Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 370. (Read 914488 times)

The game will be held at the T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas for both semi-finals and finals so no home team. I still think the Pelicans could pull it off but I give Lakers the experience. This is a short tournament though so surprises happen often. Both teams have a strong line up but it will all boil down to who wants it more.

Successful somehow. It's pretty good since it gives teams some motivation to improve their standings and also be rewarded before the NBA Finals.

This is exciting, actually, as we will be seeing how Zion would play in a situation like this. It's not the playoffs yet but it's similar to the playoffs, like a Game 7 because it's a single-elimination game. It's the experienced Lakers versus the talented Pelicans. Now, I think it's hard to choose, but if we base it on how they won in the quarter-finals, I think the Pelicans should be the right choice.

Pretty sure both teams will give it all. The Pelicans have a good line-up which I believe is better. But CJ, Zion, Ingram, and Valanciunas should be able to handle the pressure if they believe the In-Game Season is important. The Lakers though have deep experience compared to the Pelicans. The Pelicans should just give their best and think this is just another ordinary game to avoid pressure. Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and Reaves better be ready to step up because the focus on defending Lebron and AD might shut their offense down.

I am still not sold out on this In-Game thing but at least the semi-finals up to the championship games should be more exciting than these early regular season games.

Yes, remember that the Pelicans won away against the Kings. The Pelicans are healthy team right now with CJ McCollum back in their lineup. Zion didn't well play against the Kings but the Pelicans still managed to win. My pick for the semi-final NBA season tournament is the Kings and Bucks in the eastern bracket. This should be an easy for Bucks. So for me we gonna see Pelicans vs Bucks in Season Tournament Finals.

It was not that far, the Suns didn't make a good lead. I think the odds just played at 1.80 - 1.95 for the money line. They were just there following the Lakers and how many tie games was that? 20+ maybe? So, it's difficult to find a window where we could get a good profit betting for the Lakers.
I was waiting for a Lakers big lead so that I could get a +5 - +8 for the Suns but due to the exchange of shots, my live bet cannot go in.  

Anyway, there were so many questionable calls from our officials today. The last one was that timeout called by Lebron James even though Reaves did not have the ball completely on his hand. The other call was Reddish bashing the head of Booker, that happened twice and Booker's headband was misaligned which is already a sign that someone hit his head and yet no review was done.
Well, that's all over and the Lakers will be the team that will go to Vegas. I just wish the referees would officiate like it's the Finals or Playoffs because the game was heated up.
Even with all of those calls I love the high competitiveness of both teams, it felt like watching the playoffs without a doubt.

Do you guys also think that this In-Season tournament is a successful experiment done by the NBA? I think it is. It somehow gave life to the season.

This will still be played in LA, right?

Well, I guess it's an easy home team here. I think although Pelicans are good but they are quite inconsistent sometimes. AD vs Ingram, I'll go for AD on this match up although Ingram could score but in terms of basketball IQ, Lakers will have the upper hand, and no legit superstars on the Pelicans, they can't beat a healthy and experience LA Lakers, my 2 cents.

Current ML odds have NOP @2.09 while Lakers @1.75 - not a bad deal for either team but I like the chances of the Pelicans winning over the Lakers to reach the in-season tournament Finals. It will be a good match up between Ingram and AD then you have Lebron and Zion. There is probably going to be a block party so watch out for those lines when it opens.

I expect the Lakers will be able to beat the Pelicans, and the Bucks will likely beat the Pacers in the semifinals of the in-season tournament. So it's likely that the Bucks and Lakers will meet each other in the finals.
By the way, the Bucks clearly seem to be the favorites against both the Pacers and the Lakers at this point, although I don't rule out the possibility that these two teams could give the Bucks enough trouble and even beat them.

I don't see it as easy, as the Suns are just around the corner. If the Lakers make a mistake, the Suns could capitalize on it. Booker has struggled with his shooting, and the defense is really focused on him. If Booker keeps going, the Suns could beat the home team. The Suns are a high-scoring team, but the Lakers were able to minimize their production with their great defense. Kudos to them, and LeBron still looks at his prime; when he attacks, he's almost unstoppable.

It's the outside shooting of the Suns versus the inside penetration of the Lakers, and the Lakers are winning the battle.

As for me, I didn't expect the Lakers to win but when it comes to crucial games and they are all present playing without any injuries, this is the game we are expecting from them and we see that they easily handle it well against the Suns and managed to advance and will face the New Orleans tomorrow night. This won't be hard for them because they are more than capable of beating them this time since they are hyped from that win against the Suns and the Pelicans should not be that hard for them unless they will be choked and cannot win the game.

The problem with this in season tournamne is just it's a do or die game, win or go home type of game, so no more adjustment on the next game unlike the playoffs where it's a best of 7 series.

Kings are good, we can see on their numbers but playoffs are a different kind of competition, it's not automatic they'll do as good as they do in the regular season. Still big respect to this young team to be on their current situation now.


Reaves shoot the ball and hit it but the Suns were already trailing. The Lakers have enjoyed their advantage on size as they are really dominating the rebounding department, in fact they had plenty of Offensive rebounds which turns into points, Suns could have avoided that if they go aggressive.

Also Nurkic wasn't a factor in this game, that's a big one.

Yeah, they are playing good ball, and they are working together so for sure what they are doing right now is the fruit of their hard work, everyone
are involve in developing their opportunities, they just need to keep working hard and keep adjusting in each competition they are in.


I was thinking that Suns already turn the game into their favor after that rally but like what you said Reaves take care of the business
to help Lakers to escape from the rallying Suns.

Congrats to all those who takes the ML during that rally of Suns, not sure if how much is the odd but it's something sweet for Lakers backer.

I wouldn't call them a hype team, I mean last year was just a start for them, and now they are trying to improved their positions after the needed experience from the Warriors lost last playoff and they are doing really good.

What a game between the Lakers and the Suns. It was the other way around, no more catching up from the Lakers as they build a huge lead. But the Suns was able to cut it and even take the lead. I thought that they are going to win, but Reaves went nuts in the 3rd quarter matching what has Durant is putting on. And he has a clutch 3 to make a good separate and Durant missing the 3 in the last seconds to at least send the game into OT.

I didn’t expect the Paces and Pelicans to be this far in the tournament but here we are. Another good win for LeBron over KD as the Lakers advanced passed the Suns. LeBron seems to have KD’s number these days with the sudden win streak after not facing each other for years. KD upped his efficiency this matchup, but it still wasn’t enough to secure a win.

So the stage for the In-Season tournament semi finals are all set after the Lakers just won against the Suns. We have Lakers vs. Pelicans and on the other end is the Bucks against the Pacers.
The Lakers displayed a spectacular defense during the first half of the game, but the Suns managed to come back early in the 3rd after being down 15 at some point of the game and then the score just went back and forth changing leads after the Suns took their first lead of the game.
There was just a bit of a controversy happened when the refs called time out on a loose ball which was a very vital play with the Suns down by just 2 with 11 secs time left on the game clock. The game could've been tied if the refs didn't called that time out. I am quite confused why it was allowed though and I think there was no official statement yet regarding that play.

Kings is kinda an overhype team, they haven't proven anything yet, although they are good in the regular season but there's a tougher challenge in the playoffs where they need to prove themselves. The in season tournament is like a serious competition, same with the playoffs, since they lose, I'd say their playoffs performance or chance could just be the same like last season.

Yes, Fox is their leading scorer, and if he shoots that ball badly, like that kind of percentage, they will have to suffer the consequences. But we have to give it to the Pels though, for putting a great effort to stop Fox.

And they have a lot of players who put good numbers like Herb Jones with 23 big points. At least it offset what Zion put as we expected him to put like 20 points and like 10 big rebounds. This is also a big upset as far as betting goes and hopefully someone get this one.

Yeah, who wouldn't forget about Fultz? He has one of the worst shooting form but in college it was very effective to him. But when he goes to the NBA, the team try to change it and so he was lost and so his career.

So I don't think that they will make the same mistakes with Haliburton, he is already known to be a great player and even if his shooting form is a eye sore for the majority of us, we will have to contend with that as it is very effective for him and just like the last game against the Celtics, he proved how clutch he is.

And no trainer ever tried to change that shooting form and it's still working. Quick release and his feet don't need to be set. Unlike what they did with Markelle Fultz changing his form over and over and he got so confused with it, thankfully he can shoot now but it took some time.

There was news that somebody died at the Sacramento Kings versus New Orleans Pelicans game. Here is the report.
Fan dies at New Orleans Pelicans-Sacramento Kings game
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39045146/fan-dies-new-orleans-pelicans-sacramento-kings-game

Same as the players I didn't notice that too unlike when there's an emergency at the sideline fans where the medical team will surely be seen by the cameras since they will enter through the dugout and use the basketball floor for their path.
I hope this will not happen again in the heat of the games later.
Several players are listed in the injury report of the LA Lakers. Be careful with your bets or go before game time bet if you are a Laker fan. Lebron and AD are part of those questionable to play the game.

I disagree on no improvement on the standings once he returns. He has issues off the court for sure but the guy has undeniable talent on the court. Was there any report of him not following the coach or having problems during practice? If there's none then I doubt they will trade him that easily.