The Official 2017-18 NBA Regular Season Thread

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Paul out for Game 7. Huge break again for the Warriors.

Yeah, I gotta think that makes the outcome a pretty foregone conclusion honestly. Damned shame for a G7, but that's how it goes sometimes I guess.

[EagleFan]

Let's go Rockets!

[kingfc22]

Hard to win when you close out a game 1/30 from 3.

[Groundhog]

D'Antoni is a one-trick pony. Rockets had no plan B, and their execution in the last 2 minutes was woeful.

[RainMaker]

Not sure you can hang that on D'Antoni. He's a Chris Paul injury away from winning that series against a team with twice the talent.

[RainMaker]

Also tough break for the Rockets. Seems like the whole universe just stuck it to them. Paul injury, a statistically improbable shooting performance, and some bias officiating. They were the better team through 5 games and should have won the series without some bad luck.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Not sure you can hang that on D'Antoni. He's a Chris Paul injury away from winning that series against a team with twice the talent.

His team shot like shit, sure, but does D'Antoni have anything in his playbook outside of 4-out isos and pick and rolls? I get that the team is designed to play on those strengths, but maybe try the odd set play here and there and see if you can create something else, especially if you are 0-for-everything from deep.

They had a chance with CP3, but it would've taken the usual big shot heroics by Harden or CP3 versus anything D'Antoni drew up.

I was really hoping Harden would have an unconscious shooting night and pick up the W today because I honestly think the Cavs can beat this Rockets team in 7 games. Both teams run unimaginative and predictable halfcourt offenses, but the Cavs have the best player. I wouldn't consider them the favourites, but I'd give them a 40% chance. No way in hell they beat this Warriors team though, barring some significant injuries or LeBron having the best 7 game stretch of his life.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Which situation do you like better at the moment going forward Boston or Philly?

I like the Celtics situation better just because I think they are further along in their process than the Sixers. They have their star (stars?) already. Of course this is all contingent to Hayward and Irving are in good health. I also trust Danny Ainge more than I trust Bryan Colangelo.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

His team shot like shit, sure, but does D'Antoni have anything in his playbook outside of 4-out isos and pick and rolls? I get that the team is designed to play on those strengths, but maybe try the odd set play here and there and see if you can create something else, especially if you are 0-for-everything from deep.

They had a chance with CP3, but it would've taken the usual big shot heroics by Harden or CP3 versus anything D'Antoni drew up.

I was really hoping Harden would have an unconscious shooting night and pick up the W today because I honestly think the Cavs can beat this Rockets team in 7 games. Both teams run unimaginative and predictable halfcourt offenses, but the Cavs have the best player. I wouldn't consider them the favourites, but I'd give them a 40% chance. No way in hell they beat this Warriors team though, barring some significant injuries or LeBron having the best 7 game stretch of his life.

The easy answer is no but why would he? I get if you don't like D'Antoni as a coach but this is who he is. I also think this is what the organization is as well. The Rockets are all in on high volume three point shooting and layups. They believe in that at their core. I am not sure I would trust D'Antoni if he strayed too far from it if I am a player.

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Not sure you can hang that on D'Antoni. He's a Chris Paul injury away from winning that series against a team with twice the talent.

Chris Paul injured when his team need him the most?


Just like 2017. And 2016, 15, 14, and so on.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Another great game by him, though I could do without people celebrating his staredown and pretending that was another great chasedown block on Rozier when he clearly fouled him on the arm after initially getting ball.

Much like with the Smart "Holy Ghost" offensive foul draw against Lebron, it's hard to fault refs when it takes a slow down replay to see the foul. Had Lebron hit his head or even shoulder, I could see the foul. But giving him a partial high 5 after initially blocking the ball isn't really going to be called in real time. Plus, the timing and skill to block him based on the angle is pretty impressive. In this era of players being unwilling to potentially get posterized, it's nice to see a star try to contest dunks. Sometimes it works (Rozier) and sometimes it doesn't (Tatum). But, overall, Lebron's willingness to try the block does get in people's heads.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Also tough break for the Rockets. Seems like the whole universe just stuck it to them. Paul injury, a statistically improbable shooting performance, and some bias officiating. They were the better team through 5 games and should have won the series without some bad luck.

Homer Alert!

No way they were the better team for 5 games. The highest scoring offense was held to under 100 for 5 games. They were clearly the best in games 2 and 5.
Losing a finals MVP for last 4 games is what gave rockets a chance. No way with Iguodala they would have made so many defensive mental mistakes in the 4th quarter in game 4.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bronconick

Chris Paul injured when his team need him the most?


Just like 2017. And 2016, 15, 14, and so on.

As one of the few resident Clips fans, I thank you for noticing. When I first saw that CP3 hsd gotten hurt, I just rolled my eyes.

I'm guessing Blake Griffin picked up a sympathy injury while golfing sometime in the last week, too.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

As one of the few resident Clips fans, I thank you for noticing. When I first saw that CP3 hsd gotten hurt, I just rolled my eyes.

I'm guessing Blake Griffin picked up a sympathy injury while golfing sometime in the last week, too.

[stevew]

Was hoping that somehow the cavs could steal a series from Mike D'antonio and Paul/Harden. Oh well

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

His team shot like shit, sure, but does D'Antoni have anything in his playbook outside of 4-out isos and pick and rolls? I get that the team is designed to play on those strengths, but maybe try the odd set play here and there and see if you can create something else, especially if you are 0-for-everything from deep.

What do you think they should have run with that personnel?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What do you think they should have run with that personnel?

Ive never seen Harden have success with anything but ISO's. I am actually stunned that the Rockets made the Paul/Harden combo work as well as it did this year.

[miami_fan]

I wonder if we are seeing peak Harden. I think he has perfected his game in this offense. The one thing he could work on offensively is a post game but I don't see a use for a guard post game in this offense.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

All I want is a finals that isn't GS/CLE.

Just for the record, I hold you responsible for all of this.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Drake

Just for the record, I hold you responsible for all of this.

Don't worry, I have a strongly developed sense of self-loathing.

[JPhillips]

This Colangelo dummy Twitter accounts story is bananas.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What do you think they should have run with that personnel?

Something? Anything? Something involving movement off the ball? I don't know. There are almost limitless amounts of plays you CAN run in a halfcourt set, even with a 4-out offense. That's what makes him a one-trick pony to me, at some point as a coach at the highest level you need to be able to pull out a whiteboard and draw something up, and I don't think he's capable of it.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I also trust Danny Ainge more than I trust Bryan Colangelo.

Originally Posted by JPhillips

This Colangelo dummy Twitter accounts story is bananas.

See what I mean. Ainge is better at keeping his secret accounts a secret.

[miami_fan]

Joel told me that @samhinkie IS BETTER AND SMARTER THAN YOU @AlVic40117560 #BurnerAccount

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Arles

Much like with the Smart "Holy Ghost" offensive foul draw against Lebron, it's hard to fault refs when it takes a slow down replay to see the foul. Had Lebron hit his head or even shoulder, I could see the foul. But giving him a partial high 5 after initially blocking the ball isn't really going to be called in real time. Plus, the timing and skill to block him based on the angle is pretty impressive. In this era of players being unwilling to potentially get posterized, it's nice to see a star try to contest dunks. Sometimes it works (Rozier) and sometimes it doesn't (Tatum). But, overall, Lebron's willingness to try the block does get in people's heads.

Don't have a problem with no call in real time. Just gonna get triggered when I see replays of it after we've all seen the slow motion replays where it is a foul.

Originally Posted by miami_fan

See what I mean. Ainge is better at keeping his secret accounts a secret.

🤫 https://t.co/SKa28yQSzP

— Danny Ainge (@danielrainge) May 30, 2018

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

This Colangelo dummy Twitter accounts story is bananas.

Right now I'm checking out the podcast

[stevew]

How does BC still have a job? The sixers should fire him yesterday.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by stevew

How does BC still have a job? The sixers should fire him yesterday.

It looks like it wasn't him, but his wife. (Or at least one account was her, one ghost account that never tweeted was him, and the other 3 could be either but were probably the wife.) And Roger Goodell never got fired for that either.

For the Celtics' sake I hope he's not fired, and this should give just enough leeway to management to keep him!

[BishopMVP]

I turn around for 5 minutes and new developments break... it wasn't just Twitter accounts! (?) https://www.libertyballers.com/2018/...urner-accounts

This must be what political junkies felt when the Trump stuff was initially being linked together. Except it's actually happening quickly, probably won't last 18+ months, and it involves a team president, not our country's, so I can laugh about it instead of just get depressed if the worst case is true!

[LloydLungs]

Colangelo story is nuts. Great job by the reporters involved. Very thorough. The three accounts going private, plus the incident with the "blinding" uniforms of the Delaware (?) team on the one night Colangelo just happened to be at their game, means it could not be anyone but him or someone privy to a lot of sensitive info who travels with him and that he was well aware was doing it. I suppose his wife might fit that bill.

Reminds me so much of something I personally uncovered back in 2011. It was a much smaller scale obviously than the NBA, but the University of New Orleans' Sports Information Director was on our fan message board under an alias posting insults to fans and even student athletes and athletes' parents. Then, he disappeared and started doing the same thing under a different name. Had his own made-up backstory and everything. Being the board moderator and also having received e-mails from him, I pieced together that they were all coming from the same IP address. Same thing, as soon as I made it public through the team's former announcer, he started frantically deleting all of his offensive posts (though I made sure to have copies of the worst ones).

Upshot of it, though, is that it got swept under the rug with nothing more than a reprimand and he stayed employed for a couple of years after. So there's hope, Bryan Colangelo! Even though there really is no way he should survive this.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

It looks like it wasn't him, but his wife. (Or at least one account was her, one ghost account that never tweeted was him, and the other 3 could be either but were probably the wife.) And Roger Goodell never got fired for that either.

For the Celtics' sake I hope he's not fired, and this should give just enough leeway to management to keep him!

I'm certainly not claiming to be any kind of genius, but when I read it the first time I was pretty sure it was going to end up being somebody like a wife or a family member. Too many things that were circumstantial to him being there but wouldn't really have made sense for him to be tweeting (like stuff right before a game he was announcing on IIRC)

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I'm certainly not claiming to be any kind of genius, but when I read it the first time I was pretty sure it was going to end up being somebody like a wife or a family member. Too many things that were circumstantial to him being there but wouldn't really have made sense for him to be tweeting (like stuff right before a game he was announcing on IIRC)

Why does it matter if it was the wife? He was clearly in the know the whole time. The non-tweeting account was his, which followed the others, so he knew she was doing it and did nothing to stop it. Then when the light starts to shine in suddenly the accounts disappear, showing he certainly could put a stop to it when necessary.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Something? Anything? Something involving movement off the ball? I don't know. There are almost limitless amounts of plays you CAN run in a halfcourt set, even with a 4-out offense. That's what makes him a one-trick pony to me, at some point as a coach at the highest level you need to be able to pull out a whiteboard and draw something up, and I don't think he's capable of it.

So if the play is different, the shots would fall? A lot of the shots they missed were open. That's the goal of a play is to get open looks.

That "one-trick" is the most efficient way to play basketball and every team in the league is copying it.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I'm certainly not claiming to be any kind of genius, but when I read it the first time I was pretty sure it was going to end up being somebody like a wife or a family member. Too many things that were circumstantial to him being there but wouldn't really have made sense for him to be tweeting (like stuff right before a game he was announcing on IIRC)

What Fidatelo said should be enough to be damning evidence he at least knew, but there's also the possibility of shared accounts. That's right, a second tweeter!

The conspiracy part that doesn't seem to be taking off is that Sam Hinkie may have actually been the Twitter egg who forwarded the information to the Ringer, or at least the one who discovered the connection. He teaches a class at Stanford on artificial intelligence, worked as an investor with start-ups who were doing that type of social networking linking, and those accounts were actually tweeting at him at times so they would've crossed his radar.

[Logan]

Hinkie being the source, or at least someone working along with him, seems to fit "more probable than not" to me.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

So if the play is different, the shots would fall? A lot of the shots they missed were open. That's the goal of a play is to get open looks.

If the shots are different? If you use Harden as a decoy to try and get a back-cut off the weak side for a cheapie at the basket every once in awhile? Literally anything else except iso 3 or drive and dish from Harden? It's not revolutionary and a lot of the better teams in the NBA (and every other level) do it.

That "one-trick" is the most efficient way to play basketball and every team in the league is copying it.

The Rockets version of the "one-trick" (ie. "3 or at the hoop") is coming almost solely off spread iso ball - it's the most extreme version of that style of play by design. It was very effective with arguably the best iso scorer in the NBA handling the ball, but similar to the Cavs with LeBron, incredibly predictable, and in a 7 game series I think that comes back to hurt you a lot more than it does during the regular season. If Harden had a handful of crazy scoring nights the Rockets could've still taken the series, sure. There's something to be said for ball movement and making the defense move their legs that the metrics don't necessarily capture, IMO.

The Warriors can slip into watching Durant iso, but otherwise they run a very pretty offense, and come up with creative ways to get points. I don't think Kerr is a genius and the talent level obvious helps, but a lot of it is just competent Xs and Os and having a few tricks up their sleeves when needed.

[JPhillips]

Typical Draymond dirty play with the hand right into LeBron's face.

[Brian Swartz]

I just don't get the argument against a team that is getting good shots. I mean if they aren't good shots(reasonably open for players within their effective range), that's one thing and you should be trying something different. But sometimes everything goes in, sometimes it doesn't. I don't lay that on a coach. I lay it on 'stuff happens'.

Tonight Cleveland needs to stop taking dumb shots, and they've got a chance at an upset. Too many bad possessions, and unlike the Warriors they don't have the talent to get away with it.

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Typical Draymond dirty play with the hand right into LeBron's face.

That's questionable, but I'm not sure it was intentional. Complaining about the call when you slapped the guy in the face and put your fingers in his eye on his way to the hoop, and then calling the ref a "F****** p****" for giving you a tech for doing so ... yeah I pretty much have no use for that.

[JPhillips]

To my eye Draymond put one hand up for the ball and pushed the other hand forward into his face. I'm not sure he meant to poke his eye, but he definitely meant to push his hand into LeBron's face.

[Abe Sargent]

Holy crap!

[Vince, Pt. II]

JR Smith, super genius.

[Abe Sargent]

It really is the Cleveland Lebrons

[bhlloy]

Not sure how everything can be reviewed down to the millisecond except a time out call. That was a completely terrible call on the Hill foul on Durant as well.

Lol JR Smith though. Not smart.

[EagleFan]

The refs ruined this one. The changed call and then the no call when LeBron was fouled and should have gotten an and one only to call a couple on the following Curry drive.

Of course JR Smith with the boneheaded play.

[RainMaker]

Tony Brothers performing fellatio on the Warriors did not help the Cavs chances.

[bhlloy]

That’s a soul crushing loss. Would be an epic feat to not get swept at this point.

[albionmoonlight]

I don’t think anything is a better example of LeBron James having to carry a bunch of terrible teammates than LeBron having to literally point J.R. Smith to the basket with the ball and three seconds left in a tie game.

-Bill Barnwell

[bhlloy]

DOLA - I don't understand playing JR Smith 38 minutes and Kyle Korver only 17.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

DOLA - I don't understand playing JR Smith 38 minutes and Kyle Korver only 17.

You want Korver defending Thompson?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

DOLA - I don't understand playing JR Smith 38 minutes and Kyle Korver only 17.

JR Smith is out there for his basketball IQ.

They were doing fine with Korver tonight(+10) bit I wonder if they dont like him out there unless Livingston is in the game figuring a huge defensive liability trying to guard Curry, Klay, or Durant.