"We're going to Disney World!" NBA to resume season July 31 at WDW

johnmd20

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I just caught some of the highlights, or lowlights if you're the Clippers. They both choked and gave up, simultaneously. What a joy to see.

I am not a big Kawhi fan, so seeing his team implode after he screwed over the Spurs and then spurned Toronto, although he brought them a title, is very enjoyable. Turns out one player can't win it on his own. And Toronto showed they were just more than one player this year.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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I disagree that it was a mistake to trade for Paul. We won 67 games with a historic points differential, rolled through the playoffs and very, very nearly beat the best team ever. Morey went all-in and nearly won. The extension for Paul was also agreed before the trade was done. We planned on getting a 2-3 year window, but instead got 1 because after Paul’s hamstring went, his first step went with it. Now we’re on the downslope of Harden’s peak, and there’s no alternative than to keep going all-in. I don’t really fault Morey for upping the ante because that’s what you need to do when you have a guy like Harden. He has some duds in the playoffs but we don’t lose because of him, we lose because we don’t have a second scorer to take the load off him in tight games (see: Series v Warriors last year, Games 6&7 v Warriors the year before, Games 3-5 v Lakers this year).
Plus, didn't like Harden and Paul hate each others guts? I never followed the story closely enough to know how this story turned out.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I just caught some of the highlights, or lowlights if you're the Clippers. They both choked and gave up, simultaneously. What a joy to see.

I am not a big Kawhi fan, so seeing his team implode after he screwed over the Spurs and then spurned Toronto, although he brought them a title, is very enjoyable. Turns out one player can't win it on his own. And Toronto showed they were just more than one player this year.
There was a report following the game that players were constantly calling to the bench after 3-4 minute runs since the 2Q. If this weren’t a bubble I’d be wondering if someone was hiding positive test results. Very strange.
 

AMS25

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Feb 29, 2008
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Holland on the Plains
As a Thunder fan, I would like to thank both the Rockets and the Clippers for all the picks and pick swaps. I'm not really that sorry that Russell Westbrook and Paul George didn't lead them to the Western Conference Finals, though.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Oct 20, 2015
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the Clippers actually played enough defense in the 4th last night. the problem was they only scored 6 (6!) points in the first 10 minutes of the quarter, then they were down 20 and it was garbage time.

before Murray made that really tough 3 to make it 98-80, the score in the quarter was 13-6 Nuggets with like 2:30 left. 13 points allowed in 9.5 minutes should have been enough to come back, but...
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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As DJ pointed out in the Tatum thread, All-NBA teams are out today:

1st: Giannis, LBJ, Harden, AD, Luka
2nd: Kawhi, Jokic, Lilliard, CP3, Siakam
3rd: Tatum, Butler, Gobert, Simmons, Westbrook

Obviously the playoffs have changed the way people will feel about this. I doubt people would take Siakam over Tatum now. I'm also very surprised to see Westbrook make All-NBA 3rd team. He was very good after the Capela trade but also awful for the first half of the season and you all know I ride hard for Westbrook.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Lol Westbrook (though in fairness, he did have a great stretch of games in the regular season).

Edit: and yeah, Siakam over Tatum looks completely ridiculous right now.

All recency-bias first team: Jokic, AD, LeBron, Tatum, Butler.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Not to get too deep into what amounts to a popularity contest but Siakam is exactly the sort of player the NBA-analytics guys love. Two-way wing, low first rounder, Ujiri-brand find, and someone who made a leap right when their usage increased significantly. He almost checks every box except that he hasn't yet become meme-able.
 

lovegtm

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Pascal Siakam is a great player, and you can make a strong case that he is a All-Raptors 1st Teamer, especially in the regular season.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Lol Westbrook (though in fairness, he did have a great stretch of games in the regular season).

Edit: and yeah, Siakam over Tatum looks completely ridiculous right now.

All recency-bias first team: Jokic, AD, LeBron, Tatum, Butler.
The trend of energy players struggling in the bubble (Siakam, RWB, Harrell, etc) while the shooters thrive is something that we could see reversed next year......unless we are in a bubble again.

Ex: Jamal Murray is a pretty good NBA player.....he isn’t this bubble good though.
 
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Tony C

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That's a lot of offense -- a joy to see stars like LeBron and Jokic who are such great passers.

At some point, though, one or both of these teams have to rev up the defense.
 

JCizzle

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I think the Lakers can literally murder someone on the court tonight without getting a whistle against them. LeBron taunting dudes to their face after the Nuggets just got T'd. It's really not that impressive he gets any whistle he wants despite his incredible talent. I got a call- so there!
 

HomeRunBaker

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I think the Lakers can literally murder someone on the court tonight without getting a whistle against them. LeBron taunting dudes to their face after the Nuggets just got T'd. It's really not that impressive he gets any whistle he wants despite his incredible talent. I got a call- so there!
He put the defender out of position, gained an angle and drew contact. That has to be a foul regardless of who the offensive player is that beats the defender. Same thing with LBJ 3-pt play when Grant didn’t get to the spot.
 

JCizzle

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He put the defender out of position, gained an angle and drew contact. That has to be a foul regardless of who the offensive player is that beats the defender. Same thing with LBJ 3-pt play when Grant didn’t get to the spot.
I had no problem with the foul call, I had a problem with LBJ pointedly yelling "AND ONE" directly at the Denver player on the ground for 20 straight seconds afterwards. I felt it would be a clear T if any other player directed that at an opposing player.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I had no problem with the foul call, I had a problem with LBJ pointedly yelling "AND ONE" directly at the Denver player on the ground for 20 straight seconds afterwards. I felt it would be a clear T if any other player directed that at an opposing player.
Ah gotcha. I just don’t see an issue with the officiating. The aggressive team who had position in the paint was drawing the calls while the more passive team on the other end wasn’t drawing fouls. The worst officiating call I’ve seen in this game was the non-5th foul call on Jokic.

Edit: And the no-call on LBJ fast break lol.
 

Ale Xander

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Playoff Rondo passed MJ for 10th place on all time playoff assist list. Passed DJ and Isiah Thomas earlier in the playoffs.
 

Kliq

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God forbid the Lakers play a team in these playoffs that values defense.
 

Kliq

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Houston was the #1 rated defensive team in the bubble. You first need to find a team that can matchup with the Lakers.
The Rockets were 14th during the regular season in defensive rating and also don't play real basketball; the Lakers steamrolling them on offense was very predictable.
 

HomeRunBaker

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The Rockets were 14th during the regular season in defensive rating and also don't play real basketball; the Lakers steamrolling them on offense was very predictable.
What is “real basketball” because no team in the bubble defended better. The Lakers are just a mismatch for everyone in the league except the Clippers and the Bucks. The Rockets couldn’t defend them for the same reasons why Denver sent them to the line 32x in the 1H.
 

Tony C

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LeBron has become my favorite of athlete that I have seen (sorry Pedro). Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali are still ahead of him tho.
He's going up my list, too, but Pedro is still at the top of the pile -- some things don't change. Russell and Ali too. But watching LeBron play is just amazing -- don't recall anyone who had his combination of intelligence, athleticism, versatility, and team-mindedness.
 

Jimbodandy

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grant williams winning the award for "softest foul calls against" tonight
He seemed to lose focus a bit there and got called for a couple of sloppy rookie fouls. It was really a shame because he had a nice run up to that point. CBS trusted him enough to stick him back in there later.
 

osori

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Dozier saved the Nuggets with his energy, and then killed them with his freethrows.
 

benhogan

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What is “real basketball” because no team in the bubble defended better. The Lakers are just a mismatch for everyone in the league except the Clippers and the Bucks. The Rockets couldn’t defend them for the same reasons why Denver sent them to the line 32x in the 1H.
How are the Lakers a mismatch for the Celtics or Miami?

The Celtics seemed to handle the Lakers the 2x they played