Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 224. (Read 914489 times)

That's should be the plan, they can't make AD tired by defending Jokic and just forget the scoring.
Lebron and AD should score well for them to win, and I believe it's also not gonna be easy for Lebron as Gordon is a very good defender.
The problemf or the Lakers is who would contained Murray, this guy is so slick, he can shot at any where on the floor.

AD is in disadvantage in terms of weight, so Jokic could easily move him inside and if he gets double, Jokic will use his great ability in passing.

I think AD will have to defend Jokic as some point in the game, and it could be a lot of players going to be thrown on Jokic here, even Rui for sure will have his time defending Jokic and then let AD do his thing.

AD is a good defender, but Jokic could outduel him and uses his basketball IQ to throw off Davis. That's why the Lakers will have fresh bodies on Jokic every quarter and yeah, double teaming him might be a good idea but they just shouldn't have one plan to contain Jokic.

I do see that match-up but maybe much better to let someone to defend Jokic and allow AD to focus with his offensive productions, as long as He and LeBron are healthy during the series winning still possible, it's more on how they will adjust and try to cover whatever the lapses they've got knowing that playing against the defending champ is really tough.

Familiarizations and good adjustments is what the Lakers needs as Denver still have that solid cores who can really bring the competition to a much higher level, they need to find good answers in each game executions that Denver will bring, both offense and defense are important if they aiming to move forward and try to regain another title.

AD will be their prime defender on Jokic, they have the young Jaxson Hayes, or maybe a healthy CWood will do the trick. Of course, no one can guard Jokic 1:1, and I think it will be more on the Lakers double teaming on him.

In any case, the Lakers are going to fight it out here. Interesting to note though that the odds for the Nuggets to win here has a great and attractive odds at Stake,

He doesn't need to be stop, as long as Davis and Jokic will have a good production on their respective teams, that would make it even. And we can't go back to the Howard conversation as no one in the NBA have the same defensive skills like Howard, and there's a reason why he wasn't in the NBA now.

We cannot make a quick judgement here, I'm sure the Lakers have prepared it hard to beat the Nuggets, so let's see what they can do as this is a game of adjustments, it's a best of 7 series, right ?

We can always consider that injury, but it could happen on either team. The Lakers are still the same team, I don't see them being a more superior than the Nuggets as even in the regular season, they can't beat the Nuggets on their home court. Maybe this will be no swept but I still see that the Nuggets will come out victorious in a 7 game series.

Who would stop Jokic? That's a big question, if they had Howard maybe it's possible, but aside from Davis,there's no other bigs on the Lakers that could minimize (at least) the production of Jokic.

An injury on one of the 4 Denver starters will be a huge problem. The Lakers are at the bottom of the rankings but they are a veteran team and they too are very dangerous especially when healthy.

Lakers has the bench but the good thing about Denver provided they are all healthy is they can make adjustments like always putting 2 of their main players on the court or at least not resting all of them for long. But it will be interesting to see how the Lakers can capitalize once Jokic is out of the court.

It's too early for them to meet but it is what it is. I love their match up to be honest so I can only hope that the Heat don't falter and be eliminated before the first round.
The Bulls are looking good right now and ChiBitCTy must be enjoying this hehe. Trae still struggling with his shots so far but there is still the fourth quarter.

He's like Tim Donaghy but the player version.
Anyway, what's ironic is that they are partnered with other gambling companies like DraftKings, but don't allow players to bet on games. I guess that's because it might affect the outcome of the game, and the performance of players. For me, giving him a lifetime ban serves right. Is he the first player who got banned because of gambling-related activities??

If only Zion played all throughout the game, they will win on that one that's for sure.
I mean he's having his one of his best performances, and that's also his first playoff game. When they needed him the most, that's when the body didn't cooperate with him and got injured unfortunately. What's worse is that the other 2 key players Ingram and McCollum are playing like they came from G-league. Very disappointing, but they still have a chance against the Kings.

Are you a Laker fan if I can ask? Because I don't see them winning against the Nuggets. Lucky if they win one.
They got swept when they faced off last playoffs. This regular season, the Nuggets swept the series as well 4-0 so overall, the Nuggets are 8-0 against the Lakers. With injuries hindering LBJ and AD's performance and with how good the Nuggets are, I will be surprised if they will win at least 1 game or even 2 against the defending champions "UNLESS" they will play them as 8 Vs. 5 and not 5 Vs. 5. You know what I mean.

Heat - Celtics in the first round. I would love to see the Celtics getting their revenge against a team who almost swept them last playoffs.
I don't see either the Bulls or the Hawks defeating the Heat. They almost won against the Sixers that has Embiid and Maxey. If only they didn't blow out that 13-point lead.

Herro's heroics in the final quarter isn't enough and the Heat have put themselves in a tougher position once again. I think they will still beat the winner of the Hawks vs Bulls game so it's looking like another Heat - Celtics match up in the playoffs. They would have a higher chance of advancing if they face the Knicks in the first round.

It looks like he had a Two-Way Contract with the Raports, and his salary was only $400k this season. Maybe he just wanted to earn a little more and that's why he manipulated like that. Either way, it's the dumbest thing to do because if he had progressed in the NBA, he could have potentially made a few million dollars more over a few seasons.

It's tough to make a perfect prediction on this. I watched the Nuggets game a lot of times and I can say they have the ups and downs too especially in their bench power. If suddenly a bad thing happens like an injury (fingers crossed) they will have a big problem on both ends of the floor. They are strong on their first five but after that, they have little amount of manpower who are stepping up their game. Christian Braun, Reggie Jackson, and Peyton Watson, these names are the only players who have been doing great whenever they have a chance to play.

The Lakers on the other hand have a very deep bench. So whenever Jokic and Murray will rest for the Nuggets, they should take advantage of that because that's may be the only time they will have an upper hand against them.

He bet for his team to lose.

That's crazy. With all of his $2M career earnings, he's got banned for just $20k+ of bet for his own team. I wouldn't do that, I might bet but I'd avoid to do what's written on the clause of my contract.

Or as much as possible, just avoid betting to anything related to your own sport when you're playing for a team. I guess that in every sport, we've got these athletes that does the same but not yet exposed.

Lol I couldn't have been more wrong than I was last night.  Klay putting up a goose egg in a do or die game is crazy.  It sure looks like the end of an era, dare I say steph will want to end his career on another team?  I don't see how they compete with that squad going forward.  Either that or they need to nail free agency.  They are good enough not to land a top pick in the draft but not good enough to compete.  Probably the worst position you can be in.

Unfortunate things happen mate, and it was the other way around, it was the Lakers who dominated the game early and Pelicans trying to do the catch up and they almost did it. But Zion get injured and later we found out that it was a hamstring injuries. And as I have predicted, the starting five of the Lakers almost covered that 100+, it was 93 points total with Lebron leading the way 23 points.

For the Golden State vs Sacramento Kings, not even close, this time the Kings was able to take revenge on the Warriors and ended their season with a big win. Story of the night is Klay Thompson with 0 points.

Klay was the highlight for the GSW, he literally did nothing but took that attention. It was all bad beats and shots for him, I guess we'd see an announcement of his departure and trade deals soon?

Oh, yeah I forgot about the Pelicans. LOL, thanks I was just excited to see them play against Thunders but I hope they win against Pelicans.

Yeah, thanks mate. I was too excited when I was typing in here while watching. 

Yeah, even a ML bet right now is already attractive. And when we say  that Zion is healthy and it's about time that we might see him going into the playoff, we really didn't see that he will get hurt with a hamstring injury and potentially missed the do or die game against the Kings.

And for the Kings, they really just steam rolled the Warriors who didn't have the chance to make a comeback and their season are over now. Klay is a big disappointment for Warriors fans and I think a lot of bettors lost in that game as Golden State is the favorite.

Was just announced that Zion is out with a hamstring. The Kings are a 1.5 point favorite as of now, I would bet quick before that line jumps to -3 or 4. Zion is the heart and soul of New Orleans and without him, the season is over for them.

Lakers had such a troubled game, barely got the win, which goes to show you that maybe they are not really ready for the upcoming matchup neither. I believe that Nuggets are going to be one of the toughest teams to play against, champions and all after all and I think Lakers will end up losing big time.

A sweep is not impossible but I could see Lakers maybe getting a win there too, I am not entirely sure if Lakers even believes they could win, let alone others and I believe that Denver Nuggets are a team that would be hard to beat by anyone this season, with no injuries and Jokic playing like an MVP still, they are a great team and Lakers will need to win against them four times, which I think is not possible at all.

Not yet safe. Remember they are in the lowest seed and that means they will still need to play against the Loser from the 7ht and 8th seed and that is the Pelicans. Now, it looks like the Pelicans swept the Kings this season with a 0-5 records. I wouldn't want to say they are safe  to enter the playoffs and face play against the Thunders in the 1st round.
However, I think they are lucky this time because Zion Williamson will be out on the next game against them due to a left hamstring injury. They should take this opportunity to beat the Pelicans this time. If Zion wasn't injured they'd for sure get beaten again as Zion just dropped 40 pts against the Lakers before he gets injured.