The Official 2015-2016 NBA Regular Season Thread

[Groundhog]

A lot of uncharacteristic turnovers from the Spurs in that 1st Q.

[Groundhog]

Warriors playing like the Warriors, Spurs handling the ball like it's a bar of soap. Lucky to be only down 15.

[kingfc22]

In the past week, Warriors have destroyed the Cavs, Bulls and Spurs by what will end up likely ranging between 80-95 points.

[Groundhog]

I didn't catch the Bulls game, but to me this just looks like 'one of those games' by the Spurs, a lot more than it did the Cavs. Looking forward to GSW@SAS.

[nol]

Originally Posted by nol

If the season ended today, the Kings would be in the playoffs. They're 7-3 in January and Cousins is averaging 30.9 points, 13.8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks during that time.

Spoke way too soon here. Cousins has scored 48 and 56 (and counting) points in his two games since that post.

[Vince, Pt. II]

It's just one game, and opinions are going to be WAY overblown due to the outcome...but man was that fun to watch.

I feel like San Antonio got no calls all game. It seemed that every single possible 50/50 call went the Warriors' way. It wasn't a poorly officiated game by any means, but it just felt like all the bounces were going the way of Golden State. After the first quarter, when the Spurs turned it over 8 times and the Warriors were only up 6, I thought it was a bad sign that they hadn't capitalized on the turnovers and the Spurs were never going to maintain that pace of bad play. Turns out, they could.

Surprised me that the Spurs came out running with the Warriors - it seemed like they did nothing to slow the game down at all. I wonder how much of that is Popp not tipping his hand because he could give two shits less about the regular season.

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Was reminded of how nice corners of the internet like this are with generally intelligent sports fans today. Read some stuff on Golden State-oriented fan sites and the general opinion was of the variety that this is going to be a super-high scoring game with the Spurs because of the way San Antonio has copied the GSW way with the super-high tempo they are playing this year.

Except of course, than San Antonio is playing slower this year, which with the Aldridge addition you would expect. 25th in pace according to the Hollinger measure.

Much rather discuss things with the group here who usually know what they are talking about, even if we don't always agree.

I really can't stand the Warriors blogs I have found. Which is super disappointing, because I love the San Francisco Giants blog and it really adds to my enjoyment of the baseball season.

[whomario]

So, who is taking over for Pop ?

Warriors are amazing this season

Charlotte is a really likable team, despite bad luck on the injury front they continue to be in the playoff race and are really hard working and well coached. Tonight it was troy Daniels stepping up big.

[Brian Swartz]

Apparently he liked that joke too.

Popovich: "I'm just glad my general manager wasn't in the locker room. I might have gotten fired."

[wustin]

Aldridge played like poop, Leonard got lit up by Curry multiple times. No kind of facade Pop was putting on can hide that.

[Brian Swartz]

Except of course that isn't what he did. He said multiple times the game was like 'men and boys'. And it was.

[whomario]

Putting this on Leonard would be kinda short changing Curry, who again made at least 6 or 7 shots/moves that no one on earth can replicate or defend. Curry is at the point, where he can score 30 on decent (say 45 %) shooting even if he is defended incredibly well. Things that normally work on shooting guards (not SGs, the literal kind) fail because a) his release is so quick, b) he never slows and allows defenders to adjust their stance and c) is equally good driving with either hand. On him, a longer defender is not the solution but at a mismatch.

In other news: Either Blake Griffin broke his hand punching a teammate/coach or the Clippers need better codes as he "broke his hand in a team related incident" ...

[Groundhog]

In the long term the game won't mean much, but I think putting Kawhi on Curry was a good idea just to see whether it's a good option or not in the post season, and today showed that it's not - the kind of shots Curry takes and makes are the kind of bad shots that you try and force shooters to take, and Curry is quick enough to get around Kawhi when he plays him real tight. Better off using Kawhi to try neutralise Green or Klay and just hope Curry doesn't drop 40+ on you.

[nol]

Originally Posted by whomario

Putting this on Leonard would be kinda short changing Curry, who again made at least 6 or 7 shots/moves that no one on earth can replicate or defend. Curry is at the point, where he can score 30 on decent (say 45 %) shooting even if he is defended incredibly well. Things that normally work on shooting guards (not SGs, the literal kind) fail because a) his release is so quick, b) he never slows and allows defenders to adjust their stance and c) is equally good driving with either hand. On him, a longer defender is not the solution but at a mismatch.

In other news: Either Blake Griffin broke his hand punching a teammate/coach or the Clippers need better codes as he "broke his hand in a team related incident" ...

I'd say the Spurs almost missed Tim Duncan (even though this game could certainly cement his DPOY candidacy, along with his current league-high rate in many advanced defensive statistics such as DRPM) more on the offensive end last night because once you get cute on trying to cross-match the Warriors, you have to be able to beat them up inside and score enough to prevent their transition game from being too much of a factor.

I'll have to ask about it later today, but I wouldn't rule out an inanimate object as the hand breaker here.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The big thing for me, once Duncan was sitting (and you cannot understate how big that was), was that the Spurs didn't do anything to dictate flow or pace. It's going to be a very different game when Duncan is in and the Spurs are slowing it down.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

The big thing for me, once Duncan was sitting (and you cannot understate how big that was), was that the Spurs didn't do anything to dictate flow or pace. It's going to be a very different game when Duncan is in and the Spurs are slowing it down.

The thing that disapointed me in that regard is that Pop did not at least test out Marjanovic before the game was decided. Especially the way Aldridge struggled as the 5 on the floor.

[TroyF]

Reports are coming out that Blake Griffin broke his hand when he punched a Clippers staffer and will miss multiple weeks because of it. The reports are stating he punched the guy multiple times.

So my quick fire thoughts:

1) NBA players are seriously the worst fighters I've ever seen. It doesn't shock me at all that one of them wouldn't understand how to throw a punch correctly.

2) Really Blake? The assistant trainer who you could get fired in three seconds?

3) I guess the Warriors will be lucky the Clippers are going through all of this again and may not have to face them. The Warriors are LUCKY they didn't have to face a team who blew a 20+ fourth quarter lead in a playoff game and should feel very LUCKY that Blake decided to go all MMA on a staff member. If it wasn't for those two things, the Clippers would have had a title last year and wouldn't be 13 games back this year.

Unbelievable.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by TroyF

3) I guess the Warriors will be lucky the Clippers are going through all of this again and may not have to face them. The Warriors are LUCKY they didn't have to face a team who blew a 20+ fourth quarter lead in a playoff game and should feel very LUCKY that Blake decided to go all MMA on a staff member. If it wasn't for those two things, the Clippers would have had a title last year and wouldn't be 13 games back this year.

Unbelievable.

Is this sarcasm?

[Neuqua]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Is this sarcasm?

Ask Doc Rivers.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Is this sarcasm?

You must have missed the Rivers quote earlier thus year where he said Golden State was lucky they didnt face the Spurs or Clippers. It didnt stop there either.The Clippers fans and players have been singing that same tune all year. (They just do it real quiet like now that the Warriors are running through the league.

Here in LA I had to give up on sports talk there was so much of that garbage.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

In the long term the game won't mean much, but I think putting Kawhi on Curry was a good idea just to see whether it's a good option or not in the post season, and today showed that it's not -

The local radio guys were pushing this idea that the Warriors are crushing the spirit of teams. Cited Memphis, Houston, Cav beatdowns and Clipper comeback as examples of teams that spiraled downward after playing the Warriors.

If that's true (and of course it isn't the full story) I wonder if it will affect a superstar like Kawhi.

[whomario]

Would maybe be the first time in 15 years that anything had a lasting negative effect on the Spurs ...

[cartman]

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by AENeuman

The local radio guys were pushing this idea that the Warriors are crushing the spirit of teams. Cited Memphis, Houston, Cav beatdowns and Clipper comeback as examples of teams that spiraled downward after playing the Warriors.

If that's true (and of course it isn't the full story) I wonder if it will affect a superstar like Kawhi.

That guy? No way in hell.

[Groundhog]

Sounds like the staffer that Griffin hit was more of a case of hitting a guy who has a job with the Clippers because your buddy is Blake Griffin, than 'Griffin strikes lowly staffer because he's a pompous jerk'. Still, incredibly stupid. Seems like either athletes shatter their hands punching people off-court at a much higher rate than non-athletes. Or it just happens more often than we know.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by TroyF

You must have missed the Rivers quote earlier thus year where he said Golden State was lucky they didnt face the Spurs or Clippers. It didnt stop there either.The Clippers fans and players have been singing that same tune all year. (They just do it real quiet like now that the Warriors are running through the league.

Here in LA I had to give up on sports talk there was so much of that garbage.

I always like to remind Clippers fans how much of a perennial choker Chris Paul is. I hope he makes it to the conference finals at least one time in his career.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Sounds like the staffer that Griffin hit was more of a case of hitting a guy who has a job with the Clippers because your buddy is Blake Griffin, than 'Griffin strikes lowly staffer because he's a pompous jerk'. Still, incredibly stupid. Seems like either athletes shatter their hands punching people off-court at a much higher rate than non-athletes. Or it just happens more often than we know.

I listened to some of the talk radio this afternoon for the hell of it. There were plenty of pissed off Clippers fans, but the psychotic ones all went to the same themes:

1) It takes a lot for Griffin to get angry on the court, so this guy must have deserved what he got.

2) He hit a friend, not a co worker, it's just boys being boys, the media needs to let this go

3) He'll be healthy by the playoffs and if the Clippers can hold onto the 4 slot, they'll meet the Warriors in round 2 and win anyway.

I laughed pretty hard.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Seems like either athletes shatter their hands punching people off-court at a much higher rate than non-athletes. Or it just happens more often than we know.

I've heard from numerous sources over the course of my life that unless you know how to throw a punch, it's almost impossible to actually punch someone and NOT break your hand.

[nol]

Or people who are not public figures have an easier time saying they broke their hand from falling or something, and nobody cares enough to wonder whether it was actually from drunkenly punching someone.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by whomario

Would maybe be the first time in 15 years that anything had a lasting negative effect on the Spurs ...

Will be interesting to see how it affects them though. I get your point, but when faced with a real alpha team such as the peak Kobe/Shaq Lakers or the Harden version of the Thunder, San Antonio has broken mentally before. A regular-season game won't do it, but Golden State could have won by 50 if they felt like it. Yes the Spurs played like crap, and they were pretty clearly getting complacent going in(see: getting killed on the boards by the Lakers, for example), but when you play bad the opponent usually has a lot to do with it. Popovich may well have wanted them to get beat for that matter(last year when they hit like 18 wins in a row or something he was publicly talking about them needing a good beating on the court to wake them up and complacency) but I doubt this is what he had in mind.

Spiral downward? Nah. But it is a test I think of how badly they really want to be great and win another title, how much contentment the veterans have with what they've already done, and so on. I think they can hang with the best the Warriors can do, but only if they get back to the kind of execution they showed in the Finals two years ago against the Heat. Anything less and either Curry has a less-than-superlative series or they lose fairly badly. It'll be interesting to see how the other meetings go because one game is only one game, but beyond that it's pretty obvious that the man is unguardable. The Spurs can be unguardable as a team as well, but they need Green(signs he's finding his shot, but it's not back yet), Mills, Aldridge, Duncan, everyone healthy and in rhythm too. They can make life difficult on the rest of the Warriors, but if Curry's shooting well he's going to score 40-50 and that's just the way it is.

That's how I see it from here, at any rate. All in all I think this loss is more likely to do to the Spurs what the Detroit loss did to Golden State. One loss tends to refocus them. In a series, if they took a couple of these back-to-back? Different story.

[jbergey22]

The Warriors would be an extremely frustrating team to play. A lot of times it wouldnt even matter how well you play as you are basically at the mercy of how well they are shooting the three(which usually is on point). As a team they shoot over 42 percent from 3 point range. One hot shooting quarter and they either wipe you out and destroy your fighting spirit or can make up a 15 point deficit like it is not an issue at all.

They played the Clippers earlier this year in a game the Clippers shot 70 plus percent in the first quarter and jumped out to a 15 point lead. The Warriors cut that lead in very little time. The Warriors ended up streaking late and won a game by 7-8 points in which the Clippers played as good of offense as they could possibly play.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...511190LAC.html

[wustin]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

The Warriors would be an extremely frustrating team to play. A lot of times it wouldnt even matter how well you play as you are basically at the mercy of how well they are shooting the three(which usually is on point). As a team they shoot over 42 percent from 3 point range. One hot shooting quarter and they either wipe you out and destroy your fighting spirit or can make up a 15 point deficit like it is not an issue at all.

They played the Clippers earlier this year in a game the Clippers shot 70 plus percent in the first quarter and jumped out to a 15 point lead. The Warriors cut that lead in very little time. The Warriors ended up streaking late and won a game by 7-8 points in which the Clippers played as good of offense as they could possibly play.

Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers Box Score, November 19, 2015 | Basketball-Reference.com

There was a stretch in the fourth quarter where Harrison Barnes scored 8 straight points to lead that comeback. I hope Barnes comes to form soon because he's been hurting his market value for this offseason.

[Brian Swartz]

At the moment, Spurs up 30 against Houston. It would appear they have avoided a hangover from the Warriors curbstomping, at least for now.

[nol]

Don't look now, but the Pelicans will be something like 2.5 games out of the last playoff spot at the end of tonight, and Anthony Davis will have the rest of the season to gun for an All-NBA spot and the major salary bonus that comes with it.

For as good as Porzingis has looked, I may end up being right for saying that drafting Myles Turner plus whatever picks were being thrown out for trading down could have been an even better haul for the Knicks. His numbers on a per-minute basis are right there with Porzingis', and he's been able to sustain it with increased playing time the past few games.

Originally Posted by nol

Towns put up roughly what I was expecting from him for the season - somewhere around 14 and 10 with somewhat limited usage, which would be really impressive when you think about it for a young rookie.

16 and 10 on 53% shooting, which I mention now because he's powering through the rookie wall to the tune of 23.6 and 12 rebounds while shooting 68.5% from the field the last 5 games and could end up making those estimates look even more conservative by season's end.

[nol]

The Suns fired (or put out of his misery) Jeff Hornacek.

[whomario]

With his 11 tonight (seriously, can he just get it over with and break that record? ), he is at 232 for the season, already 10th most 3s all time. He will crush his own record and could exceed it by 100 or more. Just an insane shooter. And Warriors still in track for 73+

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by whomario

With his 11 tonight (seriously, can he just get it over with and break that record? ), he is at 232 for the season, already 10th most 3s all time. He will crush his own record and could exceed it by 100 or more. Just an insane shooter. And Warriors still in track for 73+

More perspective...

When the 1st quarter started Steph's season was 21st all time in 3s made. When it ended he was in 14th. He passed 7 people in 12 minutes.

Or if you need a nice graph just to show how nuts it is... (pre-last night I think)

https://public.tableau.com/profile/t...ees/Dashboard1

[whomario]

And Washington did a pretty decent job hounding him (forced 7 Tos)...

He also leads all active players in career 3p%, which is insane with the shots he´s taking. He also is 50-99 on the season on "4 pointers" (27+ feet), where the league average is around 25%.

Nearly every game of his produces a 5 minute highlight reel that other players need half a season for.

[albionmoonlight]

If this season were a video game, I'd be getting bored as the Warriors and wishing that I had cranked up the difficulty level a notch.

[wustin]

No one's talking about Westbrook's monster game....triple double with 19 rebounds.

[Brian Swartz]

One of these days the NBA is just going to go out and fire all 30 coaches on the same day. It's going to happen.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

One of these days the NBA is just going to go out and fire all 30 coaches on the same day. It's going to happen.

If the Fisher firing is about basketball, it reminds me of a soccer club trying to save themselves from relegation.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

One of these days the NBA is just going to go out and fire all 30 coaches on the same day. It's going to happen.

Well Karl is rumored to be coming in the next few days...

[murrayyyyy]

Why are the Hawks breaking up? They are 1.5 games out from avoiding LeBron until the ECF. Is that not good enough? Teague has already scrubbed Hawks logos off all his social media supposedly.

[Groundhog]

Kings had 4 guys show up for them morning shootaround before the Cavs game. I'd say Karl has 1.5 feet out the door.

[nol]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

Why are the Hawks breaking up? They are 1.5 games out from avoiding LeBron until the ECF. Is that not good enough? Teague has already scrubbed Hawks logos off all his social media supposedly.

I don't think the NBA went to playoff byes, and even then they're probably the same number of games in the opposite direction from the 8th seed. They're certainly not so good as to be immune from discussing it.

[Groundhog]

It's pretty strange how different the Hawks look this year. Definitely not the 'Spurs-lite' from last year.

[RainMaker]

Monty Williams wife was killed in a car accident. Had 5 kids, most young. Tragic story.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Monty Williams wife was killed in a car accident. Had 5 kids, most young. Tragic story.

And his former team comes to town tomorrow. I know he did a lot to help Ryan Anderson get through his ordeal (last year?). Couldn't imagine what he is going through right now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by murrayyyyy

Why are the Hawks breaking up? They are 1.5 games out from avoiding LeBron until the ECF. Is that not good enough? Teague has already scrubbed Hawks logos off all his social media supposedly.

(New) ownership seems to feel like its a team going nowhere, marginal to contend for anything at all with or without Horford. Not worth the max contract he'll be demanding next year, might as well deal him. I can't really argue against that position.

As for Teague, it's believed to be a personality issue as much as anything. He's not as fiery/demonstrative as Schroeder, they don't think there's a real dropoff in output with a switch & that the personality change at the forefront might be helpful.

[cuervo72]

So, weren't ATL and MIL being held up as rebuild successes that PHI should aspire to?