AROUND the NBA:

[Knutsen]

https://x.com/NBAPR/status/1869103301079499035

Wow, that’s wild… I‘m coming back to my proposal after the Olympic final which would be the only way to get the best players competing for 48 minutes in a meaningful way:

Let‘s play for homecourt advantage in the NBA finals, East versus West. The coaches come from the two best teams so they‘re really into winning this thing to maximize their chances for a championship.

And the format right now isn’t fair anyways, with the very good Eastern teams getting handed a lot of wins from the trash teams in the East while the Western conference is carnage, with all the good teams beating each other.

I actually sent that to Adam Silver in the summer but didn’t get a response, to no surprise…

[SleepingHero]

Wow, that’s wild… I‘m coming back to my proposal after the Olympic final which would be the only way to get the best players competing for 48 minutes in a meaningful way:

Let‘s play for homecourt advantage in the NBA finals, East versus West. The coaches come from the two best teams so they‘re really into winning this thing to maximize their chances for a championship.

And the format right now isn’t fair anyways, with the very good Eastern teams getting handed a lot of wins from the trash teams in the East while the Western conference is carnage, with all the good teams beating each other.

I actually sent that to Adam Silver in the summer but didn’t get a response, to no surprise…

I don't really like tying playoff implications to an All-Star game. That's a bit too much on the line for what is really a fan engagement event. I don't mind this new format but, the NBA of course had to f up the implementation of it imo. Whenever you run a pickup game, who wants to have 3 subs? Why not make 4 teams of 6?  

5 starters and 1 sub. It can also coincide with each division as there 5 teams per division. That way there is still some flavor of that East vs. West format. And instead of rewarding guys, I'd rather find a task that losing teams have to do for the winning team. Like all losing teams have to post on social media that the winning team was better and they were better players.

Harmless, but it taps into the ego's of players. I think that alone is enough motivation for guys to try their asses off. Imagine Joel Embiid admitting that Jokic was the better player? Plus it plays into the NBA's obsession with social media engagement.

[Knutsen]

I don't really like tying playoff implications to an All-Star game. That's a bit too much on the line for what is really a fan engagement event. 

Did you watch the Olympic final and especially the last quarter of the game?

That was basketball symphony, an absolute maximum of talent on the court on both sides competing at the highest level in a do or die game, there‘s no purer essence of the game we love than these minutes with Curry rising above anyone else. And where did this happen? Outside of the NBA - you won’t ever find a game with that much talent on the floor in any playoff series. 

But you do find it in the allstar game. And getting this thing really competitive because everybody has something to win would be the greatest fan engagement event ever instead of some Harlem Globetrotters like cameo, at least in my opinion.

And by the way I hate the current system for homecourt advantage in the finals, the Celtics not only had a cakewalk to the finals, but then got another advantage over us in the finals only because their conference sucked.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

You don't find it a perfect encapsulation of THJ as a player where in the same game, he hit 3 big shots to put the team up, only for the very last crucial possession he threw the ball away and gave Miami a chance to win it?

Yeah, he did. But it worked out in the end. You're beating the guy up, when he helped Dallas win a lot.of games. Not defending him, but he did.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Bucks are Cup champs, 97-81. OKC shot 5-32 from 3. Ouch..

[Chicagojk]

I watched a little of the game last night and my takeaway is OKC is so hard to play. There defense is really impressive. The part I watched was where both teams were struggling to score, not the part of the game where it looks like the Bucks were scoring and the Thunder were not. Obviously OKC had a terrible time shooting. The key though....you need to limit the turnovers. It is really hard because OKC is really good at it. Turnovers are just fuel to them. They destroy you if you turn the ball over.

***************
Zach Lowe
@ZachLowe_NBA
·
30m
Biggest key to beating OKC (other than having them miss all the 3s) is limiting live-ball TOs and keeping them out of transition. MIL did fairly well there. Giannis defense is trending way up over last 3 weeks. Doc has settled on a rotation/set of lineups. Good stuff.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I watched a little of the game last night and my takeaway is OKC is so hard to play.  There defense is really impressive.  The part I watched was where both teams were struggling to score, not the part of the game where it looks like the Bucks were scoring and the Thunder were not.    Obviously OKC had a terrible time shooting.  The key though....you need to limit the turnovers.  It is really hard because OKC is really good at it.  Turnovers are just fuel to them.  They destroy you if you turn the ball over.

***************
Zach Lowe
@ZachLowe_NBA
·
30m
Biggest key to beating OKC (other than having them miss all the 3s) is limiting live-ball TOs and keeping them out of transition. MIL did fairly well there. Giannis defense is trending way up over last 3 weeks. Doc has settled on a rotation/set of lineups. Good stuff.

The Bucks seem to have hit their stride after a slow start. Giannis is just dominating the paint, and playing like the MVP, Dame seems to have found his stroke. Andrew Jackson from UConn really gets after it on D, he's part of the reason SGA had a bad shooting night. Another one is AJ Green. I hadn't paid too much attention to him, but he really can shoot the 3 well.  We'll see if it's sustainable, however.

[RGP1981]

https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1869112839132336193

@TheDunkCentral
Kevin Durant says he hates the new NBA All-Star format

“I hate it. Absolutely hate it. Terrible….We should just go back to East-West.”

I like the new format, except they probably could have made it a race to a higher points total instead.

These teams could reach 40 points in the space of a mere 10 minutes.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://x.com/DamichaelC/status/1869945568044187756


Grizzlies hammer GS, 144-93, 51 pt beatdown. First time both Steph and Green finish without a FG in the same game.
Steph went 0-7 including 0-6 from 3. Draymond went 0-4.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

In Boston's 117-108 home loss to the Bulls, both teams combine to shoot 108 3's. Bulls shot 19-52, C's shot 14-56. And the NBA wonders why viewership is down.

[Chicagojk]

Where does Keegan Murray rank on most disappointing players this season. I thought he had a legit chance to be a very good #3 best player on a team or an over qualified #4. God size, good shooter and just a good player. He just hasn’t been good for a struggling Kings team.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Caruso got a 4 year extension. $81 million

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Caruso got a 4 year extension. $81 million

He's deserving of it. Dude is a disrupter on defense.

[Jym]

Caruso got a 4 year extension. $81 million

makes you wonder what OKC is going to do with all those picks 
with extensions coming up they can't exactly add that much more future salary in trades  

I guess a good problem to have

[Mavs2021]

Give Mosley COTY, if they beat Boston without the Wagner brothers and Banchero. What a job he is doing.

[SleepingHero]

https://streamable.com/4rxul7

Embiid is still well... Embiid.

[Knutsen]

makes you wonder what OKC is going to do with all those picks 
with extensions coming up they can't exactly add that much more future salary in trades  

I guess a good problem to have

That will be fascinating to see if they somehow stay cheap like they did when they had Harden, Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka or if they use this window of opportunity, go into the tax and get rewarded with many great seasons and a couple of titles.

If they are all-in - not in the definition of the Dallas Cowboys, but really - they could look into acquiring one more real superstar for some of their young players and picks.

[Chicagojk]

PHX looked so good when the beat Dallas. I bought into them being a top 4 team. Ooops. I should have factored in what happens when they get injuries. They are just not the same team. They got walloped last night against Denver and are now .500 for the season. Hard to think with their age, that they have a Dallas type run over the second half of the season. I still think they are a tough playoff matchup for any team if they are healthy. They are just not as good as I thought they were for multiple rounds.

Minny also continued their disappointing play losing to the Hawks. They are also .500 for the year. After some better play recently, they have lost 3 in a row. How do they come out on Christmas day?

Grizz, Lakers and celtics all lose. Rockets and Thunder keep winning though.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Give Mosley COTY, if they beat Boston without the Wagner brothers and Banchero. What a job he is doing.

They beat Boston, so give it to him already....

[SkenfromLMF]

Disney is doing a Dunk the Halls simulcast of the Knicks v Spurs. So imagine watching a Lego style animation of the game with Disney characters replacing 2 players from each team - Bridges is Donald Duck and Mickey is CP3.

KAT as Goofy though is killing me…