Road to a Championship start here, 2022 Draft.

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Watching Philly/Lakers. Not surprisingly, Harden's only call for the half was a side out of bounds where under any other circumstances he probably already has 4 trips to the line, lol.

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Harden having a rough time, LMAO.. 2 teams that need the refs to wipe they ass.

Philly with Embiid & Harden looking ordinary against LA's scrubs, lol.

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Howard dominating the league MXP through 3.

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Hope NO's ready to play 5 vs 8..

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An epic 38-15 4th Q Heat collapse sees the Knicks beat an unlikely opponent, take a half game on LA, putting them in a 3 way tie for the 9th pick. (Wizards beating Detroit earlier).

Sunday is going to be a pivotal game for the picks future & NO's hold that fate.

If Spurs get 2 gift games against a tanking Portland squad. It's not out of the realm of possibility that LA can land NO's the 8th pick.

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Last time the schedule favored NO's. Things didn't go as hoped with LA beating GS & the rest losing winnable games...

Sunday, Knicks got Detroit, Washington the struggling GSW's... & Lakers, NO';s at home looking to get their pick & PO spot.

Those going to the game best not let the refs get away with their BS...

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Against Charlotte, CJ MIles reached in on a Herb layup attempt & caught an elbow. On what should have been an & 1 for Herb, he was subsequently ejected from the game resulting in the bucket & extra point taken away for a 5 point swing for Charlotte, in what ended a 3 pt loss for NO's.

Here against Spurs, Herb with his hands straight up, not reaching in like Miles was.., gets called for a foul to send KJ to the line for 2, despite Johnson hitting Herb in the face with his elbow much like the foul that saw Herb ejected vs Charlotte... Difference between calls was Miles exposed himself by reaching in on a layup attempt, Herb had his hands up in position, with KJ out of control.

No it's not because he's a rookie.... It's because they're making sure LA doesn't get knocked out of the playin with their following 5 games against teams over 500. It's clear game manipulation.

In the 4th with the game close Jonas grabs a rebound & is called for an offensive charge on the put back... that was a momentum separation call that saw Spurs go up a couple possessions instead of NO's pulling close/even. If that was Jokic or Embiid, they'd be on the line for the & 1. Really can't blame the Spurs player/s for flopping. Why look a gift horse in the face..

A piece of **** on court has more integrity than an NBA official. Worse part is this is a small prelude to Sundays match with Scott Foster at the head of it.. The end of game talking point will be how they got Davis back...

Like I said, trash league for real competition. Sucks to be the Washington Generals.

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I was reading Pelican's reddit game thread for todays game. I don't post there but came across a conversation I wanted to respond too, so I will do it here.

Poster 1 - "God damnit, we’ve got known Pelican haters Eric Dalen and Andy Nagy officiating tonight. We need to pull away early in this one so the Lakers don’t feel like chasing us and get this thing ref proofed with a nice 30 point cushion."

Poster 2 - "I don't believe for a second the poor officiating is some "agenda" by Adam Silver or "the NBA," but I do believe there are certain refs in particular who are bad at their job and have for one reason or another stupid biases. Sometimes it's against teams, sometimes it's against rookies. It's all bull".

LMAO, I have a few questions for poster 2

1 - Did the refs that have a history of screwing the Pels according to poster 1 assign themselves to this match ? or do you think that's just another coincidence... lol

2 - If you believe refs have their own biases/errors that affect games, why are refs rarely fined or fired for it ?.

3 - If you believe their such a thing as earned respect, aka Superstar calls, what do you think is the purpose of benefiting the leagues most recognizable names & "Stars" apposed to unknown rookies ?

It all caters directly to popularity/ratings.

Nope, it can't be NBA has an agenda to satisfy their TV contracts/ratings by having the best most recognized player in the game not miss the playin/offs & I'm sure being a business first they don't care about the bottom line either over fair & impartial competition... yup no incentive there to have the millions of Lakers fans have their team miss the playin/offs.... lol It's just individual refs bias not some conspiracy loooooooooool, LMAO

Almost any other team the Pels are trying to out pace. They have wins over Denver, Charlotte & Spurs in the last couple weeks & Lakers would be barely hanging onto that 10th seed with their toughest 5 game stretch at hand & Spiurs having Portland twice who's tanking currently sitting a game out.

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The Lakers who couldn't put it together in the easy portion of their schedule for an entire season even with Davis all of sudden find themselves against the toughest part of their schedule, without him. While simultaneously, their direct competition continues to get questionable calls, continue to trail, remain complacent with what is happening with LA's long losing streak.

Lakers match vs Philly recently without Lebron & both Embiid, Harden playing for Philly, the game was closer than it should have been. Howard outplayed his MVP counterpart that averages 12 trips to the line a game. Harden didn't get any of his usual free trips to the line either. One side out of bounds call in the entire first half where under any other circumstance, he would have had at least 4 trips in that particular half. On one defensive possession in a late game push, Westbrook literally threw 3 elbow punches before being called on the third contact because he looked like he was about to tackle his cover. I guess even the refs have a point of reason LMAO. Ref seamed to have realized the more he let Westbrook get away with, they might of had an incident on court. LMAO..

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In a game Houston was pacing Lakers in the final 2 mins. Lebron commits a goal tend, so evident, Houston calls for a video review where you see Lebron clearly grabbing the rim for basket interference. Refs ruled he didn't touch the ball ignoring the fact he grabbed the rim in a game Lakers beat Houston by one possession..

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I'm feeling frisky, like I can point out their BS all game long tonight.

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Knicks scrape by Detroit to get a full 2 wins on LA for a game separation. Next up Wizards vs GS who are struggling..

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Steven Adams gets paid 20m to rebound the ball in Memphis & he's tops in the league in offensive rebounding. With 3J returning this season, Bane balling replacing Allen as starting SG & the young players, especially JA taking the next step with no need for an offensive C... good for them. Fact is, Afams is massively overpaid for what he brings to the table but that was the trade off to land Zaire.

Losing the top 10 protection on that Lakers pick is going to make that trade worse if NO's convey 2 2nds for all that money Memphis ate to jump 7 spots

Doesn't hurt big game Trey drafted 17th just showed up in the biggest game of the year looking like he's a player that does rise to the occasion. Team high +21 helping a tired & injured NO's team on a B2B dig themselves out of a 20pt start/hole.. with a fresh & rested Lebron/Lakers jumping on the tired/injured Pels out the gate..

3 NO techs....

As for Jonas, he signed a 15m value extension & has played the year on a top heavy team that has missed their best player, all year & 2nd best in combination, for half the year.. Still, Pelicans find themselves in the thick of things... People say he's not a big game player but here wae are again in another big game situation against a motivated Lebron/Lakers....

Questionable with a sore foot on a B2B...

Jonas - 19 / 12 / 5 / 1 / 1 (+ 18) on 7-13 shooting

He's got his defensive warts but proven both being traded to a 22 win Memphis team about to rebuild & now a top heavy injured N('s team. he has only missed the PO's in one season & that's with Memphis losing 3 players in the bubble for Portland to edge them out in the playin game...

Currently NO's are 4 games back of the Clippers for the 8th seed after starting 3-16 because of all the early season changes & adjustments needed to incorporate among the injuries suffered..

Like Last nights game coming back from 20 down at the half, much like NO's entire season.

T'S NOT HOW YOU START, IT'S HOW YOU FINISH. Nothing but pride for the young teams fight & big props to Green.

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Once again what started off as a bad weekend losing to the Spurs, NO's bounce back to answer the Lakers where with this win.

Knicks move up 1.5 games, Washington 1 game & Pelicans .5 games on LA to push them to 9th seed with Spurs 1 game back & the easiest schedule of the teams listed.

Lakers currently 9th pick, with their schedule not getting any easier. Having one more game for NO's to put the exclamation point on their season & pick.

Get Hype NO's. Top 10 pick & playoffs scenario playing out.

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Knicks have made it possible for NO's to control Lakers landing the 10th pick.

I'm watching the Wizards remaining schedule. It's going to be close for them to help push LA to 9-8th pick. They're only up a game facing Magic tonight, the easuest remaining match. Would be nice to get this one for some separation. - Magic, Mavs, Celtics, Wolves, Atlanta, Knicks, Charlotte.

NO's going to need the Spurs to step up with the easiest remaining schedule left to ensure LA land no better than 9th seed. Best case 8th. Currently tied in the standings, Lakers set to face Utah, Spurs, Portland.

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I've gotten away from the heart of this thread because the forum is too slow to open new threads for topics.

Analyzing this team I have their 2 biggest needs as a rim protector, having the 2 way potential to take over from Jonas moving forward. At C, NO's currently have a traditional big in Jonas, serviceable depth with Hermangomez/Hayes & now a small ball option with Nance. If NO's are lucky enough to land top 4, I have them taking one of Chet or Smith to address that weakness at C & future concern with an ageing & expiring Jonas in a couple yearss.

The biggest issue IMO. Size & defense at the guard position. CJ, Graham, Alvarado, Kira. None have the size & defense needed & though Alvardo is excellent at pressuring & steeling the ball, Booker displayed not to long ago how eary it was for him the Suns to post him up, shoot over him. If Murray is made available he should be made a trade target pending on asking price as NO's will be in position if the Lakers pick remains 8-10 to draft a big guard on rookie scale.

In simple form

Jonas - Lakers pick lucks in 1-4 (Chet/Smith) - rookie scale, upside
Zion - max
BI - max
Herb - Lakers pick 8-10 possibly consolidated to move up (Mathurin, Griffin, Shaedon, Davis) - rookie scale, upside
CJ - max

Keeping the potential raises the ceiling of the team moving forward along with controlling the cap sitaution considering NO's are facing 3 max contracts.

Kepping in line with the above plan, the emergence of Hayes at PF & the acquisition of Nance at PF/C, opens the option to trade Zion for a specified young playe, further future stability & cap health. It not only exists as an option but potentially might be the thing to do depending on the return as this team needs more defense than offensive efficiency. in the front court. You evade another max contract, get better defensively & get a haul in trade..

If Cavs would entertain, something like Zion for Mobley, pick/s.
or a team with a top 3 pick where NO's can dradt Chet/Smith + FRP/s

SGA, Murray among potential fits Zion's value could help pry off of teams that otherwise wouldn't entertain trade, either directly or indirectly .

If NO's get lucky & play their cards right... this could be a fun & franchise altering offseason.

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Watching the Lakers Jazz game lol. Without Lebron & Davis at the 7 min mark of the 3rdQ they have a 24-9 FT afvantage LMAO.

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Look at the level of physicality Lakers are getting away with.. Westbrook committed 2 flagrant fouls both worse then the basketball play Herb was ejected for vs Charlotte, neither flagrant called despite Westbrook following through above the neck.

Gobert however, got a tech for getting body checked lol out of bounds on a rebound attempt, another ignored call that drew a tech, extra point, for LA when it should have been Utah ball.

Even with the help, Lakers fall well short of Utah. Spurs move back into 9th set to face Portland tommorrow. Hopefully they don't look past them...

Pels are going to get LA's best shot & they will have help, home cooking. Lets get Spurs that game cushion over LA.

Get up NO's... It's time to make some noise....

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An unexpected win for Washington over Mavs, Spurs currently up 20 on Portland.

Stars are aligning for a good night.

Stay hungry, stay focused, stay humble.

Lets rise to the occasion NO's

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Assuming Spurs currently up 20 beat the Blazzers. If NO's take care of business tonight Lakers would find themselces in the 8th spot a full game behind Spurs for 8th, a game & a half behind Washington for 10th.