November General NBA Game Thread
- Thread starter Ale Xander
- Start date
Luka last two games per 36 (in 56 total minutes)
41.8 points on .787 true shooting
10.9 rebounds
16.1 assists
2.6 steals
+66 plus-minus (total)
20. Years. Old.
Kangzzzz!!!
41.8 points on .787 true shooting
10.9 rebounds
16.1 assists
2.6 steals
+66 plus-minus (total)
20. Years. Old.
Kangzzzz!!!
I dunno about best but it's not a ludicrous POV. That Mavs team is going to be scary good if they can add another 30m+ quality player.
Luka for the season 29.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 9.7 assists, 1.3 steals, .493/.346/.821 shooting. .573 eFG.
His numbers are actually really close to Westbrook's first triple double season, minus much, much better shooting.
His numbers are actually really close to Westbrook's first triple double season, minus much, much better shooting.
Lakers come back in Memphis to knock off the Grizzlies 109-108 after being down 15 at one point and down five late in the fourth. In other Saturday night NBA news, sick shots all around...
Ice Trae
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198415496116346887?s=20
Ja
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198442324042244097?s=20
Spida
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198436712386629632?s=20
And even more impressive...
Zach LaVine
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198428608727060480?s=20
Ice Trae
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198415496116346887?s=20
Ja
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198442324042244097?s=20
Spida
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198436712386629632?s=20
And even more impressive...
Zach LaVine
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1198428608727060480?s=20
The Lakers have played a joke schedule. 16 games and only 6 against teams with winning records (and that includes one against Phoenix and two against a Dallas team that got beat twice by the Knicks).
I don't know. I'm not sure he'll be able to get his shot off against NBA defenders.
Just to draw that distinction in starker terms: Luka is currently rocking a.632 ts; Westbrick’s career best at his MVP peak was .554, and he’s currently at .491. The difference between .632 and .491 true shooting is 28 points per 100 possessions.
Don't forget, he's only an average athlete, and he may not improve as much as others in his draft class because he's closer to his peak from playing in Europe.
In other news, the Rockets have a uphill climb against the Doncics in Houston. Dallas up by 10 late in the third. Luka has 28 points (10-21), eight assists and five boards. His spirit step-back counterpart has an eerily similar line - 29 points on 10-20 shooting with nine assists and five boards.
Edit: And the Mavs beat the Rockets handily in Houston 137-123. Luka's line: 41 points on 15-29 shooting with 10 assists and six boards. Harden finishes with 32 points on 11-24 shooting with 11 assists and nine boards while Russ gets 27 points on 8-20 shooting.
Edit: And the Mavs beat the Rockets handily in Houston 137-123. Luka's line: 41 points on 15-29 shooting with 10 assists and six boards. Harden finishes with 32 points on 11-24 shooting with 11 assists and nine boards while Russ gets 27 points on 8-20 shooting.
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Not so identical in the end:
Doncic 41 pts (15-29 fg), 6 reb, 10 ast, +21
Harden 32 pts (11-24 fg), 9 reb, 11 ast, -12
Mavs win going away in Houston, 137-123. It's getting a little scary.
Doncic 41 pts (15-29 fg), 6 reb, 10 ast, +21
Harden 32 pts (11-24 fg), 9 reb, 11 ast, -12
Mavs win going away in Houston, 137-123. It's getting a little scary.
Its still fairly early but I think those calling Doncic a top 10 player and maybe even higher aren't wrong. Its not just his consistency. Dude is getting better each game.
And winning in Houston is a statement game of sorts for this Dallas club.
And this is with Porzingis having been meh-okay/not great, though if the boxscore is to be believed KP was excellent in this game vs Houston. If he ups his game, too, that'll be a scary club in Dallas -- potentially as good as any duo out there. Speaking of which, Westbrook is not adding much to Harden (based on box scores).
That's gonna get worse after tonight: Rockets were -23 in the 38 minutes Westbrook played and +7 in the ten minutes he sat.
Yeah, dude is awesome--I'm totally fine saying he's a top 10 player now. One reason I'm also decently optimistic about the Celtics future is that, with Smart/Brown/Tatum, they're built precisely to muck the game up for big star wings like Doncic and Leonard.
Different Doncic topic: the whole "this guy is too polished coming in" meme is so, so, so dumb. Even for star players, it generally takes them 5-8 years to really start feeling every aspect of the game and hitting the heights of their powers. And then they start to physically decline. Any extra time boost a guy can get by being more polished coming in can only really help him to hit greater heights imo.
Doncic is 2nd in the NBA in both scoring and assists at 20 years old. What an unbelievable player.
I went back and perused the 2018 Draft thread. It's interesting to see the thought process, analysis, projections and NOW we have 1.2 yrs of data/results.
The vast majority of SoSH absolutely loved Doncic. Even HRB, who liked him the least on draft day, originally had Luka vying for the top pick with Ayton a year ahead of time (post #1).
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/the-2018-nba-draft.19534/page-23
HRB basically made jokes about Doncic playing against Tyrese Rice and Jan Vesley for a year and had him ranked about 12th or something on his big board on draft day. IIRC, I told him at the time his takes were going to age poorly and that I was going to bring it up at least once a year, for 15 years. So this is me doing that.
Haha yes, this is about some of the national draft Doncic narrative—not a knock on anyone here.
If we’re going to knock anyone for being too low on Doncic, I think we can all agree it should be Vlade Divac:
https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/amp/vlade_divac_reportedly_passed_on_luka_doncic_because_he_didnt_like_his_dad/s1_12680_30613547
Why the need to "dunk" on others? We all get things wrong and more often than we'd like. Maybe we can be a bit less definitive in making our calls but speculation on how a draft prospect will pan out is by its nature, very imprecise.
A lot of people, including highly respected/compensated professionals, miss on talent evaluation. Its pretty much as inexact a "science" as there is in sports.
The important thing is that we seem to be witnessing the ascension of another player into the NBA's elite ranks in Luka and that is just cool to watch imo.
Resume dunking...
A lot of people, including highly respected/compensated professionals, miss on talent evaluation. Its pretty much as inexact a "science" as there is in sports.
The important thing is that we seem to be witnessing the ascension of another player into the NBA's elite ranks in Luka and that is just cool to watch imo.
Resume dunking...
I guess for some, the thought is that it could give us pause to be more open to other perspectives, and maybe become better at this in the future.
...oh who am I kidding, it's to make the poster feel better about themselves for guessing better than someone else in one instance.
...oh who am I kidding, it's to make the poster feel better about themselves for guessing better than someone else in one instance.
Lol, biggest hindsight props to Cheech13: "My draft predictions: The Phoenix Suns will draft Ayton for some reason, the Kings will do something stupid because they're stupid, and then total chaos ensues."
Edit: also this gem from our resident soothsayer: "I couldn't fathom spending a top three pick on Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley or Mo Bamba. Anyone who watched the playoffs this year should have realized that big men that don't knock down threes or defend multiple positions at a high level are mostly worthless"
Edit #2: I mean, I still think Ayton and Bagley will be solid pros or even all-stars (less sure about Bamba; not sure what's going on with him this season). But in 20-20 hindsight, anything but Doncic at #1 seems crazy.
Edit: also this gem from our resident soothsayer: "I couldn't fathom spending a top three pick on Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley or Mo Bamba. Anyone who watched the playoffs this year should have realized that big men that don't knock down threes or defend multiple positions at a high level are mostly worthless"
Edit #2: I mean, I still think Ayton and Bagley will be solid pros or even all-stars (less sure about Bamba; not sure what's going on with him this season). But in 20-20 hindsight, anything but Doncic at #1 seems crazy.
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I agree with your general premise. I'd rather spend high draft picks or free agent $$$ on perimeter-oriented Wings/PGs. It already happened in the 2019 Draft, only 1 true center, Jaxon Hayes, was drafted in the first 17 picks. AND we saw it with GSW the last 6 seasons, who saved $$$/cap space by signing cheap fungible 5s or drafting them late (McGee, Bogut, Looney, Jones, ZaZa, Bell, etc).
Got an interesting 76ers game tonight in Toronto. If nothing else, Philly will be motivated. This will be a test of the supposedly improved team defense, and a deeper rotation. It’s only November but the competition tonight will offer us a few insights into both teams.
My crazy ass is wondering whether, with the gift of foresight, there was any offer Ainge could have made to Atlanta that they would have accepted and not ultimately undermined our current roster strengths. Kyrie + SAC 2019 pick + filler comes nowhere close, even leaving aside that I'm not sure we'd have been allowed to trade Kyrie as he finished the season injured (right?). I doubt we could have gotten that done, even with every pick asset in the arsenal at that point, without including a Jay.
There are only 12 teams in the league with winning records (including themselves, who they can't play). So they're almost exactly at the average proportion of teams played with winning records.
Yeah, at the time that trade would have happened, the Bucks were coming off a 7 seed, the Raptors had a Kawhi with uncertain health, and the Celtics were consensus favorites to face the unbeatable Warriors. No trade was happening.
With hindsight, Atlanta doesn’t do it because they think/know Kyrie is a major flight risk.
Actually, at the time of the 2018 draft, Kawhi had not yet been traded to the Raptors. Celtics were an even bigger favorite in the East at the time of that draft.
76ers fold up in final minutes as Raptors finish on 10-0 run for 101-96 win. Embiid scoreless! Misses all 11 shots from the field.
Loss was sealed by a wild 40-foot turnaround hail mary by Ben Simmons ... with six seconds still on the shot clock.
Giannis has 17 consecutive double doubles to start the season. He is now second only to Bill Walton who had 34 in the '76-77 season. He has 46 points, 12 boards and six assists with just under two minutes left in the fourth as the Bucks lead the Jazz 116-113.
Melo?? 25 with a few minutes to go. D has been awful as expected but he’s scoring and his wind are above expectations.
Spurs just whipped the ball around, in classic Spurs fashion, into a wide open practice three for DeMar DeRozan ... who proceeded to dribble aimlessly into the key and blow up the possession, as LeBron and the Lakeshow pulled away.
Curious if/when the Spurs decide to blow it up and build around the young'uns.
Curious if/when the Spurs decide to blow it up and build around the young'uns.
Several Grizzlies posts were moved to
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/memphis-grizzlies-2019-2020.27677/
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/memphis-grizzlies-2019-2020.27677/
Ky Bowman gets some love from The Ringer: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theringer.com/platform/amp/nba/2019/11/26/20983926/nba-rookies-ja-morant-rj-barrett-eric-paschall
“Speaking of confidence: Bowman, an undrafted rookie, wormed his way into many watchers’ hearts with his willingness to go jaw-to-jaw—or, I guess, jaw-to-shoulder—with Hassan Whiteside after some extracurricular activity … and he just keeps earning more chances with his play as the Warriors’ lone healthy point guard. The Boston College product busts his ass on the defensive end; he’s fond of talking about how he’ll “pick up 94,” harassing opponents the length of the court. He’s also averaging 9.1 points, 2.6 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 21.8 minutes per game on 48/44/92 shooting splits, and ranks second among rookies playing at least 10 minutes per game in assist-to-turnover ratio. He also just went toe-to-toe with Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a close loss to Oklahoma City, popping for 24 points, five assists, and three steals.”
“Speaking of confidence: Bowman, an undrafted rookie, wormed his way into many watchers’ hearts with his willingness to go jaw-to-jaw—or, I guess, jaw-to-shoulder—with Hassan Whiteside after some extracurricular activity … and he just keeps earning more chances with his play as the Warriors’ lone healthy point guard. The Boston College product busts his ass on the defensive end; he’s fond of talking about how he’ll “pick up 94,” harassing opponents the length of the court. He’s also averaging 9.1 points, 2.6 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 21.8 minutes per game on 48/44/92 shooting splits, and ranks second among rookies playing at least 10 minutes per game in assist-to-turnover ratio. He also just went toe-to-toe with Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a close loss to Oklahoma City, popping for 24 points, five assists, and three steals.”
Matisse Thybulle with 15 points in 19 minutes so far tonight. Made all five of his shots from field, including three treys. Four steals. Two blocks. 76ers up 7 late. Brown just put him back in with two minutes left.
Friggin Lebron. Starting PG while he is the best C on the team too. His hairline is unimpressive, sure, but what a legend.