Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 282. (Read 921500 times)

Lakers battle back from 19 points and without Lebron James to win the game, 128-124.

Austin Reaves 3's make that good separation, and Giannis missing 2 free throws in the last 20 seconds of the game. While the Lakers was perfect 4-4 with D'Lo and AD hitting those free throws. And the minutes that AD logs 52 minutes of the game and still healthy,  . Reaves clock in at 48 minutes and D'Lo 50 minutes great win by the Lakers to hold at 9th spot.

The Warriors though take a big win today against the Heat. Absent is Jimmy Butler and so it's good that the Warriors didn't collapse in the 4th quarter but build a solid lead. Klay found his offensive rhythm in this game and at least they bounce back. But still they are not yet safe from the Rockets as Houston has the momentum going in their last games. Another tough road game for them, against the Orlando Magic. And looking at the odds, they are the underdogs, unless the Magic will want to rest their players and not risk any injuries for their young core.

Edit: Bucks vs Lakers into 2OT

That's probably certain at this point.  I think when they made an offer to try and trade for LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline, that was a pretty good signal they're ready to blow things up.  I think they're going to try their best to get Giannis or Lebron to pair with Steph and may be looking to get rid of Klay Thompson who hasn't been performing well this year (except in a couple games here and there).  I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see another major superstar join the Warriors, but it would have to be someone who wants to pair with Steph.  Otherwise I think everyone sees the Warriors as a dying team.

There is no doubt that he will get the max, because his max is not that max at all. There are differences between the max people talks about, someone like Dame or Tatum etc getting the max would be a lot, someone like Lberon or Curry getting a max would be even more, of course when players get their contract it's for many years, so by the time it ends, they get even more but meanwhile they can be passed.

But, someone like Jalen Green getting a max is a lot smaller compared to max of these other names. Rockets can afford to have one max player, and Jalen deserves that spot, I still think that it's not easy to keep him there because Rockets do not look that great, Jalen may grow there but could leave for another team to chase a title.

I can see them winning it all this year, even before the season starts. What they did in the off-season was really great. Acquiring Holiday, which is an upgrade to Marcus Smart, and getting Kristaps from the Wizards without giving up much of their assets is really a great off-season move from the Celtics. They really did a great job to fill those missing pieces after getting beaten by the Heat in the in the last playoffs. With a great roster this season, there should be no reason to lose, and if they end up not getting the chip, I really don't know. I guess they deserve the hate they should be getting every season. 

We all know that the Celtics have a history of choking in the playoffs, so let's see if they will continue to choke. The very far they reached in the playoffs was way back when they faced the Warriors in the finals. The champion of that final should have been them, but they got cooked by the vintage performances of the Warriors and Steph. Looking back at those finals and comparing the roster to the present Boston, today's Boston is much more stacked, so the Celtics should be winning the finals this year.
 

Yep, I think the Warriors' roster could change a lot after the offseason.
By the way, if we compare the current win percentage, the difference between the Rockets and the Warriors is only 0.007%. In fact, the Rockets now have a good chance to overtake the Warriors in the standings, even though the Rockets will have some tough opponents in their upcoming games.

It seems like the chemistry had been the issue. And Harden is also not shooting too much. He is a volume shooter and he must remember that. Today he only shot 3/7 field goals and 0/1 in the three-point line. That's not the Beard that I knew. Add to that, for the past 5 games he ain't scoring above 20 points in 35+ minutes of playtime.

The starting spread was -12.5 if I remember it correctly. Damn, those who trusted the Spurs to win this game bagged a lot of money today. I didn't expect this either. I missed the game but looking at the stat sheet, it's the turnover numbers that made the Suns lose that game or maybe it's the defense of the Spurs as they got 10 steals.
Having no point guard is really a big issue for them. They signed up IT but they are just benching him. It's a waste of opportunity for that guy. They should test him.
Heck! Even the crowd of San Antonio Spurs was chanting "We want I.T.!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNNB7ZnWtk0

Let the guy play!

With the recent performance of Jalen Green, I think he will get a max contract with the Rockets when he re-sign.

There was a report before that he will be traded with  Mikal Bridges but the Rockets say no. And it was a great decision as Jalen Green has transformed to be an all star player. His 3 point shooting is on point and his attack as well, I love the way he play now, full of confidence.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/03/jalen-green-rockets-nets-trade-rumors-alperen-sengun-contract

If the Warriors will fail and the Rockets will get it to the play-in, people will see it as a big success for the Rockets and a huge failure for the Warriors.
Honestly, if the Rockets will be in the play-in and get lucky to be in the playoffs, I still would not expect a lot as I believe they'll have an early exit.

Still possible to happen, if Warriros continue struggling while Rockets seems to find the right blends, they might earn the last spot and snatch the play-in chance from the Warriors, no offense but it's really showing something is missing with the Warriors their usual attack for the game still present but the executions seems having a difficulty to convert, their offense to play as also their defense is not working anymore, with big and flexible players who can go bakc to the defense quickly they are having difficulty to convert their game plan.


Yup, those teams behind them are aiming to secure the playoff spot, they need to win games and not to let those teams who are trying to catch up snatch that position from them, it's nice to see how the top 6,7,and 8 spot are trying everything not to be in the bad spot.

Anything could happen at some point and even the analyzers are very skeptical about who's going to be the champion this season last season was very unexpected as the Miami Heat who are at the bottom of the seeds ended up in the Finals but did not become champion for that season, but it could happen again so the Golden State Warriors still have the possibility in landing in the playoffs, but if they are ending up still losing despite having great new players on their team but still they are not performing that much what they are needing to make it in the playoffs overall I still don't know if they can make it into the playoffs but there are still a possibility.


I feel that the NBA needs something new to win the championship this season, but for me, either team will do if they seem worth it why not right now the current NBA teams are changing drastically because of the trades and new players that are coming in the NBA, for example, the GSW have Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis are now on the team and the Warriors now have a different angle in playing the game but other than that there are a ton of teams in the NBA that have different players that are exceptional so any team that has this kind of advantage and changes can get into the playoffs for sure,

Most likely it will be the Warriors that they are going to catch up. Lots of games still and so there might be a change here. Our kababayan Jalen Green is putting monster numbers and he leads the Rockets to this recent surge.

Warriors are obviously struggling and we see the body language of Curry when they lost to the Wolves. And as we have said, and I do agree even if I love the Warriors, their dynasty is over. They might have a solid player in Kuminga to carry the torch, but not enough for this season.

I can’t believe the Suns lost to the Spurs and they didn’t even have Wemby. It is nights like tonight that make me think Phoenix just doesn’t have what it takes to make it to the Finals. A night like tonight against one of the worst teams in the league without their star player should be an easy win every time. Concerning that they couldn’t get it done.

I hope the Rockets will drop either Lakers or GSW inside the top 10. I just want fresh teams for a change. OKC, Sacramento and Twolves are also inexperienced teams in the playoffs and they might fall in the first round against these veteran teams.

I can feel the struggle at the moment for the Warriors. They're 4-6 in the last 10 games and lost their last 2 games. 12 more games remaining and it is very crucial for the Warriors. The bad news is that the Warriors are on the road in 8 of their last 12 games.

I can't believe the Pacers could still play that fast pace game in their favor despite playing a back to back game. The good thing about this b2b game is that they did not travel anymore as it's all in LA. However, the Clippers skills seem to be diminishing already as they have more losses than wins in their last 10 games, 4-6 is the current record.

I agree, the clippers are still in safe position but they will not remain in that position if the trend continues as the 4 teams behind them are doing great so far. So there's a possibility that they'll drop to be in the play-in tournament if they'll not be able to fixed the issue on time.

Oh LA Clippers, what a mess.
Defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers without Embiid,  and are now defeated by a team that played back-to-back on the road, both in LA. But considering how exhausting the game was yesterday against the Lakers, I bet the Clippers could take advantage of that but that is the case, their slowness is what the Pacers took advantage of.
Fast game, the Pacers love that kind of game and there's obviously a big difference between them and the Clippers, fast break points, transition plays, and the Pacers are having a hard time catching up with them.

Well, at least the Clippers are still safe in the 5th spot, but they will have to win some games to secure that and go to the playoffs without running into a play-in tournament. Because the Kings, Mavs, and Suns are just behind them with 2 wins difference. They have to be careful with the Mavs because they are playing awesome games in the last few game. 4th winning streak.

Yes sir, they are now tied with the Warriors in wins, if Warriors will lose on their next game (which is likely) vs the Heat, they'll drop to number 11 and the Rockets will replace them. And the consistency of Green continues as once again he led this team to win with 27 points. His game has really matured, thanks to the new coach that was able to utilize the talent of this young team.

Warriors have to work their way hard just to be in the play-in, just uncharacteristics for the Warriors as they usually dominate, things have changed really fast...fast... fast.....!

And it looks like the Houston Rockets are going to continue with their winning streak as they lead by double digits against the Portland Trailblazers. And with this win, they are now just half a game behind the Warriors. And it's time for the Warriors to win in their next game, but it's tough as they will have to travel to Miami. We all know that they are not a road team. Although they are a slim favorite here, not sure why, perhaps there are a lot of injured players in the Miami roster. But still we can't discount the fact that the Warriors have been choking when they are in the road. Despite that, I think the Warriors are going to fight like this is a do or die for game in a game 7 series and the championship is on the line. 

Yeah, but they have to keep that winning momentum, and going for records like 60+ wins in a regular season with the best duo on the NBA right now, and the unicorn and Jrue (who is still injured as far as I know), but they keep on winning.

So if I'm the Celtics, just go and play hard in the last remaining games, but try to prevent injuries though and I think it's going to be hard for any team, not just in the East to beat them in a 7 games series. They might lose a game or two, but definitely, might go for 4-0 against any team in the playoff.

They've been a consistent top performing team in regular seasons for the past few years so the 57-14 record is like a normal thing now. Yes, I can agree that you may want to re-evaluate betting on them just because they are the no. 1 team. They do not have the same incentive to play hard compared to teams trying to secure a playoff or play-in spot.

They are not that invincible or too far ahead of the rest.

The Boston Celtics had a legendary regular season and are now 57-14. I think it's risky to bet on their last matches, because they can rest the main players to enter the play-offs fresh. They still have a solid team because their rotation is wide, they can win the remaining matches, but you need to look at the odds carefully before placing a bet. Everyone from Tatum to Kornet played well during the season. I see their way to the finals in the East open. In any case, the teams in the East other than Boston are almost very close to each other, both in terms of strength and winning percentage.