2019-2020 NBA Season Thread

[RexWilson 1341]

5 minutes ago, CurlyDumps said:

Did Curry gain a little weight, or does the beard make his face look fatter 

Its a secret strategy to cover his face so the Mavs can sneak Steph in the lineup 

[Pato del Muerto 52338]

I’m shocked that neither Beverley nor kahwai have gotten called for another foul. George might have 4 as well. 

[Kermit 3128]

Mavericks just fucking imploded. The fuck was that?

[Zepol87 9171]

Kawhi bitching about a push off is hilarious. Attack Beverly 

[Chad 1728]

The Clipper's bench has been shitty tonight, once they get their shit together this series will turn ugly. When Jackson and Harrell turn it up a notch Dallas will never keep pace with that scoring off the bench between Williams, Harrell and Jackson.

[ztejas 43262]

Sloppy in the 4th and too many growing pains for Luka. This Clippers team will wear your ass out.

Maybe a different game with KP in. 

[Pato del Muerto 52338]

Mavs don’t have defenders that can stay in front of George, Leonard, or Williams so they have to play back and give them the 3 ball...which keeps going in these last 3 minutes. 

[ztejas 43262]

Just now, Chad said:

The Clipper's bench has been shitty tonight, once they get their shit together this series will turn ugly. When Jackson and Harrell turn it up a notch Dallas will never keep pace with that scoring off the bench between Williams, Harrell and Jackson.

I mean the Mavs 2nd best player missed basically the entire 2nd half.

[aggie08 21424]

If Paul George takes a moment to remind the media of his self-appointed nickname after another Game 1, it would make the the happiest boy in all the land.

[BradInATX 9208]

Count me in the camp that thinks the KP ejection was dumb. I mean I guess I get that technically, by the book, maybe he did earn two techs. But with as much leeway as refs are given to make judgement calls and "game flow" decisions, that can't happen. You just can't make that call and change the game like that.

[ocugolf 1210]

This Rockets-Thunder series fascinates me. So many subplots. Is Russ healthy? Russ vs OKC, is Tillman trying to get rid of Mike D and Morey? CP3 vs Harden. All of this is great. 
 

The Thunder have already massively overachieved this year. If Russ misses more than a game, I think OKC may get them in 7. If so, the Rockets offseason will be must see tv.

[Chad 1728]

The sky is the limit for the Thunder, they have a stupid amount of draft capital from dumping off Russ and Paul George, 13 first round picks the next 5 years.

[ztejas 43262]

ESPN really writes to the lowest common denominator

 

[ztejas 43262]

3 hours ago, ocugolf said:

The Thunder have already massively overachieved this year.

Not really. Certainly not "massively" at least. OKC is good and well coached. They play good defense and have a good set of 1-3 scoring options - 1-4 if you include Adams. They're like Toronto West.

The series should hinge on Harden. If he plays well and limits turnovers I'll take Houston in 5 or 6. If he and Westbrook get into some bad habits it could go 7 and either team could win. 

[d2o 1602]

3 hours ago, ocugolf said:

This Rockets-Thunder series fascinates me. So many subplots. Is Russ healthy? Russ vs OKC, is Tillman trying to get rid of Mike D and Morey? CP3 vs Harden. All of this is great. 
 

The Thunder have already massively overachieved this year. If Russ misses more than a game, I think OKC may get them in 7. If so, the Rockets offseason will be must see tv.

wooooooooo, boy that would be something to see.     I actually like Russ so him going to the Rockets was rather unfortunate cause I dont think I have ever hate errbody in an org all the way up to the owner before like I do the Rockets

[d2o 1602]

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

Not really. Certainly not "massively" at least. OKC is good and well coached. They play good defense and have a good set of 1-3 scoring options - 1-4 if you include Adams. They're like Toronto West.

The series should hinge on Harden. If he plays well and limits turnovers I'll take Houston in 5 or 6. If he and Westbrook get into some bad habits it could go 7 and either team could win. 

They were given a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs and most had CP3 not ever playing in a Thunder uni or at the very worst him not finishing the season in one.   Finishing as the 5 seed is massively overachieving given those points IMO.

[ztejas 43262]

1 minute ago, d2o said:

They were given a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs

Lol what? You can't throw stuff out there like that without a source. 0.2% with their current roster? 

Maybe there were questions on how they would gel and if they were a playoff team or not - but they were never going to be a bottom feeder.

 

[d2o 1602]

11 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Lol what? You can't throw stuff out there like that without a source. 0.2% with their current roster? 

Maybe there were questions on how they would gel and if they were a playoff team or not - but they were never going to be a bottom feeder.

 

 

 

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27426015/nba-preseason-predictions-our-experts-picks-2019-20

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/nba-predictions-2019-20-standings-playoff-projections-nba-finals-pick/1n5bznt80ykeu17bbe1qbr6gsr

https://www.ibtimes.com/nba-predictions-2019-2020-standings-western-eastern-conference-finals-matchup-mvp-2850672

 

Just a quick search but most had them finishing 12th-13th in the west.

Edited August 18, 2020 by d2o

[ztejas 43262]

5 minutes ago, d2o said:

 

 

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27426015/nba-preseason-predictions-our-experts-picks-2019-20

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/nba-predictions-2019-20-standings-playoff-projections-nba-finals-pick/1n5bznt80ykeu17bbe1qbr6gsr

https://www.ibtimes.com/nba-predictions-2019-2020-standings-western-eastern-conference-finals-matchup-mvp-2850672

 

Just a quick search but most had them finishing 12th-13th in the west.

538 had them at 50% playoff odds on October 22nd https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-predictions/

Maybe calling them a lottery team was the flavor of the month in August of last year. I mean, I don't take into account what ESPN thinks before claiming a team over or underachieved. I'm guessing many writers were wondering if Paul would stay healthy for the season. If you showed them OKC's roster and games played for each player vs games on the schedule im guessing those predictions would have changed. Especially with the Warriors dropping out. 

[ocugolf 1210]

I was going with the 12-13 in the west predictions in the preseason. That they had a lame duck coach who lost all of his top assistants. Trade away their franchise cornerstone in Russell. Trade away George. Trade away Jerami Grant. So three starters down and a coach nobody had faith in made the playoffs fairly easily. 
 

They got lucky Paul bought in. They got lucky the Gallo insisted on 3 years with Miami. Turns out Donovan can coach. They’ll probably burn out in the first round but the fact they made it this far is damn amazing. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18523]

20 hours ago, BradInATX said:

I don't know or care about anything before that because nobody before Jordan was as good at basketball as any of the top 10 players since 1996.

 

 

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26277]

Oh, John. 
 

 

[conVINCEd 21468]

His defense is apparently that he “mistyped”, because the i is next to the u and the r is next to the t on the keyboard.

[d2o 1602]

26 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

His defense is apparently that he “mistyped”, because the i is next to the u and the r is next to the t on the keyboard.

I thought that it was autocorrected to that which means he types it so much that its saved in his phone's dictionary.

[washparkhorn 9935]

- As a Nuggets fan, I can attest to the danger inherent in typing that name with your thumb. ALWAYS proofread and consider using DEN rather than Nuggets.

 -----------

Milwaukee off to a slow start against Orlando. MIL has closed the deficit from 18 down to 10 at half, but ORL is showing some fight.  

[washparkhorn 9935]

11 minutes ago, d2o said:

I thought that it was autocorrected to that which means he types it so much that its saved in his phone's dictionary.

Good point. I just tried it and I would need to press a button to ignore the auto-correct, but I wonder if my auto correct was a result of my correction of the mistake.

 

Sportswriters have been sleeping on the Nuggets for the some time. Karma is a bitch for some of the lazier sportswriters out there. So be it.  

Edited August 18, 2020 by washparkhorn

[CurlyDumps 4439]

46 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Oh, John. 
 

 

More like: 

Oh, Focke!

[washparkhorn 9935]

ORL still leading the Bucks by 11 halfway through the 3rd.

[ztejas 43262]

2 hours ago, ocugolf said:

the fact they made it this far is damn amazing. 

Agree to disagree. They stayed healthy and played good basketball. They won a few more games than their SRS suggests. 

Chris Paul is still one of the best 20 players in the league.

1 hour ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

 

 

 

[washparkhorn 9935]

ORL up 12 with 5 Minutes remaining. Tony Brothers is one of the zebras. Figures. 

[ztejas 43262]

Bucks about to lose. Middleton has been trash. Giving minutes to Divencenzo over Sterling Brown is a bad coaching mistake. They are getting bounced in the 2nd round if their role players don't show up.

[BradInATX 9208]

I tried to tell ya'll Milwaukee isn't built for these playoffs. They'll get by Orlando, but they aren't going to win the chip.

[Brothahorn 10085]

 

 

[aggie08 21424]

I don't want to say that these games have a glorified pick-up game feel to them*, but playoff defense has to be really hard to dial up after 5 months off in an empty gym.

*I actually owe the NBA an apology: this bubble experiment has gone off way better than I ever expected.  The piped in noise and fan video boards are knowingly dorky enough to be kinda fun.

[Vic Mackey 46932]

1 hour ago, d2o said:

I thought that it was autocorrected to that which means he types it so much that its saved in his phone's dictionary.

Exactly. Keyboards on phones don't automatically save certain words unless you just type it so much or manually save it. So yeah, this is a word he regularly types. And what a dumb fuck for not proofing before he broadcasts it. In the social media world, the nanosecond it sends, it is there forever. Someone will capture it.

[d2o 1602]

32 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

I tried to tell ya'll Milwaukee isn't built for these playoffs. They'll get by Orlando, but they aren't going to win the chip.

Meh, we took game one from TOR last yr in TOR.   This means nothing in the grand scheme.

[Wulaw Horn 18971]

33 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

I tried to tell ya'll Milwaukee isn't built for these playoffs. They'll get by Orlando, but they aren't going to win the chip.

It’s one game right now. 12-1 was terrible odds. But after one game you are looking good. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Wulaw Horn

[washparkhorn 9935]

I forgot Orlando won game 1 of its series against Toronto last year and then lost the next four games. 

[Wulaw Horn 18971]

Just now, washparkhorn said:

I forgot Orlando won game 1 of its series against Toronto last year and then lost the next four games. 

Yeah- and the last 4 were nasty and ugly. 

[d2o 1602]

2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Yeah- and the last 4 were nasty and ugly. 

Exactly, a nice tight gentleman's sweep

 

[washparkhorn 9935]

1 minute ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Yeah- and the last 4 were nasty and ugly. 

So given last year's champs - MIL may have "lost the game they needed to lose" to secure the championship.

Buy the dip as people exit the MIL bandwagon! 

[Wulaw Horn 18971]

Just now, d2o said:

Exactly, a nice tight gentleman's sweep

 

I thought gentlemen’s sweep has to be after 2-0 or 3-0 up but Yeah- that was about as big an outlier as I can ever remember from game 1 to the rest of the series. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18523]

The NBA playoffs game 1 overreaction is well known. It's a different animal though, now without any home court advantage. To me, it's the most interesting thing about this bubble playoff. The logic used to be, you've got to get a split on the road and take home court back. Or you'd better finish off a team in 6 because you don't want to play game 7 on the road. That whole "The playoffs don't begin until the home team loses," thing not being a thing is going to be fascinating to watch.

[d2o 1602]

2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I thought gentlemen’s sweep has to be after 2-0 or 3-0 up but Yeah- that was about as big an outlier as I can ever remember from game 1 to the rest of the series. 

nah, gentleman's sweep is giving them a courtesy game to start and then winning the next 4.

[Wulaw Horn 18971]

4 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The NBA playoffs game 1 overreaction is well known. It's a different animal though, now without any home court advantage. To me, it's the most interesting thing about this bubble playoff. The logic used to be, you've got to get a split on the road and take home court back. Or you'd better finish off a team in 6 because you don't want to play game 7 on the road. That whole "The playoffs don't begin until the home team loses," thing not being a thing is going to be fascinating to watch.

Yeah it will. 

[Zepol87 9171]

5 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The NBA playoffs game 1 overreaction is well known. It's a different animal though, now without any home court advantage. To me, it's the most interesting thing about this bubble playoff. The logic used to be, you've got to get a split on the road and take home court back. Or you'd better finish off a team in 6 because you don't want to play game 7 on the road. That whole "The playoffs don't begin until the home team loses," thing not being a thing is going to be fascinating to watch.

Agree. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out. 

[BradInATX 9208]

18 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s one game right now. 12-1 was terrible odds. But after one game you are looking good. 

Yeah, I mean I'm not trying to dunk the ball saying Orlando is going to win. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Bucks win in 5. Admittedly I have it on in the background while I work so I wasn't actively watching, but I saw a lot of the same defensive issues that I've seen in them for awhile now. They struggle to keep up on rotations with high energy active offensive teams. Lots of sloppy defense and letting guys find open jumpers because someone missed or chose the wrong man to rotate to. It pains me to say because I love Coach Bud, but he's got some flaws.

It's not fatal, but it's symptomatic of greater issues on that team. They still have a pretty easy road to at least the ECF, but Toronto is going to give them hell and they will not beat LAC or Houston if that's who they face. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by BradInATX

[Wulaw Horn 18971]

Just now, BradInATX said:

Yeah, I mean I'm not trying to dunk the ball saying Orlando is going to win. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Bucks win in 5. Admittedly I have it on in the background while I work so I wasn't actively watching, but I saw a lot of the same defensive issues that I've seen in them for awhile now. They struggle to keep up on rotations with high energy active offensive teams. Lots of sloppy defense and letting guys find open jumpers because someone missed or chose the wrong man to rotate to. 

It's not fatal, but it's symptomatic of greater issues on that team. 

I don’t get what that would be. They have had one of the great two year regular season runs around (up until bubble time anyway). They’ve accomplished nothing individually or team wise to be complacent about. 
It wasn’t pretty. Weird environment for them and a really bad break that they don’t get home court in a tough gym to play in. 

[Vic Mackey 46932]

9 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The NBA playoffs game 1 overreaction is well known. It's a different animal though, now without any home court advantage. To me, it's the most interesting thing about this bubble playoff. The logic used to be, you've got to get a split on the road and take home court back. Or you'd better finish off a team in 6 because you don't want to play game 7 on the road. That whole "The playoffs don't begin until the home team loses," thing not being a thing is going to be fascinating to watch.

Yep. There is no home/away in these playoffs. On paper only. Only thing that will change is they change uniforms. I think this will favor the better teams. The lesser teams can get an extra boost from being at home and their role players can find a better groove. None of that this year. But on the flip side, the lesser teams don't have the daunting task to try and beat these better teams on the road.

[gsoda3 3236]

28 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Exactly. Keyboards on phones don't automatically save certain words unless you just type it so much or manually save it. So yeah, this is a word he regularly types. 

That's actually not true. While google/apple/samsung etc haven't ever specifically divulged their trade secrets, the basic part of autocorrect and keyboard software, the word bank ("corpus"), is generated from media articles, books, etc.  Now there is a machine learning aspect, which is where a large portion of the trade secrets for each company lie, that learns how and what the user types and tries to predict when they'll use those words.  But one definitely doesn't have to use a word before that word shows up as an autocorrect option.