February 2020 NBA Game Thread

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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How easy is Portland's?
Fifth easiest but the Pelicans have the easiest SOS left. I am fine with the Grizzlies or Pelicans making the playoffs but either will be slaughtered by the Lakers. This isn't a function of talent - its just that you have two very young teams with budding stars who are going to have to learn to play when the game gets mucked up, rotations are shorter and the space that the normal season affords isn't there anymore.

I agree that the Blazers sans Lillard are an ugly ISO-mess. But I am intrigued about them with Lilllard, Nurkic and Collins back. If they can somehow sneak into the eighth spot, they could push the Lakers to six or even seven if they get thermonuclear Lillard back. He really was playing at a clear MVP level before his injury.

In any event, the race for this slot should be entertaining given the three teams involved.
 

Kliq

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Giannis 31-17-8 in 29 minutes, him and Middleton crushed Philly tonight. Milwaukee fears no one.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Yikes at the sixers. Time to fire Brown?
Brown is likely on the hot seat but Simmons was out for most of this game. More importantly, Brown didn't construct this flawed roster - I get the frustration with the team but the coach really can only do so much with a team that has relatively few floor spacers in a league where everyone is spacing the floor.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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24 min. 1-7, 3 points..
1-6 from 3P, and without rewatching, I'd have to guess at least 4 of them were nowhere close.

Harris went 3-10 (0-2 from 3P) and had 11 points.

Burks and Robinson went 1-8 from 3P. Burks in particular was having a hard time guarding MIL's athletes on perimeter.
 

lovegtm

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1-6 from 3P, and without rewatching, I'd have to guess at least 4 of them were nowhere close.

Harris went 3-10 (0-2 from 3P) and had 11 points.

Burks and Robinson went 1-8 from 3P. Burks in particular was having a hard time guarding MIL's athletes on perimeter.
Yeah, this was my issue with Burks and Robinson for the Celtics also—they’re fineish shooters, but they don’t put pressure on the defense with lights-out shooting the way Phily needs.

Philly this year is showing the difference between guys who shoot ok % from deep and guys who are true threats to hit at high volume or at very high rates. The former don’t really help your spacing the way you’d think on paper.
 

Buster Olney the Lonely

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Arrived at Mavs - Hawks last night only to find Luka and Kristaps in street clothes. Jalen Brunson hit the deck hard making a layup on the first possession and headed to the locker room and would not return. Despite being very short handed the Mavs led almost the entire way—the Hawks took their first lead at the six minute mark of the fourth. Amazingly, Trae hit his first three with about 4 minutes to go in the fourth and hit two more after that.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Memphis has the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league, and New Orleans the easiest. It's there waiting for us...
This is the 1/8 matchup that is extremely likely sans a Zion or maybe a Jrue injury. The toughest schedule minus JJJ for a little bit versus the easiest schedule for a team adding Zion to an already good team that has been recovering from an awful start against a beastly schedule early on.
 

InstaFace

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Sad to say, AL did not look good tonight.
I was upset, at the time, that we didn't re-sign him. I'm not saying I would have given him his current contract, but something close enough that I'd be upset if he left for the money difference. I thought that even if he wasn't "worth" his new contract, it was just Wyc's money, we had the Bird rights to go into the tax to keep him and the others, and he'd probably be the difference between being the title favorites vs a second-tier contender.

Well... His value on a rate basis is down about ~40% this year give or take, depending on your preferred metric. His eFG% is in the tank. Everything he does on offense is worse (aside from making fewer turnovers). His leadership ability has been somewhat replaced. His defense is still grading out strongly but the current team is not exactly wanting for defensive cohesion. I can't imagine being Philly and seeing games like that and thinking "we have 3 more years at $27M per to this guy".

Think we probably dodged a bullet. And no one would disagree that we gave the money to the right guy in Jaylen.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Dragan Bender dishing out DNP's to Marquese Chriss?
No, Dragan played, finishing six points on 2-for-8 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. This article has the story. It also quotes Lacob as saying this: "There are very few players in the NBA that are going to be great no matter what. A lot of them, it’s about the right time, the right place, the right teammates, the right coach. We hope that a guy like Dragan, that this is the right spot for him. "

Some video of him doing drills:

View: https://twitter.com/wcgoldberg/status/1231739849104711680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1231739849104711680&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com%2Fdragan-bender-makes-warriors-debut-in-loss-to-pelicans


Dragan Bender going through a lot of pick-and-pop and handoff drills during his warmup. Warriors like his ability to facilitate, as well as shoot.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I was upset, at the time, that we didn't re-sign him. I'm not saying I would have given him his current contract, but something close enough that I'd be upset if he left for the money difference. I thought that even if he wasn't "worth" his new contract, it was just Wyc's money, we had the Bird rights to go into the tax to keep him and the others, and he'd probably be the difference between being the title favorites vs a second-tier contender.

Well... His value on a rate basis is down about ~40% this year give or take, depending on your preferred metric. His eFG% is in the tank. Everything he does on offense is worse (aside from making fewer turnovers). His leadership ability has been somewhat replaced. His defense is still grading out strongly but the current team is not exactly wanting for defensive cohesion. I can't imagine being Philly and seeing games like that and thinking "we have 3 more years at $27M per to this guy".

Think we probably dodged a bullet. And no one would disagree that we gave the money to the right guy in Jaylen.
WRT Horford's defense, I tell you one thing he isn't able to do anymore and that's guard Giannis. I don't believe Al stopped Giannis once when they were matched up one on one. To my eyes, Al is not moving laterally nearly as well as he did when he was with the Cs.

The most amazing thing about the "Process" is that PHI was able to squander so many assets and they still may have a championship contender.
 

lovegtm

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WRT Horford's defense, I tell you one thing he isn't able to do anymore and that's guard Giannis. I don't believe Al stopped Giannis once when they were matched up one on one. To my eyes, Al is not moving laterally nearly as well as he did when he was with the Cs.

The most amazing thing about the "Process" is that PHI was able to squander so many assets and they still may have a championship contender.
We're getting pretty close to the point where they've squandered one too many assets. With Harris not playing up to his contract and Horford already declining, you're left with a team that's in the luxury tax, has no real draft assets, and not much path to shake things up, short of trading Simmons or Embiid.
 

InstaFace

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Thoughts:
That play is so far down the list of my complaints about James Harden's general playing style it would take an archaeology expedition to unearth it. In a vacuum I could hardcore-nitpick that when his second hand hit the ball (the end of the gather) his rear leg was still in contact with the ground and that should count as his first "step", but my heart wouldn't be in it.

I think O'Connor's at least partly right that there's an education problem. But he's wrong in that I see a decent number of plays where the player is given 3 steps and it's almost literally never called. And if Giannis can gather at the 3-point line and get to a dunk with 2 steps plus jump, it kinda makes a mockery of the idea that the defense has a fair chance to stop him. But there's really only one Giannis, and there are team-scheme ways to address that problem.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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As the replies show, he's allowed the extra "step" because he planted his foot .0001 seconds before putting his second hand on the ball. Thus, the legal "gather step."

However, in the defense of everyone who calls this a travel, part of the issue is that the NBA players to do things while dribbling that weren't legal say 30 years ago. It certainly looks like 3 steps and would have been called for that (or carrying) many moons ago.

Being able to run with the ball is a huge advantage in basketball.
 

lovegtm

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That play is so far down the list of my complaints about James Harden's general playing style it would take an archaeology expedition to unearth it.
This. The moral huff about travels has always kind of bored me: it's an arbitrary constraint, a game-balancing consideration. The league has decided that the game of basketball is better if you can take a gather step, and I don't really disagree much. It didn't used to be that way; now it is.

I don't see how it's different than outlawing hand-checking on the perimeter--they're explicit rule-changes/points of emphasis that give an advantage to the offense. The refs are very, very good at calling it correctly in general, which means it applies to both teams pretty equally.

The league really needs to do a better job educating fans who don't understand what rule changes have done to the product they knew from the 80s and 90s.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Just poor wording on my part. Kinda just wanted our resident Chriss fanboy to chime in and see if his love has now shifted to Bender
As Crespo notes, Chriss was out with a calf injury. When Theis was out for a couple of games earlier this month, did your love for him shift to Poirier? ;-P

Chriss continues to play really well and get glowing praise from Kerr, Draymond, et al. Given Looney's continued/chronic health issues, I'd guess he's the leader in the clubhouse right now for the starting C job next season. Though I also suspect they'll use the MLE on a more veteran, full-sized C in the Derrick Favors / Marc Gasol mold — unless they flip Wiggins and picks for Embiid. :)
 
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Buster Olney the Lonely

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Cavs finished off the upset of Miami in OT, 125-119. A few minutes ago Love and Tristan were leaping in the air, chestbumping. They looked downright ecstatic like they had won a playoff game. Might have to visit Kevin Porter’s Blount Cellar to get the local fan reaction.
 

Cesar Crespo

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If Memphis falls back rather than any other team playing exceptionally well to catch them, that 8th spot is still in play for a lot of teams. The Suns and Kings are only 4 back, but they are only 2 back of the Blazers. Spurs are there too.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Interesting Ringer piece comparing Zion to young Shaq, touching on how rule changes since Shaq’s day have changed post play and how Zion has adapted, including creating more of his own shots in the paint.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/2/25/21151896/zion-williamson-shaquille-oneal-pelicans-lakers
I just skimmed the article but they pretty much glossed over the height difference with "he isn't as tall." Shaq was a good 6-7 inches taller than Zion and that matters a lot.

Is Charles Barkley a terrible comp? Amar'e Stoudemire?
 

lovegtm

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I just skimmed the article but they pretty much glossed over the height difference with "he isn't as tall." Shaq was a good 6-7 inches taller than Zion and that matters a lot.

Is Charles Barkley a terrible comp? Amar'e Stoudemire?
It really surprises me that Barkley isn’t given more often as a comp for Zion. Similar height, and young Charles was REALLY explosive. I think the years of seeing him as a fatass commentator have warped memories. Zion is bigger and more explosive, but their games have a lot in common.
 

Jimbodandy

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Zion is a unicorn like Shaq. Charles was a stud and unusual, and his game is closer to Zion's for sure. But the league has seen plenty of undersized but gritty 4s.
 

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I just skimmed the article but they pretty much glossed over the height difference with "he isn't as tall." Shaq was a good 6-7 inches taller than Zion and that matters a lot.

Is Charles Barkley a terrible comp? Amar'e Stoudemire?
Pre-injury Larry Johnson is a pretty good comparison for Zion.
 

HomeRunBaker

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If Memphis falls back rather than any other team playing exceptionally well to catch them, that 8th spot is still in play for a lot of teams. The Suns and Kings are only 4 back, but they are only 2 back of the Blazers. Spurs are there too.
I’m not even sure the 8-seed is much of a race. It’s the Pelicans spot to lose......they are on a 18-9 run that began a month before Zion returned since their 7-23 start against a brutal schedule with 9 of those losses in OT or by less than 6 pts. I see them at -145 to make the playoffs as of this morning, up from -110 yesterday. They may be even with Memphis before JJJ returns.
 

Kliq

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It really surprises me that Barkley isn’t given more often as a comp for Zion. Similar height, and young Charles was REALLY explosive. I think the years of seeing him as a fatass commentator have warped memories. Zion is bigger and more explosive, but their games have a lot in common.
I know coming out of high school Barkley was the main comp for Zion, as Charles did have tremendous ups when he was young.

Zion is out-performing what Barkley did at a similar age, but I think part of that can be explained by Barkley playing in an era with bigger bodies and every team had a true PF and a true C for the most part. Zion is going to feast on small-ball teams because they are going to lack the girth to even think about slowing him down.
 

lovegtm

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I’m not even sure the 8-seed is much of a race. It’s the Pelicans spot to lose......they are on a 18-9 run that began a month before Zion returned since their 7-23 start against a brutal schedule with 9 of those losses in OT or by less than 6 pts. I see them at -145 to make the playoffs as of this morning, up from -110 yesterday. They may be even with Memphis before JJJ returns.
To continue the point about close wins/losses: Memphis has also overperformed their net rating by 3 wins, while NO has underperformed by 4 wins, among the biggest gaps either way in the league.
 

Euclis20

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It really surprises me that Barkley isn’t given more often as a comp for Zion. Similar height, and young Charles was REALLY explosive. I think the years of seeing him as a fatass commentator have warped memories. Zion is bigger and more explosive, but their games have a lot in common.
This is definitely the case. Barkley led the league in TS% for 4 straight years at the end of the 80s (despite hitting less than a quarter of his 500+ 3PAs during that stretch) while averaging about 26 ppg. That is extremely impressive, especially considering it came at the height of Jordan's offensive prime. Zion is likely to be a more efficient scorer (his TS% this year is slightly above Barkley's career average) but not on the same level as a rebounder. Barkley was slightly smaller but their strengths and weaknesses are very similar.
 

sezwho

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. Zion is going to feast on small-ball teams because they are going to lack the girth to even think about slowing him down.
I like it!

I’m with those who see an even larger and more explosive Barkley, but it didn’t occur to me that he’ll often play against smaller, though more athletic, front lines than The Round Mound of Rebound was contending with.

He should continue to feast around the hoop.
 

Sam Ray Not

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He got his points the other night against Eric Paschall, but EP was at least able to slow him / stand him up on a couple of occasions. I feel like if you put Grant Williams behind Eric Paschall behind Wes Unseld behind one of those corrugated metal walls from the Walking Dead, you could potentially keep Zion away from the rim.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I like it!

I’m with those who see an even larger and more explosive Barkley, but it didn’t occur to me that he’ll often play against smaller, though more athletic, front lines than The Round Mound of Rebound was contending with.

He should continue to feast around the hoop.
Yes this is a great point. Zion would struggle much more if every team had a Drummond/(healthy) Blake type of 4/5. He’s entering the league at a perfect time if his health can hold up
 

lovegtm

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Yes this is a great point. Zion would struggle much more if every team had a Drummond/(healthy) Blake type of 4/5. He’s entering the league at a perfect time if his health can hold up
I just need it to hold up long enough for him to knock Memphis out of the playoffs...:drunk:
 

Imbricus

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This Bucks-Raptors game is intense, like a game 7 of an ECF. Toronto looks good, with a lot of hustle on defense. Separately: how does Toronto keep picking up these bargain basement players who turn out to be really solid? Boucher. Van Vleet. Anunoby with the 23rd pick. Siakam with the 27th pick.
 

CreedBratton

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This Bucks-Raptors game is intense, like a game 7 of an ECF. Toronto looks good, with a lot of hustle on defense. Separately: how does Toronto keep picking up these bargain basement players who turn out to be really solid? Boucher. Van Vleet. Anunoby with the 23rd pick. Siakam with the 27th pick.
Yeah the Raps are really really good. Missing Gasol & Powell too. Anyone who thinks the Celts are better then them is crazy. That will be an insanely hard series to win, which is why Celts need home court.