Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 230. (Read 921745 times)

So true. Finally, a team that will win through their strong defense.
I have been waiting for the old NBA to come back since most of the young ones now are just looking up to those who can showcase their shooting and great dunks.
Today, the Minnesota Timberwolves cemented the truth that defense is what wins games. The Nuggets cannot even go beyond 100+ points in their last two games and that means a lot. They are known to win games in high percentage whenever they score 120+ and I think Coach Chris Finch knows a lot about it. I bet he planned it all along that defense is the only thing that could stop the Nuggets. Shut down Jokic, shut down Murray, and when both those stars get frustrated, the whole team crumbles and would not know what to do anymore.
The Nuggets lack a leader in their bench and actually this year they are one of the worst benches in the league. Without the star duo's leadership, they can easily be defeated.

But I won't close the doors on the Nuggets yet. The Joker can sometimes be surprising and I bet he already has something up on his sleeve. Adjustments can still win games and we have seen crazy shit happen in the NBA like the Celtics almost ruining the Miami Heat last year. From 3-0 - 3-3.

If they can't win the third game, I think it's safe to say it's over for the Nuggets. Since Steph changed the game, it's like we haven't seen a defense as good as what the Wolves are showing, plus the consistency of ANT. If they can sweep or beat the Nuggets, I believe neither the Mavs nor the Thunder, nor any team in the playoffs, can beat them in a best-of-seven series. They are on fire right now.

They knew exactly how strong Wolves compared to Lakers ever since on regular season. I watch most of the match of this 2 team on regular season and they are indeed toe to toe in terms of defense and offense with Wolves slight advantage that is now the gap is too huge since Anthony Edwards is so good on playoffs mode.

Nuggets can have a chance if Gobert will not come back on the following games because Jokic might have a solution about the defense set on him. But with full roster of Wolves, I really doubt that any team on west can beat them on game 7 series.

Even Boston will be having a hard time on Wolves defense.

If you look at the result of the second game, you can see that the Nuggets grabbed much more rebounds than they did in the first game. So, the Nuggets have realized that the Wolves are a much tougher opponent than the Lakers and probably tried to adapt to them. But will the Nuggets be able to counter the Wolves in the third game? Based on the results of the two games so far, I'd say they can't.

Good for OKC as they were able to protect their home court, but in game 2, I think it's going to be a close game like how the Mavs made and adjustment after losing to the  Clippers. This is the best Mavs team IMO, so they cannot go down without a fight, win game 2 (very important), so they just need to win 1 game at home and still get the even series. This is two teams that have an MVP candidate this season, Luka have to prove that he is better than SGA, and there's only one way to do that, beat the OKC in the series.

Better for Mavs to find the right adjustment and possible to tie the series, it will be a tough one for them if OKC established that confidence travelling to their home court, I mean, even the Thunders are still composed of your stars but with that kind of chemistries and good combinations of both defense and offense it will be a tough job for Mavs beating this young team.

Though, experienced wise, I still believing that both Luka and Kyrie will not waste this opportunity to move forward for the finals they already in this stage so it will be a inspiration for them to push for more.

OKC work hard on that win, they are playing with great chemistry but you know, adjustments will happen in game 2 and as Kyrie and Luka are more experienced that the leaders of the OKC Thunder, I think it's possible that we will see a 1-1 series score after game 2. That was a blowout win by the OKC, just like what they usually do at home, so even if the Thunder will win game 2, things will be different in game 3 and 4 as they will be traveling to Dallas which is not a familiar teritory for them.

I think this is another learning experience for the Mavs, not sure though why bettors favor OKC in game one as it is in their homecourt and if you look at the odds, they are the favorite and Mavs are like 2.x as underdog, so that is big enough to cover. And as we can see, the oddmakers are correct in their prediction as OKC is the number 1 seed in the West and yeah they proved that it's no accident, that they are real even though their core is very young team with SGA at the helm and Chet and the name sake Williams and Josh Giddey although is somewhat got hit in the mouth and just scored 2 points. So just imagine if he scores around his average in the next game, it will be a big lead to boot for the OKC. But we all know that Kyrie and Luka will have to do something in game two. Current odds at Stake is OKC at 1.52 and Mavs at 2.65.

Provably there is and its normal to think that Mavs has higher chance to win against OKC since they have Luka and Kyrie which is a huge threat for them offensively. But a lot of people got surprise  on game one and they show how solid their defense also their offense since they totally limit the scoring of Luka also make hard the life of Irving to contribute on scoring. They make these guys commit a lot of turn overs that's why they take the advantage on this series. I'm somehow excited to see the adjustment made by Mavs since they just need to make Irving and Luka heat up since if that will happen in game 2 maybe they can get their revenge and make this match up became more interesting. Gafford's performance is so amazing today and I'm impressed on his hustle on offense and defensive ends.

There could be fans here who think that OKC is just a fluke being the no. 1 seed and thought that Dallas are going to win their first game. They are all talking about how OKC's inexperience will be their downfall in this series. However, they've shown good defense, like what Dallas did to the Clippers and so it's like giving them a dose of their own medicine as they not even get to century mark and that is the attribute of a good defense all around, Luka way below his average with only 19 points although had 9 assists but still not enough. Series is still early, but the Mavs needs some adjustment as they need to limit SGA offensive.

They should have realized it by now, they have thrown a lot of defenders on him, Naz Reid length was too much for him, throw in another good 2 way player in Alexander Walker. And finally ANT. For Jokic it was KAT and the whole Wolves ganging as well in offensive rebounds.

It's obviously very different when Jokic can read the Lakers defense on him and Rui was too small and he knows how to get AD into foul trouble.

As for the Celtics vs Cavs series, I guess everyone has predicted that the Celtics are going to win it maybe 4-1 or a sweep. What's interesting is the Pacers vs New York series as it ended in controversy.

Jamal Murray should know better especially when the object he threw could have caused a severe injury if a player had slipped on it, and Karl Anthony Towns was the closest person that could have gotten injured being a big guy, I doubt he would have been able to continue with the playoffs if that had happened to him because of the possible impact.

While Murray's action was inexcusable, the league seem to have quickly taken interest on this one and made a decision, but what's happening with the case of Pat Beverley whose actions were even more absurd and shouldn't be tolerated in any form of sporting events let alone the NBA where strict rules on this kind of actions are enforced, I've not seen the league say anything about the incident or have I missed something ?

Jamal Murray not facing suspension, but NBA hands Nuggets star massive fine after throwing heat pack on court.


And it's obvious that this is a sign of frustrations from Jamal Murray as he was lock-out by the Wolves and he can't get anything going on game 2 at their homecourt. He is lucky that he didn't get any T right on that game and not suspended as the NBA knows that he is one of the stars of the Nuggets and so he needs to play game 3.

And with that, Murray realizes that they are not facing the LA Lakers anymore  .

And we thought that the inexperience OKC will meltdown against Luka and Irving, but it was evident that they are not intimated and they played good defense against Dallas 2 super stars. It's just game 1 though, we all know that's how it turn out to be against the Clippers as well and then Dallas dominating the series.

So it's not up to the Mavs to make what kind of adjustments they will have to make in game 2 to make it at least competitive. They've lost the 2nd and the 4th quarter, and so that something that they team has to reviewed and see what they did wrong or what kind of defense they will have to put against this young OKC team.

Wow mate! The earliest I can remember seeing Jason Kidd playing was when he was with the New Jersey Nets. I remember when they went to the finals with Jefferson and Martin but they were no match to the Lakers.

I think EA Live is still the best when it comes to sports games. I think it's just basketball that 2k has taken over. I also enjoyed more using EA than 2K. I had more memories with EA especially on the Dynasty mode. I also tried creating a player with a 99 rating. But the most memorable was creating Cesar Cuenca with only 71+ rating and then draft him to Utah Jazz with Deron Williams. I focused all the improvements on him until he reached 99. 

OKC has been dominating the whole playoffs so far. Dallas is an ok team and not out of it as this was only 1 game, but if they don't wake up they'll be out quick. It wouldn't really shock me to see OKC vs the Timberwolves in the conference finals. Whomever wins that series vs Boston in the NBA Finals. I don't think anyone can compete with Boston in the East.

Celtics players are more high quality contender compare to current Cavs roster that's why somehow its expected that they lose but still its good to see those young guys reaching this far and can able to provide some good performance against Celtics but they just came up short and defeated by great plays executed by Celtics.

Also what happen to OKC and Mavs is quiet unexpected. A lot of people got surprise on how the defense of OKC make Doncic and Irving struggle. They didn't perform so well in game one and the one who lift hem is their role players so I guess that's the reason why they got defeated by fast moving phase by OKC. Its really terrific since whatever Dallas do there's an answer coming from OKC and Luka seems not in really good shape today so maybe next time they should comeback more stronger and correct each mistakes they made on game one.

OKC just showed the entire NBA fans why they were No. 1 seed of their conference, it was no fluke! Yeah, I didn't anticipate such a terrific offense from Oklahoma City Thunder, and they also limited Doncic efficiency and Dallas to a joint lowest point scored for this playoffs. Luka hasn't at any point been 100% fit, and I really do hope he hasn't aggravated his injury because for Dallas to stand a chance here Luka Doncic is a must have for this series.

If the series between the Nuggets and Timberwolves ended up in 1-1 in the first 2 games, I would say that this kind of prediction is kind of early, but with how the Nuggets got dominated by them, I would predict that they might win it all in the West. I don't also see the Thunder beating them just because the defense of the Wolves are so suffocating that you will lose your rhythm all throughout the game like what happened with Murray in Game 2, and to his frustration, he even threw his heat pad during the game.

The only way for this not to happen or at least I change my prediction is when the Nuggets will steal Games 3 & 4 on the road which for me, has a low chance but who knows. As for the Celtics, they will win it all that's for sure.

I want to say that the fatigue is also a factor on this game, but no. I would say that the Celtics are a better team than the Cavaliers. Like what I said, relying solely on Mitchell on offense is a no-no in this current era. Mitchell isn't Lebron who can carry his whole team in the NBA Finals during his prime. Right now, the Cavaliers need a 2nd and 3rd scorer that will help him. Currently, there isn't any player that can help him on offense.

As for the Dallas-OKC Game 1, Doncic appears to get injured on his feet because at the start of the game, he's a bit limping already. He played all throughout the game though, but he played his worst game in this playoffs stats-wise. I'm not a Mavericks fan, but this is a bit afraid, and I hope that Doncic will be ok to play in Game 2.

As everyone expected the Boston Celtics got a dominant win over the Cavaliers. They're just too much better of a team. I was a bit surprised to see Dallas get beaten by so much by the Thunder. I’ve underestimated the Thunder along with everyone else all year, but I thought this would be as far as they go. If they get to round 3 I might have to start paying attention.