NBA 2020-21: The Final Covid-19 Season?

[Kingspoint]

POR was down to 9 players tonight with only Kanter as a Center. Up by 23 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd, OKC goes on a 42-15 run to take a 5-point lead. POR, including Dame (1-10 from 3 at this point), could not buy a bucket or stop OKC. Timeout POR with 5 minutes left and Dame turns it up another two notches. He drains a 27-footer. Trent causes an over-and-back. Dame drives and draws five players so he hits a wide-open Trent who nails a "3" and puts POR ahead. More Defense by POR and then Dame drains a 25-footer with Dork drenched all over him, so he has to put an extra arch on it. More Defense by POR before Dame buries a 31-footer. Another timeout for OKC. They get two, but Dame drives and hits a wide-open RoCo (40% shooting from 3 since C.J. went out 12 games ago on an average of 5 attempts per game), who nails the clutch three. More Defense by POR (13th Rated Defense over the last 8 games) before Dame nails a 27-footer as POR goes 6-6 from 3 and outscores OKC 18-2 over the last 4:47. Five in a row. 8 of 10. Kanter couldn't walk after getting injured again, but toughed it out in the 4th Quarter. Dame got injured again and was limping for the 4th Quarter. Dame got 4 fouls for the first time in his life in the 1st half, but played through it and avoided getting fouled out. Simons did foul out after hitting 5 three's in the 1st half. Nassir was 3-3 from three. Melo hurt himself, too. RoCo still wearing the concussion mask. No rest for the weary. On to New Orleans tomorrow night, who just beat MEM by 30. POR is finding ways to get wins, despite being incredibly short-handed and those that are playing have a ton of injuries. That is so Lillard. Don't know when Hood (ankle sprain) and Giles (calf strain) are coming back. Hope Kanter and Dame can play tomorrow. If Dame can stand without crutches, he'll play. Kanter is getting beat to death, as is Melo.

And then there are teams like PHO, LAL, UTA and the LAC who are playing at a level that nobody else can come close to.

[Kingspoint]

you going to tell me water is wet next? I am kidding, but I think everyone would guess the name if asked, but did not realize it has been that large of a number.

I had actually never heard the stat before. I knew of the "9" when it's 5 seconds or less, and that's tied for the most, I think with LeBron and Curry, but not sure.

[Kingspoint]

SAS getting 4 players testing positive for COVID-19 and having their next 5 games, starting tonight, canceled, will have to make those up later in the season, making it unlikely for Pop to rest his players like he normally does. He probably will and somehow find a way to get the 7th seed.

[Kingspoint]

BKN/PHO is great.

[Kingspoint]

Since Dame entered the league (12-13), no player has hit as many game-winning baskets in the last minute of a game, including playoffs, than Damian Lillard. He's done it 33 times after his game-winner in DAL Sunday.

Make that 34 as he did it again tonight against NOP. Blazers were stuck in OKC and didn't get off the plane in NOP until 3 hours before tipoff. 43 points, 16 assists for Dame tonight. Simply amazing as he leads them to their 6th straight win and 4th in the Western Conference.

Oh, and Robert Covington can shoot (40% over his last 12 games when it was needed most after C.J. went down), while the draft combo of Simons and Trent are both shooting over 40% for the season. Because the team has great shooters, Stotts has them taking more than most any team in the league and they are hitting them. Only the Clippers are better at it.

[Boston Red]

Sorry Stockton and Malone. At this point it's getting pretty tough to argue this isnt the best Jazz team ever. Sure hope they can keep it up.

[Kingspoint]

Sorry Stockton and Malone. At this point it's getting pretty tough to argue this isnt the best Jazz team ever. Sure hope they can keep it up.

They have everything that's needed. It was pointed out even how much Keeyon Dooling has made a difference for them, too. They've always had a terrible bench when Gobert leaves the floor, but that's no longer the case. They have enough to go around that even when he's not on the floor, they can not only avoid giving back huge leads they had earned, but can extend the lead with O'Neale, Clarkson, Favors and Niang.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Sorry Stockton and Malone. At this point it's getting pretty tough to argue this isnt the best Jazz team ever. Sure hope they can keep it up.

That is a hot take, indeed.

That 1998 Old Man Strength team was really, really good. The 1997 team was even better.

18 losses over the course of an entire season, and two top 50 GOATs is tough to beat.

This year's squad will have to keep this up throughout the season AND win the championship, IMO, to be definitively better. They're on their way, for sure.

(Plus, Malone and Stockton plus Sloane... Yeah, that's iconic.)

[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.

[Revering4Blue]

Sorry Stockton and Malone. At this point it's getting pretty tough to argue this isnt the best Jazz team ever. Sure hope they can keep it up.

And they've been trucking along quite well, to say the least, without Mike Conley Jr. To that end, I'll submit this question: Once Conley returns, would it not be a good idea for Snyder to keep the current starting lineup and bring Conley off the bench (He'll still garner as many minutes as he had pre-injury) as to not disrupt team chemistry?

That may be the element that ultimately pushes this Jazz team over the top.

[Revering4Blue]

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.

They're only three games out the eighth spot right now, granted, with both the Hawks and Heat barely ahead of them but still roughly on the 9-10 seed area.

And this projects to be a much stronger draft than last year's from the standpoint of high-ceilings. Either way, the Wiz' are likely to wind up with an impact player.

[Revering4Blue]

That is a hot take, indeed.

That 1998 Old Man Strength team was really, really good. The 1997 team was even better.

18 losses over the course of an entire season, and two top 50 GOATs is tough to beat.

This year's squad will have to keep this up throughout the season AND win the championship, IMO, to be definitively better. They're on their way, for sure.

(Plus, Malone and Stockton plus Sloane... Yeah, that's iconic.)

Confining this argument to the Stockton/Malone Jazz era, I'll continue to posit the following:

The Stockton/Malone teams with Eaton, Griffith, Hansen and Thurl Bailey were stronger teams than their late 90's editions. No getting around it, it was a much tougher league overall circa '88 than '98. That said, the '97 and '98 teams were quite literally a Mark Eaton or Rudy Gobert away from winning at least one NBA Championship.

[Kingspoint]

And they've been trucking along quite well, to say the least, without Mike Conley Jr. To that end, I'll submit this question: Once Conley returns, would it not be a good idea for Snyder to keep the current starting lineup and bring Conley off the bench (He'll still garner as many minutes as he had pre-injury) as to not disrupt team chemistry?

That may be the element that ultimately pushes this Jazz team over the top.

No, it would not be good. They have the record they have because Conley is the most important reason why. He needs to be in the Starting lineup. He makes everyone better. And, it's not like he doesn't spend some of his time with the bench, as he does. But, he needs to be out there with Gobert, Mitchell, Bog and O'Neale. Ingles needs to come off the bench, where what he does can be taken better advantage of. Ingles disappears among the Starters, but added to the bench and his hockey assists help the second unit flow, while his spacing helps open up lanes for Clarkson. UTA has had a recent history of closing important games with too much pressure put on Mitchell. With Conley on the floor at the same time, that issue completely goes away. It doesn't change at all with Ingles out there.

They're winning without Conley like POR is winning without McCollum, but Trent goes back to the bench when C.J. returns, and Kanter goes back to the bench when Nurkic returns, and DJJ goes to the bench next season when Zach Collins returns (moving Covington to SF). Conley is the most important person on the floor for making sure the right decisioins are made and for making sure that the chemistry stays good. UTA is already there. There is no next level. They just need to prove it in the playoffs and that's where Conley is needed the most and will pay off his biggest dividends. Just look at his NET Rating. Is it still #1 in the NBA? Probably.

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They're only three games out the eighth spot right now, granted, with both the Hawks and Heat barely ahead of them but still roughly on the 9-10 seed area.

And this projects to be a much stronger draft than last year's from the standpoint of high-ceilings. Either way, the Wiz' are likely to wind up with an impact player.

Don't count out the Bulls....one of only two teams in the East with a winning road record (IND the other one).

[Kingspoint]

NBA teams are starting to get healthy. Many players out for a long time are coming back on many, many teams right now. The league is starting to shape up, but it's still going to take until after the March 7th All-Star break before we start seeing a healthy NBA season with teams finally getting a bit used to each other with a chance to have had a few practices that they've all been without since the season began. Just the two practices POR had has paid huge dividends with the team even with Hood, DJJ, RoCo, Giles, Nassir Little and Dame (he can barely walk and get out of bed most days, yet he put up a 43/16 line last night on the 2nd of a back-to-back) all missing games since the two practices and Enes and Melo getting hurt and banged up, but like Dame, playing through the multiple injuries.

The quality of the games should noticeably improve over every week for the next two months. March, April, May and June (when the 2nd Round begins) is going to be great basketball (along with the NCAA tournament helping to infuse enthusiasm for basketball). Baseball is pretty boring in April and May anyway, so that works out well. Last April and May had everyone upgrading their homes during lockdown, so this Spring should let them enjoy what they did last Spring.

[BuckeyeRed27]

And they've been trucking along quite well, to say the least, without Mike Conley Jr. To that end, I'll submit this question: Once Conley returns, would it not be a good idea for Snyder to keep the current starting lineup and bring Conley off the bench (He'll still garner as many minutes as he had pre-injury) as to not disrupt team chemistry?

That may be the element that ultimately pushes this Jazz team over the top.

He's only missed 5 games. He was a pretty important part in the 17-1 record before that. Conley was playing a very very high level before he got hurt. He's going to slide back into the line up and Ingles will go back to the bench rotation with Favors and Clarkson.