Around the NBA 24-25 - the playoff race

[bwgood77]

Didn't see any of the Celtics/Knicks game but was a little surprised to see it was such a blowout. Looking at the box score I was surprised to see how few 3s the Knicks took. Seeing the Knicks outscored them so badly in the 1st figured they must have opened hot.

It appears they were hot all night.

This is crazy...the % and volume of 3s by the entire starting lineup....nuts. 26-41?

[Mulhollanddrive]

Minnesota suck already. Randle post ups.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Bronny James 0/2 -5 the most undeserved minutes in NBA history

[Bogyo]

Didn't see any of the Celtics/Knicks game but was a little surprised to see it was such a blowout. Looking at the box score I was surprised to see how few 3s the Knicks took. Seeing the Knicks outscored them so badly in the 1st figured they must have opened hot.

It appears they were hot all night.

This is crazy...the % and volume of 3s by the entire starting lineup....nuts. 26-41?

Yeah, this is where I'm a bit torn on the whole mass 3point shooting and it's math. I get it. I used to like it a lot, it brought a new wave, etc... I even want the Suns to shoot more really badly, and I get fuming mad and cuss the tv out when KD and Book nonchalantly middy the season away...
With that said, when a team takes 95 FGs and 61 (!!!!!!!!!!!) of them are 3s I'm not really sure what we are doing... ugly to watch too, its just drive-kick, drive-kick, drive-kick... not even whipping around or whatever, just drive-kick, drive-kick... yuck - and not a good product to watch in the longer term.

[sunsbg]

Celtics started where they left off tying a record for made 3s. Hard to imagine not winning another title if healthy for the playoffs. Shooting so many 3s is crazy indeed.

Neither of Hollywood or Wolves impressed in their first game.

[darealjuice]

Celtics are going to be juggernauts again, no surprise considering they kept things pretty intact this summer. The 3 point volume is crazy, but it’s also a lot of good looks in the flow of their offense, not just chucking **** up. Not going to shoot like that every night, but they won’t need to either.

Wolves will be interesting to watch this season. Not a fan of the fit for Ant, Randle, and Gobert at all, but it’s only one game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took a little step back.

[bwgood77]

Didn't see any of the Celtics/Knicks game but was a little surprised to see it was such a blowout. Looking at the box score I was surprised to see how few 3s the Knicks took. Seeing the Knicks outscored them so badly in the 1st figured they must have opened hot.

It appears they were hot all night.

This is crazy...the % and volume of 3s by the entire starting lineup....nuts. 26-41?

Yeah, this is where I'm a bit torn on the whole mass 3point shooting and it's math. I get it. I used to like it a lot, it brought a new wave, etc... I even want the Suns to shoot more really badly, and I get fuming mad and cuss the tv out when KD and Book nonchalantly middy the season away...
With that said, when a team takes 95 FGs and 61 (!!!!!!!!!!!) of them are 3s I'm not really sure what we are doing... ugly to watch too, its just drive-kick, drive-kick, drive-kick... not even whipping around or whatever, just drive-kick, drive-kick... yuck - and not a good product to watch in the longer term.

Well we kind of started it with SSOL. It was either Amare or 3s for the most part unless Nash did a layup, which was fairly rare.

[bwgood77]

Celtics are going to be juggernauts again, no surprise considering they kept things pretty intact this summer. The 3 point volume is crazy, but it’s also a lot of good looks in the flow of their offense, not just chucking **** up. Not going to shoot like that every night, but they won’t need to either.

Wolves will be interesting to watch this season. Not a fan of the fit for Ant, Randle, and Gobert at all, but it’s only one game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took a little step back.

I think they will definitely take a step back. The Towns trade was not good. 21/8/3, with 42% from 3 on 5.3 3 pt attempts per game. He was perfect to spread the floor with Gobert in the middle and Ant driving. Then staggering C with Gobert.

The saving grace is Naz Reid also shot above 41% from 3 on 5 attempts per game. They need to start Reid and have Randle be like a 6th man. I didn't watch the game so maybe mostly they staggered Randle and Gobert as much as possible, but I agree, they are not the ideal fit together. Or play Naz Reid a lot with Randle, but I'd still probably start him for spacing. You can't have a frontcourt with two guys who can't hit the 3 along with a guard who is great at driving and finishing at the rim in today's NBA.

[wheezy]

Celtics are going to be juggernauts again, no surprise considering they kept things pretty intact this summer. The 3 point volume is crazy, but it’s also a lot of good looks in the flow of their offense, not just chucking **** up. Not going to shoot like that every night, but they won’t need to either.

Wolves will be interesting to watch this season. Not a fan of the fit for Ant, Randle, and Gobert at all, but it’s only one game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took a little step back.

I think they will definitely take a step back. The Towns trade was not good. 21/8/3, with 42% from 3 on 5.3 3 pt attempts per game. He was perfect to spread the floor with Gobert in the middle and Ant driving. Then staggering C with Gobert.

The saving grace is Naz Reid also shot above 41% from 3 on 5 attempts per game. They need to start Reid and have Randle be like a 6th man. I didn't watch the game so maybe mostly they staggered Randle and Gobert as much as possible, but I agree, they are not the ideal fit together. Or play Naz Reid a lot with Randle, but I'd still probably start him for spacing. You can't have a frontcourt with two guys who can't hit the 3 along with a guard who is great at driving and finishing at the rim in today's NBA.

Yeah, every report I saw about the trade had the Wolves winning it ever so slightly, but I really don't like Randle's fit next to Gobert. He's basically the polar opposite on O and no better on D.

[bwgood77]

Celtics are going to be juggernauts again, no surprise considering they kept things pretty intact this summer. The 3 point volume is crazy, but it’s also a lot of good looks in the flow of their offense, not just chucking **** up. Not going to shoot like that every night, but they won’t need to either.

Wolves will be interesting to watch this season. Not a fan of the fit for Ant, Randle, and Gobert at all, but it’s only one game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took a little step back.

I think they will definitely take a step back. The Towns trade was not good. 21/8/3, with 42% from 3 on 5.3 3 pt attempts per game. He was perfect to spread the floor with Gobert in the middle and Ant driving. Then staggering C with Gobert.

The saving grace is Naz Reid also shot above 41% from 3 on 5 attempts per game. They need to start Reid and have Randle be like a 6th man. I didn't watch the game so maybe mostly they staggered Randle and Gobert as much as possible, but I agree, they are not the ideal fit together. Or play Naz Reid a lot with Randle, but I'd still probably start him for spacing. You can't have a frontcourt with two guys who can't hit the 3 along with a guard who is great at driving and finishing at the rim in today's NBA.

Yeah, every report I saw about the trade had the Wolves winning it ever so slightly, but I really don't like Randle's fit next to Gobert. He's basically the polar opposite on O and no better on D.

I heard Simmons talking about it and he mentioned "save cap space" and the contract, and if they needed to save money and had to, that's fine. But if not, you are just breaking down a team that was competing for the 1 seed all season and made the WCF for the first time since 2004. If you are not taking financial consideration into the equation, I don't see how you could say the Wolves win the trade. Towns has his weaknesses, but he is still one of the best Cs in the league and is maybe the best 3pt shooting C ever. I think he also mentioned Donte being a guard who can hit 3s. That's fine, but does he hit them as well consistently on the volume that Towns does? Town's career average from 3 his 40%. Very few players have a career avg like that. Curry and Klay. Not even Durant does.

Ray Allen averaged 40% from 3. Reggie MIller 39.5%. Towns exact # is 39.8%. And as a big and he is a good distributor, rebounder, pretty good interior scorer. He's not great defensively, but they have Gobert so the fit worked.

I think what made the trade possible for them is the emergence of Naz Reid, who has been awesome and can also hit the 3. I don't think NY even included a pick which is pretty crazy to me.

I think the Wolves will regress a bit. I want to say not top 4, but we'll see. It will be tight. I feel like we are in a tier with them, Denver and Memphis...with maybe the Kings, Lakers and Pelicans next. But those last 3 could maybe be in the higher tier. OKC seems like definite #1 and Dallas probably 2 if healthy. 2 solid defensive Cs, two solid stars who can play on/off ball, Klay, and PJ Washington who is decent.

But as usual, injuries could be an issue. The Rockets are a dark horse as well. Great coach, and a young team only getting better. They made a run and won a bunch in a row near the end of last season and nearly got within range of a playoff, all while missing Sengun. Their 2nd unit is pretty solid too with Aaron Holiday, Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Steven Adams.

[KdoubleDees23]

Bronny Sux. Guy has no right to be in the league. As a father he is more worried about being the first to play with his son, vs his son actually going down to G league and getting reps, and experience.

[Qwigglez]

Rockets lost at home to the Hornets. Rockets were up 16 at one point.

[bwgood77]

Rockets lost at home to the Hornets. Rockets were up 16 at one point.

Yeah, I saw that. Sengun had a monster game too.

[bwgood77]

I hadn't realized the Warriors got Hield. If Wiggins gets back to his peak and Kuminga, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Podziemski and Moody continue to improve (they all already look pretty good), they could be fairly tough. There will be no easy outs in the west except probably Portland.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Nobody's beating OKC in the West.

They all have the same body type, drive quicker and defend longer than anyone else, built for the future 5 years.

[KdoubleDees23]

Nobody's beating OKC in the West.

They all have the same body type, drive quicker and defend longer than anyone else, built for the future 5 years.

Ummmmmm Thunder won't make it to the WCF. I will bet you $1k on that

[handsome salary]

Nobody's beating OKC in the West.

They all have the same body type, drive quicker and defend longer than anyone else, built for the future 5 years.

But the Suns have a big three...A BIG THREE. I mean how much better can it get?

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I was trash talking the Cavs for having Ty Jerome on their rotation during the preseason... but in their first RS game dude got 14/6/2 on 6/7 with a + 16 in 19 minutes last night. Obviously it helped that he shared the court with Caris LeVert, who went 8/9 from the field.

Glad our rook found his place in the league.

[Mulhollanddrive]

I reckon JJ Redick's going to lose the Lakers locker room sometime soon, he talks down to everyone not named LeBron

[Bogyo]

I reckon JJ Redick's going to lose the Lakers locker room sometime soon, he talks down to everyone not named LeBron

And they are worse than their record indicates. I mean they shoot like 10 FTs more than their opponents per game so far. Thats not sustainable, no matter how rigged the refs are for the flakers to do good to keep intrest up...