Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cliffawed
Happy for Paul but doesn't it feel like his career has gone full circle back to NOP type team.
They have been hot during FEB but not a serious playoff team surely.
Pick your stat. PHO is among the best in all of them. That implies few weaknesses.
For certain, Chris Paul has not been a successfull playoff player, and it's probably been more about him than the teams he was on. But, he's also changed his game and his attitude, and it looks like a much more mature version of Chris Paul in a positive sense, the perfect blend to work with Monty Williams and the young Suns. Everything Zee mentioned is true. POR plays @ PHO tonight. POR has been winning by taking more "threes" than any other team in the league the last 12 games, getting more Offensive Rebounds than any other team in the league in the last 12 games, committing fewer turnovers than any other team in the NBA over the last 12 games, and those last two strengths were the Bulls' Championship formula for winning, which combined with their ability to get Defensive stops when it matters, the last five minutes of games that are close, allows them to win more games than their ability should have them winning. PHO just wins in dominant fashion from beginning to end.
Oh, and POR has this thing called Dame Time, where Lillard has been shooting 58.8% from "3" in the last five minutes of games that are five points apart or less. While all Super Stars can do this "sometimes" (they actually do it less than their career averages over any time of the game, but because they are always the one taking those shots, they end up with a high volume of attempts), Dame does it all the time. So, POR will win the close games. It's no big deal for POR to be down going into the 4th Qtr and win the game (just ask PHI).
On paper, PHO should beat POR by 15+ points tonight, and POR, whether it was Clyde and Porter, or Dame and C.J., has always struggled in PHO, no matter the Suns' record. Even last season, when PHO couldn't win 20 games, they managed to beat POR in PHO. However, POR has won 8 of 10 and I hope that they'll make it close. This is POR's 5th game (of 7) where every game is in a different city. They go to DEN Wednesday. They've been living on planes for the last 10 days, and in this horrible weather across the U.S., it hasn't been pleasant. At least they aren't the Raptors, who have no home (and just lost their Assistant Coach in the middle of their toughest season ever in an unprecedented fashion).
Oh, and I'm not happy for Chris Paul. I hate the guy with a passion. I hate his personality. I hate him as human being. I can't stand the guy. I don't like Booker either. If it wasn't for a great respect for Monty Williams, I'd loathe PHO right now, but I wish Monty Williams the best and I hope PHO does well (but not tonight and since they are battling POR for seeding all season, it appears, I hope they lose all the time, but come playoff time, I hope they win every series that doesn't involve POR).
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
From NBC Sports w/ NBC Sports' comments:
Derrick White is not traveling with the Spurs for their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to medical protocols. White, Rudy Gay, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Quinndary Weatherspoon all won't make the trip due to protocol and DeMar DeRozan won't travel for personal reasons, so San Antonio will be extremely short-handed against the Thunder. Fortunately, they only play twice this week which gives time for others to recover. This will leave loads of playing time for Patty Mills and Lonnie Walker in the backcourt in the meantime.
SOURCE: Tom Orsborn on Twitter
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
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.
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
Georges Niang 7 for 7 from 3. Surprising.
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Boston Red
Georges Niang 7 for 7 from 3. Surprising.
A very deep roster.
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RichRed
Break up the Wiz. Consecutive wins over the Celtics, Rockets, and Nuggets. If they're not careful, they might not finish in the East cellar.
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??
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
They can stop the calculating right now. Christian Wood is the NBA MVP. Hands down. In the 8 Rockets' contests before Wood got injured, Houston went 7-1, while outscoring their opponents by 10.9 points per game. Since Wood's injury, the team has barfed up an 0-8 ledger, while being slapped around by 15.6 points an outing. That is a turnaround of 26.5 points a game. Yep, that seals the deal.
Re: NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?
1,000 posts. Please see new thread on the NBA season.