NBA Cup 2024 discussion & gamethread: It's On. We'll Watch.
- Thread starter InstaFace
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Ugh. I actually like the IST, as this part of the season seems a bit dull. Would have liked to be in it.
The NBA conspiracy theorists will watch the calls as the lead dances on the #. Who does the Association want at the dance?
NBA def wants Celtics over Orlando.
That said I feel like Knicks will be up 38 and purposely take a layup on their own end to end the game at 36.
That said I feel like Knicks will be up 38 and purposely take a layup on their own end to end the game at 36.
What odds would you place on any Knick player or coach knowing what 37 points means in this game? I’m at -240 No.
Why else would I be watching a December game's 4th quarter with one team leading by 30+? Cup = SUCCESS!
Seriously? You think the coaches are talking to the players about a 37-point game in the pregame meeting?
Thibs very, very likely doesn’t give a shit.
But someone involved in this game in the Knicks’ side definitely knows (and I think the entire coaching staff for Orlando, and probably many of the players, definitely knows, they played for point differential from the first game this year, after Boston beat them out for the last knockout spot last year based on points…)
I can’t imagine Thibs would allow his coaches to tell the players. But the players might know in their own.
More to the point, I’m sure one of the assistant coaches knows about the exact implications, and probably told Thibs, before he cussed that assistant out.
I mean we saw Mazzula call a timeout with a few seconds left to set up a Hauser three just the other day. I think there is no doubt everyone from the GM to the coaches to the players know exactly what the scenario is
Yeah that was to help get themselves in. You’re talking about preparing your team to compete in a game and discussing 37-point spreads that don’t affect your advancement, but someone elses? It’s such an outrageous number….the only reason this group of Celtics fans know about is bc it affects our advancement. Nobody goes into any game thinking about how a 40-pt win affects someone else or who they are playing….that has to literally be the last thing on any player or coaches mind. I mean, sure Thibs probably read a piece of paper with the scenarios but he may haven’t even absorbed the one that said “win by 37+.”
Disagree in this very specific case because now NY are the favorites to ‘win the East’ in this sideshow, they had it in their own control tonight to knock out the best team in the league, who demolished them opening night.
Credit to the Knicks, they took care of business early and went undefeated.
The Cup has worked but they still need to come up with something better than bright colors for floors. It's like my kids First Grade artwork. This yellow floor in Denver is migraine-worthy
Hire some talented graffiti artists that capture the city and let them go to work.
Memphis, up 5 with 2 minutes left, challenges an iffy out of bounds call, which not only do they not win, but JJJ is called for a proximate foul through the review, sending Dallas to the line. Next offense results in a JJJ 3 attempt - more of a "pushing the ball towards the basket" than a shot really - and then Smart makes a bad foul, 2 shots for Dallas, bad Ja middie, Dinwiddie 3 for the lead, bad hero ball play, Dinwiddie 3 to go up 5. Another terrible looking JJJ 3, but Bane gets the rebound, cuts it to 3. Then Memphis fails to get the rebound, and Doncic finds a wide open Washington at the top of the key with 26 seconds left for another 3. Big D up 6, ballgame over.
Life comes at you fast.
edit: and Dallas wins by 5, meaning they top the point differential for the wild card over OKC by ONE POINT, +46 to +45. Unless *checks notes* Portland wins by 50.
Let nobody call a last-second Hauser 3 as superfluous.
Life comes at you fast.
edit: and Dallas wins by 5, meaning they top the point differential for the wild card over OKC by ONE POINT, +46 to +45. Unless *checks notes* Portland wins by 50.
Let nobody call a last-second Hauser 3 as superfluous.
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Wikipedia wasn't fully updated yet, my bad. That tiebreaker (+46 to +45) would've been the case had the Spurs hung on to beat Phoenix, but they didn't.
Anyway, watching most of the DEN-GSW game was made worthwhile by this denouement:
He is not thrilled with the foul call in favor of Jokic that iced it for Denver.
I was making that face at an absolutely shameful flop by Kyle Anderson in the 3rd quarter. Denver got the foul call drawn by the flop overturned on a challenge, in fact they went 2-0 on challenges this game.
The quarterfinal matchups:
Magic at Bucks
Hawks at Knicks
Mavericks at Thunder
Warriors at Rockets
If each of the 4 Western teams played each of the 4 Eastern teams in a round robin on neutral courts over the next two weeks, what’s the over/under for number of East wins in those 16 games? 4?
Magic at Bucks
Hawks at Knicks
Mavericks at Thunder
Warriors at Rockets
If each of the 4 Western teams played each of the 4 Eastern teams in a round robin on neutral courts over the next two weeks, what’s the over/under for number of East wins in those 16 games? 4?
Lol, joke of a tournament.
No team should go 3-1 in group play and not advance. Point differential should never be a advancement criteria for a team that is in the top two of their group.
If the NBA wants this to matter they need to take it seriously, not shoe horn it in.
With all that said I am glad the C's did not advance, more rest is good.
No team should go 3-1 in group play and not advance. Point differential should never be a advancement criteria for a team that is in the top two of their group.
If the NBA wants this to matter they need to take it seriously, not shoe horn it in.
With all that said I am glad the C's did not advance, more rest is good.
The format just makes it even more of a sideshow. I hope they take a look at it too, and don't base it around the stupid courts, jerseys, marketing stuff. You could either do a challenge type cup where you take the final four teams from the previous year and match them up with the top 4 from this year (going down the list if there are redundancies) or just take the top 8 from the first 20 games of the year and put them in a little tourney. Either of those would be better than it is currently.
“ Stefan Bondy: "When you guys were up 30…were you aware…point differential?"
Josh: "Were we aware that if we won by 37+ we woulda [helped Celtics get in NBA Cup]––no idea"
Reporters:
Josh: "We were just out there trying to play as hard as we can til the final whistle"”
View: https://twitter.com/nba_newyork/status/1864190357849682099?s=46&t=0GHHaPVUX26Io0V2HIcS0g
Why not? You want to advance? Go 4-0. If you're going to lose a game, you better play to the whistle and rack up points because it's going to be point differential that determines whether you get in as a wild card. The Hawks got in because of head-to-head play. They beat us. Seems fair to me.
Yep, and the Magic learned the lesson from last year when point differential squeezed them out and the Celtics in, so they won their three non-Knick games by 60 points, effectively building a buffer against the crappy game they had yesterday.
Right. The Celts also only beat the Wiz by 12. They also could have had a bigger margin against the Cavs in the 120-117 win; JB and JT each missed a FT in the final minute, and the Cavs scored a bucket at the buzzer (similar to the Hauser bucket in Chicago). Now, the Celts missed out by 22 points, so it's not like they were a couple buckets away. The main culprit is obviously the home loss to Atlanta. But if you're going to lose a game in group play, you better have a couple blowouts if you want to advance. The Celts three wins were by 12, 9, and 3. If they had beaten the Wiz by 30, they'd have had a chance.
I do wonder if the format will change. But the Celtics will still play as many games as 6 of those 8 teams; the "more rest" is overstated.
Adding teams to the knockout stage seems problematic. If you go to 2 teams per group, then you have 6 teams. Which means that only two of the group winners would get byes, even if all of them went 4-0 in group play. That wouldn't be "fair" either.
Here's an idea:
7 groups with 4 teams in each group. Mixed groups across the league since it won't be even by conference. Top 2 in each group advance. Reigning finals teams get an auto advance. 16 team knockout tournament.
Complicating factor would be finding extra games for the finals teams, not sure how you'd accomplish that. Perhaps by giving them an extra game or two against teams that didn't make the knockout stage.
Edit: could also give auto advance to reigning NBA champ and reigning Cup champ
7 groups with 4 teams in each group. Mixed groups across the league since it won't be even by conference. Top 2 in each group advance. Reigning finals teams get an auto advance. 16 team knockout tournament.
Complicating factor would be finding extra games for the finals teams, not sure how you'd accomplish that. Perhaps by giving them an extra game or two against teams that didn't make the knockout stage.
Edit: could also give auto advance to reigning NBA champ and reigning Cup champ
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As posted last year, the NBA's Vegas Holiday Festival would have some juice if the winner then played the winner of a like Euro Cup in-season tourney, (Euro/Spain/Turkey) for club level global bragging rights. Otherwise the Finals, to me is a Saturday night road game in December.
Everything is fine and things got weird because the Hawks somehow beat the best two teams in the East. There's not a ton you can do when that happens, in any low-number-of-games basketball tournament.
At a certain point, all solutions converge on either
- single elimination touney the whole way (even worse for good teams eliminated early and randomly)
- reducing randomness by recreating the playoffs
At a certain point, all solutions converge on either
- single elimination touney the whole way (even worse for good teams eliminated early and randomly)
- reducing randomness by recreating the playoffs