NBA 2021-2022

[aggie08 21496]

Memphis is beating OKC by 70 points (70!) midway through the 4th.

The record is 68 points, so we could see some history.

Edited December 3, 2021 by aggie08

[ztejas 43418]

Yeah came here to comment. What in the world. How does this happen? Memphis isn't that good and OKC isn't that bad. 

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[ztejas 43418]

It isn't getting better. Up 75 with 20 seconds.

They're going to shatter a 30 year old record. 

Alright not quite - OKC cuts the final MoV to 73. 

Edited December 3, 2021 by ztejas

[Message Board User 12395]

 

Old record was Miami 148 Cleveland 80 in 1991.

[aggie08 21496]

Memphis had a 78 point lead with two minutes left and won by 73. Without Ja.

OKC should be forced to give up some of their picks after tonight.

[Kermit 3156]

How is that possible?

[Message Board User 12395]

1 minute ago, Kermit said:

How is that possible?

Starting lineup for OKC

Ty Jerome, Tre Mann, Dort, Robinson-Earl, Darius Bazley.

[Kermit 3156]

1 minute ago, Message Board User said:

Starting lineup for OKC

Ty Jerome, Tre Mann, Dort, Robinson-Earl, Darius Bazley.

Oh. That explains it. 

[ztejas 43418]

I feel bad for Daigneault. Having to deal with the dogshit that that clown GM is cool with running out. 

Like yeah he made some nice picks 15 years ago but the dude has completely lost the plot. Ownership doesn't care because there's nothing else to do in OKC and so they'll keep selling out games. 

Edited December 3, 2021 by ztejas
Wrong coach

[aggie08 21496]

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I feel bad for Daigneault. Having to deal with the dogshit that that clown GM is cool with running out. 

Hard to feel too bad. He knew exactly what he was getting into. They publicly parted ways with Donovan because he was too good of a coach, won too many games, and wanted to acquire good players. The audacity.

[shadow_operative 15932]

10 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Memphis had a 78 point lead with two minutes left and won by 73. Without Ja.

OKC should be forced to give up some of their picks after tonight.

remember when OKC had Russ, Sabonis, Oladipo, Jerami Grant, Kanter, and Steven Adams, and they blew it all up to get Paul George and Carmelo Anthony?

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[ztejas 43418]

2 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

 

Late entry for funniest tweet of the year. That's amazing. Some great replies.

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by ztejas

[HeHateMe 883]

Suns run it to 18 straight. Looking forward to the rematch with the warriors tomorrow night.  It’ll be tough without Booker.  Bridges is a stud defender, but it’s a big ask to shut down Steph twice in a week.  

[ztejas 43418]

1 minute ago, HeHateMe said:

Suns run it to 18 straight. Looking forward to the rematch with the warriors tomorrow night.  It’ll be tough without Booker.  Bridges is a stud defender, but it’s a big ask to shut down Steph twice in a week.  

2nd half of a b2b bigger factor than Booker being out imo. 

[HeHateMe 883]

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

2nd half of a b2b bigger factor than Booker being out imo. 

They didn’t over exert themselves tonight, but yes definitely a concern.  However, they just worked the Nets on the backend of a b2b a week ago.  GS will want some revenge and with no booker, they will probably get it.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

 
Old record was Miami 148 Cleveland 80 in 1991.

Mark price must’ve been on load management

[d2o 1602]

11 hours ago, Message Board User said:

Starting lineup for OKC

Ty Jerome, Tre Mann, Dort, Robinson-Earl, Darius Bazley.

That should get a call from the league.   

[Aqua Buddha 14588]

SGA was out with a concussion and they had Giddey and some other guys out with the flu.  Prolly barely able to field a team.

[ztejas 43418]

Toscano Anderson just killed a guy. 

Javale.

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by ztejas

[ztejas 43418]

CP is such an all-timer. Down Booker and now Bridges on the 2nd night of a b2b and he's got PHO hanging with GS. 

Also - I don't think I've given Monty a ton of credit up to this point but he's done a good job with these guys managing rotations and putting them in position to succeed. 

[aggie08 21496]

Just now, ztejas said:

CP is such an all-timer. Down Booker and now Bridges on the 2nd night of a b2b and he's got PHO hanging with GS. 

Also - I don't think I've given Monty a ton of credit up to this point but he's done a good job with these guys managing rotations and putting them in position to succeed. 

But also...fuck Chris Paul.

[Message Board User 12395]

So the Mavs kind of suck and Luka is counting down to 2027 until he can get out of there.

 

 

 

 

 

(though Luka's James Harden impersonation is a big part of the Mavs' problem this year)

[ztejas 43418]

1 minute ago, aggie08 said:

But also...fuck Chris Paul.

Sure. I'm kind of past it at this point though. I love basketball too much to not appreciate a dude like him in his twilight and root for him a bit. We may never see another CP the way the game is being played now. Could be one of the last true PGs. 

[ztejas 43418]

1 minute ago, Message Board User said:

So the Mavs kind of suck and Luka is counting down to 2027 until he can get out of there.

 

 

 

 

 

(though Luka's James Harden impersonation is a big part of the Mavs' problem this year)

He isn't taking care of himself or improving his game. Especially on D. Which isn't enough to get the Mavs anywhere past where they've been. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Toscano Anderson just killed a guy. 
Javale.
 

Lol was that Javale McGee ?

[ztejas 43418]

Just now, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Lol was that Javale McGee ?

Yeah. I think he's been pretty good for Phoenix.

[Message Board User 12395]

16 minutes ago, ztejas said:

He isn't taking care of himself or improving his game. Especially on D. Which isn't enough to get the Mavs anywhere past where they've been. 

@Mitch Cumsteen made the astute observation in last season's playoffs that while Luka is a great player it's questionable at best how it translates to winning basketball and he couldn't have been more right.

The guy has the highest usage rate in the league and while obviously skilled and talented, he's not a Giannis or KD or peak Lebron who can just carry a team by himself because of his physical limitations (i.e., his extreme whiteness).  He can't control the game on both ends of the court like those guys.  And as you alluded to, he's probably carrying about 15 or so extra pounds that makes him even less explosive and worse defensively than he should be.  He's more Harden than Harden, ball-hogging while all the other guys stand around watching him...and then inevitably bitches to the refs when he doesn't get a call.

Of course he hasn't been helped by the team that has been constructed around him; at least Houston was smart enough to surround Harden with tough defenders like Capela, Ariza, Tucker, & Beverly that could compensate.  Dallas goes to war with bunch of Charmin soft pussies like Kleber, THJ, and Dwight Powell (looking back, the Seth Curry trade is oh so cringe).  And perhaps most egregious was their choice of KP as Luka's running mate.  Even though he's been better this year, he's still simply not good enough to be a second banana on a good team and is signed to an outrageous contract that's going to cripple the team for years.  And we all know it's just a matter of time before KP's foot or knee flares up and he misses a week or a month at the most inopportune time (surprise surprise he was out tonight with a knee).

[ztejas 43418]

24 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

@Mitch Cumsteen made the astute observation in last season's playoffs that while Luka is a great player it's questionable at best how it translates to winning basketball and he couldn't have been more right.

The guy has the highest usage rate in the league and while obviously skilled and talented, he's not a Giannis or KD or peak Lebron who can just carry a team by himself because of his physical limitations (i.e., his extreme whiteness).  He can't control the game on both ends of the court like those guys.  And as you alluded to, he's probably carrying about 15 or so extra pounds that makes him even less explosive and worse defensively than he should be.  He's more Harden than Harden, ball-hogging while all the other guys stand around watching him...and then inevitably bitches to the refs when he doesn't get a call.

Of course he hasn't been helped by the team that has been constructed around him; at least Houston was smart enough to surround Harden with tough defenders like Capela, Ariza, Tucker, & Beverly that could compensate.  Dallas goes to war with bunch of Charmin soft pussies like Kleber, THJ, and Dwight Powell (looking back, the Seth Curry trade is oh so cringe).  And perhaps most egregious was their choice of KP as Luka's running mate.  Even though he's been better this year, he's still simply not good enough to be a second banana on a good team and is signed to an outrageous contract that's going to cripple the team for years.  And we all know it's just a matter of time before KP's foot or knee flares up and he misses a week or a month at the most inopportune time (surprise surprise he was out tonight with a knee).

I mean let's pump the brakes a bit. Luka is really, really special and his game translates to winning just fine. Dallas isn't dick without him - they'd literally be one of the worst teams in the league. The thing is there is a huge gap right now between KD and Giannis and the 5th or 6th or whatever best guy in the league (throw Curry in for the regular season - still wondering if he can do it in the playoffs). And Luka so far this season is trending backwards into "yeah he's a top 10-12 guy" territory instead of "man he's top 5 and could start knocking on the best player in the league door" which is where he was at the end of the past couple seasons. He's getting closer to being Damian Lillard or Jayson Tatum instead of clearly surpassing LeBron or being up there with someone like Jokic.

Also - fuck Harden or whatever but he isn't the scorer Harden was. Although I'd say he has more fire - especially in the playoffs. He isn't remotely close to 34 ppg on 62 TS%. (Oh wait - 36 ppg on .616 in 2019. God damn it's easy to forget how ridiculous some of those regular seasons were).

Edited December 4, 2021 by ztejas

[ztejas 43418]

Someone turn Mark Jackson's mic down or better yet give me the option to mute his dumbass. 

[aggie08 21496]

8 minutes ago, ztejas said:

throw Curry in for the regular season - still wondering if he can do it in the playoffs

Based off of...what?

Curry has gotten to 3 NBA Finals in the  West without KD.

He's literally had one poor playoff series in his career. It just happened to be in the NBA Finals (a series where he dropped 37 in Cleveland to go up 3-1 before Draymond got slap happy). He doesn't have the huge, buzzer beater moment, but he's been solid in the postseason since the beginning.

He's not LeBron or KD in the playoffs...but who is? I made the argument that he's probably taken the mantle as the best sub 6'6" basketball player ever; the same can probably be said about his postseason career.*

*If your larger point is that it's harder for a 6'3" 190# guy to carry a team through playoff physicality, then obviously I agree.

[Kermit 3156]

20 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I mean let's pump the brakes a bit. Luka is really, really special and his game translates to winning just fine. Dallas isn't dick without him - they'd literally be one of the worst teams in the league. The thing is there is a huge gap right now between KD and Giannis and the 5th or 6th or whatever best guy in the league (throw Curry in for the regular season - still wondering if he can do it in the playoffs). And Luka so far this season is trending backwards into "yeah he's a top 10-12 guy" territory instead of "man he's top 5 and could start knocking on the best player in the league door" which is where he was at the end of the past couple seasons. He's getting closer to being Damian Lillard or Jayson Tatum instead of clearly surpassing LeBron or being up there with someone like Jokic.

Also - fuck Harden or whatever but he isn't the scorer Harden was. Although I'd say he has more fire - especially in the playoffs. He isn't remotely close to 34 ppg on 62 TS%. (Oh wait - 36 ppg on .616 in 2019. God damn it's easy to forget how ridiculous some of those regular seasons were).

If his game translates into winning, I’m sure a playoff series win is attainable at some point.

[ztejas 43418]

7 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Based off of...what?

Curry has gotten to 3 NBA Finals in the  West without KD.

He's literally had one poor playoff series in his career. It just happened to be in the NBA Finals (a series where he dropped 37 in Cleveland to go up 3-1 before Draymond got slap happy). He doesn't have the huge, buzzer beater moment, but he's been solid in the postseason since the beginning.

He's not LeBron or KD in the playoffs...but who is? I made the argument that he's probably taken the mantle as the best sub 6'6" basketball player ever; the same can probably be said about his postseason career.*

*If your larger point is that it's harder for a 6'3" 190# guy to carry a team through playoff physicality, then obviously I agree.

I'm not taking Curry in the playoffs over Durant or Giannis right now. That's all I meant. Curry has never been as good in the playoffs as either of them were last year in the playoffs. Not trying to compare careers or anything. 

And he made 2 Finals without Durant. Not sure where you're getting 3. 

He's a top 20 dude all time and neck and neck with KD. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by ztejas

[ztejas 43418]

5 minutes ago, Kermit said:

If his game translates into winning, I’m sure a playoff series win is attainable at some point.

We can only hope it isn't.

[aggie08 21496]

6 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I'm not taking Curry in the playoffs over Durant or Giannis right now. That's all I meant. Curry has never been as good as either of them were last year in the playoffs. Not trying to compare careers or anything. 

And he made 2 Finals without Durant. Not sure where you're getting 3. 

He's a top 20 dude all time and neck and neck with KD. 

Fine, 2.5. He closed out Houston and mopped the floor with Portland in the WCF (not that that deserves many accolades) without the big fella.

Otherwise, no issue with KD/Giannis being considered a decent step above anyone else right now. Steph and Jokic (speaking of a playoff badass) are the next tier, then another sizeable gap to whoever you'd consider to round out the top 5. A healthy LeBron?

wrt to Luka, I'm still absolutely flabbergasted by the Kidd hire.

[ztejas 43418]

1 minute ago, aggie08 said:

Fine, 2.5. He closed out Houston and mopped the floor with Portland in the WCF (not that that deserves many accolades) without the big fella.

Winning one game against Houston and beating the Blazers doesn't quite = 78 games in the regular season and 11 games in the playoffs of 34/5/5 on 51/41/90 for me. Granted Curry was phenomenal to get them there after KD went down - but that crew was running on fumes and there isn't a chance in hell they get to a 5th Finals without Durant helping to manage the load in '17, '18, '19.

Their legacies are forever intertwined for better or worse. What's fun is that they both have a chance this year to settle the debate. 

It's fun to be back. 2020 and 2021 were a fucking slog. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

57 minutes ago, Kermit said:

If his game translates into winning, I’m sure a playoff series win is attainable at some point.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure I made that comment about him in the playoffs, specifically wondering if you can win a championship playing like that. I don't think you can. You can win 50+ games, maybe get a series or two depending on the match up, but I don't think it's conducive to championship basketball. 

In his defense, I don't know that they can play any other way and still win as much as they do. That's a bad roster and they don't ever develop anybody over there. Cuban can't buy all the free agents he wants to any more. How are they going to get better? How are they going to evolve?

[ztejas 43418]

57 minutes ago, ztejas said:

It's fun to be back. 2020 and 2021 were a fucking slog. 

Seriously - someone inject this season into my veins. And the Spurs fucking suck. Just some notes:

- The burgeoning Suns/Ws power struggle is awesome. The fact that Phoenix came back and got better after losing the Finals is such a great development for the league. They are dangerous and have some great chess pieces to employ against the Ws in a potential series.

- How the Ws have sifted through the rubble and rebuilt a pretty good facsimile of their 2015-2016 selves is outstanding. I'm not sure a duo has ever made their teammates better to a higher degree than Steph and Draymond. Just all-time shit. 

- The Eastern conference is all of a sudden sort of - a buzzsaw? God damn the middle of the East is brutal. You get past the Nets and Bucks and you have a super fucking salty Heat team clawing to stay in the top 4, a completely reimagined Bulls team sporting potentially 3 all-stars and kicking all kinds of ass and making a case that they could be a conference-finals contender, a Cavs team that has come out of absolutely NOWHERE to fuck up opposing game-plans on a regular basis (shoutout to @Message Board User and his guy's all-star cases - Garland with 32/10/8 tonight and JA with another gem), a Hornets team that has an absolutely electric 2nd year dude in LaMelo and some nice surrounding pieces, a Wizards team sitting in 4th featuring a somewhat reimagined Beal content with being a floor general and designated closer and letting his teammates eat (much to the chagrin of my fantasy team - thanks Brad), and then the 6ers, Celtics, Hawks and Knicks sitting in the 8th - 11th spots? Fuck me. It's like the West circa 2010.

- The Jazz are lurking and I sort of wonder if this is a situation where either they ultimately never have enough to get over the hump or they make a couple adjustments and make a deep run in the playoffs after everyone has written them off. 

- Jokic is putting up historic numbers on a - frankly - shitty Nuggets team. It's sort of becoming a footnote but check the stats - it's there. 

- This Timberwolves team is... fun? I have no idea if they are better off with or without KAT or DLo (because any of those 4 scenarios may have some veracity) but I do know that this Edwards kid is different to say the least. Wade is the comp that comes to mind - although ant's scoring game is a bit further from the basket.

- and - to cap it off - the 2nd and 3rd greatest players of their generation (I'm cool with either ordering) after being teammates for 3 seasons are in a high-noon standoff for the scoring title (his 3rd or his 5th) and MVP (his 3rd or his 2nd) - after largely being relegated to the backseat since the 2019 Finals. Talk about some massive legacies on the line in what might be some of the closing chapters for 2 all-timers. And if that weren't good enough - they have the new kid on the block trying to become the first since Larry to win 3 straight.

BTW - I know I'm omitting a certain someone. They're just too god-damn entertaining and enigmatic to shoe-horn into this one. And I know I won't be able to help myself from penning hundreds of words on them throughout this season. So - stay tuned?

Edited December 4, 2021 by ztejas

[Kermit 3156]

In other news, Lebron James is a fucking bitch and has a tiny dick. 
 

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2021-12-04/lebron-james-frustrated-angry-nba-covid-protocols?_amp=true

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

Saw this on Twitter... Lakers have 7th worst point differential in the league. The teams they are ahead of are all in full tank/rebuild mode: Houston, nola, Orlando, sac, okc, and pistons. Historically, point differential is the one team stat with the best predictive value on wins and losses. I know LeBron has been out a bunch, but that's really, really bad. 

 

[aggie08 21496]

22 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Saw this on Twitter... Lakers have 7th worst point differential in the league. The teams they are ahead of are all in full tank/rebuild mode: Houston, nola, Orlando, sac, okc, and pistons. Historically, point differential is the one team stat with the best predictive value on wins and losses. I know LeBron has been out a bunch, but that's really, really bad. 

 

I will say, with as bad as their season has gone thus far (and it's been really bad), they're .500 and in the first play-in seed in the injury riddled West. I'm sure they'll put together a couple week run sometime soon, and we'll begin the "their the team that none of the top seeds want to see in the first round" talk, as is tradition for any team that Russ is on.

[SilasCoade 2622]

I disagree. Lakers are a dumpster fire. They lack shooting and defense. Their 3 presumptive best players are a declining athletic slashing ball hogging PG, a declining athletic PF not getting the calls he's used to getting, and a post player billed as a unicorn but actually more of a narwhal. Their actual best player has been Olympics brand Melo.

[ztejas 43418]

11 hours ago, aggie08 said:

I will say, with as bad as their season has gone thus far (and it's been really bad), they're .500 and in the first play-in seed in the injury riddled West. I'm sure they'll put together a couple week run sometime soon, and we'll begin the "their the team that none of the top seeds want to see in the first round" talk, as is tradition for any team that Russ is on.

Yeah. Maybe. As of now they'd get fucking smoked by the Warriors or Suns and probably the Jazz in a 7 game series. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

LeBron has held himself back his entire career by playing GM, and this Lakers team might be the best example of that. just a horrible mish mash of old, past-their-prime, ball dominating buddies of LeBron who cannot form a balanced, cohesive team together. teams go into games against these Lakers licking their chops, and it'll only be magnified once the playoffs roll around...that is, assuming that LAL even makes the playoffs.

 

[aggie08 21496]

18 hours ago, Llogg said:

I disagree. Lakers are a dumpster fire. They lack shooting and defense. Their 3 presumptive best players are a declining athletic slashing ball hogging PG, a declining athletic PF not getting the calls he's used to getting, and a post player billed as a unicorn but actually more of a narwhal. Their actual best player has been Olympics brand Melo.

 

8 hours ago, ztejas said:

Yeah. Maybe. As of now they'd get fucking smoked by the Warriors or Suns and probably the Jazz in a 7 game series. 

Along with spelling "they're" like an idiot, I wasn't exactly giving them a compliment. They'll hang around because they're one of two teams in the league with two top 10 players on it. And it's inevitable that they'll put together a decent stretch of basketball at some point that will get the ESPN hype train rolling. But, like all of those Russ teams that better teams supposedly feared, their flaws will be targeted and exploited in playoff basketball.

[ztejas 43418]

53 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

 

Along with spelling "they're" like an idiot, I wasn't exactly giving them a compliment. They'll hang around because they're one of two teams in the league with two top 10 players on it. And it's inevitable that they'll put together a decent stretch of basketball at some point that will get the ESPN hype train rolling. But, like all of those Russ teams that better teams supposedly feared, their flaws will be targeted and exploited in playoff basketball.

Yeah - I get your stance. I'm just starting to question their actual upside a bit. Maybe mostly because I'm not sure how great LeBron is at this point. Through 12 games he's putting up the worst #s since his rookie season. He still can be a top 10 player (I think) but he isn't right now. 

So yes - I agree this isn't the best version of the Lakers. But I'm wondering how good the best version of this team even is. The jokes about them being awesome circa 2012 or whatever are landing home a bit more.

[Mole 4330]

Luka is 22; young enough that he can’t lead a team to a championship yet and now just old enough that we can start talking about how he doesn’t have what it takes. It’s a tale told of every young star since at least the late 80s.

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Luka will probably be fine when he gets older and leaves Dallas.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

8 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

LeBron has held himself back his entire career by playing GM, and this Lakers team might be the best example of that. just a horrible mish mash of old, past-their-prime, ball dominating buddies of LeBron who cannot form a balanced, cohesive team together. teams go into games against these Lakers licking their chops, and it'll only be magnified once the playoffs roll around...that is, assuming that LAL even makes the playoffs.

 

The Lakers (or Lebron?) deserve to be punished for their hubris in thinking Westbrook would make them a better team. Had they watched zero film from his year in Washington, Houston, or the last couple in OKC? He’s a spark plug, not a tier of a superteam.