Arena The NBA Thread

Nba warns the bulls for resting healthy vets

I’m part thinking the nba is taking the piss attempting to dictate a team on what they want to do with their players, and part thinking what a royal screw up garpax have been now even at tanking, when half the league is doing the same thing but being way more clever about it.

once again, no clear, firm plan in place. if a proper tank was the plan (which it should have been), then you needn’t have re-signed nico in the first place and you should have got rid of the vets before the beginning of the season. as it stands we’ll probably pick around the 8th pick and miss out on the potential big guns. yay?

 

I hate tanking and I think that's kinda dumb. If the Bulls want to sit Robin Lopez and Holiday and play Felicio and Nwaba some more, then let them. That's called developing players.

 

yeah, it’s definitely BS.

maybe they should start stepping in when teams make one sided trades like the Magic trading away Payton for a second round pick too.

 

There's a story that a woman filed a police report against Mark Cuban in 2011 for sticking his hand down her pants and penetrating her with his finger. It happened while they were taking a picture, and there are pictures, though they have not been released due to privacy.

Combine this with the culture of sexual harassment within the Mavericks, and I'm pretty ready to give him the Sterling treatment.

 

yeah, get him out.

 

One of the only few times I would be rooting for OKC was last night, and they let me down. The Rockets just don't want to lose. Which is really impressive. What was not impressive, was the Dubs giving up a 20 something lead to the Nets last night.

And the Unibrow and Pelicans are on fire since Boogie went down. Not sure how that will play into the off season.

 

the top four teams in the west have won a combined 39 straight games. i'm not too concerned about the warriors giving up that lead. they clearly let up after it looked like the nets weren't even going to show up, and also their normal rotation was all out of wack with west not playing. what i am concerned about is jordan bell getting hurt again. he was just rounding back into form and i think he could actually be a key piece in the playoffs.

 

Yeah, Bell rolled his ankle and Zaza wasn't even on the floor. You could see Kerr was experimenting with Bell at center in the past few games and getting him into shape for the playoffs. Bell was doing well by closing out defensively and cleaning up the boards, which is the Dubs' weakest links. I mean, there was that sequence in last night's game where the Nets had like 4 offensive rebounds in a row. I think the Rockets' Capela is going to be a problem for the Warriors should they meet them in the playoffs.

 

Man, the Warriors are so annoyingly deep. Zaza, Draymond, Bell, Javale, and West. They can all play center. They'll be fine. At hybrid forward you've got Durant and Casspi. Klay, Iggy, and Swaggy on the wings. Steph and Livingston at the point. Quite a few of those guys can play multiple positions. They've got overlapping depth. They're fine. They've got another ring coming unless something disastrous happens, and even then they could still win, even if someone like Steph or KD goes down. They may look like they've come down a bit but they're just bored. That should change come playoffs.

I still don't trust a D'Antoni team to play much defense. I don't trust Harden to play much defense. I don't trust Harden at all, really. Great player, tremendous skill...but he doesn't play well at the end of games in the playoffs. I remember him failing to get a game winning shot off in Game 2 against the Warriors in 2015. I remember him turning the ball over against the Spurs. I remember him waiting for a screen, and then pouting when it didn't come and throwing up a frustration 3 that was pure quit. I remember him getting his shot blocked by Ginobili (though I don't blame him much for that). And then they got blasted in the elimination game, 114-75, and Harden played terribly and fouled out. And that was with Kawhi hurt and on the bench. And I can't help but distrust CP3's durability.

Spurs don't have it this year, unless Kawhi has some sort of miraculous comeback.

Minnesota is too inexperienced and still doesn't play enough defense, plus Jimmy B might not be 100%.

Cleveland has been too chaotic, too many new guys too late in the season, and I still don't trust them to play defense. They can get to the Finals but I'm not sure why I should think they can beat the Warriors. They still lost Kyrie and replaced him with...George Hill? None of those guys can replace Kyrie, he was so clutch and used to just torch guys.

Boston can't do it without Hayward, their season has been DOA from the start.

The only hope the rest of the NBA has is that the Warriors have gotten arrogant enough to blow it.

 

Damn, LeBron. That was fun.

 

Dude just closed out the game. Dagger after dagger.

 

It was insane to watch from the Pepsi Center. Even the Nuggets fans after the last dagger were cheering and celebrating what they were watching.

 

D Rose is a T Wolf

 

I'm hoping against hope the Beard and Chris Paul go to the Finals. Cause I don't think OKC is getting there, someone is not making the play-offs, OKC or San Antonio, someone it will be a fun race no matter what even though no one and I mean one except Houston or GS has a chance to win. I also think that the Cavs win was big last night. It's not easy for east coast teams to play those late night west coast games.

 

I don't read this as much as I should, because I just keep forgetting it exists, but this was a pretty good read.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/steve-francis-i-got-a-story-to-tell/

 

Two of the West’s top teams lost today. Let’s hope the Warriors join them.

 

Once again in the category of things that please me immensely:


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Not a bad place all for him, and some other Cavs, to spend an evening here in La La Land. I got to wonder what hookah flavor(s) they tried! A bit hyped up for tonight's game, given how well the Lakers have played recently, and also glad it's on the local Laker channel (no TV impasse there!), as opposed to being on ESPN exclusively.

 

Even 18 months later it's fun to see Kevin Durant lose. Even if it's not the best thing for the Thunder. Enjoyed that game!

And Houston should rebound tonight, they play Dallas after all.

 

That was rather fun! Really enjoyed in particular Thomas, KCP & Randle’s efforts; all the usual courtside regulars (doesn’t happen that much anymore) were at the game too, which was especially niiiiice.

 

had fun at the warriors/blazers game on friday, despite steph not playing and the warriors losing. if it's blazers/dubs in the second round, which looks likely, it could be a great series. i think the warriors are basically going to concede the number 1 seed to the rockets at this point, and just focus on getting healthy.