NBA Season 2022-23

[Celtics2021]

Jazz without Lauri, clarkson, Kessler and sexton on a minutes restriction lose by two to the lakers in overtime. Lebron and Davis were both forced to play close to 40 minutes.

Yea lot of ppl are saying watch out for Lakers in playoffs, not me.. they get bounce in first round..

Depends who they play in first round, no?

Perhaps, but the Clippers should send the Lakers to the play-in game tonight.

[Moranis]

The one thing about the Bucks, they really aren't stopping teams from scoring. Even yesterday, the Wiz put up nearly 130 on them. And just look at all the results since March 1. Obviously the Bucks have won a lot of them (against terrible teams btw), but they are having to outscore teams most nights. Some of the final scores are 149-136, 133-124, 139-117, 139-123 (L), etc. Then obviously when we played them with good defense, we put up 140 and won by 41 since MIL also had trouble scoring.

I mean the loss is bad, but when you are beating teams by double digits, I'm not sure how many you give up matters.  Clearly they are getting the stops when they need to and the game is obviously being played at a very high pace.  They are after all 4th in DRTG

[Goldstar88]

Nuggets lost to the Rockets last night by 21 and Jokic, Murray, Porter Jr, Gordon, Caldwell-Pope all played. Houston is now 1 game in the lost column behind San Antonio.

[Phantom255x]

The one thing about the Bucks, they really aren't stopping teams from scoring. Even yesterday, the Wiz put up nearly 130 on them. And just look at all the results since March 1. Obviously the Bucks have won a lot of them (against terrible teams btw), but they are having to outscore teams most nights. Some of the final scores are 149-136, 133-124, 139-117, 139-123 (L), etc. Then obviously when we played them with good defense, we put up 140 and won by 41 since MIL also had trouble scoring.

I mean the loss is bad, but when you are beating teams by double digits, I'm not sure how many you give up matters.  Clearly they are getting the stops when they need to and the game is obviously being played at a very high pace.  They are after all 4th in DRTG

Probably. I personally think their defense is kind of overrated. I mean you're right, they are still winning games by double digits, but we have seen the Bucks go 5-5 combined against PHI, BOS and CLE this season. They aren't limiting those teams and as a result are also losing by double digits to them in games.

To their credit, they have taken care of business against all the bad teams, so they get the 1 seed. But for all the talk about Crowder, Ingles, etc. being these pesky 3-and-D guys that'll make life hard on others, it hasn't happened.

I'm curious to see how a MIL-CLE series in the 2nd round goes.

[Who]

Ingles isn't a 3+D player / good defensive player anymore. He is just an offensive minded role player. A one-way player.

Crowder still plays plus D.

[Moranis]

The one thing about the Bucks, they really aren't stopping teams from scoring. Even yesterday, the Wiz put up nearly 130 on them. And just look at all the results since March 1. Obviously the Bucks have won a lot of them (against terrible teams btw), but they are having to outscore teams most nights. Some of the final scores are 149-136, 133-124, 139-117, 139-123 (L), etc. Then obviously when we played them with good defense, we put up 140 and won by 41 since MIL also had trouble scoring.

I mean the loss is bad, but when you are beating teams by double digits, I'm not sure how many you give up matters.  Clearly they are getting the stops when they need to and the game is obviously being played at a very high pace.  They are after all 4th in DRTG

Probably. I personally think their defense is kind of overrated. I mean you're right, they are still winning games by double digits, but we have seen the Bucks go 5-5 combined against PHI, BOS and CLE this season. They aren't limiting those teams and as a result are also losing by double digits to them in games.

To their credit, they have taken care of business against all the bad teams, so they get the 1 seed. But for all the talk about Crowder, Ingles, etc. being these pesky 3-and-D guys that'll make life hard on others, it hasn't happened.

I'm curious to see how a MIL-CLE series in the 2nd round goes.

Milwaukee will beat Cleveland or NY in 5 or 6 games, maybe even 4 games.  Neither team can stop Giannis and unlike the Sixers or Celtics, those teams don't have a guy that can even come close to keeping pace with Giannis.

[Who]

Milwaukee will beat Cleveland or NY in 5 or 6 games, maybe even 4 games.  Neither team can stop Giannis and unlike the Sixers or Celtics, those teams don't have a guy that can even come close to keeping pace with Giannis.

Yeah, I would've thought that MIL would be a really terrible matchup for CLE. Those two little guards trying to score over the size, length and quickness of Giannis, Portis and B Lopez. Tough matchups for them. Then Mobley on defense trying to defend Giannis. I cannot see stick thin Mobley being able to deal with Giannis' physicality.

I hope that doesn't happen for CLE because I think they could give PHI or BOS a good series. I'd like to see them get a better draw. They have a good season. #2 in the league in point differential behind BOS.

[Who]

I don't even think of New York as a credible team for a playoff team. They are no better than Toronto or Miami or Brooklyn. They are better than Atlanta. Everyone mentioned is better than Atlanta.

NYK are a regular season team. Not a playoff team. They do not have enough talent, high end talent or even medium level talent, to put a scare into good teams in a 7 game series.

[Moranis]

I don't even think of New York as a credible team for a playoff team. They are no better than Toronto or Miami or Brooklyn. They are better than Atlanta. Everyone mentioned is better than Atlanta.

NYK are a regular season team. Not a playoff team. They do not have enough talent, high end talent or even medium level talent, to put a scare into good teams in a 7 game series.

The Knicks are a weird team.  They clearly don't have the high level top end star, but they do have 3 excellent scorers, if 2 of them are on, they can beat anyone.  I don't think they will be consistent enough to beat the top 3 teams, but I do think they could beat the Cavs and their starting 5 is solid with Brunson, Hart, Barrett, Randle, and Robinson.  Excellent mix of scoring, shooting, and defense.  I just don't trust any of those guys to get a basket down 1 with 10 seconds left.  That is where you need the mega star.  They just don't have that guy. 

[kraidstar]

Nuggets lost to the Rockets last night by 21 and Jokic, Murray, Porter Jr, Gordon, Caldwell-Pope all played. Houston is now 1 game in the lost column behind San Antonio.

The Spurs play the Blazers next. We keep the better of Houston and Portland's pick.

So normally we're rooting for Portland to win here to keep that 33rd pick in play.

BUT

Portland is currently at #35 but has 3 teams just 1 game back, so our pick could theoretically slip all the way to 38 if they win that game and then lose tiebreakers, while houston wins their tiebreaker to stay at 32. So there is some significant downside to the Spurs losing tomorrow. It's a worst-case scenario,  but given our luck with tiebreakers I am a bit nervous.

[slamtheking]

I don't even think of New York as a credible team for a playoff team. They are no better than Toronto or Miami or Brooklyn. They are better than Atlanta. Everyone mentioned is better than Atlanta.

NYK are a regular season team. Not a playoff team. They do not have enough talent, high end talent or even medium level talent, to put a scare into good teams in a 7 game series.

The Knicks are a weird team.  They clearly don't have the high level top end star, but they do have 3 excellent scorers, if 2 of them are on, they can beat anyone.  I don't think they will be consistent enough to beat the top 3 teams, but I do think they could beat the Cavs and their starting 5 is solid with Brunson, Hart, Barrett, Randle, and Robinson.  Excellent mix of scoring, shooting, and defense. I just don't trust any of those guys to get a basket down 1 with 10 seconds left.  That is where you need the mega star.  They just don't have that guy.

do they really need THAT guy in that situation though?  one would think a good coach would be able to set up an ATO play that would get a good look for Randle or Brunson for a game winning shot.  For one offensive possession, those 2 are capable of making a bucket.   

I do agree that they don't have enough overall talent to compete with the Bucks or C's in a series.  I think Cleveland with Mitchell and Philly with Embiid have a decidedly better top player than the Knicks but they also need someone else on their teams to step up and that's not a given for either of those teams.

[Who]

ESPN say the Lakers are 16 and 7 since they made their mid-season trades. That would be a 57 win pace if maintained over the course of a full season.

[Vermont Green]

ESPN say the Lakers are 16 and 7 since they made their mid-season trades. That would be a 57 win pace if maintained over the course of a full season.

I don't know why people hate to admit this but LAL, with Davis and LeBron healthy, is a very good team, even before the deadline trades.  With what they did with the trades, they are that much better.  If Davis and LeBron hold up, I believe that LAL is as good as anyone in the West.  All the West teams have questions.  Can Denver compete in a playoff atmosphere?  Will PHO gel as a team and will Durant hold up?  Is SAC really any good?  Will GSW flip the switch when Wiggins comes back?  The LAL are right there with any of these teams, so long as both Davis and LeBron hold up.

[Moranis]

ESPN say the Lakers are 16 and 7 since they made their mid-season trades. That would be a 57 win pace if maintained over the course of a full season.

I don't know why people hate to admit this but LAL, with Davis and LeBron healthy, is a very good team, even before the deadline trades.  With what they did with the trades, they are that much better.  If Davis and LeBron hold up, I believe that LAL is as good as anyone in the West.  All the West teams have questions.  Can Denver compete in a playoff atmosphere?  Will PHO gel as a team and will Durant hold up?  Is SAC really any good?  Will GSW flip the switch when Wiggins comes back?  The LAL are right there with any of these teams, so long as both Davis and LeBron hold up.

Yeah the Lakers are a health question, but not a talent question.

They also started 2-10 and are 39-28 since, which is a 48 win pace. 

[celticsclay]

I don't even think of New York as a credible team for a playoff team. They are no better than Toronto or Miami or Brooklyn. They are better than Atlanta. Everyone mentioned is better than Atlanta.

NYK are a regular season team. Not a playoff team. They do not have enough talent, high end talent or even medium level talent, to put a scare into good teams in a 7 game series.

The Knicks are a weird team.  They clearly don't have the high level top end star, but they do have 3 excellent scorers, if 2 of them are on, they can beat anyone.  I don't think they will be consistent enough to beat the top 3 teams, but I do think they could beat the Cavs and their starting 5 is solid with Brunson, Hart, Barrett, Randle, and Robinson.  Excellent mix of scoring, shooting, and defense.  I just don't trust any of those guys to get a basket down 1 with 10 seconds left.  That is where you need the mega star.  They just don't have that guy.

Brunson has to at least be in the conversation for being able to that. I believe he has been super clutch in those situations this season. Curious how it translates to playoffs