NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
New thread since the last one hit 1000.
Boston loses a tough one to NOLA in overtime. NOLA's looked a lot better as a team playing through Zion instead of Ball. That'll be an interesting follow as the season progresses.
Tatum hit a super smooth 16-footer to put it into OT, but an Ingram three sealed the win for the Pelicans.
Boston's struggled pretty much all season. Most of that has to do with injuries and Covid, of course, but the lack of a center has really shown. They need a beefy guy down low, IMO.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
My take on the Celtics is they're a shooting team that's not hitting its shots (18th in eFG%). Some of that is a lack of interior scoring, but it's mostly their ball movement. They're 28th in assists per game and they just aren't moving the rock fast enough or creatively enough to yield good shots.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
I watched the final minute in regulation and all of the overtime in the Boston-N.O. contest, and I was thoroughly confused by the Celtics' strategy. Tatum sinks two baskets in the final 11 seconds of the fourth quarter, and ends regulation with 32 points. And then he almost completely disappears in OT. What is up with that? Yes, I listened to Doris Burke's unrelenting lovefest with Josh Hart continue ad nauseam. Barf. But if Josh Hart can shut down your All-Pro, then maybe your All-Pro isn't really an All-Pro after all. I just found it odd.
On a side note, Robert Williams' style of play reminds me a lot of Dennis Rodman.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
The Celtics really miss Marcus Smart. He establishes their identity and their identity is Defense and tenacity. That's missing without Smart.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Aminu Started tonight.
19 minutes, +12 +/-, 4 Steals (the rest of the players on the Magic had 3), 2 Blocks (the rest of the team had 6, which is fine). That minute restriction is going to remain, probably for a couple months, at least, but if he's starting, and then closing games, that's going to translate directly to wins.
Terrance Ross was the only reserve who wasn't at least a -5 in the +/- and he was a robust +8.
Fournier has come back on fire. Add this to Aminu and Vucevic in the Starting lineup and they are back to being the 7th seed that they were last year. When Gordon gets back, Aminu returns to the bench, but it would be great to have him in there closing games instead of Ennis.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
15 Free Throw attempts for Giannis against the Kings with Bagley and Holmes both having three fouls. All this was in the first half.
Never saw any of the game, but I'm not buying for one second that he was fouled more time than he traveled or fouled himself on both Offense and Defense (he has no fouls and three turnovers). Some of that is the disrespect that Sacramento is shown until they start winning as a franchise. They need to win for so many reasons, but this is one of them...no respect from the officials. The Officials are dictating the outcome of this game.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
OMG!!!
Harden flopped bigtime against Kawhi on a tying basket and New Jersey upheld the call allowing Harden to flop.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Ryan Saunders fired.
If he wants to come to POR as an Assistant, I'd love to have him.
But, I can understand why they let him go.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kingspoint
Ryan Saunders fired.
If he wants to come to POR as an Assistant, I'd love to have him.
But, I can understand why they let him go.
...and hiring Asst TOR Coach, Chris Finch, to a multi-year contract.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
MIN definitely has a culture issue, so I can see them trying to pull someone from TOR, who have a great culture there.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kingspoint
OMG!!!
Harden flopped bigtime against Kawhi on a tying basket by and New Jersey upheld the call allowing Harden to flop.
I cannot believe that Leonard didn't get the call, considering the Clippers were at home.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RichRed
Those Wizards just keep casting spells. Add the Blazers and Lakers to the list of victims in what's now a 5-game winning streak. Who are these guys??
I'm responding over here because the old thread is in danger of imminent shut down. The Wizlets found the light switch. All they need is a solid month and they should be in one of those top 10 slots.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Quote:
Originally Posted by
M2
I'm responding over here because the old thread is in danger of imminent shut down. The Wizlets found the light switch. All they need is a solid month and they should be in one of those top 10 slots.
They'll have to play a lot of good teams in that month. LA (twice), Denver, Boston, Memphis, and Minnesota in their next six (before the All-Star break).
They'll need to win at least four of those before I'm convinced this is anything other than a blip on the radar.
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bourgeois Zee
They'll have to play a lot of good teams in that month. LA (twice), Denver, Boston, Memphis, and Minnesota in their next six (before the All-Star break).
They'll need to win at least four of those before I'm convinced this is anything other than a blip on the radar.
That Celtics games strikes me as a good barometer for where they're at. Boston keeps tripping over it's own feet. If DC is in a groove, that's a very winnable game. I don't know if they're for real, but I'm thinking a team can be highly surreal and still make the EC playoffs. Even with their terrible start, they're only 2 games out of 8th place (1 in the loss column).
Re: NBA 2021: 3rd Time's the Charm
There's enough data now to get a look at the 30 teams and how they have used 5-man lineups. It's a lot of work, so I'm going to do 10 teams at a time, reverse-alphabetically.
I'll list the minutes first, lineup, Off Rating, Def Rating, Net Rating, and do this with the three most minutes of 5-man lineups. I'll add a comment for each team.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
44 Mins, West/Bryant/Hachi/Beal/Avdija, O107.0/D111.9/NR-4.9
38 Mins, West/Lopez/Bert/Neto/Avdija, O100.0/D103.7/NR-3.7
33 Mins, West/Wagner/Hachi/Beal/Math, O117.8/D103.9/NR13.9
Clearly, we have no evidence for the Wizards. That said, they are as healthy as they are going to be finally, except for Bryant and their last three games show a glint of what they can do. They actually looked pretty good their last three games, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they turn out to be the team M2 envisioned at the beginning and they start climbing the standings, which a three-game losing streak in either conference will get you. Wizards could be a dangerous playoff team and I do believe they are going to make the play-in games of 7-10.
UTAH JAZZ
296 Mins, Conley/Mitch/Rudy/Bog/Royce, O117.9/D100.8/NR17.1
182 Mins, Clark/Mitch/Favors/Bog/Royce, O118.3/109.9/NR8.4
120 Mins, Joe/Mitch/Rudy/Bog/Royce, O123.7/D102.4/NR21.4
No team has played better than the Jazz. They haven't faced any injuries, yet, so they still have that in front of them and then the adjustments will have to be made and we'll see what happens after that. They might get through the season without losing one, two or three players for a month or more, but that's not likely to happen. They haven't even lost one guy for a month, and they have taken full advantage of this opportunity.
TORONTO RAPTORS (The only team in the NBA where every game is a road game...can't imagine what that must be like.)
123 Mins, Lowry/Siak/VanV/Baynes/Powell, O120.9/D117.2/NR3.7
114 Mins, Lowry/Siak/VanV/Baynes/Anunoby, O102.9/D107.1/NR-4.2
65 Mins, Lowry/Siak/VanV/Boucher/Anunoby, O108.9/107.5/NR1.4
8 of the next 9 most used lineups have a Net Rating from 10.1 to 40.8, w/ 6 of them having Def Ratings of 100.0 or below with the other 2 at 108. TOR plays tenaciously for 48 minutes every game.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
219 Mins, Aldridge/DeRoz/Murray/Walker/Johnson, O111.8/D124.3/NR-12.5
82 Mins, Poeltl/Gay/Murray/Mills/Vassell, O108.9/D80.0/NR28.9
75 Mins, Poeltl/DeRoz/Murray/Walker/Johnson, O103.9/D107.8/NR-3.9
Next three most used lineups all have positive Net Ratings w/ Def Ratins all under 100.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
321 Mins, Barnes/Holmes/Bag/Hield/Fox, O118.9/D112.3/NR6.5
132 Mins, Barnes/Holmes/Halib/Hield/Fox, O120.8/D102.4/NR18.3
40 Mins, Barnes/Holmes/Bagley/Halib/Fox, O88.4/D125.5/NR-37.1
Their top two lineups are great, but it gets real ugly after that. Walton needs to balance the lineups better. You can't play the best guys together all the time. He has Hield/Fox/Barnes/Holmes together too much. When Haliburton comes in for Bagley, I'd bring in Whiteside for Holmes, too. So, Whiteside (low BBIQ) and Haliburton (high BBIQ) would be paired together and Holmes and Bagley would stay paired together. I'd also do it sooner at the 6-min mark of the 1st. So, White/Barnes/Halib/Hield/Fox is the first change. Nest change is at the three-minute mark with Fox out for his replacement. That five starts the 2nd Qtr, except Hield then gets replaced to start the 2nd. This is why SAC needs a new Coach.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS (Will win the Western Conference this season and make it to the Finals.)
188 Mins, Nurk/C.J./RoCo/DJJ/Dame, O113.8/D107.5/NR6.3
123 Mins, Enes/Trent/RoCo/DJJ/Dame, O140.1/D110.9/NR29.2
62 Mins, Enes/Trent/Melo/DJJ/Dame, O109.6/D103.1/NR6.6
That 2nd group that starts now since Nurk and C.J. went down is phenomenal. 140.1 Offensive Rating! Serious?! 29.2 Net!? Wow! When C.J. comes (which will be on a minutes restriction because it's a foot injury) back about a month from now, Trent goes to the 2nd unit (coming in at the 6-minute mark of the 1st), but he and Melo will take turns closing games instead of DJJ and Enes, depending on matchups and game flow.
When Nurk comes back (and there won't be much of a minutes restriction because it's a wrist injury) about 6-8 weeks from now, Enes will go to the 2nd Unit, (coming in at the 3-minute mark of the 1st), while Melo and Trent close out games instead of DJJ depending on matchups and game flow. The playoff rotation 2nd unit will be Melo/Hood/Enes/Trent w/ Dame and C.J. splitting point. There are 29 mins of this 2nd unit w/ C.J. (NR-1.2) and 33 mins w/ Dame (NR1.4).
PHOENIX SUNS
248 Mins, Paul/Booker/Ayton/Bridges/Crowder, O122.5/D121.5/NR-9.0
110 Mins, Paul/Booker/Ayton/Bridges/Johnson, O111.4/D110.4/NR0.9
108 Mins, Paul/Booker/Ayton/Bridges/Kaminsky, O120.9/107.8/NR13.1
Phoenix has also been healthy, and their momentum from the bubble carried over. They missed Saric for quite a while, so they still have upside with his return. The most minutes Saric played w/ the same lineup is just 27...Dario/Booker/Payne/Bridges/Johnson w/ O130.7/D89.1/NR41.3. Saric's most minutes with the same lineup that includes Paul is just 12 mins...Paul/Saric/Moore/Crowder/Johnson w/ O125.9/D77.8/NR48.1. 39 minutes is enough of a sample size that shows Saric takes them to another level.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
348 Mins, Embiid/Simm/Harr/Green/Curry, O122.3/D107.2/NR14.6
56 Mins, Howard/Milton/Harr/Thyb/Konk, O104.9/D86.2/NR18.7
55 Mins, Embiid/Thyb/Harr/Green/Curry, O113.5/D116.9/NR-3.5
Clearly, they have one dominating lineup, and there is a sign that one 2nd unit is doing really well together, but they need to find another combination that works. Most of them don't if you look at their Net Ratings. A lineup that has yet to spend one minute together is one I think would work...Thyb/Milt/Harr/Curry/Simm where Simmons would be the focal point of the Offense and it would be a very good Defense, too.
ORLANDO MAGIC
69 Mins, Vuc/Gordon/Ennis/Fourn/Ant, O113.2/D111.7/NR1.5
57 Mins, Vuc/Gordon/Ennis/Bacon/Ant, O113.4/D90.7/NR22.8
54 Mins, Vuc/Gordon/Bacon/Fourn/Fultz, O98.4/D124.8/NR-26.4
Like WAS, there's no idea what they'll be like as they haven't had a chance to play together. All three of these lineups include Gordon, who will be out another month, at least. They are getting bodies back now, so they'll have until April to put it together. Aminu helps. Fultz out helps Anthony to grow. Isaac out helps Okeke to grow. Two lineups have Ross/Birch/Bacon/Clark, one with Gordon for 52 mins, and a NR of 14.5 and another with Anthony for 36 mins and a NR of 27.1. So, there's a lot of good things to see here.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
195 Mins, Horford/SGA/Hill/Dort/Bazley, O118.9/D112.3/NR6.5
102 Mins, Roby/SGA/Hill/Dort/Bazley, O105.4/D126.0/NR-20.6
95 Mins, Horford/SGA/Maledon/Dort/Bazley, O100.5/D107.4/NR-6.9
Total Rebuild for this team. Hill and Horford should be traded before the deadline, but if not, they'll be great teachers for the rest of the season. They have a winning culture here. No reason to change that. Adding Sindarius Thornwell, who was released today, would be a good replacement for George Hill, as it gives another high-energy, versatile player to look at.