Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 296. (Read 921479 times)

Yes, I think so. If the Lakers happen to be the 9th seed, then they will be facing off against the Warriors, who are the 10th seed. Lakers may have a chance to win this game, as they already faced each other in 2021, also in a play-in game where the Lakers won the game. The difference is that the match is 7 vs. 8, so even if you lose, you still have the chance to face the winner of 9 vs. 10. But let us see what will happen to their matchup. 9 vs. 10 is more intense since one loss means you are eliminated from the playoffs. 

One thing that I am worrying about is the Kings. The Kings are 3–0 against the Lakers this season, if the Kings happened to be the 7th seed and the Mavs the 8th. Then, if the Mavs beat the Kings, It may be a tough matchup for the Lakers, since the Kings are their kryptonite. 

So the favorable scenario for the Lakers (if we are talking about the play-in).

Beat the Warriors, then the Kings should win their matchup against the Dallas, and the Lakers will face the Dallas for the 8th. Which is a more bearable matchup since the Lakers are 2-11 against the Mavs this season.

Curry coming back is of course a great detail, and looking at the standings right now, it would be highly unlikely that they would fall places, they will finish the season 10th most likely right now, Rockets are not getting that back.

However, while looking at it I just realized Rockets are not tanking and looking like they could be in the playoffs or at least play-in very soon, in 1-2 years they should be good enough for that. They need the players to stop trying to show their worth, they proved that, when you are a young player you try to showboat and just take all the shots to show your coach and the whole league that you deserve to be there, but most of them been there for 3 years now, so they need to just calm down and play within a system.

Having Curry back would be awesome, but at the same time, kind of makes me worried.

For the whole regular season, they're relying too much on Curry's offense. I don't see anything wrong with that, but if Curry isn't playing, no one can step up on offense to lead the team. I mean how can they lose to an average team in Spurs that has no Wembanyama. I thought that their current roster would be better than last season because they solved their problem last season which is a big man that can help Looney defend the paint, but it seems like they're much worse than that. I don't know the reason, and I don't want to blame any of them, but if they are underperforming this year, I will not be surprised if the Warriors management will break the big 3 of Steph, Klay, and Dray just to get another all-star player that will help the team win the title.

As for Wiggins, he's underperforming for the majority of the season. Yes, there are times that he's scoring 20 points, but he wasn't the Wiggins that we saw when they won the title back in 2022. They need that old Wiggins if they want to win the title. Sadly, we might not see it anymore. I guess I'll just hope that the Warriors will at least stay on the play-in spot.

Curry was injured but good thing was not serious. Here's the full report about his injury.

https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/steph-currys-expected-injury-return-timeline-revealed


He will be back soon and the Warriors will start winning again. With Curry back, we are seeing a healthy Warriors in the play-in or playoffs since CP3 was already playing and Wiggins as well. All signs are good for the Warriors, everyone were playing on the same page so pretty much they are ready on every big games.

Still plenty of games to be played, more or less 20 games for each team and the outcome could change their ranking. They could be out of the play-in, stay, or ensure a playoff spot. We don't know yet, so we cannot count those teams that are not in the play-in picture as out.

Even the Warriors, they experienced 2 losses and recently loss to the Spurs in a big margin, the effect of Curry-less Warriors, so they need to get their MVP back as soon as possible so their ranking will not sink.

The difference in win percentage between the team currently 6th in the Western Conference standings and those teams in the play-in zone is too small. So, I wouldn't rush to make any predictions yet as to which of the above teams will be in the play-in tournament and make it past this stage.

Portland Trail Blazers finally ended their 9th home losing streak in a win against the undermanned Toronto Raptors. No Scottie Barnes and no RJ Barrett.

DeAndre Ayton's return was a monster game. 30 points, and 19 rebounds, helping his team to take the win at their home. Scoot Henderson also returned in restricted minutes.
The game became exciting when the Raptors came back from a 17-point deficit and even put the game on overtime when Chris Boucher scored a tip-in. 0.7 seconds left and Ayton almost bagged an inbound alley-oop but the ball rolled out that ended the regulation. Overtime, the Blazers dominated and had a safe lead to win the game.

Denver Nuggets on the other hand showed how strong they are against the Utah Jazz. 36 points was the biggest lead if I remember correctly. Jamal Murray, MPJ, and Nikola Jokic showed why they are the reigning champion scoring 142 points and I think that's their highest total score this season.

All of them have equal chance, this 4 team have great players in them. And so it's hard to predict you will be in or who will be eliminated. The Kings has Fox and Sabonis, while obviously the Mavs have Luka is playing MVP this season. And only a couple of games separating the teams in the West, so anything can still happen. Maybe on the top teams, they could still experience losing streak and then this 4 teams climbing up. So yeah, anything goes for now, and hopefully there will be no more injuries in the West so that we can really see the full potential of the teams and make it more exciting to watch and hard to bet.

The system needs to adjust, LeBron needs to work with everyone I mean he needed to adjust and let the young guns to facilitate,  better for him to serve as decoy as he can give more space, with the way they win the game it's just simply giving  the coaching staff another pictures of possible players that has a good blend working together,  they just need to put some works to establish that connections.

Though I agree  that LeBron is still a factor  if ever they may reached the playoffs,  his experience and leadership still far from everyone, just need to find the right adjustments and players to blend together.

Looking at the four teams that will play play-in tournament, Kings, Mavs, Warriors and the Lakers I can say that Lakers actually has a chance. However, it is not going to be all that easy at all, it will definitely feel like it will take a while to get there. I realize that it is going to be a tough one, and I realize that it will not be easy for them to get those wins but with Lebron at the helm, I feel like anything is possible. I am not saying that they will win, I am just saying that they have a pretty good chance this way.

It should be pointed out that we still have no idea how the league will end though, if one of these teams go on a big win streak, then they may end up with something major without a doubt, it has to be bound to change.

I might disagree with this one. The Lakers are different without him. He's the considered captain of the team, and those 2 wins don't mean that the team is better without him. I mean just imagine the Lakers not having Le-GM playing for the whole regular season. They might be out of the playoff picture. The team is better with him. Lebron can just be a passer if he wants to because he's a great passer as well. I also don't agree with him not trusting his teammates. He is averaging around 8 APG which is tied at 7th with 9.7 APG on his last 10 games. If he doesn't trust his teammates, he might've lower than 8 or even 5 APG as average, but that isn't the case.

It's a combined effort of Dinwiddie and Russell that leads them to victory.
I don't if it's only me, but Lillard has been one of the worst defenders right now in the league. He's defending Russell one-on-one and if you're a great defender, you must be at his front at all times, but on that play, he just let Russell drive through the basket, and shoot that floater. If you're a good defender then at least contest that shot, but Lillard is just a shitty defender. As for that last possession, Dinwiddie made a great defensive play against Lillard again.

Anyway, it's just a bad night for him I guess. He will come back in their next game.

Of course, I know the Lakers has no chance in the playoffs in case they'll make it without Lebron. What I'm trying to emphasize is they need to improve a bit especially on the ball movement and trusting everyone to contribute. If Reaves, Hachimura, and Russell get some good numbers in the playoffs, the Lakers will become a team that is a real threa, they can even beat the defending champion. The problem is if they get so predictable as Lebron is not the same anymore, not on his prime, so we can't expect the same result like in the past playoffs where he carries his team. Unload a burden a bit, trust his teammates more and that's it.

I beg to disagree, but they still need Bron. Bron is tested in the playoffs; he has all the experience needed in the playoffs, and he still got it. Just look at the Clippers; James started the run, and after that, they continued rolling until getting the win. But I agree on the part that Bron needed to trust his teammates more. Watching some of the games, he holds the ball too much, making the offense stagnant and wasting some of the time. With a team with a lot of guards, they should have a fast-paced playstyle. What the Lakers need to do is play the ball freely, let everybody touch the ball, and take some burden off of LeBron, so when the Lakers need him, he is fresh. 

But kudos to the Lakers; it was indeed a total team effort today. They should be showing this kind of effort on the court, with or without LeBron.

Lakers seemed to be better without Lebron. They are good with betting strong teams without him, last time they won without him was against the Celtics, now against the Bucks at home. I think Lebron needs to trust his teammates more, get the ball moving so everyone touches it and will have the confidence to shot.

We know that  Dinwiddie was the hero in the end as he blocked the last shot attempt of Lillard, not "dame time" for Lillard.  . But it was a total team effort with Russell leading the win from 9-12 3 point shooting, that's very impressive, he just got to be consistent and the Lakers are good.

He will take this hard definitely, it's a win-win situation for them and even without KAT they have a high chance of getting another tough W. But his emotions run high, not sure why, him and Allen are battling inside but he should have known better. Garland doesn't want to lose and this is their home court and so they take advantage of it. For sure another lesson learned for the Wolves. They need to comeback and maintain their position because the West are now bundled and it's hard to see who will get into the play-off or who will be in the play-in fighting.

Without the technical they could have bag the W. But Gobert man, he's acting immature again not undertanding what is stake in that game. he can't do that, letting his emotion out of control is just giving the game to their opponent. It would be okay if they were leading by a comfortable margin but they were only leading by 1 point that time and with 1 made Tech FT Cavaliers were able to tie the game. Wolves still are capable of winning despite losing KAT but they need to learn and improve their maturity in the game.

Something that the management needs to work more out from this big man, an almost a win game for them but they let that emotion and cause them losing the game in OT, though I can't judge that as he's also a human being who thinks that there's a mistake but as a professional maybe they needed to discuss this to avoid happening it again, they need all the win that they can get while KAT is not around, West side composed of full-packs heavy favorites, they are sitting on the 2nd spot but the question is until when? as playoffs is nearing all teams are really trying to win and have that good position to reach the next round.

Emotions run high for Rudy Gobert, it was also a great battle between him and Allen as well in the middle. I think he made a block on Allen but then Allen come back with his dunk and so it's a very close game.

But the home team has more sauce in the OT, Garland becoming the Donovan Mitchell, as him and Allen had 30+ points.
Next up for them is against the Nets who have lost to the Pistons. And if they win again here, they will solidify themselves at the second spot position behind the dominating Boston Celtics.

Last night 2 defensive stops won the game. Sacramento Kings' Sabonis steal, and Anthony Edwards' high-flying block.
Today, another defensive move was shown to win a game. Spencer Dinwiddie. He blocked Damian Lillard, last shot and gave the LA Lakers a win with 1 point.
But the true player of the game was D'Angelo Russell. He made a new career high of 44 points, shooting lights out at the three-point line 9 of 12. Only a monster does that and he proved tonight that he could carry the Lakers even with Lebron sidelined.

Timberwolves versus the Cavaliers was also a fun game. Rudy Gobert made a big mistake of getting a technical foul after he was fouled out of the game. I can see the frustration but they had the 1-point lead and he didn't even think about it. The Cavs tied the game to make it to overtime and that was where they defeated the Timberwolves.
Gobert should learn from this mistake and I bet he regrets what he did. They could've won that game in regulation.

And just like that, they've lost a close game against the Cavs (tied with the Bucks behind the Celtics now), game went into OT. But ANT was off in this game because of the great defense that they put into him. Garland taking over the offense since Donovan Mitchell is still not playing.

I haven't check the schedule of the Wolves, but if they are going against the top teams in their next 5-6 games, it might be difficult for them without KAT. Just sad to hear that he got injured as the team is really doing good this season and fighting for that top 1 in the West and obviously they wanted to be in that spot as we haven't seen them in that position and the last time they are fighting for it maybe in the Kevin Garnett era.