Arena The NBA Thread

The lob to Tyson Chandler was a hell of a way to close out this game. I knew Harden was going to have a good game after the opening shot. It looked perfect, he was perfectly balanced and in rhythm. He had that pull up all night.

Dame looks thicker, btw. Looks like he put on a little bit of muscle. I wonder if he wanted to be stronger after getting banged up in the playoffs.

LeVert is injured and will miss a few weeks, because he’s LeVert.

A big topic right now is load management. I thought we were past this? Toronto just won a championship with it. Get over it. A lot of these guys may not actually be injured right now, but they will be if they don’t skip some of these games. Blake wasn’t injured, until he was, because the Pistons rode him like a horse.

Rachel Nichols said if they need rest then they can nap some other time. They don’t need sleep, dummy. Well, they do, but what they really need is to not play 30 minutes in an NBA game. Yes, they need rest. They are tired, and from more than just a lack of sleep. They need rest from the rigors of NBA games.

Shortening the season won’t end it. A player who has only played sixty games still has an advantage over one who has played seventy. You’d have to shorten the season to forty games or less if you want to get rid of load management.

Not every player does it. Beal, Kemba, Tobias, and Reggie Jackson all played 82 games last year. So did others. Plenty of other good players came close. It’s really just a few stars with injury histories that need a lot of it.

If you’re a fan and thinking about buying tickets based on a guy who sits for load management, factor that in to your decision. Look at the schedule. If the Clippers are on a back to back, the chances Kawhi is sitting out are high. Don’t buy if that’s an issue to you.

I do think the teams and the NBA should continue to work on avoiding it on nationally televised games. Teams should communicate early and err on the side of caution (hey, we don’t know for sure, but there’s a good chance our player will miss one of these games, so don’t schedule us for national tv). Give the NBA an overestimate to be sure. Then the NBA should just broadcast someone else. It’s not going to kill you to put Indiana, Chicago, Charlotte, Detroit, Phoenix, and Sacramento on tv a little more often. It doesn’t have to be Boston and LA teams every ****ing night.

 

And the flip side is Draymond...puts up 4 points and gets ejected lol. All bark without his buddies.

I need to bottle up this schadenfreude, @DarthIntegral we could live on it for years.

"Grandpa what happened after he told KD he didn't need him?"

*takes a huff*

 

lol i'm watching javale dunk all over us right now while they try to interview klay. i've been spoiled as a fan for 5 years. it feels okay for everyone else to have their schadenfreude moment. hopefully we can come back reloaded eventually.

 

Loved his game tonight, Kuz & the bench.

 

The different ways in which Pascal Siakam is now scoring is insane. Can a player win most improved twice in a row? How is this unconventional growth curve even possible? He turned himself into the ideal secondary complimentary player to a legit superstar last year and now he’s transformed himself to function like a legit superstar this year.


Pascal wasn’t even playing basketball 8 years ago! He liked soccer and wanted to be a priest in Cameroon but his father loved basketball and encouraged him and then died and it’s like Pascal channeled all of that to somehow go from unknown player to small school college player to late draft pick to ideal second player on a contender to now a legit star. It’s almost like he’s playing catch up for starting the sport so much later than most NBA players did and he’s such a natural that he just keeps adding more things.

Check this out. It’s Kawhi Leonard’s stats for us last year versus Pascal Siakam’s stats for us this year.

The rumors of the Knicks making a huge run at Masai Ujiri worries me. This man finds talent consistently that’s overlooked. Even Giannis! In that draft Masai Ujiri tried to trade up to pick Giannis before the Bucks did.

 

Watching the Warriors game last night made me want to start drinking again as I watch the games. Definitely need something to dull the pain. LOL.

 

My favorite highlight of the game was the Chriss pass that went like 20 feet over everyone’s heads. Lots of passes to the crowd last night. I guess that’s one way to get them involved.

Give yourself permission to skip a game now and then. Maybe try focusing on something other than win-loss. Follow the development of Paschall, he looks like he could contribute when the Splash Brothers come back. It helps to find positives when the games are painful to watch.

Edit: speaking of drinking, have you guys seen Kendrick on The Jump lately? lol this dude has been chuckling through the whole show. Big ole belly laughs.

 

Portland is signing Carmelo! Guess they’re desperate for a third scorer.

I’m watching the Knicks game and Fiz is using the exact bench unit that I would use. Smith, Robinson, Portis, Knox, and Dotson. The Smith-Robinson pick and roll combo has a lot of potential, they need to develop them together. Dotson, Knox, and Portis would provide plenty of spacing.

Starters I’d go with Randle, Morris, Barrett, Ellington, and Ntilikina. You’d have Randle and Morris running dribble hand offs with Ellington, Frank standing in the corner, and Barrett up top where he can shoot or blitz if the defense helps on the hand offs. It worked really well for the Pistons with Blake running dho with Ellington and Reggie waiting for the catch, and the Pistons had less shooting with Andre and Brown. It’s a horrible starting lineup defensively, but their defense is already bad and slow anyway, and the offense is dead last.

Taj Gibson would be out of the rotation. No more three big starting lineups, they’re ridiculous in today’s game.

 

Me upon learning that the Blazers have signed Carmelo.

 

This Knicks game is great! Doncic taking on the entire Knicks team in the third quarter....and gaining. KP closing out the third quarter with a crowd silencing putback dunk...followed by boos. Knicks crowd has been heated, chanting “KP sucks” and “***hole” with KP at the line. Knicks putting up a great fight, too. Team effort. Smith, Portis, Randle, Robinson. Morris. All in double digits.

 

Knicks swept Dallas! It's the bright spot of our season .

 

Yeah, I'm sure Melo is the answer in Portland. However, I'm glad to see the guy on a NBA roster. I'm assuming he has accepted a coming off the bench role, and hopefully he can be the equivalent to what Lou Williams does for the Clippers.

 

It was accidental but they don’t care anymore. An elbow to the face is automatic. They’ve really cracked down on any contact above the shoulders.

Pistons have come out of the half playing like ****. Turnovers and no energy. Hornets have made just about every three to close the gap and make it a tight game. Making me nervous after I thought we had control.

 

Zeller had Bruce Brown in a freaking hammer lock and dragged him down, he could have dislocated his elbow.

Pistons analyst Greg Kelser: thank god there aren’t any helmets out there.

 

Unbelievable. Same thing happened last year with Lamb. Andre might have wanted to jump at that. Almost blocking a shot without jumping doesn’t count for much.

Garbage play by the Pistons. Makes me sick. That should have been an easy win. Wasted Langston’s sick shooting and career high points.

Blake should be shut down. He’s a liability on the defensive end and he slows down the offense.

Good win for your guys.

 

Who got hit with a helmet?!

Or put through a table?!!!

 

morant is so fun to watch. gonna have to try to catch a few more grizz games.

 

Feisty Laker win over the Kings tonight; Hield with decent 3-point shooting & Bogandovic (and Holmes) kept the Kings in it, while LeBron (with help of a certain, hellacious dunk), and KCP (12-points in the 4th!) helped tremendously in the Lakers cause. But the play of the evening...




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Brow block!

 

So I chose to watch the Houston/Pacers game last night. I fell asleep before the end, but it was a good watch. Somehow OKC beat the 76ers in OT, so I'm about to spend half my day watching that game on replay. What happened to the 76ers? We are about a month in and this season is wild. The Sun's are good? Atlanta has to play both LA's back to back then they finally get home from their Western trip and have to play Milwaukee. Surely they have some easy stretches coming up since they do play in the East, but OMG. I have circled Jan 10th on my calendar as my 6 year old's first NBA game when Atlanta comes here to DC. And I guess that's enough rambling for me on this Saturday morning.

 

Agreed. Dude can play and he is fun to watch.

 

I had no idea about Bill Russell and the HOF reason!

https://www.theroot.com/bill-russell-ends-44-year-basketball-hof-boycott-but-th-1839895796

 

He has one of the better high speed floaters in the sport. Also, why don’t more superstar players add the high speed floater? If you come off a screen you can almost always find daylight for that and it’s almost unstoppable if accurate. Also love that kid’s b-ball IQ at such a young age. He’s going to be awesome for them. Fun to watch.

Speaking of PGs with great floaters... Trae Young has another nice one. When everyone was saying the Doncic for Young trade would be one of the worst of all time back when Young was struggling initially I knew he’d close the gap more and even though Doncic is better... they’re both stars.