Friday 10/24 NBA Game Thread

[Statlanta]

This Clipper performance is not fooling me. That Utah loss was so abominable, they are being put in the Cleveland Cavaliers category all year. Anything they do in the regular season means nothing (to me). I will be picking against them come playoff time and they'll have to just prove me wrong.

A win against the Suns is fools gold.

Teams know they can just play physical and wear out the Suns and force Phoenix to beat them from 3 because they have no way to reliably score inside the paint.

The Clippers are just old and have no sense of urgency. If the old guys happen to be healthy I can see them take games more seriously later in the season. Teams like Utah and Toronto trying to prove they are not pushovers right now but when injuries, chemistry and hot streaks normalize they will go back to earth.

[bonita_the_frog]

Watch on YouTube

[SHAQ32]

Ja Morant's a bum

Go listen to some more "NBA Youngboy" you clown

[NO-KG-AI]

Luka is probably playing best basketball of his life, but Lakers still simply lack talent to be more than fringe playoff team.

I don't know about you guys, but to me Victor is must watch tv now.
Zion dunks on him early on, and oh boy, he took it personal. Blocked him 3 times by halftime.

Dallas simply has to change starting 5 and implement 1 actual guard capable of handling ball. Their starting 5 commited 20 TOs on 13 assists. That's just brutal. Worst thing is, they don't even have any actual benefits of playing this big.

I was looking forward to Zion vs Victor just due to the optics of their contrasting bodies lmao. Did not disappoint, so much Z vs Vic violence in the paint tonight !

[doogie_hauser]

This post-game content from the Prime broadcast is excellent. I appreciate them not treating the audience like we are stupid, I think any young folks who are watching it will learn a lot.

It's early days but NBC and Prime's coverage of the NBA has been great, a refreshing upbeat change from the Negative Nellies from TNT and ESPN who constantly like to put down the players and teams and genuinely be as overly critical as possible.

I begrudging accept the Celtics will struggle this season but the amount of emerging young talent (like on The Wizards) and this brilliant rookie class and Wemby and despite a couple of off court scandals, the NBA is in really exciting shape right now

I also feel some posters here are maybe a tad focused on the gambling issue (which admittedly is a serious and awful problem that needs talking about) rather than the amount of great talent in and coming into the league.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

This post-game content from the Prime broadcast is excellent. I appreciate them not treating the audience like we are stupid, I think any young folks who are watching it will learn a lot.

They're only going to get better as they get more comfortable. So far Nash and Udonis have been the most natural, Dirk & Blake will find their groove.

[chilluminati]

Watch on YouTube

[MrGoat]

:lol:

Watch on YouTube

"Max Christie stop celebrating, you're Max f**ing Christie"

[tmorgan]

Lakers fans should be happy tonight. Low fat Luka is a beast.

Just don’t expect another good half from Ayton for a while. You’d think he’d learn what works and what doesn’t, but he never does. 50% sleepwalker, 25% dumbass, 25% monster. That’s all he’ll ever be, because he just doesn’t care enough.

It’s really too bad there’s nothing about his name that rhymes or fits with Joe Barry Carroll, because he is the exact same player. Deandre Barely Cares just doesn’t hsve that same ring to it.

[JRoy]

Grab a **** rebound Ayton.

Has he “tried” to set a screen yet?

[jmnvcavs]

Luka is probably playing best basketball of his life, but Lakers still simply lack talent to be more than fringe playoff team.

I don't know about you guys, but to me Victor is must watch tv now.
Zion dunks on him early on, and oh boy, he took it personal. Blocked him 3 times by halftime.

Dallas simply has to change starting 5 and implement 1 actual guard capable of handling ball. Their starting 5 commited 20 TOs on 13 assists. That's just brutal. Worst thing is, they don't even have any actual benefits of playing this big.

They won by 18 against a playoff team without LeBron. Stats don’t matter when you have superstars.

[K N U C K L E S]

Oh hey again good pals it's a 12 game Friday including a double-header on Amazon Prime

- Brunson and the Knicks host Brown and the Celtics
- Ant vs Luka as Wolves head to LA
- Thompson vs Thompson as Rockets host Pistons
- Wemby coming off monster opening game, Spurs visit Zion and the Pels
- Coach Tiago Splitter and the Blazers host Dubs - Steph coming off huge 4th/OT last night
- All kinds of other exciting things wow this is nuts you guys

You forgot the Cavs game

If you're talking about the poll, it's limited to 10 options (5 games). So 7 of tonight's 12 games are not in there unfortunately. Cheers.

I was gonna ask how the OP decides which games to leave out of the poll. Do they add the games in the order that they read them off of the schedule, or do they pick and choose? Maybe sometimes one way and sometimes the other? Or a mixture?

[K N U C K L E S]

How is there only like 3 posts in here about the Heat/Grizzlies game? That was the craziest game of the night. The Heat would've had 90+ points at halftime if it wasn't for free throws, but they still had 86 . Us Heat fans are shocked at their offense these first 2 games. We never saw that coming. Maybe the Heat'll sneak into the finals again. You guys would just love that, wouldn't you?

[Indomitable]

How is there only like 3 posts in here about the Heat/Grizzlies game? That was the craziest game of the night. The Heat would've had 90+ points at halftime if it wasn't for free throws, but they still had 86 . Us Heat fans are shocked at their offense these first 2 games. We never saw that coming. Maybe the Heat'll sneak into the finals again. You guys would just love that, wouldn't you?

Most did not watch it or care. Congrats you are 1 and 1.

[UcanUwill]

Kash Patel needs to open an investigation on the Lakers, they must have won Luka in one of those Billups poker games.

Lakers owners sell the team for record sum few months after Luka trade. It is what it is, but till this day the most logical explanation for that trade is Dallas FO was paid off.

[Archx]

Grab a **** rebound Ayton.

Has he “tried” to set a screen yet?

Ayton did good this game also set good screens and rolled hard to the basket. Lakers were feeding him. Hopefully he can keep this up because it was already a drastic difference between playoff Hayes and Ayton.

On the other hand Smart has also been huge for them on defensive end. And i'm saying that because people trolled Lakers for signing him.

[Statlanta]

Lakers fans should be happy tonight. Low fat Luka is a beast.

Just don’t expect another good half from Ayton for a while. You’d think he’d learn what works and what doesn’t, but he never does. 50% sleepwalker, 25% dumbass, 25% monster. That’s all he’ll ever be, because he just doesn’t care enough.

It’s really too bad there’s nothing about his name that rhymes or fits with Joe Barry Carroll, because he is the exact same player. Deandre Barely Cares just doesn’t hsve that same ring to it.

Deandre Can't Play a ton

[HMFFL]

Through two games the Blazers have 23 steals (Wesley and Thybulle have 9 of them off the bench).

Wow, good for them. I hope it continues.

[Johnny Tomala]

Knicks, Rockets, Spurs, Timberwolves, Warriors.

2/5 correct picks.

[bisme37]

You forgot the Cavs game

If you're talking about the poll, it's limited to 10 options (5 games). So 7 of tonight's 12 games are not in there unfortunately. Cheers.

I was gonna ask how the OP decides which games to leave out of the poll. Do they add the games in the order that they read them off of the schedule, or do they pick and choose? Maybe sometimes one way and sometimes the other? Or a mixture?

It's definitely not an exact science haha. Sometimes there are only 5 or fewer games on the schedule, which makes it easy on me. But on a night with a ton of games I'm usually going to include the "nationally televised" games. And then I just kinda pick and choose a few others.

I often tend to go with the top teams that usually generate the most discussion during the games, but I'm also looking at matchups that seem evenly matched enough where everyone isn't just going to vote for the same team to win. So if it's, say, Thunder vs a lottery team there's a good chance I'll skip that one. And then over time I try to be mindful of including everyone and not leaving any teams consistently out of the polls. But I'm open to feedback if anyone thinks I'm doing it wrong haha.