12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

[Kashanova]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

RE: Cavs V Warriors

Refs still don't know how to officiate Lebron, it's quite sad. Durant getting away with murder ever since he joined the dark side.

[lilteapot]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Love the Inside the NBA crew but having them commentate games is a mistake lol

[Majingir]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Talk about Christmas miracle.

Raptors are (technically) 1st in the East! Still a game behind Celtics, but own best win% in the East!

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

That sounds like something a Raptors Fan would brag about. A ****ing win percentage in December, lol.


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[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

To expand on this, he could probably drop 30 a night on a team that really wants to use him and run everything through him. He’s definitely talented. I just don’t think any of the other 4 guys on the floor are any better for it. He negates great playmakers because the only time he gets the ball is 30 foot from the rim. He negates great shooters because when the ball is in his hands he’s not getting it to them, he negates players who roll and cut well because he can’t get them the ball or turns it over when he tries to.

Insanely talented player with a rare blend of size, speed, skill, and athleticism.. but watching him this year I’m not sure Indiana isn’t in better hands with what they have honestly. I always thought if he went someone where he was a 2nd option or even a 1a 1b situation that he would be outstanding. But I don’t think that’s the case anymore. He still has the rest of this year to really figure it all out, but some of this shouldn’t be all that difficult considering he’s having less thrown at him defensively than he likely ever has.


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Just trying to get clarification before I respond to this but between this and your last post, are you basing this on this year or his entire body of work in the NBA?

[BluFu]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

That sounds like something a Raptors Fan would brag about. A ****ing win percentage in December, lol.


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That 30 point loss still stings, huh

[ojandpizza]

12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Just trying to get clarification before I respond to this but between this and your last post, are you basing this on this year or his entire body of work in the NBA?

It’s a little of both really. Watching him play in Indiana he was the same but a lot of that was because he had to be, he was the go to guy so you expected the iso-heavy, find your own shot, type of play from him. I always thought watching him play in Indy that he would be better suited for a situation where he didn’t necessarily have to play that style considering he wasn’t really a dominant scorer in the sense of KD or Kobe or someone who could actually make that style of play be successful come playoff time.

But seeing him now get that shot I’m not sure that he isn’t worse off. He doesn’t move well without the ball, he ball chases a lot and seems to float around the top of the key rather than getting himself into open spots on the floor. When they leave him on the floor, with Westbrook and Melo sitting, to have control of the offense he can’t really do anything outside of get his own shot or turn the ball over because he can’t make the passes he needs to be able to make/tries to make.

In Westbrook’s case he’s making plays for everyone else on the floor, hitting the rolling man, hitting the corner 3 guys, making the correct dump passes under the rim, and with Melo at least he moves some without the ball, sets screens for the ball handler, and recognizes that when he has a 6’2 guard on him that he can take him to the post and exploit the mismatch. Paul George just doesn’t really do any of that well. If he can’t score he just throws it back to whoever is at the top of the key. I don’t feel like he engages the rest of the guys on the court, or really blends well with any unit on the floor. I know last year some of the Pacer guys here were questioning his leadership some, and I really just don’t think he has those qualities, or even the awareness offensively to be effective without the ball or effectively make the other 4 guys better around him.

Even pulling up his stats now, on his career 3.2 assists to 2.6 turnovers. He’s just one of those guys, you just hope he’s got the hot hand because if not where else is he going to help your team win games? The only real benefit here is that he’s not a guy who going to throw up 20+ shots a night, so the ball isn’t sticking in his hands for half the shot clock. But still, you’ve got to find other ways to be effective and I really expected to see that out of him at this point in his career.

With all that said, he’s still a really good defender. I’m just speaking on his weaknesses at the other end.


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[Thrash13]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Ariza has got to be one of the most consistently productive players in the NBA over the last 9-10 years. He always provides great value to whatever team he's on.

I was thinking the same thing tonight. I haven't looked at any stats, but it almost seems like he keeps getting better with age!

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[ojandpizza]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Agreed, they need to play Frye. Frye has actually also defended pretty well too and is usually instant offense.

TT has ruined the Cavs second unit

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Honestly, Thompson just doesn’t really fit with this unit anymore and them forcing him minutes to try and fit him into this rotation has really hurt the flow they had going during their win streak.

The biggest issue with Thompson is he hasn’t really progressed any part of his game. He does rebound well, especially his energy on the offensive glass, but if that’s the only thing you can do at an average level he needs to be rebounding at a Dennis Rodman like rate. He’s not even the best rebounder on the team.

It’s a struggle to watch him play. Even when he makes a good cut and finds himself open under the rim he can’t get off the floor quick enough to finish. He bobbles most passes, which is a head scratcher for someone who doesn’t struggle at all to catch a rebound, and the teams leave him wide open which gives them basically an extra defender every trip up the floor.

With him playing starting minutes and pulling down 15 boards he’s at least making an impact. But if he’s coming off the bench for 15 minutes or so a game and grabbing 6-7 boards without giving them any other benefit it seems like it’s doing more harm overall than good.

With Frye the floor is still spread which makes LeBron better, thus making all the shooters better. The rotation was more solid with Frye and Green eating those minutes because of what they provided at the other end. Green was effectively playing the 3, 4, and some small ball 5 and he runs the lanes as well as just about anyone in the league, cuts hard to the rim, finishes the plays Thompson can’t, all while being a good enough shooter that teams can’t leave him on an island and he can defend more positions at the other end.

Like I said, if Thompson was playing 35 minutes a night that would be one thing. But at 18mpg and 5rpg on the year they aren’t struggling to cover his rebounding, and the trickle effect of having 5 players on the floor that teams have to guard makes their offense look and move 10 times better than with him on the floor.




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[King_B_Mack]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

That’s just what sucks about the rule, that’s just how it goes. Obviously if it was a block and not a foul it would be off KD, but it was a foul and KD didn’t even hit the ball so GS ball by review. We’ve saw this happen countless times now, just how the replay ruling works.


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He definitely hit the ball, that’s clear as day. The problem is that he whacked Bron about thousand times before doing it. I think they should expand replays to where you can asses fouls upon review. You don’t have to give coaches or even refs the power to specifically call for foul reviews as that can get out of hand, but if you’re reviewing a block or an out of bounds call, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to asses a foul if you see it on the replay you’re already at the monitor for. This isn’t the first time this scenario has happened and won’t be the last and it makes the league look dumber and dumber every time it happens.


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[ojandpizza]

Re: 12/19 - 12/25 Games Discussion Thread

Yeah, it just is what it is at this point. We’ve saw it happen a few times, and it’s a crappy rule when you can watch a replay and see a team commit a violation but have to turn around and reward them with the ball.. but I’d imagine if we allowed replays to determine fouls we might run into a bunch of other scenarios where there are even more issues with the ruling than there is now. It’s a tough situation for the refs and the replay system.

If something like this happens in a pivotal moment of a do or die playoff game I’m sure we’ll see some changes. Or if the right player/coach makes a big enough fuss over it Silver might at least start thinking about it.




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