3/5 | Sunday Game Thread | NBA on ABC

[mrblunt]

Tomorrow TNT is showing IND/CHA on national TV instead of HOU/SAS that starts only 30 minutes later. Come on guys, do what's best and put the better game on. There shouldn't be an uproar if IND/CHA gets bumped for a game featuring two MVP candidates, two COTY candidates, and the 2nd & 3rd best teams in the association record wise.

Just watch the HOU/SAS online or on tv. Simply don't watch IND/CHA problem solved.

[alebaba]

I don't understand why people have Westbrook winning the MVP. His teams lost too many games and they're a 7th seed.

Let me see, without Westbrook they would be lucky to win 5 games. Lillard with a much better supporting cast is not even in the playoff yet...

You can say that about harden too... and he's doing a much better job carrying his team.

Oh, please. Harden supporting cast fit James Harden playing style to a tee. He has so many shooters compare to Westbrook. Eric Gordan their 6th man is better than any other player on the Okc beside Westbrook, let that sink in.

[bondom34]

Westbrook on the bench: OKC has a -10 net rating.

For reference, Brooklyn has a -8.8.

Harden's team has a positive net rating when he's on the bench. That's not saying they're better without him, but they're absolutely a massively better cast.

[ocelot17]

He has the worst supporting cast by FAR of any playoff team, like its not even close.

Their 2nd best scorer has been injured a lot as well.

Most people had the thunder ahead of the rockets before the season started.

What ever happened to rewarding winning,

Why is it that now, fans want to make an exception for Westbrook?

"BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED"

What does that have to do with anything. Since do we grade supporting casts by preseason predictions?

There isn't an "exception" being made either. He's legitimately having one of the best raw output season ever and is carrying a 10 win team to the playoffs despite injuries to their 2nd and 3rd leading scorers.

Rewarding winning isn't the end all be all for MVP, especially when the 3 best players in the game are basically removed from consideration because of standards or them being on each other's team.

The truth is both teams are pretty much the same talent wise. Let's not pretend like harden has so much more help than Westbrook. Harden has a similar supporting cast and he's doing a much better job carrying them.

There stats are pretty much identical, except that Westbrook is averaging five more shot attempts per game and 1.5 rebounds per game.

So they're basically rewarding Westbrook the MVP over 1.5 rebounds.

Would you rather be in the 3rd seed with 8 more wins or 7th seed with a couple of more rebounds?

[Tigersrule]

Pelicans bad lol.

[Kabookalu]

Holy hell 4 of the games tonight ended with a game winning shot, and we might see a 5th one with the Pelicans Lakers.

[Tigersrule]

Russel Westbrook slowly losing his TD averages. I think hes at 10.0 assits now?

[RCM88x]

Most people had the thunder ahead of the rockets before the season started.

What ever happened to rewarding winning,

Why is it that now, fans want to make an exception for Westbrook?

"BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED"

What does that have to do with anything. Since do we grade supporting casts by preseason predictions?

There isn't an "exception" being made either. He's legitimately having one of the best raw output season ever and is carrying a 10 win team to the playoffs despite injuries to their 2nd and 3rd leading scorers.

Rewarding winning isn't the end all be all for MVP, especially when the 3 best players in the game are basically removed from consideration because of standards or them being on each other's team.

The truth is both teams are pretty much the same talent wise. Let's not pretend like harden has so much more help than Westbrook. Harden has a similar supporting cast and he's doing a much better job carrying them.

There stats are pretty much identical, except that Westbrook is averaging five more shot attempts per game and 1.5 rebounds per game.

So they're basically rewarding Westbrook the MVP over 1.5 rebounds.

Would you rather be in the 3rd seed with 8 more wins or 7th seed with a couple of more rebounds?

You're either the biggest Harden stan on these boards or a complete dumbass.

[K_chile22]

Westbrook on the bench: OKC has a -10 net rating.

For reference, Brooklyn has a -8.8.

Harden's team has a positive net rating when he's on the bench. That's not saying they're better without him, but they're absolutely a massively better cast.

Harden does have more help but that shows he has a massively better bench unit, not necessarily his total supporting cast

[NBAFan93]

I'd be interested to compare the shooting percentages of the Houston players vs OKC. I suspect the Houston guys % numbers blow away OKCs. Easier to get assists, wins, etc. when you can throw the ball to a better shooter. Easier to get points when that shooter can shot threes too.

I think harden is amazing too though, so not really knocking him - he makes some amazing passes and is a great scorer and ball handler. Only thing that bugs me about him is how much of his offense is based on drawing fouls.

[ocelot17]

"BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED"

What does that have to do with anything. Since do we grade supporting casts by preseason predictions?

There isn't an "exception" being made either. He's legitimately having one of the best raw output season ever and is carrying a 10 win team to the playoffs despite injuries to their 2nd and 3rd leading scorers.

Rewarding winning isn't the end all be all for MVP, especially when the 3 best players in the game are basically removed from consideration because of standards or them being on each other's team.

The truth is both teams are pretty much the same talent wise. Let's not pretend like harden has so much more help than Westbrook. Harden has a similar supporting cast and he's doing a much better job carrying them.

There stats are pretty much identical, except that Westbrook is averaging five more shot attempts per game and 1.5 rebounds per game.

So they're basically rewarding Westbrook the MVP over 1.5 rebounds.

Would you rather be in the 3rd seed with 8 more wins or 7th seed with a couple of more rebounds?

You're either the biggest Harden stan on these boards or a complete dumbass.

Uh, oladipo is averaging 16 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, while Gordon is averaging 17, 2.5,2.5.

Adams and kanter better than Capella and nene.

Beverley, ariza, Anderson are just role players.

Lou Williams is good but he's only been with the team for like a week.

[alebaba]

Rockets having similar supporting cast as Okc, lmao, that is freaking hilarious. You guys have Gordon who is not even a starter for the Rockets averaging the same points as Oladipo who is a starter for Okc . Oladipino has also missed a lot of games due to injuries too.

[bondom34]

Westbrook on the bench: OKC has a -10 net rating.

For reference, Brooklyn has a -8.8.

Harden's team has a positive net rating when he's on the bench. That's not saying they're better without him, but they're absolutely a massively better cast.

Harden does have more help but that shows he has a massively better bench unit, not necessarily his total supporting cast

True. Another quick measure is BPM:

Harden has 6 teammates over 0 BPM (including Lou Will, not including Onuaku) and 3 of the 4 starters.
Russ has 1, Adams.

[Nate505]

Knicks first half will have no arena sounds. More teams should do this.


Enviado desde mi iPad con RealGM Forums

I guess Draymond had an issue with it. But he cries like a bitch about everything, so there you go.

[pace31]

Knicks first half will have no arena sounds. More teams should do this.


Enviado desde mi iPad con RealGM Forums

I guess Draymond had an issue with it. But he cries like a bitch about everything, so there you go.

I love that they did this. There's too much **** going on now during the actual NBA game now in these arenas and it's a big distraction from the actual game.

[MrCheerios]

Rockets having similar supporting cast as Okc, lmao, that is freaking hilarious. You guys have Gordon who is not even a starter for the Rockets averaging the same points as Oladipo who is a starter for Okc . Oladipino has also missed a lot of games due to injuries too.

Gordon is playing 30mpg off the bench to score that 17ppg, which is pretty much what Oladipo plays. And Oladipo has played 48 games to Gordon's 57, so it's not like he missed the whole season. It's a nine game difference. Oladipo is just a better player: he shoots a higher percentage from the field, rebounds more, and is a better defender.

If the Rockets offered Gordon for Oladipo straight up, OKC would be the one saying no. Same goes for Anderson and Gibson, as well as Adams and Capela. Hell, OKC has Enes Kanter putting up 14.3p/6.8reb off the bench in under 22 minutes and a 23.7 PER, which is much better than Houston's starting power forward or center, but you seem to have forgotten about him.

[bondom34]

Rockets having similar supporting cast as Okc, lmao, that is freaking hilarious. You guys have Gordon who is not even a starter for the Rockets averaging the same points as Oladipo who is a starter for Okc . Oladipino has also missed a lot of games due to injuries too.

Gordon is playing 30mpg off the bench to score that 17ppg, which is pretty much what Oladipo plays. And Oladipo has played 48 games to Gordon's 57, so it's not like he missed the whole season. It's a nine game difference. Oladipo is just a better player: he shoots a higher percentage from the field, rebounds more, and is a better defender.

If the Rockets offered Gordon for Oladipo straight up, OKC would be the one saying no. Same goes for Anderson and Gibson, as well as Adams and Capela. Hell, OKC has Enes Kanter putting up 14.3p/6.8reb off the bench in under 22 minutes and a 23.7 PER, which is much better than Houston's starting power forward or center, but you seem to have forgotten about him.

Gordon's much better than VO. Anderson's better than Taj too, and neither are too close. I posted the BPM numbers above, but that plus Harden's team actually having a positive net rating when he's on the bench should show he's actually got help. OKC's worse than Brooklyn by net rating when Russ sits.

[Phreak50]

Just popped in to say that anyone who thinks OKC and Westbrook's supporting cast is anywhere near that of the Rockets and Harden's is delusional.

[MrCheerios]

Rockets having similar supporting cast as Okc, lmao, that is freaking hilarious. You guys have Gordon who is not even a starter for the Rockets averaging the same points as Oladipo who is a starter for Okc . Oladipino has also missed a lot of games due to injuries too.

Gordon is playing 30mpg off the bench to score that 17ppg, which is pretty much what Oladipo plays. And Oladipo has played 48 games to Gordon's 57, so it's not like he missed the whole season. It's a nine game difference. Oladipo is just a better player: he shoots a higher percentage from the field, rebounds more, and is a better defender.

If the Rockets offered Gordon for Oladipo straight up, OKC would be the one saying no. Same goes for Anderson and Gibson, as well as Adams and Capela. Hell, OKC has Enes Kanter putting up 14.3p/6.8reb off the bench in under 22 minutes and a 23.7 PER, which is much better than Houston's starting power forward or center, but you seem to have forgotten about him.

Gordon's much better than VO. Anderson's better than Taj too, and neither are too close. I posted the BPM numbers above, but that plus Harden's team actually having a positive net rating when he's on the bench should show he's actually got help. OKC's worse than Brooklyn by net rating when Russ sits.

That's gotta be one of the most intentionally misleading stats out there. If you go by net rating, Kawhi Leonard's a non-factor: +9.1 off court. Meanwhile Lebron's supporting cast must be total crap: -4.9 off court rating. Steph Curry's off court rating during last year's 73 win season? -4.3.

Could you imagine what Lebron and Curry could do if they had Harden's or Leonard's supporting cast? Dynasties. Having two all-star teammates plus a stacked bench is totally overrated.

[therealbig3]

Gordon is playing 30mpg off the bench to score that 17ppg, which is pretty much what Oladipo plays. And Oladipo has played 48 games to Gordon's 57, so it's not like he missed the whole season. It's a nine game difference. Oladipo is just a better player: he shoots a higher percentage from the field, rebounds more, and is a better defender.

If the Rockets offered Gordon for Oladipo straight up, OKC would be the one saying no. Same goes for Anderson and Gibson, as well as Adams and Capela. Hell, OKC has Enes Kanter putting up 14.3p/6.8reb off the bench in under 22 minutes and a 23.7 PER, which is much better than Houston's starting power forward or center, but you seem to have forgotten about him.

Gordon's much better than VO. Anderson's better than Taj too, and neither are too close. I posted the BPM numbers above, but that plus Harden's team actually having a positive net rating when he's on the bench should show he's actually got help. OKC's worse than Brooklyn by net rating when Russ sits.

That's gotta be one of the most intentionally misleading stats out there. If you go by net rating, Kawhi Leonard's a non-factor: +9.1 off court. Meanwhile Lebron's supporting cast must be total crap: -4.9 off court rating. Steph Curry's off court rating during last year's 73 win season? -4.3.

Could you imagine what Lebron and Curry could do if they had Harden's or Leonard's supporting cast? Dynasties. Having two all-star teammates plus a stacked bench is totally overrated.

It's misleading because it goes against your pre-conceived notions?

Considering that Curry and Green played most of their minutes together, it's clear that most of the time when Curry was off, Green was off too. And yeah, it's not all that far-fetched to say that the 73 win Warriors were highly dependent on Curry and Green (much like how the 72-win Bulls were highly dependent on Jordan and Pippen), and when they both went to the bench, they didn't play that great (much like how I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Bulls were getting outscored when both Jordan and Pippen were on the bench).

Maybe this also means that LeBron's supporting cast isn't as "stacked" as people think, which is also supported by the fact that the Cavs are 0-5 in games that he doesn't play.

And that Harden's supporting cast gets underrated. As does Leonard's, which is also supported by the fact that the Spurs are 4-1 in games that he doesn't play.

Some context goes a long way. It doesn't make the stats invalid.