NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 6

[nate33]

The Hornets won again tonight, this time against Orlando. They have won 7 of their last 13 and now have 11 wins on the season, firmly taking them out of the tanking race.

[closg00]

Blew up

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[tontoz]

Kings beat the Mavs for their 8th win. Gotta love Westbrook he will do his best to sabotage their tank. He made 5 3s.

[closg00]

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[payitforward]

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what was that all about?

[closg00]

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what was that all about?

A scuffle broke out during this game, dunno what was the cause.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Alvarado didn't like the clean pick Mark Williams set. They exchanged shoves. Then Alvarado clearly started swinging first.

The suspensions will be interesting, but I think Alvarado was the aggressor.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Seems like this here's what you call a correlation.

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[dobrojim]

Seems like this here's what you call a correlation.

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The memory of TY taking bows in MSG during the
playoff seems like ancient history. But we continue to
thank ATL for choosing Risacher.

[doclinkin]

Seems like this here's what you call a correlation.

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The memory of TY taking bows in MSG during the
playoff seems like ancient history. But we continue to
thank ATL for choosing Risacher.

And thank Sarr’s agent for influencing that choice.

[closg00]

ATL picked-up Asa Newell in the last draft, and they will be able to land a PG in the next lottery thanks to NO, finally some luck after drafting the very average Zaccharie Risacher, and striking out with Zingas.

[pcbothwel]

ATL picked-up Asa Newell in the last draft, and they will be able to land a PG in the next lottery thanks to NO, finally some luck after drafting the very average Zaccharie Risacher, and striking out with Zingas.

Luck?!?
Atlanta drafted Trae over Doncic, then Hunter over Garland, Cam Reddish over Cam Johnson, Okongwu over Deni & Haliburton, and then Risacher over not just Sarr... But Sheppard and Castle.

[nate33]

Even though the Wizards have won 2 games in a row and 4 of their last 7, there is pretty good news on the tanking front.

The Clippers have just won their 4th in a row and seem to have righted the ship a bit. They are only 2.5 games out of the 10th seed and the Play-In, and they don't control their pick, so they will definitely be trying from here on out. I think we can rule them out as serious tanking competition. I think they will win 30+ games.

The Mavericks are 7-6 in their last 13 games after moving Nembhart into the starting lineup and are now 12-21 on the season and 1.5 games out of the 10th seed. They won't be tanking - at least not for a while. I could see them waiving the white flag in March if they are 4 or 5 games out of the 10th seed then, but they should still finish with 28+ wins and are not serious tanking competition.

Charlotte has won 2 in a row and 4 of their last 6 and are currently 11-20. They are still a full 3 games behind the 10th seed though, so I'm keeping my eye on them. We want them to extend this run of success long enough so that they believe they can make the playoffs. Otherwise, they're still a tanking threat. The good news is that the team is actually pretty good when Miller, Ball and Knueppel are all healthy. They are +8.9 when all 3 guys are on the floor together. If they stay healthy for a while, I think they will pull away from us.

The Utah Jazz are an offensive juggernaut and just beat Detroit and San Antonio. I still expect a late-season tank job from them, but probably from a higher plateau. They owe a top 8 protected pick to OKC, so they really need to tank their way down to 7th-to-last to give them an 86% chance of hanging onto the pick. My guess is that they find a way to bench Markkanen in March/April and allow all the Play-In strivers (Mavs, Clippers, Blazers, Bucks, Bulls, Hawks) to move past them in the standings, but it looks like they're not all-in on trying to be a bottom 3 team.

And then there are the Pelicans. The Pelicans don't own their pick and have played much better lately. They have a lot of talented veterans on that team with Zion, Murphy, Jones, Bey and Poole, so it's frankly embarrassing that they were this bad in the first place. They will hopefully pull away from us over the rest of the season and finish with something like 26-30 wins. We just need them to stay somewhat healthy.

That really just leaves 4 truly tanking teams: us, Indy, Sacramento, and Brooklyn. Sacramento and Indy aren't even trying at this point and will surely finish with a terrible record - probably worse than us. Brooklyn is the team that's hard to figure out. They should be tanking hard but have inexplicably won 10 games already. They play league average defense and MPJ has had enough good games on offense to deliver wins. I figure at some point, they will trade MPJ and commit to tanking. The question is, will we tank enough in the meantime to give us a cushion? Either way, the difference in lottery odds between the 3rd-worst and 4th-worst teams is minimal.

The bottom line is that I'm feeling pretty good about the tank race at this point. We are in position for a bottom 3 finish, with a small chance at bottom 4 if Brooklyn tanks hard. I think the only other candidates to potentially drop down into the bottom 4 with us are Charlotte or New Orleans, and that's only if they have injuries.

[9 and 20]

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I miss you and your pink sweater, Kuz. Hope you're enjoying living in Wisconsin.

[Kanyewest]

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I miss you and your pink sweater, Kuz. Hope you're enjoying living in Wisconsin.

Wizards can spend new years with him in Wisconsin.

[AFM]

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I miss you and your pink sweater, Kuz. Hope you're enjoying living in Wisconsin.

[closg00]

ATL picked-up Asa Newell in the last draft, and they will be able to land a PG in the next lottery thanks to NO, finally some luck after drafting the very average Zaccharie Risacher, and striking out with Zingas.

Luck?!?
Atlanta drafted Trae over Doncic, then Hunter over Garland, Cam Reddish over Cam Johnson, Okongwu over Deni & Haliburton, and then Risacher over not just Sarr... But Sheppard and Castle.

Yeah, the luck of getting the Pelicans unprotected FRP this Summer, that’s the first good thing to happen to them in forever.

[FAH1223]

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Hope Jokic isn't out too long. His injury reminded me of Giannis hyperextending his knee in the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals against Atlanta. Giannis came back very soon after and we remember what he did in the NBA Finals.

If its similar, Jokic will have time to rest... but the Nuggets will be playing without FOUR starters going forward. Gordon, Braun, Johnson, and now Jokic are going to be out.

Jamal Murray has a ton on his shoulders now.

[pcbothwel]

Even though the Wizards have won 2 games in a row and 4 of their last 7, there is pretty good news on the tanking front.

The bottom line is that I'm feeling pretty good about the tank race at this point. We are in position for a bottom 3 finish, with a small chance at bottom 4 if Brooklyn tanks hard. I think the only other candidates to potentially drop down into the bottom 4 with us are Charlotte or New Orleans, and that's only if they have injuries.

Over the last 10 games 23 of 30 teams are within 1 game of .500. Meaning, 77% of the league has been 4-6 to 6-4 over the last 10 games, which is good for us. Less tankers and more buyers

[closg00]

Poole is gonna Poole, this will be his last stop in the NBA.

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