NBA Season 2024-25

[Goldstar88]

I could see Portland being around .500 next season. They have some nice players with Simons, Sharp, Avidja, Grant, Ayton, Henderson, Camara.

[Who]

The Rockets quickness in transition against the Nuggets is stark. Reminds me a bit of the early 90s Celtics when they would matchup with MJ's Bulls and the Bulls would run them off the court. The 90s Celtics would compete very well in halfcourt scoring but all those easy transition hoops the Bulls got would continually get them wins.

Denver look so slow. Old and slow.

[Who]

Houston's halfcourt execution is so bad. I don't see how they win a playoff series. They should be destroying this Denver team but they can't put them away because they cannot create reliable offense in the halfcourt.

This is typical of Houston. They are not built for the playoffs.

[Phantom255x]

This game has a lot of implications for standings. If Houston wins, they mostly have the 2 seed all but wrapped up. If Denver wins though, things get a little dicey and DEN is still in the thick of it for the 2 seed, as would LAL.

All of DEN/LAL/HOU have pretty tough schedules to close out the season

[Phantom255x]

The Nuggets have flaws, particularly their bench. And the defense has been lackluster at times. But I still just have a gut feeling when the playoffs come and IF they are healthy, they are capable of turning it on especially Jokic/Murray. No Jokic tonight and they've looked good against Houston. It seems to me like Denver is also giving Jokic the "Jrue/Al" treatment, give him some extended rest before the playoffs. Might be good for the team, also because some of their other guys can get an extended look and more experience right before the postseason.

But they do need to be healthy, including Gordon who has been in and out the last month.

[Who]

LAC vs OKC will be a good test.

See if this LAC team's playoff hopes are legit or not.

[Goldstar88]

Andrew Wiggins went off tonight. 42pts on 16-21 shooting. 8-10 from 3pt. If Spo can get him to be aggressive consistently, that trade may end up working out for Miami.

[Who]

Small lineup for OKC. No Chet. No J-Dub.

G: A Caruso
G: Cason Wallace
F: SGA
F: Lu Dort (6-4 230lbs)
C: Hartenstein

Hartenstein has been feasting on PnRs and cuts early in this game. His movement is excellent. His passing is excellent. Beautiful reverse bounce pass on the move.

If you are Kawhi, your eyes got to be bulging at the sight of all these guards / small wings. He is so much bigger and stronger than any of them. Dort is the only one with enough physical strength to battle with him. None of the others can stick with Kawhi. And even Dort is giving up 3 inches in size to Kawhi + length with Kawhi's high release point on his shot.

[Goldstar88]

Kawhi is looking good. Fun game on NBA TV between the Clippers and Thunder. Looks like LAC are having Ben Simmons play center. Smart move by Lue.

[Who]

Small lineup for OKC. No Chet. No J-Dub.

G: A Caruso
G: Cason Wallace
F: SGA
F: Lu Dort (6-4 230lbs)
C: Hartenstein

Hartenstein has been feasting on PnRs and cuts early in this game. His movement is excellent. His passing is excellent. Beautiful reverse bounce pass on the move.

If you are Kawhi, your eyes got to be bulging at the sight of all these guards / small wings. He is so much bigger and stronger than any of them. Dort is the only one with enough physical strength to battle with him. None of the others can stick with Kawhi. And even Dort is giving up 3 inches in size to Kawhi + length with Kawhi's high release point on his shot.

Wow, now they are tiny. Hartenstein to the bench. Jaylin Williams in at center. A quasi-big man. 6-8 250lbs. And he starts by popping off a pair of 3s.

Caruso & Dort are now the roll men heading to the paint on PnRs. Jaylin Williams a stretch 5 spacing the floor.   

[Phantom255x]

Small lineup for OKC. No Chet. No J-Dub.

G: A Caruso
G: Cason Wallace
F: SGA
F: Lu Dort (6-4 230lbs)
C: Hartenstein

Hartenstein has been feasting on PnRs and cuts early in this game. His movement is excellent. His passing is excellent. Beautiful reverse bounce pass on the move.

If you are Kawhi, your eyes got to be bulging at the sight of all these guards / small wings. He is so much bigger and stronger than any of them. Dort is the only one with enough physical strength to battle with him. None of the others can stick with Kawhi. And even Dort is giving up 3 inches in size to Kawhi + length with Kawhi's high release point on his shot.

Wow, now they are tiny. Hartenstein to the bench. Jaylin Williams in at center. A quasi-big man. 6-8 250lbs. And he starts by popping off a pair of 3s.

Caruso & Dort are now the roll men heading to the paint on PnRs. Jaylin Williams a stretch 5 spacing the floor.

I've been consistent this entire time on the fact that OKC is lethal when they have both Chet + Hartenstein. When one guy is missing though, they can be a bit vulnerable. Hartenstein was a great, underrated addition for them, but sometimes when they miss 1 of iHart or Chet they sometimes suffer inside when going up against a team with a legit frontcourt. Right now, Zubac is feasting. In recent years, even with how talented OKC was, guys like Jokic/AD/Sabonis, etc. would just dominate them inside and that's how they lost against other elite teams.

When Chet missed time earlier this year, Hartenstein was massive for them and filled the void beautifully. That's not a luxury OKC had in recent years. That said, I still think for them to make a deep run they'll need both of Chet/Hartenstein especially in a series with LAL or DEN.

[Who]

A pair of cool in-game graphics

(1) Harden ranks #1 in the NBA for points, assists, three pointers made, and free throws made over the last 9 games.

(2) SGA ranks #1 in the NBA for drives and points off drives. He averages 20.4 drives per game. The next 5 guys (2nd-6th most) average 17-18 drives per game. Most of the rest of the top 10 are PGs along with ball dominant playmaking wings like Cade & Luka. Interestingly Zion is on the list also.

SGA gets 15.6 points per game off drives. Next guys on the list are on around 12 points per game. So he is getting 20-25% more points per game on drives than the next most prolific scorers off drives. That is how much of an outlier SGA's drives & scoring on drives is.

[Who]

+2 in Hartenstein's minutes
-8 without Hartenstein on the floor

He is their only legit big man tonight without Chet around. OKC even smaller than normal on the wing without J-Dub. His size and length helps protect the paint & boards with their small lineups. They miss him on defense. Undervalued defensive player.

[Who]

Now OKC's offense looks horrible without SGA.

They have Caruso at PG, two spot up shooters at SG on the wing, Kenrich Williams a limited offensive PF and Hartenstein at center. Hartenstein with his passing is their main creative outlet.

The loss of J-Dub is killing them here. And Chet. They are their 2 best offensive players after SGA. Without them, it is just a bunch of defensive minded role players & spot up shooters. Limited shot creation & playmaking.

And yet, OKC is only down 1. If they were healthy, they would be trashing this LAC team.

*** Kawhi is having little influence on this game despite having fantastic matchups for him to exploit.

[Who]

Not impressed with Kawhi. He is doing well but he is not dominant. He is playing closer to a Michael Porter Jr level. That is not enough; not for LAC to make a deep run in the playoffs.

I am not sure if Kawhi has even gotten to the rim once in this game. He has gotten to the midrange for contested jumpers. Not rim chances. Not FTs. He has 1 trip to the foul line. And his defensive impact isn't there.

Good level of performance (MPJ level) but not dominant.