NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[jambr380]

Lebron is +4 in the game. Shame they don't have Luka. Need one on the floor at all times to have any shot.

It's definitely not a shame from a Boston fan's perspective. I'm still getting over the end of the Celtics season, so the only thing I will derive joy from the rest of the way is Lakers losing.

[RMO]

Rough night for Marcus.  Reaves too

[Phantom255x]

Rough night for Marcus.  Reaves too

[RMO]

Rough night for Marcus.  Reaves too

Even that is more sympathy than I'm willing to concede.

[Phantom255x]

I don't think the Lakers are winning the series even if Doncic comes back, but if he doesn't come back before Game 4 this could be an easy gentleman sweep. This isn't the Rockets, far from it, the Thunder have shooters all over the court and pesky defenders that will make life tough on the likes of Reaves, Bronny, Kennard, Smart, etc.

[SparzWizard]

I don't think the Lakers are winning the series even if Doncic comes back, but if he doesn't come back before Game 4 this could be an easy gentleman sweep. This isn't the Rockets, far from it, the Thunder have shooters all over the court and pesky defenders that will make life tough on the likes of Reaves, Bronny, Kennard, Smart, etc.

This series is a sweep for OKC with or without Luka. They'll be lucky to even get one game

[Who]

Was that Shai's 1st game all-season with under 20pts? Oh my, it was. 18pts. Plus he had 7 turnovers. That is one of the worst Shai games you are going to get. And LAL still lost by 18pts .... yikes!

[Who]

Cleveland getting some joy in Q3 from J Tyson at PF alongside 1 big (E Mobley or J Allen) and 3 guards (shooter, Schroder, D Mitch). They have some proper spacing for a change.

[Goldstar88]

Classic Marcus Smart game. Solid defense, passing was decent for the most part, shooting was atrocious. 4-15 from the field, 2-8 from 3pt. I do not miss that.


SGA only had 18pts. Guess his streak is over. Oh, well..

[Phantom255x]

Meanwhile Embiid is now OUT for Game 2 tonight with ankle and hip injuries. Bruh...

[celticinorlando]

Can't make this stuff. Philly going to get boat raced out of this series in 4 games. What a wasted opportunity for Boston.

[Who]

Meanwhile Embiid is now OUT for Game 2 tonight with ankle and hip injuries. Bruh...

The commentator said that Embiid hasn't played more than 6 games in a row since Dec 2023. That after Gm 1 Embiid was on 5 straight games and they were wondering if he could last to Gm 2 & beyond.

Prophetic.

[Who]

E Mobley mentioned in another thread as a Jaylen trade idea reminded me I wanted to take a shot at him over his play last night against DET and his play in general.

E Mobley has to be one of the worst jump-shooting starting PFs in the league. His 3PT% has dropped from 37% to 31% this season. He still only takes a small volume of 3s at 3 per game which is only 1 every 10 minutes. Weak volume. But even beyond that, he can't be trusted to make a 2 point jump-shot either. Almost everything he does is in the paint or a dodgy 3 point shot. He was 7-21 FGA on 16-23 foot (long 2s) on the season and 3-18 FGA last season. He was 29-67 FGA on 10-16 footers (midrangers) this season and 14-38 last season. He hardly ever shoots from the midrange or a long two. He has no confidence in his jump-shot. The spacing he provides is minimal.

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Even worse for CLE they are pairing him with Dean Wade at SF and J Allen at C. Words cannot describe how much I hate this frontcourt. Mobley and J Allen have spacing issues by themselves. You can't pair them with Dean Wade.

Wade averages 6ppg in 25mpg. He never shoots! He is scared to shoot. He averages 2.4 FGM on 5.3 FGA in the playoffs which is in line with his regular season numbers. This for a stretch 4. He cannot provide proper spacing because he refuses to shoot. Not only does he not shoot. He also provides no ball-handling and minimal passing. The guy is one of the worst offensive PFs in the league who play 20+mpg. So their idea is to make him a SF (more skilled position) and pair him with E Mobley (one of the weakest jump-shooting starting PFs in the league) and J Allen (paint only finisher).

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Then Mobley drives me nuts when he plays the center position. I accept he isn't that good a shooter and he has to play out on the perimeter because of J Allen. But I hate ... I absolutely hate how he plays when he plays center.

He still plays a similar way. He roams around the perimeter a good chunk of the time he is at center. Then he goes deep and hugs the baseline / low block. NO!!!!

E Mobley's advantage at center is in the mid post / elbow extended areas. In this area, he can catch the ball and face up and use his quickness. No centers are as quick as him. He has good ball-handling and passing ability. He is an excellent finisher when he gets into the paint. They need to use him as a facilitator off the elbows. A dive man in the PnR. And an driver in one-on-one actions. Or a post up man when a smaller guy switches onto him.

CLE does a terrible job of utilizing his strengths + Mobley himself has no idea what his strengths are or how to use him. Instead he roams around the perimeter like he is a SF. Afraid to be a big man and not skilled enough (as a shooter) to pull it off.

It drives me nuts!!

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And back to the Jaylen for Mobley idea. Would BOS use Mobley any better than CLE does? I don't think so. Our offense doesn't utilize those things. Mazzula wouldn't even adapt it slightly for Vooch. I am not confident he's the right man to take Mobley's game to the next level. Instead, I think we would see the same middling peripheral (offensively) version of Mobley that CLE has.

[Goldstar88]

Philly is a really fast team without Embiid. More competitive game tonight.

[Phantom255x]

I still think this series goes 6-7 games. Maxey killed them in the 4th, in fact PHI basically pulled a Celtics, only 9 points in the 4th with 2:30 to go. Oof