NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2017-18

ButtersSuki

Alos watched the GS Cavs game earlier this week (recorded, not live). Definite fouls (3) on LeBron and that has to be called. First foul on the crossover at the top of the key and two on the drive with the attempted blocked shots etc. And I say this as not a LeBron fan (quite the opposite!). Did it decide the game? No, in my opinion. It was just a bad (no) call.

That said, Cleveland got away with a couple of crazy calls in the first half - the Jeff Green taking out Durant on an illegal screen he didn't even know about (where he seemingly walks into a play unintentionally) and the refs somehow gift LeBron 2 free throws esp. springs to mind.

Also the bizarre no calls on Draymond and Jae Crowder when they wrestled each other to the ground was an easy double foul and nip it in the bud, but they chickened out for some reason.

rushfan

ButtersSuki wrote:

Can't believe how dumb Harden was in doing something so blatant TWICE in a row. I'm slightly less amazed the refs called it both times even if it was the correct call - and it was the correct call both times. Harden learning the hard way he's not at the super elite level yet (at least in the eyes of the refs) to get superstar calls. Harden likely figured he'd get the call or there'd be a no call on both plays.

Just watched this myself, thought Harden showed himself to be a petulant fool with those two fouls. Even after the game when Kyrie was commisserating with him, he simply blanked him. Although the Rockets lead was being brought back, they reminded me of a GAA team chasing a lead by going for goals instead of points. You could see the fear and helplessness in their faces too. Who knows. Could be a season defining moment for Boston.

Gregk961

rushfan wrote: »

Just watched this myself, thought Harden showed himself to be a petulant fool with those two fouls. Even after the game when Kyrie was commisserating with him, he simply blanked him. Although the Rockets lead was being brought back, they reminded me of a GAA team chasing a lead by going for goals instead of points. You could see the fear and helplessness in their faces too. Who knows. Could be a season defining moment for Boston.

It was really childish by Harden. He has a very questionable personality at times, even by NBA standards.

rushfan

Gregk961 wrote:

It was really childish by Harden. He has a very questionable personality at times, even by NBA standards.

Well he was involved with one of the Kardashians, so.............

ButtersSuki

rushfan wrote: »

Just watched this myself, thought Harden showed himself to be a petulant fool with those two fouls. Even after the game when Kyrie was commisserating with him, he simply blanked him. Although the Rockets lead was being brought back, they reminded me of a GAA team chasing a lead by going for goals instead of points. You could see the fear and helplessness in their faces too. Who knows. Could be a season defining moment for Boston.

They were clueless tbh. Their run and gun 3 game is what got them the lead and has won them so many games this year. Then, inexplicably, when up 26 they started to play a 24 second slow the clock iso game with Harden. Fine if he's hitting things but he wasn't. It's also not their game really and it shows. Soft underbelly it seems again, a la the Play Offs last year. Granted like I said in my original post no Paul or Capella so that hurt them, but still, if you're up 26 in the 3rd you HAVE to win those games. And you don't do that by stopping doing the things that got you up 26 in the first place.

I see online Harden said Smart is a flopper too. Well James Harden, you'd now what a flopper is with all those flopping shooting calls and contact calls you got last year in particular - so bad in fact the league changed the initiating contact whilst shooting rule to combat you! The worst part is the calls he's referring to were clear offensive fouls, not flops.

ButtersSuki

rushfan wrote: »

Well he was involved with one of the Kardashians, so.............

Yup, OJ's daughter (allegedly)....google it.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Alos watched the GS Cavs game earlier this week (recorded, not live). Definite fouls (3) on LeBron and that has to be called. First foul on the crossover at the top of the key and two on the drive with the attempted blocked shots etc. And I say this as not a LeBron fan (quite the opposite!). Did it decide the game? No, in my opinion. It was just a bad (no) call.

That said, Cleveland got away with a couple of crazy calls in the first half - the Jeff Green taking out Durant on an illegal screen he didn't even know about (where he seemingly walks into a play unintentionally) and the refs somehow gift LeBron 2 free throws esp. springs to mind.

Also the bizarre no calls on Draymond and Jae Crowder when they wrestled each other to the ground was an easy double foul and nip it in the bud, but they chickened out for some reason.

In slight defense of refs, it has become crazy how scrutinized calls have become. We all have become experts with replay, slow downs and zoom ins, video replays are a total drag on the game. It’s insane how the no calls on Durant got so much media attention, that just shouldn’t happen

Carcharodon

Watching Howard last night was great, the most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. He can be so good and effective when at times but his career, well...we all know how frustrating it has been

Carcharodon

Watching Howard last night was great, the most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. He can be so good and effective when at times but his career, well...we all know how frustrating it has been

ButtersSuki

Carcharodon wrote: »

Watching Howard last night was great, the most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. He can be so good and effective when at times but his career, well...we all know how frustrating it has been

Only saw the highlights and his highlights but he was very good. He’s had a few good games this year in fairness, and a lot of highlights too. He did a crossover dribble and dunk a few weeks ago that if you saw it you were like “wtf did I just see?”. There’s an ongoing debate on one of the pods I listen to regularly (open floor I think) about whether he’s going to be a Hall of Famer or not - it’s an interesting debate. Totally agree he has to be the most frustrating player in the league though. The LA and Houston stops have seriously damaged an already bad reputation, and he did nothing of note in Atlanta last year. Having only seen him play in the flesh a couple of times I was just astonished at how built he was at his size....a true athletic freak.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Carcharodon wrote: »

Watching Howard last night was great, the most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. He can be so good and effective when at times but his career, well...we all know how frustrating it has been

Only saw the highlights and his highlights but he was very good. He’s had a few good games this year in fairness, and a lot of highlights too. He did a crossover dribble and dunk a few weeks ago that if you saw it you were like “wtf did I just see?”. There’s an ongoing debate on one of the pods I listen to regularly (open floor I think) about whether he’s going to be a Hall of Famer or not - it’s an interesting debate. Totally agree he has to be the most frustrating player in the league though. The LA and Houston stops have seriously damaged an already bad reputation, and he did nothing of note in Atlanta last year. Having only seen him play in the flesh a couple of times I was just astonished at how built he was at his size....a true athletic freak.

I don’t think he will ever make hall of fame, under achieved for most of his career and has bounced around for a while now.
It is pretty impressive how built he is when you see him in the flesh, just pure muscle.
Shaq is really impressive in the flesh, just absolutely huge but Yao Ming was one of the craziest looking players I’ve seen live, he just dwarfed everybody

Gregk961

Carcharodon wrote: »

I don’t think he will ever make hall of fame, under achieved for most of his career and has bounced around for a while now.
It is pretty impressive how built he is when you see him in the flesh, just pure muscle.
Shaq is really impressive in the flesh, just absolutely huge but Yao Ming was one of the craziest looking players I’ve seen live, he just dwarfed everybody

Frustrating player, refused to learn the basics of post-up big man play early in his career which could have made him a superstar. I shudder everytime I see him take the ball up from half court(Ive seen him do it lots this year)

Watching the Warriors game and Draymond just got 2 techs in about 30 seconds. Really soft calls especially the 2nd one.

Carcharodon

Gregk961 wrote: »

Frustrating player, refused to learn the basics of post-up big man play early in his career which could have made him a superstar. I shudder everytime I see him take the ball up from half court(Ive seen him do it lots this year)

Watching the Warriors game and Draymond just got 2 techs in about 30 seconds. Really soft calls especially the 2nd one.

Pretty ridiculous ejection to be fair, Draymond is a marked man and should know better but they were ridiculously soft, refs have got to get a grip.
We pay good money to go to these games and you get one of the marquee players thrown out for nothing
Curry being back on the floor makes a huge difference to everything, he energizes the whole building, some of his shooting tonight was off the charts

LuckyLloyd

Howard was the best defensive player in the league for a three year stretch where he also provided cornerstone offensive output. His peak was very high. Rightly or wrongly, the NBA Hall isn’t that hard to get into relative to the other sports. I reckon he makes it.

Carcharodon

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Howard was the best defensive player in the league for a three year stretch where he also provided cornerstone offensive output. His peak was very high. Rightly or wrongly, the NBA Hall isn’t that hard to get into relative to the other sports. I reckon he makes it.

That’s a good point, the whole hall of fame obsession in American sports with the media can be a bit crazy

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Howard was the best defensive player in the league for a three year stretch where he also provided cornerstone offensive output. His peak was very high. Rightly or wrongly, the NBA Hall isn’t that hard to get into relative to the other sports. I reckon he makes it.

That’s pretty much what someone said on the pod, and it’s hard to disagree with those facts.

I always remember he had one game in the 2008 Olympics where he shot 100% for the game and totally dominated both ends of the floor. All his FGs were dunks. He was 10 for 10 on 10 dunks. If you only saw that game you’d think he was the GOAT.

LuckyLloyd

Between 2007 and 2011 he could - on any given night - completely dominate the paint to such an extent that the Magic were unplayable. He also was capable of lazy games at times, and he couldn't ultimately lead his squad to a title. But it is those moments of extreme dominance that really matter in this conversation. Yao is rightly in the hall for the very same reason.

He's not exactly been embarrassing himself since his peak either, though it's really only this year that expectations on his performance have realigned with the reality of his declining ability.

ButtersSuki

Sometimes when I get really bored and enter into the YouTube Vortex of Basketball I stray onto the ballislife pages. Normally they're awful from a number of perspectives - the fans/parents behaviour is appalling (right up there with underage GAA and soccer parents), the mismatches are terrible (scores like 102-18), etc. so all play has to be viewed in that context. That said, it's the first place I've seen a few now-NBA players play so it's occasionally worth a look. In the last few weeks I've seen a kid called Mac McLung who has been tearing it up in high school. He's a 6'2" (but looks smaller due to his frame) point/shooting guard with insane leaping ability that's headed to Georgetown next year.

He has a very good all round game from handles, shooting, passing and athletic ability, but I'm not sure of the standard he's playing at in HS. The problem with guys like him is they're a dime a dozen at the next level (Elite D1 College). It will be interesting to see how he develops in DI. Based on what I've seen I can't see him making the NBA largely due to his size (he certainly has the skillset), but then again if Jimmer did.....

Will only post these for now, but there's lot of others out they're worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1J3EXcLIts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih_pBuWEy14

LuckyLloyd

So Isiah Thomas will play tomorrow night against Portland, marking an end to his long rehab from the hip injury. It’s a bad time for him to come in and them to have to figure things out as the Cavs have 5 road games on the bounce after Portland before the return fixture with Golden State. So baptism of fire and all that.

Will be very interesting to see how this changes things for them over the next couple of months. It’s quite the addition to a 24 - 12 roster.

Osmosis Jones

Not a bad time to play the Blazers, got blown out by the Hawks a few nights ago and barely scraped a win against Chicago. Lillard should be back after 5 games out though.

2smiggy

isaiah thomas was very good last night, for a man out for 7 months. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with LeBron. But with him and Wade , the Cavs are looking very good I think. Imagine if they had Rose actually playing as well !!

Gregk961

Pretty much went as well as the Cavs could of hoped for. It was refreshing to see the cavs play with a bit of pace for a change when he was on the floor. The 2nd unit with him Wade and Thompson worked very well.

Whats the story with J.R smith these days? Seems to be extremely ineffective whenever I watch the cavs play. At least old trigger happy JR used to be entertaining.

ButtersSuki

Gregk961 wrote: »

Pretty much went as well as the Cavs could of hoped for. It was refreshing to see the cavs play with a bit of pace for a change when he was on the floor. The 2nd unit with him Wade and Thompson worked very well.

Whats the story with J.R smith these days? Seems to be extremely ineffective whenever I watch the cavs play. At least old trigger happy JR used to be entertaining.

He's been poor of late alright but he's never exactly been consistent. He's the type of guy who looks good in highlights and to the casual fan, but there's not actually much substance to his game overall and esp. in his ageing years.

He looks ready for tonight though.....:D:rolleyes:

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/948713512620216320

2smiggy

Good win by the Celtics last night. Rozier and Smart played very well, but on the flip side every one bar LeBron and Korver shot horribly for the Cavs. Love went 1/11 I think. Brown and Tatum both played well also. A good sign given that Kyrie and Horford had quieter nights !! Still thou I'd put the Cavs as strong favourites if they met in the playoffs with Thomas back playing with them

LuckyLloyd

Bit of a rambly piece here on Irving and his departure from the Cavs.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21941260/nba-playing-lebron-winning-nba-title-kyrie-irving-decided-move-question-why

One interesting section though that is likely to be analysed till the cows come home:

During a rare practice in the middle of last season, coach Tyronn Lue, who was standing next to assistant coach and Irving confidant Phil Handy, called out to his young point guard.

"Ky," Lue said, "I want you to play a little faster."

"Why?" Irving asked.

"Because if we play faster, we get shots off easier."

"I don't need to play faster to get my shot off," Irving replied. "I can do that anytime."

"I'm not talking about your shot. I'm talking about RJ and JR," Lue said, citing teammates Richard Jefferson and Smith.

"Well, that's No. 23's job," Irving replied, referring to James.

According to members of the Cavs organization who witnessed the exchange, Lue ended the conversation by walking away, shaking his head.

Both Lue and Handy, whom Irving affectionately calls his "OG," confirmed the incident but declined to elaborate. "Kyrie is a great player," Lue says. "Please tell him I wish him the best."

All I think this stuff really means is Irving wanted to be the star on his own team, which is fair enough as a decision. But I'm sure it will be taken to mean more than that in certain quarters.

ButtersSuki

2smiggy wrote: »

Good win by the Celtics last night. Rozier and Smart played very well, but on the flip side every one bar LeBron and Korver shot horribly for the Cavs. Love went 1/11 I think. Brown and Tatum both played well also. A good sign given that Kyrie and Horford had quieter nights !! Still thou I'd put the Cavs as strong favourites if they met in the playoffs with Thomas back playing with them

Oh Christ yeah. I'm a Celtics fan, but it's January - I can't see them beating Playoff LeBron 4 times.

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Bit of a rambly piece here on Irving and his departure from the Cavs.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21941260/nba-playing-lebron-winning-nba-title-kyrie-irving-decided-move-question-why

One interesting section though that is likely to be analysed till the cows come home:



All I think this stuff really means is Irving wanted to be the star on his own team, which is fair enough as a decision. But I'm sure it will be taken to mean more than that in certain quarters.

Is that the Jackie McMullan article? Haven't read it yet but heard it being discussed somewhere. Will read it later - thanks for posting the link.

Carcharodon

Barkley trying to put down the warriors again, he is a broken record. Saying they would of been a one hit wonder had they not got Durant...mmm they only broke the regular season record after they won the championship and were a play away from repeating, Iam sure they would of been fine
Granted with Durant they are on a different level but don’t try and knock what they achieved before that

Gregk961

Carcharodon wrote: »

Barkley trying to put down the warriors again, he is a broken record. Saying they would of been a one hit wonder had they not got Durant...mmm they only broke the regular season record after they won the championship and were a play away from repeating, Iam sure they would of been fine
Granted with Durant they are on a different level but don’t try and knock what they achieved before that

In fairness a lot of what Barkley says is just plain wrong, but he is a great personality. I have no doubt Golden State would win more championships without Durant, signing on KD was just overkill to be honest. The Cavs would be closer without KD sure, but Steph, Klay and Dray still eat them most days in my opinion.

Good game tonight but mother of god Houston abandoned any form of teamwork in the last 6 minutes.

Carcharodon

Gregk961 wrote: »

In fairness a lot of what Barkley says is just plain wrong, but he is a great personality. I have no doubt Golden State would win more championships without Durant, signing on KD was just overkill to be honest. The Cavs would be closer without KD sure, but Steph, Klay and Dray still eat them most days in my opinion.

Good game tonight but mother of god Houston abandoned any form of teamwork in the last 6 minutes.

You are totally right and I do like Barkley but this hatred of the Warriors is sad, I can admit Iam biased but I do think Iam logical in most of my thinking.
Warriors did everything right building the first championship team, they got some luck but hey they got pretty unlucky the next year, why even go on about it,lol, people will always find a way to hate.

I would find it hard to see the Rockets winning a championship or should I say I find it hard to see a mike dantoni team winning one. I like him, that Suns team was great but not going to happen I think