He was walking up court basically the entire quarter.. he did try to take a charge but it wasn't called..
November General NBA Game Thread
- Thread starter Ale Xander
- Start date
This was one of those games where the visiting team is gassed off the back of their prior travel as well as the altitude. You could see the Nets starting to fade hard in the third and the only thing that kept them in it was Denver shooting only marginally better than Brooklyn's miserable clip.
Setting aside Irving's troubles of late, the Nets (only one more win than the Knicks) are struggling because of their defense. They were middle of the pack last season but are now near the bottom of many defensive metrics. Maybe the newly signed Iman Shumpert can help with that but his days as a D-and-rare-made-three guy seem well past.
I'm sure Kyrie will start playing defense once the playoffs start and the games matter, just ask him.
I know it seems jilted to blame Kyrie, but the only real changes the Nets made this year were to swap DLo for him and DeAndre. Basically every member of last year’s Celtics has come out and hinted at him as a culture problem, and now the Nets look like the 2018-19 Celtics, right down to the inexplicable 3rd quarter collapses and defensive slide.
I’m fine giving it more time, and I think the Nets will make the playoffs. But so far Mr. C. is picking up right where he left off, just on a team that doesn’t have as much talent, so the results are worse.
Hmmmm...I agree that Portland won’t be signing a foundational star anytime soon, but Utah and Denver are very comparable markets that haven’t had trouble signing or acquiring strong complementary pieces. Giving big deals to Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner because “poor us we’re a small market” really kills those possibilities.
I agree that the Nurkic injury really set them back and was unlucky.
You also have the regression factor. When a team overachieves one season it is difficult if not impossible to recreate that magic the following year since there is a year-to-year culture shift on most rosters due to trades, FA, etc as well as some spending the offseason reading their press clippings while losing their edge. We saw this with the Celtics last year and many of the overachievers from last season are (expectedly?) off to sluggish starts this year......Brooklyn (4-7), Sacramento (4-6), Portland (4-8), LA Clippers (7-5), & San Antonio (5-6).
RIP Nemanja. We hardly new ya.
In all seriousness, what he is doing thus far this season is insane given his age and his NBA milage.
we were all laughing at the Lakers when they lost out on Kawhi, but they're 10-2 while the Clippers are managing Kawhi's knee and are 7-5.
nothing to be worried about yet... right?
nothing to be worried about yet... right?
The Lakers issue was always going to be depth--if they stay healthy all year, they'll be good.
And man, what a slog night for the good teams yesterday. I'm grateful to have Celtics on all the time when I wake up in the morning, but the regular season is so damn long and brutal.
Paul George is entering the picture. Clipper's will need to incorporate him, but I'd expect that team to start really humming after New Years at the earliest probably more like after All-Star break.
A well-rested/no-playoff/motivated AD & Bron were most likely going to get regular-season Lakers off to a hot start. At least that's what the smart money (HRB) had on the betting thread.
The Celtics hot start could be traced back to Kemba, Smart, Brown, Tatum playing competitive basketball together this Summer & Hayward's health & Brown's massive jump & Tatum's better shot selection & Kembaya's vibe mixed with Brad back in charge
I think the Clippers are fine despite the 7-5 record. Montrez, George, and Kawhi are just an amazing trio I will say, based more on seeing a quarter here a quarter there than anything comprehensive, that I do wonder if their depth was overrated. They haven't been able to win w/out Kawhi (even with George having a great game in his return) -- Shamet is just at 39% from the field, LouWill really gives it up on the defensive end, and the replacements for Shai and Gallo....are not as good (granted I'm a Shai fanboy -- love that trade for the Thunder). That said, all will be good for them in games in which both George and Leonard play -- that is going to be interesting to watch.
Right.
Paul George just started playing. And the Lakers are fine, until they get banged up. Which I think was always the thought. Their issue is depth.
Let me know when you are this off with your stock market calls or lottery number picks - because I will jump on those calls regardless. And as shawnbru notes, Harden was 16-41 (!!!) and added four turnovers too.
As a side note, since 2013, Harden has led the league in turnovers four times and has been in the top three in the other years. The guy is such an amazing contrast in efficiency, usage and game impact versus most of his peers. And that is without accounting for the fact that he is, aside from Draymond Green, maybe the most disliked NBA star of the current era - primarily for his style of play of course. Green just does Myles Garrett stuff to people's genitals.
Hilarious that Rozier is making $20 mil this year for the Hornets while Graham is making $1.4 and Graham is better.
Paul George has struggled mightily since returning this season. And by "struggled mightily" I mean struggled mightily not to go off. 25 points on 6-11 shooting (4-8 from deep) and there is just under four minutes to go in the first half of the Clippers game hosting the Hawks.
Fultz had his best game yet....some fun highlights, unfortunately among those highlights is the good news that he was 2 of 3 from behind the line and the bad news that on those makes he squared up....gathered himself....went into a long puuush release. Still, in a Rondo sort of way, if you can at least make it when they leave you wide open that has to have some impact on sagging too much.
Rooting for the kid.
Rooting for the kid.
Toronto jumps, stomps, stomps on the Hornets 132-96 and records a team record 40 assists in the process.
View: https://twitter.com/Anthonysmdoyle/status/1196623569549168641?s=20
Davis had 16 points on 5-7 shooting and seven boards.
View: https://twitter.com/Anthonysmdoyle/status/1196623569549168641?s=20
Davis had 16 points on 5-7 shooting and seven boards.
Insane. What he is doing at age 20, in his second NBA season, is insane...
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1196636398100590592?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1196636398100590592?s=20
The NBA is FANNNNNNTASTIC.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/18/porn-teanna-trump-oklahoma-city-thunder-tweets/
https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/18/porn-teanna-trump-oklahoma-city-thunder-tweets/
Guess so, photo looked legit, but may have been fake. It was a Bucks jersey with price tag with “Cream City” on it. Things that I want to be real for $600, Alex...
Is it? Lebron took a season off last year, quitting on his team several times, he's well rested. Plus (1) they are playing dogshit teams who arent even trying to exploit their massive deficiencies in the backcourt and (2) PEDs
Look at their next 6 games for example. They'll win each one going away by 10+. I think the bigger story is the west is...kinda garbage.
It's funny how much the national media narrative lags reality. I still hear snarky comments about the East, when a) the bottom of the West is a complete trash fire and b) the top of the East will be pretty stacked when Oladipo and KD come back. You'd think people whose only job was to talk about basketball would be able to do better than us bums on a message board.
Don't even get me started on "the Celtics might be a halfway decent team if they could just acquire a big to replace that bum Theis" narrative...
I get that you may dislike LeBron and I don't begrudge anyone for that - he has some less than endearing qualities for sure.
Furthermore, you are correct in that the Lakers have faced some easy opponents though I think its still to early to render a verdict on all teams including your Clippers (nice win last night btw - Trezl is amazing) as rotations and roles are still being defined given the lack of a long preseason.
However if you aren't impressed with what LeBron is doing at his age, we should agree to disagree. Even with the missed time last year (again worth noting that was an outlier in an otherwise exceptionally durable career) and assuming that PEDs are in play - imo, if you do assume that, you need to also assume others are using them too - the fact that he is playing at a high level with all of his milage is remarkable. YRMV.
A deeply Melo performance so far:
7 pts on 3-10 shooting, 4 REB, 0 AST, 5 TO 4 PF and a slick team worst -15 (next closest is -6) in 18 minutes
7 pts on 3-10 shooting, 4 REB, 0 AST, 5 TO 4 PF and a slick team worst -15 (next closest is -6) in 18 minutes
it's a shame the Celtics didn't get the Blazers on this West Coast swing, they are straight garbage right now...
hands down worst off-season
hands down worst off-season
All of this aside, what he's doing is unprecedented in the same way Brady's late stage career has been. LeBron is approaching the 60,000 minute mark, regular + postseason, Kareem and Karl are the only players to ever reach this milestone. The odometer for an NBA player doesn't usually go past 50-55k and he's still putting people on posters at will.
Golden State's seven game losing streak ended in Memphis where the Warriors beat the Grizzlies 114-95. Alec Burks led the Warriors with 29 points on 9-15 shooting along with eight boards. Glen Robinson III had 20 points as well while Draymond Green added 11 boards and 10 assists.
Unfortunately, the Warriors reward is a quick flight to Dallas where they will face the Mavericks and emerging star Dorian Finney-Smith tomorrow evening on the back end of a back to back.
As a side note, Ja looks just like a rookie. Electric in spots but lost in many others. That said, I will not be shocked if we start to see him figure things out over the next couple of months. He clearly has the sort of speed and moves that should allow him to break down even good NBA defenders.
Its arbitrary but I typically find that judging anyone based on less than 20 NBA games, especially with the abbreviated pre-season is silly. Players and teams who look lost over the first month of the season can figure it out. For a recent example, see Trae Young or last years 76er team who was a fifth seed in early November last year and, as we all know, was a rim away from going to the finals (not saying that will happen this year but lots of teams will figure it out while others regress as competition adjusts etc.). That won't stop the hot taking, nor should it, but its just a reminder that we are still in fairly small sample size territory to make credible definitive statements.
Unfortunately, the Warriors reward is a quick flight to Dallas where they will face the Mavericks and emerging star Dorian Finney-Smith tomorrow evening on the back end of a back to back.
As a side note, Ja looks just like a rookie. Electric in spots but lost in many others. That said, I will not be shocked if we start to see him figure things out over the next couple of months. He clearly has the sort of speed and moves that should allow him to break down even good NBA defenders.
Its arbitrary but I typically find that judging anyone based on less than 20 NBA games, especially with the abbreviated pre-season is silly. Players and teams who look lost over the first month of the season can figure it out. For a recent example, see Trae Young or last years 76er team who was a fifth seed in early November last year and, as we all know, was a rim away from going to the finals (not saying that will happen this year but lots of teams will figure it out while others regress as competition adjusts etc.). That won't stop the hot taking, nor should it, but its just a reminder that we are still in fairly small sample size territory to make credible definitive statements.
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Draymond was fantastic tonight — maybe only the third or fourth game of the year where he looked like a guy you might pay $25M a year. As the de facto starting PG, put up 8 pts. 10 reb, 11 ast, 1 tov, 2 blocks and a +19 in a 19-point Warrior win.
Meanwhile, Alec Burks, professional basketball player, put up an uber-efficient 29 with 8 boards; and Marquese Chriss, Big Dog Jr., and ROY Paschall had great nights too.
Nice break in the tank campaign, anyway. With the new flattened out lotto odds, I don’t have any real interest in losing 60+.
Meanwhile, Alec Burks, professional basketball player, put up an uber-efficient 29 with 8 boards; and Marquese Chriss, Big Dog Jr., and ROY Paschall had great nights too.
Nice break in the tank campaign, anyway. With the new flattened out lotto odds, I don’t have any real interest in losing 60+.
Also, Steph Curry isn't dead and will be back by the turn of the year. Anything is possible but a Steph-led team losing 60+ games at this point in his career seems unlikely.
I forgot to mention Marquese Chriss who had 17 points, six boards and four blocks tonight. I wouldn't be shocked if this opportunity is the start of him realizing his potential and he may well be a decent rotation player or even more when its said and done. He has looked good offensively replete with some nifty moves including some up and unders as well as a passable handle for a guy his size.
I think Chriss was badly miscast in his first three seasons as a "stretch four" and is just now at the ripe old age of 22 realizing that he has all the tools to be a solid NBA center: great nose for rebounding, athleticism, timing, and hands, good defensive switchability and shotblocking, plus a lot more toughness, hoops IQ, and passing skills than I had ever imagined. As his 3fga have dropped from 5 per 36 to 1.5, his efficiency has leapt from subpar to well above average.
I really hope he sticks around, but in a scenario where the Warriors had to cut him to guarantee Ky Bowman's two way deal, I'd jump on him if were Danny Ainge. Hot take alert, but I wouldn't be shocked if within a few weeks under Brad Stevens he became the Cs' most dependable center.
Cauley-Stein has been playing better the last few games, too, but if push came to shove I think I'd keep Chriss and move WCS for a 2063 third-rounder or something.
After the injury the team announced three months till re-evaluation, which would mean early February at the earliest. Seems like he mangled it pretty badly. The full Aron Baynes landing on your hand is no joke.
But yeah, even if he only plays the last ~30 games, you gotta think there's a high "risk" the Warriors run off some win streaks during that stretch, with Steph fully rested and a lot of teams either load-managing or tanking. So really I should be rooting for them to rack up as many Ls as possible right now. But it turns out fan-tanking is actually not as fun as watching the Baby Dubs do well and win.
You can keep Chriis and let Kerr develop him for the future.
Just send us Looney if you hit a roster crunch
Through 14 games, Lakers are on pace for a 72-10 season. Only 1 game behind the 73-9 2016 Warriors.