NBA Season 2021-22

[liam]

The shooters that Sabonis would've made better went to the Pacers.

[Vermont Green]

Saw this on twitter, didn't verify but in the Lakers last 3 games, the combined 1st quarter score is 112-51.  You aren't going to win many games when you start off in a 20 point hole after 1 quarter.

just hope they win enough to get in the play-in

Why in the world would we hope for that?

I think it has something to do with a traded, protected draft pick.  I can't remember exactly but I think they lose their pick in this scenario.

[Celtics2021]

Saw this on twitter, didn't verify but in the Lakers last 3 games, the combined 1st quarter score is 112-51.  You aren't going to win many games when you start off in a 20 point hole after 1 quarter.

just hope they win enough to get in the play-in

Why in the world would we hope for that?

I think it has something to do with a traded, protected draft pick.  I can't remember exactly but I think they lose their pick in this scenario.

No, they lose their pick no matter what.  The only thing up in the air is if it goes to New Orleans or Memphis.

[Moranis]

The shooters that Sabonis would've made better went to the Pacers.

Perhaps, but the Kings have a + on/off differential with Sabonis (and they did not with Haliburton) and conversely the Pacers also had a + on/of differential with Sabonis and a - with Haliburton.  In other words, both the Kings and Pacers have been worse with Haliburton playing and better with Sabonis playing.  So it is hard to say it was a bad trade for the Kings given Sabonis is not exactly old.

That is also why I think the Sixers were better off not acquiring Haliburton if they were trying to win the title over the next couple of seasons.  Haliburton quite simply does not yet play winning basketball.  He obviously has immense talent, but he is years away from his prime.

[Moranis]

Saw this on twitter, didn't verify but in the Lakers last 3 games, the combined 1st quarter score is 112-51.  You aren't going to win many games when you start off in a 20 point hole after 1 quarter.

just hope they win enough to get in the play-in

Why in the world would we hope for that?

I think it has something to do with a traded, protected draft pick.  I can't remember exactly but I think they lose their pick in this scenario.

No, they lose their pick no matter what.  The only thing up in the air is if it goes to New Orleans or Memphis.

Yep.  I figured he wanted the Lakers in the play-in because it would be hilarious if they lost to New Orleans or San Antonio in the 9/10 game. 

[mobilija]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

[Celtics2021]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

[mobilija]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Would be even better if they had to travel to Toronto for the 8th seed game!

[Moranis]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th. 

[Celtics2021]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

[Moranis]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

If Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant, can't beat teams like Portland (or even Charlotte) at home without Irving, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs at all and Durant can no longer be called an all time great player.  Either Durant is an all time great or he is not.  He keeps getting passes for not having an all star like Irving, but Durant is supposed to be an all time great.  He is BY FAR the best player on any of those teams and is arguably the best player in the world.  The Nets should finish 9-3 at worst with their schedule and Durant.  Now if Durant gets hurt again, that changes things, but even if Irving doesn't play another game this year, Durant should be good enough to carry the Nets to a very good record with the schedule they have left.

[Celtics2021]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

If Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant, can't beat teams like Portland (or even Charlotte) at home without Irving, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs at all and Durant can no longer be called an all time great player.  Either Durant is an all time great or he is not.  He keeps getting passes for not having an all star like Irving, but Durant is supposed to be an all time great.  He is BY FAR the best player on any of those teams and is arguably the best player in the world.  The Nets should finish 9-3 at worst with their schedule and Durant.  Now if Durant gets hurt again, that changes things, but even if Irving doesn't play another game this year, Durant should be good enough to carry the Nets to a very good record with the schedule they have left.

Guaranteed the Nets will finish less than 9-3 unless Kyrie is allowed to play in Brooklyn before the month ends.  They’re 1-3 in NY since Durant returned, with their one win by 3 over the Knicks.  9 of their final 12 are in NYC.  Their non-NYC games are @Miami, @Memphis, and @Atlanta.

NYC has not announced an end date to the large employer vaccine mandate.  The mayor yesterday talked about figuring out something over the next few weeks, because now there are multiple baseball players affected as well, but it’s unlikely Kyrie would be able to play more than a game or two in NY before the season is over.

[celticsclay]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

If Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant, can't beat teams like Portland (or even Charlotte) at home without Irving, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs at all and Durant can no longer be called an all time great player.  Either Durant is an all time great or he is not.  He keeps getting passes for not having an all star like Irving, but Durant is supposed to be an all time great.  He is BY FAR the best player on any of those teams and is arguably the best player in the world.  The Nets should finish 9-3 at worst with their schedule and Durant.  Now if Durant gets hurt again, that changes things, but even if Irving doesn't play another game this year, Durant should be good enough to carry the Nets to a very good record with the schedule they have left.

I agree with Mo here. Especially as they get some of their role players back like Curry and Aldridge. I also think they have been pretty good when he plays and he almost singe handedly beat the eventual champion bucks last year.

[Moranis]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

If Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant, can't beat teams like Portland (or even Charlotte) at home without Irving, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs at all and Durant can no longer be called an all time great player.  Either Durant is an all time great or he is not.  He keeps getting passes for not having an all star like Irving, but Durant is supposed to be an all time great.  He is BY FAR the best player on any of those teams and is arguably the best player in the world.  The Nets should finish 9-3 at worst with their schedule and Durant.  Now if Durant gets hurt again, that changes things, but even if Irving doesn't play another game this year, Durant should be good enough to carry the Nets to a very good record with the schedule they have left.

Guaranteed the Nets will finish less than 9-3 unless Kyrie is allowed to play in Brooklyn before the month ends.  They’re 1-3 in NY since Durant returned, with their one win by 3 over the Knicks.  9 of their final 12 are in NYC.  Their non-NYC games are @Miami, @Memphis, and @Atlanta.

NYC has not announced an end date to the large employer vaccine mandate.  The mayor yesterday talked about figuring out something over the next few weeks, because now there are multiple baseball players affected as well, but it’s unlikely Kyrie would be able to play more than a game or two in NY before the season is over.

They are 1-2 losing close games to Miami (KD's 1st game in months) and Dallas (lost on a buzzer beater last night).  Their schedule is

Portland
Utah
@Memphis
@Miami
Charlotte
Detroit
Milwaukee
@Atlanta
Houston
@New York
Cleveland
Indiana

The only games in NY that should be realistically close are Utah, Milwaukee, and maybe Charlotte and Cleveland.  They should be able to win the 3 road games not in NY, though those are all games they could lose as they are better competition.

A healthy Durant with the rest of that team (even with no Irving or Simmons), should be enough to win 9 games down the stretch.  Now is the time for Durant to actually look like and play like a top 2 player in the world.

[Celtics2021]

Raptors have now moved into a tie for 6th with Cleveland.  Cavs are fading fast with the injuries.

Id like to see Cavs hold on to 6th and the Raptors in 7th. Make Nets travel to Toronto for play-in.

Agreed.  Although I still think the Nets might fall to 9th.

Do you really think Charlotte or Atlanta is going to pass Brooklyn?  I don't see it at all.  Brooklyn's schedule is pretty easy down the stretch and Durant it back and playing.  With the Cavs in free fall mode, I actually think Brooklyn has a better shot at passing them for 7th then they do of falling to 9th.

Unless NY changes it’s rules around Kyrie in the next few days, I do.  5 of Brooklyn’s next 7 are at home, thus no Kyrie, and the two road games are at Memphis and Miami.  If the Hornets beat the Nets in Brooklyn, then they’d hold the tiebreaker, and thus only have to play equal with the Nets in their other 11 games.  Meanwhile, Atlanta has the third easiest schedule left, with Houston, Detroit, OKC, Indiana, and the Knicks still to come (and also a game against Brooklyn).  I’m not sure which of those two will pass the Nets, but I think one will.

If Brooklyn, with Kevin Durant, can't beat teams like Portland (or even Charlotte) at home without Irving, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs at all and Durant can no longer be called an all time great player.  Either Durant is an all time great or he is not.  He keeps getting passes for not having an all star like Irving, but Durant is supposed to be an all time great.  He is BY FAR the best player on any of those teams and is arguably the best player in the world.  The Nets should finish 9-3 at worst with their schedule and Durant.  Now if Durant gets hurt again, that changes things, but even if Irving doesn't play another game this year, Durant should be good enough to carry the Nets to a very good record with the schedule they have left.

Guaranteed the Nets will finish less than 9-3 unless Kyrie is allowed to play in Brooklyn before the month ends.  They’re 1-3 in NY since Durant returned, with their one win by 3 over the Knicks.  9 of their final 12 are in NYC.  Their non-NYC games are @Miami, @Memphis, and @Atlanta.

NYC has not announced an end date to the large employer vaccine mandate.  The mayor yesterday talked about figuring out something over the next few weeks, because now there are multiple baseball players affected as well, but it’s unlikely Kyrie would be able to play more than a game or two in NY before the season is over.

They are 1-2 losing close games to Miami (KD's 1st game in months) and Dallas (lost on a buzzer beater last night).  Their schedule is

Portland
Utah
@Memphis
@Miami
Charlotte
Detroit
Milwaukee
@Atlanta
Houston
@New York
Cleveland
Indiana

The only games in NY that should be realistically close are Utah, Milwaukee, and maybe Charlotte and Cleveland.  They should be able to win the 3 road games not in NY, though those are all games they could lose as they are better competition.

A healthy Durant with the rest of that team (even with no Irving or Simmons), should be enough to win 9 games down the stretch.  Now is the time for Durant to actually look like and play like a top 2 player in the world.

Well, the good news is we can see what happens.  But I'm very confident that Brooklyn won't finish 9-3.  7-5 tops, and if one of those losses is to Charlotte or Atlanta, that could cost them 8th.