The NBA Thread

[BotheLaneFan]

Originally Posted by Rodey

I still don’t think the Lakers are a serious title contender, as is. They just don’t have the consistent shooters you need to win games in the playoffs.

Oh they totally need more shooting.

[justinandimcool]

Boston good win, incredible hustle plays throughout. Tatum had an amazing run but Brown brought it as well. really fun team win. Barnes looked really meh for Toronto, i’ve said it before but overall not impressed with his sophomore year. just an inefficient slowpoke so far tbh

Nembhard destroyed Golden State what on earth. is this the start of something for him bc wtf was this performance

[justinandimcool]

other random catchup…

Holiday had a nice line but i came for Fultz and he seems to be pretty good. happy for the guy. athleticism is still there, a few nice flashes still

Gilgeous-Alexander back on pace. Trae Young awful again, yikes

Philadelphia and Miami both healthy and with some bad losses, yikes i guess i gotta watch a bit of those, not sure what happened

Leonard a nice game winner

Dallas won from the jump and finally Kleber/Hardaway play well, but Finney-Smith/Bullock/Powell continue to be absolutely invisible. also probably the worst i’ve seen Phoenix play all year tbh

[Rodey]

I still can’t believe the Sixers gave Tucker a three year deal and are playing him almost 30 minutes a game. He doesn’t have the magical elixirs of South Beach this year.

[justinandimcool]

Dallas/Denver was a treat!!! can’t feel too good or bad for either team but Denver is definitely slipping, bench is largely unreliable. wish Hyland could play a little defense. Bruce Brown is a gamer and nice to see Christian Braun back in the rotation

Hardaway lives



poor Davis and the Lakers, seriously. kick in the nuts.

there’s that Cleveland defense though. i’m impressed.

another concerning loss for Miami though at least sans Butler. Herro nice game but just is not it as the guy. nice to see Oladipo played

the Lakers, Nets, Suns, and Mavs not doing everything they can to snag Bogdanovic from Detroit is just malpractice at this point tbh

[ToySoldier#34]

Up 45 on Phoenix is nice, Celtics only have to play hard for about 8 mins per night most of the time but Phoenix isn't the norm

[justinandimcool]

literally just caught up on that game during lunch. impressive tbh

[Rodey]

Jingles getting assigned to the Herd! Big step towards him coming back. Ready for him and Giannis in the PnR.

[justinandimcool]

training for a couple of my own sports things, harder to watch full games but did a big 3 day catchup tonight, first time watching fill games in a week, took in lots of information

New Orleans clearly stands out, because of their depth and because of Williamson. back to him as the primary initiator up top. not only is he must see tv but he’s pretty much back to form two years ago which is frankly a walking efficiency. like we are talking one of the best offensive players ever if he keeps this up. Pelicans good and deep

Denver with one of the most fun wins vs Portland and took care of business vs Utah. Porter is still out but the team is becoming whole as a theory. Murray is looking like his old self, Hyland/Braun/Green/Jordan is a good enough bench atm, and Caldwell-Pope/Brown are officially in sync with Jokic… and the Nuggets are slowly becoming a threat after a tough week prior

Miami weird. just weird. they look like largely the same 1-seed as last year when whole, just not as dynamic defensively. i can blame Herro being bad and Adebayo not taking an offensive step and Spoelstra for the weird schemes but overall a mix of shooting luck and weak guard play. truly fascinating how up and down they are

Orlando with two wins in a row. the Fultz effect! but really, Wagner has woken up from his slump, Bol Bol is good. the tank will carry on but fun week for them. Banchero is still him

nothing learned from Dallas/Milwaukee but absolutely a playoff atmosphere, loved every second of it

annoyed Philadelphia is never healthy but they are finding a way. Embiid carrying them against the Lakers with Harden setting him up and role guys hitting shots, the theory is working quite well if everyone is in sync.

Minnesota defense unfortunately still meh, but Kyle Anderson starting in Towns absence has been some kinda magic for Gobert, Edwards, and Russell. he’s such a perfect fit, that Gordon Hayward/Derrick White connector that they desperately needed to gel. hope they figure it out soon while Towns is still out

i’ve seen a lot of Simons this year and man was i wrong about his 4/100 deal. lightening Lillard’s load, good chemistry with Grant and Hart. Portland’s offense looking better than ever, just gotta put it together on the other end. Sharpe is so fun

didn’t watch a ton of todays game bc half the team was out but Brooklyn is really starting to click. here we go

deep dive on Sacramento/Cleveland with no Fox or Mitchell. really hated Garland’s game as the primary initiator, credit to Sacramento defense. Keegan Murray is learning to be a stud on both ends, the bench is deep (Monk, Metu, Dellavedova, Lyles), and the offense is just continuing to roll on all cylinders with Sabonis as the engine. Mobley and Allen work much better with a pass first guy, of which there are none except Neto, but Rubio is coming back soon. Levert had a good game today though

Golden State won and i only caught some of it but man their second unit is still atrocious

[TypicalBilly14]

Originally Posted by justinandimcool

training for a couple of my own sports things, harder to watch full games but did a big 3 day catchup tonight, first time watching fill games in a week, took in lots of information

New Orleans clearly stands out, because of their depth and because of Williamson. back to him as the primary initiator up top. not only is he must see tv but he’s pretty much back to form two years ago which is frankly a walking efficiency. like we are talking one of the best offensive players ever if he keeps this up. Pelicans good and deep

Denver with one of the most fun wins vs Portland and took care of business vs Utah. Porter is still out but the team is becoming whole as a theory. Murray is looking like his old self, Hyland/Braun/Green/Jordan is a good enough bench atm, and Caldwell-Pope/Brown are officially in sync with Jokic… and the Nuggets are slowly becoming a threat after a tough week prior

Miami weird. just weird. they look like largely the same 1-seed as last year when whole, just not as dynamic defensively. i can blame Herro being bad and Adebayo not taking an offensive step and Spoelstra for the weird schemes but overall a mix of shooting luck and weak guard play. truly fascinating how up and down they are

Orlando with two wins in a row. the Fultz effect! but really, Wagner has woken up from his slump, Bol Bol is good. the tank will carry on but fun week for them. Banchero is still him

nothing learned from Dallas/Milwaukee but absolutely a playoff atmosphere, loved every second of it

annoyed Philadelphia is never healthy but they are finding a way. Embiid carrying them against the Lakers with Harden setting him up and role guys hitting shots, the theory is working quite well if everyone is in sync.

Minnesota defense unfortunately still meh, but Kyle Anderson starting in Towns absence has been some kinda magic for Gobert, Edwards, and Russell. he’s such a perfect fit, that Gordon Hayward/Derrick White connector that they desperately needed to gel. hope they figure it out soon while Towns is still out

i’ve seen a lot of Simons this year and man was i wrong about his 4/100 deal. lightening Lillard’s load, good chemistry with Grant and Hart. Portland’s offense looking better than ever, just gotta put it together on the other end. Sharpe is so fun

didn’t watch a ton of todays game bc half the team was out but Brooklyn is really starting to click. here we go

deep dive on Sacramento/Cleveland with no Fox or Mitchell. really hated Garland’s game as the primary initiator, credit to Sacramento defense. Keegan Murray is learning to be a stud on both ends, the bench is deep (Monk, Metu, Dellavedova, Lyles), and the offense is just continuing to roll on all cylinders with Sabonis as the engine. Mobley and Allen work much better with a pass first guy, of which there are none except Neto, but Rubio is coming back soon. Levert had a good game today though

Golden State won and i only caught some of it but man their second unit is still atrocious

Splash Bros were on fire and Tatum was cold early, even missing FT's. Hopefully big Rob will provide some needed D when he returns as his absence was a noticeable void on D.

[Rodey]

Deer three-point defense this season has been such a pleasant turnaround.

30th last season in 3PA allowed and 19th in 3P% allowed to 6th in 3PA allowed and 10th in 3P% allowed so far.

[ToySoldier#34]

Originally Posted by TypicalBilly14

Splash Bros were on fire and Tatum was cold early, even missing FT's. Hopefully big Rob will provide some needed D when he returns as his absence was a noticeable void on D.

Would help if they played defense against Curry, just an idea

[justinandimcool]

yeah Boston defense isn’t great in the first place without Robert Williams and it only works if they’re keeping teams on the halfcourt which is hard to do with that bad shooting last night

not too concerned but yeah back to the drawing board with Curry. the shading off Green stuff was interesting, don’t see that too often

[justinandimcool]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Deer three-point defense this season has been such a pleasant turnaround.

30th last season in 3PA allowed and 19th in 3P% allowed to 6th in 3PA allowed and 10th in 3P% allowed so far.

a complete change in philosophy from Budenholzer which is refreshing tbh. i think it’s a good way to cash in on having elite rim protection which wasn’t there before

[SmoothG]

Salt Lake City is really pretty, but it's so small. I looked it up, like 200,000 people. Is that the smallest city with a pro team, other than Green Bay?

[BotheLaneFan]

AD very good.

[justinandimcool]

^very good

also whoa Embiid and Harden tonight

you guys have to see Williamson dismantle Phoenix, he’s actually better than two years ago. best run of his career right now, this week

Originally Posted by SmoothG

Salt Lake City is really pretty, but it's so small. I looked it up, like 200,000 people. Is that the smallest city with a pro team, other than Green Bay?

yep. third is Orlando fourth is Buffalo fifth is New Orleans

[Rodey]

Zion is unreal. Truly hope he stays healthy.

[ToySoldier#34]

Originally Posted by justinandimcool

yeah Boston defense isn’t great in the first place without Robert Williams and it only works if they’re keeping teams on the halfcourt which is hard to do with that bad shooting last night

not too concerned but yeah back to the drawing board with Curry. the shading off Green stuff was interesting, don’t see that too often

Tatum specifically not showing up shouldn't be overlooked, there are two other teams on their level and very little else matters so the record is nice but Saturday showed they still aren't where they want to be

[justinandimcool]

i mean Tatum has put up quite a few stinkers this year so he was due. no Horford was huge too though



Cade Cunningham season is done. and as someone who really focused on him this year, he looked like a short Khris Middleton out there this year trying to cosplay as Luka Doncic. the eye test just doesn’t do it for me, and i was really high on him after the draft as a super duper star. just a bummer of a situation for Detroit. hope he gets healthy and has a fair crack at it. it’s getting Fultzy in here tbh

[justinandimcool]

Tatum another meh game but not much help from the others. Clippers just too many competent defenders and rim protection

Leonard first real good game of the season tbh



Lillard 11 threes what on earth. this Gobert only experiment has been buns so far, hard to paint Towns as a scapegoat at the moment


Brooklyn good, Memphis good

nice win for Dallas but man Jalen Williams on Oklahoma City is so solid, fun to lock in on him, prob the smartest rookie of this years class, just really knows how to play

[Rodey]

Warriors are unbelievably bad on the road.

[justinandimcool]

^ yup. easy bet to make lol

lost the others though, weird day w New Orleans, Phoenix, and Sacramento getting throttled

Lakers/Boston was amazing. another overtime where the Lakers lay an egg (gassed credit to them). Westbrook was good but really did not need to play in overtime. can’t believe the Kornet/Grant Williams lineups worked but made complete sense w the matchups.

my takeaway is the Lakers are brilliant in such short spurts, i really do think the front office will be guilted into a trade. ultimately just an average fringe team at the moment. just enough guys you can trust but the Westbrook thing makes it awkward. that closing lineup was buns offensively

Boston defense (again no Horford and Williams is coming soon) again an issue esp in transition, in the paint, and lost the foul game too

[BotheLaneFan]

LeBron threw the game. I know he got us back in it, but he was especially awful down the stretch, and the downturn started after he gave a throw away to Smart.

[justinandimcool]

Curry (my early mvp and having the best year of his career so far) left the game w shoulder injury. looked bad bad

[ToySoldier#34]

Robert Williams is back tonight

[jwehaeDMB]

thank the (time) lord

[justinandimcool]

haven’t seen what happened yet but yikes bad loss to Orlando

Irving with the sickest step back buzzer beater omg

[BotheLaneFan]

Denver Nuggets? More like….Denver Poop.

Also, plz don’t be dead AD.

[justinandimcool]

wow just saw the game. wtf Davis. knew this was coming but not this soon. jesus.

bet on the Lakers this game, this was just a bad spot for Denver coming across the country but Lakers bench looks good


caught up on Brooklyn, looking pretty damn good especially with their closing lineup. Simmons was sloppy but good, Warren looks back into form and will be an important player. on the other hand Toronto depth is just shot rn though

Robert Williams looked really spry! the Boston offense on the other hand regressing a bit, i suppose you can’t be the best offense of all time, all the time. credit to Orlando though, Fultz really opening up the game for Wagner/Banchero. actually both Wagners i guess lol

watch out for New York, their defense has really tightened up especially with the starting unit. Grimes is a godsend and i can see why they’re so high on him, McBride on the up and up too