76ers with one of their big tease efforts tonight where they play defense, dive for loose balls, put Simmons on Luka to slow him down, and coast to an easy win.
Three more home games ahead, including next Wednesday vs. Utah.
 

HomeRunBaker

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76ers with one of their big tease efforts tonight where they play defense, dive for loose balls, put Simmons on Luka to slow him down, and coast to an easy win.
Three more home games ahead, including next Wednesday vs. Utah.
Doc is a master at scheming to destroy Doncic/Kristaps. He did it in the playoffs last year with the Clippers after sweeping them in the regular season.
 

Kliq

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Surfing channels.....come across fast break in Wizards/Nuggets that results in an uncontested Westbrook 3 that he knocks down. I don’t know who the color person was but her take of, “That’s not the guy you want to leave open!” isn’t what I was expecting. Changed channel.
A few weeks ago the Celtics game was at halftime and I flipped over to ESPN where the Pelicans were playing, and the only words I heard Mark Jackson say before changing the channel were "We don't give LaVar Ball enough credit."
 

terrynever

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Doc is a master at scheming to destroy Doncic/Kristaps. He did it in the playoffs last year with the Clippers after sweeping them in the regular season.
He’s using Ben as a stopper almost every game, not on every possession, but usually early. Doc said he made phone calls to fellow coaches in the East, pushing Simmons and Harris for the All-Star team, and almost every coach told him Ben had their vote. Harris, not so much.
 

jon abbey

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The Kings were on their schedule. They gave up 38+ pts in three of the four quarters.
That is part of it, but also they are somehow one of the deepest teams in the league and now 5-3 since they traded for Rose. They were missing their starting PG (Payton) and C (Robinson) so they gave Rose his first start for NY and brought Burks/Quickley off the bench as backup guards, and between those three they scored 67 points in 73 minutes (!).
 

HomeRunBaker

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That is part of it, but also they are somehow one of the deepest teams in the league and now 5-3 since they traded for Rose. They were missing their starting PG (Payton) and C (Robinson) so they gave Rose his first start for NY and brought Burks/Quickley off the bench as backup guards, and between those three they scored 67 points in 73 minutes (!).
Oh I’m a fan of Thibs in an underdog regular season role and this team surprisingly has many veterans with good attitudes. I was only pointing out that the Kings defensive rankings don’t even justify how bad then really are.

30th Scoring Defense
29th eFG% against
25th Opp Off Reb/g
26th Opp Asst/g
........etc etc
 

terrynever

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That is part of it, but also they are somehow one of the deepest teams in the league and now 5-3 since they traded for Rose. They were missing their starting PG (Payton) and C (Robinson) so they gave Rose his first start for NY and brought Burks/Quickley off the bench as backup guards, and between those three they scored 67 points in 73 minutes (!).
Knicks got 71 points from the bench last night. The Kings probably mailed in the second half, as Dallas did in Philly last night, but it’s still a good win for a team jockeying for playoff position.