NBA 2023-2024

[unclevlad]

Well, one thing we can say for certain.  If a coach is 30-13 and still gets fired, there are MULTIPLE incidents that led up to it.

 

I think it's also fair to say...if Giannis and Lillard, say, said yes, keep him, he'd still be the coach.  And, ok, they're some of the reason he's gone...but by no means all of it.

 

So, Doc Rivers is in, and already on the hot seat come playoff time.  At LEAST, he's got to make the conference finals.

 

EDIT:  and now it's ESPN's turn...after blowing off Van Gundy and Jackson, whither now?  One report suggests just keeping it at Breen and Burke.  Considering the *sharp* drop in profits and the consistent, ongoing drop in subscribers, and the repeated pattern of layoffs...a 2 person broadcast crew is cheaper.

[unclevlad]

Rather less surprising...Wizards remove Wes Unseld Jr as their head coach, assigning him an advisory position in the front office.  Whatever that means.

 

But that happens when your team's 7-36, including 1-11 in January, following back to back 35-47 seasons.

[Pariah]

They still have a better record than the Pistons....

[unclevlad]

5 hours ago, Pariah said:

They still have a better record than the Pistons....

 

"Damnation by faint praise" has a new exemplar...

 

They're actually playing right now...and if the Pistons win?  The difference between the two will be *1* game.  The low point for Detroit was 2-29...epically awful.  They've gone 3-10 since, which is merely top-5 draft pick awful.

 

EDIT:  yes, well...Wizards win it, so they're back to 3 games ahead in a tight race....

[Cygnia]

Ex-NBA player Scot Pollard waits in hospital for heart transplant

[unclevlad]

Sitting down to eat dinner, ESPN college hoops on...so on the crawl, the Nets-Celtics score flashes by.

 

Celtics 109-60, 10 minutes left in the 4th..................  Nets starters were 11-39 from the field.

 

The NBA clearly needs a mercy rule.........but hey, both coaches can empty the benches to get those tail-end Charlies some actual court time...

[unclevlad]

Celtics have clinched a spot in the post-season...with just over 1/4 of the season left.  They have 6 fewer losses than anyone else, East or West, to claim home court throughout, and 8 better than Cleveland for #1 in the East.  The West, OTOH, has Minnesota (!!), OKC (!!!!), and Denver within a half game.

 

OTOH...Washington's been bad all season.  Their current 14 game losing streak has meant they've now got the worst record in the league...yeah, worse than those Pistons who lost 28 straight.  In the West, the Spurs are a near-lock to be the first team eliminated, because the West has much greater depth.  The Lakers currently hold the 10th and final spot at 33-29;  the 10th spot in the East is Atlanta at 26-34.  The Spurs are 12-48;  the season's 82 games, so their elimination number is 2.  (Detroit's is 7, Washington's is 6.)

 

You may now return to not caring about the NBA....

[unclevlad]

Holy cow...Celtics are *romping* to the top seed in the East.  14 games left...their magic number is *5*.  And 9, to have the best record in the league.

 

4 teams eliminated;  2 more are on the doorstep, 2 games away from it.  The East is more stratified...Celtics, then Bucks and Cavs, then Knicks and Magic.  Sixers, Pacers, and Heat would be the next level, but Sixers without Embeed are fading fast.  Then it's big gaps to the 9, 10, and 11 teams.  The West?  T'wolves, Nuggets, and Thunder are neck and neck.  Then it's Clippers with 25 losses, Pelicans 26, Kings 28, Mavs and Suns 29, Lakers and Warriors 32.  Rockets are 11th with 35 losses...which actually means the Wolves, Thunder, and Nuggets, with 47 wins, are dormie for a playoff berth.

[unclevlad]

Realized this morning that the NBA's near-interminable regular season is about over...so their interminable post-season can start.  The regular season ends on the 14th.  The play-in starts on the 16th.  Game 7 of the finals is scheduled for...June 23rd.  68 days...almost 10 weeks.  Ridiculously too long...in part because, for the finals, there's only 1 off day between games 3 and 4.  EVERY other game has 2 off days.  Yeah...the finals alone may run 17 days.  I wonder how much this is hurting viewership;  it kills momentum.

 

Anyway, that prompted me to look at the standings...teams are down to 4-5 games left.  The teams in the East are set...but ONLY the Celtics have avoided the play-in.  They've totally locked in the best record overall by a WIDE margin.  Bulls and Hawks are locked in the 9 and 10 slots.  In the West, OTOH, Nuggets, Minnesota, and OKC are fighting it out for #1 in the West, and have clinched playoff spots.  Clippers are in good shape, in the 4 spot, 2 games ahead of Dallas with only 5 to play.  Dallas, Phoenix, Nawlins, Lakers, and Kings are in pretty good shape to make at least the play-in, but they're only separated by 3 games.  Warriors have the last spot right now, and they're 4 up on the Rockets.  (Which is still a MASSIVE improvement for the Rockets...they'll end up right around 40 wins.  After 17, 20, and 22 wins the last 3 years, that's an *impressive* amount of improvement.)  Still have to wonder what the Warriors are gonna do in the off-season;  the 10 seed during the regular season would be a massive win for the Rockets, but it's disastrously bad for the Warriors.  REAL good chance the team is going to be VERY different next year.

[unclevlad]

There's always a potential problem going into the last game of the season...some teams have no incentive to win.

 

Most extreme case this year...Mavs vs. OKC.  Mavs, it turns out, are locked into the #5 seed...Clips were a game up on them, they were a game up on the Pels...but the tiebreakers are such that they were locked in.

 

So they sat their entire starting 5.  OKC, OTOH, was part of the 3-way tie, so they had every incentive to win.  OKC was up 17 after 1, and buried the Mavs in the 2nd quarter, 43-19.  

 

Pelicans are 2 minutes away from a disappointing finish.  They're at home, but Lakers are up 19.  If the Pelis lose, they drop from #6 to #7...and therefore into the play-in.  Oh, and guess who they'd play.  Yeah.  Lakers.

[Pariah]

If the Lakers win the play-in, we could have another opportunity to see them get swept by the Nuggets. 

[unclevlad]

The sooner LeBron is gone from the playoffs, the happier I'll be.

 

Play-in...the West plays Tues, the East Fri, and the 2nd round for both are on Friday.  The West are both pure pick'em...Pels -1, Warriors -1.5.  East has more of a spread...Philly, with Embiid back, is -4, and Bulls are -3.  What's interesting to me is, if Philly wins, they play #2 Knicks.  Define parity?  #2 would have all of 3 more wins than #7.

[unclevlad]

Mmm....Pelicans fall down badly at the end of the season.  Lakers beat them again...which is their 6th straight loss on their home court.  These losses to the Lakers have been bad...the Sunday loss dropped them into the play-in tournament rather than the full 1st round.  This one forces them into a win or go home, single game Friday. 

 

Zion left the court after hitting the tying bucket with 3 minutes left.  Sure, that hurt...but they also blew some plays, and they had a hard time dealing with the Lakers' size all game.  There was a bad turnover on a fast break;  then Anthony Davis snagged an offensive rebound after the defense forced LeBron into a tough shot.  That was at least 4 points right there...and the Lakers only won by 4.

 

And now we get the KINGS!!! in the playoffs again.  What is the world coming to????

 

I'm sick and tired of Draymond, tho, so I'll root for the Kings.

[unclevlad]

Warriors look old, tired, slow, and generally out of sync.  Kings had stretches of making too many mistakes, but they got it together, the Warriors lost any cohesion they might've had...and starting committing lots of reach fouls.  

 

Klay Thompson going 0 for 10 didn't help.  VERY limited contribution from the starters to help Steph generally.  Close game at halftime...Warriors drew within 1 in the 3rd but a 9-0 run was the harbinger.  From, IIRC, 61-60, Kings crush the Warriors 57-34 the rest of the way, and it wasn't really that close.

 

Will the Warriors get blown up now?  That remains to be seen, but it's quite possible.  The West has too many teams that are very young and very good.  This current lineup wont be competitive.

 

Pelicans-Kings.  Interesting, VERY unpredictable matchup, as both teams are young and highly mistake-prone.  A major factor is likely Zion's issue.  As Stan Van Gundy said, "leg soreness" does not come CLOSE to describing whatever took him off the court with 3 minutes left.  Not in a tie game in the playoffs.  Pelicans apparently have won the last 5 between the 2 teams, but I'm also concerned that they have ALL the pressure on them, after the late-season fade.

[unclevlad]

The unfortunate news...both Jimmy Butler and Zion Williamson suffered injuries in their games and are out for tomorrow, and at least some time longer.

 

The "dude, how could you be so stupid" news...Jontay Porter has been banned for life from the NBA, for betting on basketball...including games in which he played...and sharing insider info.  The most egregious:  he faked an injury *to his team* so he wouldn't play...and the Under prop bets involving him would be sure to hit.  Banning for life is pretty much a no brainer with that nugget.

 

The "how could you be so stupid"...he made about $22,000 from the bets...but he had a 2-way contract (NBA, G League) that paid at least $400K...and much more if he could stick in the NBA.  One angle here is the insider info...from NBA.com:

 

Quote

The league’s investigation found that prior to the Raptors’ March 20 game, Porter disclosed confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor.  Another individual with whom Porter associated and knew to be an NBA bettor subsequently placed an $80,000 parlay proposition bet with an online sports book, to win $1.1 million, wagering that Porter would underperform in the March 20 game.

 

Ya gotta wonder...WHY?  The *generous* interpretation would be "I didn't realize!!!" but that's shot to heck by him placing prop bets then sitting out so they'd be sure to hit.  Oh, BTW, the bets were flagged and NOT paid out.

 

That makes this FAR more egregious than, say, Pete Rose's violations.  It's on par with the point shaving scandals in college basketball.  The kid's never going to be reinstated, and this will be a black flag for any potential employer.

[Pariah]

He could probably play in China.

[unclevlad]

Pelicans get a much-needed win tonight, IMO, to make the playoff field.

 

Miami also gets in by goring the Bulls.  Bigger loser there, IMO...the Hawks.  Routed by the #9 team...who in turn got routed by the #8 team.  Translation?  The Hawks are still miles away from serious contention.  Richard Jefferson, on the ESPN broadcast, basically eviscerated their defense.  He noted that the Bulls were getting good shots after one action...say, a draw and dish...against the Hawks, but decent defensive teams, you need to go to a second or third action/pass to do so.  The individual loser may be Trae Young, as the Hawks were 22-42 with him...and 14-14 without, including 12-9 to get the 10th seed.  And he's due about $90M over the next 2 years.  It may well be that he's not the real problem, but he still comes across as undisciplined.

[unclevlad]

There's no argument that when Joel Embiid is on the court and engaged, he's one of the best players in the NBA.  

 

The key there, mostly, is on the court.

 

Second quarter, kinda trapped in the lane.  Tosses the ball off the backboard, grabs it for a one-handed slam.

 

And lands awkwardly on his left knee.  And when you're 7 foot something and around 280-300 pounds, that's a lotta force.

 

Taken straight back to the locker room.

[Pariah]

Nuggets 114, Lakers 103

 

The Nuggets have beaten the Lakers nine straight times, if memory serves.

 

Gentlemen, let's make it twelve, shall we? 

[unclevlad]

13 hours ago, Pariah said:

Nuggets 114, Lakers 103

 

The Nuggets have beaten the Lakers nine straight times, if memory serves.

 

Gentlemen, let's make it twelve, shall we? 

 

Davis and LeBron played 86 minutes, scored 59, grabbed 20 boards, dished 13 assists, and blocked 5 shots.  And the Lakers still lost.

 

On the upside, Russell shot 1-9 from 3.  It's reasonable to expect that to improve, but...it's also likely Davis and LeBron will slip a bit.  Particularly LeBron.  

 

Not sure the Nuggets will sweep, but I would lean to winning in 5.

[unclevlad]

So Mr. P, never a doubt, right?

 

 

 

for those who didn't watch...

 

Spoiler

Nuggets trailed by 10+ in the fourth.  Fought back got it to a tie, clock running out.  Forced a tough shot, got the rebound inside 10 seconds.  No TO, take it down, kept the ball in the hands of the playmakers.  Murray hits a fadeaway falling down, 18 footer...as the buzzer goes off while the ball's in the air.

 

[Pariah]

Quote of the Day from Social Media:

 

"At least when Michael Jordan pushed off, he made the shot. 🙄"

[unclevlad]

From The Athletic, through me, to Mr. P...don't say I never did anything nice for you.

 

Quote

The Lakers were rattled. As they should be after 10 straight losses to Denver, with each one seemingly more painful and deflating than the previous one. At this point, it seems as if the Nuggets are merely torturing the Lakers, inventing new ways to embarrass them in high-stakes moments. 

 

[unclevlad]

Depleted Milwaukee is the first to lose a home game.  With Giannis out...not entirely surprising.  

 

EDIT:  and Dallas knocks off the Clips, making 2 straight for the road teams.  

[unclevlad]

Methinks da Lakers gon be blowed up Real Soon Now.  

 

Denver spots LA the first 8 and the last 6...and still wins by 7.

 

Neither team shoots the 3 ball worth a darn.  Lakers force 6 more TOs...but Nuggets win the boards by 13 (!)...that's an area where the Lakers should win.  

 

It's reasonably fair to say that the Nuggets didn't play a great game...and still won on the road, basically dooming the Lakers.  Again.  The James-Davis pairing simply is not working, barring the COVID season.  I'd even assert that their 2 round wins last year, were more the aberration...a short-term hot streak.  It happens;  look at the D'backs last year.