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2022-23 Basketball Thread


Pariah

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Got to think the rumbling in LA is getting louder.

Lakers are up 7, at home, under 2 minutes left...and lose.  In the last stretch, Beverly misses a 3, a shot gets blocked, James misses a long step-back 3, Westbrook misses a mid-range, while Portland puts up 9 to take the lead.  Lakers get a James layup, but Portland scores with only 3 seconds left.  Lakers miss a James turnaround...likely rather contested.

 

Lakers are now 0-3.  They go 6-33 from 3 again.  Westbrook continues to lay bricks...4-15.  He went 0-4 in the last 4 1/2 minutes before being yanked with 12 seconds left, and the Lakers down 2.  Which may turn out to be lighting the fuse on the whole thing blowing up.

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9 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Got to think the rumbling in LA is getting louder.

Lakers are up 7, at home, under 2 minutes left...and lose.  In the last stretch, Beverly misses a 3, a shot gets blocked, James misses a long step-back 3, Westbrook misses a mid-range, while Portland puts up 9 to take the lead.  Lakers get a James layup, but Portland scores with only 3 seconds left.  Lakers miss a James turnaround...likely rather contested.

 

Lakers are now 0-3.  They go 6-33 from 3 again.  Westbrook continues to lay bricks...4-15.  He went 0-4 in the last 4 1/2 minutes before being yanked with 12 seconds left, and the Lakers down 2.  Which may turn out to be lighting the fuse on the whole thing blowing up.

 

The Lakers are now 25-118 from 3-point range through 3 games this season.

 

I am not an NBA coach but here's a thought - "Hey Lakers - STOP SHOOTING 3s!!!"

 

You're welcome.

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And even more, I suspect they're facing largely packed-in defenses that don't give them much else.  According to this:

https://www.nba.com/news/5-takeaways-blazers-lakers-suns-clippers

 

when the Blazers made their comeback, basically it was "let Westbrook shoot."  Sounds pretty good to me, since he's 11-38 overall and 1-12 from 3.  As a team, the Lakers have 1 player shooting over 30% from 3...and that's a guy who's only take 5, in 30 minutes over 2 games.  Their 21% from 3 is 8 full points behind the next worst...Chicago and Minnesota are about even.  It is UNDER HALF the percentage of the Cavs and Nuggets.  The gap is so big that starting from the Cavs at #1, 44.3%...dropping 8% to 36.3%?  That's #16, Phoenix.  

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15 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Lakers are now 0-3.  They go 6-33 from 3 again.  Westbrook continues to lay bricks...4-15.  He went 0-4 in the last 4 1/2 minutes before being yanked with 12 seconds left, and the Lakers down 2.  Which may turn out to be lighting the fuse on the whole thing blowing up.

 

Sounds like the Lakers are having as many problems with Russ as the Broncos are.

 

What? :angel:

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I find it refreshing that, when told they need to tank to improve their draf/rebuild process, the players and coaches of teams like Utah, Denver, and Portland are saying "Forget that! We didn't become NBAs players/coaches to lose. So we're going to fight, claw, and will ourselves ot the playoffs in spite of them!"

 

NBA players are members of one of the most exclusive athletic fraternities on the planet; there are only 450 of them in the league at any given time. Tenacity and desire to win, along with exceptional talent, bloom in even the "worst" NBA player. Do you think they enjoy losing? Of course they don't. They want to see their pride and determination rewarded. They want to show the people who counted them out the fire that got them into this fraternity, by winning as many games as they can.

 

We'll see what the teams look like after about 30 games, which is how long it takes for NBA teams to figure out who they really are. but for now, watching these "hopeless" teams has been gratifying.

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Denver...tanking?

 

They're the #4 pick to win the title, in the West, according to most sports books.  Not even *that* much of a long shot, ranging from +1600 to +1800.  Realize:  no one's better than +600 right now.

 

It is too early to say a lot, but there are exceptions...the Lakers are the big one.  There are no surprises to explain away these losses, they've largely gone exactly to form.  

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18 hours ago, Starlord said:

 

<BLEEP>ing idiot.  The Nets might not be in a great place to do much, but he had endorsement deals with Nike and Pepsi.  I'm not sure if he still does;  his stunt last year alienated plenty of people.  But after this, ya gotta figure if they bailed on Kanye?  They'll bail on him.  Actually, it's plausible the Nets will bail on him;  he's in the last year of his deal, so it might be acceptable to swallow $30M in dead money.  The idiot's probably made himself nearly unsignable...not just from this, but this might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  Let's hope.

 

And the Nets are 1-5.  They were described as a disaster, not a team...or something like that, I don't recall exactly.  And getting worse.  They're showing the same problems...next to last in defensive rating.  If they stay on their present course, I could see major moves by Thanksgiving...like cutting Irving.  Figure that Nash's future is tenuous, but I'd also point the finger squarely at whomever signed Kyrie and Simmons.  If they're even still there.

 

Lakers are a disaster too...not quite the same flavor, but Mostly Hopeless.  Some writers say it's a bright spot that LBJ and AD are averaging a ton, but I look at it the other way:  DESPITE their play, they're losing all the time.  So how bad do they lose if either one has an off-game?  SCARY!!! fact for Laker fans...they're 2nd in the league on defense, but 0-5...AND AD and LBJ are averaging almost 50 a game, each playing 35 minutes a game.  AD has too much of an injury history to make anyone sanguine with that, and LBJ is too old to do that all year...he has faded in the past.

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If the Nets go through with hiring Ime Udoka...nah, I hope they don't bail on Irving.  I hope he plays all season long and the Nets finish with the worst record in the league.

 

On the other side...just noted that New Mexico State starts its preseason tonight.  And surprise!!!  The first games start next week.  The first preseason tournament is the 11th and 13th;  the massive explosion starts the 17th, ending on the 25th, with 10 4-team, 2-day matchups (as opposed to the ESPN events like Coaches Against Cancer, which is 4 teams, 2 games back to back on the same night), and 17 events with 8 teams, most of which are 3-day full tournaments.  (There's some odd ones, tho.)  The nice thing about them is, there's some decent matchups.  Outside of these, the good teams are snacking on cupcakes, for the most part.

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