Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 258. (Read 902756 times)

Utah Jazz's rhythm is out of whack now. We started to see this clearly in the last matches. They urgently need to recover as a team, but it seems to me that they can do this in their home games. They lost 153-124 to New Orleans in the last game. Actually, the score contribution distribution as a team is good, but when New Orleans was better, defeat was inevitable. The next game is against Washington and Washington is out of form. In such a situation, a win in Washington would be good.
In the other match of the night, the Clippers won the Los Angeles derby (127-116).
LeBron's not playing may have caused this loss. If that had happened, the magnificent trio would have been in effect.

You can't compare them though with the Celtics that time as they have a lot of good defensive players and all of them are known to play defense, Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Rondo. But as you can see with the Sixers and the Clippers, they choke in the playoff after having a good lead from their opponents. So in any case, their weakness or for Doc Rivers, he needs to work in his offense. And that's why he didn't get the contract renewed, and it's very surprising to majority of us that in the middle of the season, where they are on top in the East, suddenly the management choses to change coaches. It could backfire on them this season and if by chance they didn't go the Finals, maybe there will be another finger pointing specially if they choke again under Doc Rivers reign.

Hiring coach Doc Rivers could potentially improve their defense. They don't have a problem with offense as we can see on the stats below.

https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nba/2023-24-nba-offensive-rating-team-offense-rankings-and-efficiency-stats

They are 2nd to the pacers with 124.6 average per game. So they just need to solve the defensive issue and I'm sure coach Doc Rivers will be able to do the job as the Celtics back then was a defensive team. However, it will be a question if he'll be able to improve or at least maintain their offensive rating.

It seems that both Joel Embiid's and Karl-Anthony Town's desire to win has set them to new heights for sure that is the only explanation for why they are ranging their score to a new level, this is real history Karl-Anthony Towns got 62 points while Joel Embiid has the historical 70 points for sure they can still get it even further if they can get their mind into it, and it also depends on the opponent they have a match on, the Minnesota Timberwolves have a match against Charlotte Hornets, while the Philadelphia 76ers are match up against the San Antonio Spurs,


For sure if Joel Embiid can do this kind of feat imagine the Lakers would get him the Los Angeles Lakers will have 2 Anthony Davis, then one can be a backup if Anthony Davis is injured, or maybe Embiid could be the 2nd unit for the team so there will be consistent resting for players, that will be great for the Los Angeles Lakers but yeah it will depend now that he got this kind of a monster score there will be many teams that would want Embiid as their player he will be a big help for sure,


They surely want a team that has a defense Offensively or they might be believing the saying a great defense is offensive, for sure the Bucks back then had a great defense but right now their offense is getting them into new heights sure if they would clash a team that has the same offensive prowess this could be a problem for the Milwaukee Bucks as they need a proper defense for such a team, in my opinion,

If I'm not mistaken, when they acquired Lillard, they also change their coach. So we can't tell who really is the problem, could it be the player/s or the coach, but since he's been fired, now we can assume that the problem is the coach.


I also don't get why they hired Doc Rivers, maybe they still have fate in him. Besides, he won a championship with the Celtics, so they can't take away from him, and with this new team he's coaching, we are hoping that it will bring him success that he didn't get on the past teams he was coaching which I believe he was fired.

There could be loopholes on Griffin, but I think he did a good job as the coach. Remember that they've traded their defensive guard in Holiday just to get Dame. So that's a lot already, they needed to do some adjustments and they really one of the best teams right now. I guess everyone was caught by surprised and getting Doc Rivers? No offense to him but after this success with the Celtics, he didn't even get closer to get a ring as far as I can remember. So this is a bit awkward and maybe someone inside though, or some players wanted Doc Rivers to be their coach, just saying. Hopefully this will turn very positive for them, otherwise, the fans are going to make fun of Rivers or even the Bucks for firing Adrian Griffin when they are in the best shape and has a winning percentage.

Well, this confirms it: LINK
I remember "Scary Terry" when he was in the Celtics. He's putting up some good points when he's on that team, but lost its momentum when got traded to Charlotte.
I don't know how Rozier will affect the Heat, and maybe he will just be a back-up guard because the Heat already have good guards to start with. Nevertheless, it's hard to pick which team won on this trade (for me).

We don't know what's happening behind the scene but based on my observations, there are games where the Bucks are not on the same page. I mean, with their strong line up, they should dominate their opponents especially the weak teams, but that didn't happen, they look dull on the court and it's always been Giannis who are carrying the team, with that kind of play, I doubt they'll beat the Celtics or the Heat.

This changes is due to the fact that they are not satisfied with the job of the coach, and despite having a good record, it's not that relevant for them as they want more, they need to be a championship team and ensure they'll win the championship. Doc Rivers, have the experience but he's messing up on the past teams he handles, maybe this time he'll find a success.

Why was Adrian Griffin fired? I couldn't understand why they would do such a thing when they had such a good winning percentage and the team was the second best team in the NBA.
Doc Rivers is a legend, he will have a huge impact on the team becoming champions. If he stays with the Bucks for many years, they can be a team that wins back-to-back championships. But I think it's interesting that they made such a decision in the middle of the season. I hope the team doesn't start playing badly after Griffin

This trade that happened I think is beneficial to the Miami Heat.

Heat acquire Terry Rozier in trade with Hornets


They need a guy who can also create his own shots. Terry is a kind of player that could do that, and with the system of the Heat, I believe he will get better and the team will get better as well. Kyle Lowry obviously past his prime now, but Terry is still on his prime.

Yes this is true! This will also be beneficial for the Lakers, as D'Angelo Russell increasing his level as a player will bring him more visibility and make him valuable.
I believe that Dlo can be more versatile than Wiggins and can be a fundamental player for the Warriors, but unfortunately he's not being a consistent player, Dlo is a good player, but I believe that this is one of the negative points and that it needs to be improved.

It surprises me that officials fired Adrian Griffin so quickly. There are problems, but their rating as second best and Lillard just went along with the team brought a significant change in how they play which in the past was exclusively centered around Giannis.

At the point when the Cavaliers terminated David Blatt, they had assistant coach Tyronn Lue promoted who was able to present them the championship. But I am not sure about Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers unquestionably has the experience but what I generally recollect was his disappointing career. He coached the triplet Garnett-Pierce-Allen with the Celtics but won only one championship. He was coaching the Clippers and 76ers squads with many stars however he was inconsistent. There were a number of series that his teams were leading but wound up losing.

It's actually insane, 2nd best team and they let the coach go.
Maybe there was something more going on behind the scenes, otherwise there is no real explanation for this.
You never knew what's actually going on.

By the way, now the Doc Rivers signing as head coach is already confirmed. I was never a fan of him actually and he "only" won 1 title with basically a super team. Other then that he was often a bit controversial.

Bucks is 30-13 and 2nd in the NBA standing but the management don't like teams defensive performance so they fired Adrian Griffin. Bucks had the second-best percentage of teams to let their coach go after the Cavs parted ways with David Blatt in 2015-16. According to rumours Doc Rivers is a top candidate for the job. They have both Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo. A team with such great players and aiming for the championship should have such an experienced coach.

3 games I watched today, 2 games with 2 coaches being thrown out just for this day.

1. Rick Carlisle, Indiana Pacers coach was thrown out during their game against the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets won with a 5-point lead although the Pacers did try hard to come back from behind. 13 point lead was the highest lead by both teams.

2. Chauncey Billups, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers was also thrown out at the crucial part of the game where they are at a 1-point lead. He was claiming that he called the timeout before the turnover made by Brogdon (double-dribble), that's his first technical foul, and I don't know what the other referee heard that he said to call another tech and throw him out of the game. They are lucky SGA shot 1/2 on the free throw to just tie the game. But they still lost after Jalen Williams made the two-point shot in his favorite spot and then SGA stole the last possession.
Today was damn fun games, close fights.
Even the Knicks won coming from behind against the Brooklyn Nets. Julius Randle was amazing in that last quarter of the game. It's worth watching the highlights of that for those who missed the game.

I agreed jokic is more impact full in terms of all around and making his team better but honestly he has a better team than embid does.  Maxey is an OK player same with Tobias Harris but embid is jus5 foot stomping people.  In terms of dominating I've been watching the games and he is playing just unstoppable right now.  If he can be more consistent with teams over .500 he is right there with mvp talks again.

It's just sad to see someone who really loves playing for the franchise but is about to become the primary piece for a trade. DLo was playing spectacular from the last couple of games. I guess, he's trying to boost his trade value to get traded for a good piece and land to a better team, a playoff contender team. It maybe just a speculations but it does really looks like Rui and DLo's demeanor after the game is really off and that something is about to happen to them. I honestly hate how the Lakers have been changing their roster to try to make it better ever year. If these guys get traded, I only hope DLo and Rui to drain 3s and defeat the Lakers with their possible new team lol.


He's actually good and that 70 pt game he just made was impressive, but still we can't deny the fact that Jokic deserves more to be an MVP. Well, that was a close race though, so it's really hard to tell who deserves who last year. But then again, Jokic is more impactful to the team and the Nuggets have been a successful team last year than the Sixers.

And what's interesting on it is that it was the date as well when Kobe scored 81 points against the Raptors before. I think he made it a coincidence that he would score great on that day as well to break it or just drop a franchise record. Well, I think he could won the MVP for the regular season again for this I guess.

Embiid is really out there trying to prove to people that it wasn't just dumb luck that he won the MVP but he is really the MVP of the league as well. Last year, when he won, a lot of people said that Jokic deserved the MVP but because he already won it twice, it didn't felt like it would make sense to give him a third one in a row, so that is why Embiid won and not because he deserved it.

But dude just scored 70 points, that is a lot of points, not many people has broken 70 point barrier, only a few has achieved it, even though there are many people who did 60+ games, the amount stops very quickly when it reaches to 70 points and above (and only two people did 80 and more). So, it is really a great game to watch, amazing highlights.

I've seen this trade and news lately and Heat really knows what's best for them. I have nothing against Kyle Lowry but that's it for him and Heat with his role. Getting Terry Rozier by the Heat is a good deal. While Hornets is on the building phase and Ball needs some help there, let's see on how they're going to go up with the new roster that they're adding to their pool.

But in all seriousness, if Ball wants to have a championship ring, he needs to step out of the Hornets and ask the management for him to get traded somewhere. If not, will he be able to bring the team at least to the playoffs or semis? we'll see if Lowry's going to be effective with that. Having that experience and being a ring and title holder, he's probably gonna be a big help for the talents there.

KAT also did a record with 62 points but still lost the game.