NBA Season 2025-26

[Phantom255x]

OKC without basically their Top-6 went toe-to-toe with Detroit on the road. Wow!

[radiohead]

Orlando Magics. With the tough wins in LA the last 72 hours. That was a bad shot from LeBron at the buzzer, and Rui with the airball the possession before

In fairness to Lebron, Luka had a wide open look but hesitated. He passed the ball to Lebron with almost no time left. It was so satisfying to see. I remember when Luka drilled a game winning three pointer vs the Celtics a couple of years ago. He was clutch then. Can?t help but think that somehow playing with Lebron is making him second guess his moves.

That team is going nowhere in the playoffs.

They are the typical "they have multiple star players who have been there before and will figure it out" but then they just don't figure it out partially because of their own flaws but also the roster around them. Their bench is very mediocre and they didn't do much to fix it besides Kennard but Kennard isn't great defensively either. Smart is one of the only few guys on that team who can play defense. Even in the final few minutes, LAL was making clutch buckets, but they were also getting toasted defensively and lost primarily because of that.

I don't see them as a real threat in the West. Neither do I see the Rockets really, they've needed a PG since Van Vleet got hurt and they somehow didn't add one. It's SAS, DEN, OKC, MIN as the Finals threats IMO

Has Luka?s play really regressed or is he not comfortable being ?the man? with Lebron there? That?s 2 games already where he hesitated on taking the game winning shot (the other one wa vs the clippers). I still remember when Dallas beat us with a Luka dagger three a couple of years ago. Now it looks like he?s not comfortable to take over games. LA lights too bright or is LeBron?s shadow holding him back to being Luka Magic?

[Donoghus]

Orlando Magics. With the tough wins in LA the last 72 hours. That was a bad shot from LeBron at the buzzer, and Rui with the airball the possession before

In fairness to Lebron, Luka had a wide open look but hesitated. He passed the ball to Lebron with almost no time left. It was so satisfying to see. I remember when Luka drilled a game winning three pointer vs the Celtics a couple of years ago. He was clutch then. Can?t help but think that somehow playing with Lebron is making him second guess his moves.

That team is going nowhere in the playoffs.

They are the typical "they have multiple star players who have been there before and will figure it out" but then they just don't figure it out partially because of their own flaws but also the roster around them. Their bench is very mediocre and they didn't do much to fix it besides Kennard but Kennard isn't great defensively either. Smart is one of the only few guys on that team who can play defense. Even in the final few minutes, LAL was making clutch buckets, but they were also getting toasted defensively and lost primarily because of that.

I don't see them as a real threat in the West. Neither do I see the Rockets really, they've needed a PG since Van Vleet got hurt and they somehow didn't add one. It's SAS, DEN, OKC, MIN as the Finals threats IMO

Has Luka?s play really regressed or is he not comfortable being ?the man? with Lebron there? That?s 2 games already where he hesitated on taking the game winning shot (the other one wa vs the clippers). I still remember when Dallas beat us with a Luka dagger three a couple of years ago. Now it looks like he?s not comfortable to take over games. LA lights too bright or is LeBron?s shadow holding him back to being Luka Magic?

I think its personnel based.  It's not a great Big Three mix with Luka/Lebron/Reeves. They're just not meshing incredibly well together.  Especially when the 3 of them are on the court at the same time.  They're actually much better with just Luka/Reeves out there and Lebron out.  Luka does even better when solo.  Lakers are also not playing well against the top tier teams.  That's why they shouldn't be taken seriously in the playoffs.

Shouldn't be an issue next season when Lebron is gone.

[Donoghus]

Mo Bamba is back!

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
14s
7-footer Mo Bamba is signing a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz, Mark Bartelstein of
@PrioritySports
 and Greer Love tell ESPN. Bamba spent time earlier this season with the Raptors and has averaged 17 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks for the Jazz?s NBA G League affiliate./quote]

[slamtheking]

Mo Bamba is back!

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
14s
7-footer Mo Bamba is signing a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz, Mark Bartelstein of
@PrioritySports
 and Greer Love tell ESPN. Bamba spent time earlier this season with the Raptors and has averaged 17 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks for the Jazz?s NBA G League affiliate./quote]

wondering where those people are that were ready to trade Jaylen for him

[Donoghus]

Mo Bamba is back!

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
14s
7-footer Mo Bamba is signing a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz, Mark Bartelstein of
@PrioritySports
 and Greer Love tell ESPN. Bamba spent time earlier this season with the Raptors and has averaged 17 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks for the Jazz?s NBA G League affiliate./quote]

wondering where those people are that were ready to trade Jaylen for him

There's been a lot of extremely dumb "Trade JB" ideas over the years. A small sprinkling.  There was also the dude who kept insisting on trading Jaylen during his rookie year for Serge Ibaka.

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=103024.0

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=98558.0 (for you Slam)

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=101076.0

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=97550.0

[Moranis]

From Tom Haberstroh

Over last 2 seasons, 207 different players have hit a shot in the final minute that either tied the game or put his team in lead, Luka Doncic is not 1 of those players.

Tom then took a swipe at Luka for the pass to Lebron the other night, but that stat is amazing for a player of his caliber

[DefenseWinsChamps]

From Tom Haberstroh

Over last 2 seasons, 207 different players have hit a shot in the final minute that either tied the game or put his team in lead, Luka Doncic is not 1 of those players.

Tom then took a swipe at Luka for the pass to Lebron the other night, but that stat is amazing for a player of his caliber

Is that true? I feel like I've seen Doncic hit a lot of clutch-time shots, but I also can't remember any recently.

[Phantom255x]

From Tom Haberstroh

Over last 2 seasons, 207 different players have hit a shot in the final minute that either tied the game or put his team in lead, Luka Doncic is not 1 of those players.

Tom then took a swipe at Luka for the pass to Lebron the other night, but that stat is amazing for a player of his caliber

Is that true? I feel like I've seen Doncic hit a lot of clutch-time shots, but I also can't remember any recently.

He did it a lot many years ago, including once against us. But yeah he hasn't had many in recent memory. The only one I can think of off the top of my head was the late GW 3 pointer over Gobert in the playoffs in 2024, which I assume this stat only considers regular season?

[Celtics2021]

From Tom Haberstroh

Over last 2 seasons, 207 different players have hit a shot in the final minute that either tied the game or put his team in lead, Luka Doncic is not 1 of those players.

Tom then took a swipe at Luka for the pass to Lebron the other night, but that stat is amazing for a player of his caliber

Is that true? I feel like I've seen Doncic hit a lot of clutch-time shots, but I also can't remember any recently.

Feels a little odd, but he only played in 47 games last season, so that would somewhat reduce opportunities.  I would be curious how many he has attempted, and also how may fouls he has drawn in those situations.

EDIT: Looked into it a bit, and this season Luka has only been in three games in which his team was behind 3 or less or tied within the last minute, so we are talking about some very rare events here.  He has attempted no shots in these situations, and has one assist.

[Donoghus]

From Tom Haberstroh

Over last 2 seasons, 207 different players have hit a shot in the final minute that either tied the game or put his team in lead, Luka Doncic is not 1 of those players.

Tom then took a swipe at Luka for the pass to Lebron the other night, but that stat is amazing for a player of his caliber

Is that true? I feel like I've seen Doncic hit a lot of clutch-time shots, but I also can't remember any recently.

Feels a little odd, but he only played in 47 games last season, so that would somewhat reduce opportunities.  I would be curious how many he has attempted, and also how may fouls he has drawn in those situations.

EDIT: Looked into it a bit, and this season Luka has only been in three games in which his team was behind 3 or less or tied within the last minute, so we are talking about some very rare events here.  He has attempted no shots in these situations, and has one assist.

You wonder if Haberstroh really dug into it or just parroted something he read.    When you break it down like that, it doesn't seem as crazy as it initially sounds.

[radiohead]

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/2026/02/26/celtics-refused-to-tank-the-rest-of-the-nba-should-be-forced-to-follow-heres-how/88875590007/

This is a nice read. It talks about tanking and how to possibly solve it. It uses Joe and the Celtics as an example of a team refusing to tank.

[Goldstar88]

 

Utah will re-evaluate Markkanen in two weeks after Thursday's MRI showed symptomatic hip impingement with associated inflammation and bone bruise, Shams Charania of ESPN reports.