NBA 25-26 - And so it begins..

[Kingspoint]

Short 7 players for the 2nd game in a row against against HOU (beat them Wed behind Deni's 42 and some really good team Defense), POR faced Ime's squad against a plan if attack to double Deni at halfcourt forcing what's left of POR's roster to come through. They did with a dominating 4th quarter in a more comfortable 6-pt win.

Despite these back-to-back losses (Ime and half his coaching staff are from POR), HOU will still get the 2-seed just as MIN will get the 3-Seed. I think DEN gets the last Home-court 1st Round seed in the West.

Someday POR will start to get some players back. In the meantime, they have a huge goal in their next game that didn't remotely seem possible 10 games ago...get to .500.

[Kingspoint]

What organization will trade for Jah? This year has been really tough on his reputation. Maybe Charlotte will roll the dice on a Lamelo for Jah switch. There are other big earners that are potential salary swaps. Simons makes $27 million and Jeramie Grant makes $32 million and are not valued as long term talents/contracts. Would Boston or Portland take the risk?

Joe Cronin is not an idiot and only an idiot of a GM would trade anything at all for Morant. One G.M. two weeks ago stated that nobody around the league wants this guy anywhere near their framchise.

Morant's career is over. Done. MEM will eventually release him, but will keep trying to find violations in his contract to avoid paying him.

[KoryMac5]

Anthony Davis with ligament damage in his hand seeking a second opinion if he needs surgery he will be out for months.

I think this new caps the case for worst trade in the history of sports.

So far in Dallas he has played 29 out of 70 games.

[Betterread]

The Spurs are very good, but their creative players (Fox, Castle and Harper) are not as effective recently as teams are figuring out that they are inconsistent outside shooters. I think the Spurs could trade one of those three and/or Vassel and Johnson for more shooting (Michael Porter Jr.?)
This is the situation as Wemby is ramping up minutes in his return from injury. He is a game changer defensively, but I think he messes with the offensive flow because he needs precious seconds to go to his bag of moves. The moves often work, but it takes a while. He is still so young that I think he will figure out how to break down opponents in a more time efficient manner. He is a Very impressive talent. Spurs are giving the league notice they are starting a long period of dominance.

[Betterread]

The NBA is so weird at this point in the season.
On Sat, the Cavs threw down 146 on the Twolves. The most pts given up this year for a top 5 team defense (now they are 7 or 9). They shot 60% and had five guys scoring over 20 pts. One of the most impressive offensive teams Twolves have faced all year.
Now on Monday, Cavs lose by 11 to Utah, who lost by 55 to Charlotte on Saturday. 150-95. The Utah team is one of the worst teams the wolves have faced all year.

[Kingspoint]

I think injuries have been a major issue throughout the league. Teams that haven't had major injury issues and are still struggling will likely be one-and-done in the playoffs as teams with major injuries that have stayed afloat will improve dramatically in February, then again in March and then again in April.

By the time the 1st Round of the playoffs begin, there's going to be 16 good teams playing.

POR, on the other hand, may never get healthy. Jrue returned Sunday after missing 30 games (the fewest games missed among Scoot, Matisse and Blake Wesley, while Jerami Grant continues to miss time. Kris Murray, who has been playing great by doing all the little things, playing great Defense, Starting and playing 28 min/game, was announced as out with a bad back and no timetable for a return. Sounds like he won't even be updated for another month.

Deni, who can't even walk right now, is out indefinitely. Add Lillard and there's 8 bodies out for a long time still with it being a tossup if Grant of Avdija return first.

The only healthy bodies:

Clingan (who should only play about 28 minutes per night)
Yang (who is ineffective most outings, and can still only do about 12 minutes on a night before exposure becomes a major issue)
Duop Reath (who is ineffective most nights even when he's hitting "3"'s)
Robert Williams III (can't play back-to-backs and only about 16 minutes a night when he does play)
Toumani Camara (improved shooting every month this season, leads NBA in personal fouls drawn from the Offense, lapping the field in this this)
Shaedon Sharpe (dramatically improved shooting the last 10 weeks, improved decision-making, improved Defense)
Rayan Rupert (finally taken a step forward holding his own on the court, but won't contribute many points)
Cidy Sissoko (dynamic 21-year old from France found from the fallout of the Spurs overflow of gifted draft talent...will cause someone to be traded as he'll need their roster spot when his timeline for converting his 2-way contract comes up)
Caleb Love (24-year old PAC-12 PoY Rookie who has won several games with 4th Quarter clutch "3" shooting...has been the only Point Guard active in the last 30 games and had zero NBA experience when asked to take on this role. Has improved every week, and a decision may have to be made on his 2-way status soon.)
Jrue Holiday [returned Sunday, but will likely see minutes restrictions, and possibly back-to-back, too (have 3 of them coming up in a row beginning this week) the rest of the season]

[Kingspoint]

Can see POR losing 136-104 @GSW tonight as POR tries for the season sweep, already up 3-0 in the series. I say the blowout because it takes POR at least 127 points to beat the Warriors and I just don't know where the Offense will come from.

Love...24
Clingan...22
Sharpe...26 (but with 6 TO's)
Jrue...18
Sidi...12
RWIII...10
Rupert...5
Hansen...5
Reath...11

[Betterread]

Cleveland - Philly Great game. Two really talented offensive teams. This should mean Tyson starts from now on instead of Merrill, ya think?

[Kingspoint]

Lakers are going to continue their slide all the way to the 10th or 11th Seed.

Jalen Green is ready to make his season debut. PHO is good. They have a stretch coming up of 16 of 19 at home. Their sights are the #2 Seed.

LAC have won 12 of 14. Kawhi has been on an MVP pace during this stretch. He missed last night's impressive OT win @TOR, and will miss the next two games.

The schedulers have set up POR with 5 back-to-backs in a month, including 3 in a row. They just won the first one beating the Lakers on Sat as Grant (1st game back after missing 14 games) and Holiday (2nd game back after missing 30 games) returned, and then they ended SAC's 4-game winnging streak as Avdija (30/8/8) returned, but Holiday, Grant and RWIII sat for restrictions minutes. Still no word on when Thybulle, Scoot, Murray or Wesley will be back. They are needed badly. Good news is that POR is an NBA-best 8-2 in Jan and they finally got back to .500. Next back-to-back is MIA/TOR on Thur/Fri. They'll actually have a chance for a real practice this week which is badly needed with POR having had to use 3 2-way players, English and fundamentally challenged Yang Hansen, and Duop Reath.

DEN has won 7 of 10 without the Joker. They have depth and will eventually get Braun back (who came back too early, then was was shut down). Surprisingly, this could be Jamal Murray's 1st All-Star appearance.

The least talked about team in the West is MIN. The #2 Seed is wide open in the West with PHO, MIN, DEN and HOU all capable of grabbing it.

SAS's record isn't as misleading as the Lakers, but they aren't #2-seed good. They will fall to 5th or 6th in the West, which is still impressive.

CLE has improved because Garland has been great. He's injured again, this time the toe on his other foot, but he shouldn't miss much time.

Knicks are not getting even mediocre production from Bridges. He continues to choke in the 4th quarters. KAT continues to get stupid fouls. When Hart is out, the Knicks' heart is out. When he's in, they are very good. That early season idea of Hart coming off the bench reminds me of Billups' stupid idea last year of Deni coming off the bench.

DET and OKC are both head-and-shoulders above everyone else in their Conference.

Still maintain that Jaylen has always been the better player than Tatum. If only POR could have seen (all the fans knew) that Simons is a perfect 6th man (though POR needs Holiday much more than Simons, and Jrue is the far better player). BOS won't trade Simons. They can pick up a big some other way. They'll want Simons' salary relief this Summer, with the chance to get him to resign for less.

The ATL/MIL/CHI race for the 9th-11th seeds will last all season.

- - - Updated - - -

PHI is 6-1 in the 2nd of back-to-backs. McCain is now in the G-league.

- - - Updated - - -

Suggs just can't stay healthy.

[Kingspoint]

Butler's injury gives POR, LAC and even MEM or DAL a chance to pass GSW in the standings. It also ensures that the LAL won't fade past them. Probably looking at the Warriors finishing as the #11 Seed now and missing the playoffs.

Jalen Green makes his debut for the Suns tonight.

Some good games tonight, including SAS @ HOU.

[Kingspoint]

NYK have discussed trading KAT with multiple teams (CHA, MEM, ORL).

New York fans serenaded their team with continuous boos yesterday.

[goreds2]

Embiid with his 9th career triple/double in the 76ers overtime win over the Rockets.

[SteelSD]

Embiid with his 9th career triple/double in the 76ers overtime win over the Rockets.

In a game they had to win twice after officials missed a clear goaltend on a Maxey drive at the end of regulation. That being said, Philly would have lost that game had the Rockets not been terrible (50%) from the charity stripe. Embiid played 46 minutes.

Not gonna' lie, the Sixers are a very frustrating team to watch right now. Long stretches where the offense can't score (happened again last night), they don't move the ball well at all, the bench gets outplayed consistently (again, see last night), they don't defend the arc nearly well enough, George hasn't stepped up offensively yet, and they're too easy to guard when Embiid sits.

[RiverfrontRed]

My Suns have been a pleasant surprise.

[Kingspoint]

Injuries continue to be the dominating factor this season in the NBA with 2/3rd's to 3/4th's of the teams, which makes the Knicks a crappy team, as they've been extremely healthy all season.