Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 208. (Read 902530 times)

Last night 2 defensive stops won the game. Sacramento Kings' Sabonis steal, and Anthony Edwards' high-flying block.
Today, another defensive move was shown to win a game. Spencer Dinwiddie. He blocked Damian Lillard, last shot and gave the LA Lakers a win with 1 point.
But the true player of the game was D'Angelo Russell. He made a new career high of 44 points, shooting lights out at the three-point line 9 of 12. Only a monster does that and he proved tonight that he could carry the Lakers even with Lebron sidelined.

Timberwolves versus the Cavaliers was also a fun game. Rudy Gobert made a big mistake of getting a technical foul after he was fouled out of the game. I can see the frustration but they had the 1-point lead and he didn't even think about it. The Cavs tied the game to make it to overtime and that was where they defeated the Timberwolves.
Gobert should learn from this mistake and I bet he regrets what he did. They could've won that game in regulation.

And just like that, they've lost a close game against the Cavs (tied with the Bucks behind the Celtics now), game went into OT. But ANT was off in this game because of the great defense that they put into him. Garland taking over the offense since Donovan Mitchell is still not playing.

I haven't check the schedule of the Wolves, but if they are going against the top teams in their next 5-6 games, it might be difficult for them without KAT. Just sad to hear that he got injured as the team is really doing good this season and fighting for that top 1 in the West and obviously they wanted to be in that spot as we haven't seen them in that position and the last time they are fighting for it maybe in the Kevin Garnett era.

Damn, how unlucky can they be?
Finally they have a real team and can seriously contend in the west and now one of their top guys get an injury like this. Meniscus injury is no joke and in my opinion even coming back in for the playoffs seems like a long shot to me.
And if he comes back, then he didn't play for quite a while and might be rusty.

Really bad news for them, I enjoyed their style of play this season a lot and KAT is a great guy, not only as a player.
Hopefully he can come back and help his team quick!

Yep, losing a player like KAT because of injury is very bad news for the Wolves. I think the remaining games in the regular season will show whether the Wolves can adapt or not. If they start losing games and lose the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings, it can be concluded that they are unlikely to have any success in the playoffs without KAT.

It's a huge blow to the Timberwolves.  Sitting in the one hole but now with a huge he to fill.  KAT is huge for that team, I don't think Ant is built to carry a team yet.  I can see Denver tightening down and claiming back that one seed.  Either way in the west it doesn't seem like being in one spot vs the other will make a huge difference.  All the teams 1-10 are going to be an issue to deal with.  So long as they emd up in the 1-4 holes they should be fine come playoffs.

Good thing that they've got that decent records as KAT really have that big impact to the team but they can't lean on him and the show must go on, they need to work with one another to continue competting, there's no turning back now and we don't know if what will be the fate for KAT, as even he can go back his performance after that injury will be questionable.

Healing takes time and for sure Wolves will take long term plan for KAT instead of risking him, all the decision though is for the management to decide, whatever will be the plan they just need to work on it and play with all they've got.

There is this report:


I do agree, sometimes this things happen unexpectedly, and so with this, they will really have to adjust and someone will need to cover for KAT. He is averaging more than 20 points per game. So someone will have to step up and help the team to win. Good thing is that they have ANT and Rudy Gobert and others to help in scoring and just stretch it out until KAT can comeback in the playoffs.

I don't know if he can comeback because according to the official report, his status now is  he is "out indefinitely", which means even if he comes back he is still not 100%. Not sure what would happen to this team but it's a good thing that they have a good standing now, and they need to prove that they can still compete at a high level in the playoffs even without KAT, although they are better with KAT.

Let's see how this team will go after the injury, things really happen as we never know when this injury would hit. Just so sorry for this team, they look like a championship team until this happened. 

Damn it!


Murray should've taken that last possession so he will be the one who is fouled instead of Pope.  If only.
Denver Nuggets did well. Aaron Gordon was a monster receiver of the ball. Either Murray or Jokic, whoever lobs the ball will surely be caught by Gordon. He did a good number of highlights at that game.
Jokic with another triple-double. 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists.

I agree with what Stan Van Gundy said during the game. It's like the game is between the Nuggets versus Jaylen Brown. Tatum is missing in action. 39 minutes but he is just there, his offensive aggressiveness cannot be seen.
We've now seen what a Finals could be and the Nuggets can still be scary in this kind of moment. Whenever they focus on winning, they will achieve it, and even Coach Malone was highly competitive during that game. He gets mad easily when his players ain't playing defense. I think he is preparing them and even their bench did not escape his wrath.

But there are reports that he could still go back and it will take at least 4 weeks or a month. And if they get to the playoff regardless of their seeding, chances are KAT will be back in the lineup. Nevertheless it's a big blow to them, although ANT just exploded for 40+ points and with a chase down block to give them a big win.

And probably that's the reason whey the are the underdog in this game. But they proved the odd makers wrong again and there are bettors who go to Pacers knowing that KAT will be out (including myself).

It's because we didn't except teams like OKC and Pelicans on top and that's why there are a shift on the West. Teams previously that make the playoff are now fighting for a spot in the play-in. It's good though, we will see how teams are built in the playoffs, so who knows, maybe the Dubs or the Lakers can still make it in the playoff. The Warriors lost today so them and the Lakers are still in the 9th-10th place.

While the story in the East is Boston dominating that conference and the next best team is 7-8 games behind.
And as we have been debating, whether this translate into something big like going into the finals or will they choke again or finally they will be NBA champions.

With the NBA regular season down to 18-19 games left, the Western Conference play-in teams are crazy. These teams are supposed to be at the top spot, but look at them, they will be fighting to earn a spot above the 7th seed and the rest would remain below to earn respective spots at 7th and 8th seed.
Will the both Lakers and Warriors will make it again to the playoffs? well, of course if they won't face each other in the first round of the play-in tournament. The Kings are the Laker's kryptonite, so I highly doubt they could get past with them if they face each other in the play-in.

2 words for Simmons. "Nobody cares"
What the NBA fans will remember when it comes to him will be: 1. How he is hyping himself on Instagram posting "I'm ready" type of posts at the start of the season only to sit out for most of the regular season. 2. How he choked when he was still in Philadelphia and the infamous wide-open dunk, but he chose to pass it to another player.

I might remember the times when he was making those flashy passes back when he was still in Philly, and TBH he might be one of the most dominating PGs right now just because of his height if only he developed skills including shooting from the three-point line, perimeter shooting, and free throw shooting. Unfortunately, he didn't develop that skills hence, his NBA career is ruined forever. After this contract that he got, he will go back to his country and might play there, or choose to play overseas.

Horrible news indeed, but the Timberwolves might still be ok even though Towns is injured.

This is the reason why they re-signed Naz Reid to a multi-year deal. They needed a backup when things like this happened, and it happened so they will give more time to Reid for sure. Kind of unfortunate that KAT got injured, but this is the time for Reid to showcase himself "again" as he will be given more minutes. For me, he's one of the best role-player bigs out there, and he can give you an average of maybe 8-10 PPG and around 5 RPG, a good defender, and can stretch the defense with his ability to shoot threes as well.

Reid might not be as dominant as Towns in terms of offense, but he can still be a big help for the team. As for the Timberwolves and their playoff run, as you said, I don't know if they will be a good playoff team without KAT because losing a player who can score an average of 20 PPG every night is kind of demoralizing. They still got ANT though, and other role players must step up on offense on the playoffs.

The Simmons news was one thing… Shams also reported that Karl Anthony Towns is out for the rest of the season with a torn meniscus. Horrible news for the Minnesota Timberwolves who have been looking like this might be their best chance at winning a championship since the days of Kevin Garnett. Sad news…

Well, this guy has ruined his own NBA career. I think it became obvious for many people after that 76ers incident. The problem for the Nets management right now is that Simmons' huge contract runs through next season($40 mln). As far as I know, they can either trade Simmons during the offseason or buy out his contract.

Dallas looks to end their losing streak tonight. Luka is leading the Mavs and now leading 7 points, another triple double for Luka and great job for Exum here. Looks like Dallas are now going to be back on the winning column, just right on time as the playoffs is approaching.

Great game by Rozier as well, this is probably his best game as a Heat.

There are players with a similar strategy like him but they were able to get back to the NBA and played in a good team. Remember that Harden also have some issue with the Sixers president so he got traded and now with the Clippers building a championship team. It's just unfortunate for Simmons since his injury problem and mental issue work together against him, so now at the early stage of his career, it seems like he is already losing his career.

If that will happen, it means goodbye NBA and he'll explore options with other leagues.

It's more of Simmons pride, while others wanted to be in the NBA or in the NBA already but got injured. While him he takes advantage of it, but just decided to quit with his issues with Sixers and he make it personal. Now he has to suffer the consequences, competition are very tough in the NBA every year there are players drafted to take your position. And I do agree that it's more on a mental issues with Ben. Yeah he seems to be back when he played some games with the Nets, but you can still see glimpse of his previous performance. But he is not like what he used to be. And now with another injuries being reported again, another season ending, there are a big chance that the Nets might want to get rid of him and his contracts.

He is still young but it looks like his career has ended early. It started with his attitude towards his team, now this health issue has come. NBA has a lot of potential players to rise, so they will not chase for him. Simmons will have to evaluate himself if he still wants to continue by getting s smaller contract, and on how he could rise from their because literally, his name is already out in the discussion of a star players where he was once.

Report says that it has something to do with his back. But I do agree, I think Ben doesn't want to play anymore, or if he ever plays doesn't give up 100% unlike when he was still in Philly wherein he was even compared to Lebron with his height and passing ability.

I think no team right now will get Simmons because of his history. Or if ever a team is willing to trade him, perhaps they are on losing side and just wanted to get their players out because of poor performance.