Jay Huff, Obi Toppin, Quentin Jackson, nembhardt and Siakam are your starters, eh? Don’t remember most of those guys from the 2025 finals.Originally Posted by Revering4Blue
Jay Huff, Obi Toppin, Quentin Jackson, nembhardt and Siakam are your starters, eh? Don’t remember most of those guys from the 2025 finals.
Both Nembhard and Siakam started for the Pacers in the 2025 Finals. Aaron Nesmith is hurt, and someone had to replace Haliburton (injury), and Myles Turner, who's no longer on the team.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
Kingspoint (03-29-2026),Revering4Blue (03-29-2026)
Nesmith actually scored 26 points in the game in question. But you’re right, he’s missed some time this year with injuries. They traded for Zubac who has been also sidelined.
Regardless - and I am sure you (Steel) agree with this - Nesmith and Siakam both missed shots in the final minute and a half and Huff missed two free throws with no time on the clock. This is a non/issue. They lost by ONE point.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited by Revering4Blue; 03-29-2026 at 12:19 PM.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
SteelSD (03-29-2026)
Yup, shots and free throws get missed at inopportune times. Heck Tyrese Maxey missed two free throws with seconds left on the clock in a game earlier this year, leading to a Sixers loss, and they weren't trying to throw games. I think it's a bit suspect to assume that players, all of whom can be traded, would be keen on gaining a reputation for throwing games by intentionally missing shots. I'm really not one for trying to get into the heads of players to assume intent for stuff like that. Preaching to the choir, I know...
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
Revering4Blue (03-29-2026)
In trying to win news...
Philly won a super important game last night on the road to take the season tiebreaker against Charlotte and put a touch more distance between themselves and the Hornets in the standings. They had the whole band back together last night, including Maxey, who was back from injury at least a week early. The group looked a bit disjointed early, especially defensively as the Hornets got off to a hot start in the first period. Rebounding on the defensive side was an issue as Charlotte finished the game with a +14 edge in offensive boards, which almost single-handedly cost the Sixers the game. Philly won or tied all of the last three quarters as the Hornets cooled off from deep, and held the Hornets to 17 points over the final period to finally pull ahead for good late. Observations...
1. Charlotte is a big team, with Kneuppel and Ball running at least 6'6" each in the backcourt. They crash the offensive boards hard. Nick Nurse finally was able to find a temporary solution when he ran out Andre Drummond for 6 minutes (should have done that much sooner). Charlotte's Moussa Diabate impressed me with his activity on the offensive glass. I think he's like Nurse wants Adem Bona to be, but isnt'.
2. Despite Kneuppel's 11 boards, Edgecombe outplayed his fellow rookie last night. Kneuppel was ice cold from the field (3-for-14) and is clearly limited defensively. Maxey will blow by a lot of players, but ran past Kneuppel a couple of times like Kneuppel was standing in quicksand.
3. Paul George is MUCH better offensively after his return from suspension than he was before it.
4. Lonzo Ball can do some cool things, but he helped shoot Charlotte out of last night's game and he's gonna' do it again come playoff time. Ball finished 7-for-26 from the field and 5-of-18 from deep. Crazy that he takes that many shots with Brandon Miller and Kneuppel on the court with him.
5. The Charlotte TV announcing team annoys me. The PBP guy treats every Hornet bucket as if it's a Finals game 7 winner. I'm sure Hornets fans adore him and, to be fair, he gets super excited when opposing players do crazy things (like Maxey putting Miles Bridges on a poster). That being said, hearing his soul die when the Sixers dribbled the ball up coart to end the game? Delightful.
Next up- another important game at Miami. All the playoff teams are determined, but it's a race to get out of the play-in brackets and move up within them.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
goreds2 (03-30-2026),Revering4Blue (03-30-2026)
Hey, Sixers just got Maxey back...Embiid is getting into playing shape and PG13 game out firing in his first game back. Those players that got all the PT because of injuries now make for some decent depth. Drummond has been outstanding lately (he usually is). I don't see a ceiling for them in the playoffs....just a hope for them that they have enough time to get used to each other before the 1st Round is over.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Great game going on between MIA and PHI on Peacock right now
BOS @ ATL also just began and DET @ OKC on Peacock later.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Lakers are done for the year. Luka out at least a month.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
I'm watching some of the Basketball HOF announcement show and it just reminds me how big of a farce it is. I'm surprised they haven't yet inducted a middle school player for leading his team to three county championships.
Embiid pissed that he didn't get to play Wed. Got to love that fire in him.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Austin Reaves out 4 to 6 weeks. The good ship Lakers is heading for the ocean floor.
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.” - Turkish Proverb.
Kingspoint (04-05-2026)
Chet Holmgrem has finished the season as the number one seed every year that he has played basketball.
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.” - Turkish Proverb.
dubc47834 (04-15-2026),goreds2 (04-10-2026),Revering4Blue (04-09-2026)
Doc Rivers is given his walking papers from the Bucks. Is retirement next?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba...bc829c5&ei=122
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.” - Turkish Proverb.
NBA Advance Stats for the last 10 games show the Portland TrailBlazers as the #1 (by a lot all by themselves, 3.6 pts better than the #2 team, where only 2.0 pts separates 2-5 and 2.8 pts separate 2-6) Rated team as far as Defensive Net Rating.
Playoffs are something completely different, so this learning experience is vital. This is why it's been necessary to have the benefits of RWIII, Thybulle (40%+ shooter from "3" now, as is Toumani and Scoot), Jrue and Grant with Dame helping from the bench). The young players (NBA experience)...Deni, Toumani, Krejci, Clingan and Murray, and the young players (age and NBA experience)...Scoot, Sharpe, Cissoko all need to get the experience of a 1st Round matchup against the Spurs, so winning tonight matters. I knew the line would be minus 2-1/2 in favor of PHO, even after it began 4-1/2 in favor of PHO.
Devin Booker is having the best season of his career and Dillon Brooks still plays like an All-Star (Player-of-the-Month just two months ago), but PHO' bench and the rest of their Starting five is outstanding. They suffered lately losing, I think, 8 of their last 13 with Brooks having missed most of those games, but he's healed from the injury now.
Somebody is going to win 108-106, but I just don't know who it will be. I expect POR to have too many turnovers (18 most likely with PHO having about 16), but I do expect POR to out-rebound the Suns by 10+ to make up for it. Again, a close game that will come down to execution over the final five minutes (Grant is clutch in the last 5 minutes of a game, while Deni mistakenly hunts fouls too much at times instead of trying to be aggressive and make the basket. Jrue is clutch whenever he needs to be, while Splitter has tried too much to run out the clock instead of trying to score when he has a 10-pt lead late.
Like most NBA games of this era, it could come down to who has the better 3-pt shooting percentage for the game, but it's not that simple...POR is top-five when it comes to most 3-pt shots taken, while PHO is 7th when it comes to least number of 3-pt shots allowed. That should balance out.
The best way for POR to win is to get into the paint with their play-makers, forcing foul trouble with the Suns (if they get called), but doing so without committing turnovers by forcing the foul-call and not getting it (something Sharpe, Grant and Deni do often).
Personally, I think that if Thybulle and Murray could get 30+ minutes each, then POR will win the game on the Defensive end, as those two players, along with Robert Williams, who would also come off the bench, would likely all have plus/minus's in the +12 to +25 range.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 04-14-2026 at 08:28 PM.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
goreds2 (04-14-2026),Revering4Blue (04-14-2026)
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Posting Permissions
|
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |
Reply With Quote