Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 243. (Read 914668 times)

Doncic and Dirk are 2 different type of players with different role and position. We can't really get a solid comparison between these 2, because Dirk was simply outstanding and dominating with his position. Not a lot of big men in his era who can shoot mid range and long range efficiently.
Mark Cuban should've never said that, it is a disrespect to a player who played for 1 franchise his whole career and win one against a very competitive, talented and stacked team who dominated the NBA in the next 2 years.  I can only say Luka Doncic is better than Dirk if he can beat a team like the 2011-2012 Miami Heat.
But don't get me wrong, Doncic is such a great all around player and at this stage of his career he is in no doubt a future hall of famer, but he still has a long way to go and he needs to win a chip to cement a legacy in his career.

They are really so good this season but we can't conclude yet if they are really a championship team. This young team is not been tested on playoffs yet and we know the atmosphere on that series is really different since we can see that all teams became more competitive that's why we need to see first if they can advance to the next round. If OKC could able to do that and defeat those teams that are projected to be a favorite to land into the finals then maybe there will be no other further question that they are really great.

So hopefully they don't experience to get choked on first round since its exciting to see a young team compete and win a championship.

Same here, he turned the young OKC like a championship team. They were at number 1 but now at 3 but the season is not yet over. Regardless on what rank they'll finished, it's very evident that the OKC has showed some consistency and have beat a lot of great teams. SGA has been having some injury problem that's why they dropped, but even without their main man, they still win games which showed how good he is as a coach.

This young OKC team might be the dark horse in the playoffs, and I don't see them getting an early exit like a first round exit.

NBA fanatics we have a new poll for the coach of the year award. Only 2 voted so far. I voted for the young Mark Daigneault. No one expected the Thunder to come on top this season. Not even in the top 5. And Mark is coaching a very young line-up including a rookie. His starter lead by a 25 year-old Shai and the others are 21 and 22? Mark definitely deserved it even if OKC drops to number 3 in the west because Denver is expected while Minnesota has 3 superstars. And in the east? Boston is star-studded while the Bucks also added the veteran superstar Damian Lillard.

Anybody else watching LeBron James and JJ Redick’s podcast? It is interesting to hear their take on things that happened in their career. This week they talked a lot about Chris Bosh and his role on the Miami Heatles. Some interesting perspectives… You realize how knowledgeable those guys are after a lifetime of basketball.

Luka Dončić has a big contract extension. He played 65 games this season so he can get max contract extension next season for 5-year $346 million deal. This would make him the highest earner in NBA. I think he deserves it but Mavericks need to put more role players to help him if they want a championship.
By the way Mark Cuban said Dončić is better than Dirk, this is a bold statement. He put Dončić as the highest place. He should crown these praises with a ring though.

They are continuing to build their momentum for the next season even if their winning streak has been snapped. And yeah, Jalen Green shows his true potential in their last 11 games averaging close to 30 points per game and he has improved his 3 point shooting at now 45%. So it's not totally lost for the Rockets, they still have a chance but they will have to win their last remaining games and hope that the Warriors will lose. But in any case, their journey doesn't end this season, they still have a lot and and a bright future ahead. They will be facing one of the best team in the West tonight, so a tough task for them to beat the Wolves. While the Warriors is also have the Nuggets and Luka for a great game.

Yeah, this season they acquire Fred VanFleet from the Raptors and then gave him a huge contract which I think is fair as he is giving them them good numbers, same with the acquisition of Dillon Brooks, and then later Ime Udoka.

So they are slowly improving post-Harden era. So it's a win-win for them as we have been discussing, if ever they didn't win the play-in, they will surely come back next year and improve and probably improved their standing. Similar to the Sacramento Kings growth in the last 2 seasons.

Let me remind you that the Rockets were total underdogs in previous seasons. Maybe the Rockets' recent winning streak was just luck, but I think it's fair to say that this team is gradually progressing. Even if the Rockets can't dislodge the Warriors from the 10th spot in the standings, it will still be a good result for them compared to what they had the last three seasons.

Nah, they might not clinch the playoffs if the Rockets will get that 10th seed TBH.

They will just get defeated by the Lakers who is shooting more than 20 free throws per game because every time they play, it's been a 8 vs. 5 for the opposing team. If you know what I mean. Kidding aside, I don't want to get biased on this one, but who doesn't want to see 2 great stars playing for a playoff spot? I mean we've seen the Lakers and the Warriors facing the 2nd round last season, and now they're facing again, but this time for the 9th spot.

As for the Dallas, they've been improved a lot ever since they got Gafford and Washington. They've been a hot team after the all-star. It's just that, the Western Conference as a whole is packed with all-star players especially those playoff contender teams like the Timberwolves, Nuggets, Thunder, etc. In fact, they are 6th in offensive rating the whole season with 118.6 ORTG. If there's one problem that I see with the Mavericks, it's Kyrie Irving. Not because of his drama because ever since he went to Dallas, we aren't hearing anything about him anymore, but he's injury-prone. I know that they still have Luka, but not having Kyrie would be a problem for them. One injury from your all-star player can change the outcome of the series.

The expected heavy favorites won their games today and most of them covered their spreads.
I guess it's just the Chicago Bulls which I thought will win but the spread was close so it's also expected that the Atlanta Hawks will fight back and they did and won the game.

The Phoenix Suns are somehow winning their games. 6 wins out of their 10 games. Kevin Durant just doing his normal thing but the real hero of the Suns today is Devin Booker. 52 monster points, 19 of 28 field goals, that's above 50 percent and 8 of 16 in the distance area which is 50 percent. Damn, that was some strong game for the popular face of the Suns. This is his kind of game but injuries keep him falling down. I hope he is back and will keep up this kind of strong offensive game.

Talent wise it's the Dallas that had the edge, Rockets are just lucky to have a winning streak and still close with the Warriors in replacing them int he 10. But although the Rockets have improve, we cannot deny that the Dallas have been playing their best season so far, so a lose to this hot team is not surprising. In fact, I still think that they will not past first round in case they'll make it to the playoffs, who would they play? The Nuggets? They can't beat the defending champ, but they will lucky if they'll face the OKC as they are also a young team.

Yeah, Kyrie understand that it's Luka's squad that he joined and he needed to adjust to what types of system the team have and he needs to blend his game with how the entire team plays the system, I like how Kyrie give way to young Luka letting him to do what's best on him and when Luka needs the lift Kyrie immidiately take over and bring the rhymth back to the entire squad. They are playing great ball game and the system is really fitting to type of plays they wanted to play all along. Looking to see more good chemistries while playoffs is almost around.


Rockets needs to adjust and keep running to chase the open man, it's tough to protect the arc but it's needed to intercept the outside shots of their opponents, like what you said, they need to protect that area as gunners are just waiting for the outside drop and ready to take it whenever they see the opportunities.

As I have said, I thought that they are going to choke against the Spurs. If I'm not mistaken, did the Warriors went to the play-in last year? I can't remember. But they beat a strong team in Sacramento that time and advance in the second round of the playoff. We can't say if they are going to be cook if ever they go into play-in and won as this is a team that has a lot of experience and we can't discount that. As for the Rockets, they are a young team, without their primary offensive and without that needed experience they might be swept in the first round. But it's good to see them having a winning run, and the future looks bright for them with Udoka doing his magic as a coach.

I agree, if they could have push it earlier, not that we want Sengun to get injured and see how the Rockets will do without him, but as how tough the competition in the West, they could have won some of their games earlier specially those games that they lost with just a couple of points. And now they try to make a comeback, but against a champion team in Warriors, might be hard to do that.

And now that they have lost already, their chances are getting slimer as the Warriors have the momentum now.

That's just how it is for them and such scenarios are common when the time of NBA playoffs arrives, there are always some teams who push their way and exert all efforts to get to that spot but unfortunately for the Rockets, it's too late for them and they only hope is when the GSW will lose every game in the future and they, on the other hand, win all of their remaining games as well which we all know not gonna happen because this is when they are strong when facing such challenge and you can tell that they don't give any easy games to whatever teams they are facing in their last few games ahead.

I agree that it's pretty much set over that side. The only thing that's being contested there is which team will get an automatic playoff spot since 6th place is still within reach for the Heat and maybe even the Sixers.

Magic and Pacers will play later to further widen the gap and I think they will win comfortably over Blazers and Nets.

As a Warrior fan, I don't see any rudeness with what you said because after all, it's your opinion and I also agree that there are many times Green ruined his team this whole season. From choking Gobert, to punching Nurkic, to getting many technical fouls, etc.

On the other hand, I guess it's still good that the Warriors are hanging on that 10th seed, and now the gap has become larger between the Warriors and the Rockets because the Warriors won, and the Rockets lost. The Rockets are now 2 games behind the Warriors, and I'm a little bit bias here, but they will not get that play-in spot. The next games for both teams will be hard as the Warriors will face the Mavericks while the Rockets will face the Timberwolves. Like I said, all games between both of these teams are important for that final play-in spot.

As for the Eastern Conference, I guess we can safely say that the current top 10 teams will be the ones that will enter the playoff and play-in tournament already. Brooklyn is on the 11th, but they're behind by 5.5 games against the 10th seeded Hawks.

I mean regardless of who comes out on that line whether golden state or the Rockets they have to win 2 straight road games to get the 8th seed in the playoffs only to have to go on the road against a team like Denver.  Either way both of them will be cooked if they make it out alive of the play in games. I like this new format it makes runs like the Rockets made worth it.  If there was just 1-8 and no playin the Rockets would be so far out of position.  Keeps the end of the season spicy.

When this was implemented, I kind of hated it since getting into the playoffs is much harder now with the play-in. Way back, you just needed to secure the 1st to 8th spot and you were good to go, but now that you have secured the 7th or 8th spot, you can still slide down to the 9th spot and cannot go to the playoffs. But looking at it now, I can see the beauty in it and why they implemented this so that every game has more meaning, especially for those players that are in the play-in spot. In the past, if there were few games to be played, some of the teams would rest some of their players so they would be healthy when the playoffs came.

Overall, play-in tournaments make the league more competitive since teams will value the game more. I think the downside of this one is that after the 82 games, records don't count; one game can change everything, just like what happened in the Miami vs. Hawks last season. The Heat had a better record, yet the Hawks became the 7th seed because they beat the Heat.